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SHIP. See "Vessel."

263

SLIP.
SLOOP.

See "

Cable."

See "Vessel."

SPARS. A spar is a long piece of timber, cylindrical, tapering, in masts, towards one end, and in yards towards both. Spars serve for spreading the several sails of a vessel. The names of spars vary with their use and position. Chiefly, for ships of war, they divide into masts, yards, and booms. A mast is an upright, and is in three connected pieces: the lower mast, the topmast, and the top-gallant-mast. Most ships of war had three such masts: fore, near the bow; main, near the centre; mizzen, near the stern. The bowsprit is also a mast; not upright, but projecting straight ahead from the bow, approaching horizontal, but inclining upwards. Like the masts, it has three divisions: the lower, or bowsprit proper, the jib-boom, and the flying-jib-boom. Across the masts, horizontal, are the yards, four in number, lower, topsail, topgallant, and royal. designated by the name of the mast to which each beYards are further longs; e.g., foreyard, main topsail yard, mizzen topgallant yard, main royal yard.

The bowsprit formerly had one yard, called the spritsail yard. This has disappeared. Otherwise it serves to spread the threecornered sails called jibs. These sails were useful for turning a vessel, because their projection before the centre gave them great leverage.

Fore and aft vessels had no yards.

SPRING. See p. 65, note.

See

"Sails."

SQUARE-RIGGED. See "Sails" and "Spars."

STAND, to. Used, nautically, to express movement and direction, e.g., "to stand toward the enemy,' "to stand out of har

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bor," "to stand down," "to stand south." The underlying idea seems to be that of sustained, decided movement.

STARBOARD. To the right hand, or on the right side, of a vessel, looking from aft forward. Opposite to Port.

STEER, to. To control the course by the use of the helm and
rudder.

STERN. The extreme rear, or after, part of a vessel.
STRATEGY. That department of the Art of War which decides

the distribution and movements of armies, or of fleets, with reference to the objects of a campaign as a whole. STRIKE, to. Applied to the flag. To haul down the flag in token of surrender.

TACK. A vessel is on the starboard tack, or port tack, according as the wind comes from the starboard or port hand. See p. 84, note.

TACK, to. When a vessel is close-hauled, with the wind on one

side, to tack is to turn round towards the wind, in order to be again close-hauled, with the wind on the other side. To wear is to attain the same object by turning away from the wind. Wearing is surer than tacking, but loses ground to leeward.

To tack, or wear, in succession, the leading vessel tacks, and those which follow tack, each, as it arrives at the same point; the order thus remaining the same. To tack, or wear together, all tack at the same moment, which reverses the order. TACTICS. That department of the Art of War which decides the disposition and movements of an army, or of a fleet, on a particular field of battle, in presence of an enemy.

TIDAL CURRENTS.

Ebb tide, the outflow of the water due to the tides.
Flood tide, the inflow of the water due to the tides.

Lee tide, the set of the current to leeward.

Weather tide, the set of the current to windward.

TIDE. The rise and fall of the water of the oceans under the influence of the moon. Used customarily, but inaccurately, to express the currents produced by the changes of level. High tide, or high water, the two highest levels of the day. Low tide, or low water, the two lowest.

Neap tide the least rise and fall during the lunar month. Spring tide: the greatest rise and fall during the same, being soon after full and change of moon.

TRADE, the. A term applied to a body of merchant vessels, to or from a particular destination.

TRADE WIND. A wind which blows uniformly from the same general direction throughout a fixed period. In the West Indies, from the northeast the year round. See also "Mon

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VESSEL.

A general term for all constructions intended to float upon and move through the water. Specific definitions applicable to this book:

Ship, a square-rigged vessel with three masts.

Brig, a square-rigged vessel with two masts.

Schooner, a fore and aft rigged vessel with two or more masts. Sloop, a fore and aft rigged vessel with one mast. See pp. 9, 15, 17.

VESSELS OF WAR. Ship of the Line. A ship with three or more tiers of guns, of which two are on covered decks; that is, have a deck above them. See "Line of Battle Ship." Frigate. A ship with one tier of guns on a covered deck. Sloop of War. A ship, the guns of which are not covered, being on the upper (spar) deck.

Sloops of war were sometimes brigs, but then were usually so styled.

WAKE. The track left by a vessel's passage through the water. "In the wake of ": directly astern of.

WAY.

Movement through the water. "To get underway": to pass from stand-still to movement.

WEAR, to. See under "Tack."

WEATHER. Relative position to windward of another object. Opposite to Lee. Weather side, lee side, of a vessel; weather fleet, lee fleet; weather gage, lee gage (see “Gage"); weather shore, lee shore.

WEATHER, to. To pass to windward of a vessel, or of any other object.

WEATHERLY. The quality of a vessel which favors her getting,

or keeping, to windward.

WEIGH, to. To raise the anchor from the bottom. Used alone; e.g., "the fleet weighed."

WHEEL. So called from its form. The mechanical appliance, a wheel, with several handles for turning it, by which power is increased, and also transmitted from the steersman on deck to the tiller below, in order to steer the vessel.

WIND AND WATER, between. That part of a vessel's side which comes out of water when she inclines to a strong side wind, but otherwise is under water.

WINDWARD. Direction from which the wind blows.

YARD. See "Spars."

INDEX

Algeciras, in Gibraltar Bay, station
of Franco-Spanish Fleet sup-
porting the Siege of Gibraltar,
121, 230, 231.
Arbuthnot, Marriott, British Ad-
miral, commands North
American Station, 1779, 113,
148; anger at Rodney's in-
trusion on his command, 150;
supports the attack on
Charleston, 1780, 151; sta-
tion in Gardiner's Bay, 151,
170; action with French
squadron under des Touches,
1781, 171; regains command
of Chesapeake Bay, 174;
superseded, 1781, 176.
Arethusa, British frigate. En-
counter with French frigate
Belle Poule marks beginning
of War of 1778 with France,
62, 82.
Armed Neutrality, The, of 1780,
3, 158.

Arnold, Benedict, American Gen-
eral. Effects following his
action on Lake Champlain
in 1776, 3, 4, 7, 25; with
Ethan Allen, seizes Ticon-
deroga and Crown Point,
1775, 8; captures or destroys
all hostile shipping on Lake
Champlain, 9; traverses
Maine forests, and joins Mont-
gomery before Quebec, 10;
maintains blockade of Quebec
till arrival of a British squad-
ron, 10; retreats to Crown
Point, and destitution of his
troops, 11; schemes for main-
taining command of Lake
Champlain, 12; his force,
and its character, 14, 15, 17;
compelled by shore batteries
to abandon lower Narrows

Asiatic

of the Lake, 15; selects
Valcour Island as position
for defence, 15; decision to
risk destruction of force ra-
ther than retire, 18, 19; sound
strategic and tactical ideas,
20; Battle of Valcour Island,
21; successful withdrawal
after defeat, 23; overtaken
and flotilla destroyed, 25;
effect of his resistance in
delaying British advance, 25;
conduct, courage, and heroism
throughout, 27; his subsequent
treason, 18, 27, 152; commands
British detachment in Vir-
ginia, 153, 169, 170, 174.
Danger in-

Immigration,
volved in, 4.

Barbados, West India Island, head-
quarters of British Leeward
Islands Station, 99; advan-
tage of Santa Lucia over, 104,
144, 207; notably for crippled
ships, 144; devastated by
hurricane, 1780, 159.
Barrington, Samuel, British Admiral,

Basse

commands Leeward Islands
Station, 99; capture of Santa
Lucia by, 100-102; success-
fully resists d'Estaing's effort
to recapture, 103, 104; super-
seded in chief command by
Byron, 105; share in Byron's
action with d'Estaing, 107,
109;
goes home wounded,
112; refuses command-in-
chief of the Channel Fleet,
1780, 157; serves in it under
Howe, 227; captures a French
convoy for East Indies, 227.
Terre, St. Kitts, Operations
around, 1782, 196-205; char-
acter of anchorage at, 199.

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