The Sailor's Word-Book
Chapter 245 : TOP-SAWYER. The leading man in any undertaking. One who excels; inasmuch as the man of

TOP-SAWYER. The leading man in any undertaking. One who excels; inasmuch as the man of most intellect guides the saw, and No. 2 gets the sawdust in his face.

TOP-SIDE. All that part of a s.h.i.+p's side which is above the main-wales: that is, those strakes between the sheer-strake and upper black-strake.

TOP-SWIVEL. Once a favourite arm for s.h.i.+ps' tops, but from the confined s.p.a.ce and elevation rather an enc.u.mbrance than a useful addition.

TOP-TACKLE. A large tackle, or properly pendant, hooked to the lower end of the top-mast top-rope, and to the deck, in order to increase the mechanical power in lifting the top-mast in order to fid it. It is composed of two strong iron-bound double or triple blocks, the hooks of which work on a swivel.

TOP-TACKLE PENDANT. The pendant used with the above. The top-mast is swayed up by a top-rope or hawser. The pendant, which is of better material, and hawser-laid, has an eye and thimble spliced in one end, and is pointed at the other. This pendant is barely long enough to lower the top-mast temporarily in bad weather, and when the top-mast is high enough for fidding, the purchase is block and block, and cannot lift it higher. (_See_ TOP-ROPE.)

TOP THE GLIM, TO. To snuff the candle.

TOP THE OFFICER, TO. To arrogate superiority.

TOP-TIMBER BREADTH. The distance between the upper part of the same timber and the middle line.

TOP-TIMBER HOLLOW. A name sometimes given to the back sweep which forms the upper part of the top-timber.

TOP-TIMBERS. The first general tier which reach the top are called long top-timbers, and those below short top-timbers.

TOP YOUR BOOM. _See_ BOOM.

TOR. A high rock or peak: also a tower, thus retaining the same meaning it had, as _torr_, with the Anglo-Saxons.

TORMENTER. The large two-p.r.o.nged iron fork used by the s.h.i.+p's cook, to fish out the cooked meat from the copper.

TORMENTUM. A pistol; a gun; a piece of ordnance.

TORNADO. A peculiar squall, accompanied with rain and lightning, similar in suddenness to the white squall of the West Indies, and experienced off the equatorial region of the west coast of Africa between December and June. It appears first as a small black spot in the east, and barely affords time to put the s.h.i.+p before the wind and clue up all. The wind veers round the compa.s.s, and lasts a very short time.

TORPEDO. A cartilaginous fish allied to the rays, furnished with electrical organs, by means of which it is able to give powerful shocks.

Also, a contrivance for blowing up s.h.i.+ps of war by means of a submerged apparatus.

TORRENT. A land flood rus.h.i.+ng from mountainous tracts, often with destructive effect. It is produced by an acc.u.mulation of water from rains or the melting of snows.

TORSE. A coa.r.s.e kind of hemp, better known as cordilla in commerce.

TORSION OF CABLES. All ropes formed by twisting have a contrary turn, and a disposition to kink from torsion.

TORSK. _See_ TUSK.

TORTS. Private wrongs either to persons or property afloat. They are cognizable by the admiralty court, according to locality.

TORTUE DE MER. A turtle. Also a French gabarre, troop, or store s.h.i.+p, with very high 'tween decks.

TOs.h.i.+NG. A cant word for stealing copper sheathing from vessels'

bottoms, or from dockyard stores.

TOSS IN YOUR OARS! The order to desist rowing, and throw the oars in out of the rowlocks.

TOSS THE OARS UP! Throw them up out of the rowlocks, and raise them perpendicularly an-end; the act is intended as a compliment to a superior officer rowing by. Also, the order to a boat's crew to get the oars ready for rowing, and to salute the officer on his entering the boat.

TOSS UP THE BUNT, TO. In furling a sail, to make its final package at the centre of the yard when in its skin.

TOT, OR TOTT. A drinking-cup somewhat smaller than the regulation half-pint, by which a surplus is left in the distribution of the regular allowance of grog, and awarded to the cook of each mess, for the day, for his trouble.

TOTAL LOSS. A term in marine insurance, implying that the underwriters are to pay the amount insured without salvage.

TOTE. An abbreviation of total.--_To tote._ To watch, to spy, or to carry, whence the very singular fish on the southern coasts of America, which carries small pebbles on its little sharp horns for making a _nest_ is called the _stone-toter_.

TOTTY-LAND. Certain heights on the side of a hill [probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon _totian_, to elevate].

TOUCH. In s.h.i.+p-building, the broadest part of a plank worked top-and-b.u.t.t. Also, the angles of the stern-timbers at the counters.

Also, _keeping touch_ is fulfilling the terms of an agreement--speaking of the faith between seamen and their employers.

TOUCH-AND-GO. Said of anything within an ace of ruin; as in rounding a s.h.i.+p very narrowly to escape rocks, &c., or when, under sail, she rubs against the ground with her keel, without much diminution of her velocity.

TOUCH-AND-TAKE. An old proverb which Nelson applied to a s.h.i.+p about to encounter her opponent. A Nelsonian maxim.

TOUCH-BOX. The receptacle for lighted tinder when match-locks were used.

TOUCH-HOLE. The small aperture at the end of a musket or pistol, by which the fire of the priming was communicated to the charge. In guns, called the vent.

TOUCHING. The state of a s.h.i.+p's sails when they first begin to lift or s.h.i.+ver with their edges in the direction of the wind. It is occasioned either by a change in the wind or in the s.h.i.+p's course. (_See_ FULL AND BY.)--_Luff and touch her!_ is the order to the helmsman to bring the vessel up, and see how near she will come to the wind, or to give facility for taking in a reef when about to lower the top-sails, or for deadening the s.h.i.+p's way.

TOUCHING AT. Stopping or anchoring at some intermediate port in the course of a voyage.

TOUCH OF THE TAR-BRUSH. A nautical phrase expressive of those officers who are seamen as well as _quarter-deckers_. Also said of a white person in whose ancestry there has been some admixture of one of the dark races.

TOUCH UP IN THE BUNT, TO. To mend the sail on the yard; figuratively, to goad or remind forcibly.

TOUCH-WOOD. _See_ PUNK.

TOURNIQUET. Screw-bandages used for stopping the flow of blood. They are distributed about the quarters before action, and a number of men are taught to apply them. A handkerchief and toggle, or stick of any kind, is sometimes subst.i.tuted.

TOUT, TO. An old term for looking out, or keeping a prying watch; whence the revenue cruisers and the customs officers were called touters. The name is also given to crimps.

TOW, TO. To draw or drag a s.h.i.+p or boat by means of a rope attached to another vessel or boat, which advances by steam-power, rowing, or sailing. The Roman method, as appears by the triumphal arch at Orange, was by a rope fastened to a pulley at the top of the mast. They also fastened a rope to the head of a boat, and led it over men's shoulders, as practised on our ca.n.a.ls at the present day.

TOWAGE. The towing of a vessel through the water. Also, the money given for being towed. Vessels thus relieved give claim for salvage service.

TOW-BLOWEN. A term on our eastern coasts for a blown herring.

TOWEL. A word very absurdly introduced into marine law. "If a mariner,"

says Molloy, "shall commit a fault, and the master shall lift up the towel three times before any mariner, and he shall not submit, the master at the next place of land may discharge him." Some think that this refers to an oaken stick, but it is no doubt corrupted from the _oster la touaille_, or turning a delinquent out of his mess, of the laws of Oleron.

TOWING-BRIDLE. A stout chain with a hook at each end for attaching a tow-rope to; also, a large _towing-hook_ in the bight of the chain.

TOWING-HOOK. _See_ TOWING-BRIDLE.