The Sailor's Word-Book
Chapter 205 : ROUGH MUSIC. Rolling shot about on the lower deck, and other discordant noises, when s

ROUGH MUSIC. Rolling shot about on the lower deck, and other discordant noises, when seamen are discontented, but without being mutinous.

ROUGH-SPARS. Cut timber before being worked into masts, &c.

ROUGH-TREE. An unfinished spar: also a name given in merchant s.h.i.+ps to any mast, or other spar above the s.h.i.+p's side; it is, however, with more propriety applied to any, mast, &c., which, remaining rough and unfinished, is placed in that situation.

ROUGH-TREE TIMBER. Upright pieces of timber placed at intervals along the side of a vessel, to support the rough-tree. They are also called stanchions.

ROUND. _To bear round up._ To go before the wind.--_To round a point_, is to steer clear of and go round it.

ROUND-AFT. The outward curve or segment of a circle, that the stern partakes of from the wing transom upwards.

ROUND AND GRAPE. A phrase used when a gun is charged at close quarters with round shot, grape, and canister; termed a belly-full.

ROUND DOZEN. A punishment term for thirteen lashes.

ROUND-HOUSE. A name given in East Indiamen and other large merchant s.h.i.+ps, to square cabins built on the after-part of the quarter-deck, and having the p.o.o.p for its roof; such an apartment is frequently called the _coach_ in s.h.i.+ps of war. Round, because one can walk round it. In some trading vessels the round-house is built on the deck, generally abaft the main-mast.

ROUND-IN, TO. To haul in on a fall; the act of pulling upon any slack rope which pa.s.ses through one or more blocks in a direction nearly horizontal, and is particularly applied to the braces, as "Round-in the weather-braces." It is apparently derived from the circular motion of the rope about the sheave or pulley, through which it pa.s.ses.

ROUNDING. A service wrapped round a spar or hawser. Also, old ropes wound firmly and closely about the layers of that part of a cable which lies in the hawse, or athwart the stem, &c. It is used to prevent the cable from being chafed. (_See_ KECKLING and SERVICE.)

ROUNDING-UP. Is to haul through the slack of a tackle which hangs in a perpendicular direction, without sustaining or hoisting any weighty body.

ROUNDLY. Quickly.

ROUND-RIBBED. A vessel of burden with very little run, and a flattish bottom, the ribs sometimes almost joining the keel horizontally.

ROUND ROBBIN [from the French _ruban rond_]. A mode of signing names in a circular form, after a complaint or remonstrance, so that no one can tell who signed first.

ROUNDS. General discharges of the guns. Cartridges are usually reckoned by rounds, including all the artillery to be used; as, fifty rounds of ammunition. Also, going round to inspect sentinels. The general visiting of the decks made by officers, to see that all is going on right. Also, the steps of a ladder.

ROUND SEAM. The edges or selvedges sewed together, without lapping.

ROUND SEIZING. This is made by a series of turns, with the end pa.s.sed through the riders, and made fast snugly. In applying this the rope does not cross, but both parts are brought close together, and the seizing crossed.

ROUND SHOT. The cast-iron b.a.l.l.s fitting the bores of their respective guns, as distinguished from grape or other shot.

ROUNDS OF THE GALLEY. The opposite of what is termed Coventry; for it is figurative of a man incurring the expressed scorn of his s.h.i.+pmates.

ROUND SPLICE. One which hardly shows itself, from the neatness of the rope and the skill of the splicer. Properly a long splice.

ROUND STERN. The _segmental stern_, the bottom and wales of which are wrought quite aft, and unite in the stern-post: it is now used in our navy, thus securing an after battery for the s.h.i.+p. It had long obtained in the Danish marine.

ROUND THE FLEET. A diabolical punishment, by which a man, lashed to a frame on a long-boat, was towed alongside of every s.h.i.+p in a fleet, to receive a certain number of lashes by sentence of court-martial.

ROUND-TO, TO. To bring to, or haul to the wind by means of the helm. To go round, is to tack or wear.

ROUND-TOP. A name which has obtained for modern tops, from the shape of the ancient ones. (_See_ TOP.)

ROUND-TURN IN THE HAWSE. A term implying the situation of the two cables of a s.h.i.+p, which, when moored, has swung the wrong way three times successively; if after this she come round till her head is directed the same way as at first, this makes a _round turn and elbow_. A round turn is also the pa.s.sing a rope completely round a timber-head, or any proper thing, in order to hold on. (_See_ HOLDING-ON.) Also, to pa.s.s a rope over a belaying pin. Also, the bending of any timber or plank upwards, but especially the beams which support the deck, and curve upwards towards the middle of the deck. This is for the purpose of strength, and for the convenience of the run of water to the scuppers.--_To round up_ a fall or tackle, is to gather in the slack; the reverse of overhaul.

ROUND UP OF THE TRANSOMS. That segment of a circle to which they are sided, or of beams to which they are moulded.

ROUNDURE. An old English word for circle.

ROUSE, TO. To man-handle. "Rouse in the cable," haul it in, and make it taut.

ROUSE AND BIT. The order to turn out of the hammocks.

ROUST. A word used in the north of Scotland to signify a tumultuous current or tide, occasioned by the meeting of rapid waters. (_See_ ROOST.)

ROUT. The confusion and disorder created in any body of men when defeated and dispersed.

ROUTE. The order for the movement of a body of men, specifying its various stages and dates of march.

ROUTINE. Unchanging adherence to official system, which, if carried too far in matters of service, often bars celerity, spirit, and consequently success.

ROVE. A rope when pa.s.sed through a block or sheave-hole.

ROVENS. A corruption of _rope-bands_ (which see). Also, the ravellings of canvas or buntin.

ROVER. A pirate or freebooter. (_See_ PIRATE.) Also, a kind of piratical galley of the Barbary States.

ROVING COMMISSION. An authority granted by the Admiralty to a select officer in command of a vessel, to cruise wherever he may see fit. [From the Anglo-Saxon _rwen_.]

ROW, TO. To propel a boat or vessel by oars or sweeps, which are managed in a direction nearly horizontal. (_See_ OAR.)

ROW DRY! The order to those who row, not to splash water into the boat.

ROWED OF ALL! The orders for the rowers to cease, and toss their oars into the boat simultaneously, in naval style.

ROW IN THE SAME BOAT, TO. To be of similar principles.

ROWL. The iron or wooden s.h.i.+ver, or wheel, for a whip-tackle.

ROWLE. A light crane, formerly much used in clearing boats and holds.

ROWLOCKS. Those s.p.a.ces in the gunwale, or upper edge of a boat's side, wherein the oars work in the act of rowing.

ROW-PORTS. Certain scuttles or square holes, formerly cut through the sides of the smaller vessels of war, near the surface of the water, for the purpose of rowing them along in a calm or light wind, by heavy sweeps, each worked by several men. (_See_ SWEEPS.)

ROYAL. The name of a light sail spread immediately next above the top-gallant sail, to whose yard-arms the lower corners of it are attached; it used to be termed top-gallant royal, and is never used but in fine weather. Also, the name of a small mortar.

ROYAL FISH. Whales, porpoises, sturgeons, &c., which, when driven on sh.o.r.e, become droits of admiralty.

ROYAL MARINE ARTILLERY. Originally selected from the royal marines, now specially enlisted. (_See_ ARTILLERY, ROYAL MARINE.)

ROYAL MARINES. _See_ MARINES.