The Sailor's Word-Book
Chapter 116 : GROATS. An allowance for each man per mensem, a.s.signed formerly to the chaplain for

GROATS. An allowance for each man per mensem, a.s.signed formerly to the chaplain for pay.

GROBMAN. A west-country term for a sea-bream about two-thirds grown.

GRODAN. A peculiar boat of the Orcades; also the Erse for a gurnard.

GROG. A drink issued in the navy, consisting of one part of spirits diluted with three of water; introduced in 1740 by Admiral Vernon, as a check to intoxication by mere rum, and said to have been named from his grogram coat. Pindar, however, alludes to the Cyclops diluting their beverage with ten waters. As the water on board, in olden times, became very unwholesome, it was necessary to mix it with spirits, but iron tanks have partly remedied this. The addition of sugar and lemon-juice now makes grog an agreeable anti-s...o...b..tic.

GROG-BLOSSOM. A red confluence on the nose and face of an excessive drinker of ardent spirits; though sometimes resulting from other causes.

GROG-GROG. The soft cry of the solan goose.

GROGGY, OR GROGGIFIED. Rendered stupid by drinking, or incapable of performing duty by illness; as also a s.h.i.+p when crank, and birds when crippled.

GROGRAM. From _gros-grain_. A coa.r.s.e stuff of which boat-cloaks were made. From one which Admiral Vernon wore, came the term _grog_.

GROINING. A peculiar mode of submarine embankment; a quay run out transversely to the sh.o.r.e.

GROMAL. An old word for gromet, or apprentice.

GROMET. A boy of the crew of the s.h.i.+ps formerly furnished by the Cinque Ports (a diminutive from the Teutonic _grom_, a youth); his duty was to keep s.h.i.+p in harbour. Now applied to the s.h.i.+p's apprentices.

GROMMET, OR GRUMMET. A ring formed of a single strand of rope, laid in three times round; used to fasten the upper edge of a sail to its stay in different places, and by means of which the sail is hoisted or lowered. Iron or wooden hanks have now been subst.i.tuted. (_See_ HANKS.) Grommets are also used with pins for large boats' oars, instead of rowlocks, and for many other purposes.

GROMMET-WAD. A ring made of 1-1/2 or 2 inch rope, having attached to it two cross-pieces or diameters of the same material; it acts by the ends of these pieces biting on the interior of the bore of the gun.

GROOVE-ROLLERS. These are fixed in a groove of the tiller-sweep in large s.h.i.+ps, to aid the tiller-ropes, and prevent friction.

GROPERS. The s.h.i.+ps stationed in the Channel and North Sea.

GROPING. An old mode of catching trout by tickling them with the hands under rocks or banks. Shakspeare makes the clown in "Measure for Measure" say that Claudio's offence was--

"Groping for trouts in a peculiar river."

GROSETTA. A minute coin of Ragusa, somewhat less than a farthing.

GROUND, TO. To take the bottom or sh.o.r.e; to be run aground through ignorance, violence, or accident.--_To strike ground._ To obtain soundings.

GROUNDAGE. A local duty charged on vessels coming to anchor in a port or standing in a roadstead, as _anchorage_.

GROUND-BAIT, OR GROUNDLING. A loach or loche.

GROUND-GRU. _See_ ANCHOR-ICE.

GROUND-GUDGEON. A little fish, the _Cobitis barbatula_.

GROUND-ICE. _See_ ANCHOR-ICE.

GROUNDING. The act of laying a s.h.i.+p on sh.o.r.e, in order to bream or repair her; it is also applied to runnings aground accidentally when under sail.

GROUND-PLOT. _See_ ICHNOGRAPHY.

GROUND-SEA. The West Indian name for the swell called _rollers_, or in Jamaica the _north sea_. It occurs in a calm, and with no other indication of a previous gale; the sea rises in huge billows, dashes against the sh.o.r.e with roarings resembling thunder, probably due to the "northers," which suddenly rage off the capes of Virginia, round to the Gulf of Mexico, and drive off the sea from America, affecting the Bahama Banks, but not reaching to Jamaica or Cuba. The rollers set in terrifically in the Gulf of California, causing vessels to founder or strike in 7 fathoms, and devastating the coast-line. H.M.S. _Lily_ foundered off Tristan d'Acunha in similar weather. In all the latter cases no satisfactory cause is yet a.s.signed. (_See_ ROLLER.)

GROUND-STRAKE. A name sometimes used for _garboard-strake_.

GROUND-SWELL. A sudden swell preceding a gale, which rises along sh.o.r.e, often in fine weather, and when the sea beyond it is calm. (_See_ ROLLER.)

GROUND-TACKLE. A general name given to all sorts of ropes and furniture which belong to the anchors, or which are employed in securing a s.h.i.+p in a road or harbour.

GROUND-TIER. The lowest water-casks in the hold before the introduction of iron tanks. It also implies anything else stowed there.

GROUND-TIMBERS. Those which lie on the keel, and are fastened to it with bolts through the kelson.

GROUND-WAYS. The large blocks and thick planks which support the cradle on which a s.h.i.+p is launched. Also, the foundation whereon a vessel is built.

GROUP. A set of islands not ranged in a row so as to form a chain, and the word is often used synonymously with _cl.u.s.ter_.

GROUPER. A variety of the snapper, which forms a staple article of food in the Bermudas, and in the West Indies generally.

GROWEN. _See_ GROWN-SEA.

GROWING. Implies the direction of the cable from the s.h.i.+p towards the anchors; as, the cable _grows_ on the starboard-bow, _i.e._ stretches out forwards towards the starboard or right side.

GROWING PAY. That which succeeds the _dead-horse_, or pay in prospect.

GROWLERS. Smart, but sometimes all-jaw seamen, who have seen some service, but indulge in invectives against restrictive regulations, rendering them undesirable men. There are also too many "civil growlers"

of the same kidney.

GROWN-SEA. When the waves have felt the full influence of a gale.

GRUANE. The Erse term for the gills of a fish.

GRUB. A coa.r.s.e but common term for provisions in general--

"In other words they toss'd the grub Out of their own provision tub."

GRUB-TRAP. A vulgarism for the mouth.

GRUFF-GOODS. An Indian return cargo consisting of raw materials--cotton, rice, pepper, sugar, hemp, saltpetre, &c.

GRUMBLER. A discontented yet often hard-working seaman. Also, the gurnard, a fish of the blenny kind, which makes a rumbling noise when struggling to disengage itself on reaching the surface.

GRUMMET. _See_ GROMMET.

GRUNTER. A name of the _Pogonias_ of Cuvier (a fish also termed the banded drum and young sheepskin); and several other fish.

GRYPHON. An archaic term for the meteorological phenomenon now called _typhoon_. (_See_ TYPHOON.)