The Sailor's Word-Book Part 94

FIGURE OF THE EARTH. The form of our globe, which is that of an oblate spheroid with an ellipticity of about 1/299.

FIKE. _See_ FYKE.

FILADIERE. A small flat-bottomed boat of the Garonne.

FILE. Originally a string of soldiers one behind the other, though in the present formation of British troops, the length of the string has been reduced to two.

FILE. _An old file._ A somewhat contemptuous epithet for a deep and cunning, but humorous person.

FILE OFF, TO. To march off to a flank by files, or with a very small front.

FILL, TO. To brace the yards so that the wind strikes the after side of the sails, and advances the s.h.i.+p in her course, after the sails had been s.h.i.+vering, or braced aback. A s.h.i.+p may be forced backward or forward, or made to remain in her place, with the same wind, by "backing, filling,"

or s.h.i.+vering the sails. (_See_ BRACE, BACK, and s.h.i.+VER.) Colliers generally _tide it_, "backing and filling" down the Thames until they gain the reaches, where there is room for tacking, or the wind is fair enough for them to lay their course.--An idle skulker, a fellow who loiters, trying to avoid being seen by the officer of the watch, is said to be "backing and filling;" otherwise, doing nothing creditably.

FILL AND STAND ON. A signal made after "lying by" to direct the fleet to resume their course.

FILLER. A filling piece in a made mast.

FILLET. An ornamental moulding. Rings on the muzzle and cascabel of guns.

FILLET-HORSE. The horse employed in the shafts of the limbers.

FILLING. In s.h.i.+p-carpentry, wood fitted on a timber or elsewhere to make up a defect in the moulding way. This name is sometimes given to a _chock_.

FILLING A s.h.i.+P'S BOTTOM. Implies covering the bottom of a s.h.i.+p with broad-headed nails, so as to give her a sheathing of iron, to prevent the worms getting into the wood; sheathing with copper is found superior, but the former plan is still used for piles in salt-water.

FILLING IN. The replacing a s.h.i.+p's vacant planks opened for ventilation, when preparing her, from ordinary, for sea.

FILLING POWDER. Taking gunpowder from the casks to fill cartridges, when lights and fires should be extinguished.

FILLING ROOM. Formerly a small place parted off and lined with lead, in a man-of-war magazine, wherein powder may be started loosely, in order to fill cartridges.

FILLINGS. Fir fayed in between the chocks of the head, and wherever solidity is required, as making the curve fair for the mouldings between the edges of the fish-front and the sides of the mast, or making the s.p.a.ces between the ribs and timbers of a vessel's frame solid.

FILLING-TIMBERS. Blocks of wood introduced in all well-built vessels between the frames, where the bilge-water may wash.

FILLING-TRANSOM, is just above the deck-transom, securing the ends of the gun-deck plank and lower-transoms.

FILL THE MAIN-YARD. An order well understood to mean, fill the main-topsail, after it has been aback, or the s.h.i.+p hove-to.

FILTER. A strainer to free water from its impurities, usually termed by seamen _drip-stone_ (which see).

FILUM AQUae. The thread or middle of any river or stream which divides countries, manors, &c.--_File du mer_, the high tide of the sea.

FIMBLE HEMP; _female hemp_, is that which is chiefly used for domestic purposes, and therefore falls to the care of the women, as _carl_ or _male hemp_, which produces the flower, does to the maker of cordage.

"Wife, pluck fro thy seed hemp, the _fimble hemp_ clean, This looketh more yellow, the other more green; Use this one for thy spinning, leave Michael the t'other, For shoe-thread and halter, for rope and such other."--_Tusser._

FIN [Anglo-Saxon, _Finn_]. A native of Finland; those are _Fins_ who live by fis.h.i.+ng. We use the whole for a part, and thus lose the clue which the Fin affords of a race of fishermen.

FIN-BACK. _See_ FINNER.

FIND, TO. To provide with or furnish.

FINDING. The verdict of a court-martial.

FINDON HADDOCK. The Finnan Haddie, a species of haddock cured by smoke-drying at Montrose and Aberdeen.

FINE. A term of comparison, as fine s.h.i.+p, &c., or _lean_ (which see).

Also, _see_ FYEN.

FINE BREEZES. Said of the wind when the flying-kites may be carried, but requiring a sharp look-out.

FINIs.h.i.+NGS. The carved ornaments of the quarter-galleries: _upper_ and _lower_, as above or below the stools.

FINNER. Whales of the genus _Balaenoptera_ are so termed, being distinguished from the right whales by the possession of a small triangular adipose dorsal fin. There are several species, some of which grow to a greater length than any other animals of the order, viz. 80 or perhaps 90 feet. They are very active and difficult to harpoon, yield comparatively little oil, and their baleen, or "whalebone," is almost worthless; consequently, they suffer much less than the right whales from the persecutions of the whalers. The finner, or great black fish, is feared by whalers in general. It is vicious, and can only be attacked by large boats in shallow water, as at the Bermudas, where the whale-boats are about 50 or 60 feet long, and 12 feet beam. The fish yields one barrel of oil for every foot in length beyond thirty. (_See_ RAZOR-BACK and RORQUAL.)

FINNIE. A northern name for salmon under a year old.

FINNOCK. A white kind of small salmon taken on the west coast of Scotland.

FINTRUM SPELDIN. A small dried haddock.

FIN-WHALE. _See_ FINNER.

FIORD. A Norwegian pilot term for good channels among islets, and deep inlets of the sea.

FIRBOME. An old term for a beacon, and appears thus in the _Promptorium Parvulorum_.

FIR-BUILT. Constructed of fir.

FIRE! The order to put the match to the priming, or pull the trigger of a cannon or other fire-arm so as to discharge it. The act of discharging ordnance.

FIRE, LOSS BY. Is within the policy of insurance, whether it be by accident, or by the fault of the master or mariners. Also, if a s.h.i.+p be ordered by a state to be burnt to prevent infection, or if she be burnt to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy.

FIRE-AND-LIGHTS. Nickname of the master-at-arms.

FIRE-ARMS. Every description of arms that discharge missiles by gunpowder, from the heaviest cannon to a pistol.

FIRE-ARROWS. Missiles in olden times carrying combustibles; much used in the sea-fights of the middle ages.

FIRE-AWAY. Go on with your remarks.

FIRE-BALL. In meteorology, a beautiful phenomenon seen at times, the origin of which is as yet imperfectly accounted for. It is also the popular name for aerolites in general, because in their descent they appear to be burning.

FIRE-b.a.l.l.s. Are used for destroying vessels run aground, and firing buildings. They are made of a composition of meal-powder, sulphur, saltpetre, and pitch, moulded into a ma.s.s with suet and tow.

FIRE-BARE. An old term from the Anglo-Saxon for _beacon_.