Part 18 (1/2)

s.h.i.+P. See ”Vessel.”

SLIP. See ”Cable.”

SLOOP. 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 s.h.i.+ps 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. Yards are further designated by the name of the mast to which each belongs; 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 three-cornered 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. See ”Sails.”

SPRING. See p. 65, note.

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 harbor,” ”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.