Roundrobin.-A method of petitioning. (See under ROUND.)

Rockered.-Rounded, as the keels of some boats are rounded, when they are called rockered or drag keels. It is mostly seen in small boats or racing yachts (see fig.).

re

Rocket.-Rockets are used at sea, by night, as signals; and if the weather be foggy, they are placed by guns. A rocket sent up alone, every few minutes, is a signal of distress.

ROCKERED, OR DRAG KEEL.

Rocket apparatus.-Instructions issued by the Board of Trade for the guidance of masters and seamen, when using the rocket apparatus for saving life, may be obtained by any person at any mercantile marine office.

Roger. The pirate's flag; more commonly known as the Jolly Roger. It is black, charged with a white skull and cross-bones. Roger's blast (at sea).—A sudden disturbance of the atmosphere, resembling a small whirlwind.

Rogue's yarn. In rope manufactured for the Royal services, it is the practice to interweave one yarn of a colour different from the rest. This is called the rogue's yarn, because it can be identified if stolen. And, moreover, since each dockyard may have its distinguishing colour, a rope may be traced back to the place at which it was made, which is a wholesome check upon defective manufacture. Roll, rolling. The oscillation of a vessel in a heavy sea. The result of heavy rolling may sometimes be to throw sails over to windward and back. In square rigged vessels this would be especially the case were not ropes attached to the sails to prevent it; these ropes and their blocks constitute what is called rolling tackle.

Rollers.-1. Heavy seas (waves) setting in without wind; sometimes of enormous size and length, as may often be seen on the Cornish coast or along the shores of the Bay of Biscay. 2. On shipboard, revolving timbers placed where constant friction of ropes occurs.

Room.-Room and space.-In shipbuilding a purely technical term referring to the space supported by each rib of a vessel. Rooming (old term).-"To leeward" (which see).

To go rooming.-To bear down upon anything.

Roost.—“ A phrase applied to races of strong and furious tides which set in between the Orkney and Shetland Islands; as those of Sunburgh and the Start."

Rope.-Generally speaking, cordage above one inch in circumference. A rope, technically, is a twist of a certain number of strands of hempen fibre; a strand being a number of yarns, and a yarn a certain proportion of twisted fibres. Three strands form a rope; though four-stranded manilla is now largely used on yachts.

Rope is of several kinds.

Italian hemp is the best, and when worn out is always saleable. Manilla (from the fibres of a species of wild banana), being of a softer nature, is very suitable to yachts, but it is expensive, and to take its place, fash rope, an inferior kind of manilla, is often used. Coir rope is made of the fibrous husk of cocoanut.

Bass warp is very light with strands interwoven.

Rope is either hawser (sometimes called shroud) laid—when it is made up of three or four strands; or cable (cablet or water) laid— when it has three great strands, each being made up of three small ones, twisted left-handed.

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The size of rope is designated by its circumference expressed in inches; as a 9in. rope, "which is one 9in. round. It is issued in coils; sold by the lb. weight; and its length measured in fathoms. circumference about. Its weight

Its strength in tons dead weight

in lbs. per fathom

2

=

circumference about. 66

4

5

2

Rope is either white or tarred, the latter being the best if liable to exposure to wet, the former if not exposed. The strength of tarred rope is, however, only about three-fourths that of white rope, and its loss of strength increases with time.

In rigging, the standing part of a rope is the part fixed; the running part, that part which is hauled upon.

A bight is a bend in a rope whether in making a knot or for any other purpose. Rope when wet swells in diameter and shrinks in length; this should be allowed for when tightening up dry ropes which are to be left standing for any length of time, or even for one night. New rope is stiff. This may be taken off to some extent by steeping in boiling water and stretching while hot. When a rope gets partly worn through it is said to fret; when its end becomes loose it frays.

Rope bands.-(See ROBINS.)

Rope end.-A punishment. The infliction of a whipping with a short rope.

Rope of sand.-A thing without cohesion. A people who cannot combine, but who at critical moments separate and thus lose their object; the principal failing of many communities of seamen, more especially, perhaps, of coast men. "A term borrowed from a Greek proverb signifying attempting impossibilities.

Rope yarn.-The smallest component part of a rope. (See above.) It also means the untwisted yarn of old rope (junk), for which there are a multitude of uses on ship-board.

On the high ropes.—Ceremonious, puffed up, proud, etc.

Rose lashings.-Fanciful or decorated lashings with rope. Rough.-Unfinished. Hence-Rough knots (properly “rough nauts," abbreviated from “ nauticals "), unsophisticated seamen. Rough spars.-Those in an unfinished condition.

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Rough tree, or rough tree timbers.—The stanchions supporting the rough tree rail, also the tree out of which a spar is to be made.

Rough-tree rail.-The topmost rail round a vessel's bulwarks. Also, an old term used on trading ships for almost any long piece of timber placed as a rail above the ship's side.

Round. To round in -to haul in. "To round in generally implies to pull upon any slack rope which passes through one or more blocks in a direction nearly horizontal," and is particularly applied to the braces. It is apparently derived from the circular motion of the rope about the sheave through which it passes. "To round up is used in nearly the same sense, only it is expressed of a tackle which hangs in a perpendicular direction without sustaining or hoisting any weighty body." (Falconer.)

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To round to.-To bring a vessel head to wind."

Round turn.-The passing of a rope once round a timber or post so as to be able to suddenly stop some motion, or temporarily hold on.

Round house.-Apparently so called because it was possible to walk round it. On old ships it was a square cabin on the after part of the deck, and in men-of-war was sometimes called the "coach. Later, it was built abaft the main mast. To-day it is not so often seen.

Round robin.-" A compact or agreement entered into by seamen, when they have cause of complaint against their superior officer, to state their grievances to the Admiralty or commander-in-chief, and to endeavour to obtain redress without subjecting any one individual more than another to be thought the leader or chief mover. The term appears to be a corruption of ruban rond, as their complaints are generally stated in a circular form, and the signatures written all round them, so that none appear first."

Round dozen.-Thirteen. In old days a round dozen meant thirteen lashes with the cat.

Round ribbed.-Spoken of the shape of a vessel when her sides are very much curved.

Rounding a rope.-Serving it. Much the same as keckling (which see.)

Roundly.-Quickly.

Rounds or rungs.-The cross pieces forming the steps of a wooden ladder. At sea the rounds forming the steps up the shrouds of a vessel are called the ratlines, or rattlings.

Roust.-(See ROOST.)

Rovens. 1.

A pronunciation of the word robins (more properly rope-bands). 2. Ravellings of canvas or bunting.

Row.-Rowing.—The propulsion of a boat by oars, not by sculls, that being, in the language of boating men, called sculling.

The art of rowing is not easily learned. The best schools are the universities, but the various rowing clubs of the Thames also produce very perfect oarsmen. Those who would know more of the subject may be referred to the treatise on rowing in the Badminton series.

Row dry.-To row without splashing; just as to row wet is to splash a good deal.

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Row off all!"-The order to rowers to cease rowing, and lay upon their oars; but the term easy all" is much oftener em

ployed.

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Row in the same boat.-Equivalent to riding in the same curricle with another person; that is, being in the same situation or holding the same views.

Row bowline.-(See RUMBOWLINE.)

Rowl. A single block or pulley. "The iron or wood shiver or wheel for a whip tackle."

Rowlock (pronounced "rullock").-The rowlock, as the name implies, is a lock or holding portion for a rowing machine, i.e., an oar; it is, in fact, the fulcrum from

which an oar obtains its leverage. There are fixed rowlocks, sometimes called tholes (but not correctly, because tholes, properly speaking, are pins), and swivel-rowlocks, which revolve upon pivots, turning in holes made to receive them in the gunwale of a boat. The swivel-rowlocks have certain advantages over the fixed in that a longer stroke may be taken by their use, and that sculls or oars may be brought alongside a boat instead of lifted out or shipped when passing very close to any object. They are nearly always found in boats with a gunwale, but in such skiffs as those built on the Upper Thames, the absence of a gunwale necessitates an arrangement of fixed rowlocks, in consequence of which the oars and sculls made for use on these waters are nearly always square in the loom. There can be no doubt that the fixed rowlock is more elegant than the swivel, and to up-river men the sound of the measured rattle as the square oars fall to the feather is very musical.

VARIOUS FORMS OF ROWLOCKS.

For rough rowing, however, use has to give way to appearance, and the swivel is undeniably the more useful. Sailing boats have often the rowlocks cut out of the gunwale's strake, so that they may be out of the way of all sails, sheets, etc.; and to preserve the height of the free board a slide is usually fitted over them, when under sail. (See also THOLES.)

Rowse. To pull on a rope without tackle.

"Rowse away!""Rowse away cheerily!" etc., are encouraging exhortations on the part of an officer to men hauling on a rope.

Royal.-Royal mast. The mast in a ship, bark, brig, etc., above the top-gallant, and named according to the lower mast upon which it rises, as fore-royal, main-royal, etc. The royal mast is the highest ordinary mast in a ship, and carries the royal sail and sky sail.

Royal sail.-The sail on the royal mast, and named accordingly— as main-royal, etc.

Royal yard. The yard which carries the royal sail. It comes down to the top-gallant yard when the sails are furled.

Rubber. "In sail-making a small iron implement fixed in a wooden handle and used to rub down or flatten the seams of the sails."

Rubbing piece, or wale.-A beading of wood or rope running round the outside of a boat just beneath the gunwale to protect it against injury in touching quays, piers, or other boats. (See WALE.)

Ruck.-A measure of string.

Rucking.-Easing down a gaff sail apidly, by lowering on the peak and throat halyards. It may be necessary in case of a sudden gust or to run before a squall.

Rudder (Anglo-Saxon, steor-roper).--That instrument by which a vessel is steered. Tiphys is said to have been its inventor. The rudder is hung upon the stern post of a vessel by means of gudgeons and pintles, otherwise called rudder bands or braces.

as follow:-A is the head over which the tiller

Its parts are (B) fits; or into which it is inserted as at C; or the tiller may take the form of a yoke as at D. E is the stock or neck, F is the pintle or brace, and G the gudgeon, or rudder band; these last two (the gudgeon and the pintle) constituting what are sometimes called the rudder irons, or forelocks. The rudder rake is the shape of the aftermost part. The bearding is the fore-part