WINCH. A purchase formed by a horizontal spindle or shaft with a wheel or crank at the end. A small one with a wheel is used for making ropes or spunyarn. WINDLASS. The machine used in merchant vessels to weigh the anchor by. WIND-RODE. The situation of a vessel at anchor when she swings and rides by the force of the wind, instead of the tide or current. (See TIDE-RODE.) WING. That part of the hold or between-decks which is next the side. WINGERS Casks stowed in the wings of a vessel. WING-AND-WING. The situation of a fore-and-aft vessel when she is going dead before the wind, with her foresail hauled over on one side, and her mainsail on the other. WITHE, or WYTHE. An iron instrument fitted on the end of a boom or mast, with a ring to it through which another boom or mast is rigged out and secured. WOOLD. To wind a piece of rope round a spar. WORK UP. To draw the yarns from old rigging and make them into spunyarn, foxes, sennet, &c. Also, a phrase for keeping a crew constantly at work upon needless matters, and in all weathers, and beyond their usual hours, for punishment. WORM. (See page 31.) To fill up between the lays of a rope with small stuff wound round spirally. Stuff so wound round is called worming. WRING. To bend or strain a mast by setting the rigging up too taut. YACHT. (Pronounced yot.) A vessel of pleasure or state. YARD. (See PLATE 1.) A long piece of timber, tapering slightly toward the ends, and hung by the centre to a mast, to spread the square sails upon. YARD-ARM. The extremities of a yard. YARD-ARM AND YARD-ARM. The situation of two vessels, lying alongside one another, so near that their yard-arms cross or touch. YARN. (See ROPEYARN.) YAW. The motion of a vessel when she goes off from her course. YEOMAN. A man employed in a vessel of war to take charge of a storeroom; as, boatswain's yeoman, the man that has charge of the stores of rigging, &c. YOKE. A piece of wood placed across the head of a boat's rudder, with a rope attached to each end, by which the boat is steered. PART II. CHAPTER I.* THE MASTER. Beginning of the voyage. Shipping the crew. Outfit. Provisions. Watches. Navigation. Log-book. Observations. Working ship. Day's work. Discipline. IN the third part of this work it will be seen that the shipmaster is a person to whom, both by the general marine law of all commercial nations and by the special statutes of the United States, great powers are confided, and upon whom heavy responsibilities rest. The shipmaster will find there what are his legal rights, duties, and remedies as to owner, ship, and crew; and the various requirements as to the papers with which he is to furnish his ship, and the observances of revenue and other regulations. It is proposed to give here-rather more perhaps for the information of others than of the master himself-the ordinary and every-day duties of his office, and the customs which long usage has made almost as binding as laws. *There is no special code of discipline for the Merchant Service either in the United States or Great Britain. In the former country, certain usages have been long established and recognised by courts of justice. In the latter, within these few years, some regulations bearing on discipline have been introduced, and the Mercantile Marine Act, which contained these provisions, having been found to work satisfactorily, the regulations have been re-enacted in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, a statute which consolidates all the laws relating to British ships and seamen, and contains many excellent provisions calculated to sustain the interests of owners, masters, and crews, and facilitate the system of free-trade, which has produced such beneficial results. The last remnant of the law which regulated the manning of ships has been now repealed, and a British vessel may be navigated by a crew wholly comprised of foreigners, all that is necessary being, that in ships destined for foreign voyages the master and mates must possess valid certificates of competency or service appropriate to their several grades. These regulations will be found in detail in Part III., which describes the law relating to the masters and crews of British vessels.-J. H. B. There is a great difference in different ports, and among the various owners, as to the part the master is to take in supplying and manning the vessel. In many cases the owner puts on board all the stores for the ship's use and for the crew, and gives the master particular directions, sometimes in writing, as to the manner in which he is to dispense them. These directions are more or less liberal, according to the character of the owner; and in some cases the dispensing of the stores is left to the master's discretion. In other instances, the master makes out an inventory of all the stores he thinks it expedient to have put on board, and they are accordingly supplied by the owner's order. sea. In the manner of shipping the crew there is as great a difference as in that of providing the stores. Usually the whole thing is left to shipping-masters, who are paid so much a head for each of the crew, and are responsible for their appearance on board at the time of sailing. When this plan is adopted, neither the master nor owner, except by accident, knows anything of the crew before the vessel goes to The shipping-master opens the articles at his office, procures the men, sees that they sign in due form, pays them their advance, takes care that they, or others in their place, are on board at the time of sailing, and sends in a bill for the whole to the owner. In other cases, the master selects his crew, and occasionally the owner does it, if he has been at sea himself, and understands seamen; though a shippingmaster is still employed, to see them on board, and for other purposes. In the ordinary course of short voyages, where crews are shipped frequently, and there is not much motive * The crews of all British ships destined for foreign voyages must be engaged and discharged before a shipping-master appointed under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, whose duty it is to ascertain that every seaman, before he subscribes to the articles, understands the nature of the contract he undertakes to perform. He is also to ascertain that certain forms are complied with calculated to secure the payment of all wages due up to the day of discharge, to disallow improper charges, or fines and forfeitures, not entered in the official log-book, to take charge of wages and effects of deceased seamen, &c. In some of the large ports licensed shipping-agents are established, whose business it is to provide crews at the expense of the shipowners.-J. H. B. for making a selection, the procuring a crew may be left entirely to the agency of a faithful shipping-master; but upon long voyages, the comfort and success of which may depend much upon the character of a crew, the master or owner should interest himself to select able-bodied and respectable men, to explain to them the nature and length of the voyage they are going upon, what clothing they will want, and the work that will be required of them, and should see that they have proper and sufficient accommodations and provisions for their comfort. The master or owner should also, though this duty is often neglected, go to the forecastle, and see that it is cleaned out, whitewashed, or painted, put in a properly habitable condition, and furnished with every reasonable convenience. It would seem best that the master should have something to do with the selection of the provisions for his men, as he will usually be more interested in securing their goodwill and comfort than the owner would be. By the master or owner's thus interesting himself for the crew, a great deal of misunderstanding, complaint, and ill-will may be avoided, and the beginning, at least, of the voyage may be made under good auspices. Unless the master is also supercargo, his duties, before sailing, are mostly confined to looking after the outfit of the vessel, and seeing that she is in sea order. Everything being in readiness, the custom-house and other regulations complied with, and the crew on board, the vessel is put under the charge of the pilot to be carried out clear of the land. While the pilot is on board the master has little else to do than to see that everything is in order, and that the commands of the pilot are executed. As soon as the pilot leaves the ship, the entire control and responsibility are thrown upon the master. When the vessel is well clear of the land, and things are put into some order, it is usual for the master to call all hands aft, and say something to them about the voyage upon which they have entered. After this, the crew are divided into watches. The watches are the divisions of the crew into two equal portions. The periods of time occupied by each part of the crew, while on duty, are also called watches. There are two watches; the larboard, commanded by the chief mate, and the starboard, by the second mate. The master himself stands no watch, but comes and goes at all times as he chooses. The starboard is sometimes called the captain's watch, probably from the fact that in the early days of the service, when vessels were smaller, there was usually but one mate, and the master stood his own watch; and now, in vessels which have no second mate, the master keeps the starboard watch. In dividing into watches, the master usually allows the officers to choose the men, one by one, alternately; but sometimes makes the division himself, upon consulting with his officers. The men are divided as equally as possible, with reference to their qualities as able seamen, ordinary seamen, or boys (as all green hands are called, whatever their age may be); but if the number is unequal, the larboard watch has the odd one, since the chief mate does not go aloft and do other duty in his watch, as the second mate does in his. The cook always musters with the larboard watch, and the steward with the starboard. If there is a carpenter, and the larboard watch is the largest, he generally goes aloft with the starboard watch; otherwise, with the larboard. As soon as the division is made, if the day's work is over, one watch is set, and the other is sent below. Among the numerous customs of the ocean, which can hardly be accounted for, it is one that, on the first night of the outward passage, the starboard watch should take the first four hours on deck, and on the first night of the homeward passage, the larboard should do the same. The sailors explain this by the old phrase, "that the master takes the ship out, but the mate brings her home." The master takes the bearing and distance of the last point of departure upon the land, and from that point the ship's reckoning begins, and is regularly kept in the logbook. The chief mate keeps the log-book, but the master examines and corrects the reckoning every day. The master also attends to the chronometer, and takes all the observations, with the assistance of his officers, if necessary. Every day, a few minutes before noon, if there is any prospect of |