Marina tells Leonine—
"And, clasping to a mast, endur'd a sea
That almost burst the deck, and from the ladder-tackle
Wash'd off a canvas-climber."
CAP. A strong thick block of wood having two large holes through it, the one square, the other round, used to confine two masts together, when one is erected at the head of the other, in order to lengthen it. The principal caps of a ship are those of the lower masts, which are fitted with a strong eye-bolt on each side, wherein to hook the block by which the top-mast is drawn up through the cap. In the same manner as the top mast slides up through the cap of the lower mast, the topgallant-mast slides up through the cap of the top-masts. When made of iron the cap used to be called a crance.—To cap a mast-head is placing tarpaulin guards against weather. The term is applied to any covering such as lead put over iron bolts to prevent corrosion by sea-water, canvas covers over the ends of rigging, &c. &c. Also, pieces of oak laid on the upper blocks on which a vessel is built, to receive the keel. They are split out for the addition of the false keel, and therefore should be of the most free-grained timber. Also, the coating which guards the top of a quill tube. Also, the percussion priming for fire-arms.—Cap-a-pied, armed from head to foot.
CAP, To. To puzzle or beat in argument. To salute by touching the head-covering, as Shakspeare makes Iago's friends act to Othello. It is now more an academic than a sea-term.
CAPABARRE. An old term for misappropriating government stores. (See Marryat's Novels.)
CAPACISE. A corrupt form of capsize.
CAPACITY. Burden, tonnage, fitness for the service, rating.
CAPE. A projecting point of land jutting out from the coast-line; the extremity of a promontory, of which last it is the secondary rank. It differs from a headland, since a cape may be low. The Cape of Good Hope is always familiarly known as "The Cape." Cape was also used for a rhumb-line.
CAPE, To. To keep a course. How does she cape? how does she lie her course?
CAPE FLY-AWAY. A cloud-bank on the horizon, mistaken for land, which disappears as the ship advances. (See Fog.)
CAPE-HEN. See Molly-mawk.
CAPELLA. The lucida of Auriga, and a nautical star.
CAPE-MERCHANT [capo]. An old name for super-cargo in early voyages, as also the head merchant in a factory.
CAPE-PIGEON, or Cape-petrel. A sea-bird which follows a ship in her passage round the cape; the Procellaria capensis. (See Pintados.)
CAPER. A light-armed vessel of the 17th century, used by the Dutch for privateering.
CAPER CORNER-WAY. Diagonally.
CAPFUL OF WIND. A light flaw, which suddenly careens a vessel and passes off.
CAPITAL of a Work. In fortification, an imaginary line bisecting its most prominent salient angle.
CAPITANA. Formerly the principal galley in a Mediterranean fleet: the admiral's ship.
CAPITULATION. The conditions on which a subdued force surrenders, agreed upon between the contending parties.
CAPLIN, or Capelin. A fish of the family Clupeidæ, very similar to a smelt; frequently imported from Newfoundland dried. It is the general bait for cod-fish there.
CAP'N. The way in which some address the commanders of merchant vessels.
CAPON. A jeering name for the red-herring.
CAPONNIERE. In fortification, a passage across the bottom of the ditch, covered, at the least, by a parapet on each side, and very generally also with a bomb-proof roof, when it may be furnished with many guns, which are of great importance in the defence of a fortress, as the besieger can hardly silence them till he has constructed batteries on the brink of the ditch.
CAPOTE. A good storm-coat with a hood, much worn in the Levant, and made of a special manufacture.
CAPPANUS. The worm which adheres to, and gnaws the bottom of a ship, to prevent which all ships should be sheathed with copper.
CAPPED. A ship making against a race or very strong currents.
CAPRICORNUS. The tenth sign of the zodiac, which the sun enters about the 21st of December, and opens the winter solstice.
CAP-SCUTTLE. A framing composed of coamings and head-ledges raised above the deck, with a top which shuts closely over into a rabbet.
CAP-SHORE. A supporting spar between the cap and the trestle-tree.
CAPSIZE, To. To upset or overturn anything.
CAP-SQUARE. The clamp of iron which shuts over the trunnions of a gun to secure them to the carriage, having a curve to receive one-third part of the trunnion, the other two being sunk in the carriage; it is closed by forelocks.
CAPSTAN, Cabestan, Capstern, Capston, &c. A mechanical arrangement for lifting great weights. There is a variety of capsterns, but they agree in having a horizontal circular head, which has square holes around its edge, and in these long bars are shipped, and are said to be "swifted" when their outer ends are traced together; beneath is a perpendicular barrel, round which is wrapped the rope or chain used to lift the anchor or other great weight, even to the heaving a ship off a shoal. Now, in most ships where a capstern is used to lift the anchor, the chain cable is itself brought to the capstern. The purchase or lifting power is gained by the great sweep of the bars. A perpendicular iron spindle passes through the whole capstern, and is stepped into a socket on the deck below the one on which it stands. In some cases capsterns are double in height, so that bars may be worked on two decks, giving more room for the men.
CAPSTAN, To come up the. In one sense is to lift the pauls and walk back, or turn the capstan the contrary way, thereby slackening, or letting out some of the rope on which they have been heaving. The sudden order would be obeyed by surging, or letting go any rope on which they were heaving. Synonymous to "Come up the purchase."
CAPSTAN, To heave at the. To urge it round, by pushing against the bars, as already described.
CAPSTAN, To man the. To place the sailors at it in readiness to heave.
CAPSTAN, To paul the. To drop all the pauls into their sockets, to prevent the capstan from recoiling during any pause of heaving.
CAPSTAN, To rig the. To fix the bars in their respective holes, thrust in the pins to confine them, and reeve the swifter through the ends.
CAPSTAN, Surge the. Is the order to slacken the rope which is wound round the barrel while heaving, to prevent it from riding or fouling. This term specially applies to surging the messenger when it rides, or when the two lashing eyes foul on the whelps or the barrel.
CAPSTAN-BAR PINS. Pins inserted through their ends to prevent their unshipping.
CAPSTAN-BARRING. An obsolete sea-punishment, in which the offender was sentenced to carry a capstan-bar during a watch.
CAPSTAN-BARS. Long pieces of wood of the best ash or hickory, one end of which is thrust into the square holes in the drumhead, like the spokes of a wheel. They are used to heave
