KNEE, a crooked piece of timber, having two branches or arms and generally used to connect the beams of a ship with her sides or timbers.

L.

LAGOON, a lake.

LARBOARD, the left side of a ship when the eye of a spectator is directed forward.

LASHING, a piece of rope employed to fasten or secure any moveable body in a ship, or about her masts, sails, and rigging: also the act of fastening or securing any thing by means of the rope used for this purpose.

LOG, a machine used to measure the ship’s head-way, or the rate of her velocity as she advances through the sea. It is composed of a reel and line, to which is fixed a small piece of wood, forming the quadrant of a circle. The term log however is more particularly applied to the latter. The log, is generally about a quarter of an inch thick, and five or six inches from the angular point to the circumference. It is balanced by a thin plate of lead, nailed upon the arch, so as to swim perpendicularly in the water, with about 2/3 impressed under the surface. The line is fastened to the log by means of two legs, one of which passes through a hole at the corner, and is knotted on the opposite side; whilst the other leg is attached to the arch by a pin, fixed in another hole, so as to draw out occasionally. By these legs the log is hung in equilibrio, and the line, which is united to it, is divided into certain spaces, which are in proportion to an equal number of geographical miles, as a half minute or quarter minute is to an hour of time.

LUG-SAIL, a square sail, hoisted occasionally on the mast of a boat, or small vessel, upon a yard which hangs nearly at right angles with the mast.

M.

To MAKE the land, is to discover it from a distant situation, in consequence of approaching it after a sea-voyage.

MIZEN, the aftermost or hindmost of the fixed sails of a ship.

Voyaging Accounts