C
CABIN to To CALK, or CAULK
CALL to CANNON
CANNON to CANOE
CANOE to To rig the CAPSTERN
Surge the CAPSTERN to CARPENTER of a ship
CARTEL to CATS-PAW
CAULKING to CHANNEL
CHANNELS to CHEARLY
CHEEKS of the mast to CLINCH
CLINCHER-WORK to COASTING-PILOT
CLINCHER-WORK
CLOSE-HAULED
CLOSE-QUARTERS
CLUE of a sail
CLUE-GARNETS
CLUE-LINES
COACH, or COUCH
COAMINGS of the hatches
COASTING
COASTING-PILOT
COAT to COLLIERS
COLOURS to COMPASS
COMPASSING to COVE
COUNTER to CRAWL
CREEPER to CROW-FOOT
CROWNING to CUT-WATER
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CLOSE-QUARTERS
CLOSE-QUARTERS, certain strong barriers of wood stretching across a merchant-Ship in several places. They are used as a place of streat when a ship is boarded by her adversary, and are therefore fitted with several small loopholes, through which to fire the small arms, whereby the ship's crew may defend themselves and annoy the enemy. They are like-wise furnished with several small cannons, called powder-chests, which are fixed upon the deck, and filled with powder, old nails, &c. and may be fired at any time from the close-quarters, upon the boarders.We have known an English merchant-ship, of sixteen guns, and properly fitted with close-quarters, defeat the united efforts of three French privateers who boarded her in the late war, after having engaged at some distance nearly a day and a half with very few intervals of rest. Two of the cruisers were equipped with twelve guns each, and the other with eight. The French sailors were, after boarding, so much exposed to the continued fire of musquetry, and coehorns charged with granadoes, that a dreadful scene of carnage ensued, in which the decks were soon covered with the dead bodies of the enemy, several of which the boarders, in their hurry to escape, had left behind.
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© Derived from Thomas Cadell's new corrected edition, London: 1780, page 83, 2003
Prepared by Paul Turnbull
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/refs/falc/0338.html