COIL and COILING

COILING, (rouer, Fr.) implies a sort of serpentine winding of a cable or other rope, that it may occupy a small space in the ship. Each of the windings of this sort is called a fake, and one range of fakes upon the same line is called a tier; there are generally from five to seven fakes in a tier, and three or four tiers in the whole length of the cables. This, however, depends on the extent of the fakes. The smaller ropes employed about the sails are coiled upon cleats at sea, to prevent their being entangled amongst one another in traversing, contracting, or extending the sails.

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