COUDRAN, a mixture of tar and some other ingredients, used to prevent ropes from rotting. See GOUDRON.

COUETS, the tacks of the main-sail and fore-sail. See AMURES.

COMETS à queuë de rat, tacks which taper to the point.

COUILLARD, an old term signifying the clue of a sail.

COULADOUX, shroud-tackles, which are used in the gallies, and some other vessels in the Mediterranean, in the place of dead-eyes and laniards.

COULANTES, or COURANTES, the running-rigging. See MANOEUVRE courantes.

COULÉE, that part of a ship's bottom which lies between the floor-heads and the keel, which is somewhat concave on the outside, and called a hollow floor.

COULER à fond, to sink at sea. See also SANCER.

COULER bas d' eau, to sink deeper in the water; expressed of a ship when her leaks gain upon the pump, or when she receives more water than the pumps can discharge.

COULOIRS, certain gangways fixed on the sides of undecked vessels; also the grating-gangways on the sides of such vessels as have their decks arched very high in the middle, as xebecks, &c.

COULOIRS likewise imports the passages that lead to the several cabins or store-rooms of a ship.

COUP d' assurance, a gun fired by a ship on her entrance into a port, when she displays her colours, as a sign of peace. See ASSURANCE.

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