DICTIONARY OF

Sea Craft 297 Sea Level
Sea Craft.* Timber supporting lower deck beams of a wooden vessel.
Sea Disturbance. State of sea surface as compared with its mean level. Generally expressed
by a number in a scale in which 0 represents perfect smoothness, and 10 is the maximum
disturbance known to seamen.
Sea Dog. Old and experienced seaman. 2. Dog fish. 3.Elizabethan privateer.
Sea Eagle. Bald-headed eagle (adopted as emblem by U.S.A.). 2. Sting-ray fish.
Sea Eggs. Echinoidiae that are usually called 'Sea Urchins'.
Sea Fardinger.* A seaman.
Seafarer. One who earns his living by service at sea.
Seafaring. Serving at sea for a livelihood.
Sea Fire. Phosphorescence of the sea surface.
Sea Fret. Dawn mist at sea.
Sea Gait. Rolling swell. 2. Position of two ships when alongside one another in a swell.
Sea Gates. Pair of gates that close entrance to a dock, tidal basin, or harbour against the
action of storm waves.
Sea Gauge.* Former deep-sea sounding appliance in which a column of mercury was acted
upon by water pressure, the mercury compressing trapped air. A viscous substance, on top of
mercury column, denoted height to which mercury rose.
Sea-Going. Applied to men, or craft, when differentiating between sea service and service in
sheltered waters.
Sea Gull. Name that includes all birds of the gull family that fly mostly above the sea.
Sea Hog. Porpoise.
Sea Horizon. The line in which sea and sky appear to meet.
Sea Horse. Name given to walrus, hippopotamus, and hippocampus; the last being a small
fish with a head resembling that of a horse.
Sea Kindliness. That characteristic of a ship by which she behaves well in heavy weather,
and adapts herself to varying states of the sea.
Seal. Warm-blooded carnivorous animal found in arctic and Antarctic regions and in lower
latitudes. Limbs have developed into flippers.
Sealer. Man who hunts seals. 2. Vessel used in seal hunting.
Sea Lawyer. Nautical name for an argumentative person.
Sea Legs. Ability to walk fairly steadily when a vessel is labouring in a seaway.
Sea Letter. Custom house document carried by a neutral vessel on a foreign voyage in
wartime. Gives port of departure, destination, nature of cargo, and other relevant particulars
required by a boarding officer.
Sea Level. A more or less theoretical level based on that which the sea surface would have if
there were no tide, swell or wave. It thus approximates half tide level. Datum for British
surveying is the mean level at Newlyn, Cornwall.