DICTIONARY OF

Star Knot 329 Stay Tackle
Star Knot. Ornamental knot put in end of six-stranded rope. End is unlaid to a whipping,
'half crown' is put in each strand - the standing part on top and in direction of lay of rope.
End of each strand is passed through 'half crown' of next strand, then passed under its own
part and brought to centre. Finished off as wall knot, or crowned.
Star Magnitudes. See 'Magnitude of Star'.
Stars. Self-luminous heavenly bodies, outside solar system, whose apparent positions
relative to other stars do not change. Nearest star is about 4 1/4- light years distant; Canopus
is more than 150 times this distance away. About 7000 stars - down to magnitude 6 - are
visible to the naked eye; 2,000,000,000 have been photographed or observed telescopically.
Starlight in any hemisphere does not exceed 1/400 of full moonlight.
Start. To commence to pour liquid from a cask. To break an anchor out of the ground. To
slightly ease a tackle, fall, or sheet. 2. Short length of rope sometimes used to hasten a
laggard youngster.
Statics. 'Atmospherics.'
Station Bill. List of ship's company giving the stations of each individual in various drills
and emergencies.
Station Keeping. Maintaining a prescribed distance and bearing from a specified ship.
Station Pointer. Instrument for determining position of observer from observations of two
horizontal angles between three distant objects whose positions are charted. Consists of a
graduated circle having one arm fixed and two arms movable, all radiating from centre.
Invented by J. Hubbard, F.R.S., b. 1753, d. 1815.
Statute Mile. Arbitrary unit of length with value of 5280 ft. Adopted as legal unit of
distance in reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Rarely considered in nautical work.
Staunch. Said of a vessel that is firm, strong, and unlikely to develop leaks.
Staunching. Putting water in a boat, cask, or wooden bucket, to close the seams by wetting
the wood.
Stave. Strip of wood shaped when making a cask, tub, or bucket.
Stave In. To break or displace a stave.
Stave off. To bear off with a staff, boathook, long spar, etc.
Stay. A rope that steadies a mast in a fore and aft direction, more particularly when on fore
side of mast. To 'stay' is: (1) to incline a mast correctly by adjustment of stays; (2) to go
about under sail.
Stay Holes. Holes, in luff of a staysail, that takes the hanks which ride along the stay.
Staying. 'Tacking'.
Staysail. Sail whose luff is attached to a stay.
Stay Tackle. Purchase suspended from triatic stay for working cargo, or lifting weights.