hip next below the quarter-deck, immediately before the bulk-head
of the great cabin in most ships of war. The portion of the 'tween-decks
just before the gun-room bulk-head. In some ships the second-class
passengers are called _steerage passengers_. The admiral's cabin on the
middle deck of three-deckers has been called the _steerage_.

STEERAGE-WAY. When a vessel has sufficient motion in the water to admit
of the helm being effective.

STEER HER COURSE, TO. Going with the wind fair enough to lay her course.

STEERING [Anglo-Saxon _steoran_]. The perfection of steering consists in
a vigilant attention to the motion of the ship's head, so as to check
every deviation from the line of her course in the first instant of its
commencement, and in applying as little of the power of the helm as
possible, for the action of the rudder checks a ship's speed.

STEERING-SAIL. An incorrect name for a studding-sail.

STEER LARGE, TO. To go free, off the wind. Also, to steer loosely.

STEER SMALL, TO. To steer well and within small compass, not dragging
the tiller over from side to side.

STEERSMAN. The helmsman or timoneer; the latter from the French _timon_,
helm.

STEEVING. Implies the bowsprit's angle from the horizon: formerly it
stood at an angle of 70 to 80 degrees, and was indeed almost a bow mast
or sprit. Also, the stowing of cotton, wool, or other cargo, in a
merchantman's hold with a jack-screw.

STEM. The foremost piece uniting the bows of a ship; its lower end
scarphs into the keel, and the bowsprit rests upon its upper end. The
outside of the stem is usually marked with a scale of feet and inches,
answering to a perpendicular from the keel, in order to ascertain the
ship's draught of water forward.--_False stem._ When a ship's stem is
too flat, so that she cannot keep a wind well, a false stem, or gripe,
is fayed on before the right one, which enables her to hold a better
wind.--_From stem to stern_, from one end of the ship to the other.--_To
stem_, to make way against any obstacle. "She does not stem the tide,"
that is, she cannot make head against it for want of wind.

STEM-KNEE. In ship-building, the compass-timber which connects the keel
with the stem. (_See_ DEAD-WOOD KNEES.)

STEMSON. An arching piece of compass-timber, worked within the apron to
reinforce the scarph thereof, in the same manner as the apron supports
that of the stem. The upper end is carried as high as the upper deck,
the lower being