en into two pieces of timber, to support and steady one of
them while being dubbed, hewn, or sawn.--_Span-dogs._ Used to lift
timber. A pair of dogs linked together, and being hooked at an extended
angle, press home with greater strain.

DOG-BITCH-THIMBLE. An excellent contrivance by which the
topsail-sheet-block is prevented making the half cant or turn so
frequently seen in the clue when the block is secured there.

DOG-BOLT. A cap square bolt.

DOG-DRAVE. A kind of sea-fish mentioned in early charters.

DOG-FISH. A name commonly applied to several small species of the shark
family.

DOGG. A small silver coin of the West Indies, six of which make a bitt.
Also, in meteorology, _see_ STUBB.

DOGGED. A mode of attaching a rope to a spar or cable, in
contradistinction to racking, by which slipping is prevented;
half-hitched and end stopped back, is one mode.

DOGGER. A Dutch smack of about 150 tons, navigated in the German Ocean.
It is mostly equipped with a main and a mizen mast, and somewhat
resembles a ketch or a galliot. It is principally used for fishing on
the Dogger Bank.

DOGGER-FISH. Fish bought out of the Dutch doggers.

DOGGER-MEN. The seafaring fishermen belonging to doggers.

DOGS. The last supports knocked away at the launching of a ship.

DOG'S-BODY. Dried pease boiled in a cloth.

DOG-SHORES. Two long square blocks of timber, resting diagonally with
their heads to the cleats. They are placed forward to support the
bilge-ways on the ground-ways, thereby preventing the ship from starting
off the slips while the keel-blocks are being taken out.

DOG-SLEEP. The uncomfortable fitful naps taken when all hands are kept
up by stress.

DOG'S TAIL. A name for the constellation Ursa Minor or Little Bear.

DOG-STOPPER. Put on before all to enable the men to bit the cable,
sometimes to fleet the messenger.

DOG-TONGUE. A name assigned to a kind of sole.

DOG-VANE. A small vane made of thread, cork, and feathers, or buntin,
fastened on the end of a half-pike, and placed on the weather gunwale,
so as to be readily seen, and show the direction of the wind. The term
is also familiarly applied to a cockade.

DOG-WATCH. The half-watches of two hours each, from 4 to 6, and from 6
to 8, in the evening. By this arrangement an uneven number of watches is
made--seven instead of six in the twenty-four hours; otherwise there
would be a succession of the same watches at the same hours throughout
the voyage or