=scow=—A large flat-bottomed boat without power and of many uses. =screw propeller=—See PROPELLER. =scuppers=—Openings in the bulwarks of a ship to carry off any water that may get on the deck. =seam=—The space between two planks in the covering of a vessel. It is in the _seam_ that the calking is placed. =seamanship=—The art of handling ships. =sextant=—The instrument in almost universal use at sea for measuring the altitude of the sun and other celestial bodies. From this the latitude and longitude may be worked out. =sheepshank=—A knot. For illustration see page 193. =sheer=—The straight or curved line that the deck line of a vessel makes when viewed from the side. =sheet=—The rope attached to a sail so that it may be let out or hauled in as occasion may require. =ship=—A term applied indiscriminately to any large vessel, but among seamen it means a sailing vessel with three masts on all of which square sails are set. For illustration see page 201. =shoal=—A shallow place in the water. =shoot the sun=—A bit of nautical slang, meaning to determine the altitude of the sun with a sextant. =shrouds=—Strong ropes forming the lateral supports of a mast. Nowadays they are usually wire rope. =skiff=—A small open boat. In different localities it is of different design. Occasionally fairly good-sized sailing vessels are called skiffs. =skipper=—The master of a merchant vessel, called, by courtesy, captain ashore and always so at sea. =skysail=—The square sail sometimes set above the royal. It carries also the name of the mast on which it is set, as _main skysail._ =sloop=—Sailing vessel with one mast, like a cutter but having a jib stay, which a cutter has not. A jib stay is a support leading from the mast to the end of the bowsprit on which a jib is set. =smack=—The name given indiscriminately to any sort of fishing vessel using sails. =snow=—A vessel formerly common. It differs slightly from a barque. It has two masts similar to the main and foremasts of a ship, and close behind the mainmast is a trysail mast. This vessel is about extinct. =sounding=—Determining the depth of water and the kind of bottom with the lead and line. =southwester=—(pronounced sou-wester)—A waterproof hat with the widest part of the brim at the back. =spanker=—The fore-and-aft sail set on the mizzenmast of a square-rigged ship. Sometimes called the driver. =spar=—A spar is any one of the timber members of a vessel’s gear. =spinnaker=—A racing sail of immense spread reaching from the topmast head to the end of a spinnaker boom which is a spar set out to take it. Sometimes it is possible for the same sail to be made to perform the services of a balloon jib, by carrying the spinnaker boom out until the end to which the sail is made fast is beside the end of the bowsprit. =splice=—(Verb) To join rope by interweaving the strands. (Noun) The joint made in rope by interweaving the strands.