[Footnote 19: 'Braces slack:' because the lee-brace confines the yard so that the tack will not come down to its place till the braces are cast loose.] [Footnote 20: 'Taught,' 'tally,' and 'belay:' taught implies stiff, tense, or extended straight; and tally is a phrase particularly applied to the operation of hauling aft the sheets, or drawing them towards the ship's stern; to belay, is to fasten.] [Footnote 21: 'Rolling-tackles:' the rolling-tackle is an assemblage of pulleys, used to confine the yard to the weather-side of the mast, and prevent the former from rubbing against the latter by the fluctuating motion of the ship in a turbulent sea.] [Footnote 22: 'Strike top-gallant-yards:' it is usual to send down the top-gallant yards on the approach of a storm; they are the highest yards that are rigged in a ship.] [Footnote 23: 'Travellers' and 'back-stays:' travellers are slender iron rings, encircling the back-stays, and used to facilitate the hoisting or lowering of the top-gallant-yards, by confining them to the backstays, in their ascent or descent, so as to prevent them from swinging about by the agitation of the vessel. Back-stays are long ropes, extending from the right and left side of the ship to the topmast-heads, which they are intended to secure, by counter-acting the effort of the wind upon the sails.] [Footnote 24: 'Top-ropes:' cords by which the top-gallant-yards are hoisted up from the deck, or lowered again in stormy weather.] [Footnote 25: 'Parrels,' and 'lifts:' the parrel, which is usually a moveable band of rope, is employed to confine the yard to its respective mast. Lifts are ropes extending from the head of any mast to the extremities of its particular yard, to support the weight of the latter; to retain it in balance; or to raise one yard-arm higher than the other, which is accordingly called 'topping,' ver. 261.] [Footnote 26: 'Booms:' the booms in this place imply any masts or yards lying on the deck in reserve, to supply the place of others which may be carried away by distress of weather, &c.] [Footnote 27: 'Courses:' the courses are generally understood to be the mainsail, fore-sail, and mizen, which are the largest and lowest sails on their several masts: the term is however sometimes taken in a larger sense.] [Footnote 28: 'Tack's eased off:' it has been remarked before, in note to ver. 165, p. 211, that the tack is always fastened to windward; accordingly, as soon as it is cast loose, and the clue-garnet hauled up, the weather-clue of the sail immediately mounts to the yard; and this operation must be carefully performed in a storm, to prevent the sail from splitting, or being torn to pieces by shivering.] [Footnote 29: 'Sheet and weather-brace they now stand by:' it is necessary to pull in the weather-brace, whenever the sheet is cast off, to preserve the sail from shaking violently.]