CONCLUDING-LINE. A small rope hitched to the middle of the steps of the stern-ladders. Also, a small line leading through the centre of the steps of a Jacob's ladder. CONDEMNATION. A captured ship declared by sentence of the admiralty court to be lawful prize. But the transfer of a prize vessel carried into a neutral port, and sold without a condemnation, or the authority of any judicial proceedings, is null and void. CONDEMNED. Unserviceable, as bad provisions, old stores, &c. CONDENSER. The chamber of a marine engine, where the steam, after having performed its duty, is instantly reduced to water. Sailing ships frequently carry condensers, for the purpose of making fresh from salt water. CONDER. A watcher of fishes, the same as balker, huer, and olpis. See statute (1 Jac. cap. 23) relating to his employment, which was to give notice to the fishermen from an eminence which way the herring shoals were going. CONDITIONS. The terms of surrender. CONDUCT-LIST. A roll to accompany the tickets of all persons sent to a hospital for medical treatment; it details their names, numbers on the ship's books, the date of their being sent, and the nature of their ailment. CONDUCT-MONEY. A sum advanced to defray the travelling expenses of volunteers, and of soldiers and sailors to their quarters and ships. (_See_ SAFE-CONDUCT.) CONDUCTOR. A thick metal wire, generally of copper, extending from above the main truck downwards into the water, or in the form of a chain with long links. Its use is to defend the ship from the effects of lightning, by conveying the electric fluid into the sea. CONE. A solid figure having a circle for its base, and produced by the entire revolution of a right-angled triangle about its perpendicular side, which is termed the axis of the cone. CONE-BUOY. _See_ CAN-BUOYS. CONEY-FISH. A name of the burbot. CONFIGURATION. The relative positions of celestial bodies, as for instance those of Jupiter's satellites, with respect to the primary at any one time. CONFINEMENT. Inflicted restraint; an arrest. CONFIRMED RANK. When an officer is placed in a vacancy by "acting order," he only holds temporary rank until "confirmed" therein by the Admiralty. An acting order given by competent authority is not disturbed by any casual superior. CONFLICT. An indecisive action. CONFLUENTS. Those streams which join and flow together. The confluence is the point of junction of an affluent river with its recipient. CONGER. A large species of sea-eel, furnishing a somewhat vile viand, but eatable when strongly curried. Not at all despised by the people of Cornwall in "fishy pie." CONGREVE-ROCKET. A very powerful form of rocket, invented by the late Sir William Congreve, R.A., and intended to do the work of artillery without the inconvenience of its weight. In its present form, however, the rocket is so uncertain, that it is in little favour save for exceptional occasions.