DEAD-MONTHS. A term for winter. DEAD-ON-END. The wind blowing directly adverse to the vessel's intended course. DEAD-PAY. That given formerly in shares, or for names borne, but for which no one appears, as was formerly practised with _widows' men_. DEAD-RECKONING. The estimation of the ship's place without any observation of the heavenly bodies; it is discovered from the distance she has run by the log, and the courses steered by the compass, then rectifying these data by the usual allowance for current, lee-way, &c., according to the ship's known trim. This reckoning, however, should be corrected by astronomical observations of the sun, moon, and stars, whenever available, proving the importance of practical astronomy. DEAD-RISING. In ship-building, is that part of a ship which lies aft between the keel and her floor-timbers towards the stern-post; generally it is applied to those parts of the bottom, throughout the ship's length, where the sweep or curve at the head of the floor-timber terminates, or inflects to join the keel. (_See_ RISING-LINE.) DEAD-ROPES. Those which do not run in any block. DEAD-SHARES. An allowance formerly made to officers of the fleet, from fictitious numbers borne on the complement (_temp._ Henry VIII.), varying from fifty shares for an admiral, to half a share for the cook's mate. DEAD-SHEAVE. A scored aperture in the heel of a top-mast, through which a second top-tackle pendant can be rove. It is usually a section of a lignum-vitæ sheave let in, so as to avoid chafe. DEAD-TICKET. Persons dying on board, those discharged from the service, and all officers promoted, are cleared from the ship's books by a dead-ticket, which must be filled up in a similar manner to the _sick-ticket_ (which see). DEAD UPON A WIND. Braced sharp up and bowlines hauled. DEAD-WATER. The eddy-water under the counter of a ship under way; so called because passing away slower than the water alongside. A ship is said to _make much dead-water_ when she has a great eddy following her stern, often occasioned by her having a square tuck. A vessel with a round buttock at her line of floatation can have but little dead-water, the rounding abaft allowing the fluid soon to recover its state of rest. DEAD WEIGHT. A vessel's lading when it consists of heavy goods, but particularly such as pay freight according to their weight and not their _stowage_.