STARBOARD. The right side of a vessel, looking forward. STARBOWLINES. The familiar term for the men in the starboard watch. START. To _start a cask_, is to open it. STAY. To tack a vessel, or put her about, so that the wind, from being on one side, is brought upon the other, round the vessel's head. (See TACK, WEAR.) _To stay a mast_, is to incline it forward or aft, or to one side or the other, by the stays and backstays. Thus, a mast is said to be _stayed_ too much forward or aft, or too much to port, &c. _Stays._ Large ropes, used to support masts, and leading from the head of some mast down to some other mast, or to some part of the vessel. Those which lead forward are called _fore-and-aft stays_; and those which lead down to the vessel's sides, _backstays_. (See BACKSTAYS.) _In stays_, or _hove in stays_, the situation of a vessel when she is _staying_, or going about from one tack to the other. STAYSAIL. A sail which hoists upon a stay. STEADY! An order to keep the helm as it is. STEERAGE. That part of the between-decks which is just forward of the cabin. STEEVE. A bowsprit _steeves_ more or less, according as it is raised more or less from the horizontal. The _steeve_ is the angle it makes with the horizon. Also, a long, heavy spar, with a place to fit a block at one end, and used in stowing certain kinds of cargo, which need be driven in close. STEM. (See PLATE 3.) A piece of timber reaching from the forward end of the keel, to which it is scarfed, up to the bowsprit, and to which the two sides of the vessel are united. STEMSON. A piece of compass-timber, fixed on the after part of the apron inside. The lower end is scarfed into the keelson, and receives the scarf of the stem, through which it is bolted. STEP. A block of wood secured to the keel, into which the heel of the mast is placed. _To step a mast_, is to put it in its step. STERN. (See PLATE 3.) The after end of a vessel. (See BY THE STERN.) STERN-BOARD. The motion of a vessel when going stern foremost. STERN-FRAME. The frame composed of the stern-post transom and the fashion-pieces. STERN-POST. (See PLATE 3.) The aftermost timber in a ship, reaching from the after end of the keel to the deck. The stem and stern-post are the two extremes of a vessel's frame. _Inner stern-post._ A post on the inside, corresponding to the _stern-post_. STERN-SHEETS. The after part of a boat, abaft the rowers, where the passengers sit. STIFF. The quality of a vessel which enables it to carry a great deal of sail without lying over much on her side. The opposite to _crank_. STIRRUPS. Ropes with thimbles at their ends, through which the foot-ropes are rove, and by which they are kept up toward the yards. STOCK. A beam of wood, or a bar of iron, secured to the upper end of the shank of an anchor, at right angles with the arms. An iron stock usually goes with a key, and unships. STOCKS. The frame upon which a vessel is built.