PRICKER. A small marlinspike, used in sail-making. It generally has a wooden handle. PUDDENING. A quantity of yarns, matting or oakum, used to prevent chafing. PUMP-BRAKE. The handle to the pump. PURCHASE. A mechanical power which increases the force applied. _To purchase_, is to raise by a purchase. QUARTER. The part of a vessel's side between the after part of the main chains and the stern. The _quarter_ of a yard is between the slings and the yard-arm. The wind is said to be _quartering_, when it blows in a line between that of the keel and the beam and abaft the latter. QUARTER-BLOCK. A block fitted under the quarters of a yard on each side the slings, for the clewlines and sheets to reeve through. QUARTER-DECK. That part of the upper deck abaft the main-mast. QUARTER-MASTER. A petty officer in a man-of-war, who attends the helm and binnacle at sea, and watches for signals, &c., when in port. QUICK-WORK. That part of a vessel's side which is above the chain-wales and decks. So called in ship-building. QUILTING. A coating about a vessel, outside, formed of ropes woven together. QUOIN. A wooden wedge for the breech of a gun to rest upon. RACE. A strong, rippling tide. RACK. To seize two ropes together, with cross-turns. Also, a _fair-leader_ for running rigging. RACK-BLOCK. A course of blocks made from one piece of wood, for fair-leaders. RAKE. The inclination of a mast from the perpendicular. RAMLINE. A line used in mast-making to get a straight middle line on a spar. RANGE OF CABLE. A quantity of cable, more or less, placed in order for letting go the anchor or paying out. RATLINES. (Pronounced _rat-lins_.) Lines running across the shrouds, horizontally, like the rounds of a ladder, and used to step upon in going aloft. RATTLE DOWN RIGGING. To put ratlines upon rigging. It is still called rattling _down_, though they are now rattled _up_; beginning at the lowest. (See page 23.) RAZEE. A vessel of war which has had one deck cut down. REEF. To reduce a sail by taking in upon its head, if a square sail, and its foot, if a fore-and-aft sail. REEF-BAND. A band of stout canvass sewed on the sail across, with points in it, and earings at each end for reefing. A _reef_ is all of the sail that is comprehended between the head of the sail and the first reef-band, or between two reef-bands. REEF-TACKLE. A tackle used to haul the middle of each leech up toward the yard, so that the sail may be easily reefed. REEVE. To pass the end of a rope through a block, or any aperture. RELIEVING TACKLE. A tackle hooked to the tiller in a gale of wind, to steer by in case anything should happen to the wheel or tiller-ropes. RENDER. To pass a rope through a place. A rope is said to _render_ or not, according as it goes freely through any place. RIB-BANDS. Long, narrow, flexible pieces of timber nailed to the outside of the ribs, so as to encompass the vessel lengthwise. RIBS. A figurative term for a vessel's timbers.