CAT THE ANCHOR. When the cat is hooked and "cable enough" veered and stoppered, the anchor hangs below the cat-head, swings beneath it; it is then hauled close up to the cat-head by the purchase called the cat-fall. The cat-stopper is then passed, and the cat-block unhooked.
CATTING. The act of heaving the anchor by the cat-tackle. Also, sea-sickness.
CATTY. A Chinese commercial weight of 18 ozs. English. Tea is packed in one or two or more catty boxes, hence most likely our word tea-caddy.
CAUDAL FIN. The vertical median fin terminating the tail of fishes.
CAUDICARIÆ. A kind of lighter used by the Romans on the Tiber.
CAUL. The membrane encompassing the head of some infants when born, and from early antiquity esteemed an omen of good fortune, and a preservative against drowning; it was sought by the Roman lawyers with as much avidity as by modern voyagers. Also, a northern name for a dam-dike. Also, an oriental license. (_See_ KAULE.)
CAULK, TO. (_See_ CAULKING.) To lie down on deck and sleep, with clothes on.
CAULKER. He who caulks and pays the seams. This word is mistaken by many for _cawker_ (which see).
CAULKER'S SEAT. A box slung to a ship's side whereon a caulker can sit and use his irons; it contains his tools and oakum.
CAULKING OF A SHIP. Forcing a quantity of oakum, or old ropes untwisted and drawn asunder, into the seams of the planks, or into the intervals where the planks are joined together in the ship's decks or sides, or rends in the planks, in order to prevent the entrance of water. After the oakum is driven in very hard, hot melted pitch or rosin is poured into the groove, to keep the water from rotting it. Among the ancients the first who made use of pitch in caulking were the inhabitants of Phæacia, afterwards called Corfu. Wax and rosin appear to have been commonly used before that period; and the Poles still substitute an unctuous clay for the same purpose for the vessels on their navigable rivers.
CAULKING-BUTT. The opening between ends or joints of the planks when worked for caulking.
CAULKING-IRONS. The peculiar chisels used for the purpose of caulking: they are the caulking-iron, the making-iron, the reeming-iron, and the rasing-iron.
CAULKING-MALLET. The wooden beetle or instrument with which the caulking-irons are driven.