CASERNES. Often considered as synonymous with _barracks_; but more correctly small lodgments erected between the ramparts and houses of a fortified town, to ease the inhabitants by quartering soldiers there, who are also in better condition for duty than if living in various parts.
CASE-SHOT, COMMON. Called also canister-shot. Adapted for close quarters if the enemy be uncovered. It consists of a number of small iron balls, varying in weight and number, packed in a cylindrical tin case fitting the bore of the gun from which it is to be fired. Burrel, langrage, and other irregular substitutes, may be included under the term. Spherical case-shot are officially called _shrapnel shell_ (which see).
CASHIERED. Sentenced by a court-martial to be dismissed the service. By such sentence an officer is rendered ever after incapable of serving the sovereign in any position, naval or military.
CASING. The lining, veneering, or planking over a ship's timbers, especially for the cabin-beams; the sheathing of her. Also a bulk-head round a mast to prevent the interference of cargo, or shifting materials.
CASING-COVER. In the marine steam-engine is a steam-tight opening for the slide-valve rod to pass through.
CASK. A barrel for fluid or solid provisions. (_See_ STOWAGE.)
CASKETS (properly GASKETS). Small ropes made of sinnet, and fastened to grummets or little rings upon the yards. Their use is to make the sail fast to the yard when it is to be furled.
CASSAVA, OR CASSADA. A species of the genus _Jatropha janipha_, well known to seamen as the cassava bread of the West Indies. Tapioca is produced from the _Jatropha manihot_. Caution is necessary in the use of these roots, as the juice is poisonous. The root used as chewsticks, to cleanse the teeth and gums, by the negroes, produces a copious flow of frothy saliva.
CAST. A coast term meaning four, as applied to haddocks, herrings, &c. Also, the appearance of the sky when day begins to break. A cast of pots, &c.--_A'cast_, when a ship's yards are braced a'cast preparatory to weighing. Also condemned, cast by survey, &c.
CAST, TO. To fall off, so as to bring the direction of the wind on one side of the ship, which before was right ahead. This term is particularly applied to a ship riding head to wind, when her anchor first loosens from the ground. To pay a vessel's head off, or turn it, is getting under weigh on the tack she is to sail upon, and it is casting to starboard, or port, according to the intention.--_To cast anchor._ To drop or let go the anchor for riding by--synonymous with to anchor.--_To cast a traverse._ To calculate and lay off the courses and distances run over upon a chart.--_To cast off._ To let go at once. To loosen from.