s for a mortar, showing the direction of the object
to be fired at, though it be invisible from the piece.

PICKLE-HARIN. A sea-sprite, borrowed from the Teutonic.

PICKLING. A mode of salting naval timber in our dockyards, to insure its
durability. (_See_ BURNETTIZE.)

PICK UP A WIND, TO. Traverses made by oceanic voyagers; to run from one
trade or prevalent wind to another, with as little intervening calm as
possible.

PICTARNIE. A name on our northern coasts for the _Sterna hirundo_, the
tern, or sea-swallow.

PICUL. _See_ PEKUL.

PIE. The beam or pole that is erected to support the _gun_ for loading
and unloading timber. Also called _pie-tree_.

PIECE OF EIGHT. The early name for the coin of the value of 8 reals, the
well-known Spanish dollar.

PIER. A quay; also a strong mound projecting into the sea, to break the
violence of the waves.

PIERCER. Used by sail-makers to form eyelet-holes.

PIGGIN. A little pail having a long stave for a handle; used to bale
water out of a boat.

PIG-IRON. (_See_ SOW.) An oblong mass of cast-iron used for ballast;
there are also pigs of lead.

"A nodding beam or pig of lead
May hurt the very ablest head."

PIG-TAIL. The common twisted tobacco for chewing.

PIG-YOKE. The name given to the old Davis quadrant.

PIKE. (_See_ HALF-PIKE.) A long, slender, round staff, armed at the end
with iron. (_See_ BOARDING-PIKE and PYKE.) Formerly in general use, but
which gave way to the bayonet. Also, the peak of a hill. Also, a fish,
the _Esox lucius_, nicknamed the fresh-water shark.

PIKE-TURN. _See_ CHEVAUX DE FRISE.

PIL, OR PYLL. A creek subject to the tide.

PILCHARD. The _Clupea pilchardus_, a fish allied to the herring, which
appears in vast shoals off the Cornish coast about July.

PILE. A pyramid of shot or shell.--_To pile arms_, is to plant three
fire-locks together, and unite the ramrods, to steady the outspread
butt-ends of the pieces resting on the ground. A pile is also a beam of
wood driven into the ground to form by a number a solid foundation for
building upon. A _sheeting-pile_ has more breadth than thickness, and is
much used in constructing coffer-dams.

PILE-DRIVER. A machine adapted for driving piles. Also, applied to a
ship given to pitch heavily in a sea-way.

PILGER. An east-country term for a fish-spear.

PILING ICE. In Arctic parlance, where from pressure the ice is raised,
slab over slab, into a high mass, which consolidates, and is