keeping time when pulling on a rope, where a
fife is not available. They are very common in merchant ships. The
whalers have an improvised song when cutting docks in the ice in Arctic
seas.

SON OF A GUN. An epithet conveying contempt in a slight degree, and
originally applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to
accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was
thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.

SOPS. A northern term for small detached clouds, hanging about the sides
of a mountain.

SORT. "That's your sort," means approval of a deed.

SORTIE. _See_ SALLY.

SOUGH. An old northern term for the distant surging of the sea; a hollow
murmur or howling, or the moaning of the wind before a gale.

SOUND [Anglo-Saxon, _sund_]. An arm of the sea over the whole extent of
which soundings may be obtained, as on the coasts of Norway and America.
Also, any deep bay formed and connected by reefs and sand-banks. On the
shores of Scotland it means a narrow channel or strait. Also, the
air-bladder of the cod, and generally the swimming-bladder or "soundes
of any fysshes." Also, a cuttle-fish.

SOUND, VELOCITY OF. May be freely assumed at nearly 1142 feet in a
second of time, when not affected by the temperature or wind; subject to
corrections when great accuracy is required.

SOUND DUES. A toll formerly levied by the Danes on all merchant vessels
passing the sound or strait between the North Sea and the Baltic.

SOUNDING. The operation of ascertaining the depth of the sea, and the
quality of the ground, by means of a lead and line, sunk from a ship to
the bottom, where some of the ooze or sand adheres to the tallow in the
hollow base of the lead. Also, the vertical diving of a whale when
struck. It is supposed to strike the bottom, and will take 3 or 4 coils
of whale-line, equal to 2000 feet.

SOUNDING-LEAD. _See_ LEAD.

SOUNDING-LINE. This line, with a plummet, is mentioned by Lucilius; and
was the _sund-gyrd_ of the Anglo-Saxons.

SOUNDING-ROD. A slight rod of iron marked with feet and inches, which
being let down by a line in a groove of the side of the pump, indicates
what water there is in the well, and consequently whether the ship
requires pumping out or not.

SOUNDINGS. To be in soundings implies being so near the land that a
deep-sea lead will reach the bottom, which is seldom practicable in the
ocean. As soundings may, however, be obtained at enormous depths, and