Also, an instrument to measure the depth
of inundations.

WATER-GALL. A name of the _wind-gall_ (which see). Shakspeare, in the
_Rape of Lucrece_, uses the term thus:--

"And round about her tear-distained eye
Blue circles stream'd, like rainbows in the sky.
These water-galls in her dim element
Foretell new storms to those already spent."

WATER-GAVEL. A rent paid for fishing in some river, or other benefit
derived therefrom.

WATER-GUARD. Custom-house officers employed to prevent fraud on the
revenue in vessels arriving at, or departing from, a port.

WATER HIS HOLE. A saying used when the cable is up and down, to
encourage the men to heave heartily, and raise the shank of the anchor
so that the water may get down by the shank, and relieve the anchor of
the superincumbent mud.

WATER-HORSE. Cod-fish stacked up in a pile to drain, under the process
of cure.

WATER-LAID ROPE. The same as _cablet_; it coils against the sun, or to
the left hand.

WATER-LINE. In former ships of war, a fine white painted line or bend,
representing the deep line of flotation, on the coppered edge.--_Load
water-line._ That which the surface of the water describes on a ship
when she is loaded or ready for sea.

WATER-LINE MODEL. The same as _key-model_ (which see).

WATER-LOGGED. The state of a ship full of water, having such a buoyant
cargo that she does not sink. In this dangerous and unmanageable
situation there is no resource for the crew except to free her by the
pumps, or to abandon her by taking to the boats; for the centre of
gravity being no longer fixed, the ship entirely loses her stability,
and is almost totally deprived of the use of her sails, which may only
operate to accelerate her destruction by over-setting her, or pressing
her head under water. Timber-laden vessels, water-logged, frequently
float for a very long period.

WATER-PADS. Fellows who rob ships and vessels in harbours and rivers.

WATER-PLOUGH. A machine formerly used for taking mud and silt out of
docks and rivers.

WATER-SAIL. A _save-all_, or small sail, set occasionally under the
lower studding-sail or driver-boom, in a fair wind and smooth sea.

WATER-SCAPE. A culvert, aqueduct, or passage for water.

WATER-SHED. A term introduced into geography to denote the dividing
ridges in a hilly country. In geology, it implies that the water is shed
thence naturally, by the inclination, to the valley base. As regards
nautical men in