TER. That which is seen over extensive sandy patches, where,
owing to the limpidity and shallowness of the sea, the light of the sky
is reflected.

WHITING. The name given in Cumberland to the _Salmo albus_, or white
salmon. Also the _Gadus merlangus_, both split or dried.

WHITTLE [from the Anglo-Saxon _hwytel_]. A knife; also used for a sword,
but contemptuously.--_To whittle._ To cut sticks.

WHITWORTH GUN. A piece rifled by having a twisted hexagonal bore, and
throwing a more elongated shot with a sharper twist than the Armstrong
gun, with results experimentally more beautiful, but not yet so
practically useful.

WHO COMES THERE? The night challenge of a sentry on his post.

WHOLE-MOULDING. The old method of forming the principal part of a
vessel. Boats are now the only vessels in which this method is
practised.

WHOLESOME SHIP. One that will try, hull, and ride well, without heavy
labouring in the sea.

WHOODINGS. Those ends of planks which are let into the rabbets of the
stem, the stern-posts, &c. (_See_ RABBET and HOOD-ENDS.)

WHO SAYS AMEN? Who will clap on with a will?

WHO SHALL HAVE THIS? An impartial sea method of distributing the shares
of short commons. One person turns his back on the portions, and names
some one, when he is asked, "_Who shall have this?_"

WICH. A port, as Harwich, Greenwich, &c.

WICK [Anglo-Saxon _wyc_]. A creek, bay, or village, by the side of a
river.

WICKET. A small door in the gate of a fortress, for use by
foot-passengers when the gate is closed.

WIDDERSHINS. A northern term signifying a motion contrary to the course
of the sun. The Orkney fishermen consider themselves in imminent danger
at sea, if, by accident, their vessel is turned _against the sun_.

WIDE-GAB. A name of the _Lophius piscatorius_, toad-fish, or
fishing-frog.

WIDOWS' MEN. Imaginary sailors, formerly borne on the books as A.B.'s
for wages in every ship in commission; they ceased with the consolidated
pay at the close of the war. The institution was dated 24 Geo. II. to
meet widows' pensions; the amount of pay and provisions for two men in
each hundred was paid over by the paymaster-general of the navy to the
widows' fund.

WILD. A ship's motion when she steers badly, or is badly steered. A
_wild roadstead_ implies one that is exposed to the wind and sea.

WILDFIRE. A pyrotechnical preparation burning with great fierceness,
whether under water or not; it is analogous to the ancient Greek f