seaman dies on board, or is drowned, his
effects are sold at the mast by auction, and the produce charged against
the purchasers' names on the ship's books.

DEAD-MONTHS. A term for winter.

DEAD-ON-END. The wind blowing directly adverse to the vessel's intended
course.

DEAD-PAY. That given formerly in shares, or for names borne, but for
which no one appears, as was formerly practised with _widows' men_.

DEAD-RECKONING. The estimation of the ship's place without any
observation of the heavenly bodies; it is discovered from the distance
she has run by the log, and the courses steered by the compass, then
rectifying these data by the usual allowance for current, lee-way, &c.,
according to the ship's known trim. This reckoning, however, should be
corrected by astronomical observations of the sun, moon, and stars,
whenever available, proving the importance of practical astronomy.

DEAD-RISING. In ship-building, is that part of a ship which lies aft
between the keel and her floor-timbers towards the stern-post; generally
it is applied to those parts of the bottom, throughout the ship's
length, where the sweep or curve at the head of the floor-timber
terminates, or inflects to join the keel. (_See_ RISING-LINE.)

DEAD-ROPES. Those which do not run in any block.

DEAD-SHARES. An allowance formerly made to officers of the fleet, from
fictitious numbers borne on the complement (_temp._ Henry VIII.),
varying from fifty shares for an admiral, to half a share for the cook's
mate.

DEAD-SHEAVE. A scored aperture in the heel of a top-mast, through which
a second top-tackle pendant can be rove. It is usually a section of a
lignum-vitae sheave let in, so as to avoid chafe.

DEAD-TICKET. Persons dying on board, those discharged from the service,
and all officers promoted, are cleared from the ship's books by a
dead-ticket, which must be filled up in a similar manner to the
_sick-ticket_ (which see).

DEAD UPON A WIND. Braced sharp up and bowlines hauled.

DEAD-WATER. The eddy-water under the counter of a ship under way; so
called because passing away slower than the water alongside. A ship is
said to _make much dead-water_ when she has a great eddy following her
stern, often occasioned by her having a square tuck. A vessel with a
round buttock at her line of floatation can have but little dead-water,
the rounding abaft allowing the fluid soon to recover its state of rest.

DEAD WEIGHT. A vessel's lading when it consists