considerable distance from the shore, as with the Nile, the Congo, the
Mississippi, the Indus, the Ganges, the Rhone, Surinam, &c.

FRESHET. A word long used for pools or ponds, when swollen after rain or
temporary inundations. It is also applied to a pond supplied by a
spring.

FRESH GALE. A more powerful wind than a _fresh breeze_ (which see).

FRESH GRUB. The refreshments obtained in harbour.

FRESH HAND AT THE BELLOWS. Said when a gale freshens suddenly.

FRESH SHOT. A river swollen by rain or tributaries; it also signifies
the falling down of any great river into the sea, by which fresh water
is often to be found on the surface a good way from the mouth of the
river.

FRESH SPELL. Men coming to relieve a gang at work.

FRESH WATER. Water fit to drink, in opposition to sea or salt water; now
frequently obtained at sea by distillation. (_See_ ICEBERG.)

FRESH-WATER JACK. The same as _fresh-water sailor_.

FRESH-WATER SAILOR. An epithet for a green hand, of whom an old saying
has it, "whose shippe was drowned in the playne of Salsbury."

FRESH-WATER SEAS. A name given to the extensive inland bodies of fresh
water in the Canadas. Of these, Lake Superior is upwards of 1500 miles
in circuit, with a depth of 70 fathoms near the shores, while Michigan
and Huron are almost as prodigious; even Erie is 600 miles round, and
Ontario near 500, and Nepigon, the head of the system geographically,
though the least important at present commercially, but just now
partially explored, is fully 400. Their magnitude, however, appears
likely to be rivalled geographically by the lakes lately discovered in
Central Africa, the Victoria Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza.

FRESH WAY. Increased speed through the water; a ship is said to "gather
fresh way" when she has tacked, or hove-to, and then fills her sails.

FRET. A narrow strait of the sea, from _fretum_.

FRET, TO. To chafe.

FRET OF WIND. A squally flaw.

FRETTUM, OR FRECTUM. The freight of a ship, or freight-money.

FRETUM BRITANNICUM. A term used in our ancient writings for the Straits
of Dover.

FRIAR-SKATE. The _Raia oxyrinchus_, or sharp-nosed ray.

FRICTION-ROLLER. A cylinder of hard wood, or metal, with a concave
surface, revolving on an axis, used to lessen the friction of a rope
which is passed over it. Friction-rollers are a late improvement in the
sheaves of blocks, &c., by which the pin is relieved of friction by
three rollers in the coak, placed equilater