stern-post.

HEEL-LASHING. The rope which secures the inner part of a studding-sail
boom to the yard; also, that which secures the jib-boom.

HEEL OF A MAST. The lower end, which either fits into the step attached
to the keel, or in top-masts is sustained by the fid upon the
trestle-trees. Heeling is the square part of the spar through which the
fid hole is cut.

HEEL-ROPE. That which hauls out the bowsprit in cutters, and the jib and
studding-sail booms, or anything else where it passes through the heel
of the spar, except in the case of top-masts and topgallant-masts, where
it becomes a _mast-rope_.

HEELS. _Having the heels of a ship_; sailing faster.

HEEL-TACKLES. The luff purchases for the heels of each sheer previous to
taking in masts, or otherwise using them.

HEEVIL. An old northern term for the conger.

HEFT. The Anglo-Saxon _haeft_; the handle of a dirk, knife, or any
edge-tool; also, the handle of an oar.

HEIGHT. Synonymous with hill, and meaning generally any ground above the
common level of the place. Our early navigators used the word as a
synonym of latitude.

HEIGHT OF THE HOLD. Used for the depth of the hold.

HEIGHT OF BREADTH. In ship-building, is a delineation generally in two
lines--upper and lower--determining the height of the broadest place of
each timber.

HELIACAL. A star rises heliacally when it first becomes visible in the
morning, after having been hidden in the sun's rays; and it sets
heliacally when it is first lost in the evening twilight, owing to the
sun's proximity.

HELIER. A cavern into which the tide flows.

HELIOCENTRIC. As seen from, or having reference to, the centre of the
sun.

HELIOMETER. An instrument designed for the accurate measurement of the
diameters of the sun or planets.

HELIOSTAADT, OR HELIOTROPE. This instrument reflects the sun's rays by a
silvered disc, used in the great trigonometrical surveys. It has been
visible at 100 miles' distance, from Cumberland to Ireland.

HELL-AFLOAT. A vessel with a bad name for tyranny.

HELM. Properly is the tiller, but sometimes used to express the rudder,
and the means used for turning it, which, in small vessels and boats, is
merely a tiller, but in larger vessels a wheel is added, which supplies
the leverage for pulling the tiller either way; they are connected by
ropes or chains.--_A-lee the helm_, or _Down with the helm!_ So place
the tiller that the rudder is brought on the weather side of the
ster