HALF
BETTER HALF
Common slang name for a wife; she is sometimes referred to as one's "improper
fraction", but usually in the ward room as one's Madam.

THE HALF DECK
The lobby space or 'flat' (between decks) giving access to the Captain's
cabin.


HALF DECK SENTRY
The sentry posted over the ship's main keyboard which is sited in the half-
deck. He also has charge of the rum breaker between the breaker being filled
and the grog issued.


THE OTHER HALF
Common slang name for a return drink. This is an expression seldom used in
the ward room, where one has or is offered a drink, not another drink.


HALF PAY
Half the rate of full pay in issue on the day before an officer is placed on
Half-pay, together with half the rate of Marriage Allowance and Flying Pay
which has then in issue. The rate of half-pay for an officer who held acting
rank is half his substantive rank's pay, not half his acting rank's pay. This
procedure covers all classes of officers. Officers are only placed on half
pay for disciplinary reasons, e.g. after dismissal from ship by sentence of
Court-Martial.


HAMBONE
Nautical along name for a Sextant.


HAMMOCK
Just as his rifle is described as a soldier's best friend, his hammock is
described as a sailer's best friend. When properly lashed up, a sailor's
hammock will support a man in the sea for 24 hours.


It is said that the use of the hammock on board ship was introduced by
Aloibiados, who commanded the Athenian fleets war in about B.C. 450;
Christopher Columbus is also credited with the introduction, having found (in
1493) that the natives at San Salvador slept in cotton nets (called 'hamaca')
suspended between two trees. Hammocks were introduced into the Royal Navy in
about 1600.


HAMMOCK LADDER
A naval mythological item.


TIME TO SLING ONE'S HAMMOCK
"Time in which to sling one's hammock" is the naval way of describing the
period of time - usually 24 hours - given to many officers and ratings in
which to find their way about on joining a ship or taking up a new
appointment.


UP ALL HAMMOCKS
Many people may have thought it strange that, in the morning when hammocks
are required to be taken down, the pipe is "Up all hammocks" and in the
evening when hammocks are to be up on the hooks or bars, the pipe is "Down
all hammocks". This order originates from the days when hammock nettings
(storages) were situated on the upper deck, along the bulwarks between the
quarter-deck and the forecastle. Therefore hammocks had to be taken up on
deck to be stowed and brought down to be hung up.


HAND
Sailors on board are usually referred to as "The Hands" - in the singular as
"One Hand". This is said to come from the expression "One hand for yourself
and one for the King" used to men working aloft in the days of sail.


HANDY
HANDY-BILLY
Naval name for a small general-purpose tackle.


HANKY
HANKY PANKY
Brandy (or whisky) and ginger wine - a comforting drink when one has a cold.


HANDSOMELY
Naval word meaning slowly or with caution, the opposite to ROUNDLY.


HANGER
A Hanger was a light sword about 2? feet long worn slung from a leather belt
over the right shoulder. It was the official weapon of the Midshipman from
about 1790, before the introduction of the proper dirk. see DIRK


HANGING
HANGING ON BOARD
The last occasion when a death sentence was carried out in one of H.M. ships
was 13th July 1860, when Private John Dalinger, R.M., was hanged at the
yardarm of H.M.S LEVEN in China (Talienwan Bay). He had been charged with
attempting to murder his Captain.


HARMONY
HARMONG ROW
The name in the Navy for the row of houses in or near a naval dockyard
provided as official residences for the principal officers (naval and civil)
of the dockyard.


HARNESS
HARNESS CASK
The tub in which salt meat was soaked before being cooked in order to extract
the brine in which the meat had been pickled; also known as STEEP TUB. The
tub was in the charge of the cook whose duty it was to take adequate
precautions for its safety on the onset of bad weather. The name is said to
have been introduced by cynics of early days either because they felt the
harness was the only part of the horse not in the tub, or else from the
leathery nature of the meat.


HAWSE
TO COME UP THROUGH THE HAWSE PIPE
An old naval slang expression meaning promotion from the lower deck. Officers
so promoted were sometimes known as Hawse Pipe Officers.


HEAD
THE HEAD
Naval name for latrines - originally sited in the extreme bow - or head - of
the ship. The rating responsible for their general cleanliness is the CAPTAIN
OF THE HEADS.


HOG
TO HOG OUT
A naval expression meaning to scrub or clean thoroughly. It comes from the
name (hog) of the special brush made of birch twigs provided in bygone days
for cleaning a sailing ship's bottom.


HOGGING AND SAGGING
Unfair strains and stresses are set up in a ship's structure when part of her
hull is unsupported. When waves are supporting the bows and stern of a ship
but not her amidships part (i.e., when the hull tends to assume a concave
shape), the ship is said to be sagging: when the amidships part is supported
but not the extremities (i.e., when the hull tends to become convex), the
ship is said to be hogging.


HOLIDAY
Naval name for a gap, such as an area on a ship's side left unpainted, or a
space on a clothes line between pieces of linen hung out to dry.


HONKYDONKS
MARINES' HONKYDONKS
A sailor's name for the shore service boots worn by Marines; his own he
refers to as "Pussers crabs". Similarly he may describe a Marine's boots, but
not his own, as "Beetle-crushers".


HOOP
TO GO THROUGH THE HOOP
To go through the hoop is to undergo an ordeal. From the old practice in some
ships of passing hammocks through a hoop gauge to check that they were of
uniform size and appearance before allowing them to be stowed in the hammock
nettings.


HOORAY

CHEERING

The Navy cheers Hooray not Hurrah.


HORSE
HORSE BOX
The general naval name for the mess on board a ship where the Sergeant-Major
R.N. and other Marine Sergeants mess.


FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE
Flogging or working a dead horse is doing something for nothing. It is a
merchant navy term, a 'dead horse' being a slang term used to refer to an
advance of pay given to seamen before commencing voyages in order that they
may buy clothing etc., required on the trip. Thus, 'working a deadhorse'
meant working for the first month without pay since that had already been
drawn and spent. At the expiration of the first month of the voyage it was at
one time customary to hoist in the rigging a canvas effigy of a horse.


HORSE'S NECK
Brandy and ginger ale; if rum is used instead of brandy, the name is LION'S
NECK - an old name for this drink was W.O's Champagne.



SALT HORSE
Naval slang name for an executive officer who has not specialised in gunnery,
navigation, TAS, signals, etc.


HOUSE
THE MAD HOUSE
Officer's slang name for the Admiralty offices in Queen Anne's Mansions,
London.


HOUSEWIFE
The wallet containing needles, thread, buttons, pins, etc., included in every
sailor's (optional) kit. Housewives can be brought from the Purser.
Pronounced (and sometimes spelt) HUSSIF


HUGGER
HUGGER-MUGGER
An old naval word meaning slovenly, confused, muddled.


HURRAH
CHEERING
The Navy cheers Hooray not Hurrah.


HURRAH'S NEST
An old naval name for a tangle of ropes and gear.