SPU 
stern, and attached to a cable proceeding 
from her bow when she lies at anchor. It is 
nsually performed to bring the ship’s broad- 
side or battery of cannon to bear upon some 
distant object, as another ship, a fortress on 
the coast, &c. When a ship rides by anchors 
which are only attached to one end, she will 
move like a weather-cock, according lo the 
direction of the wind or tide. Now if a rope 
be extended from the other end to the same 
anchor, it is evident that by slackening one 
of these ropes, and keeping fast the other, 
her .side will lie more or less obliquely to 
the wind or tide, as occasion may require, 
so as to be opposed to any distant object 
to the right or left. For instance, if a ship 
ride with her head northerly, and it is re- 
quired to cannonade a fortress lying on the 
south or south-east, a hawser is run out of 
tlie stem, and being carried forward with- 
out her (id, is attached to the cable at a com- 
petent distance a-head of the ship ; the 
hawser is then tightened by the capstan or 
tackles, and the cable being slackened, the 
ship immediately turns her side towards the 
object intended to be battered. 
8PR1T, in naval affairs, a small boom or 
pole which crosses the sail of a boat diagon- 
ally from the mast to the upper aftmost 
corner, which it is used to extend and ele- 
vate ; the lower end of the sprit rests in a 
sort of wreath, which encircles the mast at 
that place. 
SPRUCE beer, a cheap and wholesome 
liquor, which is thus made : take of water 
sixteen gallons, and boil the half of it. Put 
the water thus boiled, while in full heat, to 
the reserved cold part, which should be 
previously put into a barrel' or other- vessel ; 
then add sixteen pounds of treacle or mo- 
lasses, with a few table spoonfuls of the es- 
sence of sprncp, stirring the whole well to- 
gether ; add half a pint of yeast, and keep 
it in a temperate .situation, with the bung- 
bole open, tor two days, till the fermenta- 
tion be abated. Then close it up or bottle 
it olf, and it will be fit for being drunk in a 
few days afterwards. In North America, 
and perhaps in other countries, where the 
black and white spruce firs abound, instead 
of adding the e.ssence of the spruce at the 
same time with the molasses, they make a 
decoction of the leaves and small branches 
of these trees, and fiiid tlie liquor equally 
good. It is a powerful antiscorbutic, and 
may prove yery useful in long sea-voyages. 
SPUNGE. See Spongia, 
Spunge, is also used, in gunnery, for a 
long staff or rammer with a piece of sheep 
SQU 
or lamb-skin wound about its end, to serVS 
for scouring great guns, when discharged, 
before they arc charged with fresh powder. 
SPUNGING, in gunnery, the cleaning a 
gun’s inside with a .sponge, in order to pre- 
vent any spaiks of tire from remaining in 
her, which would endanger the life of liini 
who should load her again. 
SPUN' yarfi, among sailors, la a kind of 
line made from rope-yarn, and used for 
seizing or fastening things together. 
SPUR, a piece of metal, consisting of 
two branches encompassing a horseman’s 
heel, and a rowel in form of a star, advanc- 
ing out behind, to prick the horse. 
SPY, a person hired to watch the actions, 
motions, &c. of another ; particularly of 
what passes in a camp. When a spy is dis- 
covered, he is hanged immediately. 
SQUADRON, in military affairs, denotes 
a body of horse whose number of men is 
not fixed ; hut is usually from one to two 
hundred. Each squadron usually consists 
of three troops, of fifty men each. 
In naval affairs a squadron either implies 
a detachment of ships employed on any par- 
ticular expedition, or one-third part of a na- 
val armament. 
SQUALUS, the shark, in natural history, 
a genus of fishes of the order Cartilaginei. 
Generic character : mouth under the fore 
part of the head, with teeth disposed in 
rows, and partly moveable and partly fixed ; 
geiieraliy five spiracles, at the sides of the 
neck, of a semilunar shape ; body oblong, 
rather cylindric and rough, with tender 
prickles. These animals are never found in 
rivers or lakes, inhabiting only the sea, and 
carrying terror and dfestruction wherever 
they appear. They grow, in some species, 
to the weight of three or four thousand 
pounds. They occasionally emit a pirns-- 
phoric ilhimination, visible by night. They 
produce their young alive, several at a 
birth, but every one inclosed in a transpa- 
rent hornlike substance, lengthened at the 
extremity into a thread, which attaches to 
fixed substances, such as rocks or weeds. 
Some appear to live on vegetables chiefly, 
hilt the greater number are rapacious of 
animal substances in the extreme. They 
seize, indeed, whatever they find, with the 
jnost violent avidity, following in the wakes 
of ships, for the sake of nearly every thing 
thrown from them, and are fatal to those 
m-ariners who slip from their hold on the 
rigging into the sea, in which case the 
sliarks are seen to tear them to pieces, with 
al! the violence of competition- They are 
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