ship a sea

present singular third person ships a sea · participle present shipping a sea · participle past shipped a sea · past shipped a sea

1. intransitivenauticalTo have a large wave wash over one's vessel.

   Once I shipped a sea so heavy that I had to stop and bail, with my heart fluttering like a bird […]

   1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter XXIV, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part V (My Sea Adventure), page 196

   3 more examples

   […] VVaterman, ſays I, vvhat are you doing? vvhat did you ſhip a Sea? ay, ſays the VVaterman, and a great one too; vvhy it blovvs a Frett of VVind; […]

   1724, [Daniel Defoe], “Letter V”, in The Great Law of Subordination Consider’d; or, The Insolence and Unsufferable Behaviour of Servants in England Duly Enquir’d into. […], London: Sold by S. Harding, […], →OCLC, page 134

   Thus we scudded before the wind […] and at nine shipped a sea in the poop, as we in the cabbin were going to supper.

   1774, David Henry, “The Voyages of Captain Cooke”, in An Historical Account of All the Voyages Round the World, Performed by English Navigators, volume 2, London: F. Newbery, page 19

   At almost every roll to leeward she shipped a sea, several of which came partially down into the cabin during our scuffle, the hatchway having been left open by myself when I descended.

   1838, [Edgar Allan Poe], chapter VIII, in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 81