Earings: Small lines, by which the uppermost corners of the largest sails are secured to the yardarms.
Echo sounding: Measuring the depth of the water using a sonar device. Also see sounding and swinging the lead.
Embayed: The condition where a sailing vessel (especially one which sails poorly to windward) is confined between two capes or headlands by a wind blowing directly onshore.
En echelon: Forward and aft gun turrets on opposite sides of the ship, example.
Engine order telegraph: a communications device used by the pilot to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain desired speed. Also Chadburn.
Extremis: (also known as “in extremis”) the point under International Rules of the Road (Navigation Rules) at which the privileged (or stand-on) vessel on collision course with a burdened (or give-way) vessel determines it must maneuver to avoid a collision. Prior to extremis, the privileged vessel must maintain course and speed and the burdened vessel must maneuver to avoid collision.
Eye splice: A closed loop or eye at the end a line, rope, cable etc. It is made by unraveling its end and joining it to itself by intertwining it into the lay of the line. Eye splices are very strong and compact and are employed in moorings and docking lines among other uses.
