easting down

American  

noun

Nautical.

1. the passage eastward from the Cape of Good Hope, as made by a sailing ship bound for Australia or the East Indies.

2. the passage eastward from Australia, as made by a sailing ship bound for Cape Horn.

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Example Sentences

The bark County of Pembroke was running her easting down in the roaring forties off the Cape of Good Hope when she shipped a monstrous sea over the lee rail.

From Time Magazine Archive

And some were has-been sailing cracks of famous old renown, Had logged their eighteen easy when they ran their easting down With cargo, mails and passengers bound South from London Town ...

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, April 9, 1919 by Various

For the first few days after leaving the Cape, we ran off due south, it being my intention to seek the fortieth parallel of south latitude, and run my easting down on that parallel.

From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Semmes, Raphael