graving

[GRAVE (1), v.] Cleaning a ship's bottom by burning off the sea-weed, and then paying the planks with pitch. Ships were formerly beached for this purpose, and the work was done during the time of the ebb. It is also called beam ing (q. v.). "At work on the outside of the ship's bottom and side, washing, and graving , and stopping, as every seafaring man knows how." - Defoe: Robinson Crusoe , pt. ii.