or HANDSPEC, a wooden bar used as a lever to heave about the windlass, in order to draw up the anchor from the bottom, particularly in merchant ships. The handle is round and tapering, and the other end is square, to conform to the shape of the holes in the windlass. It is also employed as a lever on many other occasions, as slopping the anchors, provisions, or cargo, in the ship's hold. The gunner's handspike is shorter and flatter than the above, and armed with two claws for managing the artillery, &c.