Definition of "crankness" []

• Liability to be overset; said of a ship or other vessel. (noun)
• Sprightliness; health; vigour (noun)

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• "Before leaving London Cook, who had heard it was said that he was not satisfied with the vessels chosen for the voyage, wrote to Mr. Stephens on the subject, giving his opinion that the crankness of the Resolution “was owing to the additional works that have been built upon her in order to make large accommodation for the several gentlemen passengers intended to embark in her.”"
• "Loading must be done with unusual care, as the slightest crankness of such frail craft in such wild waters is likely to prove fatal."
• "Tallyho had grasped more firmly his oaken sprig, with the intention of trying the crankness of the observer's pericranium, when Dashall perceived that the obnoxious remark was directed to a simple looking old man, dejectedly leading a horse"