The Sailor's Word-Book / An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc.

It is moreover a little narrow flag at the end of a lance.

ANYHOW.Do the duty by all means, and at any rate or risk: as Nelson, impatient for getting to Copenhagen in 1801, exclaimed—

ANY PORT IN A STORM signifies contentment with whatever may betide.

APAGOGE.A mathematical progress from one proposition to another.

APE, or Sea-apeThe long-tailed shark.Also, an active American seal.

APEEK. A ship drawn directly over the anchor is apeek: when the fore-stay and cable form a line, it is short stay apeek; when in a line with the main-stay, long stay apeek. The anchor is apeek when the cable has been sufficiently hove in to bring the ship over it. —Yards apeek. When they are topped up by contrary lifts. (See Peak.)

APERTÆ.Ancient deep-waisted ships, with high-decked forecastle and poop.

APERTURE, in astronomy.The opening of a telescope tube next the object-glass, through which the rays of light and image of the object are conveyed to the eye.It is usually estimated by the clear diameter of the object-glass.

APEX.The summit or vertex of anything; as the upper point of a triangle.

APHELION. That point in the orbit of a planet or comet which is most remote from the sun, and at which the angular motion is slowest; being the end of the greater elliptic axis. The opposite of perihelion

APHELLAN.The name of the double star α Geminorum, better known as Castor.

APHRACTI.Ancient vessels with open waists, resembling the present Torbay-boats.

APLANATIC.That refraction which entirely corrects the aberration and colour of the rays of light.

APLETS.Nets for the herring-fishery.

APLUSTRE.A word applied in ancient vessels both to the ornament on the prow and to the streamer or ensign on the stern.Here, as in the rudder-head of Dutch vessels frequently, the dog-vane was carried to denote the direction of the wind.

APOBATHRÆ.Ancient gang-boards from the ship to the quays.

APOCATASTASIS.The time in which a planet returns to the same point of the zodiac whence it departed.

APOGEE. That point of the moon's orbit which is furthest from the earth; the opposite of perigee. The apogee of the sun is synonymous with the aphelion of the earth. The word is also used as a general term to express the greatest distance of any heavenly body from the earth.

A-POISE.Said of a vessel properly trimmed.

APOSTLES.The knight-heads or bollard timbers, where hawsers or heavy ropes are belayed.

APOTOME.The difference of two incommensurable mathematical quantities.

APPALTO.The commercial term for a monopoly in Mediterranean ports.

APPARATUS.Ammunition and equipage for war.

APPAREL. In marine insurance, means the furniture or appurtenances of a ship, as masts, yards, sails, ground gear, guns, &c. More comprehensive than apparatus

APPARELLED.Fully equipped for service.

APPARENT.In appearance, as visible to the eye, or evident to the mind, which in the case of astronomical motions, distances, altitudes, and magnitudes, will be found to differ materially from their real state, and require correcting to find the true place.

APPARENT EQUINOX.The position of the equinox as affected by nutation.

APPARENT HORIZON. See Horizon

APPARENT MOTION.The motion of celestial bodies as viewed from the earth.

APPARENT NOON.The instant that the sun's centre is on the meridian of a place.

APPARENT OBLIQUITY.The obliquity of the ecliptic affected with nutation.

APPARENT PLACE OF A STAR.This is the position for any day which it seems to occupy in the heavens, as affected with aberration and nutation.

APPARENT TIME. The time resulting from an observation of the sun—an expression per contractionem for apparent solar time.

APPARITION. A star or planet becoming visible after occultation. Perpetual apparition of the lesser northern circles, wherein the stars being above the horizon, never set.

APPEARANCE.The first making of a land-fall: formerly astronomically used for phenomenon and phase.The day of an officer's first joining a ship after his being appointed.

APPLE-PIE ORDER. A strange but not uncommon term for a ship in excellent condition and well looked to. Neat and orderly. Absurdly said to be a corruption of du pol au pied

APPLICATE.The ordinate, or right line drawn across a curve, so as to be bisected by its diameter.

APPLICATION.A word of extensive use, for the principles of adjusting, augmenting, and perfecting the relations between sciences.

APPOINTED.Commissioned—named for a special duty.

APPOINTMENT. The equipment, ordnance, furniture, and necessaries of a ship. Also an officer's commission. In the Army, appointments usually imply military accoutrements, such as belts, sashes, gorgets, &c.

APPORTER.A bringer into the realm.

APPRAISEMENT.A law instrument taken out by the captors of a vessel, who are primarily answerable for the expense.

APPRENTICE.One who is covenanted to serve another on condition of being instructed in an art, and ships' apprentices are to the same effect.Boys under eighteen years of age bound to masters of merchant ships were exempted from impressment for three years from the date of their indentures; which documents were in duplicate, and exempt from stamp duty.

APPROACHES.The trenches, zig-zags, saps, and other works, by which a besieger makes good his way up to a fortified place.(See Trenches.)

APPROVAL.The senior officer's signature to a demand or application.

APPROXIMATION.A continual approach to a quantity sought, where there is no possibility of arriving at it exactly.

APPULSE.A near approach of one heavenly body to another, so as to form an apparent contact: the term is principally used with reference to stars or planets when the moon passes close to them without causing occultation.

APRON, or Stomach-pieceA strengthening compass timber fayed abaft the lower part of the stern, and above the foremost end of the keel; that is, from the head down to the fore dead-wood knee, to which it is scarfed.It is sided to receive the fastenings of the fore-hoods or planking of the bow.—Apron of a gun, a square piece of sheet-lead laid over the touch-hole for protecting the vent from damp; also over the gun-lock.—Apron of a dock, the platform rising where the gates are closed, and on which the sill is fastened down.

APSIDES, Line ofThe imaginary line joining the aphelion and perihelion points in the orbit of a planet.

APSIS. Either of the two points in planetary orbits where they are at the greatest and the least distance from the sun, and are termed higher or lower accordingly. The two are joined by a diameter called the line of the apsides

AQUAGE.The old law-term denoting the toll paid for water-carriage.

AQUARIUS.The eleventh sign in the zodiac (α Aquarius Sadalmelik).

AQUATIC.Inhabiting or relating to the water.

AQUATILE. An archaism for aquatic; thus Howell's lexicon describes the crocodile as "partly aquatil, partly terrestrial."

AQUATITES.The law-term for everything living in the water.

AQUE.Wall-sided flat-floored boats, which navigate the Rhine.

AQUEDUCT.Conduits or canals built for the conveyance of water.

AQUILA.The constellation Aquila, in which α Aquilæ is an important star of the first magnitude: used by seamen in determining the latitude and longitude; also in lunar distances.(See Altair.)

AQUILON.The north-east wind, formerly much dreaded by mariners.

ARAMECH.The Arabic name for the star Arcturus.

ARBALIST [from arcus and balista].An engine to throw stones, or the cross-bow used for bullets, darts, arrows, &c.; formerly arbalisters formed part of a naval force.

ARBITER.The judge to whom two persons refer their differences; not always judicial, but the arbiter, in his own person, of the fate of empires and peoples.

ARBITRAGE.The referring commercial disputes to the arbitration of two or more indifferent persons.

ARBITRATION.The settlement of disputes out of court.

ARBOR.In chronometry, a shaft, spindle, or axis.

ARBY.A northern name for the thrift or sea-lavender.

ARC, or ArchThe segment of a circle or any curved line, by which all angles are measured.

ARC DIURNAL. See Diurnal Arc

ARC NOCTURNAL. See Nocturnal Arc

ARC OF DIRECTION or ProgressionThe arc which a planet appears to describe when its motion is direct or progressive in the order of the signs.

ARC OF VISION.The sun's depth below the horizon when the planets and stars begin to appear.

ARCH-BOARD.The part of the stern over the counter, immediately under the knuckles of the stern-timbers.

ARCH OF THE COVE.An elliptical moulding sprung over the cove of a ship, at the lower part of the taffrail.

ARCHED SQUALL.A violent gust of wind, usually distinguished by the arched form of the clouds near the horizon, whence they rise rapidly towards the zenith, leaving the sky visible through it.

ARCHEL, Archil, Orchill. Rocella tinctorum fucus, a lichen found on the rocks of the Canary and Cape de Verde groups; it yields a rich purple.Litmus, largely used in chemistry, is derived from it.

ARCHES.A common term among seamen for the Archipelago.(See also Galley-arches.)

ARCHI-GUBERNUS.The commander of the imperial ship in ancient times.

ARCHIMEDES' SCREW.An ingenious spiral pump for draining docks or raising water to any proposed height,—the invention of that wonderful man.It is also used to remove grain in breweries from a lower to a higher level. The name has been recently applied to the very important introduction in steam navigation—the propelling screw. (See Screw-propeller.)

ARCHING. When a vessel is not strongly built there is always a tendency in the greater section to lift, and the lower sections to fall; hence the fore and after ends droop, producing arching, or hogging (which see).

ARCHIPELAGO.A corruption of Aegeopelagus, now applied to clusters of islands in general.Originally the Ægean Sea.An archipelago has a great number of islands of various sizes, disposed without order; but often contains several subordinate groups.Such are the Ægean, the Corean, the Caribbean, Indian, Polynesian, and others.

ARCHITECTURE. See Naval Architecture

ARCTIC. Northern, or lying under arktos, the Bear; an epithet given to the north polar regions comprised within the arctic circle, a lesser circle of the sphere, very nearly 23° 28′ distant from the north pole.

ARCTIC OCEAN.So called from surrounding the pole within the imaginary circle of that name.

ARCTIC POLE.The north pole of the globe.

ARCTURUS.α Boötis.A star of the first magnitude, close to the knee of Arctophylax, or Boötes.One of the nautical stars.

ARD, or Aird. A British or Gaelic term for a rocky eminence, or rocks on a wash: hence the word hard, in present use.It is also an enunciation.

ARDENT.Said of a vessel when she gripes, or comes to the wind quickly.

ARE. The archaism for oar (which see). A measure of land in France containing 100 square metres.

AREA. The plane or surface contained between any boundary lines. The superficial contents of any figure or work; as, the area of any square or triangle.

ARENACEOUS. Sandy; partaking of the qualities of sand; brittle; as, arenaceous limestone, quartz, &c.

ARENAL.In meteorology, a cloud of dust, often so thick as to prevent seeing a stone's-throw off.It is common in South America, being raised by the wind from adjoining shores.Also off the coast of Africa at the termination of the desert of Zahara.

ARENATION.The burying of scorbutic patients up to the neck in holes in a sandy beach, for cure; also spreading hot sand over a diseased person.

AREOMETER.An instrument for measuring the specific gravity of fluids.

ARGIN. An old word for an embankment

ARGO. A name famous from Jason's romantic expedition, but absurdly quoted as the first ship, for the fleets of Danaus and Minos are mentioned long before, and the Argo herself was chased by a squadron under Æetes.

ARGO NAVIS.The southern constellation of the Ship, containing 9 clusters, 3 nebulæ, 13 double and 540 single stars, of which about 64 are easily visible.As most of these were invisible to the Greeks, the name was probably given by the Egyptians.

ARGOL.The tartaric acid or lees adhering to the sides of wine-casks, particularly of port-wine; an article of commerce; supertartrate of potass.

ARGOLET.A light horseman of the middle ages.

ARGONAUTA.The paper-nautilus.The sail which it was supposed to spread to catch the wind, is merely a modified arm which invests the outer surface of the shell.

ARGONAUTS. A company of forty-four heroes who sailed in the Argo to obtain the golden fleece; an expedition which fixes one of the most memorable epochs in history. Also a Geographical Society instituted at Venice, to whom we owe the publication of all the charts, maps, and directories of Coronelli.

ARGOSY. A merchant ship or carrack of burden, principally of the Levant; the name is by some derived from Ragusa, but by others with more probability from the ArgoShakspeare mentions "argosies with portly sail."Those of the Frescobaldi were the richest and most adventurous of those times.

ARGOZIN, or ArgnesynThe person whose office it was to attend to the shackles of the galley-slaves, over whom he had especial charge.

ARGUMENT.An astronomical quantity upon which an equation depends,—or any known number by which an unknown one proportional to the first may be found.

ARGUMENT OF LATITUDE.The distance of a celestial body from one of the nodes of its orbit, upon which the latitude depends.

ARIES.The most important point of departure in astronomy.A northern constellation forming the first of the twelve signs of the zodiac, into which the sun enters about the 20th of March.With Musca, Aries contains 22 nebulæ, 8 double and 148 single stars, but not above 50 are visible to the unassisted eye.The commencement of this sign, called the first point of Aries, is the origin from which the right ascensions of the heavenly bodies are reckoned upon the equator, and their longitudes upon the ecliptic.

ARIS.Sharp corner of stones in piers and docks.

ARIS PIECES.Those parts of a made mast which are under the hoops.

ARITHMETIC.The art of computation by numbers; or that branch which considers their powers and properties.

ARK. The sacred and capacious vessel built by Noah for preservation against the flood. It was 300 cubits in length, 50 in breadth, and 30 in height; and of whatever materials it was constructed, it was pitched over or pay'd with bitumen. Ark is also the name of a mare's-tail cloud, or cirrhus, when it forms a streak across the sky.

ARLOUP. An archaism for the deck, now called orlop (which see).

ARM.A deep and comparatively narrow inlet of the sea.That part of an anchor on which the palm is shut.The extremity of the bibbs which support the trestle-trees.Each extremity or end of a yard, beam, or bracket.—To arm, to fit, furnish, and provide for war; to cap and set a loadstone; to apply putty or tallow to the lower end of the lead previous to sounding, in order to draw up a specimen of the bottom.—To arm a shot, is to roll rope-yarns about a cross-bar-shot, in order to facilitate ramming it home, and also to prevent the ends catching any accidental inequalities in the bore.

ARMADA. A Spanish term signifying a royal fleet; it comes from the same root as army. The word armado is used by Shakspeare.

ARMADILLA.A squadron of guarda-costas, which formerly cruized on the coasts of South America, to prevent smuggling.

ARMADOR.A Spanish privateer.

ARMAMENT.A naval or military force equipped for an expedition.The arming of a vessel or place.

ARMAMENTA.The rigging and tackling of an ancient ship.It included shipmen and all the necessary furniture of war.

ARMATÆ.Ancient ships fitted with sails and oars, but which fought under the latter only.

ARM-CHEST.A portable locker on the upper deck or tops for holding arms, and affording a ready supply of cutlasses, pistols, muskets or other weapons.

ARMED.Completely equipped for war.—Armed at all points, covered with armour.—Armed "en flute," see Flute—Armed mast, made of more than one tree.—Armed ship, a vessel fitted out by merchants to annoy the enemy, and furnished with letters of marque, and bearing a commission from the Admiralty to carry on warlike proceedings.

ARMED STEM. See Beak

ARMILLARY SPHERE. An instrument composed of various circles, to assist the student in gaining a knowledge of the arrangement and motions of the heavenly bodies. A brass armilla tolomæi was one of the instruments supplied to Martin Frobisher in 1576, price £4, 6s. 8d.

ARMING.A piece of tallow placed in the cavity and over the bottom of a sounding lead, to which any objects at the bottom of the sea become attached, and are brought with the lead to the surface.

ARMINGS.Red dress cloths which were formerly hung fore and aft, outside the upper works on holidays; still used by foreigners.(See Top-armings.)It was also the name of a kind of boarding-net.

ARMIPOTENT.Powerful in war.

ARMISTICE.A cessation of arms for a given time; a short truce for the suspension of hostilities.

ARMLET.A narrow inlet of the sea; a smaller branch than the arm.Also the name of a piece of armour for the arm, to protect it from the jar of the bow-string.

ARMOGAN.An old term for good opportunity or season for navigation, which, if neglected, was liable to costs of demurrage.It is a Mediterranean word for fine weather.

ARMORIC. The language of Brittany, Cornwall, and Wales: the word in its original signification meant maritime

ARMOUR. A defensive habit to protect the wearer from his enemy; also defensive arms. In old statutes this is frequently called harness

ARMOUR-CLAD.A ship of war fitted with iron plates on the outside to render her shot-proof.

ARMOURER.In a man-of-war, is a person appointed by warrant to keep the small arms in complete condition for service.As he is also the ship's blacksmith, a mate is allowed to assist at the forge.

ARMOURY.A place appropriated for the keeping of small arms.

ARM-RACK.A frame or fitting for the stowage of arms (usually vertical) out of harm's way, but in readiness for immediate use.In the conveyance of troops by sea arm-racks form a part of the proper accommodation.

ARMS. The munitions of war,—all kinds of weapons whether for offence or defence.Those in a ship are cannons, carronades, mortars, howitzers, muskets, pistols, tomahawks, cutlasses, bayonets, and boarding-pikes.

ARMS of a great GunThe trunnions.

ARMSTRONG GUN.Invented by Sir William Armstrong.In its most familiar form, a rifled breech-loading gun of wrought iron, constructed principally of spirally coiled bars, and occasionally having an inner tube or core of steel; ranging in size from the smallest field-piece up to the 100 pounder; rifled with numerous shallow grooves, which are taken by the expansion of the leaden coating of its projectile.Late experiments however, connected with iron-plated ships are developing muzzle-loading Armstrong guns, constructed on somewhat similar principles, but with simpler rifling, ranging in size up to the 600 pounder weighing 23 tons.

ARMY.A large body of disciplined men, with appropriate subdivisions, commanded by a general.A fleet is sometimes called a naval army.—Flying army, a small body sent to harass a country, intercept convoys, and alarm the enemy.

ARMYE.A early term for a naval armament.

ARNOT.A northern name for the shrimp.

ARONDEL. A light and swift tartan: probably a corruption of hirondelle (swallow).

ARPENT. A French measure of land, equal to 100 square rods or perches, each of 18 feet. It is about 1⁄7th less than the English acre.

ARQUEBUSS.A word sometimes used for carbine, but formerly meant a garrison-piece, carrying a ball of 31⁄2 ounces; it was generally placed in loop-holes. (See Hagbut.)

ARRACK.An Indian term for all ardent liquors, but that which we designate thus is obtained by the fermentation of toddy (a juice procured from palm-trees), of rice, and of sugar.In Turkey arrack is extracted from vine-stalks taken out of wine-presses.

ARRAIER.The officer who formerly had the care of the men's armour, and whose business it was to see them duly accoutred.

ARRAY.The order of battle.—To array. To equip, dress, or arm for battle.

ARREARS.The difference between the full pay of a commissioned officer, and what he is empowered to draw for till his accounts are passed.

ARREST. The suspension of an officer's duty, and restraint of his person, previous to trying him by a court martial. Seamen in Her Majesty's service cannot be arrested for debts under twenty pounds, and that contracted before they entered the navy. Yet it is held in law, that this affords no exemption from arrests either in civil or criminal suits.

ARRIBA. [Sp. pronounced arriva].Aloft, quickly.—Agir contre son gré, montar arriba, to mount aloft, which has passed into seamen's lingo as areevo, up, aloft, quickly:—mount areevo, or go on deck.

ARRIBAR, ToTo land, to attain the bank, to arrive.

ARRIVE, ToIn the most nautical sense, is to come to any place by water, to reach the shore.

ARROBA.A Portuguese commercial weight of 32 lbs.Also, a Spanish general wine measure of 41⁄4 English gallons. The lesser arroba, used for oil, is only 31⁄3 English gallons. A Spanish weight of 25 lbs. avoirdupois; one-fourth of a quintal. Also, a rough country cart in Southern Russia.

ARROW.A missive weapon of offence, and whether ancient or modern, in the rudest form among savages or refined by art, is always a slender stick, armed at one end, and occasionally feathered at the other. The natives of Tropical Africa feather the metal barb.

ARROW.In fortification, a work placed at the salient angles of the glacis, communicating with the covert way.—Broad arrow. The royal mark for stores of every kind. (See Broad Arrow.)

ARSENAL.A repository of the munitions of war.Some combine both magazines of naval and military stores, and docks for the construction and repair of ships.

ARSHEEN.A Russian measure of 2 feet 4 in.= 2·333—also Chinese, four of which make 3 yards English.

ART. A spelling of airt (which see). Also, practice as distinguished from theory.

ARTEMON.The main-sail of ancient ships.

ARTHUR.A well-known sea game, alluded to by Grose, Smollet, and other writers.

ARTICLES.The express stipulations to which seamen bind themselves by signature, on joining a merchant ship.

ARTICLES OF WAR. A code of rules and orders based on the act of parliament for the regulation and government of Her Majesty's ships, vessels, and forces by sea: and as they are frequently read to all hands, no individual can plead ignorance of them. It is now termed the New Naval Code. —The articles of war for the land forces have a similar foundation and relation to their service; the act in this case, however, is passed annually, the army itself having, in law, no more than one year's permanence unless so periodically renewed by act of parliament.

ARTIFICER. One who works by hand in wood or metal; generally termed an idler on board, from his not keeping night-watch, and only appearing on deck duty when the hands are turned up.

ARTIFICIAL EYE.An eye worked in the end of rope, which is neater but not so strong as a spliced eye.

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON.An artificial means of catching the altitude of a celestial body when the sea horizon is obscured by fog, darkness, or the intervention of land; a simple one is still the greatest desideratum of navigators.Also a trough filled with pure mercury, used on land, wherein the double altitude of a celestial body is reflected.

ARTIFICIAL LINES.The ingenious contrivances for representing logarithmic sines and tangents, so useful in navigation, on a scale.

ARTILLERY was formerly synonymous with archery, but now comprehends every description of ordnance, guns, mortars, fire-arms, and all their appurtenances.The term is also applied to the noble corps destined to that service: as also to the theory and practice of the science of projectiles: it was moreover given to all kinds of missile weapons, and the translators of the Bible make Jonathan give his "artillery unto his lad."

ARTILLERY, ROYAL MARINE. Formerly a select branch of the R.Marines, specially instructed in gunnery and the care of artillery stores; assigned in due proportion to all ships of war.It is now separate from the other branch (to whose original title the denomination of Light Infantry has been added), and rests on its own official basis; its relation to ships of war, however, remaining the same as before, although while on shore the Royal Marine forces are regulated by an annual act of parliament.(See Royal Marine Artillery.)

ARTIST.A name formerly applied to those mariners who were also expert navigators.

ARTIZAN.A mechanic or operative workman.(See Artificer.)

ARX.A fort or castle for the defence of a place.

ASCENDANT.The part of the ecliptic above the horizon.

ASCENDING NODE. See Nodes

ASCENDING SIGNS.Those in which the sun appears to ascend towards the north pole, or in which his motion in declination is towards the north.

ASCENSION.The act of mounting or rising upwards.(See Right Ascension.)

ASCENSIONAL DIFFERENCE. The equinoctial arc intercepted between the right and oblique ascensions (which see).

ASCENSION OBLIQUE. See Oblique Ascension

ASCENSION RIGHT. See Right Ascension

ASCII.The inhabitants of the torrid zone, who twice a year, being under a vertical sun, have no shadow.

AS DEAF AS THE MAIN-MAST.Said of one who does not readily catch an order given.Thus at sea the main-mast is synonymous with the door-post on shore.

ASHES. See Windward

ASHLAR.Blocks of stone masonry fronting docks, piers, and other erections; this term is applied to common or freestone as they come of various lengths, breadths, and thicknesses from the quarry.

ASHORE. Aground, on land. —To go ashore, to disembark from a boat. Opposed to aboard

ASH-PIT.A receptacle for ashes before the fire-bars in a steamer, or under them in most fire-places.

ASIENTO [Sp.]A sitting, contract, or convention; such as that between Spain and other powers in relation to the supply of stores for South America.

ASK, or AskerA name of the water-newt.

ASKEW.Awry, crooked, oblique.

ASLANT.Formed or placed in an oblique line, as with dagger-knees, &c.—To sail aslant, turning to windward.

ASLEEP.The sail filled with wind just enough for swelling or bellying out,—as contrasted with its flapping.

ASPECT.The looming of the land from sea-ward.

ASPER.A minute Turkish coin in accounts, of which three go to a para.

ASPIC.An ancient 12-pounder piece of ordnance, about 11 feet long.

ASPIRANT DE MARINE.Midshipman in the French navy.

ASPORTATION.The carrying of a vessel or goods illegally.

ASSAIL, ToTo attack, leap upon, board, &c.

ASSAULT.A hostile attack.The effort to storm a place, and gain possession of a post by main force.

ASSEGAI.The spear used by the Kaffirs in South Africa; it is frequently feather-bent to revolve in its flight.

ASSEGUAY.The knife-dagger used in the Levant.

ASSEMBLY. That long roll beat of the drum by which soldiers, or armed parties, are ordered to repair to their stations. It is sometimes called the fall-in

ASSES'-BRIDGE.The well-known name of prop.5, b.i.of Euclid, the difficulty of which makes many give in.

ASSIEGE, ToTo besiege, to invest or beset with an armed force.

ASSIGNABLE.Any finite geometrical ratio, or magnitude that can be marked out or denoted.

ASSILAG.The name given in the Hebrides to a small sea-bird with a black bill.The stormy petrel.

ASSISTANCE.Aid or help: strongly enjoined to be given whenever a signal is made requiring it.

ASSISTANT-SURGEON.The designation given some years ago to those formerly called "surgeon's mates," and considered a boon by the corps.

ASSORTMENT.The arrangement of goods, tools, &c., in a series.

ASSURANCE.(See Marine Insurance.)Conveyance or deed: in which light Shakspeare makes Tranio say that his father will "pass assurance."

ASSURGENT.A heraldic term for a man or beast rising out of the sea.

ASSUROR.He who makes out the policy of assurance for a ship: he is not answerable for the neglect of the master or seamen.

A-STARBOARD. The opposite to a-port

A-STAY.Said of the anchor when, in heaving in, the cable forms such an angle with the surface as to appear in a line with the stays of the ship. —A long stay apeek is when the cable forms an acute angle with the water's surface, or coincides with the main-stay—short stay when it coincides with the fore-stay.

ASTELLABRE. The same as astrolabe

ASTERIA. See Sea-star

ASTERISM. Synonymous with constellation, a group of stars.

ASTERN. Any distance behind a vessel; in the after-part of the ship; in the direction of the stern, and therefore the opposite of ahead—To drop astern, is to be left behind,—when abaft a right angle to the keel at the main-mast, she drops astern.

ASTEROIDS.The name by which the minor planets between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars were proposed to be distinguished by Sir W.Herschel.They are very small bodies, which have all been discovered since the commencement of the present century; yet their present number is over eighty.

ASTRAGAL. A moulding formerly round a cannon, at a little distance from its breech, the cascabel, and another near the muzzle.It is a half round on a flat moulding.

ASTRAL.Sidereal, relating to the stars.

ASTROLABE.An armillary sphere.—Sea-astrolabe, a useful graduated brass ring, with a movable index, for taking the altitude of stars and planets: it derived its name from the armillary sphere of Hipparchus, at Alexandria.

ASTROMETRY.The numerical expression of the apparent magnitudes of the so-called fixed stars.

ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK.A capital bit of horology, the pendulum of which is usually compensated to sidereal time, for astronomical purposes.(See Sidereal Time.)

ASTRONOMICAL HOURS.Those which are reckoned from noon or midnight of one natural day, to noon or midnight of another.

ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS.There have been occasional slight records of celestial phenomena from the remotest times, but the most useful ones are those collected and preserved by Ptolemy.Since 1672, science has been enriched with a continued series of astronomical observations of accuracy and value never dreamed of by the ancients.

ASTRONOMICAL PLACE OF A STAR OR PLANET.Its longitude or place in the ecliptic, reckoned from the first point of Aries, according to the natural order of the signs.

ASTRONOMICAL TABLES.Tables for facilitating the calculation of the apparent places of the sun, moon, and planets.

ASTRONOMICALS.The sexagesimal fractions.

ASTRONOMY.The splendid department of the mixed sciences which teaches the laws and phenomena of the universal system. It is practical when it treats of the magnitudes, periods, and distances of the heavenly bodies; and physical when it investigates the causes. In the first division the more useful adaptation nautical is included (which see).

ASTROSCOPIA.Skill in examining the nature and properties of stars with a telescope.

ASTRUM, or AstronSirius, or the Dog-star.Sometimes applied to a cluster of stars.

ASWIM.Afloat, borne on the waters.

ASYLUM.A sanctuary or refuge; a name given to a benevolent institution at Greenwich, for 800 boys and 200 girls, orphans of seamen and marines.The Royal Military Asylum is also an excellent establishment of a similar nature at Chelsea, besides numerous others.

ASYMMETRY.A mathematical disproportion.The relation of two quantities which have no measure in common.

ASYMPTOTES.Lines which continually approximate each other, but can never meet.

ATABAL.A Moorish kettle-drum.

ATAGHAN. See Yataghan

AT ANCHOR.The situation of a vessel riding in a road or port by her anchor.

ATAR. A perfume of commerce, well known as atar-of-roses; atar being the Arabic word for fragrance, corrupted into otto

A'TAUNTO, or All-a-taunt-oEvery mast an-end and fully rigged.

ATEGAR. The old English hand-dart, named from the Saxon aeton, to fling, and gar, a weapon.

ATHERINE. A silvery fish used in the manufacture of artificial pearls; it is 4 or 5 inches long, inhabits various seas, but is taken in great numbers in the Mediterranean. It is also called argentine

ATHILLEDA.The rule and sights of an astrolabe.

ATHWART.The transverse direction; anything extending or across the line of a ship's course.—Athwart hawse, a vessel, boat, or floating lumber accidentally drifted across the stem of a ship, the transverse position of the drift being understood.—Athwart the fore-foot, just before the stem; ships fire a shot in this direction to arrest a stranger, and make her bring-to.—Athwart ships, in the direction of the beam; from side to side: in opposition to fore-and-aft

ATHWART THE TIDE. See Across the Tide

ATLANTIC.The sea which separates Europe and Africa from the Americas, so named from the elevated range called the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

ATLANTIDES.The daughters of Atlas; a name of the Pleiades.

ATLAS.A large book of maps or charts; so called from the character of that name in ancient mythology, son of Uranus, and represented as bearing the world on his back.Also the Indian satin of commerce.

ATMOSPHERE.The ambient air, or thin elastic fluid which surrounds the globe, and gradually diminishing in gravity rises to an unknown height, yet by gravitation partakes of all its motions.

ATMOSPHERIC or Single-action Steam-engineA condensing machine, in which the downward stroke of the piston is performed by the pressure of the atmosphere acting against a vacuum.

ATMOSPHERICAL TIDES.The motions generated by the joint influence of the sun and moon; and by the rotatory and orbital course of the earth,—as developed in trade-winds, equinoctial gales, &c.

ATOLLS.An Indian name for those singular coral formations known as lagoon-islands, such as the Maldive cluster, those in the Pacific, and in other parts within the tropics, where the apparently insignificant reef-building zoophytes reside.

ATRIE.To bring the ship to in a gale.

A-TRIP. The anchor is a-trip, or a-weigh, when the purchase has just made it break ground, or raised it clear. Sails are a-trip when they are hoisted from the cap, sheeted home, and ready for trimming. Yards are a-trip when swayed up, ready to have the stops cut for crossing: so an upper-mast is said to be a-trip, when the fid is loosened preparatory to lowering it.

ATTACHED.Belongs to; in military parlance an officer or soldier is attached to any regiment or company with which he is ordered to do duty.

ATTACK.A general assault or onset upon an enemy.Also the arrangement for investment or battle.(See False Attack.)

ATTEMPT, ToTo endeavour to carry a vessel or place by surprise; to venture at some risk, as in trying a new channel, &c.

ATTENDANT MASTER.A dockyard official.(See Master-attendant.)

ATTENTION.A military word of command, calling the soldier from the quiescent position of "at ease" into readiness for any exercise or evolution.Also the erect posture due to that word of command, and which is assumed by a private soldier in the presence of an officer.The attending to signals.

ATTERRAGE.The land-fall, or making the land.Usually marked on French charts and plans to show the landing-place.

ATTESTATION.In Admiralty courts the attestation of a deed signifies the testifying to the signing or execution of it.

ATTESTED.Legally certified; proved by evidence.

ATTILE.An old law term for the rigging or furniture of a ship.

ATTORNEY. See Sea-attorney

ATTRACTION.The power of drawing, or the principle by which all bodies mutually tend towards each other; the great agent in nature's wonderful operations.—Attraction of mountains, the deviating influence exercised on the plumb-line by the vicinity of high land.But exerting also a marvellous effect on all floating bodies, for every seaman knows that a ship stands inshore faster than she stands out, the distances being similar.

ATWEEN, or Atwixt. Betwixt or between, shortened into 'tween, that is, in the intermediate space. The word 'tween decks is usually applied to the lower deck of a frigate, and orlop to that of a line-of-battle ship.

AUBERK, or HauberkOne who held land to be ready with a coat of mail and attend his lord when called upon so to do.Thus the old poet:—

AUDIT.The final passing of accounts.

AUDITORS OF THE IMPREST.Officers who had the charge of the great accounts of the royal customs, naval and military expenses, &c.; they are now superseded by the commissioners for auditing the public accounts.

AUGES. An astronomical term, synonymous with apsides

AUGET.A tube filled with powder for firing a mine.

AUGMENTATION of the Moon's DiameterThe increase of her apparent diameter occasioned by an increase of altitude: or that which is due to the difference between her distance from the observer and the centre of the earth.

AUGRE, or AugerA wimble, or instrument for boring holes for bolts, tree-nails, and other purposes.

AUK, or AwkA sea-bird with short wings.The great auk or gair-fowl (Alca impennis) was formerly common on all the northern coasts, where they laid their eggs, ingeniously poised, on the bare rocks.They were very good eating, and having been taken in great numbers by the Esquimaux, and by European sailors on whaling voyages, the species is now supposed to be exterminated.

AULIN.An arctic gull (Cataractes parasiticus), given to make other sea-birds mute through fear, and then eat their discharge—whence it is termed dirty aulin by the northern boatmen.

AUMBREY.An old north-country term for a bread and cheese locker.

AUNE. Contraction of ulnaFrench cloth measure: at Rouen it is equal to the English ell—at Paris 0·95—at Calais 1·52 of that measure.

AURIGA. A northern constellation, and one of the old 48 asterisms; it is popularly known as the Waggoner: α Auriga, Capella.

AURORA.The faint light which precedes sunrising.Also the mythological mother of the winds and stars.

AURORA AUSTRALIS or BorealisThe extraordinary and luminous meteoric phenomenon which by its streaming effulgence cheers the dreary nights of polar regions.It is singular that these beautiful appearances are nowhere mentioned by the ancients.They seem to be governed by electricity, are most frequent in frosty weather, and are proved to be many miles above the surface of the earth, from some of them being visible over 30° of longitude and 20° of latitude at the same instant!In colour they vary from yellow to deep red; in form they are Proteus-like, assuming that of streamers, columns, fans, or arches, with a quick flitting, and sometimes whizzing noises.The aurora is not vivid above the 76th degree of north latitude, and is seldom seen before the end of August.Cook was the first navigator who recorded the southern lights.

AUSTER. The south wind of the ancients, gusts from which quarter are called autan

AUSTRAL.Relating to the south.—Austral signs, those on the south side of the equator, or the last six of the zodiac.

AUTHORITY.The legal power or right of commanding.

AUTOMATIC BLOW-OFF APPARATUS. See Blow-off-pipe

AUTUMNAL EQUINOX.The time when the sun crosses the equator, under a southerly motion, and the days and nights are then everywhere equal in length.(See Libra.)

AUTUMNAL POINT.That part of the ecliptic whence the sun descends southward.

AUTUMNAL SIGNS.Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius.

AUXILIARIES.Confederates, an assisting body of allies; or, physically speaking, vessels using steam as an auxiliary to wind.

AUXILIARY SCREW.A vessel in which the screw is used as an auxiliary force.Such a vessel is usually fully masted for sailing purposes.

AVANIA.The fine or imposition imposed on Christians residing under Turkish governors, when they break the laws.

AVANT-FOSSE.In fortification, an advanced ditch without the counterscarp, and stretching along the foot of the glacis.

AVAST. The order to stop, hold, cease, or stay, in any operation: its derivation from the Italian basta is more plausible than have fast

AVAST HEAVING!The cry to arrest the capstan when nippers are jammed, or any other impediment occurs in heaving in the cable, not unfrequently when a hand, foot, or finger, is jammed;—stop!

AVENTAILE.The movable part of a helmet.

AVENUE.The inlet into a port.

AVERAGE. Whether general or particular, is a term of ambiguous construction, meaning the damage incurred for the safety of the ship and cargo; the contribution made by the owners in general, apportioned to their respective investments, to repair any particular loss or expense sustained; and a small duty paid to the master for his care of the whole.Goods thrown overboard for the purpose of lightening the ship, are so thrown for the good of all, and the loss thus sustained must be made up by a general average or contribution from all the parties interested.(See General Average.)

AVERAGE-ADJUSTER.A qualified person engaged in making statements to show the proper application of loss, damage, or expenses in consequence of the accidents of a sea adventure.

AVERAGE-AGREEMENT.A written document signed by the consignees of a cargo, binding themselves to pay a certain proportion of general average that may from accident arise against them.

AVERAGE-STATER. See Average-adjuster

AVIST.A west-country term for "a fishing."

AVVISO.An Italian advice-boat.[Aviso, Sp.]Despatch-boat or tender.

AWAFT, or AwheftThe displaying of a stopped flag.(See Wheft.)

AWAIT.Ambush; cutting off vessels by means of boats hidden in coves which they must pass in their course.

AWARD.A judgment, in maritime cases, by arbitration; and the decision or sentence of a court-martial.

A-WASH.Reefs even with the surface.The anchor just rising to the water's edge, in heaving up.

AWAY ALOFT.The order to the men in the rigging to start up.

AWAY OFF.At a distance, but in sight.

AWAY SHE GOES.The order to step out with the tackle fall.The cry when a vessel starts on the ways launching; also when a ship, having stowed her anchor, fills and makes sail.

AWAY THERE.The call for a boat's crew; as, "away there! barge-men."

AWAY WITH IT.The order to walk along briskly with a tackle fall, as catting the anchor, &c.

AWBLAST.The arbalest, or cross-bow.

AWBLASTER.The designation of a cross-bowman.

A-WEATHER. The position of the helm when its tiller is moved to the windward side of the ship, in the direction from which the wind blows. The opposite of a-lee

A-WEIGH. The anchor being a-trip, or after breaking out of the ground.

AWK. See Auk

AWKWARD SQUAD.A division formed of those men who are backward in gaining dexterity.(See Squad.)

AWL.A tool of a carpenter, sail-maker, and cobbler.

AWME.A tierce of 39 gallons.A Dutch liquid measure.

AWNING.A cover or canvas canopy suspended by a crow-foot and spread over a ship, boat, or other vessel, to protect the decks and crew from the sun and weather.(See Euphroe.)Also that part of the poop-deck which is continued forward beyond the bulk-head of the cabin.

AWNING-ROPES.The ridge and side ropes for securing the awning.

AXE. A large flat edge-tool, for trimming and reducing timber. Also an Anglo-Saxon word for ask, which seamen still adhere to, and it is difficult to say why a word should be thought improper which has descended from our earliest poets; it may have become obsolete, but without absolutely being vulgar or incorrect.

AXIOM.A self-evident truth or proposition, that cannot be made plainer by demonstration.

AXIS.The imaginary line upon which a planet revolves, the extremities of which are termed the poles,—therefore a line joining the north and south poles.The real or imaginary line that passes through the centre of any cylindrical or spherical body on which it may revolve.Also a right line proceeding from the vertex of a cone to the middle of its base.Also, an imaginary right line passing through the middle of a ship perpendicularly to its base, and equally distant from its sides;—an imaginary line passing through the centre of a gun's bore, parallel with its position.—Axis of a telescope. (See Collimation, Line of.)

AXLE-TREES.The two cross-pieces of a gun-carriage, fixed across and under the fore and hinder parts of the cheeks.The cylindrical iron which goes through the wheel of the chain-pump, and bears the weight of it.

AYE, AYE, SIR. A prompt reply on receiving an order. Also the answer on comprehending an order. Aye-aye, the answer to a sentinel's hail, from a boat which has a commissioned officer on board below the rank of captain.The name of the ship in reply from the boat indicates the presence of a captain.The word "flag," indicates the presence of an admiral.

AYLET.The sea-swallow.

AYONT.Beyond.

AYR.An open sea-beach, and also a bank of sand.(See Aire.) The mediæval term for oar

AYT. See Eyght

AZIMUTH.A word borrowed from the Arabic.The complement of the amplitude, or an arc between the meridian of a place and any given vertical line.

AZIMUTHAL ERROR. See Meridian Error

AZIMUTH CIRCLES. See Vertical Circles

AZIMUTH COMPASS.A superior graduated compass for ascertaining the amount of magnetic variation, by amplitude or azimuth, when the sun is from 8° to 15° high, either after its rising or before its setting.(See Magnetic Azimuth.)It is fitted with vertical sight vanes for the purpose of observing objects elevated above the horizon.

AZOGUE.[Sp.]Quicksilver.

AZOGUES.Spanish ships fitted expressly for carrying quicksilver.

AZUMBRE.A Spanish wine-measure, eight of which make an arroba.

AZURE.The deep blue colour of the sky, when perfectly cloudless.

---

B.

BAARD.A mediæval transport.

BAARE-Y-LANE.The Manx or Gaelic term for high-water.

BAAS.An old term for the skipper of a Dutch trader.

BAB. The Arabic for mouth or gate; especially used by seamen for the entrance of the Red Sea, Bab-el-mandeb

BABBING.An east-country method of catching crabs, by enticing them to the surface of the water with baited lines, and then taking them with a landing net.

BABBLING.The sound made by shallow rivers flowing over stony beds.

BAC.A large flat-bottomed French ferry-boat.In local names it denotes a ferry or place of boating.

BACALLAO [Sp.]A name given to Newfoundland and its adjacent islands, whence the epithet is also applied to the cod-fish salted there.

BACCHI.Two ancient warlike machines; the one resembled a battering-ram, the other cast out fire.

BACK. To back an anchor. To carry a small anchor ahead of the one by which the ship rides, to partake of the strain, and check the latter from coming home. —To back a ship at anchor. For this purpose the mizen top-sail is generally used; a hawser should be kept ready to wind her, and if the wind falls she must be hove apeak. —To back and fill. To get to windward in very narrow channels, by a series of smart alternate boards and backing, with weather tides. —To back a sail. To brace its yard so that the wind may blow directly on the front of the sail, and thus retard the ship's course. A sailing vessel is backed by means of the sails, a steamer by reversing the paddles or screw-propeller. —To back astern. To impel the water with the oars contrary to the usual mode, or towards the head of the boat, so that she shall recede. —To back the larboard or starboard oarsTo back with the right or left oars only, so as to round suddenly.—To back out. (See Back a Sail) The term is also familiarly used for retreating out of a difficulty.—To back a rope or chain, is to put on a preventer when it is thought likely to break from age or extra strain.—To back water. To impel a boat astern, so as to recede in a direction opposite to the former course. —Backing the worming. The act of passing small yarn in the holidays, or crevices left between the worming and edges of the rope, to prevent the admission of wet, or to render all parts of equal diameter, so that the service may be smooth. —Wind backing. The wind is said to back when it changes contrary to its usual circuit. In the northern hemisphere on the polar side of the trades, the wind usually changes from east, by the south, to west, and so on to north. In the same latitudes in the southern hemisphere the reverse usually takes place. When it backs, it is generally supposed to be a sign of a freshening breeze.

BACK.The outside or convex part of compass-timber.Also a wharf.

BACK, of a ShipThe keel and kelson are figuratively thus termed.

BACK, of the PostAn additional timber bolted to the after-part of the stern-post, and forming its after-face.

BACK-BOARD. A board across the stern sheets of a boat to support the back of passengers; and also to form the box in which the coxswain sits.

BACK-CUTTING. When the water-level is such that the excavation of a canal, or other channel, does not furnish earth enough for its own banks, recourse is had to back-cutting, or the nearest earth behind the base of the banks.

BACK-FRAME.A vertical wheel for turning the three whirlers of a small rope-machine.

BACK-HER.The order, in steam-navigation, directing the engineer to reverse the movement of the cranks and urge the vessel astern.

BACKING.The timber behind the armour-plates of a ship.

BACK-O'-BEYOND.Said of an unknown distance.

BACK OFF ALL.The order when the harpooner has thrown his harpoon into the whale.Also, to back off a sudden danger.

BACK-ROPE.The rope-pendant, or small chain for staying the dolphin-striker.Also a piece long enough to reach from the cat-block to the stem, and up to the forecastle, to haul the cat-block forward to hook the ring of the anchor—similarly also for hooking the fish-tackle. (See Gaub-line.)

BACKS.The outermost boards of a sawn tree.

BACK-STAFF.A name formerly given to a peculiar sea-quadrant, because the back of the observer was turned towards the sun at the time of observing its zenith distance.The inventor was Captain Davis, the Welsh navigator, about 1590.It consists of a graduated arc of 30° united to a centre by two radii, with a second arc of smaller radius, but measuring 6° on the side of it.To the first arc a vane is attached for sight,—to the second one for shade,—and at the vertex the horizontal vane has a slit in it.

BACKSTAY-PLATES.Used to support the backstays.

BACKSTAYS.Long ropes extending from all mast-heads above a lower-mast to both sides of the ship or chain-wales; they are extended and set up with dead eyes and laniards to the backstay-plates.Their use is to second the shrouds in supporting the mast when strained by a weight of sail in a fresh wind.They are usually distinguished into breast and after backstays; the first being intended to sustain the mast when the ship sails upon a wind; or, in other terms, when the wind acts upon a ship obliquely from forwards; the second is to enable her to carry sail when the wind is abaft the beam; a third, or shifting backstay, is temporary, and used where great strain is demanded when chasing, chased, or carrying on a heavy pressure of canvas: they are fitted either with lashing eyes, or hook and thimble with selvagee strop, so as to be instantly removed.

BACKSTAY-STOOLS.Detached small channels, or chain-wales, fixed abaft the principal ones.They are introduced in preference to extending the length of the channels.

BACKSTERS.Flat pieces of wood or cork, strapped on the feet in order to walk over loose beach.

BACK-STRAPPED.As a ship carried round to the back of Gibraltar by a counter-current and eddies of wind, the strong currents detaining her there.

BACK-SWEEP.That which forms the hollow of the top-timber of a frame.

BACK-WATER.The swell of the sea thrown back, or rebounded by its contact with any solid body.Also the loss of power occasioned by it to paddles of steamboats, &c.The water in a mill-race which cannot get away in consequence of the swelling of the river below.Also, an artificial accumulation of water reserved for clearing channel-beds and tide-ways.Also, a creek or arm of the sea which runs parallel to the coast, having only a narrow strip of land between it and the sea, and communicating with the latter by barred entrances. The west coast of India is remarkable for its back-waters, which give a most useful smooth water communication from one place to another, such as from Cochin to Quilon, a distance of nearly 70 miles.

BACON, To save. This is an old shore-saw, adopted in nautical phraseology for expressing "to escape," but generally used in pejus ruere; as in Gray's Long Story(See Foul Hawse.)

BAD-BERTH.A foul or rocky anchorage.

BADDERLOCK. The Fucus esculentus, a kind of eatable sea-weed on our northern shores. Also called pursill

BADDOCK. A name from the Gaelic for the fry of the Gadus carbonarius, or coal-fish.

BADGE.Quarter badges.False quarter-galleries in imitation of frigate-built ships.Also, in naval architecture, a carved ornament placed on the outside of small ships, very near the stern, containing either a window, or the representation of one, with marine decorations.

BADGE, Seaman's. See Good-conduct Badge

BADGER, ToTo tease or confound by frivolous orders.

BADGER-BAG.The fictitious Neptune who visits the ship on her crossing the line.

BAD-NAME.This should be avoided by a ship, for once acquired for inefficiency or privateer habits, it requires time and reformation to get rid of it again."Give a dog a bad name" most forcibly exemplified.Ships have endured it even under repeated changes of captains—one ship had her name changed, but she became worse.

BAD-RELIEF.One who turns out sluggishly to relieve the watch on deck.(See One-bell.)

BAESSY. The old orthography of the gun since called base

BAFFLING.Is said of the wind when it frequently shifts from one point to another.

BAG. A commercial term of quantity; as, a bread or biscuit bag, a sand-bag, &c.An empty purse.—To bag on a bowline, to be leewardly, to drop from a course.

BAG, of the Head-railsThe lowest part of the head-rails, or that part which forms the sweep of the rail.

BAG, The. Allowed for the men to keep their clothes in. The ditty bag included needles and needfuls, love-tokens, jewels, &c.

BAGALA. A rude description of high-sterned vessel of various burdens, from 50 to 300 tons, employed at Muskat and on the shores of Oman: the word signifying mule among the Arabs, and therefore indicative of carrying rather than sailing.

BAG AND BAGGAGE.The whole movable property.

BAGGAGE.The necessaries, utensils, and apparel of troops.

BAGGAGE-GUARD.A small proportion of any body of troops on the march, to whom the care of the whole baggage is assigned.

BAGGETY.The fish otherwise called the lump or sea-owl (Cyclopterus lumpus).

BAGGONET.The old term for bayonet, and not a vulgarism.

BAGNIO.A sort of barrack in Mediterranean sea-ports, where the galley-slaves and convicts are confined.

BAGPIPE. To bagpipe the mizen is to lay it aback, by bringing the sheet to the mizen-shrouds.

BAG-REEF.A fourth or lower reef of fore-and-aft sails, often used in the royal navy.—Bag-reef of top-sails, first reef (of five in American navy); a short reef, usually taken in to prevent a large sail from bagging when on a wind.

BAGREL.A minnow or baggie.

BAGUIO.A rare but dreadfully violent wind among the Philippine Isles.

BAHAR.A commercial weight of a quarter of a ton in the Molucca Islands.

BAIDAR.A swift open canoe of the Arctic tribes and Kurile Isles, used in pursuing otters and even whales; a slender frame from 18 to 25 feet long, covered with hides.They are impelled by six or twelve paddles.(See Kayak.)

BAIKIE. A northern name for the Larus marinus, or black-backed gull.

BAIKY.The ballium, or inclosed plot of ground in an ancient fort.

BAIL.A surety.The cargo of a captured or detained vessel is not allowed to be taken on bail before adjudication without mutual consent.It was also a northern term for a beacon or signal.

BAIL-BOND.The obligation entered into by sureties.Also when a person appears as proxy for the master of a vessel, or, on obtaining letters of marque, he makes himself personally responsible.In prize matters, however, the bail-bond is not a mere personal security given to the individual captors, but an assurance to abide by the adjudication of the court.

BAIL'D.This phrase "I'll be bail'd" is considered as an equivalent to "I'll be bound;" but it is probably an old enunciation for "I'll be poisoned," or "I'll be tormented," if what I utter is not true.

BAILO.A Levantine term for consul.

BAILS, or BailesThe hoops which bear up the tilt of a boat.

BAIOCCO.An Italian copper coin, about equal to our halfpenny.Also a generic term for copper money or small coin.

BAIRLINN.A Gaelic term for a high rolling billow.

BAIT.The natural or artificial charge of a hook, to allure fish.

BAITLAND.An old word, formerly used to signify a port where refreshments could be procured.

BALÆNA.The zoological name for the right whale.

BALANCE.One of the simple mechanical powers, used in determining the weights and masses of different bodies.Also, one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, called Libra.Balance-wheel of a chronometer—see Chronometer

BALANCE, ToTo contract a sail into a narrower compass;—this is peculiar to the mizen of a ship, and to the main-sail of those vessels wherein it is extended by a boom.The operation of balancing the mizen is performed by lowering the yard or gaff a little, then rolling up a small portion of the sail at the peak or upper corner, and lashing it about one-fifth down towards the mast.A boom main-sail is balanced by rolling up a portion of the clew, or lower aftermost corner, and fastening it strongly to the boom.—N.B.It is requisite in both cases to wrap a piece of old canvas round the sail, under the lashing, to prevent its being fretted by the latter.

BALANCE-FISH. The hammer-headed shark (which see).

BALANCE-FRAMES.Those frames or bends of timber, of an equal capacity or area, which are equally distant from the ship's centre of gravity.

BALANCE OF TRADE.A computation of the value of all commodities which we import or export, showing the difference in amount.

BALANCE-REEF.A reef-band that crosses a sail from the outer head-earing to the tack diagonally, making it nearly triangular, and is used to contract it in very blowing weather.(2) A balance reef-band is generally placed in all gaff-sails; the band runs from the throat to the clew, so that it may be reefed either way—by lacing the foot or lower half; or by lacing the gaff drooped to the band: the latter is only done in the worst weather.—This is a point on which seamen may select—but the old plan, as first given, affords more power; (2) is applicable to the severest weather.

BALANCING-POINT.A familiar term for centre of gravity.(See Gravity.)

BALANDRA.A Spanish pleasure-boat.A lighter, a species of schooner.

BALANUS.The acorn-shell.A sessile cirriped.

BALCAR. See Balkar

BALCONY.The projecting open galleries of old line-of-battle ships' sterns, now disused.They were convenient and ornamental in hot climates, but were afterwards inclosed within sash windows.

BALDRICK.A leathern girdle or sword-belt.Also the zodiac.

BALE.A pack.This word appears in the statute Richard II.c.3, and is still in common use.

BALE, ToTo lade water out of a ship or vessel with buckets (which were of old called bayles), cans, or the like, when the pumps are ineffective or choked.

BALEEN. The scientific term for the whalebone of commerce, derived from balæna, a whale.It consists of a series of long horny plates growing from each side of the palate in place of teeth.

BALE GOODS.Merchandise packed in large bundles, not in cases or casks.

BALENOT.A porpoise or small whale which frequents the river St.Lawrence.

BALESTILHA.The cross-staff of the early Portuguese navigators.

BALINGER, or BalanghaA kind of small sloop or barge; small vessels of war formerly without forecastles.The name was also given by some of the early voyagers to a large trading-boat of the Philippines and Moluccas.

BALISTES.A fish with mailed skin.File-fish.

BALIZAS.Land and sea marks on Portuguese coasts.

BALK.Straight young trees after they are felled and squared; a beam or timber used for temporary purposes, and under 8 inches square.Balks, of timber of any squared size, as mahogany, intended for planks, or, when very large, for booms or rafts.

BALKAR. A man placed on an eminence, like the ancient Olpis, to watch the movements of shoals of fish. In our early statutes he is called balcor

BALL.In a general sense, implies a spherical and round body, whether naturally so or formed into that figure by art.In a military view it comprehends all sorts of bullets for fire-arms, from the cannon to the pistol: also those pyrotechnic projectiles for guns or mortars, whether intended to destroy, or only to give light, smoke, or stench.

BALLAHOU.A sharp-floored fast-sailing schooner, with taunt fore-and-aft sails, and no top-sails, common in Bermuda and the West Indies.The fore-mast of the ballahou rakes forward, the main-mast aft.

BALL-AND-SOCKET.A clever adaptation to give astronomical or surveying instruments full play and motion every way by a brass ball fitted into a spherical cell, and usually carried by an endless screw.

BALLARAG, ToTo abuse or bully.Thus Warton of the French king—

BALLAST.A certain portion of stone, pig-iron, gravel, water, or such like materials, deposited in a ship's hold when she either has no cargo or too little to bring her sufficiently low in the water.It is used to counter-balance the effect of the wind upon the masts, and give the ship a proper stability, that she may be enabled to carry sail without danger of overturning. The art of ballasting consists in placing the centre of gravity, so as neither to be too high nor too low, too far forward nor too far aft, and that the surface of the water may nearly rise to the extreme breadth amidships, and thus the ship will be enabled to carry a good sail, incline but little, and ply well to windward. A want of true knowledge in this department has led to putting too great a weight in ships' bottoms, which impedes their sailing and endangers their masts by excessive rolling, the consequence of bringing the centre of gravity too low. It should be trimmed with due regard to the capacity, gravity, and flooring, and to the nature of whatever is to be deposited thereon. (See Trim.)

BALLAST.As a verb, signifies to steady;—as a substantive, a comprehensive mind.A man is said to "lose his ballast" when his judgment fails him, or he becomes top-heavy from conceit.

BALLASTAGE.An old right of the Admiralty in all our royal rivers, of levying a rate for supplying ships with ballast.

BALLAST-BASKET.Usually made of osier, for the transport and measure of shingle-ballast.Supplied to the gunner for transport of loose ammunition.

BALLAST-LIGHTER A large flat-floored barge, for heaving up and carrying ballast.

BALLAST-MARK.The horizontal line described by the surface of the water on the body of a ship, when she is immersed with her usual weight of ballast on board.

BALLAST-MASTER.A person appointed to see the port-regulations in respect to ballast carried out.

BALLAST-PORTS.Square holes cut in the sides of merchantmen for taking in ballast.But should be securely barred and caulked in before proceeding to sea.

BALLAST-SHIFTING.When by heavy rolling the ballast shifts in the hold.

BALLAST-SHINGLE.Composed of coarse gravel.

BALLAST-SHOOTING.(See Shoots.)In England, and indeed in most frequented ports, the throwing of ballast overboard is strictly prohibited and subject to fine.

BALLAST-SHOVEL.A peculiar square and spoon-pointed iron shovel.

BALLAST-TRIM.When a vessel has only ballast on board.

BALLATOON.A sort of long heavy luggage-vessel of upwards of a hundred tons, employed on the river between Moscow and the Caspian Sea.

BALL-CARTRIDGE.For small arms.

BALL-CLAY.Adhesive strong bottom, brought up by the flukes of the anchors in massy lumps.

BALLISTA.An ancient military engine, like an enormous cross-bow, for throwing stones, darts, and javelins against the enemy with rapidity and violence.Also, the name of the geometrical cross called Jacob's staff.

BALLISTER.A cross-bow man.

BALLISTIC PENDULUM.An instrument for determining the velocity of projectiles.The original pendulum was of very massive construction, the arc through which it receded when impinged on by the projectile, taking into account their respective weights, afforded, with considerable calculation, a measure of the velocity of impact.Latterly the electro-ballistic pendulum, which by means of electric currents is made to register with very great accuracy the time occupied by the projectile in passing over a measured space, has superseded it, as being more accurate, less cumbrous, and less laborious in its accompanying calculations.

BALLIUM. A plot of ground in ancient fortifications: called also baiky

BALLOCH.Gaelic for the discharge of a river into a lake.

BALLOEN.A Siamese decorated state-galley, imitating a sea-monster, with from seventy to a hundred oars of a side.

BALL-OFF, ToTo twist rope-yarns into balls, with a running end in the heart for making spun-yarn.

BALLOON-FISH (Tetraodon).A plectognathous fish, covered with spines, which has the power of inflating its body till it becomes almost globular.

BALLOW.Deep water inside a shoal or bar.

BALL-STELL. The geometrical instrument named della stella

BALLY.A Teutonic word for inclosure, now prefixed to many sea-ports in Ireland, as Bally-castle, Bally-haven, Bally-shannon, and Bally-water.

BALSA, or Balza. A South American tree, very porous, which grows to an immense height in a few years, and is almost as light as cork. Hence the balsa-wood is used for the surf-boat called balsa(See Jangada.)

BALTHEUS ORIONIS.The three bright stars constituting Orion's Belt.

BALUSTERS.The ornamental pillars or pilasters of the balcony or galleries in the sterns of ships, dividing the ward-room deck from the one above.

BAMBA.A commercial shell of value on the Gold Coast of Africa and below it.

BAMBO.An East Indian measure of five English pints.

BAMBOO (Bambusa arundinacea).A magnificent articulated cane, which holds a conspicuous rank in the tropics from its rapid growth and almost universal properties:—the succulent buds are eaten fresh and the young stems make excellent preserves. The large stems are useful in agricultural and domestic implements; also in building both houses and ships; in making baskets, cages, hats, and furniture, besides sails, paper, and in various departments of the Indian materia medica

BAMBOOZLE, ToTo decoy the enemy by hoisting false colours.

BANANA (Musa paradisiaca).A valuable species of plantain, the fruit of which is much used in tropical climates, both fresh and made into bread.Gerarde named it Adam's apple from a notion that it was the forbidden fruit of Eden; whilst others supposed it to be the grapes brought out of the Promised Land by the spies of Moses.The spikes of fruit often weigh forty pounds.

BANCO [Sp.]Seat for rowers.

BAND.The musicians of a band are called idlers in large ships.Also a small body of armed men or retainers, as the band of gentlemen pensioners; also an iron hoop round a gun-carriage, mast, &c.; also a slip of canvas stitched across a sail, to strengthen the parts most liable to pressure.—Reef-bands, rope-bands or robands; rudder-bands (which see).

BANDAGE.A fillet or swathe, of the utmost importance in surgery.Also, formerly, parcelling to ropes.

BANDALEERS, or BandoleersA wide leathern belt for the carriage of small cases of wood, covered with leather, each containing a charge for a fire-lock; in use before the modern cartouche-boxes were introduced.

BANDECOOT.A large species of fierce rat in India, which infests the drains, &c.

BANDED-DRUM. See Grunter

BANDED-MAIL.A kind of armour which consisted of alternate rows of leather or cotton and single chain-mail.

BANDEROLD, or Banderole. A small streamer or banner, usually fixed on a pike: from banderola, Sp. diminutive of bandera, the flag or ensign.

BAND-FISH, or Ribbon-fishes. A popular name of the Gymnetrus genus.

BANDLE.An Irish measure of two feet in length.

BANG. A mixture of opium, hemp-leaves, and tobacco, of an intoxicating quality, chewed and smoked by the Malays and other people in the East, who, being mostly prohibited the use of wine, double upon Mahomet by indulging in other intoxicating matter, as if the manner of doing it cleared off the crime of drunkenness. This horrid stuff gives the maddening excitement which makes a Malay run amok (which see). —To bang is colloquially used to express excelling or beating rivals. (See Suffolk Bang.)

BANGE.Light fine rain.

BANGLES.The hoops of a spar.Also, the rings on the wrists and ankles of Oriental people, chiefly used by females.

BANIAN.A sailor's coloured frock-shirt.

BANIAN OR BANYAN DAYS. Those in which no flesh-meat is issued to the messes. It is obvious that they are a remnant of the maigre days of the Roman Catholics, who deem it a mortal sin to eat flesh on certain days. Stock-fish used to be served out, till it was found to promote scurvy. The term is derived from a religious sect in the East, who, believing in metempsychosis, eat of no creature endued with life.

BANIAN-TREE. Ficus indica of India and Polynesia. The tendrils from high branches extend 60 to 80 feet, take root on reaching the ground, and form a cover over some acres. Religious rites from which women are excluded are there performed.

BANJO.The brass frame in which the screw-propeller of a steamer works, and is hung for hoisting the screw on deck.This frame fits between slides fixed on the inner and outer stern-posts; resting in large carriages firmly secured thereto.The banjo is essential to lifting the screw.—Also, the rude instrument used in negro concerts.

BANK. The right or left boundary of a river, in looking from its source towards the sea, and the immediate margin or border of a lake. Also, a thwart, banco, or bench, for the rowers in a galley.Also, a rising ground in the sea, differing from a shoal, because not rocky but composed of sand, mud, or gravel.Also, mural elevations constructed of clay, stones, or any materials at hand, to prevent inundations.

BANK, ToAlso, an old word meaning to sail along the margins or banks of river-ports: thus Shakspeare in "King John" makes Lewis the Dauphin demand—

BANKA.A canoe of the Philippines, consisting of a single piece.

BANKER.A vessel employed in the deep-sea cod-fishery on the great banks of Newfoundland.Also, a man who works on the sides of a canal, or on an embankment; a navvy.

BANK-FIRES.In steamers, taking advantage of a breeze by allowing the fires to burn down low, and then pulling them down to a side of the bridge of the fire-place, and there covering them up with ashes taken from the ash-pit, at the same time nearly closing the dampers in the funnel and ash-pit doors.This, with attention on the part of the engineers, will maintain the water hot, and a slight pressure of steam in the boilers.When fuel is added and draught induced the fires are said to be "drawn forward," and steam is speedily generated.

BANK-HARBOUR.That which is protected from the violence of the sea by banks of mud, gravel, sand, shingle, or silt.

BANK-HOOK.A large fish-hook laid baited in running water, attached by a line to the bank.

BANKING.A general term applied to fishing on the great bank of Newfoundland.

BANK OF OARS [banco, Sp.]A seat or bench for rowers in the happily all but extinct galley: these are properly called the athwarts, but thwarts by seamen.The common galleys have 25 banks on each side, with one oar to each bank, and four men to each oar.The galeasses have 32 banks on a side, and 6 or 7 rowers to each bank.(See Double-banked, when two men pull separate oars on the same thwart.)

BANKSAL, or Banksaul, and in Calcutta spelled bankshallA shop, office, or other place, for transacting business.Also, a square inclosure at the pearl-fishery.Also, a beach store-house wherein ships deposit their rigging and furniture while undergoing repair.Also, where small commercial courts and arbitrations are held.

BANN.A proclamation made in the army by beat of drum, sound of trumpet, &c., requiring the strict observance of discipline, either for the declaring of a new officer, the punishing an offender, or the like.

BANNAG.A northern name for a white trout, a sea-trout.

BANNAK-FLUKE.A name of the turbot, as distinguished from the halibut.

BANNER.A small square flag edged with fringe.

BANNERER.The bearer of a banner.

BANNERET.A knight made on the field of battle.

BANNEROL.A little banner or streamer.

BANNOCK.A name given to a certain hard ship-biscuit.

BANQUETTE.In fortification, a small terrace, properly of earth, on the inside of the parapet, of such height that the defenders standing on it may conveniently fire over the top.

BANSTICKLE.A diminutive fish, called also the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

BAPTISM.A ceremony practised on passengers on their first passing the equinoctial line: a riotous and ludicrous custom, which from the violence of its ducking, shaving, and other practical jokes, is becoming annually less in vogue.It is esteemed a usurpation of privilege to baptize on crossing the tropics.

BAR, OF A PORT OR HARBOURAn accumulated shoal or bank of sand, shingle, gravel, or other uliginous substances, thrown up by the sea to the mouth of a river or harbour, so as to endanger, and sometimes totally prevent, the navigation into it.—Bars of rivers are some shifting and some permanent. The position of the bar of any river may commonly be guessed by attending to the form of the shores at the embouchure. The shore on which the deposition of sediment is going on will be flat, whilst the opposite one is steep. It is along the side of the latter that the deepest channel of the river lies; and in the line of this channel, but without the points that form the mouth of the river, will be the barIf both the shores are of the same nature, which seldom happens, the bar will lie opposite the middle of the channel.Rivers in general have what may be deemed a bar, in respect of the depth of the channel within, although it may not rise high enough to impede the navigation—for the increased deposition that takes place when the current slackens, through the want of declivity, and of shores to retain it, must necessarily form a bank.Bars of small rivers may be deepened by means of stockades to confine the river current, and prolong it beyond the natural points of the river's mouth.They operate to remove the place of deposition further out, and into deeper water.Bars, however, act as breakwaters in most instances, and consequently secure smooth water within them.The deposit in all curvilinear or serpentine rivers will always be found at the point opposite to the curve into which the ebb strikes and rebounds, deepening the hollow and depositing on the tongue.Therefore if it be deemed advisable to change the position of a bar, it may be in some cases aided by works projected on the last curve sea-ward.By such means a parallel canal may be forced which will admit vessels under the cover of the bar.—Bar, a boom formed of huge trees, or spars lashed together, moored transversely across a port, to prevent entrance or egress.—Bar, the short bits of bar-iron, about half a pound each, used as the medium of traffic on the Negro coast.—Bar-harbour, one which, from a bar at its entrance, cannot admit ships of great burden, or can only do so at high-water.—Capstan-bars, large thick bars put into the holes of the drumhead of the capstan, by which it is turned round, they working as horizontal radial levers.—Hatch-bars, flat iron bars to lock over the hatches for security from theft, &c.—Port-bar, a piece of wood or iron variously fitted to secure a gun-port when shut.—Bar-shallow, a term sometimes applied to a portion of a bar with less water on it than on other parts of the bar.—Bar-shot, two half balls joined together by a bar of iron, for cutting and destroying spars and rigging.When whole balls are thus fitted they are more properly double-headed shot.—To bar. To secure the lower-deck ports, as above.

BARACOOTA.A tropical fish (Sphyræna baracuda), considered in the West Indies to be dangerously poisonous at times, nevertheless eaten, and deemed the sea-salmon.

BARBACAN.In fortification, an outer defence.

BARBADOES-TAR.A mineral fluid bitumen resembling petroleum, of nauseous taste and offensive smell.

BARBALOT.The barbel.Also, a puffin.

BARB-BOLTS. Those which have their points jagged or barbed to make them hold securely, where those commonly in use cannot be clinched. The same as rag-boltThose of copper used for the false keel.

BARBECUE.A tropical custom of dressing a pig whole.

BARBEL (Barbus vulgaris). An English river-fish of the carp family, distinguished by the four appendant beards, whence its name is derived. It is between 2 and 3 feet in length, and coarse. Also, barbel is a small piece of armour which protects part of the bassenet.

BARBER. A rating on the ships' books for one who shaves the people, for which he receives the pay of an ordinary seaman. In meteorology, barber is a singular vapour rising in streams from the sea surface,—owing probably to exhalations being condensed into a visible form, on entering a cold atmosphere. It is well known on the shores of Nova Scotia. Also, the condensed breath in frosty weather on beard or moustaches in Arctic travelling.

BARBETTE.A mode of mounting guns to fire over the parapet, so as to have free range, instead of through embrasures.

BARCA-LONGA. A large Spanish undecked coasting-vessel, navigated with pole-masts, i.e. single-masts, without any top-mast or upper part; and high square sails, called lug-sails. Propelled with sweeps as well. The name is also applied to Spanish gunboats by our seamen.

BARCES.Short guns with a large bore formerly used in ships.

BARCHETTA.A small bark for transporting water, provisions, &c.

BARCONE.A short Mediterranean lighter.

BAREKA. A small barrel: spelled also barika (Sp. baréca). Hence the nautical name breaker for a small cask or keg.

BARE-POLES.The condition of a ship having no sails set when out at sea, and either scudding or lying-to by stress of weather.(See Under Bare Poles.)

BARE-ROOM. An old phrase for bore-down

BARGE.A boat of a long, slight, and spacious construction, generally carvel-built, double-banked, for the use of admirals and captains of ships of war.—Barge, in boat attacks, is next in strength to the launch.It is likewise a vessel or boat of state, furnished and equipped in the most sumptuous style;—and of this sort we may naturally suppose to have been the famous barge or galley of Cleopatra, which, according to the beautiful description of Shakspeare—

The barges of the lord-mayor, civic companies, &c., and the coal-barges of the Thames are varieties.Also, an early man-of-war, of about 100 tons.Also, an east-country vessel of peculiar construction.Also, a flat-bottomed vessel of burden, used on rivers for conveying goods from one place to another, and loading and unloading ships: it has various names, as a Ware barge, a west-country barge, a sand barge, a row-barge, a Severn trough, a light horseman, &c.They are usually fitted with a large sprit-sail to a mast, which, working upon a hinge, is easily struck for passing under bridges.Also, the bread-barge or tray or basket, for containing biscuit at meals.

BARGEES.The crews of canal-boats and barges.

BARGE-MATE.The officer who steers when a high personage is to visit the ship.

BARGE-MEN.The crew of the barge, who are usually picked men.Also, the large maggots with black heads that infest biscuit.

BARGET.An old term for a small barge.

BARILLA. An alkali procured by burning Salsola kali and other sea-shore plants. It forms a profitable article of Mediterranean commerce. (See Kelp.)

BARK.The exterior covering of vegetable bodies, many of which are useful in making paper, cordage, cloth, dyes, and medicines.

BARK, or Barque [from barca, Low Latin].A general name given to small ships, square-sterned, without head-rails; it is, however, peculiarly appropriated by seamen to a three-masted vessel with only fore-and-aft sails on her mizen-mast.—Bark-rigged. Rigged as a bark, with no square sails on the mizen-mast.

BARKANTINE, or BarquantineA name applied on the great lakes of North America to a vessel square-rigged on the fore-mast, and fore-and-aft rigged on the main and mizen masts.They are not three-masted schooners, as they have a regular brigantine's fore-mast.They are long in proportion to their other dimensions, to suit the navigation of the canals which connect some of these lakes.

BARKERS.An old term for lower-deck guns and pistols.

BARKEY.A sailor's term for the pet ship to which he belongs.

BARKING-IRONS.Large duelling pistols.

BARLING.An old term for the lamprey.—Barling-spars, fit for any smaller masts or yards.

BARNACLE (Lepas anatifera).A species of shell-fish, often found sticking by its pedicle to the bottom of ships, doing no other injury than deadening the way a little:

They were formerly supposed to produce the barnacle-goose! (vide old cyclopedias): the poet, however, was too good a naturalist to believe this, but here, as in many other places, he means to banter some of the papers which were published by the first establishers of the Royal Society. The shell is compressed and multivalve. The tentacula are long and pectinated like a feather, whence arose the fable of their becoming geese. They belong to the order of Cirripeds

BARNAGH.The Manx or Gaelic term for a limpet.

BAROMETER. A glass tube of 36 inches in length, filled with the open end upwards with refined mercury—thus boiled and suddenly inverted into a cistern, which is furnished with a leathern bag, on which the atmosphere, acting by its varying weight, presses the fluid metal up to corresponding heights in the tube, easily read off by an external scale attached thereto. By attentive observations on this simple prophet, practised seamen are enabled to foretell many approaching changes of wind or weather, and thus by shortening sail in time, save hull, spars, and lives. This instrument also affords the means of accurately determining the heights or depressions of mountains and valleys. This is the mercurial barometer; another, the aneroid barometer, invented by Monsr. Vidi, measures approximately, but not with the permanence of the mercurial. It is constructed to measure the weight of a column of air or pressure of the atmosphere, by pressure on a very delicate metallic box hermetically sealed. It is more sensible to passing changes, but not so reliable as the mercurial barometer. 29·60 is taken as the mean pressure in England; as it rises or falls below this mark, fine weather or strong winds may be looked for:—30·60 is very high, and 29·00 very low. The barometer is affected by the direction of the wind, thus N. N. E. is the highest, and S. S. W. the lowest—therefore these matters govern the decision of men of science, who are not led astray by the change of reading alone. The seaman pilot notes the heavens; the direction of the wind—and the pressure due to that direction—not forgetting sudden changes of temperature. Attention is due to the surface, whether convex or concave.

BARQUE. The same as bark (which see).

BARR.A peremptory exception to a proposition.

BARRA-BOATS. Vessels of the Western Isles of Scotland, carrying ten or twelve men. They are extremely sharp fore and aft, having no floor, but with sides rising straight from the keel, so that a transverse section resembles the letter VThey are swift and safe, for in proportion as they heel to a breeze their bearings are increased, while from their lightness they are as buoyant as Norway skiffs.

BARRACAN.A strong undiapered camblet, used for garments in the Levant and in Barbary; anciently it formed the Roman toga.

BARRACK-MASTER.The officer placed in charge of a barrack.

BARRACKS. Originally mere log-huts, but of late extensive houses built for the accommodation and quartering of troops. Also, the portion of the lower deck where the marines mess. Also, little cabins made by Spanish fishermen on the sea-shore, called barracas, whence our name.

BARRACK SMACK. A corruption of Berwick smack; a word applied to small Scotch traders. The masters were nicknamed barrack-masters

BARRATRY.Any fraudulent act of the master or mariners committed to the prejudice of the ship's owners or underwriters, whether by fraudulently losing the vessel, deserting her, selling her, or committing any other embezzlement.The diverting a ship from her right course, with evil intent, is barratry.

BARRED KILLIFISH.A small fish from two to four inches in length, which frequents salt-water creeks, floats, and the vicinity of wharves.

BARREL.A cylindrical vessel for holding both liquid and dry goods.Also, a commercial measure of 311⁄2 gallons.

BARREL of a CapstanThe cylinder between the whelps and the paul rim, constituting the main-piece.

BARREL of a PumpThe wooden tube which forms the body of the engine.

BARREL of Small ArmsThe tube through which the bullets are discharged.In artillery the term belongs to the construction of certain guns, and signifies the inner tube, as distinguished from the breech piece, trunnion-piece, and hoops or outer coils, the other essential parts of "built-up guns" (which see).

BARREL of the WheelThe cylinder round which the tiller-ropes are wound.

BARREL-BUILDER.The old rating for a cooper.

BARREL-BULK.A measure of capacity for freight in a ship, equal to five cubic feet: so that eight barrel-bulk are equal to one ton measurement.

BARREL-SCREW.A powerful machine, consisting of two large poppets, or male screws, moved by levers in their heads, upon a bank of plank, with a female screw at each end.It is of great use in starting a launch.

BARRICADE.A strong wooden rail, supported by stanchions extending as a fence across the foremost part of the quarter-deck, on the top of which some of the seamen's hammocks are usually stowed in time of battle. In a vessel of war the vacant spaces between the stanchions are commonly filled with rope-mats, cork, or pieces of old cable; and the upper part, which contains a double rope-netting above the sail, is stuffed with full hammocks to intercept small shot in the time of battle. Also, a temporary fortification or fence made with abatis, palisades, or any obstacles, to bar the approach of an enemy by a given avenue.

BARRIER of IceIce stretching from the land-ice to the sea or main ice, or across a channel, so as to render it impassable.

BARRIER REEFS.Coral reefs that either extend in straight lines in front of the shores of a continent or large island, or encircle smaller isles, in both cases being separated from the land by a channel of water.Barrier reefs in New South Wales, the Bermudas, Laccadives, Maldives, &c.

BARRIERS.A martial exercise of men armed with short swords, within certain railings which separated them from the spectators.It has long been discontinued in England.

BARROW.A hillock, a tumulus.

BARSE.The common river-perch.

BARTIZAN.The overhanging turrets on a battlement.

BARUTH.An Indian measure, with a corresponding weight of 31⁄2 lbs. avoirdupois.

BASE.The breech of a gun.Also, the lowest part of the perimeter of a geometrical figure.When applied to a delta it is that edge of it which is washed by the sea, or recipient of the deltic branches.Also, the lowest part of a mountain or chain of mountains.Also, the level line on which any work stands, as the foot of a pillar.Also, an old boat-gun; a wall-piece on the musketoon principle, carrying a five-ounce ball.

BASE-LINE.In strategy, the line joining the various points of a base of operations.In surveying, the base on which the triangulation is founded.

BASE OF OPERATIONS.In strategy, one or a series of strategic points at which are established the magazines and means of supply necessary for an army in the field.

BASE-RING.In guns of cast-metal, the flat moulding round the breech at that part where the longitudinal surface ends and the vertical termination or cascable begins.The length of the gun is reckoned from the after-edge of the base-ring to the face of the muzzle: but in built-up guns, there being generally no base-ring moulded, and the breech assuming various forms, the length is measured from the after-extreme of the breech, exclusive of any button or other adjunct.

BASHAW. A Turkish title of honour and command; more properly pacha

BASIL.The angle to which the edge of shipwrights' cutting tools is ground away.

BASILICON. An ointment composed of wax, resin, pitch, black resin, and olive oil. Yellow basilicon, of olive oil, yellow resin, Burgundy pitch, and turpentine.

BASILICUS.A name of Regulus or the Lion's Heart, α Leonis; a star of the first magnitude.

BASILISK.An old name for a long 48-pounder, the gun next in size to the carthoun: called basilisk from the snakes or dragons sculptured in the place of dolphins.According to Sir William Monson its random range was 3000 paces.Also, in still earlier times, a gun throwing an iron ball of 200 lbs.weight.

BASILLARD.An old term for a poniard.

BASIN.A wet-dock provided with flood-gates for restraining the water, in which shipping may be kept afloat in all times of tide.Also, all those sheltered spaces of water which are nearly surrounded with slopes from which waters are received; these receptacles have a circular shape and narrow entrance.Geographically basins may be divided, as upper, lower, lacustrine, fluvial, Mediterranean, &c.

BASIS. See Base

BASKET.In field-works, baskets or corbeilles are used, to be filled with earth, and placed by one another, to cover the men from the enemy's shot.

BASKET-FISH. A name for several species of Euryale; a kind of star-fish, the arms of which divide and subdivide many times, and curl up and intertwine at the ends, giving the whole animal something of the appearance of a round basket.

BASKET-HILT.The guard continued up the hilt of a cutlass, so as to protect the whole hand from injury.

BASKING SHARK. So called from being often seen lying still in the sunshine. A large cartilaginous fish, the Squalus maximus of Linnæus, inhabiting the Northern Ocean. It attains a length of 30 feet, but is neither fierce nor voracious. Its liver yields from eight to twelve barrels of oil.

BASS, or BastA soft sedge or rush (Juncus lævis), of which coarse kinds of rope and matting are made.A Gaelic term for the blade of an oar.

BASSE.A species of perch (Perca labrax), found on the coast and in estuaries, commonly about 18 inches long.

BASSOS.A name in old charts for shoals; whence bas-fond and basso-fondo.Rocks a-wash, or below water.

BAST.Lime-tree, linden (Tilia europea). Bast is made also from the bark of various other trees, macerated in water till the fibrous layers separate. In the Pacific Isles it is very fine and strong, from Hibiscus tiliaceus

BASTA. A word in former use for enough, from the Italian.

BASTARD.A term applied to all pieces of ordnance which are of unusual or irregular proportions: the government bastard-cannon had a 7-inch bore, and sent a 40-lb.shot.Also, a fair-weather square sail in some Mediterranean craft, and occasionally used for an awning.

BASTARD-MACKEREL, or Horse-Mackerel. The Caranx trachurus, a dry, coarse, and unwholesome fish, of the family Scombridæ, very common in the Mediterranean.

BASTARD-PITCH. A mixture of colophony, black pitch, and tar. They are boiled down together, and put into barrels of pine-wood, forming, when the ingredients are mixed in equal portions, a substance of a very liquid consistence, called in France bray gras. If a thicker consistence is desired, a greater proportion of colophony is added, and it is cast in moulds. It is then called bastard-pitch

BASTE, ToTo beat in punition.A mode of sewing in sail-making.

BASTILE.A temporary wooden tower, used formerly in naval and military warfare.

BASTIONS.Projecting portions of a rampart, so disposed that the bottom of the escarp of each part of the whole rampart may be defended from the parapet of some other part.Their form and dimensions are influenced by many considerations, especially by the effect and range of fire-arms; but it is essential to them to have two faces and two flanks; the former having an average length, according to present systems, of 130 yards, the latter of 40 yards.

BASTON, or BatonA club used of old by authority.(See Batoon.)

BASTONADO. Beating a criminal with sticks [from bastone, a cudgel].A punishment common among Jews, Greeks, and Romans, and still practised in the Levant, China, and Russia.

BAT, or Sea-bat. An Anglo-Saxon term for boat or vessel. Also a broad-bodied thoracic fish, with a small head, and distinguished by its large triangular dorsal and anal fins, which exceed the length of the body. It is the Chætodon vespertilio of naturalists.

BAT AND FORAGE.A regulated allowance in money and forage to officers in the field.

BATARDATES.Square-stemmed row-galleys.

BATARDEAU.In fortification, a dam of masonry crossing the ditch: its top is constructed of such a form as to afford no passage along it.

BATARDELLES.Galleys less strong than the capitana, and placed on each side of her.

BATEAU.A flat-bottomed, sharp-ended clumsy boat, used on the rivers and lakes of Canada; some of them are large.Also a peculiar army pontoon.

BATED.A plump, full-roed fish is said to be bated.

BATELLA.A small plying-boat.

BATH.(See Washing-place.) An order of knighthood instituted in 1339, revived in 1725, and enlarged as a national reward of naval and military merit in January, 1815. Henry IV. gave this name, because the forty-six esquires on whom he conferred this honour at his coronation had watched all the previous night, and then bathed as typical of their pure virtue. The order was supposed to belong to men who distinguished themselves by valour as regards the navy, but it is now deemed an inferior representation of court favour.

BATILLAGE.An old term for boat-hire.

BATMAN.A Turkish weight of 6 okes, or about 18 lbs.English.There is also a smaller batman in Turkey, of about 4 lbs.10 ozs.English.In Persia there are also two batmans—the larger equal to 12 lbs.English, and the other is of about half that weight.Also, a soldier assigned to a mounted officer as groom.

BATOON, Baston, or Baton. A staff, truncheon, or badge of military honour for field-marshals. A term in heraldry. Also, batoons of St.Paul, the fossil spines of echini, found in Malta and elsewhere.

BAT-SWAIN.An Anglo-Saxon expression for boatswain.

BATTA.Extra allowance of pay granted to troops in India, varying somewhat with the nature of the service they are employed upon, and their distance from the capital of the presidency.

BATTALIA.The order of battle.

BATTALION.A force of soldiers, complete in staff and officers, of such strength as will allow of its manœuvres on the field of battle being intimately regulated by one superior officer.The term is now proper to infantry only, and represents from 500 to 1000 men.It is the ordinary unit made use of in estimating the infantry strength of an army.

BATTARD.An early cannon of small size.

BATTELOE.A lateen-rigged vessel of India.

BATTENING THE HATCHES.Securing the tarpaulins over them.(See Battens of the Hatches.)

BATTENS.In general, scantlings of wood from 1 inch to 3 inches broad.Long slips of fir used for setting fair the sheer lines of a ship, or drawing the lines by in the moulding loft, and setting off distances.

BATTENS for Hammocks. See Hammock-battens

BATTENS of the Hatches. Long narrow laths, or straightened hoops of casks, serving by the help of nailing to confine the edges of the tarpaulins, and keep them close down to the sides of the hatchways, in bad weather. Also, thin strips of wood put upon rigging, to keep it from chafing, by those who dislike mats: when large these are designated Scotchmen

BATTERING GUNS.Properly guns whose weight and power fit them for demolishing by direct force the works of the enemy; hence all heavy, as distinguished from field or light, guns come under the term.(See Siege-artillery and Garrison Guns.)

BATTERING RAM. See Ram

BATTERING TRAIN. The train of heavy ordnance necessary for a siege, which, since the copious introduction of vertical and other shell fire, is more correctly rendered by the term siege-train (which see).

BATTERY.A place whereon cannon, mortars, &c., are or may be mounted for action.It generally has a parapet for the protection of the gunners, and other defences and conveniences according to its importance and objects.(See also Floating Battery.)Also, a company of artillery.In field-artillery it includes men, guns (usually six in the British service), horses, carriages, &c., complete for service.

BATTLE.An engagement between two fleets, or even single ships, usually called a sea-fight or engagement.The conflict between the forces of two contending armies.

BATTLE LANTERNS (American). See Fighting-lanterns

BATTLEMENTS.The vertical notches or openings made in the parapet walls of old castles and fortified buildings, to serve for embrasures to the bowmen, arquebusiers, &c., of former days.

BATTLE-ROYAL.A term derived from cock-fighting, but generally applied to a noisy confused row.

BATTLE THE WATCH, ToTo shift as well as we can; to contend with a difficulty.To depend on one's own exertions.

BATTLING-STONE.A large stone with a smooth surface by the side of a stream, on which washers beat their linen.

BATTS.A north-country term for flat grounds adjoining islands in rivers, sometimes used for the islands themselves.

BAT-WARD.An old term for a boat-keeper.

BAUN. See Bore

BAVIER.The beaver of a helmet.

BAVIN. Brushwood bound up with only one withe: a faggot is tied with two. It is often spelled baven, but Shakspeare has

This underwood is sometimes procurable by ships where none other can be got.Bavin in war applies to fascines.

BAW-BURD.An old expression of larboard.

BAWDRICK. Corrupted from baldrickA girdle or sword-belt.

BAWE.A species of worm, formerly used as a bait for fishing.

BAWGIE.One of the names given to the great black and white gull (Larus marinus) in the Shetlands.

BAWKIE.A northern term for the auk, or razor-bill.

BAXIOS.[Sp.]Rocks or sand-banks covered with water.Scopuli.

BAY.The fore-part of a ship between decks, before the bitts (see Sick-bay).Foremost messing-places between decks in ships of war.

BAY.An inlet of the sea formed by the curvature of the land between two capes or headlands, often used synonymously with gulf; though, in strict accuracy, the term should be applied only to those large recesses which are wider from cape to cape than they are deep.Exposed to sea-winds, a bay is mostly insecure.A bay is distinguished from a bend, as that a vessel may not be able to fetch out on either tack, and is embayed.A bay has proportionably a wider entrance than either a gulf or haven; a creek has usually a small inlet, and is always much less than a bay.

BAY.Laurel; hence crowned with bays.

BAYAMOS.Violent blasts of wind blowing from the land, on the south side of Cuba, and especially from the Bight of Bayamo, by which some of our cruisers have been damaged.They are accompanied by vivid lightning, and generally terminate in rain.

BAY-GULF.A branch of the sea, of which the entrance is the widest part, as contradistinguished from the strait-gulf.The Bay of Biscay is a well-known example of the semicircular gulf.

BAY-ICE.Ice newly formed on the surface of the sea, and having the colour of the water; it is then in the first stage of consolidation.The epithet is, however, also applied to ice a foot or two in thickness in bays.

BAYLE.An old term for bucket.

BAYONET [Sp. bayoneta].A pike-dagger to fit on the muzzle of a musket, so as not to interfere with its firing.

BAZAR, or BazaarA market or market-place.An oriental term.

BAZARAS.A large flat-bottomed pleasure-boat of the Ganges, moved with both sails and oars.

BEACH. A littoral margin, or line of coast along the sea-shore, composed of sand, gravel, shingle, broken shells, or a mixture of them all: any gently sloping part of the coast alternately dry and covered by the tide. The same as strand

BEACH, ToSudden landing—to run a boat on the shore, to land a person with intent to desert him—an old buccaneer custom.To land a boat on a beach before a dangerous sea, this demands practical skill, for which the Dover and Deal men are famed.

BEACH-COMBERS.Loiterers around a bay or harbour.

BEACH-COMBING.Loafing about a port to filch small things.

BEACH-FLEA.A small crustacean (Talitra) frequenting sandy shores.

BEACH-GRASS. Alga marina thrown up by the surf or tide.

BEACHING A VESSEL. See under Voluntary StrandingAlso, the act of running a vessel up on the beach for various purposes where there is no other accommodation.

BEACH-MAN.A person on the coast of Africa who acts as interpreter to shipmasters, and assists them in conducting the trade.

BEACH-MASTER.A superior officer, captain, appointed to superintend disembarkation of an attacking force, who holds plenary powers, and generally leads the storming party.His acts when in the heat of action, if he summarily shoot a coward, are unquestioned—poor Falconer, to wit!

BEACH-MEN.A name applied to boatmen and those who land people through a heavy surf.

BEACH-RANGERS.Men hanging about sea-ports, who have been turned out of vessels for bad conduct.

BEACH-TRAMPERS.A name applied to the coast-guard.

BEACON. [Anglo-Saxon, béacn.]A post or stake erected over a shoal or sand-bank, as a warning to seamen to keep at a distance; also a signal-mark placed on the top of hills, eminences, or buildings near the shore for the safe guidance of shipping.

BEACONAGE.A payment levied for the maintenance of beacons.

BEAFT.Often used by east-country men for abaft.

BEAK, or Beak-headA piece of brass like a beak, fixed at the head of the ancient galleys, with which they pierced their enemies.Pisæus is said to have first added the rostrum or beak-head.Later it was a small platform at the fore part of the upper deck, but the term is now applied to that part without the ship before the forecastle, or knee of the head, which is fastened to the stem and is supported by the main knee.Latterly, to meet steam propulsion, the whole of this is enlarged, strengthened, and armed with iron plates, and thus the armed stem revives the ancient strategy in sea-fights.Shakspeare makes Ariel thus allude to the beak in the "Tempest:"—