BLUE PETER. The signal for sailing when hoisted at the fore-topmast head; this well-known flag has a blue ground with a white square in the centre.

BLUE PIGEON. A nickname for the sounding lead.

BLUE WATER. The open ocean.

BLUFF. An abrupt high land, projecting almost perpendicularly into the sea, and presenting a bold front, rather rounded than cliffy in outline, as with the headland.

BLUFF-BOWED. Applied to a vessel that has broad and flat bows—that is, full and square-formed: the opposite of lean.

BLUFF-HEADED. When a ship has but a small rake forward on, being built with her stem too straight up.

BLUNDERBUSS. A short fire-arm, with a large bore and wide mouth, to scatter a number of musket or pistol bullets or slugs.

BLUNK. A sudden squall, or stormy weather.

BLUSTROUS. Stormy: also said of a braggadocio.

BO. Abbreviation of boy. A familiar epithet for a comrade, derived probably from the negro.

BOADNASH. Buckhemshein coins of Barbary.

BOANGA. A Malay piratical vessel, impelled by oars.

BOARD. Certain offices under the control of the executive government, where the business of any particular department is carried on: as the Board of Admiralty, the Navy Board, Board of Ordnance, India Board, Board of Trade, &c. Also, timber sawn to a less thickness than plank: all broad stuff of under 1-1/2 inch in thickness. (See PLANK.) Also, the space comprehended between any two places when the ship changes her course by tacking; or, it is the line over which she runs between tack and tack when working to windward, or sailing against the direction of the wind.—To make a good board. To sail in a straight line when close-hauled, without deviating to leeward.—To make short boards, is to tack frequently before the ship has run any great length of way.—To make a stern board, is when by a current, or any other accident, the vessel comes head to wind, the helm is shifted, and she has fallen back on the opposite tack, losing what she had gained, instead of having advanced beyond it. To make a stern board is frequently a very critical as well as seamanlike operation, as in very close channels. The vessel is allowed to run up into the wind until she has shot up to the weather danger; the helm is then shifted, and with all aback forward, she falls short off on the opposite tack. Such is also achieved at anchor in club-hauling (which see).—To board a ship, is to enter her in a hostile manner in order to take forcible possession of her, either from the attacking ship or by armed boats. The word board has various other applications among seamen:—To go aboard signifies to go into the ship.—To slip by the board, is to slip down a ship's side.—To board it up, is to beat up, sometimes on one tack and sometimes on another.—The weather-board is the side of the ship which is to windward.—By the board, close to a ship's deck.

BOARD AND BOARD. Alongside, as when two ships touch each other.

BOARDERS. Sailors appointed to make an attack by boarding, or to repel such attempt from the enemy. Four men selected from each gun were generally allotted as boarders, also to trim sails, tend pumps, repair rigging, &c.

BOARD HIM. A colloquialism for I'll ask, demand, or accost him. Hence Shakspeare makes Polonius say of Hamlet,

"I'll board him presently."

To make acquaintance with; to fasten on.

BOARD HIM IN THE SMOKE. To take a person by surprise, as by firing a broadside, and boarding in the smoke.

BOARDING. An assault made by one vessel on another, by entering her in battle with a detachment of armed men.

BOARDING-BOOK. A register which has for its object the recording all particulars relative to every ship boarded, a copy of which is transmitted to the admiral under whose orders the ship is employed. (See GUARD-BOOK.)

BOARDING-NETTINGS. A framework of stout rope-netting placed where necessary, to obstruct an enemy's boarders.

BOARDING-PIKE. A defensive lance against boarders.

BOARDLINGS. Flippant understrappers of the admiralty and navy-boards.

BOARD OF TRADE. A committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of commercial matters.

BOAT. A small open vessel, conducted on the water by rowing or sailing. The construction, machinery, and even the names of boats, are very different, according to the various purposes for which they are calculated, and the services on which they are employed. Thus we have the long-boat and the jolly-boat, life-boat and gun-boat, but they will appear under their respective appellations.—A bold boat, one that will endure a rough sea well.—Man the boat, send the crew in to row and manage it.

BOATABLE. Water navigable for boats and small river-craft.

BOAT-BUOYS. Means added to increase the buoyancy of life-boats, &c.

BOAT-CHOCKS. Clamps of wood upon which a boat rests when stowed on a vessel's deck.

BOAT-CLOAK. A mantle for the officer going on duty; when left in the boat it is in the coxswain's charge.

BOAT-DAVIT. A curved piece of timber with a sheave at its outer end, which projects over the boat's stern, while the inner end is shipped into a cleat on each side of the bottom of the boat, for weighing anchors when needed. (See DAVIT.)

BOAT-FAST. See PAINTER.

BOAT-GEER. A general name for the rigging and furniture of a boat.

BOAT-HIRE. Expenses for the use of shore-boats.

BOAT-HOOK. An iron hook with a straight prong at its hinder part; it is fixed upon a pole, by the help of which a boat is either pulled to, or pushed off from, any place, and is capable of holding on by anything.

BOATILA. A narrow-sterned, flat-bottomed boat of the Gulf of Manar.

BOATING. Transporting men, munitions, or goods, in boats.

BOAT-KEEPER. One of the boat's crew who remains in charge of her during the absence of the others. In small vessels he is sometimes called the boatman.

BOAT-NAILS. Those supplied for the carpenter's use are of various lengths, generally rose-headed, square at the points, and made both of copper and iron. (See NAILS.)

BOAT-ROPE. A separate rope veered to the boat to be towed at the ship's stern.

BOAT'S CREW. The men appointed as the crew of any particular boat, as the barge's crew, cutter's crew, &c.

BOAT'S-GRIPES. Lashings for the secure stowage of boats. (See GRIPES.)

BOAT-SKIDS. Portable pieces of plank used to prevent chafing when a boat is hoisted or lowered. (See SKIDS.)

BOATSWAIN. The officer who superintends the boat-sails, ship's-sails, rigging, canvas, colours, anchors, cables and cordage, committed to his charge. He ought also to take care that the blocks and running ropes are regularly placed to answer the purposes for which they are intended, and that the sails are properly fitted to their yards and stays, and well-furled or reefed when occasion requires. He pipes the hands to their several duties, seeing that they attend his call, and ought to be in every way a thorough seaman. Although termed boatswain, the boats are not in his charge. They, with the spars, &c., and stores for repair, belong to the carpenter. The boatswain is the officer of the first lieutenant; he gives no order, but reports defects, and carries out the will of his superior.

BOATSWAIN-BIRD. Phaethon aethereus, a tropical bird, so called from its sort of whistle. It is distinguished by two long feathers in the tail, called the marling-spike.

BOATSWAIN-CAPTAIN. An epithet given by certain popinjays in the service to such of their betters as fully understand the various duties of their station.

BOATSWAIN'S MATE. Is an assistant to the boatswain, who had the peculiar command of the long-boat. He summons the watch or crew by his whistle, and during his watch looks to the decks, and has peculiar calls for "grog," "'bout ship," "pipe to breakfast," "sweepers," &c.

BOATSWAIN'S STORE-ROOM. Built expressly for boatswain's stores, on a platform or light deck.

BOATSWAIN'S YEOMAN. See YEOMAN.

BOAT THE ANCHOR. Place the anchor in-board in the boat.

BOAT THE OARS. Put them in their proper places fore and aft on the thwarts ready for use.

BOB. A knot of worms on a string, used in fishing for eels; also colloquially, it means a berth.—Shift your bob, to move about, to dodge, to fish.—Bear a bob, make haste, be brisk.

BOB. The ball or balance-weight of a clock's pendulum; the weight attached to the plumb-line.

BOBBERY. A disturbance, row, or squabble; a term much used in the East Indies and China.

BOBBING. A particular method of fishing for eels—

"His hook he bated with a dragon's tail, And sat upon a rock, and bobb'd for whale."

BOBBING ABOUT. Heaving and setting without making any way.

BOBBLE. The state of waves when dashing about without any regular set or direction, as in cross tides or currents.

BOBSTAY-COLLARS. These are made with large rope, and an eye spliced in each end; they are secured round the bowsprit, on the upper side, with a rose lashing. They are almost entirely superseded by iron bands.

BOBSTAY-HOLES. Those cut through the fore-part of the knee of the head, between the cheeks, for the admission of the bobstay; they are not much used now, as chain bobstays are almost universal, which are secured to plates by shackles.

BOBSTAY-PLATES. Iron plates by which the lower end of the bobstay is attached to the stem.

BOBSTAYS. Ropes or chains used to confine the bowsprit downward to the stem or cut-water. They are fitted in various ways. Their use is to counteract the strain of the foremast-stays, which draw it upwards. The bowsprit is also fortified by shrouds from the bows on each side, which are all very necessary, as the fore-mast and the upper spars on the main-mast are stayed and greatly supported by the bowsprit.

BOCCA. [Sp. boca, mouth.] Is a term used both in the Levant, and on the north coast of South America, or the Spanish Main, for a mouth or channel into any port or harbour, or the entrance into a sound which has a passage out by a contrary way.—Bocca Tigris, Canton River.

BODIES. The figure of a ship, abstractedly considered, is divided into different parts or figures, each of which has the appellation body, as fore-body, midship-body, square-body, &c.

BODKIN. A dirk or dagger, a word still in use, though Johnson says it is the oldest acceptation of it. It is the bodekin of Chaucer; and Shakspeare makes Hamlet ask who would bear the ills of life,

"When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin?"

BODY. The principal corps of an army, or the main strength of a fleet.

BODY, OF A PLACE. In fortification, the space inclosed by the enceinte, or line of bastions and curtains.

BODY-HOOPS. Those which secure the aris pieces of a made mast.

BODY-PLAN. The draught of a proposed ship, showing the breadth and timbers; it is a section supposed to cut the vessel through the broadest part; it is otherwise called the plan of projection.

BODY-POST. An additional stern-post introduced at the fore-part of an aperture cut in the dead-wood in a ship fitted with a screw-propeller.

BOG. A marsh, or a tract of land, which from its form and impermeable bottom retains stagnant water. (See QUAGMIRE.)

BOG-BLUTER. A northern name for the bittern, from its habit of thrusting its bill into marshy places.

BOG-TROTTER. Any one who lives among marshy moors, but generally applied to the Emeralders.

BOGUE, TO. To drop off from the wind. To edge away to leeward with the wind; not holding a good wind, and driving very much to leeward. Used only to clumsy inferior craft.

BOGUE. Mouth of a river; hence disembogue. Bogue forts, China.

BOHEMIAN. A conceited dawdler in his duties. Shakspeare ridicules Simple as a Bohemian Tartar; both of which terms were applied to gipsies.

BOILER. Of a steam-engine, made of wrought iron, or copper-plates, which being partly filled with water, and having fire applied to the outside, generates steam to supply the engine.

BOILERS. Termed coppers; the ship's cooking utensils, of iron or copper.

BOILING. The "whole boiling" means the entire quantity, or whole party; applied to number or quantity. A contemptuous epithet.

BOLD-BOW. A broad bluff bow.

BOLDERING WEATHER. Cloudy and thundery.

BOLD-SHORE. A steep coast where the water, deepening rapidly, admits the near approach of shipping without the danger of grounding.

BOLD-TO. Applied to land; the same as steep-to.

BOLE. A small boat.

BOLIDE. A name for aerolite (which see).

BOLINE. See BOWLINE. Clavus in navi.

BOLLAN. The Manx or Gaelic term for the fish old-wife.

BOLLARD. A thick piece of wood on the head of a whale-boat, round which the harpooner gives the line a turn, in order to veer it steadily, and check the animal's velocity. Also a strong timber fixed vertically into the ground, part being left above it, on which to fasten ropes. Also a lighter sort of dolphin for attaching vessels to. Wharves have bollards to which vessels are secured when alongside.

BOLLARD-TIMBERS. Two pieces of oak, usually called knight-heads (which see).

BOLLING OR BOWLING AWAY. Going with a free wind.

BOLME. An old term for a waterman's pole or boom.

BOLOTO. A small boat of the Philippines and Moluccas.

BOLSTERS. Small cushions or bags of tarred canvas, used to preserve the stays from being chafed by the motion of the masts, when the ship pitches at sea. Pieces of soft wood covered with canvas, placed on the trestle-trees, for the eyes of the rigging to rest upon, and prevent a sharp nip. Also pieces of oak timber fayed to the curvature of the bow, under the hawse-holes, and down upon the upper cheek, to prevent the cable from rubbing against the cheeks.—Bolsters for sheets, tacks, &c., are small pieces of fir or oak, fayed under the gunwale, or other part, with the outer surface rounded to prevent chafing.—Bolsters, for the anchor lining. Solid pieces of oak bolted to the ship's side at the fore part of the fore-chains on which the stanchions are fixed that receive the anchor lining.

BOLT. A cylindrical pin of iron or copper to unite the different parts of a vessel, varied in form according to the places where they are required. In ship-building square ones are used in frame-fastening; the heads of all bolts are round, saucer, or collared.—Bolt of the irons, which runs through three pairs of shackles.—Drift or drive-bolts are used to drive out others.—Bay-bolts, have jags or barbs on each side, to keep them from flying out of their holes.—Clench-bolts are clenched with rivetting hammers.—Fend or fender bolts, made with long and thick heads, and struck into the outermost bends of the ship, to save her sides from bruises.—Forelock-bolts have at the end a forelock of iron driven in, to keep them from starting back.—Set-bolts are used for forcing the planks, and bringing them close together.—Ring-bolts are used for the bringing to of the planks, and those parts whereto are fastened the breeches and tackle of the guns.—Scarp-bolts and keel-bolts, pointed, not clinched, used for false keel or temporary purposes.—Bringing-to bolts, fitted with an eye at one end, and a nut and screw at the other, for bringing to the ends at the stem, &c.—To bolt, to start off, to run away.

BOLT-BOAT. An old term for a boat which makes good weather in a rough sea.

BOLTING TIMBERS. Those on each side of the stem, continued up for the security of the bowsprit. (See KNIGHT-HEADS.)

BOLT OF CANVAS. The piece or roll of 39 yards in which it is supplied, but which usually measure about 40 yards in length; it is generally from 22 to 30 inches wide.

BOLT-ROPE. A rope sewed all round the edge of the sail, to prevent the canvas from tearing. The bottom part of it is called the foot-rope, the sides leech-ropes, and if the sail be oblong or square the upper part is called the head-rope; the stay or weather rope of fore-and-aft sails is termed the luff.

BOLTROPE-NEEDLE. A strong needle for stitching the sail to the bolt-ropes.

BOLT-SPRIT. See BOWSPRIT.

BOLT-STRAKE. Certain strakes of plank which the beam fastenings pass through.

BOLT-TOE. The cock of a gun-lock.

BOMB [formerly bomber, from bomba]. The mortar of bomb-vessels.

BOMB OR MORTAR VESSELS. Small ships fortified for throwing bombs into a fortress; said to be the invention of M. Reyneau, and to have been first used at the bombardment of Algiers in 1682. Until then it had been judged impracticable to bombard a place from the sea.

BOMBALO. A delicate kind of sand-eel taken in quantities at Bombay.

BOMBARD. A piece of ordnance, anciently in use before the introduction of more complete cannon with improved gunpowder, propelling iron balls. Its bore, for the projection of stone shot, sometimes exceeded 20 inches in diameter, but was short; its chamber, for containing the powder-charge, being about as long, but much narrower both within and without. There were also very diminutive varieties of it. It has been vaguely called by some writers basilisk, and by the Dutch donderbass. Used to assail a town, fortress, or fleet, by the projection of shells from mortars. It was also the name of a barrel, or large vessel for liquids; hence, among other choice epithets, Prince Henry calls that "tun of man," Falstaff, a "huge bombard of sack." Also, a Mediterranean vessel, with two masts like the English ketch.

BOMB-BED BEAMS. The beams which support the bomb-bed in bomb-vessels.

BOMB-BEDS. See BED OF A MORTAR.

BOMBO. Weak cold punch.

BOMB-SHELL. A large hollow ball of cast-iron, for throwing from mortars (distinguished by having ears or lugs, by which to lift it with the shell-hooks into the mortar), and having a hole to receive the fuze, which communicates ignition to the charge contained in the shell. (See FUZE.)

BOME-SPAR [a corruption of boom]. A spar of a larger kind.

BOMKIN. See BUMKIN.

BONA FIDE. In good faith; without subterfuge—Bona fides is a condition necessary to entitle to the privilege of pre-emption in our admiralty courts.

BONAVENTURE. The old outer mizen, long disused.

BONDING. See WAREHOUSING SYSTEM.

BONDING-POND. An inclosed space of water where the tide flows, for keeping timber in.

BOND-MAN. A harsh method in some ships, in keeping one man bound for the good behaviour of another on leave.

BOND OF BOTTOMRY. An authority to borrow money, by pledging the keel or bottom of the ship. (See BOTTOMRY.)

BONE, TO. To seize, take, or apprehend. A ship is said to carry a bone in her mouth and cut a feather, when she makes the water foam before her.

BON GRACE. Junk-fenders; for booming off obstacles from a ship's sides or bows. (See BOWGRACE.)

BONITO. The Thynnus pelamys, a fish of the scomber family, commonly about 2 feet long, with a sharp head, small mouth, full eyes, and a regular semi-lunar tail.

BONI-VOCHIL. The Hebridean name for the great northern diver (Colymbus glacialis).

BONNET. An additional part laced to the foot of the jibs, or other fore-and-aft sails, in small vessels in moderate weather, to gather more wind. They are commonly one-third of the depth of the sails they belong to. Thus we say, "Lace on the bonnet," or "Shake off the bonnet." Bonnets have lately been introduced to secure the foot of an upper-topsail to a lower-topsail yard. The unbonnetted sail is for storm service. Bonnet, in fortification, is a raised portion of the works at any salient angle, having the same plan, but 10 or 12 feet more command than the work on which it is based. It assists in protecting from enfilade, and affords a plunging fire.

BONNET-FLOOK. A name of the well-known flat-fish, brill, pearl, or mouse-dab; the Pleuronectes rhombus.

BONXIE. The Shetland name for the skua-gull (Cataractes vulgaris). Also a very general northern term for sea-birds.

BONY-FISH. One of the names of the hard-head (which see).

BOOBY. A well-known tropical sea-bird, Sula fusca, of the family Pelecanidae. It is fond of resting out of the water at night, even preferring an unstable perch on the yard of a ship. The name is derived from the way in which it allows itself to be caught immediately after settling. The direction in which they fly as evening comes on often shows where land may be found.

BOOBY-HATCH. A smaller kind of companion, but readily removable; it is in use for merchantmen's half decks, and lifts off in one piece.

BOOK. A commercial term for a peculiar packing of muslin, bast, and other stuffs.—Brought to book, made to account.

BOOKING. A reprimand.

BOOKS. (See SHIP'S BOOKS.) Official documents.

BOOM. A long spar run out from different places in the ship, to extend or boom out the foot of a particular sail; as, jib-boom, flying jib-boom, studding-sail booms, driver or spanker boom, ringtail-boom, main-boom, square-sail boom, &c. A ship is said to come booming forwards when she comes with all the sail she can make. Boom also denotes a cable stretched athwart the mouth of a river or harbour, with yards, top-masts, or stout spars of wood lashed to it, to prevent the entrance of an enemy.—To top one's boom, is to start off.—To boom off, to shove a boat or vessel away with spars.

BOOMAGE. A duty levied to compound for harbour dues, anchorage, and soundage.

BOOM-BOATS. Those stowed on the booms.

BOOM-BRACE PENDANT. A rope attached to the extremity of a studding-sail boom, and leading down on deck; it is used to counteract the pressure of the sail upon the boom.

BOOM-COVER. The tarpaulin, or painted, cover over the spars.

BOOMING. Sound of distant guns; it is often, but wrongly, applied to the hissing or whistling of shot.

BOOM-IRONS. Are metal rings fitted on the yard-arms, through which the studding-sail booms traverse; there is one on each top-sail yard-arm, but on the lower yards a second, which opens to allow the boom to be triced up; it is one-fourth from the yard-arms, and holds down the heel of the boom when it is rigged out.

BOOM-JIGGER. A tackle used in large ships, for rigging out or running in the top-mast studding-sail booms.

BOOMKIN. See BUMKIN.

BOOM-MAINSAIL. See MAIN-SAIL.

BOOMS. A space where the spare spars are stowed; the launch being generally stowed between them.

BOOPAH. A Tongatabou canoe with a single out-rigger.

BOOTHYR. An old term, denoting a small river vessel.

BOOT-TOPPING. The old operation of scraping off the grass, slime, shells, &c., which adhere to the bottom, near the surface of the water, and daubing it over with a mixture of tallow, sulphur, and resin, as a temporary protection against worms. This is chiefly performed where there is no dock or other commodious situation for breaming or careening, or when the hurry of a voyage renders it inconvenient to have the whole bottom properly trimmed and cleansed. The term is now applied to sheathing a vessel with planking over felt.

BOOTY. That sort of prize which may be distributed at the capstan-head, or at once.

BOOZE. A carouse; hence, boozy, elevated by liquor.

BORA. A very violent wind experienced in the upper part of the Adriatic Sea, but which fortunately is of no great duration.

BORACCHIO [Sp. borracho, drunk]. A skin for holding wine or water, usually a goat's. Used in the Levant. A skin-full; literally, gorged with wine.

BORASCA. A storm, with thunder and lightning.

BORD. The sea-coast, an old term. Formerly meant the side, edge, or brim; hence, as applied to a ship, to throw overboard, is to cast anything over the side of the vessel.

BORDELS. An old word for houses built along a strand. In the old play called the "Ladies' Privilege," it is said:—"These gentlemen know better to cut a caper than a cable, or board a pink in the bordels than a pinnace."

BORDER. A term referring to the nature of the vegetation on the margin of a stream or lake, or to artificial works constructed along the banks.

BORD YOU. A saying of a man waiting, to one who is drinking, meaning that he claims the next turn.

BORE. A sudden and rapid flow of tide in certain inlets of the sea; as the monstrous wave in the river Hooghly, called bahu by the natives, which rolls in with the noise of distant thunder at flood-tide. It occurs from February to November, at the new and full moon. Its cause has not been clearly defined, although it probably arises from the currents during spring-tides, acting on a peculiar conformation of the banks and bed of the river; it strikes invariably on the same part of the banks, majestically rolling over to one side, and passing on diagonally to the other with impetuous violence. The bore also occurs in England, near Bristol; and in America, in several rivers, but especially in the Bay of Fundy, where at the river Petticodiac the tide rises 76 feet. It also occurs in Borneo and several rivers in the East. (See HYGRE.) Also, the interior cavity of a piece of ordnance, generally cylindrical in shape, except when a part of it is modified into a chamber.

BOREAS. A classical name for the north wind, still in use; indeed a brackish proverb for extreme severity of weather says—"Cold and chilly, like Boreas with an iceberg in each pocket."

BORE DOWN. Sailed down from to windward.

BORHAME. A northern term for the flounder.

BORING. In Arctic seas, the operation of forcing the ship through loose ice under a heavy press of sail; at least attempting the chance of advantage of cracks or openings in the pack.

BORN WITH A SILVER SPOON IN HIS MOUTH. Said of a person who, by birth or connection, has all the usual obstacles to advancement cleared away for him. Those who toil unceasingly for preferment, and toil in vain, are said to have been born with a wooden ladle. Again, the silver-spoon gentry are said to come on board through the cabin windows; those less favoured, over the bows, or through the hawse-holes.

BORNE. Placed on the books for victuals and wages; also supernumerary and "for rank."

BORROW, TO. To approach closely either to land or wind; to hug a shoal or coast in order to avoid adverse tide.

BORT. The name given to a long fishing-line in the Shetland Isles.

BOSS. A head of water, or reservoir. Also the apex of a shield.

BOTARGA. The roe of the mullet pressed flat and dried; that of commerce, however, is from the tunny, a large fish of passage which is common in the Mediterranean. The best kind comes from Tunis; it must be chosen dry and reddish. The usual way of eating it is with olive-oil and lemon-juice.

BOTCH, TO. To make bungling work.

BOTE'S-CARLE. An old term for the coxswain of a boat.

BOTHERED. Getting among adverse currents, with shifting winds.

BOTH SHEETS AFT. The situation of a square-rigged ship that sails before the wind, or with the wind right astern. It is said also of a half-drunken sailor rolling along with his hands in his pockets and elbows square.

BOTTE. An old English term for boat, and assuredly the damaged boat into which Prospero is turned adrift by Shakspeare.

BOTTLE-BUMP. The bittern, so called on our east coast.

BOTTLE-CHARTS. Those on which the set of surface currents are exhibited, derived from papers found in bottles which have been thrown overboard for that purpose, and washed up on the beach, or picked up by other ships.

BOTTLE-NOSE, OR BOTTLE-NOSED WHALE. A name applied to several of the smaller cetaceans of the northern seas, more especially to the Hyperoodon rostratus.

BOTTOM. A name for rich low land formed by alluvial deposits: but in a general sense it denotes the lowest part of a thing, in contradistinction to the top or uppermost part. In navigation, it is used to denote as well the channel of rivers and harbours as the body or hull of a ship. Thus, in the former sense we say "a gravelly bottom, clayey bottom," &c., and in the latter sense "a British bottom, a Dutch bottom," &c. By statute, certain commodities imported in foreign bottoms pay a duty called "petty customs," over and above what they are liable to if imported in British bottoms. Bottom of a ship or boat is that part which is below the wales.

BOTTOM-CLEAN. Thoroughly clean, free from weeds, &c.

BOTTOM-PLANK. That which is placed between the garboard-strake and lower back-strake.

BOTTOMREE, OR BOTTOMRY-BOND. The contract of bottomry is a negotiable instrument, which may be put in suit by the person to whom it is transferred: it is in use in all countries of maritime commerce and interests. A contract in the nature of a mortgage of a ship, when the owner of it borrows money to enable him to carry on the voyage, and pledge the keel, or bottom of the ship, as a security for the repayment. If the ship be lost the lender also loses his whole money; but if it return in safety then he shall receive back his principal, and also the premium stipulated to be paid, however it may exceed the usual or legal rate of interest. The affair is, however, only regarded as valid upon the ground of necessity; and thus exacting more than the interest allowed by law is not deemed usury.

BOTTOMRY PREMIUM. A high rate of interest charged on the safety of the ship—the lender losing his whole money if she be lost.

BOTTOM-WIND. A phenomenon that occurs on the lakes in the north of England, especially Derwent Water, which is often agitated by swelling waves without any apparent cause.

BOUCHE. See BUSH.

BOUGE OR BOWGE AND CHINE, OR BILGE AND CHIMB. The end of one cask stowed against the bilge of another. To prepare a ship for the purpose of sinking it.

BOUILLI. Termed by seamen bully-beef; disliked because all the substance is boiled away to enrich the cook's grease-tub, and the meat is useless as food; rejected even by dogs. In one ship of war it produced mutiny; vide Adams' account of the Bounty miseries. It is also the name given to highly cooked meat in hermetically sealed tin canisters.

BOULDER-HEAD. A work against the encroachment of the sea, made of wooden stakes.

BOULDERS. Stones worn and rounded by the attrition of the waves of the sea: the word, on the authority of Hunter, was considered a technical term in the fourteenth century, as appears in a warrant of John of Gaunt for the repair of Pontefract Castle—"De peres, appeles buldres, a n're dit chastel come nous semblerez resonables pur la defense de meisme."

BOULEPONGES. A drink to which many of the deaths of Europeans in India were ascribed; but in Bernier's "Travels," in the train of Aurungzebe, in 1664, we are informed that "bouleponge is a beverage made of arrack, sugar, lemon-juice, and a little muscadine." Probably a corruption of bowls of punch. (See PUNCH.)

BOUNCE. The larger dog-fish.

BOUNCER. A gun which kicks violently when fired.

BOUND. Destined for a particular service. Intended voyage to a place.—Ice-bound. Totally surrounded with ice.—Tide-bound, or be-neaped. (See NEAPED.)—Wind-bound. Prevented from sailing by contrary wind.—Where are you bound to?—i.e. To what place are you going?—Bound on a cruise. A corruption of the old word bowne, which is still in use on the northern coasts, and means to make ready, to prepare.

BOUNTY. A sum of money given by government, authorized by act of parliament or royal proclamation, to men who voluntarily enter into the army or navy; and the widow of such volunteer seaman killed or drowned in the service was entitled to a bounty equal to a year's pay.

BOUNTY-BOATS. Those which fished under the encouragement of a bounty from government.

BOUNTY-LIST. A register of all persons who have received the bounty to which they are entitled after having passed three musters in the service.

BOURN. See BURN.

BOURSE. A place where merchants congregate. An exchange.

BOUSE. See BOWSE.

BOUT. A turn, trial, or round. An attack of illness; a convivial meeting.—'Bout ship, the brief order for "about ship."

BOW. The fore-end of a ship or boat; being the rounding part of a vessel forward, beginning on both sides where the planks arch inwards, and terminating where they close, at the rabbet of the stem or prow, being larboard or starboard from that division. A bold bow is broad and round; a lean bow, narrow and thin.—On the bow. An arc of the horizon (not exceeding 45 deg.) comprehended between some distant object and that point of the compass which is right ahead. Four points on either bow is met by four points before the beam.

BOW. An astronomical instrument formerly used at sea, consisting of only one large graduated arc of 90 deg., three vanes, and a shank or staff. Also the bow of yew, a weapon of our early fleets.

BOW. She bows to the breeze; when the sails belly out full, and the ship inclines and goes ahead, pitching or bowing over the blue waves.

BOW-BYE. The situation of a ship when, in stays, she falls back off the wind again, and gets into irons, which demands practical seamanship for her extrication. This was deemed a lubberly act in our fleets of old.

BOW-CHASERS. Two long chase-guns placed forward in the bow-ports to fire directly ahead, and being of small bore for their length, carry shot to a great distance.

BOWD-EATEN. An old expression for eaten by weevils.

BOWER-ANCHORS. Those at the bows and in constant working use. They are called best and small, not from a difference of size, but as to the bow on which they are placed; starboard being the best bower, and port the small bower. The appropriated cables assume the respective names. (See also SPARE ANCHOR, SHEET, STREAM, COASTING, KEDGE, &c.)

BOW-FAST. A rope or chain for securing a vessel by the bow. (See FAST.)

BOWGE, OR BOUGE. An old term for bilge.

BOWGER. A name given in the Hebrides to the coulter-neb, or puffin (Fratercula arctica).

BOWGRACE. A kind of frame or fender of old junk, placed round the bows and sides of a ship to prevent her receiving injury from floating ice or timbers. (See BON GRACE.)

BOWING. An injury done to yards by too much topping, and letting their weights hang by the lifts. The state of a top-sail yard when it arches in the centre from hoisting it too tautly. Also of the mast when it bellies or is crippled by injudiciously setting up the rigging too taut.

BOWING THE SEA. Meeting a turbulent swell in coming to the wind.

BOWLINE. A rope leading forward which is fastened to a space connected by bridles to cringles on the leech or perpendicular edge of the square sails: it is used to keep the weather-edge of the sail tight forward and steady when the ship is close hauled to the wind; and which, indeed, being hauled taut, enables the ship to come nearer to the wind. Hence the ship sails on a bowline, or stands on a taut bowline.—To check or come up a bowline is to slacken it when the wind becomes large or free.—To sharp or set taut a bowline is to pull it as taut as it can well bear.

BOWLINE-BEND. The mode of bending warps or hawsers together by taking a bowline in the end of one rope, and passing the end of the other through the bight, and making a bowline upon it.

BOWLINE-BRIDLE. The span attached to the cringles on the leech of a square sail to which the bowline is toggled or clinched.

BOWLINE-CRINGLE. An eye worked into the leech-rope of a sail; usually in that of a fore-sail two, a main-sail three, and the fore-topsails three, but the main-topsail four. By these the sails are found in the dark, by feeling alone.

BOWLINE HAUL. A hearty and simultaneous bowse. (See ONE! TWO!! THREE!!!) In hauling the bowline it is customary for the leading man to veer, and then haul, three times in succession, singing out one, two, three—at the last the weight of all the men is thrown in together: this is followed by "belay, oh!" When the bowlines are reported "bowlines hauled, sir," by the officer in command of the fore-part of the ship, the hands, or the watch, return to their duties.

BOWLINE-KNOT. That by which the bowline-bridles were fastened to the cringles: the bowline-knot is made by an involution of the end and a bight upon the standing part of a rope. A further involution makes what is termed a bowline on a bight. It is very difficult to explain by words:—holding the rope some distance from the end by the left hand, the end held in the right is laid on the main part, and by a twist given screw-fashion to the right, a loop or kink is formed inclosing this end, which is then passed behind, and back in the same direction with the former, and then jammed home. It is rapidly done, easily undone, and one of the most seamanlike acts, exhibiting grace as well as power. It can be made by a man with but one arm.

BOW-LINES. In ship-building, longitudinal curves representing the ship's fore-body cut in a vertical section.

BOWLING-ALONG. Going with a free wind.

BOW-LOG TIMBERS. A provincial name for hawse-wood.

BOWMAN. In a single-banked boat he who rows the foremost oar and manages the boat-hook; called by the French "brigadier de l'embarcation." In double-banked boats there are always two bowmen. Also an archer, differently pronounced.

BOW-OAR. The foremost oar or oars, in pulling a boat.

BOW-PIECES. The ordnance in the bows; also in building.

BOW-RAIL. A rail round the bows.

BOWSE, TO. To pull upon any body with a tackle, or complication of pulleys, in order to remove it, &c. Hauling upon a tack is called "bowsing upon a tack," and when they would have the men pull all together, they cry, "Bowse away." Also used in setting up rigging, as "Bowse away, starboard;" "Bowse away, port." It is, however, mostly a gun-tackle term.—Bowse up the jib, a colloquialism to denote the act of tippling: it is an old phrase, and was probably derived from the Dutch buyzen, to booze.

BOWSPRIT, OR BOLT-SPRIT. A large spar, ranking with a lower-mast, projecting over the stem; beyond it extends the jib-boom, and beyond that again the flying jib-boom. To these spars are secured the stays of the fore-mast and of the spars above it; on these stays are set the fore and fore-topmast staysails, the jib, and flying-jib, which have a most useful influence in counter-balancing the pressure of the after-sails, thereby tending to force the ship ahead instead of merely turning her round. In former times underneath these spars were set a sprit-sail, sprit-topsail, &c.

BOWSPRIT, RUNNING. In cutter-rigged vessels. (See CUTTER.)

BOWSPRIT-BITTS. Are strong upright timbers secured to the beams below the deck; they have a cross-piece bolted to them, the inner end of the bowsprit steps between them, and is thus prevented from slipping in. The cross-piece prevents it from canting up.

BOWSPRIT-CAP. The crance or cap on the outer end of the bowsprit, through which the jib-boom traverses.

BOWSPRIT-GEAR. A term denoting the ropes, blocks, &c., belonging to the bowsprit.

BOWSPRIT-HEART. The heart or block of wood used to secure the lower end of the fore-stay, through which the inner end of the jib-boom is inserted. It is seldom, if ever, used now, an iron band round the bowsprit, with an eye on each side for the fore-stays, being preferred.

BOWSPRIT-HORSES. The ridge-ropes which extend from the bowsprit-cap to the knight-heads.

BOWSPRIT-LADDER. Skids over the bowsprit from the beak-head in some ships, to enable men to run out upon the bowsprit.

BOWSPRIT-NETTING. The netting placed just above a vessel's bowsprit, for stowing away the fore-topmast staysail; it is usually lashed between the ridge-ropes.

BOWSPRIT-SHROUDS. Strong ropes or chains leading from nearly the outer end of the bowsprit to the luff of the bow, giving lateral support to that spar.

BOW-STAVES. Early supplied to our men-of-war.

BOW-TIMBERS. Those which form the bow of the ship.

BOX. The space between the back-board and the stern-post of a boat, where the coxswain sits.

BOXES OF THE PUMPS. Each ordinary pump has an upper and lower box, the one a fixture in the lower part of its chamber, the other attached to the end of the spear or piston-rod; in the centre of each box is a valve opening upwards.

BOXHAULING. Is an evolution by which a ship is veered sharp round on her heel, when the object is to avoid making a great sweep. The helm is put a-lee, the head-yards braced flat aback, the after-yards squared, the driver taken in, and the head-sheets hauled to windward; when she begins to gather stern-way the helm is shifted and sails trimmed. It is only resorted to in emergencies, as a seaman never likes to see his ship have stern-way. With much wind and sea this evolution would be dangerous.

BOXING. A square piece of dry hard wood, used in connecting the frame timbers. Also, the projection formerly left at the hawse-pieces, in the wake of the hawse-holes, where the planks do not run through; now disused. The stem is said to be boxed when it is joined to the fore end of the keel by a side scarph. (See BOXING OF RUDDER.)

BOXING OFF. Is performed by hauling the head-sheets to windward, and laying the head-yards flat aback, to pay the ship's head out of the wind, when the action of the helm alone is not sufficient for that purpose; as when she is got "in irons."

BOX THE COMPASS, TO. Not only to repeat the names of the thirty-two points in order and backwards, but also to be able to answer any and all questions respecting its divisions.

BOYART. An old term for a hoy.

BOYAUX. The zig-zags or tortuous trenches in the approach of a besieger.

BOYER. A sloop of Flemish construction, with a raised work at each end.

BRAB. The sheaf of the young leaves of the Palmyra palm (and also of the cocoa-nut), from which sinnet or plait for hats is made.

BRAB-TREE. The Palmyra palm.

BRACE. The braces are ropes belonging to all the yards of a ship; two to each yard, rove through blocks that are stropped to the yards, or fastened to pendants, seized to the yard-arms. Their use is either to square or traverse the yards horizontally; hence, to brace the yard, is to bring it to either side by means of the braces. In ship-building, braces are plates of iron, copper, or mixed metal, which are used to bind efficiently a weakness in a vessel; as also to receive the pintles by which the rudder is hung.

BRACE ABACK. To brace the yards in, so as to lay the sails aback.—To brace about, to turn the yards round for the contrary tack, or in consequence of a change of wind.—To brace abox, a man[oe]uvre to insure casting the right way, by bracing the head-yards flat aback (not square).—To brace by, to brace the yards in contrary directions to each other on the different masts, to effect the stopping of the vessel. (See COUNTER-BRACE.)—To brace in, to lay the yard less oblique, as for a free wind, or nearly square.—To brace round, synonymous with brace about.—To brace sharp, to cause the yards to have the smallest possible angle with the keel, for the ship to have head-way: deemed generally to form an angle of 20 deg. with the keel.—To brace to, is to check or ease off the lee braces, and round in the weather ones, to assist in the man[oe]uvre of tacking or wearing.—To brace up, or brace sharp up, to lay the yards more obliquely fore and aft, by easing off the weather-braces and hauling in the lee ones, which enables a ship to lie as close to the wind as possible.

BRACE OF SHAKES. A moment: taken from the flapping of a sail. I will be with you before it shakes thrice.

BRACE PENDANTS. Are lengths of rope, or now more generally chain, into which the yard-arm brace-blocks are spliced. They are used in the merchant service to save rope, to give the blocks more freedom for slewing to their work, but chiefly because when the brace is let go, the falling chain will overhaul it, making it easier to haul in the other brace.

BRACE UP AND HAUL AFT! The order usually given after being hove-to, with fore or main top-sail square or aback, and jib-sheet flowing, i.e. haul aft jib-sheet, brace up the yards which had been squared, for the purpose of heaving to.

BRACK. The Manx or Gaelic name for mackerel.

BRACKETS. Short crooked timbers resembling knees, fixed in the frame of a ship's head to support the gratings; they likewise served to support and ornament the gallery. Also, the two vertical side-pieces of the carriage of any piece of ordnance, which support it by the trunnions. Called also cheeks. Also, triangular supports to miscellaneous things.

BRACKISH. Water not fresh; from the Icelandic breke, the sea.

BRADS. Small nails.

BRAE. A declivity or precipice.

BRAGGIR. The name given in the Western Islands of Scotland to the broad leaves growing on the top of the Alga marina, or sea-grass.

BRAILS. Ropes passing through leading blocks on the hoops of the mizen-mast and gaff, and fastened to the outermost leech of the sail, in different places, to truss it close up as occasion requires; all trysails and several of the staysails also have brails.

BRAIL UP! The order to pull upon the brails, and thereby spill and haul in the sail. The mizen, or spanker, or driver, or any of the gaff-sails, as they may be termed, when brailed up, are deemed furled; unless it blows hard, when they are farther secured by gaskets.

BRAKE. The handle or lever by which a common ship-pump is usually worked. It operates by means of two iron bolts, one thrust through the inner hole of it, which bolted through forms the lever axis in the iron crutch of the pump, and serves as the fulcrum for the brake, supporting it between the cheeks. The other bolt connects the extremity of the brake to the pump-spear, which draws up the spear box or piston, charged with the water in the tube; derived from brachium, an arm or lever. Also, used to check the speed of machinery by frictional force pressing on the circumference of the largest wheel acted on by leverage of the brake.

BRAN, TO. To go on; to lie under a floe edge, in foggy weather, in a boat in Arctic seas, to watch the approach of whales.

BRANCH. The diploma of those pilots who have passed at the Trinity House, as competent to navigate vessels in particular places. The word branch is also metaphorically used for river divergents, but its application to affluents is improper. Any branch or ramification, as in estuaries, where they traverse, river-like, miles of territory, in labyrinthine mazes.

BRANCH-PILOT. One approved by the Trinity House, and holding a branch, for a particular navigation.

BRAND. The Anglo-Saxon for a burnished sword. A burned device or character, especially that of the broad arrow on government stores, to deface or erase which is felony.

BRANDED TICKET. A discharge given to an infamous man, on which his character is written, and the reason he is turned out of the service. In the army, deserters are branded with D; also B for bad character. In the navy, a corner of the ticket is cut off.

BRANDLING. A supposed fry of the salmon species, found on the north of England coasts. Also, the angler's dew-worm.

BRANDY-PAWNEE. A cant term for brandy and water in India.

BRANLAIG. The Manx or Gaelic term for a cove or creek on a shore between rocks.

BRANLIE, OR BRANLIN. A northern name for the samlet or par.

BRAN-NEW. Quite new: said of a sail which has never been bent.

BRASH. Small fragments of crushed ice, collected by wind or currents, near the shore; or such that the ship can easily force through.

BRASS. Impudent assurance.

BRASSARTS. Pieces between the elbow and the top of the shoulder in ancient armour.

BRASSER. A defensive bit of armour for the arm.

BRAT. A northern name for a turbot.

BRAVE. This word was not only used to express courage by our early seamen, but was also applied to strength; as, "we had a brave wind."

BRAWET. A kind of eel in the north.

BRAY, TO. To beat and bruise in a mortar.

BREACH. Formerly, what is made by the breaking in of the sea, now applied also to the openings or gaps made in the works of fortified places battered by an enemy's cannon. Also, an old term for a heavy surf or broken water on a sea-coast; by some called brist.

BREACHING. The act of leaping out of the water; applied to whales.

BREACH OF THE SEA. Waves breaking over the hull of a vessel in bad weather, or when stranded.—A clear breach implies the waves rolling clean over without breaking. Shakspeare in "Twelfth Night" uses the term for the breaking of the waves.—Clean-breach, when masts and every object on deck is swept away.

BREACHY. Brackish, as applied to water, probably originating in the sea breaking in.

BREAD. The usual name given to biscuit.

BREAD-BARGE. The tray in which biscuit is handed round.

BREAD-FRUIT (Artocarpus incisa). This most useful tree has a wide range of growth, but the seedless variety produced in Tahiti and some of the South Sea Islands is superior to others; it has an historical interest from its connection with the voyage of the Bounty in 1787.

BREAD-ROOM. The lowest and aftermost part of the orlop deck, where the biscuit is kept, separated by a bulk-head from the rest; but any place parted off from below deck for containing the bread is so designated.

BREAD-ROOM JACK. The purser's steward's help.

BREADTH. The measure of a vessel from side to side in any particular place athwart-ships. (See STRAIGHT OF BREADTH, HEIGHT OF BREADTH, TOP-TIMBER BREADTH, &c.)—Breadth of beam, extreme breadth of a ship.

BREADTH EXTREME. See EXTREME BREADTH OR BEAM.

BREADTH LINE. A curved line of the ship lengthwise, intersecting the timbers at their greatest extent from the middle line of the ship.

BREADTH-MOULDED. See MOULDED BREADTH.

BREADTH-RIDERS. Timbers placed nearly in the broadest part of the ship, and diagonally, so as to strengthen two or more timbers.

BREAK, TO. To deprive of commission, warrant, or rating, by court-martial.

BREAK. The sudden rise of a deck when not flush; when the aft, and sometimes the fore part, of a vessel's deck is kept up to give more height below, and at the drifts.—Break of the poop, where it ends at the foremost part.

BREAKAGE. The leaving of empty spaces in stowing the hold. In marine insurance, the term alludes to damage occurring to goods.

BREAK-BEAMS. Beams introduced at the break of a deck, or any sudden termination of planking.

BREAK-BULK. To open the hold, to begin unloading and disposing of the goods therein, under legal provisions.

BREAKERS. Small barrels for containing water or other liquids; they are also used in watering the ship as gang-casks. (See BAREKA.) Also, those billows which break violently over reefs, rocks, or shallows, lying immediately at, or under, the surface of the sea. They are distinguished both by their appearance and sound, as they cover that part of the sea with a perpetual foam, and produce loud roaring, very different from what the waves usually have over a deeper bottom. Also, a name given to those rocks which occasion the waves to break over them.—Breakers ahead! the common pass-word to warn the officer of broken water in the direction of the course. (See also SHIP-BREAKER.)

BREAK-GROUND. Beginning to weigh, or to lift the anchor from the bottom. On shore it means to begin the works for besieging a place, or opening the trenches.

BREAKING. Breaking out stores or cargo in the hold. The act of extricating casks or other objects from the hold-stowage.

BREAKING LIBERTY. Not returning at the appointed time.

BREAKING OF A GALE. Indications of a return of fine weather; short gusts at intervals; moaning or whistling of the wind through the rigging.

BREAKING-PLATE DISTANCE. The point within which iron-plated ships, under concentrated fire, may be damaged.

BREAKING THE EY. See EYGHT.

BREAKING-UP OF THE MONSOON. A nautical term for the violent storms that attend the shifting of periodical winds.

BREAK-OFF. (See BROKEN-OFF). "She breaks off from her course," applied only when the wind will not allow of keeping the course; applies only to "close-hauled" or "on a wind."—Break-off! an order to quit one department of duty, to clap on to another.

BREAK-SHEER, TO. When a ship at anchor is laid in a proper position to keep clear of her anchor, but is forced by the wind or current out of that position, she is said to break her sheer. Also, for a vessel to break her sheer, or her back, means destroying the gradual sweep lengthways.

BREAK-UP, TO. To take a ship to pieces when she becomes old and unserviceable.

BREAK-WATER. Any erection or object so placed as to prevent the sea from rolling inwards. Where there is no mole or jetty the hull of an old ship may be sunk at the entrance of a small harbour, to break off or diminish the force of the waves as they advance towards the vessels moored within. Every bar to a river or harbour, intended to secure smooth water within, acts as a break-water.

BREAM. A common fresh as well as salt water fish (Abramis brama), little esteemed as food.

BREAMING. Cleaning a ship's bottom by burning off the grass, ooze, shells, or sea-weed, which it has contracted by lying long in harbour; it is performed by holding kindled furze, faggots, or reeds to the bottom, which, by melting the pitch that formerly covered it, loosens whatever filth may have adhered to the planks; the bottom is then covered anew with a composition of sulphur, tallow, &c., which not only makes it smooth and slippery, so as to divide the fluid more readily, but also poisons and destroys those worms which eat through the planks in the course of a voyage. This operation may be performed either by laying the ship aground after the tide has ebbed from her or by docking or careening.

BREAST, TO. To run abeam of a cape or object. To cut through a sea, the surface of which is poetically termed breast.—To breast the sea, to meet it by the bow on a wind.—To breast the surf, to brave it, and overcome it swimming.—To breast a bar, to heave at the capstan.—To breast to, the act of giving a sheer to a boat.

BREAST-BACKSTAYS. They extend from the head of an upper-mast, through an out-rigger, down to the channels before the standing backstays, for supporting the upper spars from to windward. When to leeward, they are borne abaft the top-rim. (See BACKSTAYS.)

BREAST-BEAMS. Those beams at the fore-part of the quarter-deck, and the after-part of the forecastle, in those vessels which have a poop and a top-gallant forecastle.

BREAST-FAST. A large rope or chain, used to confine a ship's broadside to a wharf or quay, or to some other ship, as the head-fast confines her forward, and the stern-fast abaft.

BREAST-GASKETS. An old term for bunt-gaskets.

BREAST-HOOKS. Thick pieces of timber, incurvated into the form of knees, and used to strengthen the fore-part of a ship, where they are placed at different heights, directly across the stem internally, so as to unite it with the bows on each side, and form the principal security, supporting the hawse-pieces and strain of the cables. The breast-hooks are strongly connected to the stem and hawse-pieces by tree-nails, and by bolts driven from without through all, and forelocked or clinched upon rings inside.

BREAST-RAIL. The upper rail of the balcony; formerly it was applied to a railing in front of the quarter-deck, and at the after-part of the forecastle-deck. Also, fife-rail.

BREAST-ROPE. The lashing or laniard of the yard-parrels. (See also HORSE.) Also, the bight of a mat-worked band fastened between the shrouds for the safety of the lad's-man in the chains, when sounding, so that he may hang over the water, and let the lead swing clear.

BREAST-WORK. A sort of balustrade of rails, mouldings, or stanchions, which terminates the quarter-deck and poop at the fore ends, and also incloses the forecastles both before and behind. (See PARAPET.) Now applicable to the poop-rails only. In fortification, it signifies a parapet thrown up as high as the breasts of the men defending it.

BREATHER. A tropical squall.

BREATH OF WIND. All but a dead calm.

BREECHING. A strong rope passing through at the cascable of a gun, used to secure it to the ship's side, and prevent it recoiling too much in time of battle, also to secure it when the ship labours; it is fixed by reeving it through a thimble stropped upon the cascable or knob at the breech of the gun; one end is rove and clinched, and the other is passed through the ring-bolt in the ship's side, and seized back. The breeching is of sufficient length to let the muzzle of the cannon come within the ship's side to be charged, or to be housed and lashed. Clinch-shackles have superseded the ring-bolts, so that guns may be instantly unshackled and shifted.

BREECHING-BOLT. Applies to the above.

BREECH-LOADER. A gun, large or small, charged at the breech. The method is a very old one revived, but with such scientific modifications as to have enormously increased the effectiveness of small-arms; with cannon its successful practical application to the larger natures has not yet been arrived at, but with field-guns it has added largely to accuracy of practice and facility of loading.

BREECH OF A CANNON. The after-end, next the vent or touch-hole. It is the most massive part of a gun; strictly speaking, it is all the solid metal behind the bottom of the bore. Also, the outside angle formed by the knee-timber, the inside of which is the throat.

BREECH-SIGHT. The notch cut on the base ring of a gun.

BREEZE. This word is widely understood as a pleasant zephyr; but among seamen it is usually applied as synonymous with wind in general, whether weak or strong.

BREEZE, SEA OR LAND. A shifting wind blowing from sea and land alternately at certain hours, and sensibly only near the coasts; they are occasioned by the action of the sun raising the temperature of the land so as to draw an aerial current from sea-ward by day, which is returned as the earth cools at night.

BREEZE, TO KICK UP A. To excite disturbance, and promote a quarrelsome row.

BREEZING UP. The gale freshening.

BREEZO. A toast given by the presiding person at a mess-table; derived from brisee generale.

BREVET. A rank in the army higher than the regimental commission held by an officer, affording him a precedence in garrison and brigade duties. Something approaching this has been attempted afloat, under the term "staff."

BREWING. The appearance of a collection of black and tempestuous clouds, rising gradually from a particular part of the hemisphere, as the forerunner of a storm.

BRICKLAYER'S CLERK. A contemptuous expression for lubberly pretenders to having seen "better days," but who were forced to betake themselves to sea-life.

BRIDGE. A narrow gangway between two hatchways, sometimes termed a bridge. Military bridges to afford a passage across a river for troops, are constructed with boats, pontoons, casks, trusses, trestles, &c. Bridge in steam-vessels is the connection between the paddle-boxes, from which the officer in charge directs the motion of the vessel. Also, the middle part of the fire-bars in a marine boiler, on either side of which the fires are banked. Also, a narrow ridge of rock, sand, or shingle, across the bottom of a channel, so as to occasion a shoal over which the tide ripples. That between Mount Edgecombe and St. Nicholas' Isle, at Plymouth, has occasioned much loss of life.

BRIDGE-ISLET. A portion of land which becomes insular at high-water—as Old Woman's Isle at Bombay, and among others, the celebrated Lindisfarne, thus tidally sung by Scott:—

"The tide did now his flood-mark gain, And girdled in the saint's domain: For, with the flow and ebb, its style Varies from continent to isle; Dry-shod, o'er sands, twice ev'ry day The pilgrims to the shrine find way; Twice every day the waves efface Of staves and sandall'd feet the trace."

BRIDGE-TRAIN. An equipment for insuring the passage of troops over a river. Pontooners. (See PONTOON.)

BRIDLE. See MOORING-BRIDLE and BOWLINE-BRIDLE.

BRIDLE-PORT. A square port in the bows of a ship, for taking in mooring bridles. They are also used for guns removed from the port abaft, and required to fire as near a line ahead as possible. They are main-deck chase-ports.

BRIDLES. The upper part of the moorings laid in the queen's harbours, to ride ships or vessels of war. (See MOORINGS.)

BRIG. A two-masted square-rigged vessel, without a square main-sail, or a trysail-mast abaft the main-mast. This properly constituted the snow, but both classes are latterly blended, and the terms therefore synonymous.

BRIGADE. A party or body of men detached for a special service. A division of troops under the command of a general officer. In artillery organization on land, a brigade is a force usually composed of more than a battery; in the field it commonly consists of two or three batteries; on paper, and for administrative purposes, of eight.

BRIGADE-MAJOR. A staff officer attached to a brigade, and is the channel through which all orders are received from the general and communicated to the troops.

BRIGADE-ORDERS. Those issued by the general officer commanding troops which are brigaded.

BRIGADIER. An officer commanding a brigade, and somewhat the same as commodore for a squadron of ships.

BRIGANDINE. A pliant scale-like coat of mail.

BRIGANTINE. A square-rigged vessel with two masts. A term variously applied by the mariners of different European nations to a peculiar sort of vessel of their own marine. Amongst British seamen this vessel is distinguished by having her main-sail set nearly in the plane of her keel, whereas the main-sails of larger ships are spread athwart the ship's length, and made fast to a yard which hangs parallel to the deck; but in a brig, the foremost side of the main-sail is fastened at different heights to hoops which encircle the main-mast, and slide up and down it as the sail is hoisted or lowered: it is extended by a gaff above and a boom below. Brigantine is a derivative from brig, first applied to passage-boats; in the Celtic meaning "passage over the water." (See HERMAPHRODITE OR BRIG-SCHOONER.)

BRIGANTS. Formerly, natives of the northern parts of England.

BRIGDIE. A northern name for the basking shark (Squalus maximus).

BRIGHT LOOK-OUT. A vigilant one.

BRIG-SCHOONER. (See HERMAPHRODITE and BRIGANTINE, by which, term she is at present classed in law.) Square-rigged on the fore-mast, schooner on the main-mast.

BRILL. The Pleuronectes rhombus, a common fish, allied to, but rather smaller than, the turbot.

BRIM. The margin or bank of a stream, lake, or river.

BRIMSTONE. See SULPHUR.

BRINE, OR PICKLE. Water replete with saline particles, as brine-pickle for salt meat. The briny wave.

BRINE-GAUGE. See SALINOMETER.

BRINE-PUMPS. When inconvenient to blow off the brine which collects at the bottom of a steamer's boilers, the brine-pump is used for clearing away the deposit.

BRING BY THE LEE, TO. To incline so rapidly to leeward of the course when the ship sails large, or nearly before the wind, as in scudding before a gale, that the lee-side is unexpectedly brought to windward, and by laying the sails all aback, exposes her to the danger of over-setting. (See BROACH-TO.)

BRING 'EM NEAR. The day-and-night telescope.

BRINGERS UP. The last men in a boarding or small-arm party. Among soldiers, it means the whole last rank of a battalion drawn up, being the hindmost men of every file.

BRING HOME THE ANCHOR, TO, is to weigh it. It applies also when the flukes slip or will not hold; a ship then brings home her anchor.—Bring home the log. When the pin slips out of the log ship and it slides through the water.

BRINGING IN. The detention of a vessel on the high seas, and bringing her into port for adjudication.

BRINGING-TO THE YARD. Hoisting up a sail, and bending it to its yard.

BRING-TO, TO. To bend, as to bring-to a sail to the yard. Also, to check the course of a ship by trimming the sails so that they shall counteract each other, and keep her nearly stationary, when she is said to lie by, or lie-to, or heave-to.—Bring to! The order from one ship to another to put herself in that situation in order to her being boarded, spoken to, or examined. Firing a blank gun across the bows of a ship is the forcible signal to shorten sail and bring-to until further pleasure.—Bring-to is also used in applying a rope to the capstan, as "bring-to the messenger."

BRING-TO AN ANCHOR, TO. To let go the anchor in the intended port. "All hands bring ship to an anchor!" The order by which the people are summoned for that duty, by the pipes of the boatswain and his mates.

BRING UP, TO. To cast anchor.

BRING UP WITH A ROUND TURN. Suddenly arresting a running rope by taking a round turn round a bollard, bitt-head, or cleat. Said of doing a thing effectually though abruptly. It is used to bring one up to his senses by a severe rating.

BRISAS. A north-east wind which blows on the coast of South America during the trades.

BRISMAK. A name among the Shetlanders for the excellent fish called tusk or torsk, the best of the cod kind (Brosmius vulgaris).

BRISTOL FASHION AND SHIP-SHAPE. Said when Bristol was in its palmy commercial days, unannoyed by Liverpool, and its shipping was all in proper good order.

BRITISH-BUILT SHIP. Such as has been built in Great Britain or Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, or some of the colonies, plantations, islands, or territories in Asia, Africa, or America, which, at the time of building the ship, belonged to or were in possession of Her Majesty; or any ship whatsoever which has been, taken and condemned as lawful prize.

BRITISH SEAS. See QUATUOR MARIA.

BRITISH SHIP. May be foreign built, or rebuilt on a foreign keel which belonged to any of the people of Great Britain and Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, or the Isle of Man, or of any colony, island, or territory in Asia, Africa, or America, or was registered before the 1st of May, 1786.

BRITISH SUBJECT. Settled in an enemy's country, may not trade in any contraband goods.

BRITTLE-STAR. The common name of a long-rayed star-fish (Ophiocoma rosula).

BROACH A BUSINESS, TO. To begin it.

BROACH-TO, TO. To fly up into the wind. It generally happens when a ship is carrying a press of canvas with the wind on the quarter, and a good deal of after-sail set. The masts are endangered by the course being so altered, as to bring it more in opposition to, and thereby increasing the pressure of the wind. In extreme cases the sails are caught flat aback, when the masts would be likely to give way, or the ship might go down stern foremost.

BROAD ARROW. The royal mark for government stores of every description. To obliterate, deface, or remove this mark is felony; or even to be in possession of any goods so marked without sufficient grounds. It is no doubt one of the Ditmarsh runes.

BROAD AXE. Formerly a warlike instrument; also for beheading; specially applied to the axe of carpenters for mast-making, and sometimes cutting away the masts or cable.

BROAD CLOTH. Square sails.

BROAD OF WATER. An extensive lake with a channel communicating with the sea, or a wide opening of a river after passing a narrow entrance.

BROAD PENNANT. A swallow-tailed piece of buntin at the mast-head of a man-of-war; the distinctive mark of a commodore. The term is frequently used for the officer himself. It tapers, in contradistinction to a cornet, which has only the triangle cut out of it.

BROAD R. See BROAD ARROW.

BROADS. Fresh-water lakes, in contradistinction to rivers or narrow waters.

BROADSIDE. The whole array, or the simultaneous discharge of the artillery on one side of a ship of war above and below. It also implies the whole of that side of a ship above the water which is situate between the bow and quarter, and is in a position nearly perpendicular to the horizon. Also, a name given to the old folio sheets whereon ballads and proclamations were printed of old (broad-sheet).

BROADSIDE-ON. The whole side of a vessel; the opposite of end-on.

BROADSIDE WEIGHT OF METAL. The weight of iron which the guns of a ship can project, when single-shotted, from one side. (See WEIGHT OF METAL.)

BROADSWORD. See CUTLAS.

BROCAGE. The same with brokerage (which see).

BROCLES. See STRAKE-NAILS.

BRODIE. The fry of the rock-tangle, or Hettle-codling, a fish caught on the Hettle Bank, in the Firth of Forth.

BROGGING. A north-country method of catching eels, by means of small sticks called brogs.

BROGUES. Among seamen, coarse sandals made of green hide; but Shakspeare makes Arviragus put "his clouted brogues from off his feet," for "answering his steps too loud." This would rather refer to shoes strengthened with hob-nails.

BROKE. Sentence of a court-martial, depriving an officer of his commission.

BROKEN. An old army word, used for reduced; as, a broken lieutenant, &c. The word is also applied to troops in line when not dressed. The heart of a gale is said to be broken; parole is broken; also, leave, bulk, &c. (which see).

BROKEN-BACKED. The state of a ship so loosened in her frame, either by age, weakness, or some great strain from grounding amidships, as to droop at each end, causing the lines of her sheer to be interrupted, and termed hogged. It may result from fault of construction, in the midship portions having more buoyancy, and the extreme ends too much weight, as anchors, boats, guns, &c., to sustain.

BROKEN-OFF. Fallen off, in azimuth, from the course. Also, men taken from one duty to be put on another.

BROKEN SQUALL. When the clouds separate in divisions, passing ahead and astern of a ship, and affecting her but little, if at all.

BROKEN WATER. The contention of currents in a narrow channel. Also, the waves breaking on and near shallows, occasionally the result of vast shoals of fish, as porpoise, skip-jacks, &c., which worry untutored seamen.

BROKER. Originally a broken tradesman, from the Anglo-Saxon broc, a misfortune; but, in later times, a person who usually transacts the business of negotiating between the merchants and ship-owners respecting cargoes and clearances: he also effects insurances with the underwriters; and while on the one hand he is looked to as to the regularity of the contract, on the other he is expected to make a candid disclosure of all the circumstances which may affect the risk.

BROKET. A small brook; the sea-lark is so called at the Farne Islands.

BROKE-UP. Said of a gale of wind passing away; or a ship which has gone to pieces on a reef, &c.

BROND. An old spelling of brand, a sword.

BRONGIE. A name given to the cormorant in the Shetland Islands.

BROOD. Oysters of about two years old, which are dredged up at sea, for placing on the oyster-beds.

BROOD-HEN STAR. The cluster of the Pleiades.

BROOK, OR BROOKLET. Streams of fresh or salt water, less than a rivulet, creeping through narrow and shallow passages. The clouds brook-up, when they draw together and threaten rain.

BROOM. A besom at the mast-head signifies that the ship is to be sold: derived probably from the old practice of displaying boughs at shops and taverns. Also, a sort of spartium, of which ropes are made.

BROOMING. See BREAMING.

BROTHER-OFFICERS. Those of the same ship or regiment.

BROTH OF A BOY. An excellent, though roystering fellow.

BROUGHT BY THE LEE. See BRING BY THE LEE.

BROUGHT-TO. A chase made to stop, and heave-to. Also, the cable is brought-to when fastened to the messenger by nippers. The messenger is brought to the capstan, or the cable to the windlass.

BROUGHT TO HIS BEARINGS. Reduced to obedience.

BROUGHT TO THE GANGWAY. Punished.

BROW. An inclined plane of planks, on one or both sides of a ship, to communicate internally; a stage-gangway for the accommodation of the shipwrights, in conveying plank, timber, and weighty articles on board. Also, the face of a rising ground. An old term for a gang-board.

BROWN BESS. A nickname for the old government regulation bronzed musket, although till recently it was brightly burnished.

BROWN BILL. The old weapon of the English infantry: hence, perhaps the expression "Brown Bess" for a musket.

BROWN GEORGE. A hard and coarse biscuit.

BROWNIE. The Polar bear, so called by the whalers. It is also a northern term for goblin.

BROWN JANET. A cant phrase for a knapsack.

BROWN-PAPER WARRANT. See WARRANT.

BROWSE. A light kind of dunnage.

BRUISE-WATER. A ship with very bluff bows, built more for carrying than sailing.

BRUISING WATER. Pitching heavily to a head-sea, and making but little head-way.

BRUN-SWYNE. An early name for a seal.

BRUSH. A move; a skirmish.

BRYDPORT. An old word signifying cable. The best hemp grew at Bridport, in Dorsetshire; and there was a statute, that the cables and hawsers for the Royal Navy were to be made thereabouts.

BUB. A liquor or drink. Bub and grub meaning inversely meat and drink.

BUBBLE. Another term for spirit-level, used for astronomical instruments.

BUBBLER. A fish found in the waters of the Ohio, thus named from the bubbling noise it makes.

BUCCANEER. A name given to certain piratical rovers, of various European nations, who formerly infested the coasts of Spanish America. They were originally inoffensive settlers in Hispaniola, but were inhumanly driven from their habitations by the jealous policy of the Spaniards; whence originated their implacable hatred to that nation. Also, a large musketoon, about 8 feet in length, so called from having been used by those marauders.

BUCENTAUR. A large and splendid galley of the doge of Venice, in which he received the great lords and persons of quality who went there, accompanied by the ambassadors and councillors of state, and all the senators seated on benches by him. The same vessel served also in the magnificent ceremony on Ascension-day, when the doge threw a ring into the sea to espouse it, and to denote his dominion over the Gulf of Venice.

BUCHAN BOILERS. The heavy breaking billows among the rocks on the coast of Buchan.

BUCHT. A Shetland term for lines of 55 fathoms.

BUCK, TO. To wash a sail.

BUCKALL. An earthen wine-cup used in the sea-ports of Portugal, Spain, and Italy. [From bocale, It.]

BUCKER. A name for the grampus in the Hebrides. It is also applied, on some of our northern coasts, to the porpoise.

BUCKET. A small globe of hoops, covered with canvas, used as a recall for the boats of whalers.

BUCKET-ROPE. That which is tied to a bucket for drawing water up from alongside.

BUCKETS. Are made either of canvas, of leather, or of wood; the latter are used principally for washing the decks, and therefore answer the purposes of pails.

BUCKET-VALVE. In a steamer's engine, is a flat metal plate filling up the passage between the air-pump and the condenser, and acted upon by both in admitting or repressing the passage of water.

BUCKHORN. Whitings, haddocks, thorn-backs, gurnet, and other fish, cleaned, gently salted, and dried in the sun.

BUCKIE. A northern name for the whelk.

BUCKIE-INGRAM. A name for the hermit-crab.

BUCKIE-PRINS. A northern designation for a periwinkle.

BUCKLE. A mast buckles when it suffers by compression, so that the fibre takes a sinuous form, and the grain is upset. Also, in Polar regions, the bending or arching of the ice upwards, preceding a nip.

BUCKLERS. Two blocks of wood fitted together to stop the hawse-holes, leaving only sufficient space between them for the cable to pass, and thereby preventing the ship taking in much water in a heavy head-sea. They are either riding or blind bucklers (which see).

BUCKRA. A term for white man, used by the blacks in the West Indies, Southern States of America, and the African coast.

BUCK-WEEL. A bow-net for fish.

BUDE. An old name for the biscuit-weevil.

BUDGE-BARREL. A small cask with copper and wooden hoops, and one head formed by a leather hose or bag, drawing close by a string, for carrying powder in safety from sparks. In heraldry, the common bucket is called a water bouget or budget.

BUDGEROW. A cabined passage-boat of the Ganges and Hooghly.

BUFFET A BILLOW, TO. To work against wind and tide.

BUG. An old term for a vessel more remarkable in size than efficiency. Thus, when Drake fell upon Cadiz, his sailors regarded the huge galleys opposed to them as mere "great bugges."

BUGALILO. A large trading-boat of the Gulf of Persia; the buglo of our seamen.

BUGAZEENS. An old commercial term for calicoes.

BUILD. A vessel's form or construction.

BUILD A CHAPEL, TO. To turn a ship suddenly by negligent steerage.

BUILDER'S CERTIFICATE. A necessary document in admiralty courts, containing a true account of a ship's denomination, tonnage, trim, where built, and for whom.

BUILDING. The work of constructing ships, as distinguished from naval architecture, which may rather be considered as the art or theory of delineating ships on a plane. The pieces by which this complicated machine is framed, are joined together in various places by scarfing, rabbeting, tenanting, and scoring.

BUILT. A prefix to denote the construction of a vessel, as carvel or clinker-built, bluff-built, frigate-built, sharp-built, &c.; English, French, or American built, &c.

BUILT-BLOCK. Synonymous with made-block (which see). The lower masts of large ships are built or made.

BUILT-UP GUNS. Recently invented guns of great strength, specially adapted to meet the requirements of rifled artillery and of the attack of iron plating. They are usually composed of an inner core or barrel (which may be of coiled and welded iron, but is now generally preferred of tough steel), with a breech-piece, trunnion-piece, and various outer strengthening hoops or coils of wrought iron, shrunk or otherwise forced on; having their parts put together at such predetermined relative tensions, as to support one another under the shock of explosion, and thereby avoiding the faults of solid cast or forged guns, whereof the inner parts are liable to be destroyed before the outer can take their share of the strain. The first practical example of the method was afforded by the Armstrong gun, the "building up" which obtained in ancient days, before the casting of solid guns, having been apparently resorted to as an easy means of producing large masses of metal, without realizing the principle of the mutual support of the various parts.

BUIRAN. A Gaelic word signifying the sea coming in, with a noise as of the roar of a bull.

BULCH, TO. To bilge a ship.

BULGE. (See BILGE.) That part of the ship she bears upon when on the ground.

BULGE-WAYS. Otherwise bilge-ways (which see).

BULK. In bulk; things stowed without cases or packages. (See BULK-HEAD and LADEN IN BULK.)

BULKER. A person employed to measure goods, and ascertain the amount of freight with which they are chargeable.

BULK-HEAD, THE. Afore, is the partition between the forecastle and gratings in the head, and in which are the chase-ports.

BULK-HEADS. Partitions built up in several parts of a ship, to form and separate the various cabins from each other. Some are particularly strong, as those in the hold, which are mostly built with rabbeted or cyphered plank; others are light, and removable at pleasure. Indeed the word is applied to any division made with boards, to separate one portion of the 'tween decks from another.

BULK OF A SHIP. Implies the whole cargo when stowed in the hold.

BULL. An old male whale. Also, a small keg; also the weak grog made by pouring water into a spirit-cask nearly empty.

BULL-DANCE. At sea it is performed by men only, when without women. It is sometimes called a stag-dance.

BULL-DOG, OR MUZZLED BULL-DOG. The great gun which stands "housed" in the officer's ward-room cabin. General term for main-deck guns.

BULLETIN. Any official account of a public transaction.

BULLET-MOULD. An implement for casting bullets.

BULLETS. Leaden balls with which all kinds of fire-arms are loaded.

BULL-HEAD, OR BULL-JUB. A name of the fish called miller's thumb (Cottus gobio).

BULLOCK-BLOCKS. Blocks secured under the top-mast trestle-trees, which receive the top-sail ties through them, in order to increase the mechanical power used in hoisting them up.

BULLOCK-SLINGS. Used to hoist in live bullocks.

BULL'S-EYE. A sort of block without a sheave, for a rope to reeve through; it is grooved for stropping. Also, the central mark of a target. Also, a hemispherical piece of ground glass of great thickness, inserted into small openings in the decks, port-lids, and scuttle-hatches, for the admission of light below.

BULL'S-EYE CRINGLE. A piece of wood in the form of a ring, which answers the purpose of an iron thimble; it is seldom used by English seamen, and then only for the fore and main bowline-bridles.

BULL-TROUT. The salmon-trout of the Tweed. A large species of trout taken in the waters of Northumberland.

BULLYRAG, TO. To reproach contemptuously, and in a hectoring manner; to bluster, to abuse, and to insult noisily. Shakspeare makes mine host of the Garter dub Falstaff a bully-rook.

BULWARK. The planking or wood-work round a vessel above her deck, and fastened externally to the stanchions and timber-heads. In this form it is a synonym of berthing. Also, the old name for a bastion.

BULWARK-NETTING. An ornamental frame of netting answering the purpose of a bulwark.

BUMBARD. A cask or large vessel for liquids. (See BOMBARD.) Trinculo, in the "Tempest," thinks an impending storm-cloud "looks like a foul bumbard."

BUM-BOAT. A boat employed to carry provisions, vegetables, and small merchandise for sale to ships, either in port or lying at a distance from the shore; thus serving to communicate with the adjacent town. The name is corrupted from bombard, the vessels in which beer was formerly carried to soldiers on duty.

BUMKIN, BUMPKIN, OR BOOMKIN. A short boom or beam of timber projecting from each bow of a ship, where it is fayed down upon the false rail. Its use is to extend the clue or lower corner of the fore-sail to windward, for which purpose there is a large block fixed on its outer end, through which the tack is passed, and when hauled tight down is said to be aboard. The name is also applied to the pieces on each quarter, for the main-brace blocks.

BUMKIN. A small out-rigger over the stern of a boat, usually serving to extend the mizen.

BUMMAREE. A word synonymous with bottomry, in maritime law. It is also a name given to a class of speculating salesmen of fish, not recognized as regular tradesmen.

BUMP, TO. To bump a boat, is to pull astern of her in another, and insultingly or inimically give her the stem; a practice in rivers and narrow channels.

BUMP-ASHORE. Running stem-on to a beach or bank. A ship bumps by the action of the waves lifting and dropping her on the bottom when she is aground.

BUMPERS. Logs of wood placed over a ship's side to keep off ice.

BUND. In India, an embankment; whence, Bunda head, and Bunda boat.

BUNDLE-UP! The call to the men below to hurry up on deck.

BUNDLING THINGS INTO A BOAT. Loading it in a slovenly way.

BUNGLE, TO. To perform a duty in a slovenly manner.

BUNGO, OR BONGA. A sort of boat used in the Southern States of America, made of the bonga-tree hollowed out.

BUNG-STARTER. A stave shaped like a bat, which, applied to either side of the bung, causes it to start out. Also, a soubriquet for the captain of the hold. Also, a name given to the master's assistant serving his apprenticeship for hold duties.

BUNG-UP AND BILGE-FREE. A cask so placed that its bung-stave is uppermost, and it rests entirely on its beds.

BUNK. A sleeping-place in the fore-peak of merchantmen; standing bed-places fixed on the sides between decks.

BUNKER. For stowing coal in steamers. Cellular spaces on each side which deliver the coal to the engine-room.—Wing-bunkers below the decks, cutting off the angular side-spaces of the hold, and hatched over, are usually filled with sand, holy-stones, brooms, junk-blocks, &c., saving stowage.

BUNT OF A SAIL. The middle part of it, formed designedly into a bag or cavity, that the sail may gather more wind. It is used mostly in top-sails, because courses are generally cut square, or with but small allowance for bunt or compass. "The bunt holds much leeward wind;" that is, it hangs much to leeward. In "handed" or "furled" sails, the bunt is the middle gathering which is tossed up on the centre of the yard.—To bunt a sail is to haul up the middle part of it in furling, and secure it by the bunt-gasket.

BUNTERS. The men on the yard who gather in the bunt when furling sails.

BUNT-FAIR. Before the wind.

BUNT-GASKET. See GASKET.

BUNTING. A name on our southern shores for the shrimp.

BUNTING, OR BUNTIN. A thin woollen stuff, of which the ship's colours, flags, and signals are usually made.

BUNT-JIGGER. A small gun-tackle purchase, of two single blocks, one fitted with two tails, used in large vessels for bowsing up the bunt of a sail when furling: a peculiar combination of two points, fitted to a spar to which it is hooked.

BUNTLINE-CLOTH. The lining sewed up the fore-part of the sail in the direction of the buntline to prevent that rope from chafing the sail.

BUNTLINE-CRINGLE. An eye worked into the bolt-rope of a sail, to receive a buntline. This is only in top-gallant sails, and is seldom used now. In the merchant service all buntlines are generally passed through an eyelet-hole in the sail, and clinched round its own part.

BUNTLINES. Ropes attached to the foot-ropes of top-sails and courses, which, passing over and before the canvas, turn it up forward, and thus disarm the force of the wind; at one-third from each clue, eyelet-holes are worked in the canvas, and by grummets passed through, a toggle is secured on both bights: to this buntline-toggle the buntline attaches by an eye or loop. When the sails are loosed to dry, the bowlines, unbent from the bridles, are attached to these toggles, and haul out the sails by the foot-ropes like table-cloths. The buntline is rove through a block at the mast-head, passes through the buntline span attached to the tye-blocks on the yard to retain them in the bunt, or amidships, down before all, and looped to the toggles aforesaid. By aid of the clue-lines, reef-tackles, and buntlines, a top-sail is taken in or quieted if the sheets carry away, but more especially by the buntlines, as the wind has no hold then to belly the canvas.

BUNTLINE-SPANS. Short pieces of rope with a thimble in one end, the other whipped; the buntlines are rove through these thimbles: they are attached to the tie-blocks to keep the sail in the bunt when hauled up.

BUNTLINE-TOGGLES. See BUNTLINES and TOGGLE.

BUNT SLAB-LINES. Reeve through a block on the slings of the yard or under the top, and pass abaft the sail, making fast to its foot. Their object is to lift the foot of a course so as to see underneath it, or to prevent it from chafing. Something of the same kind is used for top-sails, to keep them from rubbing on the stays when flapping in a calm.

BUOY. A sort of close cask, or block of wood, fastened by a rope to the anchor, to show its situation after being cast, that the ship may not come so near it as to entangle her cable about its stock or flukes.—To buoy a cable is to make fast a spar, cask, or the like, to the bight of the cable, in order to prevent its galling or rubbing on the bottom. When a buoy floats on the water it is said to watch. When a vessel slips her cable she attaches a buoy to it in order afterwards to recover it. Thus the blockading squadrons off Brest and in Basque Roads frequently slipped, by signal, and each in beautiful order returned and picked up their cables.—To stream the buoy is to let it fall from the ship's side into the water, which is always done before the anchor is let go, that it may not be fouled by the buoy-rope as it sinks to the bottom.—Buoys of various kinds are also placed upon rocks or sand-banks to direct mariners where to avoid danger.

BUOYANCY. Capacity for floating lightly.—Centre of buoyancy, in naval architecture, the mean centre of that part of the vessel which is immersed in the water. (See CENTRE OF CAVITY.)

BUOYANT. The property of floating lightly on the water.

BUOY-ROPE. The rope which attaches the buoy to the anchor, which should always be of sufficient strength to lift the anchor should the cable part; it should also be little more in length than equal to the depth of the water (at high-water) where the anchor lies.—To bend the buoy-rope, pass the running eye over one fluke, take a hitch over the other arm, and seize. Or, take a clove-hitch over the crown on each arm or fluke, stopping the end to its own part, or to the shank.

BUOY-ROPE KNOT. Used where the end is lashed to the shank. A knot made by unlaying the strands of a cable-laid rope, and also the small strand of each large strand; and after single and double walling them, as for a stopper-knot, worm the divisions, and round the rope.

BURBOT. A fresh-water fish (Molva lota) in esteem with fishermen.

BURDEN. Is the quantity of contents or number of tons weight of goods or munitions which a ship will carry, when loaded to a proper sea-trim: and this is ascertained by certain fixed rules of measurement. The precise burden or burthen is about twice the tonnage, but then a vessel would be deemed deeply laden.

BURG [the Anglo-Saxon burh]. A word connected with fortification in German, as in almost all the Teutonic languages of Europe. In Arabic the same term, with the alteration of a letter, burj, signifies primarily a bastion, and by extension any fortified place on a rising ground. This meaning has been retained by all northern nations who have borrowed the word; and we, with the rest, name our towns, once fortified, burghs or boroughs.

BURGALL. A fish of the American coasts, from 6 to 12 inches long: it is also called the blue-perch, the chogset, and the nibbler—the last from its habit of nibbling off the bait thrown for other fishes.

BURGEE. A swallow-tailed or tapered broad pendant; in the merchant service it generally has the ship's name on it.

BURGOMASTER. In the Arctic Sea, a large species of gull (Larus glaucus).

BURGONET. A steel head-piece, or kind of helmet. Shakspeare makes Cleopatra, alluding to Antony, exclaim—

"The demi-Atlas of this earth, the arm And burgonet of men."

In the second part of "Henry VI." Clifford threatens Warwick—

"And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear, And tread it underfoot with all contempt."

BURGOO. A seafaring dish made of boiled oatmeal seasoned with salt, butter, and sugar. (See LOBLOLLY and SKILLY.)

BURLEY. The butt-end of a lance.

BURLEY-TWINE. A strong and coarse twine or small string.

BURN, OR BOURNE. The Anglo-Saxon term for a small stream or brook, originating from springs, and winding through meadows, thus differing from a beck. Shakspeare makes Edgar say in "King Lear"—

"Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me."

The word also signifies a boundary.

BURNETTIZE, TO. To impregnate canvas, timber, or cordage with Sir William Burnett's fluid, a solution of chloride of zinc.

BURN THE WATER. A phrase denoting the act of killing salmon in the night, with a lister and lighted torch in the boat.

BURN-TROUT. A northern term for a small species of river-trout.

BURR. The iris or hazy circle which appears round the moon before rain. Also, a Manx or Gaelic term for the wind blowing across on the tide. Also, the sound made by the Newcastle men in pronouncing the letter R.

BURREL. A langrage shot, consisting of bits of iron, bullets, nails, and other matters, got together in haste for a sudden emergency.

BURROCK. A small weir over a river, where weals are laid for taking fish.

BURR-PUMP. A name of the bilge-pump.

BURSER. See PURSER.

BURST. The explosion of a shell or any gun.

BURTHEN. See BURDEN.

BURTON. A small tackle rove in a particular manner; it is formed by two blocks or pulleys, with a hook-block in the bight of the running part; it is generally used to set up or tighten the shrouds, whence it is frequently termed a top-burton tackle; but it is equally useful to move or draw along any weighty body in the hold or on the deck, as anchors, bales of goods, large casks, &c. (See SPANISH-BURTON.) The burton purchase, also runner-purchase (which see).

BUSH, OR BOUCHE. A circular shouldered piece of metal, usually of brass, let into the lignum vitae sheaves of such blocks as have iron pins, thereby preventing the sheave from wearing, without adding much to its weight. The operation of placing it in the wood is called bushing or coaking, though the last name is usually given to smaller bushes of a square shape. Brass bushes are also extensively applied in the marine steam-engine work. Also, in artillery, the plug (generally of copper, on account of the superior resistance of that metal to the flame of exploded gunpowder), having a diameter of about an inch, and a length equal to the intended length of the vent, screwed into the metal of the gun at the place of the vent, which is then drilled in it. Guns may be re-bushed when the vent has worn too large, by the substitution of a new bush.

BUSH. The forests in the West Indies, Australia, &c.

BUSHED. Cased with harder metal, as that inserted into the holes of some rudder braces or sheaves in general, to prevent their wearing.

BUSHED-BLOCK. See COAK.

BUSKING. Piratical cruising; also, used generally, for beating to windward along a coast, or cruising off and on.

BUSS. A small strong-built Dutch vessel with two masts, used in the herring and mackerel fisheries, being generally of 50 to 70 tons burden.

BUST-HEAD. See HEAD.

BUSY AS THE DEVIL IN A GALE OF WIND. Fidgety restlessness, or double diligence in a bad cause; the imp being supposed to be mischievous in hard gales.