"The tide did now his flood-mark gain,And girdled in the saint's domain:For, with the flow and ebb, its styleVaries from continent to isle;Dry-shod, o'er sands, twice ev'ry dayThe pilgrims to the shrine find way;Twice every day the waves effaceOf staves and sandall'd feet the trace."
BRIDGE-TRAIN. An equipment for insuring the passage of troops over a river. Pontooners. (SeePontoon.)
BRIDLE.SeeMooring-bridleandBowline-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. (SeeMoorings.)
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." (SeeHermaphrodite 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. (SeeHermaphroditeandBrigantine, by which, term she is at present classed in law.) Square-rigged on the fore-mast, schooner on the main-mast.
BRILL. ThePleuronectes rhombus, a common fish, allied to, but rather smaller than, the turbot.
BRIM. The margin or bank of a stream, lake, or river.
BRIMSTONE.SeeSulphur.
BRINE,or Pickle. Water replete with saline particles, as brine-pickle for salt meat. The briny wave.
BRINE-GAUGE.SeeSalinometer.
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. (SeeBroach-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-tois 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.SeeQuatuor 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.SeeBroad 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 ofend-on.
BROADSIDE WEIGHT OF METAL. The weight of iron which the guns of a ship can project, when single-shotted, from one side. (SeeWeight of Metal.)
BROADSWORD.SeeCutlas.
BROCAGE. The same withbrokerage(which see).
BROCLES.SeeStrake-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 forreduced; 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 termedhogged. 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-Saxonbroc, 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 ofbrand, 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 cloudsbrook-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 ofspartium, of which ropes are made.
BROOMING.SeeBreaming.
BROTHER-OFFICERS. Those of the same ship or regiment.
BROTH OF A BOY. An excellent, though roystering fellow.
BROUGHT BY THE LEE.SeeBring 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.SeeWarrant.
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.Bubandgrubmeaning 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 variousEuropean 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. [Frombocale, 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 isupset. 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 eitherridingorblind 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; thebugloof 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 withmade-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 themethod 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. (SeeBilge.) That part of the ship she bears upon when on the ground.
BULGE-WAYS. Otherwisebilge-ways(which see).
BULK. In bulk; things stowed without cases or packages. (SeeBulk-headandLaden 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 atarget. 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. (SeeBombard.) 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 withbottomry, 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.
BUNDLINGThings 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-UPANDBILGE-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-bunkersbelow 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.
BUNTof 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 sailis 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.SeeGasket.
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.SeeBuntlinesandToggle.
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 cableis 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 buoyis 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.—Buoysof 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. (SeeCentre 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-Saxonburh]. 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 armAnd 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. (SeeLoblollyandSkilly.)
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.SeePurser.
BURST. The explosion of a shell or any gun.
BURTHEN.SeeBurden.
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. (SeeSpanish-burton.) The burton purchase, alsorunner-purchase(which see).
BUSH,or Bouche. A circular shouldered piece of metal, usually of brass, let into the lignum vitæ 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, anda 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.SeeCoak.
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.SeeHead.
BUSYas 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.
BUT. A northern name for a flounder or plaice. Also, a conical basket for catching fish.
BUTCHER'S BILL. A nickname for the official return of killed and wounded which follows an action.
BUTESCARLI. The early name for the sea-officers in the British Navy (seeEquipment).
BUTT. The joining of two timbers or planks endways. Also, the opening between the ends of two planks when worked. Also, the extremities of the planks themselves when they are united, or abut against each other. The word likewise is used to denote the largest end of all timber. Planks under water as they rise are joined one end to another. In large ships butt-ends are most carefully bolted, for if any one of them should spring, or give way, the leak would be very dangerous and difficult to stop.—To startorspring a buttis to loosen the end of a plank by the ship's weakness or labouring.—Butt-headsare the same with butt-ends.—Buttis also a mark for shooting at, and the hind part of a musket or pistol. Also, a wine-measure of 126 gallons.
BUTT-AND-BUTT. A term denoting that the butt ends of two planks come together, but do not overlay each other. (SeeHook and ButtandHook-scarph.)
BUTT-END. The shoulder part of a fire-lock.
BUTTER-BOX. A name given to the brig-traders of lumpy form, from London, Bristol, and other English ports. A cant term for a Dutchman.
BUTTER-BUMP. A name of the bittern in the north.
BUTTER-FINGERED. Having a careless habit of allowing things to drop through the fingers.
BUTTLE. An eastern-county name for the bittern.
BUTTOCK. The breadth of the ship astern from the tuck upwards: it is terminated by the counter above, by the bilge below, by the stern-post in the middle, and by the quarter on the side. That part abaft the after body, which is bounded by the fashion pieces, and by the wing transom, and the upper or second water-line. A ship is said to have a broad, or narrow, buttock according to her transom convexity under the stern.
BUTTOCK-LINES. In ship-building, the longitudinal curves at the rounding part of the after body in a vertical section.
BUTTON. The knob of metal which terminates the breech end of most guns, and which affords a convenient bearing for the application of handspikes, breechings, &c.
BUTTONS,To make. A common time-honoured, but strange expression, for sudden apprehension or misgiving.
BUTTRESS. In fortification. (SeeCounterforts.)
BUTT-SHAFT,or Butt-bolt. An arrow without a barb, used for shooting at a butt.
BUTT-SLINGING A BOWSPRIT.SeeSlings.
BUXSISH. A gratuity, in oriental trading.
BUZZING. Sometimes used forbooming(which see).
BY. On or close to the wind.—Full and by, not to lift or shiver the sails; rap-full.
BY AND LARGE. To the wind and off it; within six points.
BYKAT. A northern term for a male salmon of a certain age, because of the beak which then grows on its under-jaw.
BYLLIS. An old spelling forbill(which see).
BYRNIE. Early English for body-armour.
BYRTH. The old expression for tonnage. (SeeBurdenorBurthen.)
BYSSA. An ancient gun for discharging stones at the enemy.
BYSSUS. The silken filaments of any of the bivalved molluscs which adhere to rocks, as thePinna,Mytilus, &c. The silken byssus of the great pinna, or wing-shell, is woven into dresses. In theChama gigasit will sustain 1000 lbs. Also, the woolly substance found in damp parts of a ship.
BY THE BOARD. Over the ship's side. When a mast is carried away near the deck it is said to go by the board.
BY THE HEAD. When a ship is deeper forward than abaft.
BY THE LEE. The situation of a vessel going free, when she has fallen off so much as to bring the wind round her stern, and to take her sails aback on the other side.
BY THE STERN. When the ship draws more water abaft than forward. (SeeBy the Head.)
BY THE WIND. Is when a ship sails as nearly to the direction of the wind as possible. (SeeFull and By.) In general terms, within six points; or the axis of the ship is 671⁄2degrees from the direction of the wind.
BY-WASH. The outlet of water from a dam or discharge channel.
CAAG.SeeKaag.
CABANE. A flat-bottomed passage-boat of the Loire.
CABBAGE. Those principally useful to the seaman are the esculent cabbage-tree (Areca oleracea), which attains to a great height in the W. Indies. The sheaths of the leaves are very close, and form the green top of the trunk a foot and a half in length; this is cut off, and its white heart eaten. Also, theCrambe maritima, sea-kail, or marine cabbage, growing in the west of England.
CABIN. A room or compartment partitioned off in a ship, where the officers and passengers reside. In a man-of-war, the principal cabin, in which the captain or admiral lives, is the upper after-part of the vessel.
CABIN-BOY. A boy whose duty is to attend and serve the officers and passengers in the cabin.
CABIN-LECTURE.SeeJobation.
CABIN-MATE. A companion, when two occupy a cabin furnished with two bed-places.
CABLE. A thick, strong rope or chain which serves to keep a ship at anchor; the rope is cable-laid, 10 inches in circumference and upwards (those below this size being hawsers), commonly of hemp or coir, which latter is still used by the Calcutta pilot-brigs on account of its lightness and elasticity. But cables have recently, and all but exclusively, been superseded by iron chain.—A shot of cable, two cables spliced together.
CABLE,To Coil a. To lay it in fakes and tiers one over the other.—To lay a cable.(SeeLaying.)—To pay cheap the cable, to hand it out apace; to throw it over.—To pay out more cable, to let more out of the ship.—To serve or plait the cable, to bind it about with ropes, canvas, &c.; to keep it from galling in the hawse-pipe. (SeeRounding,Keckling, &c.)—To splice a cable, to make two pieces fast together, by working the several yarns of the rope into each other; with chain it is done by means of shackles.—To veer more cable, to let more out.
CABLE-BENDS. Two small ropes for lashing the end of a hempen cable to its own part, in order to secure the clinch by which it is fastened to the anchor-ring.
CABLE-BITTED. So bitted as to enable the cable to be nipped or rendered with ease.
CABLE-BITTS.SeeBitts.
CABLE-BUOYS. Peculiar casks employed to buoy up rope cables in a rocky anchorage, to prevent their rubbing against the rocks; they are also attached to the end of a cable when it is slipped, with the object of finding it again.
CABLE-ENOUGH. The call when cable enough is veered to permit of the anchor being brought to the cat-head.
CABLE-HANGER. A term applied to any person catching oysters in the river Medway, not free of the fishery, and who is liable to such penalty as the mayor and citizens of Rochester shall impose upon him.
CABLE-LAID ROPE. Is a rope of which each strand is a hawser-laid rope. Hawser-laid ropes are simple three-strand ropes, and range up to the same size as cablets, as from3⁄4to 9 inches. (SeeRope.)
CABLE-SHEET,Sheet-cable. The spare bower cable belonging to a ship. Sheet is deemed stand-by, and is also applied to its anchor.
CABLE'S LENGTH. A measure of about 100 fathoms, by which the distances of ships in a fleet are frequently estimated. This term is frequently misunderstood. In all marine charts a cable is deemed 607·56 feet, or one-tenth of a sea mile. In rope-making the cable varies from 100 to 115 fathoms; cablet, 120 fathoms; hawser-laid, 130 fathoms, as determined by the admiralty in 1830.
CABLE-STAGE. A place constructed in the hold, or cable-tier, for coiling cables and hawsers on.
CABLE-STREAM,Stream-cable. A hawser or rope something smaller than the bower, used to move or hold the ship temporarily during a calm in a river or haven, sheltered from the wind and sea, &c.
CABLE-TIER. The place in a hold, or between decks, where the cables are coiled away.
CABOBBLED. Confused or puzzled.
CABOBS,or Kebaub. The Turkish name for small fillets of meat broiled on wooden spits; the use of the term has been extended eastward, and in India signifies a hot spiced dish of fish, flesh, or fowl.
CABONS.SeeKaburns.
CABOOSE,or Camboose. The cook-room or kitchen of merchantmenon deck; a diminutive substitute for the galley of a man-of-war. It is generally furnished with cast-iron apparatus for cooking.
CABOTAGE [Ital.] Sailing from cape to cape along a coast; or the details of coast pilotage.
CABURNS. Spun rope-yarn lines, for worming a cable, seizing, winding tacks, and the like.
CACAO [Sp.] The plantTheobroma, from which what is commonly termed cocoa is derived.
CACCLE,or Keccle. To apply a particular kind of service to the cable. (SeeKeckling.)
CACHE. A hidden reservoir of provision (to secure it from bears) in Arctic travel. Also, a deposit of despatches, &c.
CADE. A small barrel of about 500 herrings, or 1000 sprats.
CADENCE. The uniform time and space for marching, more indispensable to large bodies of troops than to parties of small-arm men; yet an important part even of their drill. The regularity requisite in pulling.
CADET. A volunteer, who, serving at his own charge, to learn experience, waits for preferment; a designation, recently introduced, for young gentlemen formerly rated volunteers of the first class. Properly, the younger son in French.
CADGE,To. To carry.—Cadger, a carrier. Kedge may be a corruption, as being carriable.
CÆSAR'S PENNY. The tip given by a recruiting sergeant.
CAFFILA.SeeKafila.
CAGE. An iron cage formed of hoops on the top of a pole, and filled with combustibles to blaze for two hours. It is lighted one hour before high-water, and marks an intricate channel navigable for the period it burns; much used formerly by fishermen.
CAGE-WROCK. An old term for a ship's upper works.
CAIQUE,or Kaique. A small Levantine vessel. Also, a graceful skiff seen in perfection at Constantinople, where it almost monopolizes the boat traffic. It is fast, but crank, being so narrow that the oars or sculls have their looms enlarged into ball-shaped masses to counter-balance their out-board length. It has borne for ages the wave-line now brought out in England as the highest result of marine architecture. It may have from one to ten or twelve rowers.
CAIRBAN. A name in the Hebrides for the basking-shark.
CAIRN. Piles of stones used as marks in surveying.
CAISSON,or Caissoon. An adopted term for a sort of float sunk to a required depth by letting water into it, when it is hauled under the ship's bottom, receives her steadily, and on pumping out the water floats her. These were long used in Holland, afterwards at Venice,and in Russia, where they were known ascamels(which see). Caisson is also a vessel fitted with valves, to act instead of gates for a dry dock. Used also inpontoons(which see).
CAKE-ICE. Ice formed in the early part of the season.
CALABASH.Cucurbita, a gourd abundant within the tropics, furnishing drinking and washing utensils. At Tahiti and the Sandwich Islands they attain a diameter of 2 feet. There is also a calabash-tree, the fruit not exceeding the size of oranges.
CALABASS. An early kind of light musket with a wheel-lock. Bourne mentions it in 1578.
CALALOO. A dish of fish and vegetables.
CALAMUS.SeeRattan.
CALANCA. A creek or cove on Italian and Spanish coasts.
CALAVANCES [Phaseolus vulgaris.Haricot, Fr.] Small beans sometimes used for soup, instead of pease.
CALCULATE,To. This word, though disrated from respectability by American misuse, signified to foretell or prophesy; it is thus used by Shakspeare in the first act of "Julius Cæsar." To calculate the ship's position, either from astronomical observations or rate of the log.
CALENDAR. A distribution of time. (SeeAlmanac.)
CALENDAR-TIME. On which officers' bills are drawn.
CALF. A word generally applied to the young of marine mammalia, as the whale.—Calf, in the Arctic regions, a mass of floe ice breaking from under a floe, which when disengaged rises with violence to the surface of the water; it differs from a tongue, which is the same body kept fixed beneath the main floe. The iceberg is formed by the repeated freezing of thawed snow running down over the slopes, until at length the wave from beneath and weight above causes it to break off and fall into the sea, or, as termed in Greenland, to calve. Thus, berg, is fresh-water ice, the work of years. The floe, is salt water frozen suddenly each winter, and dissolving in the summer.
CALF,or Calva. A Norwegian name, also used in the Hebrides, for islets lying off islands, and bearing a similar relation to them in size that a calf does to a cow. As the Calf at Mull and the Calf of Man.
CALFAT. The old word for caulking. [Calfater, Fr.; probably fromcale, wedge, andfaire, to make.] To wedge up an opening with any soft material, as oakum. [Calafatear, Sp.]
CALIBER,or Calibre. The diameter of the bore of a gun, cannon, shot, or bullet. A ship's caliber means the known weight her armament represents.
CALIPASH. The upper shell of a turtle.
CALIPEE. The under shell of a turtle.
CALIVER. A hand-gun or arquebuss; probably the old name of thematchlock or carabine, precursors of the modern fire-lock, or Enfield rifle. (SeeCalabass.)
CALL. A peculiar silver pipe or whistle, used by the boatswain and his mates to attract attention, and summon the sailors to their meals or duties by various strains, each of them appropriated to some particular purpose, such as hoisting, heaving, lowering, veering away, belaying, letting go a tackle-fall, sweeping, &c. This piping is as attentively observed by sailors, as the bugle or beat of drum is obeyed by soldiers. The coxswains of the boats of French ships of war are supplied with calls to "in bow oar," or "of all," "oars," &c.
CALLIPERS. Bow-legged compasses, used to measure the girth of timber, the external diameter of masts, shot, and other circular or cylindrical substances. Also, an instrument with a sliding leg, used for measuring the packages constituting a ship's cargo, which is paid for by its cubical contents.
CALL THE WATCH. This is done every four hours, except at the dog-watches, to relieve those on deck, also by pipe. "All the watch," or all the starboard, or the port, first, second, third, or fourth watches.
CALM. There being no wind stirring it is designated flat, dead, or stark, under each of which the surface of the sea is unruffled.
CALM LATITUDES. That tropical tract of ocean which lies between the north-east and south-east trade-winds; its situation varies several degrees, depending upon the season of the year. The term is also applied to a part of the sea on the Polar side of the trades, between them and the westerly winds.
CALVERED SALMON. Salmon prepared in a peculiar manner in early times.
CALVE'S TONGUE. A sort of moulding usually made at the caps and bases of round pillars, to taper or hance the round part to the square.
CAMBER. The part of a dockyard where cambering is performed, and timber kept. Also, a small dock in the royal yards, for the convenience of loading and discharging timber. Also, anything that curves upwards.—To camber, to curve ship-planks.
CAMBER-KEELED. Keel slightly arched upwards in the middle of the length, but not actually hogged.
CAMBOOSE. A form ofcaboose(which see).
CAMELS. All large ships are built, at St. Petersburg, in a dockyard off the Granite Quay, where the water is shallow; therefore a number of camels or caissons are kept at Cronstadt, for the purpose of carrying them down the river. Camels are hollow cases of wood, constructed in two halves, so as to embrace the keel, and lay hold of the hull of a ship on both sides. They are first filled with water and sunk, in orderto be fixed on. The water is then pumped out, when the vessel gradually rises, and the process is continued until the ship is enabled to pass over the shoal. Similar camels were used at Rotterdam about 1690.
CAME-TO. Brought to an anchor.
CAMFER.SeeChamfer.
CAMISADO. A sudden surprise or assault of the enemy.
CAMOCK. A very early term for crooked timber.
CAMP. The whole extent of ground on which an army pitches its tents and lodges. (SeeDecamp.)
CAMP,or Camp-out, To. In American travel, to rest for the night without a standing roof; whether under a light tent, a screen of boughs, or any makeshift that the neighbourhood may afford.
CAMPAIGN. A series of connected operations by an army in the field, unbroken by its retiring into quarters.
CAMPAIGNER. A veteran soldier.
CAMP-EQUIPAGE.SeeEquipage.
CAMPER.SeeKemp.
CAMPESON.SeeGambison.
CAMP-FIGHT.SeeAcre.
CAN. A tin vessel used by sailors to drink out of.
CANAICHE,or Canash. An inner port, as at Granada in the West Indies.
CANAL-BOAT. A barge generally towed by horses, but furnished with a large square-sail for occasional use.
CAN-BODIES. The old term for anchor-buoys, now can-buoys.
CAN-BUOYS. Are in the form of a cone, and therefore would countenance the term cone-buoys. They are floated over sands and other obstructions in navigation, as marks to be avoided; they are made very large, to be seen at a distance; where there are several, they are distinguished by their colour, as black, red, white, or chequered; &c.