Chapter V: Introduction (4)

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

BAD-RELIEF. One who turns out sluggishly to relieve the watch on deck. (_See_ ONE-BELL.)

BAESSY. The old orthography of the gun since called _base_.

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

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

BAG, OF THE HEAD-RAILS. The lowest part of the head-rails, or that part which forms the sweep of the rail.

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

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

BAG AND BAGGAGE. The whole movable property.

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

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

BAGGETY. The fish otherwise called the lump or sea-owl (_Cyclopterus lumpus_).

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

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

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

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

BAGREL. A minnow or baggie.

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

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

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

BAIKIE. A northern name for the _Larus marinus_, or black-backed gull.

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

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

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

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

BAILO. A Levantine term for consul.

BAILS, OR BAILES. The hoops which bear up the tilt of a boat.

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

BAIRLINN. A Gaelic term for a high rolling billow.

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

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

BALAENA. The zoological name for the right whale.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BALANCING-POINT. A familiar term for centre of gravity. (_See_ GRAVITY.)

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

BALANUS. The acorn-shell. A sessile cirriped.

BALCAR. _See_ BALKAR.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BALIZAS. Land and sea marks on Portuguese coasts.

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

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

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

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

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

BALLARAG, TO. To abuse or bully. Thus Warton of the French king--

"You surely thought to _ballarag_ us
With your fine squadron off Cape Lagos."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BALLAST-SHINGLE. Composed of coarse gravel.

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

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

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

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

BALL-CARTRIDGE. For small arms.

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

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

BALLISTER. A cross-bow man.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BALLOW. Deep water inside a shoal or bar.

BALL-STELL. The geometrical instrument named _della stella_.

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

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

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

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

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

BAMBO. An East Indian measure of five English pints.

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

BAMBOOZLE, TO. To decoy the enemy by hoisting false colours.

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

BANCO [Sp.] Seat for rowers.

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

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

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

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

BANDED-DRUM. _See_ GRUNTER.

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

BANDEROLD, OR BANDEROLE. A small streamer or banner, usually fixed on a pike: from _banderola_, Sp. diminutive of _bandera_, the flag or ensign.

BAND-FISH, OR RIBBON-FISHES. A popular name of the _Gymnetrus_ genus.

BANDLE. An Irish measure of two feet in length.

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

BANGE. Light fine rain.

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

BANIAN. A sailor's coloured frock-shirt.

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

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

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

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

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

"Have I not heard these islanders shout out
_Vive le Roy!_ as I have _bank'd_ their towns?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BANNER. A small square flag edged with fringe.

BANNERER. The bearer of a banner.

BANNERET. A knight made on the field of battle.

BANNEROL. A little banner or streamer.

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

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

BANSTICKLE. A diminutive fish, called also the three-spined stickleback (_Gasterosteus aculeatus_).

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

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

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

BARBACAN. In fortification, an outer defence.

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

BARBALOT. The barbel. Also, a puffin.

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

BARBECUE. A tropical custom of dressing a pig whole.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BARCONE. A short Mediterranean lighter.

BAREKA. A small barrel: spelled also _barika_ (Sp. _bareca_). Hence the nautical name _breaker_ for a small cask or keg.

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

BARE-ROOM. An old phrase for _bore-down_.

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

"Like a burnished throne
Burnt on the water: the poop was beaten gold,
Purple her sails; and so perfumed, that
The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver.
Which to the tune of flutes kept time, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster
As amorous of their strokes."

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

BARGEES. The crews of canal-boats and barges.

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

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

BARGET. An old term for a small barge.

BARILLA. An alkali procured by burning _Salsola kali_ and other sea-shore plants. It forms a profitable article of Mediterranean commerce. (_See_ KELP.)

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

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

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

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

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

BARKING-IRONS. Large duelling pistols.

BARLING. An old term for the lamprey.--_Barling-spars_, fit for any smaller masts or yards.

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

"_Barnacles_, termed _soland geese_
In th' islands of the Orcades."--_Hudibras._

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

BARNAGH. The Manx or Gaelic term for a limpet.

BAROMETER. A glass tube of 36 inches in length, filled with the open end upwards with refined mercury--thus boiled and suddenly inverted into a cistern, which is furnished with a leathern bag, on which the atmosphere, acting by its varying weight, presses the fluid metal up to corresponding heights in the tube, easily read off by an external scale attached thereto. By attentive observations on this simple prophet, practised seamen are enabled to foretell many approaching changes of wind or weather, and thus by shortening sail in time, save hull, spars, and lives. This instrument also affords the means of accurately determining the heights or depressions of mountains and valleys. This is the _mercurial_ barometer; another, the _aneroid_ barometer, invented by Monsr. Vidi, measures approximately, but not with the permanence of the mercurial. It is constructed to measure the weight of a column of air or pressure of the atmosphere, by pressure on a very delicate metallic box hermetically sealed. It is more sensible to passing changes, but not so reliable as the mercurial barometer. 29.60 is taken as the mean pressure in England; as it rises or falls below this mark, fine weather or strong winds may be looked for:--30.60 is very high, and 29.00 very low. The barometer is affected by the direction of the wind, thus N.N.E. is the highest, and S.S.W. the lowest--therefore these matters govern the decision of men of science, who are not led astray by the change of reading alone. The seaman pilot notes the heavens; the direction of the wind--and the pressure due to that direction--not forgetting sudden changes of temperature. Attention is due to the surface, whether convex or concave.

BARQUE. The same as _bark_ (which see).

BARR. A peremptory exception to a proposition.

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

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

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

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

BARRACK SMACK. A corruption of _Berwick smack_; a word applied to small Scotch traders. The masters were nicknamed _barrack-masters_.

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

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

BARREL. A cylindrical vessel for holding both liquid and dry goods. Also, a commercial measure of 31-1/2 gallons.

BARREL OF A CAPSTAN. The cylinder between the whelps and the paul rim, constituting the main-piece.

BARREL OF A PUMP. The wooden tube which forms the body of the engine.

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

BARREL OF THE WHEEL. The cylinder round which the tiller-ropes are wound.

BARREL-BUILDER. The old rating for a cooper.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BARROW. A hillock, a tumulus.

BARSE. The common river-perch.

BARTIZAN. The overhanging turrets on a battlement.

BARUTH. An Indian measure, with a corresponding weight of 3-1/2 lbs. avoirdupois.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BASILLARD. An old term for a poniard.

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

BASIS. _See_ BASE.

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

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

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

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

BASS, OR BAST. A soft sedge or rush (_Juncus laevis_), of which coarse kinds of rope and matting are made. A Gaelic term for the blade of an oar.

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

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

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

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

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

BASTARD-MACKEREL, OR HORSE-MACKEREL. The _Caranx trachurus_, a dry, coarse, and unwholesome fish, of the family _Scombridae_, very common in the Mediterranean.

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

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

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

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

BASTON, OR BATON. A club used of old by authority. (_See_ BATOON.)

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

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

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

BATARDATES. Square-stemmed row-galleys.

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

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

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

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

BATELLA. A small plying-boat.

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

BATILLAGE. An old term for boat-hire.

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

BATOON, BASTON, OR BATON. A staff, truncheon, or badge of military honour for field-marshals. A term in heraldry. Also, _batoons of St. Paul_, the fossil spines of echini, found in Malta and elsewhere.

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

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

BATTALIA. The order of battle.

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

BATTARD. An early cannon of small size.

BATTELOE. A lateen-rigged vessel of India.

BATTENING THE HATCHES. Securing the tarpaulins over them. (_See_ BATTENS OF THE HATCHES.)

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

BATTENS FOR HAMMOCKS. _See_ HAMMOCK-BATTENS.

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

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

BATTERING RAM. _See_ RAM.

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

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

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

BATTLE LANTERNS (American). _See_ FIGHTING-LANTERNS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BAUN. _See_ BORE.

BAVIER. The beaver of a helmet.

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

"Rash bavin wits,
Soon kindled and soon burned."

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

BAW-BURD. An old expression of larboard.

BAWDRICK. Corrupted from _baldrick_. A girdle or sword-belt.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BAY. Laurel; hence crowned with bays.

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

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

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

BAYLE. An old term for bucket.

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

BAZAR, OR BAZAAR. A market or market-place. An oriental term.

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

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

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

BEACH-COMBERS. Loiterers around a bay or harbour.

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

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

BEACH-GRASS. _Alga marina_ thrown up by the surf or tide.

BEACHING A VESSEL. _See under_ VOLUNTARY STRANDING. Also, the act of running a vessel up on the beach for various purposes where there is no other accommodation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEACONAGE. A payment levied for the maintenance of beacons.

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

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

"I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement."

BEAKER. A flat drinking tumbler or cup, from the German _becher_. (_See_ BICKER.)

BEAK-HEAD BEAM. For this important timber _see_ CAT-BEAM.

BEAK-HEAD BULK-HEAD. The old termination aft of the space called _beak-head_, which inclosed the fore part of the ship.

BEAL. A word of Gaelic derivation for an opening or narrow pass between two hills.

BEAM. A long double stratum of murky clouds generally observed over the surface of the Mediterranean previous to a violent storm or an earthquake. The French call it _trave_.

BEAM. (_See_ ABEAM.)--_Before the beam_ is an arc of the horizon, comprehended between a line that crosses the ship's length at right angles and some object at a distance before it; or between the line of the beam and that point of the compass which she stems. On the _weather_ or _lee_ beam is in a direction to windward or leeward at right angles with the keel.

BEAM-ARM. Synonymous with _crow-foot_ (which see).

BEAM-ENDS. A ship is said to be on her beam-ends when she has heeled over so much on one side that her beams approach to a vertical position; hence also a person lying down is metaphorically said to be on his beam-ends.

BEAM-FILLINGS. Short lengths of wood cut to fit in between the beams to complete the cargo of a timber ship.

BEAM-LINE. A line raised along the inside of the ship fore and aft, showing the upper sides of the beams at her side.

BEAM OF THE ANCHOR. Synonymous with _anchor-stock_.

BEAMS. Strong transverse pieces of timber stretching across the ship from one side to the other, to support the decks and retain the sides at their proper distance, with which they are firmly connected by means of strong knees, and sometimes of standards. They are sustained at each end by thick stringers on the ship's side, called shelf-pieces, upon which they rest. The main-beam is next abaft the main-mast, which is stepped between two beams with transverse supports termed partners; the foremost of these is generally termed the main-beam, or the after-beam of the main-hatchway. The greatest beam of all is called the midship-beam.

BEAN-COD. A small fishing-vessel, or pilot-boat, common on the sea-coasts and in the rivers of Spain and Portugal; extremely sharp forward, having its stem bent inward above in a considerable curve; it is commonly navigated with a large lateen sail, which extends the whole length of the deck, and sometimes of an out-rigger over the stern, and is accordingly well fitted to ply to windward. They frequently set as many as twenty different sails, alow and aloft, by every possible contrivance, so as to puzzle seamen who are not familiar with the rig.

BEAR. A large block of stone, matted, loaded with shot, and fitted with ropes, by which it is roused or pulled to and fro to grind the decks withal. Also, a coir-mat filled with sand similarly used.

BEAR, THE CONSTELLATIONS OF THE. Ursa Major and Minor, most important to seamen, as instantly indicating by the pointers and pole-star the true north at night, much more correctly than any compass bearing.