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.
BEAR, TO. The direction of an object from the viewer; it is used in the
following different phrases: The land's end bore E.N.E.; _i.e._ it was
seen from the ship in a line with the E.N.E. point of the compass. We
bore down upon the enemy; _i.e._ having the advantage of the wind, or
being to windward, we approached the enemy by sailing large, or from the
wind. When a ship that was to windward comes under another ship's stern,
and so gives her the wind, she is said to bear under the lee; often as a
mark of respect. She bears in with the land, is said of a ship when she
runs towards the shore. We bore off the land; _i.e._ we increased our
distance from the land.--_To bear down_ upon a ship, is to approach her
from the windward.--_To bear ordnance_, to carry her guns well.--_To
bear sail_, stiff under canvas.--_To bear up_, to put the helm up, and
keep a vessel off her course, letting her recede from the wind and move
to leeward; this is synonymous with _to bear away_, but is applied to
the ship instead of the helm.--_Bear up_, one who has duly served for a
commission, but from want of interest bears up broken-hearted and
accepts an inferior warrant, or quits the profession, seeking some less
important vocation; some middies have borne up and yet become bishops,
lord-chancellors, judges, surgeons, &c.--_To bear up round_, is to put a
ship right before the wind.--_To bring a cannon to bear_, signifies that
it now lies right with the mark.--_To bear off from_, and _in with_ the
land, signifies standing off or going towards the coast.