they are distinguished by little dots, as ridges of rocks are
characterised by crosses. The principal banks in the Western Ocean, are
those of Newfoundland, and the Bahama-Bank: the most remarkable one in
Newfoundland is called the Grand Bank, which is of a vast extent, being
nearly two hundred miles in length, and stretching north and south: its
usual depth is from twenty to eighty fathoms: and this is the great
scene of the cod-fishery, which is so material an article in European
commerce.
BANK _of oars_, a seat or bench of rowers in a galley.
BANKER, a vessel employed in the cod-fishery on the Banks of
Newfoundland.
BAR _of a port or haven_, a shoal or bank of sand, gravel, &c. thrown up
by the surge of the sea, to the mouth of a river or harbour, so as to
endanger, and sometimes totally prevent the navigation.
BARCA-LONGA, a large Spanish fishing-boat, navigated with lug-sails, and
having two or three masts: these are very common in the Mediterranean.
See VESSEL.
BARGE (_bargie_, Dutch) a vessel or boat of state, furnished with
elegant apartments, canopies, and cushions; equipped with a band of
rowers, and decorated with flags and streamers: they are generally used
for processions on the water, by noblemen, officers of state, or
magistrates of great cities. Of this sort we may naturally suppose the
famous barge or galley of Cleopatra, which, according to Shakespeare,
———————‘Like a burnish’d 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 stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes——
——At the helm
A seeming mermaid steer’d: the silken tackles
Swell’d with the touches of those flower-soft-hands
That yarely form’d their office.’——
There are likewise other barges of a smaller kind, for the use of
admirals and captains of ships of war. These are of a lighter frame, and
may be easily hoisted into, and out of the ships to which they
occasionally belong. See BOAT.
BARGE, _cabotiere_, is also the name of a flat-bottomed vessel of
burthen, for lading and discharging ships, and removing their cargoes
from place to place in a harbour.
BARK (_barca_, low Lat.) a general name given to small ships: it is
however peculiarly appropriated by seamen to those which carry three
masts without a mizen top-sail. Our northern mariners, who are trained
in the coal-trade, apply this distinction to a broad-sterned ship, which
carries no ornamental figure on the stem or prow.
BARNICLE, _cravan_, a species of shell-fish, often found sticking to the
bottoms of ships, rocks, &c.
BARRICADE (_barricada_, Span.) a strong wooden rail, supported by
several little pillars or stanchions, and extending, as a fence, across
the foremost part of the quarter-deck. In a vessel of war, the intervals
between the pillars are commonly filled with cork, junks of old cable,
or matts of platted cordage. In the upper-part, there is a double
rope-netting, supported by double cranes of iron, extending about a foot
above the rail; and between the two parts of the netting are stuffed a
number of hammocks, filled with the seamens bedding, to intercept and
prevent the execution of small-shot fired by swivel guns, carabines, or
muskets, in the time of battle.
BARS _of the Capstern and Windlass_. See those articles.
BASIN _of a dock_, (_bassin_, Fr.) a place where the water is confined
by double flood-gates, and thereby prevented from running out at the
tide of ebb. The use of it is to contain ships whilst repairing, either
before they enter, or after they come out of the dock.
BASIN, _paradis_, also implies some part of a haven, which opens from a
narrow channel into a wide and spacious reservoir for shipping.
BATTENS _of the hatches_, a sort of long narrow laths, scantlings of
wooden stuff, or streight hoops of casks. They are nailed along the
edges of tarpaulings, which are pieces of tarred canvas, of sufficient
breadth and length to cover the hatches at sea; the battens serve to
confine the edges of the tarpaulings close down to the sides of the
hatches, to prevent the water, which may rush over the decks in a storm,
from penetrating into the lower apartments of the ship.
BAY, _baye_, a gulf or inlet of the sea-coast, comprehended between two
promontories, or capes of land, where shipping frequently ride at
anchor, sheltered from the wind and sea.
BEACON, _balise_, (_beacon_, Sax.) a post or stake erected over a shoal
or sand-bank, as a warning to seamen to keep their ships at a distance.
BEAK-HEAD, _coltis_, a name given to a ship’s head whose forecastle is
square or oblong, a circumstance common to all vessels of war which have
two or more decks of guns. In smaller ships, the forecastle is nearly
shaped like a parabola, whose vertex, or angular point, lies immediately
over the stem.
The strong, projecting, pointed beaks used by the antients in time of
battle, have been intirely rejected since the use of gun-powder.
BEAMS, _baux_, (_beam_, Sax. a tree) strong thick pieces of timber,
stretching across the ship from side to side, to support the decks, and
retain the sides at their proper distance.
The BEAMS of ships of war are usually formed of three pieces scarfed
together; as appears in plate III. They are sustained at each end by
thick planks in the ship’s side, called clamps, upon which they rest.
They are also firmly connected to the timbers of the ship by means of
strong knees, and sometimes by standards. See MIDSHIP-FRAME.
It is necessary that the beams, as represented in the midship-frame,
should have a greater height in the middle than at the two ends, to
carry the water more readily off from the decks, and to diminish the
recoil of the guns, which will thereby more easily return into their
places.
The longest of these is called the _midship-beam_; it is lodged in the
midship-frame, or between the widest frame of timbers. At about two
thirds of the height from the keel to the lower-deck, are laid a range
of beams, to fortify the hold, and support a platform called the orlop,
which contains the cables and stores of the ship.
There are usually twenty-four beams on the lower-deck of a ship of
seventy-four guns, and to the other decks additional ones in proportion,
as the ship lengthens above.
_On the_ BEAM, implies any distance from the ship on a line with the
beams, or at right angles with the keel: thus, if the ship steers or
points northward, any object lying east or west, is said to be on the
starboard or larboard _beam_. Thus also,
_Before the_ BEAM, is an arch of the horizon comprehended between the
line that crosses her 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. Thus if a ship, steering west, discovers an
island on the right, three points _before the beam_, the island must
bear N W b N from the ship. See the article BEARING.
BEAN-COD, a small fishing-vessel, or pilot-boat, common on the
sea-coasts and in the rivers of Portugal. It is extremely sharp forward,
having its stem bent inward above into a great curve: the stem is also
plated on the fore-side with iron, into which a number of bolts are
driven, to fortify it, and resist the stroke of another vessel, which
may fall athwart-hause. It is commonly navigated with a large lateen
sail, which extends over the whole length of the deck, and is
accordingly well fitted to ply to windward.
BEAR-A-HAND! a phrase of the same import with make haste, dispatch,
quick, &c.
BEARING, in navigation, _gissement_, an arch of the horizon intercepted
between the nearest meridian and any distant object, either discovered
by the eye, or resulting from the sinical proportion; as in the first
case, at 4 P. M. Cape Spado, in the isle of Candia, bore S by W. by the
compass.
In the second, the longitudes and latitudes of any two places being
given, and consequently the difference of latitude and longitude between
them, the bearing from one to the other is discovered by the following
analogy:
As the meridional difference of latitude
Is to the difference of longitude:
So is radius
To the tangent bearing.
BEARING is also the situation of any distant object, estimated from some
part of the ship according to her position. In this sense, an object so
discovered, must be either ahead, astern, abreast, on the bow, or on the
quarter.
These BEARINGS, therefore, which may be called mechanical, are on the
beam, before the beam, abaft the beam, on the bow, on the quarter,
ahead, or astern. If the ship sails with a side-wind, it alters the
names of such bearings in some measure, since a distant object on the
beam is then said to be to leeward, or to windward; on the lee quarter,
or bow; and on the weather quarter or bow.
BEARING-UP, or BEARING-away, _arriver_, in navigation, the act of
changing the course of a ship, in order to make her run before the wind,
after she had sailed some time with a side-wind, or close-hauled: it is
generally performed to arrive at some port under the lee, or to avoid
some imminent danger occasioned by a violent storm, leak, or enemy in
sight.
This phrase, which is absurd enough, seems to have been derived from the
motion of the helm, by which this effect is partly produced; as the helm
is then borne _up_ to the windward, or weather side of the ship.
Otherwise, it is a direct contradiction in terms, to say that a ship
_bears up_, when she goes before the wind; since the current of the
wind, as well as that of a river, is always understood to determine the
situation of objects or places within its limits. In the first sense we
say, up to windward and down to leeward; as in the latter we say, up or
down the river. This expression, however, although extremely improper,
is commonly adopted in the general instructions of our navy, printed by
authority, instead of bearing down, or bearing away.
BEATING, in navigation, the operation of making a progress at sea
against the direction of the wind, in a zig-zag line, or traverse, like
that in which we ascend a steep hill. As this method of sailing will be
particularly explained under the term TACKING, the reader is referred to
that article.
_To_ BECALM, _derober_, (from _calme_, Dut.) to intercept the current of
the wind, in its passage to a ship, with any contiguous object, as a
shore above her sails, a high sea behind, or some other ship. At this
time the sails remain in a state of rest, and are consequently deprived
of their power to govern the motion of the ship.
BECKETS, _bille_, imply in general any thing used to confine loose
ropes, tackles, oars, or spars, in a convenient place, where they may be
disposed out of the way till they are wanted. Hence, beckets are either
large hooks, or short pieces of rope, with a knot in one end and an eye
in the other, or formed like a circular wreath; or they are wooden
brackets; and, probably, from a corruption and misapplication of this
last term, arose the word becket, which seems often to be confounded
with bracket.
_Put the tacks and sheets in the_ BECKETS! the order to hang up the
weather main and fore-sheet, and the lee main and fore-tack, to a little
knot and eye-becket on the foremost main and fore-shrouds, when the ship
is close-hauled, to prevent them from hanging in the water.
BED, a flat thick piece of timber, usually formed of the rough staves of
casks, or such like materials, to be lodged under the quarters of casks
containing any liquid, and stowed in a ship’s hold. The use of the beds
is to support the cask, and keep the bilge, or middle-part of it, from
bearing against the ship’s floor, or against the body upon which it
rests, lest the staves should give way and break in the place where they
are weakest: or lie in a wet place, so as to rot in the course of the
voyage. See the article STOWING.
BED _of a river_, _lit._, the bottom of the channel in which the stream
or current usually flows.
BED _of a cannon_. See CARRIAGE.
_To_ BELAY, _amarrer_, (from _beleygen_, Belg.) to fasten a rope, by
winding it several times round a cleat, belaying-pin, or kevel: this
term is peculiar to small ropes, and chiefly the running-rigging, there
being several other expressions used for large ropes, as bitting,
bending, making fast, stoppering, &c. See those articles.
BEND, _avuste_, (probably from _bindan_, Sax. to bind) the knot by which
one rope is fastened to another, hence
_To_ BEND, is to fasten one rope to another, of which there are several
methods.
BENDING _the cable_, the operation of clinching, or tying the cable to
the ring of its anchor.
BENDING _a sail_, fastening it to its yard or stay. See the articles
SAIL, STAY, and YARD.
BENDS, the thickest and strongest planks in a ship’s side. See WALES, by
which name they are more properly called.
BETWEEN-DECKS, _entre-pont_, the space contained between any two decks
of a ship.
BEVELLING, in ship-building, the art of hewing a timber with a proper
and regular curve, according to a mould which is laid on one side of its
surface.
‘In order to hew any piece of timber to its proper bevel, it will be
necessary, first, to make one side fair, and out of winding; a term used
to signify that the side of a timber should be a plane. If this side be
uppermost, and placed horizontally, or upon a level, it is plain, if the
timber is to be hewed square, it may be done by a plummet and line; but
if the timber is not hewed square, the line will not touch both the
upper and lower edge of the piece; or if a square be applied to it,
there will be wood wanting either at the upper or lower side. This is
called within or without a square. When the wood is deficient at the
under-side, it is called under-bevelling; and when it is deficient in
the upper-side, it is called standing-bevelling: and this deficiency
will be more or less according to the depth of the piece; so that before
the proper bevellings of the timbers are found, it will be sometimes
very convenient to assign the breadth of the timbers; nay, in most cases
it will be absolutely necessary, especially afore and abaft: though the
breadth of two timbers, or the timber and room, which includes the two
timbers and the space between them, may be taken without any sensible
error, as far as the square body goes. For as one line represents the
moulding-side of two timbers, the fore-side of the one being supposed to
unite with the aft-side of the other; the two may be considered as one
intire piece of timber.’ _Murray’s Ship-building._
BIGHT, _balant_, (_bygan_, Sax. to bend) the double part of a rope when
it is folded, in contradistinction to the end: as, her anchor hooked the
_bight_ of our cable, i.e. caught any part of it between the ends. The
_bight_ of his cable has swept our anchor; that is, the double part of
the cable of another ship, as she ranged about, has entangled itself
under the stock or fluke of our anchor.
BIGHT, _anse_, is also a small bay between two points of land.
BILANDER, _bilandre_, Fr. a small merchant-ship with two masts.
The BILANDER is particularly distinguished from other vessels of two
masts by the form of her main-sail, which is a sort of trapezia, the
yard thereof being hung obliquely on the mast in the plane of the ship’s
length, and the aftmost or hinder end peeked or raised up to an angle of
about 45 degrees, and hanging immediately over the stern; while the fore
end slopes downward, and comes as far forward as the middle of the ship.
To this the sail is bent or fastened; and the two lower corners, the
foremost of which is called the tack, and the aftmost the sheet, are
afterwards secured, the former to a ring-bolt in the middle of the
ship’s length, and the latter to another in the taffarel. The main-sails
of larger ships are hung across the deck instead of along it, being
fastened to a yard which hangs at right angles with the mast and the
keel.
Few vessels, however, are now rigged in this method, which has probably
been found more inconvenient than several others. See SHIP. It may not
be improper to remark, that this name, as well as brigantine, has been
variously applied in different parts of Europe to vessels of different
sorts.
BILGE, (supposed from _bilik_, Sax. a storm) that part of the floor of a
ship, on either side of the keel, which approaches nearer to an
horizontal than to a perpendicular direction, and on which the ship
would rest if laid on the ground: or more particularly, those parts of
the bottom which are opposite to the heads of the floor-timbers
amidships on each side of the keel. Hence, when a ship receives a
fracture in this place, she is said to be _bilged_.
BILL _of lading_, _connoissement_, an acknowledgment signed by the
master of a ship, and given to a merchant, containing an account of the
goods which the former has received from the latter, &c. with a promise
to deliver them at the intended place for a certain sum of money. Each
bill of lading must be treble; one for the merchant who ships the goods,
another to be sent to the person to whom they are consigned, and the
third to remain in the hands of the master of the said ship. It must,
however, be observed, that a bill of lading is only used when the goods
sent on board a ship are but part of the cargo; for when a merchant
loads a vessel entirely on his own account, the deed passed between him
and the master of the ship is called charter-party. See _Charter-party_.
BINACLE, a wooden case or box, which contains the compasses,
log-glasses, watch-glasses, and lights to shew the compass at night.
As this is called _bittacle_ in all the old sea-books, even by mariners,
it appears evidently to be derived from the French term _habitacle_, (a
small habitation) which is now used for the same purpose by the seamen
of that nation.
The BINACLE (plate I. fig. 4.) is furnished with three apartments, with
sliding shutters: the two side ones, a b, have always a compass in each,
d, to direct the ship’s way, while the middle division, c, has a lamp or
candle, with a pane of glass on either side to throw a light upon the
compass in the night, whereby the man who steers may observe it in the
darkest weather, as it stands immediately before the helm on the
quarter-deck.
There are always two binacles on the deck of a ship of war, one being
designed for the man who steers, and the other for the person who
superintends the steerage, whose office is called _conning_, or
_cunning_.
BIRTH, or BERTH, _eviteé_, the station in which a ship rides at anchor,
either alone or in a fleet; or the distance between the ship and any
adjacent object; comprehending the extent of the space in which she
ranges at the length of her cables; as, _she lies in a good birth_, i.
e. in a convenient situation, or at a proper distance from the shore and
other vessels; and where there is good anchoring-ground, and shelter
from the violence of the wind and sea.
BIRTH, _appartement_, also signifies the room or apartment where any
particular number of the officers or ship’s company usually mess and
reside. In a ship of war there is commonly one of these between every
two guns.
_To_ BITE, _mordre_, to hold fast in the ground; expressed of the
anchor.
BITS, _bittes_, (_bitol_, Sax.) a frame composed of two strong pieces of
timber, fixed perpendicularly in the fore-part of a ship, whereon to
fasten her cables as she rides at anchor. See b b, PIECES _of the_ HULL.
These pieces being let down through square mortises cut in the decks
above and below, are bolted and fore-locked to the ship’s beams. There
are several bits in a ship, the principal of which are those for the
cables: their upper ends commonly reach about four or five feet above
the lower deck, over which the cable passes. They are supported on the
fore part by strong standards; one arm of which is bolted to the deck,
and the other to the bits: and on the after part is fixed a strong beam
of timber, g, (plate I. PIECES _of the_ HULL) parallel to the deck, and
at right angles with the bits, to which it is bolted and forelocked. The
ends of this beam, which is called the cross-piece, reach about two or
three feet beyond the bits, whose upper-ends are nearly two feet above
the cross-piece. The cable being passed once round about these bits, may
be gradually slackened at pleasure; without which it would be impossible
to prevent it from running out with the utmost rapidity, when the ship
rides a great strain, which is always the case in a storm, or an
impetuous tide. In ships of war there are usually two pair of cable
bits, and when they are both used at once, the cable is said to be
double-bitted. The plan of the bits, with their cross-pieces and
standards, are represented in Plate III. where b b are the bits, e their
standards, and g the cross-piece.
_To_ BIT _the cable_, is to put it round the bits, in order to fasten
it, or slacken it gradually, which last is called _veering away_.
The other bits are of a smaller kind, but constructed nearly in the same
manner. They are used to fasten the top-sail-sheets, or the ropes by
which the lower corners of the top-sails are extended.
BLACK-STRAKES, a range of planks immediately above the wales in a ship’s
side: they are always covered with a mixture of tar and lamp-black,
forming an agreeable variety with the white bottom beneath, and the
scraped planks of the side, covered with melted turpentine or varnish of
pine, above. All the yards are likewise daubed with this mixture, which
not only preserves them from the heat of the sun and the weather, but
gives them a fine gloss, which makes a good appearance contrasted with
the white varnish on the masts.
BLADE. See the article OAR.
BLOCK, _poulie_, a machine known in mechanics by the name of pully, and
used for various purposes in a ship, particularly to increase the
mechanical power of the ropes employed in contracting, dilating, or
traversing the sails. The ends of these ropes, being arranged in certain
places upon the deck, may thus be readily found whenever they are
wanted. The blocks, which are for these purposes disposed in various
places upon the masts, yards, and sails, and amongst the rigging, are
also of various sizes, shapes, and powers, according to the effect they
are calculated to produce. They are single, double, or treble, being so
denominated from the number of wheels they contain. There are even some
of five, six, and seven fold, but these are only employed to raise or
move some very weighty bodies, and are not used about the yards or
sails. We shall begin by describing the most simple, and afterwards
proceed to those which are more complicated.
A common single block is composed of three parts; the shell, the sheave,
and the pins. The shell, _arcasse_, approaches nearest to the figure of
a long spheroid, somewhat flatted in the middle. Between the two flat
sides it is hollowed so as to receive a narrow cylindrical wheel called
the sheave, _rouet_, formed of lignum vitæ, or other hard wood; and
thro’ the centre of this sheave is bored a round hole, to admit of a
pin, which is driven through two corresponding holes in the middle of
the shell, perpendicular to the hollow space within. The pin thus
becomes the axis of the wheel or sheave, which completes the wooden work
of the machine. Thus formed, it is bound with a sort of rope-ring, which
is closely fitted to a notch passing round the surface of the shell, and
over both ends of the pin: and by this ring, or wreath, which is called
a block-strop, they are suspended upon the masts, shrouds, &c.
The complicated blocks, or those which contain a number of wheels,
either have all the wheels to run upon one axis, (see plate I.) or have
their shells so formed that the wheels are one above another. In the
former shape they approach nearest the figure of a cylinder, and in the
latter appear like two or more single blocks joined together endways.
In plate I. fig. 7. a, represents a single block, and b, c, two double
ones, of different kinds, without strops. Fig. e, f, two double
tackle-blocks iron bound, the lower one, f, being fitted with a swivel,
g, a double iron-bound block with a large hook, h, a snatch-block, i, a
top-block, k, a voyal-block, and l, a clue-garnet-block. See
SNATCH-BLOCK, TACKLE, and VOYAL.
The Cat-block (plate II. fig. 15.) is employed to draw the anchor up the
cat-head. See the article CAT.
The swivel in the iron-bound block is to turn it, that the several parts
of the rope of which the tackle is composed may not be twisted round
each other, which would greatly diminish the mechanical power.