by _bulk-heads_, or partitions; to frame the _port-lids_; to fix the
_catheads_ and _chess-trees_; to form the _hatchways_ and _scuttles_,
and fit them with proper covers or _gratings_. They next fix the ladders
whereby to mount or descend the different hatchways, and build the
_manger_ on the lower deck, to carry off the water that runs in at the
hawse-holes when the ship rides at anchor in a sea. The bread-room and
magazines are then lined, and the _gunnel_, _rails_, and _gangways_,
fixed on the upper part of the ship. The _cleats_, _kevels_, and
_ranges_, by which the ropes are. fastened, are afterwards bolted or
nailed to the sides. in different places.
The _rudder_, being fitted with its irons, is next hung to the
stern-post; and the _tiller_, or bar, by which it is managed, let into a
mortise at its upper-end. The _scuppers_, or leaden tubes, that carry
the water off from the decks, are then placed in holes cut through the
ship’s sides; and the _standards_, represented in the MIDSHIP-FRAME,
bolted to the beams and sides above the decks to which they belong. The
poop-lanthorns are last fixed upon their cranes over the stern, and the
bilge-ways, or cradles, placed under the bottom, to conduct the ship
steadily into the water whilst lanching.
As the various pieces, which have been mentioned above, are explained at
large in their proper places, with references to their figures according
to the plan of this work, it would have been superfluous to have entered
into a more particular description of them here. It is perhaps necessary
to observe, that as the theory ought always to precede the practice,
this article would probably be much better understood by previously
reading that of _Naval_ ARCHITECTURE, which may be considered as a
proper introduction to it.
BUILT, _fabrique_, the particular form or structure of a ship, by which
she is distinguished from others of a different class or nation. Thus a
ship is said to be frigate-built, galley-built, a hag-boat, a pink, a
cat, &c. or to be English-built, French-built, American-built, &c.
BULK-HEADS, certain partitions, or walls, built up in several places of
a ship between two decks, either lengthwise or across, to form and
separate the various apartments. Some of those which are built across
the ship are remarkably strong. See the article CLOSE-QUARTERS.
BULL’S-EYE, _cosse_. a sort of small pulley in the form of a ring,
having a rope spliced round the outer edge of it, (which is hollowed to
admit of the rope) and a large hole in the middle for another rope to
slide in. It is seldom used but for the main and fore bowline-bridles of
some ships, particularly the colliers of Northumberland, &c. It is
spliced in the outer-end of the bowline, and sliding along the bridle,
to rest in the most apposite place, draws it tight above and below. This
implement is more frequently used by Dutch than English seamen.
BUMKIN, or BOOMKIN, _boute-lof_, a short boom or bar of timber,
projecting from each _bow_ of a ship, to extend the lower-edge of the
fore-sail to windward; for which purpose there is a large block fixed on
its outer end, through which the rope is passed that is fastened to the
lower-corner of the sail to windward, called the _tack_; and this being
drawn tight down, brings the corner of the sail close to the block,
which being performed, the _tack_ is said to be _aboard_.
The bumkin is secured by a strong rope which confines it downward to the
ship’s bow, to counter-act the strain it bears from the fore-sail above,
dragging it upwards.
BUNT, the middle part, or cavity of the principal square sails, as the
main-sail, fore-sail, top-sails, and top-gallant-sails. If one of those
sails is supposed to be divided into four equal parts, from one side to
the other, then may the two middle divisions, which comprehend half of
the sail, be properly called the limits of the bunt.
BUNTINE, _etamine_, a thin woollen stuff, of which the colours and
signals of a ship are usually formed.
BUNTLINES, _cargues fond_, are ropes fastened to the bottoms of the
square sails, to draw them up to the yards: they are inserted through
certain blocks above, or on the upper-part of the yard, whence passing
down-wards on the fore-part of the sail, they are fastened below to the
lower-edge in several places of the _bolt-rope_.
BUOY, (_bouée_, Fr.) a sort of close cask, or block of wood, fastened by
a rope to the anchor, to determine the place where the anchor is
situated, that the ship may not come too near it, to entangle her cable
about the stock, or the flukes of it.
BUOYS are of various kinds; as,
_Can_-BUOYS; these are in the form of a cone, (see plate II. fig. 8.)
and of this construction are all the buoys which are floated over
dangerous banks and shallows, as a warning to passing ships, that they
may avoid them. They are extremely large, that they may be seen at a
distance, and are fastened by strong chains to the anchors which are
sunk for this purpose at such places.
_Nun_-BUOYS, are shaped like the middle frustum of two cones, abutting
upon one common base, (plate II. fig. 9.) being casks, which are large
in the middle, and tapering, nearly to a point, at each end.
_Wooden_ BUOYS, are solid pieces of timber, sometimes in the shape of a
cylinder, and sometimes of a nun-buoy; they are furnished with one or
two holes, in which to fix a short piece of rope, whose two ends being
spliced together make a sort of circle or ring called the strop.
_Cable_-BUOYS, common casks employed to buoy up the cable in different
places from any rocky ground. In the harbour of Alexandria, in Egypt,
every ship is moored with at least three cables, and has three or four
of these buoys on each cable for this purpose.
BUOY-ROPE, the rope which fastens the buoy to the anchor: it should be
little more than equal in length to the depth of the water where the
anchor lies, as it is intended to float near, or immediately above the
bed of it, that the pilot may at all times know the situation thereof.
See plate I. fig. 6. b is the anchor, c the buoy-rope, and d the buoy
floating on the surface of the water.
The BUOY-ROPE is often extremely useful otherways, in drawing up the
anchor when the cable is broke. It should therefore be always of
sufficient strength for this purpose, or else the anchor may be lost
through negligence.
_Slings of the_ BUOY, the ropes which are fastened about it, and by
which it is hung: they are curiously spliced round it, something
resembling the braces of a drum.
_To stream the_ BUOY, is to let it fall from the ship’s side into the
water, which is always done before they let go the anchor, that it may
not be retarded by the buoy-rope as it sinks to the bottom.
BURTHEN, or BURDEN, _port_, (_byrthen_, Sax.) the weight or measure of
any species of merchandize that a ship will carry when fit for sea.
To determine the burthen, or, in other words, the tonnage, of a ship, it
is usual to multiply the length of the keel into the extreme breadth of
the ship within-board, taken along the midship-beam, and multiply the
product by the depth in the _hold_ from the plank joining to the
_kelson_ upwards, to the main-deck, and divide the last product by 94,
then will the quotient be the burden required, in tons.
BURTON, _bredindin_, a sort of small tackle, formed by two blocks or
pullies, till the rope becomes three or four fold, and acquires an
additional power in proportion.
It is generally employed to tighten the shrouds of the top-masts, but
may be otherways used to move or draw along any weighty body in the
_hold_, or on the _deck_, as anchors, bales of goods, large casks, &c.
BUSS, _buche_, (_busse_, Germ.) a ship of two masts, used by the English
and Dutch in their herring fisheries. It is generally from fifty to
seventy tons burthen; being furnished with two small sheds or cabins,
one at the prow and the other at the stern; the former of which is
employed as a kitchen.
BUTT, _about_, the end of any plank in a ship’s side which unites with
the end of another, continuing its length: when a plank is loosened at
the end by the ship’s weakness or labouring, she is said to have started
or sprung a butt.
BUTTOCK, the convexity of a ship behind, under the stern; it is
terminated by the counter above, and by the after part of the bilge
below, by the rudder in the middle, and by the quarter on the side.
BUTTONS. See the article BONNET.
C.
CABIN, _cabane_, a room or apartment in a ship where any of the officers
usually reside.
There are many of these in a large ship; the principal of which is
designed for the captain, or commander. In ships of the line, this
chamber is furnished with an open gallery in the ships stern, as also a
little gallery on each quarter. The apartments where the inferior
officers or common sailors sleep and mess, are usually called births;
which see.
The bed-places built up for the sailors at the ships side in
merchantmen, are also called cabins.
CABLE, (_cable_, Fr.) a large, strong rope of a considerable length,
used to retain a ship at anchor in a road, bay, or haven.
Cables are of various sorts and sizes. In Europe they are usually
manufactured of hemp; in Africa they are more frequently composed of
bass, which is a sort of long straw or rushes; and in Asia of a peculiar
sort of Indian grass.
Cables, of what thickness soever, are generally formed of three ropes
twisted together, which are then called _strands_: each of these is
composed of three smaller strands; and those last of a certain number of
rope-yarns. This number is therefore greater or smaller in proportion to
the size of the cable required.
There are some cables, however, manufactured of four strands; which are
chiefly the production of Italy and Provence.
All ships ought to be furnished with at least three good cables; the
_sheet_ cable, and the two _bowers_; best and small.
All cables ought to be one hundred and twenty fathoms in length; for
which purpose the threads or yarns must be one hundred and eighty
fathoms; inasmuch as they are diminished one third in length by
twisting. Besides this length, it is necessary to splice at least two
cables together, in order to double the length when a ship is obliged to
anchor in deep water. For although it is not common to anchor in a
greater depth than forty fathoms, yet if there is only one cable, and
the ship rides in a storm and tempestuous sea, the anchor will of
necessity sustain the whole weight and violent jerking of the ship, in a
direction too nearly perpendicular. By this effort it will unavoidably
be loosened from its hold, and dragged by the ship, which thus driven
from her station, is in immediate danger of being wrecked on the nearest
rocks or shallows; whereas it is evident, that if the cable, by its
great length, were to draw more horizontally on the anchor, it would
bear a much greater force. See ANCHOR.
The long cable is not so apt to break as the short one; because it will
bear a great deal more stretching before it comes to the greatest
strain: it therefore resembles a sort of spring, which may be very
easily extended, and afterwards recovers its first state, as soon as the
force which extended it is removed. Besides all this, a ship will ride
much smoother with a long cable, and be less apt to _pitch_, or plunge
deep in the water with her fore-part.
On the contrary, the short cable, being too nearly vertical to the
anchor, cannot bear such a strain, because it is charged with a greater
effort; and, as it will not bear stretching, may break at the first
violent tug. The ship also rides with much greater difficulty, labours
extremely, and often plunges all her fore-part under water.
By what has been said on this subject, we may see how very necessary it
is to furnish a ship with sufficiency of cables, or what is called
ground-tackle; and what an inconsiderate policy it is in merchants to
expose their vessels to such evident dangers from the want of them. For
we may venture to assert, without violation of truth, that many good
ships have been lost only on account of a deficiency in this important
article.
A cable ought neither to be twisted too much or too little; as in the
former state it will be extremely stiff, and difficult to manage; and in
the latter, it will be considerably diminished in its strength.
All cables are to each other as the cubes of their diameters.
The number of threads also, of which each cable is composed, being
always proportioned to its length and thickness, the weight and value of
it are determined by this number. Thus a cable of ten inches in
circumference, ought to consist of four hundred and eighty-five threads;
and weigh one thousand nine hundred and forty pounds: and on this
foundation is calculated the following table, very useful for all
persons engaged in marine commerce, who equip merchant-ships on their
own account, or freight them for the account of others.
A table of the number of threads and weight of cables of
different circumference.
Circumference in inches. Threads or rope-yarns. Weight in pounds.
9 393 1572
10 485 1940
11 598 2392
12 699 2796
13 821 3284
14 952 3808
15 1093 4372
16 1244 4976
17 1404 5616
18 1574 6296
19 1754 7016
20 1943 7772
_Stream_-CABLE, a hauser, or rope, something smaller than the bowers,
and used to moor the ship in a river or haven, sheltered from the wind
and sea, &c.
_To bit the_ CABLE. See the article BITS.
_To serve the_ CABLE, is to bind it round with ropes, leather, or other
materials, to prevent it from being galled, or fretted in the hawse by
friction.
_Heave in the_ CABLE! the order to draw it into the ship by winding
about the capstern or windlass.
_Pay away the_ CABLE! slacken it, that it may run out of the ship. This
phrase is the same with _veer away_ the cable. See the French term
_cable_, and the phrases following it.
CABLE’S _length_, a measure of 120 fathoms, or of the usual length of
the cable.
_To_ CALK, or CAULK, _calfater_, (probably from _calage_, Fr. hemp) to
drive a quantity of oakum, or old ropes untwisted and drawn asunder,
into the seams of the planks, or into the intervals where the planks are
joined to each other in the ship’s decks or sides, in order to prevent
the entrance of water. After the oakum is driven very hard into these
seams, it is covered with hot melted pitch or resin, to keep the water
from rotting it.
Amongst the ancients, the first who made use of pitch in calking, were
the inhabitants of Phæacia, afterwards called Corsica. Wax and resin
appear to have been commonly used previous to that period; and the Poles
at this time use a sort of unctuous clay for the same purpose, on their
navigable rivers.
CALL, _sifflet_, a sort of whistle, or pipe, of silver or brass, used by
the boatswain and his mates to summon the sailors to their duty, and
direct them in the different employments of the ship.
As the call can be sounded to various strains, each of them is
appropriated to some particular exercise; such as hoisting, heaving,
lowering, veering away, belaying, letting-go a tackle, &c. The act of
winding this instrument is called _piping_, which is as attentively
observed by sailors, as the beat of the drum to march, retreat, rally,
charge, &c. is obeyed by soldiers.
CALM, the state of rest which appears in the air and sea when there is
no wind stirring.
That tract of the Atlantic ocean, situated between the tropic of Cancer
and the latitude of 29° north; or the space that lies between the
_trade_ and the variable winds, is frequently subject to calms of very
long duration: and hence it has acquired, amongst seamen, the name of
the Calm Latitudes.
A long calm is often more fatal to a ship than the severest tempest,
because if the ship is tight and in good condition, she may sustain the
latter without much injury; whereas in a long calm, the provision and
water may be entirely consumed, without any opportunity of obtaining a
fresh supply. The surface of the sea in a continued calm is smooth and
bright as a looking-glass.
CAMBERED-DECK, the deck or flooring of a ship is said to be cambered, or
to lie cambering, when it is higher in the middle of the ship’s length,
and droops towards the stem and stern, or the two ends. Also when it
lies irregular; a circumstance which renders the ship very unfit for
war. See the article BROKEN-BACKED.
CAN-BUOY. See BUOY.
CAN-HOOKS, an instrument used to sling a cask by the ends of the staves:
it is formed by fixing a broad and flat hook at each end of a short
rope, and the tackle by which the cask so slung may be hoisted or
lowered, is hooked to the middle of the rope. See plate II. fig. 8 and
9. The canhooks commonly used ashore by brewers, &c. are all iron, the
middle part being fitted with a chain in the place of a rope.
CANNON, a well known piece of artillery, mounted in battery on the decks
of a ship, and used in all naval engagements.
This engine has already been so accurately described by a variety of
authors, that it may seem unnecessary to give a particular description
of it here. As it forms, however, so important an article in all the
military operations of the marine, it cannot, consistently with our
plan, be omitted in this place.
CANNON then may be defined a long, conical fire-arm of brass or iron,
concave within, and smaller at the muzzle, or face, than at the opposite
end.
The principal parts of a sea-cannon, as represented in plate VII. fig.
3, are, 1st. The breech, A C, and its button, or cascabel, A h, called
by seamen the pomiglion. The breech is generally understood to be the
solid metal from the bottom of the concave cylinder to the cascabel,
which is the extremity of the cannon opposite to its muzzle.
2d. The trunnions, T, which project on each side like arms, and serve to
support the cannon near the middle of its length: on these it may be
poised, and held almost in _equilibrio_. As the metal is thicker at the
breech than towards the mouth, the trunnions are placed nearer to that
end than the other.
3d. The bore, or caliber, which is comprehended between the dotted
lines, and particularly expressed in the longitudinal section of a
thirty-two-pounder, fig. 15. This represents the interior or concave
cylinder, wherein the powder and shot are lodged with which the cannon
is charged: the entrance of the bore is called the mouth.
=Names of the other parts, including the above plate VII. fig. 3.=
A B, the length of the cannon.
A E, the first reinforce.
E F, the second reinforce.
F B, the chace.
H B, the muzzle.
A o, the cascabel, or pomiglion.
A C, the breech.
C D, the vent-field.
F I, the chace-girdle.
r s, the base-ring and ogee.
t, the vent-astragal and fillets.
p q, the first reinforce-ring and ogee.
v w, the second reinforce-ring and ogee.
x, the chace-astragal and fillets.
z, the muzzle-astragal and fillets.
n, the muzzle-mouldings.
m, the swelling of the muzzle,
A i, the breech-mouldings.
The use of these machines is to discharge upon the enemy globes or balls
of iron, called _shot_, which are therefore of various sizes, in
proportion to the caliber of the cannon. The diameter of the ball is
always somewhat less than the bore of the piece, that it may be
discharged with the greater ease, and not damage the piece by rubbing it
too forcibly in its passage; and the difference between these diameters
is called the windage of the cannon.
The length of any cannon is always reckoned from the hind part of the
base ring, or beginning of the cascabel, to the extremity of the muzzle.
The second reinforce begins at the same circle where the first
terminates; and the chace at the same circle where the second reinforce
ends.
The first reinforce therefore includes the base ring; the ogee nearest
thereto; the vent-field; the vent-astragal, and first reinforce-ring.
The second reinforce contains the ogee next to the first reinforce-ring
and the second reinforce-ring. The chace comprehends the ogee nearest to
the second reinforce-ring; the chace-girdle and astragal; and the muzzle
and astragal. The trunnions are always placed on the second reinforce,
so as that the breech part of the cannon may weigh something more than
the muzzle-part, to prevent the piece from starting up behind when it is
fired.
A variety of experiments, made with great care and accuracy, prove that
powder when on fire possesses at least 4000[2] times more space than
when in grains. Therefore if we suppose that the quantity of powder with
which a cannon is charged possesses one fourth of a cubical foot in
grains, it will, when on fire, occupy the space of about 1000 cubical
feet. The same experiments evince also that the powder when inflamed, is
dilated equally round its center. One grain of powder fired in the
center of different concentric circles, round which grains of powder are
placed, shall therefore set fire to all those grains at once.
From this principle it necessarily follows, that powder, when fired in a
cannon, makes at the same instant an equal effort on every part of the
inside of the piece, in order to expand itself about its center every
way, But as the resistance from the sides of the piece turns the action
of the powder, so as to follow the direction of the bore of the cannon
when it presses upon the ball, so as to force it outwards, it presses
also on the breech of the cannon; and this gives the piece a motion
backwards, that is called its _recoil_ which, as we have already
observed, is restrained by the _breeching_ and the convexity of the
decks. The recoil in some degree diminishes the action of the powder
upon the shot. But this cannot be avoided; for, if the carriages were
fixed so as not to give way to this motion, the action of the powder, or
the effort that causes the recoil, would tear them to pieces in a very
short time.
All pieces of artillery were formerly distinguished into the names of
sakers, culverins, cannon, and demi-cannon; but at present their names
are derived from the weight of the ball which they discharge: thus a
piece that discharges a ball of twenty-four pounds, is called a
twenty-four-pounder; and one that carries a shot of thirty-two pounds, a
thirty-two-pounder; and so of the rest.
The metal of cannon is not equally thick in all parts, but is in some
measure proportioned to the force of the powder which it is to resist.
At the breech, where the effort is strongest, the thickness of the metal
is equal to the diameter of the corresponding shot. At the first
reinforce, where this begins to slacken, the thickness is somewhat less
than at the breech: at the second, where the force is still further
diminished, the thickness is more reduced than at the first: and, by the
same rule, the chace has less thickness than the second reinforce. The
thickness of the chace gradually diminishes from the trunnions to the
mouth of the piece; so that if a cannon was without cascabel, trunnion,
and mouldings, it would exactly resemble the frustum of a cone, or a
cone deprived of the small end.
In a vessel of war, cannon are placed on a sort of wheeled sledge,
called the _carriage_, of which fig. 16. plate VII. is the plan, and
fig. 17. the elevation. This carriage is composed of two large pieces of
plank, called sides or cheeks, connected together by means of
cross-pieces, which are either bolts, axle-trees, or transoms. The two
axle-trees are fixed across under the fore and hinder parts of the
carriage, being supported at their extremities by solid wooden wheels
called trucks. The transom is placed directly over the fore axle-tree,
and exactly in the middle of the height of the cheeks or side-pieces.
The height of the transom is equal to two diameters of the shot, and the
breadth to one diameter.
Explanation of the iron-work, and different parts of a sea-carriage, as
exhibited in the plan and elevation of a thirty-two pounder, pl. VII.
fig. 16. and 17.
a. The cap-squares, commonly called clamps in the sea-service.
b. Eye-bolts, by which one end of the clamp is fixed to the carriage.
c. Joint-bolts, upon which the other end of the clamp is fixed over the
trunnions; after which it is fore-locked, to prevent the cannon from
starting out of its carriage when fired.
b g. The cheeks or sides of the carriage.
d. The transom-bolt.
e. The bed bolt, upon which the bed rests to support the breech of the
cannon. The bed is expressed by fig. 4.
f. Hind axle-tree bolts.
g. Breeching-bolts, with rings, through which the breechings pass.
h. Loops, or eye-bolts, to which the gun-tackles are hooked.
i. The fore axle-tree, with its trucks, k.
l. The hind axle-tree, with its trucks, k.
The wheels are firmly retained upon their axle-trees by means of iron
bolts passing through the latter without the wheels: these bolts are
called linch-pins.