their proper places, namely, under those particular articles, to which
the reader is referred, it will be unnecessary to say any thing farther
of them here.
_To_ MAKE, is variously applied, in the sea-language, to the land, to
the sails, to the ship’s course, &c.
_To_ MAKE _a good board_. See the article BOARD.
_To_ MAKE _the land_, _decouvrir_, is to discover it from a distant
situation, in consequence of approaching it after a sea-voyage: as, “In
your passage to cape Tiburon, it will be necessary to make Turk’s
Island.”
_To_ MAKE _sail_, _faire plus de voiles_, is to increase the quantity of
sail already extended, either by letting out the _reefs_, and by
hoisting an additional number of small sails, or by performing either of
those exercises separately.
_To_ MAKE _sternway_, _aller en arriere_, is to retreat or move with the
stern foremost.
_To_ MAKE _water_, _faire eau_, usually signifies to leak, unless when
the epithet _foul_ is added thereto. A ship is said to make foul water,
when running in shallow water, her keel disturbs and loosens the mud or
ooze, lying at the bottom thereof.
MALLET, a sort of wooden hammer, of which there are several sorts used
for different purposes on ship-board, as the
_Calking_-MALLET, an implement chiefly employed to drive the oakum into
the _seams_ of a ship, where the edges of the planks are joined to each
other in the sides, decks, or bottom.
The head of this mallet is long and cylindrical, being hooped with iron
to prevent it from splitting in the exercise of calking.
_Serving_-MALLET, a mallet used in _serving_ the rigging, by binding the
spun-yarn more firmly about it, than could possibly be done by hand;
which is performed in the following manner: the spun-yarn being
previously rolled up in a large ball, or clue, two or three turns of it
are passed about the rope and about the body of the mallet, which for
this purpose is furnished with a round channel in its surface, that
conforms to the convexity of the rope intended to be served. The turns
of the spun-yarn being strained round the mallet, so as to confine it
firmly to the rope, which is extended above the deck, one man passes the
ball continually about the rope, whilst the other, at the same time,
winds on the spun-yarn by means of the mallet, whose handle acting as a
lever, strains every turn about the rope as firm as possible.
MANGER, _gatte_, a small apartment, extending athwart the lower-deck of
a ship of war, immediately within the hause-holes, and fenced on the
afterpart by a partition, which separates it from the other part of the
deck behind it.
This partition serves as a fence to interrupt the passage of the water,
which occasionally gushes in at the hause-holes, or falls from the wet
cable whilst it is heaved in by the capstern. The water, thus prevented
from running aft, is immediately returned into the sea, by several small
channels, called _scuppers_, cut through the ship’s side within the
manger.
The manger is therefore particularly useful in giving a contrary
direction to the water that enters at the hause-holes, which would
otherwise run aft in great streams upon the lower deck, and render it
extremely wet and uncomfortable, particularly in tempestuous weather, to
the men who mess and sleep in different parts thereof.
MARINE, a general name for the navy of a kingdom or state; as also the
whole œconomy of naval affairs; or whatever respects the building,
rigging, arming, equipping, navigating, and fighting ships. It
comprehends also the government of naval armaments, and the state of all
the persons employed therein, whether civil or military.
MARINES, or MARINE-FORCES, a body of troops employed in the sea-service,
under the direction of the lords of the admiralty.
MARLINE, (_merlin_, Fr.) a small line, somewhat less than house-line,
and used for the same purposes. See HOUSE-LINE.
MARLING, the act of winding any small line, as marline, spun-yarn,
packthread, &c. about a rope, so that every turn is secured by a sort of
knot, so as to remain fixed in case all the rest should be cut through
by friction, &c. This expedient is much preferable to the winding a line
spirally about a rope for the same purpose, because as the turns are at
some distance from each other, the same quantity of line will serve for
the one method as the other; with this difference, that if one of the
spiral turns are cut through, the whole will be rendered useless,
whereas by marling, this is entirely prevented.
Marling is commonly used to fasten slips of canvas, called _parsling_,
upon the surface of a rope, to prevent it from being galled by another
rope that rubs against it, to attach the foot of a sail to its
bolt-rope, &c.
MARLING-SPIKE, _epissoir_, an iron pin, tapering to a point, and
furnished with a large round head. It is principally used to penetrate
the twists, or strands of a rope, in order to introduce the ends of some
other through the intervals, in the act of _knotting_ or _splicing_.
It is also used as a lever, on many other occasions, about the rigging,
particularly in fixing the seizings upon the _shrouds_, _block-strops_,
_clues_ of the sails, &c.
_To_ MAROON, _deserter_, to put one or more sailors ashore upon a
desolate island, under pretence of their having committed some great
crime. This detestable expedient has been repeatedly practised by some
inhuman commanders of merchant-ships, particularly in the West-Indies.
MAST, _mât_, a long round piece of timber, elevated perpendicularly upon
the keel of a ship, to which are attached the yards, the sails, and the
rigging.
A mast, with regard to its length, is either formed of one single piece,
which is called a _pole-mast_, or composed of several pieces joined
together, each of which retains the name of mast separately. The lowest
of these is accordingly named the lower-mast, _a_, fig. 1. plate VI. the
next in height is the top-mast, _b_, which is erected at the head of the
former; and the highest is the top-gallant-mast, _c_, which is prolonged
from the upper end of the top-mast. Thus the two last are no other than
a continuation of the first upwards.
The lower-mast is fixed in the ship by an apparatus, described in the
articles _hulk_ and _sheers_: the foot, or heel of it, rests in a block
of timber called the step, which is fixed upon the _kelson_; and the
top-mast is attached to the head of it by the _cap_ and the
_tressel-trees_. The latter of these are two strong bars of timber,
supported by two prominencies, which are as shoulders on the opposite
sides of the mast, a little under its upper end: athwart these bars are
fixed the _cross-trees_, upon which the frame of the top is supported.
Between the lower mast-head, and the foremost of the cross-trees, a
square space remains vacant, the sides of which are bounded by the two
tressel-trees. Perpendicularly above this is the foremost hole in the
cap, whose after-hole is solidly fixed on the head of the lower-mast.
The top-mast is erected by a tackle, whose effort is communicated from
the head of the lower mast to the foot of the top-mast; and the upper
end of the latter is accordingly guided into, and conveyed up through,
the holes between the tressel-trees and the cap, as above mentioned. The
machinery by which it is elevated, or, according to the sea-phrase,
_swayed-up_, is fixed in the following manner: the top rope _d_, fig. 2.
passing through a block _e_, which is hooked on one side of the cap, and
afterwards through a hole, furnished with a sheave or pulley _f_, in the
lower end of the top-mast, is again brought upwards on the other side of
the mast, where it is at length fastened to an eye-bolt in the cap _g_,
which is always on the side opposite to the top-block _e_. To the lower
end of the top-rope is fixed the top-tackle _h_, the effort of which
being transmitted to the top-rope _d_, and thence to the heel of the
top-mast _f_, necessarily lifts the latter upwards, parallel to the
lower-mast. When the top-mast is raised to its proper height, fig. 3.
the lower end of it becomes firmly wedged in the square hole, above
described, between the tressel-trees. A bar of wood, or iron, called the
_fid_, is then thrust through a hole _i_ in the heel of it, across the
tressel-trees, by which the whole weight of the top-mast is supported.
In the same manner as the top-mast is retained at the head of the
lower-mast, the top-gallant-mast is erected, and fixed at the head of
the top-mast.
Besides the parts already mentioned in the construction of masts, with
respect to their length, the lower-masts of the largest ships are
composed of several pieces united into one body. As these are generally
the most substantial parts of various trees, a mast, formed by this
assemblage, is justly esteemed much stronger than one consisting of any
single trunk, whose internal solidity may be very uncertain. The several
pieces are formed and joined together, as represented in the section of
a lower-mast of this sort, fig. 4. plate VI. where _a_ is the shaft, or
principal piece into which the rest are fixed, with their sides or faces
close to each other. The whole is secured by several strong hoops of
iron, driven on the outside of the mast, _a_, fig. 1. where they remain
at proper distances.
The principal articles to be considered in equipping a ship with masts
are, 1st, the number; 2d, their situation in the vessel; and 3d, their
height above the water.
The masts being used to extend the sails by means of their yards, it is
evident that if their number were multiplied beyond what is necessary,
the yards must be extremely short, that they may not entangle each other
in _working_ the ship, and by consequence their sails will be very
narrow, and receive a small portion of wind. If, on the contrary, there
is not a sufficient number of masts in the vessel, the yards will be too
large and heavy, so as not to be managed without difficulty. There is a
mean between these extremes, which experience and the general practice
of the sea have determined; by which it appears, that in large ships,
every advantage of sailing is retained by three masts and a bowsprit.
The most advantageous position of the masts is undoubtedly that from
whence there results an equilibrio between the resistance of the water,
on the body of the ship, on one part, and of the direction of their
effort on the other. By every other position this equilibrio is
destroyed, and the greatest effort of the masts will operate to turn the
ship horizontally about its direction; a circumstance which retards her
velocity. It is counterbalanced indeed by the helm; but the same
inconvenience still continues; for the force of the wind, having the
resistance of the helm to overcome, is not intirely employed to push the
vessel forward. The axis of the resistance of the water should then be
previously determined, to discover the place of the main-mast, in order
to suspend the efforts of the water equally, and place the other masts
so as that their particular direction will coincide with that of the
_main-mast_. The whole of this would be capable of a solution, if the
figure of the vessel were regular, because the point, about which the
resistance of the water would be in equilibrio, might be discovered by
calculation.
But when the real figure of the ship is considered, these flattering
ideas will instantly vanish. This observation induced M. Saverien to
employ a mechanical method to discover the axis of resistance of the
water, which he apprehended might be used with success in the manner
following:
When the vessel is lanched, before the places of the masts are
determined, extend a rope A B, fig. 6. plate VI. from the head to the
stern. To the extremities A and B attach two other ropes A D, B C, and
apply to the other ends of these ropes two mechanical powers, to draw
the ship according to the direction B C, parallel to itself. The whole
being thus disposed, let a moveable tube Z, fixed upon the rope A B,
have another rope Z R attached to it, whose other end communicates with
a mechanical power R, equal to the two powers D and C. This last being
applied to the same vessel, in such manner as to take off the effects of
the two others by sliding upon the rope A B, so as to discover some
point Z, by the parallelism of the ropes A D B C feebly extended with
the rope Z R; the line Z R will be the axis of the equilibrium of the
water´s resistance, and by consequence the main-mast should be planted
in the point Z.
The figures E, E, E, are three windlasses on the shore, by which this
experiment is applied.
With regard to the situation of the other masts, it is necessary, in the
same manner, to discover two points; so that the direction of the two
mechanical powers operating, will be parallel to the axis of resistance
R Z already found.
The exact height of the masts, in proportion to the form and size of the
ship, remains yet a problem to be determined. The more the masts are
elevated above the centre of gravity, the greater will be the surface of
sail, which they are enabled to present to the wind; so far an
additional height seems to be advantageous. But this advantage is
diminished by the circular movement of the mast, which operates to make
the vessel stoop to its effort; and this inclination is increased, in
proportion to the additional height of the mast; an inconvenience which
it is necessary to guard against. Thus what is gained upon one hand is
lost upon the other. To reconcile these differences, it is certain, that
the height of the mast ought to be determined by the inclination of the
vessel, and that the point of her greatest inclination should be the
term of this height, above the centre of gravity. See the article TRIM.
With regard to the general practice of determining the height of the
masts, according to the different rates of the ships in the royal navy,
the reader is referred to the article SAIL.
In order to secure the masts, and counterbalance the strain they receive
from the effort of the sails impressed by the wind, and the agitation of
the ship at sea, they are sustained by several strong ropes, extended
from their upper-ends to the outside of the vessel, called _shrouds_,
see fig. 5. plate VI.
They are further supported by other ropes, stretched from their heads
towards the fore-part of the vessel. See RIGGING.
[Illustration:
_PLATE VI._
]
The mast, which is placed at the middle of the ship’s length, is called
the main-mast, _grand-mât_; that which is placed in the fore-part, the
foremast, _mât de misaine_; and that which is towards the stern is
termed the mizen-mast, _mât d’artimon_.
N. B. _Mizen_ is applied to this mast by all the nations of Europe,
except the French, who alone call the fore-mast _misaine_.
MASTER _of a ship of war_, _maitre_, an officer appointed by the
commissioners of the navy to take charge of the navigating and
conducting a ship from port to port, under the direction of the captain.
The management and disposition of the sails, the working of the ship
into her station in the order of battle, and the direction of her
movements in the time of action, and in the other circumstances of
danger, are also more particularly under his inspection. It is likewise
his duty to examine the provisions, and accordingly to admit none into
the ship but such as are sound, sweet, and wholsome. He is moreover
charged with the _stowage_, or disposition of these materials in the
ship’s hold; and to enable him the better to perform these services, he
is allowed several assistants, who are properly termed mates and
quarter-masters. See those articles.
MASTER _of a merchant-ship_, the commanding officer, who is appointed by
the merchants to manage the navigation and every thing relating to her
cargo, voyage, sailors, &c.
MASTER _at arms_, an officer appointed to teach the officers and crew of
a ship of war the exercise of small arms; to confine and plant centinels
over the prisoners, and superintend whatever relates to them during
their confinement. He is also to observe that the fire and lights are
all extinguished as soon as the evening gun is fired, except those which
are permitted by proper authority, or under the inspection of centinels.
It is likewise his duty to attend the _gangway_, when any boats arrive
aboard, and search them carefully, together with their rowers, that no
spirituous liquors may be conveyed into the ship, unless by permission
of the commanding officer. In these several duties he is assisted with
proper attendants, called his corporals, who also relieve the centinels,
and one another, at certain periods.
MASTER-_attendant_, an officer in the royal dock-yards, appointed to
hasten, and assist at, the fitting-out or dismantling, removing or
securing vessels of war, &c. at the port where he resides. He is
particularly to observe, that his majesty’s ships are securely moored;
and for this purpose he is expected frequently to review the _moorings_
which are sunk in the harbour, and observe that they are kept in proper
repair to be always ready when occasion requires. It is also his duty to
visit all the ships in _ordinary_, and see that they are frequently
cleaned and kept in order; and to attend at the general musters in the
dock-yards, taking care that all the officers, artificers, and
labourers, registered in the navy-books, are present at their duty.
MAT, _coussin_, a sort of thick web or texture, formed of spun-yarn, or
of a variety of _strands_, or separate parts of a small rope; or of a
number of rope-yarns twisted into _foxes_. The foxes are therefore
larger or smaller, as containing a greater or lesser number of
rope-yarns, in proportion to the thickness of the mat intended to be
woven.
Mats are commonly used to fasten upon the outside of such parts of the
standing rigging as are exposed to the friction of other ropes, in
extending, shifting, or trussing up the sails, particularly the lower
ones. The largest and strongest sort of these mats are called _panches_.
MATE _of a ship of war_, an officer under the direction of the master,
by whose choice he is generally appointed, to assist him in the several
branches of his duty. Accordingly he is to be particularly attentive to
the navigation in his watch, &c. to keep the _log_ regularly, and
examine the line, and glasses by which the ship’s course is measured,
and to adjust the sails to the wind in the fore-part of the ship. He is
also to have a diligent attention to the cables, seeing that they are
well _coiled_ and kept clean when laid in the _tier_, and sufficiently
_served_ when employed to ride the ship. Finally, he is to superintend,
and assist at the stowage of the hold, taking especial care that all the
ballast and provisions are properly stowed therein.
MATE _of a merchant-ship_, the officer who commands in the absence of
the master thereof, and shares the duty with him at sea; being charged
with every thing that regards the internal management of the ship, the
directing her course, and the government of her crew.
The number of mates allowed to ships of war and merchantmen is always in
proportion to the size of the vessel. Thus a first-rate man of war has
six mates, and an East-Indiaman the same number; a frigate of 20 guns,
and a small merchant-ship, have only one mate in each: and the
intermediate ships have a greater or smaller number, according to their
several sizes, or to the services on which they are employed.
MESS, a particular company of the officers or crew of a ship, who eat,
drink, and associate together.
MESS-MATE, a companion or associate of the above division. See the
article BIRTH.
MIDSHIP, _maitre_, a term of distinction, applied by shipwrights to
several pieces of timber which lie in the broadest part of the vessel;
as,
MIDSHIP-BEAM, _maitre-bau_, the beam upon which the extreme breadth of a
ship is formed, and which is situated in the _midship-frame_, nearly in
the middle of her length, serving as a standard from whence the
dimensions and proportions of the masts and yards are to be taken.
MIDSHIP-FRAME, _maitre-couple_, a name given to that timber, or
combination of pieces, formed into one timber, which determines the
extreme breadth of the ship, as well as the figure and dimension of all
the inferior timbers.
In the 8th page, from the beginning of the article _Naval_ ARCHITECTURE,
the reader will find a full explanation of what is meant by a frame of
timbers. He will also perceive the out-lines of all the principal
frames, with their gradual dimensions, from the midship-frame delineated
in the plane of projection annexed to that article. As the parts, of
which the several frames are composed, have the same relation to each
other throughout the vessel; and as all the corresponding pieces,
without and within those frames, are also nearly alike, and fixed in the
same manner, it will be sufficient for our purpose to represent the
principal, or midship-frame, together with its corresponding parts,
which are as follow:
Explanation of the _Midship-frame_, plate VII. which exhibits a
transverse section of a 74 gun ship, at the broadest part, answering to
the same scale by which are delineated the head, quarter, and stern of a
ship, of the same size, in plates IV. VIII. and X. to which the reader
is referred.
A the keel, with _a_ the false keel beneath it.
B the chocks fixed upon the kelson, to retain the opposite pieces of the
_riders_ firmly together.
C one of the beams of the orlop.
D one of the lower-deck beams; with _d_ the beams of the upper-deck.
E the hanging-knees, by which the beams are attached to the timbers.
F the standards, which are fixed above the decks to which they belong.
G the clamps, which sustain the extremities of the beams.
H the gun-ports of the lower-deck; with _h_ the ports of the upper-deck.
I, K, L different pieces of _thick-stuff_, placed opposite to the
several scarfs, or joinings, in the frame of timbers.
M the planks of the deck.
N the water-ways.
O the planks of the ceiling, between the several ranges of thick-stuff.
P the spirketting.
Q the mainwale, to fortify the ship’s side opposite to the lower-deck.
R the channel-wale, opposite to the upper-deck.
S the waist-rail.
T the string, with the moulding under the gunwale.
U the floor-timbers, which are laid across the keel, and bolted to it.
V the several futtocks; and W the top-timbers, which are all united into
one frame.
X the kelson.
MIDSHIPMAN, a sort of naval cadet, appointed by the captain of a ship of
war, to second the orders of the superior officers, and assist in the
necessary business of the vessel, either aboard or ashore.
The number of midshipmen, like that of all other officers, is always in
proportion to the size of the ship to which they belong. Thus a
first-rate man of war has twenty-four, and the inferior rates a suitable
number in proportion. No person can be appointed lieutenant, without
having previously served two years in the royal navy in this capacity,
or in that of _mate_, besides having been at least four years in actual
service at sea, either in merchant-ships, or in the royal navy.
Midshipman is accordingly the station in which a young volunteer is
trained in the several exercises, necessary to attain a sufficient
knowledge of the machinery, discipline, movements, and military
operations of a ship, to qualify him for a sea-officer.
[Illustration:
_PLATE VII._
]