The Sailor's Word-Book Part 26

"And then their s.h.i.+ps could only follow, For we had beat them all dead hollow."

BEATEN BACK. Returning into port from stress of foul weather.

BEATING, OR TURNING TO WINDWARD. The operation of making progress by alternate tacks at sea against the wind, in a zig-zag line, or transverse courses; beating, however, is generally understood to be turning to windward in a storm or fresh wind.

BEATING THE b.o.o.bY. The beating of the hands from side to side in cold weather to create artificial warmth.

BEATING WIND. That which requires the s.h.i.+p to make her way by tacks; a baffling or contrary wind.

BEATSTER. One who _beats_ or mends the Yarmouth herring-nets.

BEAT TO ARMS. The signal by drum to summon the men to their quarters.

BEAT TO QUARTERS. The order for the drummer to summon every one to his respective station.

BEAVER. A helmet in general, but particularly that part which lets down to allow of the wearer's drinking.

BECALM, TO. To intercept the current of the wind in its pa.s.sage to a s.h.i.+p, by means of any contiguous object, as a high sh.o.r.e, some other s.h.i.+p to windward, &c. At this time the sails remain in a sort of rest, and consequently deprived of their power to govern the motion of the s.h.i.+p. Thus one sail becalms another.

BECALMED. Implies that from the weather being calm, and not a breath of wind blowing, the sails hang loose against the mast.

BECHE DE MER. _See_ TREPANG.

BECK [the Anglo-Saxon _becca_]. A small mountain-brook or rivulet, common to all northern dialects. A Gaelic or Manx term for a thwart or bench in the boat.

BECKET. A piece of rope placed so as to confine a spar or another rope; anything used to keep loose ropes, tackles, or spars in a convenient place; hence, beckets are either large hooks or short pieces of rope with a knot at one end and an eye in the other; or formed like a circular wreath for handles; as with cutla.s.s hilts, boarding pikes, tomahawks, &c.; 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. Also, a grummet either of rope or iron, fixed to the bottom of a block, for making fast the standing end of the fall.

BECKET, THE TACKS AND SHEETS IN THE. The order to hang up the weather-main and fore-sheet, and the lee-main and fore-tack, to the small knot and eye becket on the foremost-main and fore-shrouds, when the s.h.i.+p is close hauled, to prevent them from hanging in the water. A kind of large cleat seized on a vessel's fore or main rigging for the sheets and tacks to lie in when not required. Cant term for pockets--"Hands out of beckets, sir."

BED. Flat thick pieces of wood, lodged under the quarters of casks containing any liquid, and stowed in a s.h.i.+p's hold, in order to keep them bilge-free; being steadied upon the beds by means of wedges called quoins. The impression made by a s.h.i.+p's bottom on the mud on having been left by an ebb-tide. The bite made in the ground by the fluke of an anchor. A kind of false deck, or platform, placed on those decks where the guns were too low for the ports.--_Bed of a gun-carriage_, or _stool-bed_. The piece of wood between the cheeks or brackets which, with the intervention of the quoin, supports the breech of the gun. It is itself supported, forward, on the bed-bolt, and aft, generally with the intervention of an elevating-screw, on the rear axle-tree.

BED OR BARREL SCREWS. A powerful machine for lifting large bodies, and placed against the gripe of a s.h.i.+p to be launched for starting her.

BED-BOLT. A horizontal bolt pa.s.sing through both brackets of a gun-carriage near their centres, and on which the forward end of the stool-bed rests.

BEDDING A CASK. Placing dunnage round it.

BEDLAMERS. Young Labrador seals, which set up a dismal cry when they cannot escape their pursuers--and go madly after each other in the sea.

BED OF A MORTAR. The solid frame on which a mortar is mounted for firing. For sea-service it is generally made of wood; for land-service, of iron, except in the smaller natures. In mortar vessels as latterly fitted, the bed traverses on a central pivot over a large table or platform of wood, having under it ma.s.sive india-rubber buffers, to moderate the jar from the discharge.--_Bed of a river_, that part of the channel of a stream over which the water generally flows, as also that part of the basin of a sea or lake on which the water lies.

BED-OF-GUNS. A nautical phrase implying ordnance too heavy for a s.h.i.+p's scantling, or a fort over-gunned.

BE-DUNDERED. Stupified with noise.

BEE. A ring or hoop of metal.--_Bees of the bowsprit._ (_See_ BEE-BLOCKS.)

BEE-BLOCKS. Pieces of hard wood bolted to the outer end of the bowsprit, to reeve the fore-topmast stays through, the bolt, serving as a pin, commonly called bees.

BEEF. A figurative term for strength.--_More beef!_ more men on.

BEEF-KID. A mess utensil for carrying meat from the coppers.

BEETLE. A s.h.i.+pwright's heavy mallet for driving the wedges called reeming irons, so as to open the seams in order to caulk. (_See_ REEMING.)

BEETLE-HEAD. A large beetle, weighing 1000 lbs., swayed up by a crabwinch to a height, and dropped by a pincer-shaped hook; it is used in pile-driving.

BEFORE OR ABAFT THE BEAM. The bearing of any object which is before or abaft a right line to the keel, at the mids.h.i.+p section of a s.h.i.+p.

BEFORE THE MAST. The station of the working seamen, as distinguis.h.i.+ng them from the officers.

BEGGAR-BOLTS. A contemptuous term for the missiles which were thrown by the galley-slaves at an approaching enemy.

BEHAVIOUR. The action and qualities of a s.h.i.+p under different impulses.

Seamen speak of the manner in which she behaves, as if she acted by her own instinct.

BEIKAT. _See_ BYKAT.

BEILED. A sea-term in the old law-books, apparently for moored.

BEING. _See_ BING.

BELAY, TO. To fasten a rope when it has been sufficiently hauled upon, by twining it several times round a cleat, belaying pin, or kevel, without hitching or seizing; this is chiefly applied to the running rigging, which needs to be so secured that it may be quickly let go in case of a squall or change of wind; there being several other expressions used for securing large ropes, as bitting, making fast, stoppering, &c.--_Belay there_, stop! that is enough!--_Belay that yarn_, we have had enough of it. Stand fast, secure all, when a hawser has been sufficiently hauled. When the top-sails, or other sails have been hoisted taut up, or "belay the main-tack," &c.

BELAYING PINS. Small wooden or iron cylinders, fixed in racks in different parts of the s.h.i.+p, for belaying running ropes to.

BELEAGUER. To invest or closely surround an enemy's post, in such manner as to prevent all relief or communication.

BELFRY. An ornamental frame or shelter, under which the s.h.i.+p's bell is suspended.

BELL. _Strike the bell._ The order to strike the clapper against the bell as many times as there are half hours of the watch elapsed; hence we say it is two bells, three bells, &c., meaning there are two or three half-hours past. The watch of four hours is eight bells.

BELLA STELLA. A name used by old seamen for the cross-staff.

BELLATRIX. ? Orionis.

BELL-BUOY. A large can-buoy on which is placed, in wicker-work, a bell, which is sounded by the heaving and setting of the sea.

BELLIGERENT. An epithet applied to any country which is in a state of warfare.

BELLOWS. An old hand at the bellows. A colloquialism for a man up to his duty. "A fresh hand at the _bellows_" is said when a gale increases.

BELL-ROPE. A short rope spliced round a thimble in the eye of the bell-crank, with a double wall-knot crowned at its end.

BELLS. _See_ WATCH.

BELL-TOP. A name applied to the top of a quarter-gallery, when the upper stool is hollowed away, or made like a rim.