The Sailor's Word-Book Part 39

"The tide did now his flood-mark gain, And girdled in the saint's domain: For, with the flow and ebb, its style Varies from continent to isle; Dry-shod, o'er sands, twice ev'ry day The pilgrims to the shrine find way; Twice every day the waves efface Of staves and sandall'd feet the trace."

BRIDGE-TRAIN. An equipment for insuring the pa.s.sage of troops over a river. Pontooners. (_See_ PONTOON.)

BRIDLE. _See_ MOORING-BRIDLE and BOWLINE-BRIDLE.

BRIDLE-PORT. A square port in the bows of a s.h.i.+p, for taking in mooring bridles. They are also used for guns removed from the port abaft, and required to fire as near a line ahead as possible. They are main-deck chase-ports.

BRIDLES. The upper part of the moorings laid in the queen's harbours, to ride s.h.i.+ps or vessels of war. (_See_ MOORINGS.)

BRIG. A two-masted square-rigged vessel, without a square main-sail, or a trysail-mast abaft the main-mast. This properly const.i.tuted the snow, but both cla.s.ses are latterly blended, and the terms therefore synonymous.

BRIGADE. A party or body of men detached for a special service. A division of troops under the command of a general officer. In artillery organization on land, a brigade is a force usually composed of more than a battery; in the field it commonly consists of two or three batteries; on paper, and for administrative purposes, of eight.

BRIGADE-MAJOR. A staff officer attached to a brigade, and is the channel through which all orders are received from the general and communicated to the troops.

BRIGADE-ORDERS. Those issued by the general officer commanding troops which are brigaded.

BRIGADIER. An officer commanding a brigade, and somewhat the same as commodore for a squadron of s.h.i.+ps.

BRIGANDINE. A pliant scale-like coat of mail.

BRIGANTINE. A square-rigged vessel with two masts. A term variously applied by the mariners of different European nations to a peculiar sort of vessel of their own marine. Amongst British seamen this vessel is distinguished by having her main-sail set nearly in the plane of her keel, whereas the main-sails of larger s.h.i.+ps are spread athwart the s.h.i.+p's length, and made fast to a yard which hangs parallel to the deck; but in a brig, the foremost side of the main-sail is fastened at different heights to hoops which encircle the main-mast, and slide up and down it as the sail is hoisted or lowered: it is extended by a gaff above and a boom below. Brigantine is a derivative from brig, first applied to pa.s.sage-boats; in the Celtic meaning "pa.s.sage over the water." (_See_ HERMAPHRODITE OR BRIG-SCHOONER.)

BRIGANTS. Formerly, natives of the northern parts of England.

BRIGDIE. A northern name for the basking shark (_Squalus maximus_).

BRIGHT LOOK-OUT. A vigilant one.

BRIG-SCHOONER. (_See_ HERMAPHRODITE and BRIGANTINE, by which, term she is at present cla.s.sed in law.) Square-rigged on the fore-mast, schooner on the main-mast.

BRILL. The _Pleuronectes rhombus_, a common fish, allied to, but rather smaller than, the turbot.

BRIM. The margin or bank of a stream, lake, or river.

BRIMSTONE. _See_ SULPHUR.

BRINE, OR PICKLE. Water replete with saline particles, as brine-pickle for salt meat. The briny wave.

BRINE-GAUGE. _See_ SALINOMETER.

BRINE-PUMPS. When inconvenient to blow off the brine which collects at the bottom of a steamer's boilers, the brine-pump is used for clearing away the deposit.

BRING BY THE LEE, TO. To incline so rapidly to leeward of the course when the s.h.i.+p sails large, or nearly before the wind, as in scudding before a gale, that the lee-side is unexpectedly brought to windward, and by laying the sails all aback, exposes her to the danger of over-setting. (_See_ BROACH-TO.)

BRING 'EM NEAR. The day-and-night telescope.

BRINGERS UP. The last men in a boarding or small-arm party. Among soldiers, it means the whole last rank of a battalion drawn up, being the hindmost men of every file.

BRING HOME THE ANCHOR, TO, is to weigh it. It applies also when the flukes slip or will not hold; a s.h.i.+p then brings home her anchor.--_Bring home the log_. When the pin slips out of the log s.h.i.+p and it slides through the water.

BRINGING IN. The detention of a vessel on the high seas, and bringing her into port for adjudication.

BRINGING-TO THE YARD. Hoisting up a sail, and bending it to its yard.

BRING-TO, TO. To bend, as to bring-to a sail to the yard. Also, to check the course of a s.h.i.+p by tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the sails so that they shall counteract each other, and keep her nearly stationary, when she is said to lie by, or lie-to, or heave-to.--_Bring to!_ The order from one s.h.i.+p to another to put herself in that situation in order to her being boarded, spoken to, or examined. Firing a blank gun across the bows of a s.h.i.+p is the forcible signal to shorten sail and bring-to until further pleasure.--_Bring-to_ is also used in applying a rope to the capstan, as "bring-to the messenger."

BRING-TO AN ANCHOR, TO. To let go the anchor in the intended port. "All hands bring s.h.i.+p to an anchor!" The order by which the people are summoned for that duty, by the pipes of the boatswain and his mates.

BRING UP, TO. To cast anchor.

BRING UP WITH A ROUND TURN. Suddenly arresting a running rope by taking a round turn round a bollard, bitt-head, or cleat. Said of doing a thing effectually though abruptly. It is used to bring one up to his senses by a severe rating.

BRISAS. A north-east wind which blows on the coast of South America during the trades.

BRISMAK. A name among the Shetlanders for the excellent fish called tusk or torsk, the best of the cod kind (_Brosmius vulgaris_).

BRISTOL FAs.h.i.+ON AND s.h.i.+P-SHAPE. Said when Bristol was in its palmy commercial days, unannoyed by Liverpool, and its s.h.i.+pping was all in proper good order.

BRITISH-BUILT s.h.i.+P. Such as has been built in Great Britain or Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, or some of the colonies, plantations, islands, or territories in Asia, Africa, or America, which, at the time of building the s.h.i.+p, belonged to or were in possession of Her Majesty; or any s.h.i.+p whatsoever which has been, taken and condemned as lawful prize.

BRITISH SEAS. _See_ QUATUOR MARIA.

BRITISH s.h.i.+P. May be foreign built, or rebuilt on a foreign keel which belonged to any of the people of Great Britain and Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, or the Isle of Man, or of any colony, island, or territory in Asia, Africa, or America, or was registered before the 1st of May, 1786.

BRITISH SUBJECT. Settled in an enemy's country, may not trade in any contraband goods.

BRITTLE-STAR. The common name of a long-rayed star-fish (_Ophiocoma rosula_).

BROACH A BUSINESS, TO. To begin it.

BROACH-TO, TO. To fly up into the wind. It generally happens when a s.h.i.+p is carrying a press of canvas with the wind on the quarter, and a good deal of after-sail set. The masts are endangered by the course being so altered, as to bring it more in opposition to, and thereby increasing the pressure of the wind. In extreme cases the sails are caught flat aback, when the masts would be likely to give way, or the s.h.i.+p might go down stern foremost.

BROAD ARROW. The royal mark for government stores of every description.

To obliterate, deface, or remove this mark is felony; or even to be in possession of any goods so marked without sufficient grounds. It is no doubt one of the Ditmarsh runes.

BROAD AXE. Formerly a warlike instrument; also for beheading; specially applied to the axe of carpenters for mast-making, and sometimes cutting away the masts or cable.

BROAD CLOTH. Square sails.

BROAD OF WATER. An extensive lake with a channel communicating with the sea, or a wide opening of a river after pa.s.sing a narrow entrance.

BROAD PENNANT. A swallow-tailed piece of buntin at the mast-head of a man-of-war; the distinctive mark of a commodore. The term is frequently used for the officer himself. It tapers, in contradistinction to a cornet, which has only the triangle cut out of it.

BROAD R. _See_ BROAD ARROW.

BROADS. Fresh-water lakes, in contradistinction to rivers or narrow waters.