The Sailor's Word-Book Part 35

BOOM-MAINSAIL. _See_ MAIN-SAIL.

BOOMS. A s.p.a.ce where the spare spars are stowed; the launch being generally stowed between them.

BOOPAH. A Tongatabou canoe with a single out-rigger.

BOOTHYR. An old term, denoting a small river vessel.

BOOT-TOPPING. The old operation of sc.r.a.ping off the gra.s.s, slime, sh.e.l.ls, &c., which adhere to the bottom, near the surface of the water, and daubing it over with a mixture of tallow, sulphur, and resin, as a temporary protection against worms. This is chiefly performed where there is no dock or other commodious situation for breaming or careening, or when the hurry of a voyage renders it inconvenient to have the whole bottom properly trimmed and cleansed. The term is now applied to sheathing a vessel with planking over felt.

BOOTY. That sort of prize which may be distributed at the capstan-head, or at once.

BOOZE. A carouse; hence, _boozy_, elevated by liquor.

BORA. A very violent wind experienced in the upper part of the Adriatic Sea, but which fortunately is of no great duration.

BORACCHIO [Sp. _borracho_, drunk]. A skin for holding wine or water, usually a goat's. Used in the Levant. A skin-full; literally, gorged with wine.

BORASCA. A storm, with thunder and lightning.

BORD. The sea-coast, an old term. Formerly meant the side, edge, or brim; hence, as applied to a ship, to throw overboard, is to cast anything over the side of the vessel.

BORDELS. An old word for houses built along a strand. In the old play called the "Ladies' Privilege," it is said:--"These gentlemen know better to cut a caper than a cable, or board a pink in the bordels than a pinnace."

BORDER. A term referring to the nature of the vegetation on the margin of a stream or lake, or to artificial works constructed along the banks.

BORD YOU. A saying of a man waiting, to one who is drinking, meaning that he claims the next turn.

BORE. A sudden and rapid flow of tide in certain inlets of the sea; as the monstrous wave in the river Hooghly, called _bahu_ by the natives, which rolls in with the noise of distant thunder at flood-tide. It occurs from February to November, at the new and full moon. Its cause has not been clearly defined, although it probably arises from the currents during spring-tides, acting on a peculiar conformation of the banks and bed of the river; it strikes invariably on the same part of the banks, majestically rolling over to one side, and pa.s.sing on diagonally to the other with impetuous violence. The bore also occurs in England, near Bristol; and in America, in several rivers, but especially in the Bay of Fundy, where at the river Petticodiac the tide rises 76 feet. It also occurs in Borneo and several rivers in the East. (_See_ HYGRE.) Also, the interior cavity of a piece of ordnance, generally cylindrical in shape, except when a part of it is modified into a chamber.

BOREAS. A cla.s.sical name for the north wind, still in use; indeed a brackish proverb for extreme severity of weather says--"Cold and chilly, like Boreas with an iceberg in each pocket."

BORE DOWN. Sailed down from to windward.

BORHAME. A northern term for the flounder.

BORING. In Arctic seas, the operation of forcing the ship through loose ice under a heavy press of sail; at least attempting the chance of advantage of cracks or openings in the pack.

BORN WITH A SILVER SPOON IN HIS MOUTH. Said of a person who, by birth or connection, has all the usual obstacles to advancement cleared away for him. Those who toil unceasingly for preferment, and toil in vain, are said to have been born with a wooden ladle. Again, the silver-spoon gentry are said to come on board through the cabin windows; those less favoured, over the bows, or through the hawse-holes.

BORNE. Placed on the books for victuals and wages; also supernumerary and "for rank."

BORROW, TO. To approach closely either to land or wind; to hug a shoal or coast in order to avoid adverse tide.

BORT. The name given to a long fishing-line in the Shetland Isles.

BOSS. A head of water, or reservoir. Also the apex of a shield.

BOTARGA. The roe of the mullet pressed flat and dried; that of commerce, however, is from the tunny, a large fish of pa.s.sage which is common in the Mediterranean. The best kind comes from Tunis; it must be chosen dry and reddish. The usual way of eating it is with olive-oil and lemon-juice.

BOTCH, TO. To make bungling work.

BOTE'S-CARLE. An old term for the c.o.xswain of a boat.

BOTHERED. Getting among adverse currents, with shifting winds.

BOTH SHEETS AFT. The situation of a square-rigged ship that sails before the wind, or with the wind right astern. It is said also of a half-drunken sailor rolling along with his hands in his pockets and elbows square.

BOTTE. An old English term for boat, and a.s.suredly the damaged boat into which Prospero is turned adrift by Shakspeare.

BOTTLE-b.u.mP. The bittern, so called on our east coast.

BOTTLE-CHARTS. Those on which the set of surface currents are exhibited, derived from papers found in bottles which have been thrown overboard for that purpose, and washed up on the beach, or picked up by other ships.

BOTTLE-NOSE, OR BOTTLE-NOSED WHALE. A name applied to several of the smaller cetaceans of the northern seas, more especially to the _Hyperoodon rostratus_.

BOTTOM. A name for rich low land formed by alluvial deposits: but in a general sense it denotes the lowest part of a thing, in contradistinction to the top or uppermost part. In navigation, it is used to denote as well the channel of rivers and harbours as the body or hull of a ship. Thus, in the former sense we say "a gravelly bottom, clayey bottom," &c., and in the latter sense "a British bottom, a Dutch bottom," &c. By statute, certain commodities imported in foreign bottoms pay a duty called "petty customs," over and above what they are liable to if imported in British bottoms. Bottom of a ship or boat is that part which is below the wales.

BOTTOM-CLEAN. Thoroughly clean, free from weeds, &c.

BOTTOM-PLANK. That which is placed between the garboard-strake and lower back-strake.

BOTTOMREE, OR BOTTOMRY-BOND. The contract of bottomry is a negotiable instrument, which may be put in suit by the person to whom it is transferred: it is in use in all countries of maritime commerce and interests. A contract in the nature of a mortgage of a ship, when the owner of it borrows money to enable him to carry on the voyage, and pledge the keel, or bottom of the ship, as a security for the repayment.

If the ship be lost the lender also loses his whole money; but if it return in safety then he shall receive back his princ.i.p.al, and also the premium stipulated to be paid, however it may exceed the usual or legal rate of interest. The affair is, however, only regarded as valid upon the ground of necessity; and thus exacting more than the interest allowed by law is not deemed usury.

BOTTOMRY PREMIUM. A high rate of interest charged on the safety of the ship--the lender losing his whole money if she be lost.

BOTTOM-WIND. A phenomenon that occurs on the lakes in the north of England, especially Derwent Water, which is often agitated by swelling waves without any apparent cause.

BOUCHE. _See_ BUSH.

BOUGE OR BOWGE AND CHINE, OR BILGE AND CHIMB. The end of one cask stowed against the bilge of another. To prepare a ship for the purpose of sinking it.

BOUILLI. Termed by seamen bully-beef; disliked because all the substance is boiled away to enrich the cook's grease-tub, and the meat is useless as food; rejected even by dogs. In one ship of war it produced mutiny; vide Adams' account of the _Bounty_ miseries. It is also the name given to highly cooked meat in hermetically sealed tin canisters.

BOULDER-HEAD. A work against the encroachment of the sea, made of wooden stakes.

BOULDERS. Stones worn and rounded by the attrition of the waves of the sea: the word, on the authority of Hunter, was considered a technical term in the fourteenth century, as appears in a warrant of John of Gaunt for the repair of Pontefract Castle--"De peres, appeles buldres, a n're dit chastel come nous semblerez resonables pur la defense de meisme."

BOULEPONGES. A drink to which many of the deaths of Europeans in India were ascribed; but in Bernier's "Travels," in the train of Aurungzebe, in 1664, we are informed that "bouleponge is a beverage made of arrack, sugar, lemon-juice, and a little muscadine." Probably a corruption of bowls of punch. (_See_ PUNCH.)

BOUNCE. The larger dog-fish.

BOUNCER. A gun which kicks violently when fired.

BOUND. Destined for a particular service. Intended voyage to a place.--_Ice-bound._ Totally surrounded with ice.--_Tide-bound_, or be-neaped. (_See_ NEAPED.)--_Wind-bound._ Prevented from sailing by contrary wind.--_Where are you bound to?_--_i.e._ To what place are you going?--_Bound on a cruise._ A corruption of the old word _bowne_, which is still in use on the northern coasts, and means to make ready, to prepare.

BOUNTY. A sum of money given by government, authorized by act of parliament or royal proclamation, to men who voluntarily enter into the army or navy; and the widow of such volunteer seaman killed or drowned in the service was ent.i.tled to a bounty equal to a year's pay.