_To back and fill_, is alternately to back and fill the sails.

BACKSTAYS. Stays running from a masthead to the vessel's side, slanting a little aft. (See STAYS.)

BAGPIPE. _To bagpipe the mizzen_, is to lay it aback by bringing the sheet to the weather mizzen rigging.

BALANCE-REEF. A reef in a spanker or fore-and-aft mainsail, which runs from the outer head-earing, diagonally, to the tack. It is the closest reef, and makes the sail triangular, or nearly so.

BALE. _To bale a boat_, is to throw water out of her.

BALLAST. Heavy material, as iron, lead, or stone, placed in the bottom of the hold, to keep a vessel from upsetting.

_To freshen ballast_, is to shift it. Coa.r.s.e gravel is called _shingle ballast_.

BANK. A boat is _double banked_ when two oars, one opposite the other, are pulled by men seated on the same thwart.

BAR. A bank or shoal at the entrance of a harbor.

_Capstan-bars_ are heavy pieces of wood by which the capstan is hove round.

BARE-POLES. The condition of a ship when she has no sail set.

BARGE. A large double-banked boat, used by the commander of a vessel, in the navy.

BARK, OR BARQUE. (See PLATE 4.) A three-masted vessel, having her fore and main masts rigged like a ship's, and her mizzen mast like the main mast of a schooner, with no sail upon it but a spanker, and gaff topsail.

BARNACLE. A sh.e.l.l-fish often found on a vessel's bottom.

BATTENS. Thin strips of wood put around the hatches, to keep the tarpaulin down. Also, put upon rigging to keep it from chafing. A large batten widened at the end, and put upon rigging, is called a _scotchman_.

BEACON. A post or buoy placed over a shoal or bank to warn vessels off.

Also as a signal-mark on land.

BEAMS. Strong pieces of timber stretching across the vessel, to support the decks.

_On the weather or lee beam_, is in a direction to windward or leeward, at right angles with the keel.

_On beam-ends._ The situation of a vessel when turned over so that her beams are inclined toward the vertical.

BEAR. An object _bears_ so and so, when it is in such a direction from the person looking.

_To bear down_ upon a vessel, is to approach her from the windward.

_To bear up_, is to put the helm up and keep a vessel off from her course, and move her to leeward.

_To bear away_, is the same as to _bear up_; being applied to the vessel instead of to the tiller.

_To bear-a-hand._ To make haste.

BEARING. The direction of an object from the person looking. The _bearings_ of a vessel, are the widest part of her below the plank-shear. That part of her hull which is on the water-line when she is at anchor and in her proper trim.

BEATING. Going toward the direction of the wind, by alternate tacks.

BECALM. To intercept the wind. A vessel or highland to windward is said to _becalm_ another. So one sail _becalms_ another.

BECKET. A piece of rope placed so as to confine a spar or another rope.

A handle made of rope, in the form of a circle, (as the handle of a chest,) is called a _becket_.

BEES. Pieces of plank bolted to the outer end of the bowsprit, to reeve the foretopmast stays through.

BELAY. To make a rope fast by turns round a pin or coil, without hitching or seizing it.

BEND. To make fast.

_To bend a sail_, is to make it fast to the yard.

_To bend a cable_, is to make it fast to the anchor.

_A bend_, is a knot by which one rope is made fast to another.

BENDS. (See PLATE 3.) The strongest part of a vessel's side, to which the beams, knees, and foot-hooks are bolted. The part between the water's edge and the bulwarks.

BENEAPED. (See NEAPED.)

BENTICK SHROUDS. Formerly used, and extending from the futtock-staves to the opposite channels.

BERTH. The place where a vessel lies. The place in which a man sleeps.

BETWEEN-DECKS. The s.p.a.ce between any two decks of a ship.

BIBBS. Pieces of timber bolted to the hounds of a mast, to support the trestle-trees.

BIGHT. The double part of a rope when it is folded; in contradistinction from the ends. Any part of a rope may be called the bight, except the ends. Also, a bend in the sh.o.r.e, making a small bay or inlet.

BILGE. That part of the floor of a ship upon which she would rest if aground; being the part near the keel which is more in a horizontal than a perpendicular line.

_Bilge-ways._ Pieces of timber bolted together and placed under the bilge, in launching.

_Bilged._ When the bilge is broken in.

_Bilge Water._ Water which settles in the bilge.

_Bilge._ The largest circ.u.mference of a cask.

BILL. The point at the extremity of the fluke of an anchor.

BILLET-HEAD. (See HEAD.)

BINNACLE. A box near the helm, containing the compa.s.s.