An inlet of the sea formed by the curvature of the land between two capes or headlands, often used synonymously with gulf; though, in strict accuracy, the term should be applied only to those large recesses which are wider from cape to cape than they are deep. Exposed to sea-winds, a bay is mostly insecure. A bay is distinguished from a bend, as that a vessel may not be able to fetch out on either tack, and is embayed. A bay has proportionably a wider entrance than either a gulf or haven; a creek has usually a small inlet, and is always much less than a bay.
BAY. Laurel; hence crowned with bays.
BAYAMOS. Violent blasts of wind blowing from the land, on the south side of Cuba, and especially from the Bight of Bayamo, by which some of our cruisers have been damaged. They are accompanied by vivid lightning, and generally terminate in rain.
BAY-GULF. A branch of the sea, of which the entrance is the widest part, as contradistinguished from the strait-gulf. The Bay of Biscay is a well-known example of the semicircular gulf.
BAY-ICE. Ice newly formed on the surface of the sea, and having the colour of the water; it is then in the first stage of consolidation. The epithet is, however, also applied to ice a foot or two in thickness in bays.
BAYLE. An old term for bucket.
BAYONET [Sp. bayoneta]. A pike-dagger to fit on the muzzle of a musket, so as not to interfere with its firing.
BAZAR, or Bazaar. A market or market-place. An oriental term.
BAZARAS. A large flat-bottomed pleasure-boat of the Ganges, moved with both sails and oars.
BEACH. A littoral margin, or line of coast along the sea-shore, composed of sand, gravel, shingle, broken shells, or a mixture of them all: any gently sloping part of the coast alternately dry and covered by the tide. The same as strand.
BEACH, To. Sudden landing—to run a boat on the shore, to land a person with intent to desert him—an old buccaneer custom. To land a boat on a beach before a dangerous sea, this demands practical skill, for which the Dover and Deal men are famed.
BEACH-COMBERS. Loiterers around a bay or harbour.
BEACH-COMBING. Loafing about a port to filch small things.
BEACH-FLEA. A small crustacean (Talitra) frequenting sandy shores.
BEACH-GRASS. Alga marina thrown up by the surf or tide.
BEACHING A VESSEL. See under Voluntary Stranding. Also, the act of running a vessel up on the beach for various purposes where there is no other accommodation.
BEACH-MAN. A person on the coast of Africa who acts as interpreter to shipmasters, and assists them in conducting the trade.
BEACH-MASTER. A superior officer, captain, appointed to superintend disembarkation of an attacking force, who holds plenary powers, and generally leads the storming party. His acts when in the heat of action, if he summarily shoot a coward, are unquestioned—poor Falconer, to wit!
BEACH-MEN. A name applied to boatmen and those who land people through a heavy surf.
BEACH-RANGERS. Men hanging about sea-ports, who have been turned out of vessels for bad conduct.
BEACH-TRAMPERS. A name applied to the coast-guard.
BEACON. [Anglo-Saxon, béacn.] A post or stake erected over a shoal or sand-bank, as a warning to seamen to keep at a distance; also a signal-mark placed on the top of hills, eminences, or buildings near the shore for the safe guidance of shipping.
BEACONAGE. A payment levied for the maintenance of beacons.
BEAFT. Often used by east-country men for abaft.
BEAK, or Beak-head. A piece of brass like a beak, fixed at the head of the ancient galleys, with which they pierced their enemies. Pisæus is said to have first added the rostrum or beak-head. Later it was a small platform at the fore part of the upper deck, but the term is now applied to that part without the ship before the forecastle, or knee of the head, which is fastened to the stem and is supported by the main knee. Latterly, to meet steam propulsion, the whole of this is enlarged, strengthened, and armed with iron plates, and thus the armed stem revives the ancient strategy in sea-fights. Shakspeare makes Ariel thus allude to the beak in the "Tempest:"—
"I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flam'd amazement."
BEAKER. A flat drinking tumbler or cup, from the German becher. (See Bicker.)
BEAK-HEAD BEAM. For this important timber see Cat-beam.
BEAK-HEAD BULK-HEAD. The old termination aft of the space called beak-head, which inclosed the fore part of the ship.
BEAL. A word of Gaelic derivation for an opening or narrow pass between two hills.
BEAM. A long double stratum of murky clouds generally observed over the surface of the Mediterranean previous to a violent storm or an earthquake. The French call it trave.
BEAM. (See Abeam.)—Before the beam is an arc of the horizon, comprehended between a line that crosses the ship's length at right angles and some object at a distance before it; or between the line of the beam and that point of the compass which she stems. On the weather or lee beam is in a direction to windward or leeward at right angles with the keel.
BEAM-ARM. Synonymous with crow-foot (which see).
BEAM-ENDS. A ship is said to be on her beam-ends when she has heeled over so much on one side that her beams approach to a vertical position; hence also a person lying down is metaphorically said to be on his beam-ends.
BEAM-FILLINGS. Short lengths of wood cut to fit in between the beams to complete the cargo of a timber ship.
BEAM-LINE. A line raised along the inside of the ship fore and aft, showing the upper sides of the beams at her side.
BEAM OF THE ANCHOR. Synonymous with anchor-stock.
BEAMS. Strong transverse pieces of timber stretching across the ship from one side to the other, to support the decks and retain the sides at their proper distance, with which they are firmly connected by means of strong knees, and sometimes of standards. They are sustained at each end by thick stringers on the ship's side, called shelf-pieces, upon which they rest. The main-beam is next abaft the main-mast, which is stepped between two beams with transverse supports termed partners; the foremost of these is generally termed the main-beam, or the after-beam of the main-hatchway. The greatest beam of all is called the midship-beam.
BEAN-COD. A small fishing-vessel, or pilot-boat, common on the sea-coasts and in the rivers of Spain and Portugal; extremely sharp forward, having its stem bent inward above in a considerable curve; it is commonly navigated with a large lateen sail, which extends the whole length of the deck, and sometimes of an out-rigger over the stern, and is accordingly well fitted to ply to windward. They frequently set as many as twenty different sails, alow and aloft, by every possible contrivance, so
