over which the tide ripples. That between Mount Edgecombe and St. Nicholas' Isle, at Plymouth, has occasioned much loss of life.
BRIDGE-ISLET. A portion of land which becomes insular at high-water—as Old Woman's Isle at Bombay, and among others, the celebrated Lindisfarne, thus tidally sung by Scott:—
"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 passage 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 ship, 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 ships 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 constituted the snow, but both classes 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 ships.
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 ships are spread athwart the ship'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 passage-boats; in the Celtic meaning "passage 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 classed 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 ship 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 ship then brings home her anchor.—Bring home the log. When the pin slips out of the log ship 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 ship by trimming 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 ship 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 ship 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 ship 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 FASHION AND SHIP-SHAPE. Said when Bristol was in its palmy commercial days, unannoyed by Liverpool, and its shipping was all in proper good order.
BRITISH-BUILT SHIP. 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 ship, belonged to or were in possession of Her Majesty; or any ship whatsoever which has been, taken and condemned as lawful prize.
BRITISH SEAS. See Quatuor Maria.
