The Sailor's Word-Book Part 24

BATARDATES. Square-stemmed row-galleys.

BATARDEAU. In fortification, a dam of masonry crossing the ditch: its top is constructed of such a form as to afford no pa.s.sage along it.

BATARDELLES. Galleys less strong than the capitana, and placed on each side of her.

BATEAU. A flat-bottomed, sharp-ended clumsy boat, used on the rivers and lakes of Canada; some of them are large. Also a peculiar army pontoon.

BATED. A plump, full-roed fish is said to be bated.

BATELLA. A small plying-boat.

BATH. (_See_ WAs.h.i.+NG-PLACE.) An order of knighthood inst.i.tuted in 1339, revived in 1725, and enlarged as a national reward of naval and military merit in January, 1815. Henry IV. gave this name, because the forty-six esquires on whom he conferred this honour at his coronation had watched all the previous night, and then _bathed_ as typical of their pure virtue. The order was supposed to belong to men who distinguished themselves by valour as regards the navy, but it is now deemed an inferior representation of court favour.

BATILLAGE. An old term for boat-hire.

BATMAN. A Turkish weight of 6 okes, or about 18 lbs. English. There is also a smaller batman in Turkey, of about 4 lbs. 10 ozs. English. In Persia there are also two batmans--the larger equal to 12 lbs. English, and the other is of about half that weight. Also, a soldier a.s.signed to a mounted officer as groom.

BATOON, BASTON, OR BATON. A staff, truncheon, or badge of military honour for field-marshals. A term in heraldry. Also, _batoons of St.

Paul_, the fossil spines of echini, found in Malta and elsewhere.

BAT-SWAIN. An Anglo-Saxon expression for boatswain.

BATTA. Extra allowance of pay granted to troops in India, varying somewhat with the nature of the service they are employed upon, and their distance from the capital of the presidency.

BATTALIA. The order of battle.

BATTALION. A force of soldiers, complete in staff and officers, of such strength as will allow of its manuvres on the field of battle being intimately regulated by one superior officer. The term is now proper to infantry only, and represents from 500 to 1000 men. It is the ordinary unit made use of in estimating the infantry strength of an army.

BATTARD. An early cannon of small size.

BATTELOE. A lateen-rigged vessel of India.

BATTENING THE HATCHES. Securing the tarpaulins over them. (_See_ BATTENS OF THE HATCHES.)

BATTENS. In general, scantlings of wood from 1 inch to 3 inches broad.

Long slips of fir used for setting fair the sheer lines of a s.h.i.+p, or drawing the lines by in the moulding loft, and setting off distances.

BATTENS FOR HAMMOCKS. _See_ HAMMOCK-BATTENS.

BATTENS OF THE HATCHES. Long narrow laths, or straightened hoops of casks, serving by the help of nailing to confine the edges of the tarpaulins, and keep them close down to the sides of the hatchways, in bad weather. Also, thin strips of wood put upon rigging, to keep it from chafing, by those who dislike mats: when large these are designated _Scotchmen_.

BATTERING GUNS. Properly guns whose weight and power fit them for demolis.h.i.+ng by direct force the works of the enemy; hence all heavy, as distinguished from field or light, guns come under the term. (_See_ SIEGE-ARTILLERY and GARRISON GUNS.)

BATTERING RAM. _See_ RAM.

BATTERING TRAIN. The train of heavy ordnance necessary for a siege, which, since the copious introduction of vertical and other sh.e.l.l fire, is more correctly rendered by the term siege-train (which see).

BATTERY. A place whereon cannon, mortars, &c., are or may be mounted for action. It generally has a parapet for the protection of the gunners, and other defences and conveniences according to its importance and objects. (_See also_ FLOATING BATTERY.) Also, a company of artillery. In field-artillery it includes men, guns (usually six in the British service), horses, carriages, &c., complete for service.

BATTLE. An engagement between two fleets, or even single s.h.i.+ps, usually called a sea-fight or engagement. The conflict between the forces of two contending armies.

BATTLE LANTERNS (American). _See_ FIGHTING-LANTERNS.

BATTLEMENTS. The vertical notches or openings made in the parapet walls of old castles and fortified buildings, to serve for embrasures to the bowmen, arquebusiers, &c., of former days.

BATTLE-ROYAL. A term derived from c.o.c.k-fighting, but generally applied to a noisy confused row.

BATTLE THE WATCH, TO. To s.h.i.+ft as well as we can; to contend with a difficulty. To depend on one's own exertions.

BATTLING-STONE. A large stone with a smooth surface by the side of a stream, on which washers beat their linen.

BATTS. A north-country term for flat grounds adjoining islands in rivers, sometimes used for the islands themselves.

BAT-WARD. An old term for a boat-keeper.

BAUN. _See_ BORE.

BAVIER. The beaver of a helmet.

BAVIN. Brushwood bound up with only one withe: a f.a.ggot is tied with two. It is often spelled _baven_, but Shakspeare has

"Rash bavin wits, Soon kindled and soon burned."

This underwood is sometimes procurable by s.h.i.+ps where none other can be got. Bavin in war applies to fascines.

BAW-BURD. An old expression of larboard.

BAWDRICK. Corrupted from _baldrick_. A girdle or sword-belt.

BAWE. A species of worm, formerly used as a bait for fis.h.i.+ng.

BAWGIE. One of the names given to the great black and white gull (_Larus marinus_) in the Shetlands.

BAWKIE. A northern term for the auk, or razor-bill.

BAXIOS. [Sp.] Rocks or sand-banks covered with water. Scopuli.

BAY. The fore-part of a s.h.i.+p between decks, before the bitts (_see_ SICK-BAY). Foremost messing-places between decks in s.h.i.+ps of war.

BAY. 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.