BALANCINES, lifts of the yards.

BALANCINE de chaloupe, the topping-lift of a boat's boom.

BALANT, the bight of a rope.

BALADEUR d'une navire, the swabber or sweeper of a ship, usually called captain-swabber.

BALCONS, the galleries framed in the stern or quarter of a great ship.

BALISE, a sea-mark; the beacon or buoy of a shoal, or dangerous channel.

BALLAST. See LEST.

BALON, a sort of galley or barge of Siam.

BANC, a sand-bank; also the bench, thwart, or beam of a boat.

BANC à s'asseoir, the seats or benches placed in the stern-sheets of a boat or small vessel.

BANC à coucher, a sort of folding bed-stead, or settee-bed.

BANCES de rameurs, the thwarts or feats of the rowers in a galley or row-boat.

BANCHE, a ridge or reef of rocks, under the surface of the water.

BANDE, the side of a ship; also a coast, or the side of a river. Hence BANDE du nord, the northern shore, &c.

Vaisseau à LA BANDE, a ship laid on the careen.

BANDE de sabords, a tier of gun-ports on one side of a ship.

BANDER une voile, to line a sail at the edges in order to strengthen it.

BANDIERES, the flag or colours in the language of the gallies.

BANDINS, a sort of stanchions or small pillars, ornamented with sculpture, and used to support the after-canopy or awning of a row-galley.

BANDOULIERE, a cartridge-box for musquetry, used by the marines or others who fight with small arms.

BANNEAU. See BouÉE.

BANQUE, a banker, or vessel which fishes on the banks of Newfoundland, &c.

BANQUETTES, the stretchers of a galley or row-boat.

BAPTEME, the ceremony of ducking a sailor the first time he passes the line, or tropics; from which he may be redeemed by paying a certain forfeit. Hence

BAPTISER, to duck, &c.

BAPTISER un vaisseau, to give a ship her name at the time of launching.

BARAT, or BARATERIE, the forfeiture or fine paid by the master of a ship and his crew, for embezzling part of the cargo, or suffering it to be damaged by neglect of stowage, &c.

BARBE. See SAINTE-BARB.

BARBES d'un vaisseau, the entrance or fore-foot of a ship.

BARBEYER, to touch or shiver; expressed of a sail when shaking in the wind.

BARCES, short cannon, resembling a falconet, formerly used at sea.

BARCO-LONGO, a Spanish coasting-boat.

Reference Works