There are likewise other barges of a smaller kind, for the use of admirals and captains of ships of war. These are of a lighter frame, and may be easily hoisted into, and out of the ships to which they occasionally belong. See BOAT. BARGE, _cabotiere_, is also the name of a flat-bottomed vessel of burthen, for lading and discharging ships, and removing their cargoes from place to place in a harbour. BARK (_barca_, low Lat.) a general name given to small ships: it is however peculiarly appropriated by seamen to those which carry three masts without a mizen top-sail. Our northern mariners, who are trained in the coal-trade, apply this distinction to a broad-sterned ship, which carries no ornamental figure on the stem or prow. BARNICLE, _cravan_, a species of shell-fish, often found sticking to the bottoms of ships, rocks, &c. BARRICADE (_barricada_, Span.) a strong wooden rail, supported by several little pillars or stanchions, and extending, as a fence, across the foremost part of the quarter-deck. In a vessel of war, the intervals between the pillars are commonly filled with cork, junks of old cable, or matts of platted cordage. In the upper-part, there is a double rope-netting, supported by double cranes of iron, extending about a foot above the rail; and between the two parts of the netting are stuffed a number of hammocks, filled with the seamens bedding, to intercept and prevent the execution of small-shot fired by swivel guns, carabines, or muskets, in the time of battle. BARS _of the Capstern and Windlass_. See those articles. BASIN _of a dock_, (_bassin_, Fr.) a place where the water is confined by double flood-gates, and thereby prevented from running out at the tide of ebb. The use of it is to contain ships whilst repairing, either before they enter, or after they come out of the dock. BASIN, _paradis_, also implies some part of a haven, which opens from a narrow channel into a wide and spacious reservoir for shipping. BATTENS _of the hatches_, a sort of long narrow laths, scantlings of wooden stuff, or streight hoops of casks. They are nailed along the edges of tarpaulings, which are pieces of tarred canvas, of sufficient breadth and length to cover the hatches at sea; the battens serve to confine the edges of the tarpaulings close down to the sides of the hatches, to prevent the water, which may rush over the decks in a storm, from penetrating into the lower apartments of the ship. BAY, _baye_, a gulf or inlet of the sea-coast, comprehended between two promontories, or capes of land, where shipping frequently ride at anchor, sheltered from the wind and sea. BEACON, _balise_, (_beacon_, Sax.) a post or stake erected over a shoal or sand-bank, as a warning to seamen to keep their ships at a distance.