_To_ BECALM, _derober_, (from _calme_, Dut.) to intercept the current of the wind, in its passage to a ship, with any contiguous object, as a shore above her sails, a high sea behind, or some other ship. At this time the sails remain in a state of rest, and are consequently deprived of their power to govern the motion of the ship. BECKETS, _bille_, imply in general any thing used to confine loose ropes, tackles, oars, or spars, in a convenient place, where they may be disposed out of the way till they are wanted. Hence, beckets are either large hooks, or short pieces of rope, with a knot in one end and an eye in the other, or formed like a circular wreath; or they are wooden brackets; and, probably, from a corruption and misapplication of this last term, arose the word becket, which seems often to be confounded with bracket. _Put the tacks and sheets in the_ BECKETS! the order to hang up the weather main and fore-sheet, and the lee main and fore-tack, to a little knot and eye-becket on the foremost main and fore-shrouds, when the ship is close-hauled, to prevent them from hanging in the water. BED, a flat thick piece of timber, usually formed of the rough staves of casks, or such like materials, to be lodged under the quarters of casks containing any liquid, and stowed in a ship’s hold. The use of the beds is to support the cask, and keep the bilge, or middle-part of it, from bearing against the ship’s floor, or against the body upon which it rests, lest the staves should give way and break in the place where they are weakest: or lie in a wet place, so as to rot in the course of the voyage. See the article STOWING. BED _of a river_, _lit._, the bottom of the channel in which the stream or current usually flows. BED _of a cannon_. See CARRIAGE. _To_ BELAY, _amarrer_, (from _beleygen_, Belg.) to fasten a rope, by winding it several times round a cleat, belaying-pin, or kevel: this term is peculiar to small ropes, and chiefly the running-rigging, there being several other expressions used for large ropes, as bitting, bending, making fast, stoppering, &c. See those articles. BEND, _avuste_, (probably from _bindan_, Sax. to bind) the knot by which one rope is fastened to another, hence _To_ BEND, is to fasten one rope to another, of which there are several methods. BENDING _the cable_, the operation of clinching, or tying the cable to the ring of its anchor. BENDING _a sail_, fastening it to its yard or stay. See the articles SAIL, STAY, and YARD. BENDS, the thickest and strongest planks in a ship’s side. See WALES, by which name they are more properly called. BETWEEN-DECKS, _entre-pont_, the space contained between any two decks of a ship. BEVELLING, in ship-building, the art of hewing a timber with a proper and regular curve, according to a mould which is laid on one side of its surface.