BIRTH, or BERTH, _eviteé_, the station in which a ship rides at anchor, either alone or in a fleet; or the distance between the ship and any adjacent object; comprehending the extent of the space in which she ranges at the length of her cables; as, _she lies in a good birth_, i. e. in a convenient situation, or at a proper distance from the shore and other vessels; and where there is good anchoring-ground, and shelter from the violence of the wind and sea. BIRTH, _appartement_, also signifies the room or apartment where any particular number of the officers or ship’s company usually mess and reside. In a ship of war there is commonly one of these between every two guns. _To_ BITE, _mordre_, to hold fast in the ground; expressed of the anchor. BITS, _bittes_, (_bitol_, Sax.) a frame composed of two strong pieces of timber, fixed perpendicularly in the fore-part of a ship, whereon to fasten her cables as she rides at anchor. See b b, PIECES _of the_ HULL. These pieces being let down through square mortises cut in the decks above and below, are bolted and fore-locked to the ship’s beams. There are several bits in a ship, the principal of which are those for the cables: their upper ends commonly reach about four or five feet above the lower deck, over which the cable passes. They are supported on the fore part by strong standards; one arm of which is bolted to the deck, and the other to the bits: and on the after part is fixed a strong beam of timber, g, (plate I. PIECES _of the_ HULL) parallel to the deck, and at right angles with the bits, to which it is bolted and forelocked. The ends of this beam, which is called the cross-piece, reach about two or three feet beyond the bits, whose upper-ends are nearly two feet above the cross-piece. The cable being passed once round about these bits, may be gradually slackened at pleasure; without which it would be impossible to prevent it from running out with the utmost rapidity, when the ship rides a great strain, which is always the case in a storm, or an impetuous tide. In ships of war there are usually two pair of cable bits, and when they are both used at once, the cable is said to be double-bitted. The plan of the bits, with their cross-pieces and standards, are represented in Plate III. where b b are the bits, e their standards, and g the cross-piece. _To_ BIT _the cable_, is to put it round the bits, in order to fasten it, or slacken it gradually, which last is called _veering away_. The other bits are of a smaller kind, but constructed nearly in the same manner. They are used to fasten the top-sail-sheets, or the ropes by which the lower corners of the top-sails are extended.