_Bilge-ways._ Pieces of timber bolted together and placed under the bilge, in launching. _Bilged._ When the bilge is broken in. _Bilge Water._ Water which settles in the bilge. _Bilge._ The largest circumference of a cask. BILL. The point at the extremity of the fluke of an anchor. BILLET-HEAD. (See HEAD.) BINNACLE. A box near the helm, containing the compass. BITTS. Perpendicular pieces of timber going through the deck, placed to secure anything to. The cables are fastened to them, if there is no windlass. There are also _bitts_ to secure the windlass, and on each side of the heel of the bowsprit. BITTER, or BITTER-END. That part of the cable which is abaft the bitts. BLACKWALL HITCH. (See PLATE 5 and page 49.) BLADE. The flat part of an oar, which goes into the water. BLOCK. A piece of wood with sheaves, or wheels, in it, through which the running rigging passes, to add to the purchase. (See page 53.) BLUFF. A _bluff-bowed_ or _bluff-headed_ vessel is one which is full and square forward. BOARD. The stretch a vessel makes upon one tack, when she is beating. _Stern-board._ When a vessel goes stern foremost. _By the board._ Said of masts, when they fall over the side. BOAT-HOOK. An iron hook with a long staff, held in the hand, by which a boat is kept fast to a wharf, or vessel. BOATSWAIN. (Pronounced _bo-s'n_.) A warrant officer in the navy, who has charge of the rigging, and calls the crew to duty. BOBSTAYS. Used to confine the bowsprit down to the stem or cutwater. BOLSTERS. Pieces of soft wood, covered with canvass, placed on the trestle-trees, for the eyes of the rigging to rest upon. BOLTS. Long cylindrical bars of iron or copper, used to secure or unite the different parts of a vessel. BOLT-ROPE. The rope which goes round a sail, and to which the canvass is sewed. BONNET. An additional piece of canvass attached to the foot of a jib, or a schooner's foresail, by lacings. Taken off in bad weather. BOOM. A spar used to extend the foot of a fore-and-aft sail or studdingsail. _Boom-irons._ Iron rings on the yards, through which the studdingsail booms traverse. BOOT-TOPPING. Scraping off the grass, or other matter, which may be on a vessel's bottom, and daubing it over with tallow, or some mixture. BOUND. _Wind-bound._ When a vessel is kept in port by a head wind. BOW. The rounded part of a vessel, forward. BOWER. A working anchor, the cable of which is bent and reeved through the hawse-hole. _Best bower_ is the larger of the two bowers. (See page 16.) BOW-GRACE. A frame of old rope or junk, placed round the bows and sides of a vessel, to prevent the ice from injuring her. BOWLINE. (Pronounced _bo-lin_.) A rope leading forward from the leech of a square sail, to keep the leech well out when sailing close-hauled. A vessel is said to be _on a bowline_, or _on a taut bowline_, when she is close-hauled. _Bowline-bridle._ The span on the leech of the sail to which the bowline is toggled.