BULWARKS. The wood work round a vessel, above her deck, consisting of boards fastened to stanchions and timber-heads. BUM-BOATS. Boats which lie alongside a vessel in port with provisions and fruit to sell. BUMPKIN. Pieces of timber projecting from the vessel, to board the fore tack to; and from each quarter, for the main brace-blocks. BUNT. The middle of a sail. BUNTINE. (Pronounced _buntin_.) Thin woollen stuff of which a ship's colors are made. BUNTLINES. Ropes used for hauling up the body of a sail. BUOY. A floating cask, or piece of wood, attached by a rope to an anchor, to show its position. Also, floated over a shoal, or other dangerous place as a beacon. _To stream a buoy_, is to drop it into the water before letting go the anchor. A buoy is said to _watch_, when it floats upon the surface of the water. BURTON. A tackle, rove in a particular manner. _A single Spanish burton_ has three single blocks, or two single blocks and a hook in the bight of one of the running parts. _A double Spanish burton_ has three double blocks. (See page 54.) BUTT. The end of a plank where it unites with the end of another. _Scuttle-butt._ A cask with a hole cut in its bilge, and kept on deck to hold water for daily use. BUTTOCK. That part of the convexity of a vessel abaft, under the stern, contained between the counter above and the after part of the bilge below, and between the quarter on the side and the stern-post. (See PLATE 3.) BY. _By the head._ Said of a vessel when her head is lower in the water than her stern. If her stern is lower, she is _by the stern_. _By the lee._ (See LEE. See RUN.) CABIN. The after part of a vessel, in which the officers live. CABLE. A large, strong rope, made fast to the anchor, by which the vessel is secured. It is usually 120 fathoms in length. CABLE-TIER. (See TIER.) CABOOSE. A house on deck, where the cooking is done. Commonly called the _Galley_. CALK. (See CAULK.) CAMBERED. When the floor of a vessel is higher at the middle than towards the stem and stern. CAMEL. A machine used for lifting vessels over a shoal or bar. CAMFERING. Taking off an angle or edge of a timber. CAN-HOOKS. Slings with flat hooks at each end, used for hoisting barrels or light casks, the hooks being placed round the chimes, and the purchase hooked to the centre of the slings. Small ones are usually wholly of iron. CANT-PIECES. Pieces of timber fastened to the angles of fishes and side-trees, to supply any part that may prove rotten. CANT-TIMBERS. Timbers at the two ends of a vessel, raised obliquely from the keel. _Lower Half Cants._ Those parts of frames situated forward and abaft the square frames, or the floor timbers which cross the keel. CANVASS. The cloth of which sails are made. No. 1 is the coarsest and strongest.