M.
MACHEMOURE, bread dust, formed of rusk, or broken biscuit.
MACHINE à mater, the sheers of a sheer-hulk, or other machine for masting a ship.
MACLES, nettings of the quarters or sides of a ship.
MAESTRALISER, a name given to the west-variation of the magnetical needle, in the Mediterranean.
MAGASIN général, a store-house, or magazine, to contain naval stores in a dock-yard.
MAGASIN particulier, a store-house which contains the rigging and cordage used for the king’s ships, magazines, &c.
MAGASINS, the store-ships which attend on a fleet of men of war.
MAHONNE, a sort of Turkish galeasse.
MAILLE, the keys or buttons by which a bonnet is fastened to its sail.
MAILLES, the intervals, or spaces, left between a ship’s timbers.
MAILLET de calfas, a calking mallet.
MAILLETAGE, the sheathing of a ship’s bottom with scupper-nails.
MAIN avant, the order to pull on a rope hand over hand.
MAJOR, an officer who has the charge of mounting, regulating, and relieving the marine guard, in a ship, &c.
MAITRE-canonnier, the master-gunner of a ship.
Second Maître-canonnier, the gunner’s mate.
Maître de chaloupe, the coxswain, or patroon of the long-boat.
Maître de l’équipage, or Maître entretenu dans le port, an officer whose duty resembles that of our master-attendant in a dock-yard; inasmuch as he has charge of whatever relates to the equipping, mooring, or securing of ships; as well with regard to rigging, arming, and fitting them for sea, as to the careening and floating them out of the docks.
Maître de grave, a person appointed to take care of the salt cod, when drying upon the stakes at Newfoundland.
Maître de hache. See Charpentier.
Maître-mateur, the master mast-maker.
Maître des ponts & des pertuis, a master wherry-man, or waterman, whose office it is to conduct the craft of a harbour through bridges, or in any dangerous place.
Maître de ports, an harbour-master, or officer, appointed to take care of a port, and its booms, and places of anchorage; to arrange the shipping conveniently therein, and regulate their moorings with regard to each other: he has also the command of the ordinary-men employed about the rigging, careening, &c.
Maître de ports, is also an officer resembling our tide-surveyors of the customs in an out-port.
Maître de quai, a principal wharf-master, or officer, appointed to regulate the affairs of wharfs and keys, and the shipping moored along-side thereof; to see that the fires are extinguished at night, and that no fires be made in any ship or boat during the night; to appoint the proper places for ballasting and unballasting vessels; as also for careening, caulking, and repairing them, and tarring their rigging; to place the light-houses, beacons, and buoys, where necessary; to examine once a month, and after every storm, the usual channels of passage for shipping, to see whether the ground has not shifted.
Maître de vaisseau, or Capitaine, the master, or commander of a merchant-ship.
Maître de vaisseau de guerre, the master of a ship of war.
Maître-valet, the ship’s steward.
MAL de mer, sea-sickness.
MALEBESTE, malebéte, or petarasse. See Petarasse.
MALINE, a spring-tide.
MAL-sain, foul ground, bad anchor-ground.
MANCHE, a great channel; as, la Manche Britannique, the English channel; la Manche de Bristol, the channel of Bristol, &c.
Manche à eau, ou Manche pour l’eau, a canvass or leathern hoase, to convey water from the deck, into the casks which are stowed in the hold.
Manche de pompe, the pump-hoase.
MANEAGE, a name given to those employments, or labours, for which the crew of a ship can demand no additional pay of the merchant; such are the lading a ship with planks, timber, or green, or dried fish.
MANEGE du navire, the general trim of a ship, with regard to the situation of the masts, of the center of gravity, of the sails; and to the efforts of the wind and sea.
La lune à Mangé, la lune Mangera, the moon has eat them up, or will eat them up; understood of the clouds: a cant phrase, usual amongst common sailors, to express the dissipation of the clouds on the rising of the moon.
Etre Mangé par la mer, to be in the hollow or trough of a high sea, which often breaks aboard.
MANGER du sable, to flog the glass, or cheat the glass; expressed of the steersman, who turns the watch-glasses before they have run out, to shorten the period of his watch.
Tems MANIABLE, moderate weather, and wind favourable for sea.
MANIVELLE. See Manuelle.
MANNE, a sort of hand-basket, used on several occasions in a ship.
MANŒUVRE, the working of a ship, or the direction of her movements, by the power of the helm, and the disposition of the sails to the wind.
Manoeuvre basse, the work or employment which may be performed upon deck, by the effort of the ropes upon the sails and yards.
Manoeuvre fine, a dextrous management of the ship in working her.
Manoeuvre grosse, heavy and laborious work in a ship; as the embarkation of the artillery and cables, and stowing of the anchors.
Manoeuvre hardie, a difficult or dangerous undertaking in a ship.
Manoeuvre haute, the employment of the sailors in the tops, at the mast-heads, and upon the yards.
Manoeuvre tortue, a lubberly or aukward manner of working a ship.
MANOEUVRER, to work a ship, or direct the movements of a fleet.
MANŒUVRES, a general name given to the rigging, sails, blocks, and cordage of a ship: but more particularly to the standing and running ropes.
Manoeuvres à queue de rat, ropes which taper to the end; as the main and fore-tacks.
Manoeuvres en bande, slack ropes which are unemployed.
Manoeuvres-majors, a name usually given to the largest ropes in a ship; as the ground-tackling, and the principal stays.
Manoeuvres passees à contre, ropes leading forward; as those of the mizen-mast.
Manoeuvres passées a tour, ropes leading aft.
MANŒUVRIER, an able or expert sea-officer; or one who is perfectly skilled in working a ship by every method of sailing.
MANQUER, to fly loose; understood of a rope which is broke, or loosened from the place where it was made fast, so as to be blown out to leeward, &c.
MANTEAUX, two folding-doors in a bulk-head.
MANTELETS, the covers of the ports in a ship’s side; called also ports in English, although improperly.
MANTURES, the rolling waves of the sea. See Houles, Lames, and Coup de Mer.
MANUELLE, the whipstaff of a helm; an instrument which is now entirely disused.
MAQUILLEUR, a decked boat, used for the fishery of mackarel.
MARABOUT, a sail hoisted in the gallies in stormy weather.
MARAIS salans, salt pits on the sea coast, or reservoirs to contain sea-water, for the purpose of making salt.
MARANDER, a phrase of the common sailors in the channel, which implies to steer easily.
MARCHE-PIED, the horse of any yard.
Marche-pied is also a space about three fathoms broad, left on the banks of a river, whereon to draw their boats ashore, &c.
MARCHER. See Ordre de Marche.
Marcher dans les eaux d’un autre vaisseau, to sail in the wake or track of another ship; to follow another ship.
Marcher en colonne, to sail in a line, or column.
MARÉAGE, the hire or pay of a sailor for any particular voyage.
MARÉES, the tides. See Flux & reflux.
Mortes Marées, neap-tides, or dead-neap.
Marées qui portent au vent, a wind-tide, or tide which runs to windward.
Marées & contre-marées, tide and half-tide.
La MARÉE est haut, it is high-water.
Marée qui soutiennent, a tide which counteracts the wind, with regard to a ship’s course, enabling her to turn to windward better.
MARGOUILLET, a bull’s eye, or wooden traveller.
MARGUERITES, a name given to jiggers, or such sort of purchases, used to pull a rope with greater effort.
Faire-Marguerite, to clap a messenger on the cable when the anchor cannot be purchased by the voyal.
MARIN, a sea-faring man of any denomination.
MARINE, implies in general the knowledge of maritime affairs: also the persons employed in the sea-service, &c.
Gens de Marine, seamen, fishermen, &c.
Officiers de Marine, sea-officers.
MARINIER, a name generally given to sailors; but more particularly to lightermen.
MARITIME, marine: of, or belonging to, the sea.
Batteaux MARNOIS, a yacht, hoy, or smack, employed on the rivers of Marne and Seine.
MARQUES, the sea-marks observed by the pilots upon any coast; as mountains, spires, windmills, &c.
MARSILIANE, a square-sterned ship, navigated on the gulf of Venice, and along the coasts of Dalmatia. They are of several sizes; the largest carrying about 700 tons.
MARTEAU à dents, a claw-hammer used by ship-wrights.
MARTICLES, or lignes de trélingage, a crow-foot, or complicated span.
Marticles is also a name given by some to the furling-lines of small sails.
MARTINET, is properly the runner or tye which is fastened to the dead-eye of a crow-foot, used as a topping-lift for the mizen-yard.
Martinet is also a general name for the haliards, or tail of a crow-foot.
MASCARET, a violent eddy of the tide.
MASLES, the pintles, by which the rudder is hung upon the stern-post. See Ferrure de gouvernail.
MASSE, a large iron maul, used by ship-wrights to drive the tree-nails and bolts into the ship’s side: also a very long tiller used in some lighters.
MASULIT, a sort of Indian boat, whose sides are composed of the bark of trees, and which are calked with moss.
MAT, a mast. The principal masts of a ship are,
Le grand Mat, the main-mast,
Mat de misaine, the fore-mast,
Mat d’artimon, the mizen-mast.
Mat d’un brin, a mast formed of one piece only; such are the bow-sprit and top-masts of all ships, and all the masts of a small vessel.
Mat forcé, a mast which, is sprung.
Mat jumellé, reclampé or renforcé, a mast which is fished in a weak place, or opposite to a spring.
MATS de rechange, spare top-masts, or masts in reserve.
Aller à Mats & à cordes, Mettre à Mats & à cordes, se mettre à sec, to try, or scud under bare poles.
Mats venus à bas, masts which are carried away.
Mats de hune hauts, to have the top-mast an end, or swayed up.
MATAFIONS, knittles, or small robands.
MATÉ en caravelle, fitted with pole top-masts.
Maté en chandelier, masted upright. Expressed of a ship whose masts are stayed so as neither to hang forward or aft.
Maté en frégate, the bent or inclination of the masts, when they rake forward, or stoop towards the head.
Maté en fourche, or à corne, masted for a boom and gaff; as a schooner or sloop.
Maté en galere, to be masted as a galley, with only two masts without any top-mast.
Maté en semaque, masted for a sprit which crosses the sail diagonally.
MATELOT, a sailor, or mariner; a man before the mast.
MATELOTAGE, the hire, wages, or pay of seamen.
Il est un bon Matelot, he is an able seaman.
Vaisseau Matelot, a good company-keeper, or a ship that sails well, and keeps her station in a fleet; also the ships, in a fleet of men of war, which are appointed seconds to the admirals or commanding officers.
MATELOTS-gardiens, the ordinary-men of a royal dock-yard, and its harbour or dock, including also the carpenters and calkers appointed to watch in the ships of war.
MATER, to fix or place the masts of a ship.
MATEREAU, a small mast, or end of a mast.
MATEUR, a mast-maker. See Maître-mateur.
MATURE, the art of masting ships; also a general name for the masts themselves.
La Mature, the mast-shed, or the place where the masts are made.
MAY, a sort of trough bored full of holes, wherein to drain cordage, when it is newly tarred.
MAUGERES, or Mauges, the scupper-holes.
MECHE, the match by which a cannon is fired.
Meche de cabestan, the middle-piece, or body of the capstern.
Meche de mât, the main or middle-piece of a lower-mast, which is composed of several pieces, as usual in many ships of war.
Meche du gouvernail, the principal piece of a rudder.
Meche d’une corde, the middle strand of a four stranded rope.
MEMBRES de vaisseau, the frames of a ship, or the pieces of which the ribs are composed, as floor-timbers, top-timbers, and futtocks.
MER, the sea; whence,
Pleine-Mer, full sea.
Haute-Mer, high water. See Marée.
Mer sans fond, a part of the sea where there is no anchoring-ground.
La Mer à perdu, the sea is fallen, it is falling-water.
La Mer brise, the sea breaks, or foams, by striking a rock or shore.
La Mer brûle, the sea burns, as in a dark and tempestuous night.
La Mer est courte, the sea runs short, broken, or interrupted.
La Mer est longue, the sea runs long and steddy, or without breaking.
La Mer étale, the sea is smooth, as in a calm.
La Mer mugit, the sea roars, as being turbulent.
La Mer rapporte, the spring-tides have begun, or commenced.
La Mer roule, the sea rolls.
La Mer se creuse, the sea rises and runs cross.
La Mer va chercher le vent, the wind rises against the sea.
Il y à de la Mer, the sea runs high. When the violence of the waves are abated, they say, in a contrary sense, Il n’y à plus de Mer.
Jetter à la Mer, to throw overboard.
Mettre à la Mer, or faire voiles, to put to sea, or set sail.
Tenir la Mer, to keep the sea, or hold out in the offing.
Tirer à la Mer. See Bouter au large.
Recevoir un coup de Mer, to ship a sea.
MERLIN, marline, or merline.
MERLINER une voile, to marle a sail to the foot-rope.
Arbre de MESTRE, the main-mast of a row-galley.
METTRE à bord, to bring, or carry aboard.
Mettre à la voile, to get under sail, to set sail.
Mettre un navire en rade, to carry a ship into any road.
Mettre à terre, to carry, or put ashore, to disembark.
Mettre la grande voile à l’échelle, to get the main-tack down with a passaree.
Mettre les basses voiles sur les cargues, to haul up the courses in the brails.
Mettre les voiles dedans, Mettre à sec, ou Mettre à mâts & à cordes, to take in, furl, or hand all the sails.
Mettre le linguet, to paul the capstern, or put in the paul.
Mettre un matelot à terre, to set ashore one of the crew, to turn adrift or maroon a sailor.
Mettre un ancre en place, to stow an anchor on the bow.
MEURTRIERES, ou Jalousies, the loop-holes in a ship’s sides or bulk-heads, through which they can fire musquetry on the enemy.
MI-mat. See Hunier.
MINOT, boute-dehors, defense, the davit of a ship: also a fire-boom.
MINUTE, a nautical, or astronomical mile.
MIRE & coins de Mire, the coins, or aiming wedges of a cannon.
Prendre sa Mire, to take aim with a cannon, to level, or point a cannon, or other fire-arm, to its object.
MIRER, to loom, or appear indistinctly, as the land under a cloud on the sea-coast.
MIROIR. See Ecusson.
MISAINE, the fore-mast.
Misaine, or voile de Misaine, the fore-sail.
MITRAILLES, langrage shot, or small pieces of iron, or old nails, with which cannon are sometimes charged in a sea-fight.
MODELE. See Gabarit.
MOIS de gages, the monthly pay, or wages of a sailor.
MOLE de port, a pier, or mole-head, raised across the mouth of a harbour, to break off the force of the sea.
MOLER en pouppe, ou poger, to bear away and bring the wind aft, in the dialect of Provence and Italy.
MOLLIR, une corde, to slacken, douse, or ease off a taught rope.
MONSON, or Mouson, a monsoon, or trade-wind of India.
MONTANS de poulaine, the timbers of the head, or upright rails, which are usually ornamented with sculpture.
Montans de voute, the stern-timbers.
Le MONTANT de l’eau, or le flot, flowing water, the flood tide.
MONTÉ, mounted, or equipped with a certain number of guns, or men; as,
Vaisseau Monté de 50 ou 60 canons, a ship mounting 50 or 60 guns.
Vaisseau Monté de trois cent hommes, a ship manned with three hundred hands, or whose complement consists of three hundred.
Monter le gouvernail, to hang the rudder.
Monter au vent, to spring the luff, or haul the wind.
MONTURE, the arming a ship for war, or mounting her with cannon, and other fire-arms, and manning her.
MOQUE, a heart, or dead-eye of a stay.
Moque de civadiere, a sprit-sail-sheet block.
Moque de trélingage, the dead-eye of a crow-foot.
MORDRE, to bite, or hold fast; understood of the claw or flook of an anchor which is sunk in the ground.
MORNE, a name given in America to a cape or promontory.
MORTAISE, a hole or mortise, cut to receive the end of a piece of timber, called the tenant or tenon.
Mortaise de gouvernail, the hole in the rudder-head which contains the tiller.
Mortaise de poulie, the channel, or vacant space in a block formed to contain the sheave.
Mortaise du mât de hune, the fid-hole of a top-mast.
MORTE-d’eau, or Morte-eau, nip tides, or neap-tides; also dead low water.
MORTIER, a mortar, employed to throw bombs or carcases from a ketch.
MOUFFLE de poulie, the shell of a block. See Arcasse.
MOUILLAGE, anchoring-ground.
Mauvais Mouillage, foul ground, bad anchor-ground, or foul bottom.
MOUILLE, let go the anchor! the order to let the anchor fall from the cat-head to the bottom.
Bien-Mouillé, well moored, or moored in a good birth and anchor-ground.
Vaisseau Mouillé à un ancre de flot, & un ancre de jussant, a ship moored with one anchor to the flood, and another to the ebb.
Vaisseau Mouillé entre vent & marée, a ship moored between wind and tide.
MOUILLER, or Mouiller l’ancre, to let go the anchor, to come to an anchor, or simply, to anchor.
Mouiller à la voile, to let go the anchor whilst the sails are yet abroad.
Mouiller en croupiére, to moor with a spring upon the cable, in order to cannonade a fort, &c.
Mouiller en patte d’oie, to moor with three anchors a-head, equally distant from each other, and appearing like the foot of a goose.
Mouiller l’ancre de touei, to moor with the boat, or to carry out an anchor.
Mouiller les voiles, to wet the sails; a practice usual in light winds.
Mouiller par la quille, an ironical expression to signify that a ship is fast a-ground: Our seamen then say, every nail in her bottom is an anchor.
MOULINET, a small windlass, as that of a long-boat, or lanch.
Moulinet à bittord, a spun-yarn-winch.
MOURGON, a diver, in the dialect of Provence. See Plongeur.
MOUSSE, garçon be bord, a ship-boy; one of the prentices, or officers servants.
MOUTONNER, to foam; expressed of the waves in a tempest or turbulent sea.
MOYEN-parallel, the middle latitude in navigation, or the parallel that holds the middle place between the latitude departed from, and the latitude arrived in.
MULET, a sort of Portuguese vessel with three masts, and lateen sails.
MUNITIONAIRE, an agent-victualler, or a contractor for sea provisions.
Commis du Munitionaire. See Commis.