SEA-BEANS. Pods of the acacia tribe shed into the rivers about the Gulf of Mexico, and borne by the stream to the coasts of Great Britain, and even further north.
SEA-BEAR. A name applied to several species of large seals of the genus Otaria, found both in the northern and southern hemispheres. They differ from the true seals, especially in the mode in which they use their hind limbs in walking on land.
SEA-BOARD. The line along which the land and water meet, indicating the limit common to both.
SEA-BOAT. A good sea-boat implies any vessel adapted to bear the sea firmly and lively without labouring heavily or straining her masts or rigging. The contrary is called a bad sea-boat.
SEA-BORNE. Arrived from a voyage: said of freighted ships also afloat.
SEA-BOTTLE. The pod or vesicle of some species of sea-wrack or Fucus gigantea of Cape Horn and the Straits of Magellan.
SEA-BREEZE. A wind from the sea towards the land. In tropical climates (and sometimes during summer in the temperate zone) as the day advances the land becomes extremely heated by the sun, which causes an ascending current of air, and a wind from the sea rushes in to restore equilibrium. Above the sea-breeze is a counter current, which was clearly shown in Madras, where an æronaut waited until the sea-breeze had set in to make his ascent, expecting to be blown inland, but after rising to a certain height found himself going out to sea, and in his haste to descend he disordered the machinery, and could not close the valve which allowed the gas to escape, so fell into the sea about three miles from the land, but clung to his balloon and was saved. Also, a cool sea drink.
SEA-BRIEF. A specification of the nature and quantity of the cargo of a ship, the place whence it comes, and its destination. (See [Passport].)
SEA-CALF. A seal, Phoca vitulina.
SEA-CAP. The white drift or breaks of a wave. White horses of trades.