BOBSTAY-PLATES. Iron plates by which the lower end of the bobstay is attached to the stem.
BOBSTAYS. Ropes or chains used to confine the bowsprit downward to the stem or cut-water. They are fitted in various ways. Their use is to counteract the strain of the foremast-stays, which draw it upwards. The bowsprit is also fortified by shrouds from the bows on each side, which are all very necessary, as the fore-mast and the upper spars on the main-mast are stayed and greatly supported by the bowsprit.
BOCCA. [Sp. boca, mouth.] Is a term used both in the Levant, and on the north coast of South America, or the Spanish Main, for a mouth or channel into any port or harbour, or the entrance into a sound which has a passage out by a contrary way.—Bocca Tigris, Canton River.
BODIES. The figure of a ship, abstractedly considered, is divided into different parts or figures, each of which has the appellation body, as fore-body, midship-body, square-body, &c.
BODKIN. A dirk or dagger, a word still in use, though Johnson says it is the oldest acceptation of it. It is the bodekin of Chaucer; and Shakspeare makes Hamlet ask who would bear the ills of life,
"When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin?"
BODY. The principal corps of an army, or the main strength of a fleet.
BODY, of a Place. In fortification, the space inclosed by the enceinte, or line of bastions and curtains.
BODY-HOOPS. Those which secure the aris pieces of a made mast.
BODY-PLAN. The draught of a proposed ship, showing the breadth and timbers; it is a section supposed to cut the vessel through the broadest part; it is otherwise called the plan of projection.