BREADTH-MOULDED. See [Moulded Breadth].
BREADTH-RIDERS. Timbers placed nearly in the broadest part of the ship, and diagonally, so as to strengthen two or more timbers.
BREAK, To. To deprive of commission, warrant, or rating, by court-martial.
BREAK. The sudden rise of a deck when not flush; when the aft, and sometimes the fore part, of a vessel's deck is kept up to give more height below, and at the drifts.—Break of the poop, where it ends at the foremost part.
BREAKAGE. The leaving of empty spaces in stowing the hold. In marine insurance, the term alludes to damage occurring to goods.
BREAK-BEAMS. Beams introduced at the break of a deck, or any sudden termination of planking.
BREAK-BULK. To open the hold, to begin unloading and disposing of the goods therein, under legal provisions.
BREAKERS. Small barrels for containing water or other liquids; they are also used in watering the ship as gang-casks. (See [Bareka].) Also, those billows which break violently over reefs, rocks, or shallows, lying immediately at, or under, the surface of the sea. They are distinguished both by their appearance and sound, as they cover that part of the sea with a perpetual foam, and produce loud roaring, very different from what the waves usually have over a deeper bottom. Also, a name given to those rocks which occasion the waves to break over them.—Breakers ahead! the common pass-word to warn the officer of broken water in the direction of the course. (See also [Ship-breaker].)
BREAK-GROUND. Beginning to weigh, or to lift the anchor from the bottom. On shore it means to begin the works for besieging a place, or opening the trenches.
BREAKING. Breaking out stores or cargo in the hold. The act of extricating casks or other objects from the hold-stowage.