BUNDLING Things into a Boat. Loading it in a slovenly way.
BUNGLE, To. To perform a duty in a slovenly manner.
BUNGO, or Bonga. A sort of boat used in the Southern States of America, made of the bonga-tree hollowed out.
BUNG-STARTER. A stave shaped like a bat, which, applied to either side of the bung, causes it to start out. Also, a soubriquet for the captain of the hold. Also, a name given to the master's assistant serving his apprenticeship for hold duties.
BUNG-UP AND BILGE-FREE. A cask so placed that its bung-stave is uppermost, and it rests entirely on its beds.
BUNK. A sleeping-place in the fore-peak of merchantmen; standing bed-places fixed on the sides between decks.
BUNKER. For stowing coal in steamers. Cellular spaces on each side which deliver the coal to the engine-room.—Wing-bunkers below the decks, cutting off the angular side-spaces of the hold, and hatched over, are usually filled with sand, holy-stones, brooms, junk-blocks, &c., saving stowage.
BUNT of a Sail. The middle part of it, formed designedly into a bag or cavity, that the sail may gather more wind. It is used mostly in top-sails, because courses are generally cut square, or with but small allowance for bunt or compass. "The bunt holds much leeward wind;" that is, it hangs much to leeward. In "handed" or "furled" sails, the bunt is the middle gathering which is tossed up on the centre of the yard.—To bunt a sail is to haul up the middle part of it in furling, and secure it by the bunt-gasket.
BUNTERS. The men on the yard who gather in the bunt when furling sails.
BUNT-FAIR. Before the wind.