ENTRANCE. A term for the bow of a vessel, or form of the fore-body under the load water-line; it expresses the figure of that which encounters the sea, and is the opposite of run. Also, the first appearance of a person on board after entry on the ship's books. Also, the fore-foot of a ship. Also, the mouth of a harbour.
ENTRANCE MONEY. Payment on entering a mess.
ENTRY. In the ship's books; first putting down the appearance or day on which a man joins. Also, the forcing into an enemy's ship.
ENVELOPE. In astronomy, a band of light encircling the head of a comet on the side near the sun, and passing round it, so as to form the commencement of the tail.—In fortification, a work of single lines thrown up to inclose a weak ground; usually a mere earth-work.
EPAULE, or Shoulder. In fortification, that part of a bastion adjacent to the junction of a face with a flank. The actual meeting of these two lines forms the "angle of the shoulder."
EPAULEMENT. In fortification, a covering mass raised to protect from the fire of the enemy, but differing from a parapet in having no arrangement made for the convenient firing over it by defenders. It is usually adopted for side-passages to batteries and the like.
EPAULET. The bullion or mark of distinction worn on the shoulders by officers, now common to many grades, but till recently worn only by captains and commanders, whence the brackish poet—
"Hail, magic power that fills an epaulet,
No wonder hundreds for thee daily fret!"
the meaning of which is now pointless.
EPHEMERIS, or Nautical Almanac. This in its wide sense, and recognizing its value to navigators and astronomers, must be pronounced one of the most useful of publications. How Drake and Magellan got on is matter of marvel, for sailors were not especially administered to till 1675, when the Kalendarium Nauticum, by Henry Seaman, Mariner, appeared; it comprised the usual matter of annual almanacs, and was enriched with such precepts and rules in the practice of navigation and traffic as are in daily use. But in 1767 our nautical almanac, a tabular statement of the geocentric planetary positions, which may be said to have created a new era in voyaging, was published; and this book, with certain alterations, was in force up to 1830, when a commission of the Royal Society and astronomers established the present Ephemeris, now so much valued. It is published annually, but computed to four years in advance, to accommodate those proceeding on long voyages. Attempts have been made in other countries to publish The Nautical Almanac, improved and corrected, but they are mere copies, corrected by the errata furnished annually in advance.