BOTTOMRY, bomerie, (from bottom) a contract for borrowing money on the keel or bottom of a ship; so that the commander binds the ship herself, that if the money be not paid at the time appointed, the creditors shall have the ship.
Bottomry is also where a person lends money to a merchant or adventurer who wants it in traffic, and the lender is to be paid a much greater sum at the return of the ship, standing to the hazard of the voyage. Although the interest on this account be greater than the law commonly allows, it is yet not esteemed usury; because the money being supplied at the lenders risk, if the ship perishes, he shares in the loss thereof.
BOW, epaule, in ship-building, the rounding part of a ship’s side forward, beginning at the place where the planks arch inwards, and terminated where they close at the stem or prow. See the article Head, where the bow of a ship is represented at large. It is proved by a variety of experiments, that a ship with a narrow bow is much better calculated for sailing swiftly, than one with a broad bow; but is not so well fitted for a high sea, into which she always pitches, or plunges, her fore-part very deep, for want of sufficient breadth to repel the volume of water, which she so easily divides in her fall. The former of these is called by seamen a lean, and the latter a bluff bow.
“The bow which meets with the least resistance in a direct course, not only meets with the least resistance in oblique courses, but also has the additional property of driving the least to leeward; which is a double advantage gained by forming the bow so as to give it that figure which will be the least opposed in moving through any medium.” Bouguer’s Traité du Navire.
On the Bow, in navigation, an arch of the horizon, comprehended between some distant object, and that point of the compass which is right-ahead, or to which the ship’s stem is directed. This phrase is equally applicable, when the object is beheld from the ship, or discovered by trigonometrical calculation: as, we saw a fleet at day-break bearing three points on the starboard bow; that is, three points, from that part of the horizon which is right ahead, towards the right hand. See also the article Bearing.
BOWER. See the article Anchor.
BOWLINE, bouline, a rope fastened near the middle of the leech, or perpendicular edge of the square sails, by three or four subordinate parts, called bridles. It is only used when the wind is so unfavourable that the sails must be all braced sideways, or close-hauled to the wind: in this situation the bowlines are employed to keep the weather, or windward, edges of the principal sails tight forward and steddy, without which they would be always shivering, and rendered incapable of service. See the articles Bridle, Close-hauling, and Sail.
To check the Bowline, is to slacken it, when the wind becomes large.
To BOWSE, palanquer, to draw on any body with a tackle, or complication of pullies, in order to remove it, or otherwise alter its state or situation: this is chiefly practised when such alteration or removal cannot be conveniently effected without the application of mechanical powers. This term is pronounced bowce.
BOWSPRIT, beaupré, (from bow and sprit) a large boom or mast, which projects over the stem, to carry sail forward, in order to govern the fore part of a ship, and counter-act the force of the sails extended behind, or, in the after part. It is otherways of great use, as being the principal support of the fore-mast, by confining the stays whereby it is secured, and enabled to carry sail: these are great ropes stretching from the mast-head to the middle of the bowsprit, where they are drawn tight. See the articles Stay and Dead-eye.