Maître des ponts & des pertuis, a master wherry-man, or waterman, whose office it is to conduct the craft of a harbour through bridges, or in any dangerous place.
Maître de ports, an harbour-master, or officer, appointed to take care of a port, and its booms, and places of anchorage; to arrange the shipping conveniently therein, and regulate their moorings with regard to each other: he has also the command of the ordinary-men employed about the rigging, careening, &c.
Maître de ports, is also an officer resembling our tide-surveyors of the customs in an out-port.
Maître de quai, a principal wharf-master, or officer, appointed to regulate the affairs of wharfs and keys, and the shipping moored along-side thereof; to see that the fires are extinguished at night, and that no fires be made in any ship or boat during the night; to appoint the proper places for ballasting and unballasting vessels; as also for careening, caulking, and repairing them, and tarring their rigging; to place the light-houses, beacons, and buoys, where necessary; to examine once a month, and after every storm, the usual channels of passage for shipping, to see whether the ground has not shifted.
Maître de vaisseau, or Capitaine, the master, or commander of a merchant-ship.
Maître de vaisseau de guerre, the master of a ship of war.
Maître-valet, the ship’s steward.
MAL de mer, sea-sickness.
MALEBESTE, malebéte, or petarasse. See Petarasse.
MALINE, a spring-tide.