n, as Nelson did at the Nile.

COUPLE, TO. To bend two hawsers together; coupling links of a cable;
coupling shackles.

COUREAU. A small yawl of the Garonne. Also, a narrow strait or channel.

COURSE. The direction taken by anything in motion, shown by the point of
the compass _towards_ which they run, as water in a river, tides, and
currents; but of the wind, as similarly indicated by the compass-point
_from_ which it blows. Course is also the ship's way. In common
parlance, it is the point of the compass upon which the ship sails, the
direction in which she proceeds, or is intended to go. When the wind is
foul, she cannot "lie her course;" if free, she "steers her course."

COURSES. A name by which the sails hanging from the lower yards of a
ship are usually distinguished, viz. the main-sail, fore-sail, and
mizen: the staysails upon the lower masts are sometimes also
comprehended in this denomination, as are the main staysails of all
brigs and schooners. A ship is under her courses when she has no sail
set but the fore-sail, main-sail, and mizen. _Trysails_ are courses
(which see), sometimes termed _bentincks_.

COURSET. The paper on which the night's course is set for the officer in
charge of the watch.

COURT-MARTIAL. A tribunal held under an act of parliament, of the year
1749, and not, like the mutiny act, requiring yearly re-enactment. It
has lately, 6th August, 1861, been changed to the "Naval Discipline
Act." At present a court may be composed of five, but must not exceed
nine, members. No officer shall sit who is under twenty-one years of
age. No flag-officer can be tried unless the president also be a
flag-officer, and the others flag, or captains. No captain shall be
tried unless the president be of higher rank, and the others captains
and commanders. No court for the trial of any officer, or person below
the rank of captain, shall be legal, unless the president is a captain,
or of higher rank, nor unless, in addition, there be two other officers
of the rank of commander, or of higher rank. Any witness
summoned--civil, naval, or military--by the judge-advocate, refusing to
attend or give evidence, to be punished as for same in civil courts. The
admiralty can issue commissions to officers to hold courts-martial on
foreign stations, without which they cannot be convened. A
commander-in-chief on a foreign station, holding such a commission, may
under his hand authorize an officer in command of a detached