in their descent they
appear to be burning.

FIRE-BALLS. Are used for destroying vessels run aground, and firing
buildings. They are made of a composition of meal-powder, sulphur,
saltpetre, and pitch, moulded into a mass with suet and tow.

FIRE-BARE. An old term from the Anglo-Saxon for _beacon_.

FIRE-BARS. The range fronting a steam-boiler.

FIRE-BILL. The distribution of the officers and crew in case of the
alarm of fire, a calamity requiring judicious conduct.

FIRE-BOOMS. Long spars swung out from a ship's side to prevent the
approach of fire-ships, fire-stages, or vessels accidentally on fire.

FIRE-BOX. A space crossing the whole front of the boiler over the
furnace doors, opposite the smoke-box.

FIRE-BUCKETS. Canvas, leather, or wood buckets for quarters, each fitted
with a sinnet laniard of regulated length, for reaching the water from
the lower yards. (_See_ FIREMEN.)

FIRE-DOOR. An access to the fire-place of an engine.

FIRE-DRAKE. A meteor, or the Corpo Santo. Also, a peculiar fire-work,
which Shakspeare in _Henry VIII._ thus mentions: "That fire-drake did I
hit three times on the head, and three times was his nose discharged
against me; he stands there like a mortar-piece to blow us."

FIRE-EATER. One notoriously fond of being in action; much humbled by
iron-clads.

FIRE-FLAUGHTS. The _aurora borealis_, or northern lights.

FIRE-HEARTH. The security base of the galley-range and all its
conveniences.

FIRE-HEARTH-CARLINE. The timber let in under the beams on which the
fire-hearth stands, with pillars underneath, and chocks thereon.

FIRE-HOOPS. A combustible invented by the knights of Malta to throw
among their besiegers, and afterwards used in boarding Turkish galleys.

FIRE-LOCK. Formerly the common name for a musket; the fire-arm carried
by a foot-soldier, marine, or small-arm man, until the general
introduction of rifles. It carried a ball of about an ounce in weight.

FIREMEN. A first and second man is stationed to each gun, in readiness
for active duty. The firemen, when called with the first and second
division of boarders, were an effective force. If for duty aloft, each
bucket had a lanyard which reached from the main-yard to the sea, so as
to keep the lower sails well wet. The ship's engine was also manned by
the second division of boarders, while the first division and carpenters
cut away obstacles. (For firemen in a steamer, see STOKER.)

FIRE-RAFTS. Timber constructions