D. See "Bearing."

ASTERN. See "Bearing."

BEAM. The width of a vessel, so used because of the cross timbers,
called beams.

BEAR, to. To be in a specified direction from a vessel.

BEAR, to. To change the direction of a vessel's movement.

To bear _down_, to move towards; to bear _up_, or _away_, to move
away, from the wind or from an enemy.

BEARING. The direction of an object from a vessel; either by compass,
or with reference to the vessel itself. Thus, the lighthouse bears
north; the enemy bears abeam, or two points off the port bow.

BEARING, Line of. The compass bearing on which the vessels of a fleet
are ranged, whatever their bearings from one another.

BEARINGS, with reference to the vessel.

Abeam. }
Abreast. } Perpendicular to the vessel's length.

Aft. } Directly behind.
Astern. }

Ahead. Directly before; forward.

Abaft the beam, starboard or port, weather or lee. To the rear of
abeam, to the right or left, to windward or to leeward.

Before (or forward of) the beam (as above). Ahead of abeam, etc.

Broad. A large angle of bearing, used ordinarily of the bow. "Broad
off the bow" approaches "before the beam."

On the bow, starboard or port, weather or lee. To one side of
ahead, to right or left, to windward or to leeward.

On the quarter, starboard or port, weather or lee. To one side of
astern; to right or left, to windward or to leeward.

BEARINGS, by compass. The full circle of the compass, 360 degrees,
is divided into thirty-two _points_, each point being subdivided into
fourths. From north to east, eight points, are thus named: North;
north by east; north-northeast; northeast by north; northeast;
northeast by east; east-northeast; east by north; East.

From East to South, from South to West, and from West to North, a
like naming is used.

BEAT, to. To gain ground to windward, by successive changes of
direction, called tacks.

BOOM. See "Spars."

BOW, or head. The forward part of a vessel, which is foremost when in
motion ahead.

On the Bow. See "Bearing." To head "bows-on": to move directly
towards.

BOW AND QUARTER LINE. See pp. 84, 200.

BOWSPRIT. See "Spars."

BRACES. Ropes by which the yards are turned, so that the wind may
strike the sails in the manner desired.

BRING-TO. To bring a vessel's head as near as possible to the
direction from which the wind blows; usually with a view to
heaving-to, that is, stoppin