MIDSHIPMAN. A naval cadet appointed by the admiralty, with the exception of one in each ship appointed by the captain. No person can be appointed midshipman until he has served one year, and passed his examinations; nor a lieutenant without having previously served six years in the royal navy as midshipman, and having further passed two severe examinations—one in seamanship and one in gunnery. A midshipman is then the station in which a young volunteer is trained in the several exercises necessary to attain a knowledge of steam, machinery, discipline, the general movements and operations of a ship, and qualify him to command.

MIDSHIPMAN'S NUTS. Broken pieces of biscuit as dessert.

MIDSHIPMAN'S ROLL. A slovenly method of rolling up a hammock transversely, and lashing it endways by one clue.

MIDSHIPS. The middle part of the vessel, either with regard to her length or breadth. (See Amidships.)

MILDERNIX. A strong canvas of which courses were formerly made; it appears in old statutes.

MILE. The statute mile is 5280 feet; but that used at sea, termed the mean nautic mile, consists of 6075·6 feet, or 60 to a degree.

MILITARY EXECUTION. The levying contributions from a country by military occupation and force.

MILITARY LAW. That under which soldiers and sailors are governed, founded on the acts of parliament passed to that end.

MILITIA. A military force raised by ballot.[480]

MILKY WAY. See Via Lactea.

MILL. A boxing match, whether standing up or nailed to a chest.

MILLAR'S SIGHT. General Millar's simple dispart—a sliding pillar bearing a scale graduated to tangents of degrees for setting the gun by.

MILLED LEAD. Sheet lead.

MILLER, To Drown the. To put an overdose of water to grog.

MILLER'S THUMB. A fresh-water fish, the Cottus cataphractus.

MILT. The soft roe, or spermatic part, of the male fish.

MINE. A passage made under ground, with a chamber at the end, under the place intended to be blown up; it is entered by the shaft, which leads through the gallery to the chamber.

MINERAL OIL. See Petroleum.

MINIE RIFLE. This has acquired a great name, though not yet in general use.

MINION. An old four-pounder gun about 7 feet long. Its point-blank range was 120 paces, with a random one of 1500. Bourne, in 1578, mentions the minion as requiring shot 3 inches in diameter.

MINISTER. A minister, though termed plenipotentiary, has no power to grant protection to vessels or cargoes otherwise subject to the operations and laws of hostilities.

MINNIS. An old British word for a rock or piece of rising ground.

MINNOW. A small fresh-water fish—the Leuciscus phoxinus. The term was used in contempt by Shakspeare and the elders.

MINOR AXIS. In a planetary orbit, signifies the line perpendicular to the major axis, and passing through the centre of the ellipse.

MINOR PLANETS. See Asteroids.

MINUTE MILE. The sixtieth part of a degree of longitude or latitude; in the latter case it is the sixtieth part of a degree of a great circle, in the former it decreases in length as the latitude increases.

MINUTE AND HALF-MINUTE GLASSES. See Glass.

MINUTE-GUNS. Fired at intervals of a minute each during the progress of important funerals.

MINUTES. Short notices taken in writing of any important proceedings.

MIRA. A remarkable variable star in Cetus.

MIRACH. One of the bright stars in Andromeda.

MIRAGE, or Loom. A word, which has crept into use since the French expedition to Egypt, to express the extraordinary refraction which light undergoes when strata of air, of different densities, extend above each other. The mirage, reflecting objects at a great height, inverts and doubles the image.

MIRE-BUMPER and Mire-Drum. North-country names of the bittern.

MIRKLES. The radicle leaves of the Fucus esculentus, a sea-weed eaten on our northern coasts.

MIRROR. The speculum of a quadrant, or any silvered or polished reflecting surface.

MISCHIEF. See Master of Misrule.[481]

MISREPRESENTATION to the Underwriters, of any fact or circumstance material to the risk of insuring, whether by the insured or his agent, and whether fraudulent or innocent, renders the contract null and void. (See Representation.)

MISSILES. Projectiles of every kind propelled by force.

MISSING. If a vessel is not heard of within six months after her departure (or after the last intelligence of her) from any port in Europe, and within twelve months from other parts of the world, she is deemed to be lost. Presumptive proof will suffice if none of her crew appear.

MISSING STAYS. To fail in going about from one tack to another; when, after a ship gets her head to the wind, she comes to a stand, and begins to fall off on the same tack.

MIST [Anglo-Saxon]. A thin vapour, between a fog and haze, and is generally wet.

MISTICO. Equivalent to our hermaphrodite, being a small Mediterranean vessel, between a xebec and a felucca. (See Xebec.)

MISTRAL. A cold N.W. wind experienced on the Mediterranean shores of France. [Corrupted from maestrale.]

MITTS. A protection for the hand, covering the thumb in one space and the fingers in another, so that men wearing them can still handle ropes.

MIXED MATHEMATICS. Pure mathematics when applied to practical subjects, as astronomy, optics, hydrography, gunnery, engineering, and the like.

MIZAR. The star ζ in Ursa Major; the middle one in the tail.

MIZEN. The spanker or driver is often so named.

MIZEN-MAST. The aftermost mast of a ship (see Shrouds, Stay, Yard, &c.), observing only that the epithet of fore, main, or mizen, is added to each term, to distinguish them from each other. (See Bonaventure.)

MIZEN MAST-HEAD. Rear-admirals carry their flag at their mizen.

MIZEN STAYSAIL. A fore-and-aft sail of various shapes set on the mizen stay.

MOAT. Synonymous with ditch (which see).

MOBILIZATION. The organizing a body of men for active service. Also, a term in naval tactics, applied to the movement of fleets.

MOCCASIN. A slipper made of green hide, and worn in cases of necessity; a term derived from the North American Indians.

MODERATE BREEZE. When all the flying kites may be pleasantly carried.

MODERATE GALE. In which a ship carries double reefs in her top-sails.

MOHUR. A gold coin in the East Indies, value 30s. to 32s.

MOIDORE. A Portuguese gold coin, the sterling value of which is £1, 7s.

MOINEAU. A little flat bastion formerly raised before a curtain, otherwise too long.

MOIST DAUGHTERS. Spenser's term for the Hyades, a group of seven stars in the head of the Bull.[482]

MOKES. The meshes of a fishing-net.

MOLE. A long pier of massy masonry, covering the entrance of a harbour. Also applied to the harbours formed by them, as those of Genoa, Marseilles, Naples, &c.

MOLLY-MAWK. A bird which follows in the wake of a ship rounding the Cape. It is a small kind of albatross.

MOMENTUM. Is the product of a weight multiplied by its velocity; that is, in marine dynamics, by its distance from a point determined as the centre of momentum; or from a line called the axis of the momentum.

MONERES, or Monocrata. Galleys with only one rank of oars.

MONEY-BOUND. A phrase expressive of such passengers as are detained on board till a remittance arrives for paying the passage made.

MONGER. A trader. (See Monkey.)

MONITION. Legal notice or warning.

MONITOR. A very shallow, semi-submerged, heavily-armoured steamer, carrying on her open deck either one or two plated revolving turrets, each containing either one or two enormous guns: originally designed by Ericson in the United States during the recent war, to combine the maximum of gun power with the minimum of exposure; they have been very formidable in sheltered and intricate waters, but it remains yet to be shown that they would be effective on the open sea.

MONKEY. A machine composed of a long pig of iron, traversing in a groove, which is raised by a pulley, and let fall suddenly on the head of large bolts for driving them. A larger kind is used in pile-driving. Also, a kind of wooden kid for grog. Also, in Queen Elizabeth's reign, a small trading vessel.

Also, passion; as a man's "monkey is up. " Also, a machine with which the hercules facilitates the welding of anchors.

MONKEY-BLOCK. A small single block strapped with a swivel. Also, those nailed on the topsail-yards of some merchantmen, to lead the buntlines through.

MONKEY-BOAT. A half-decked boat above-bridge on the Thames.

MONKEY-JACKET. A warm jacket for night-watches, &c.

MONKEY-PUMP. Straws or quills for sucking the liquid from a cask, through a gimlet-hole made for the purpose—a practice as old as the time of Xenophon, who describes this mode of drinking from the prize jars of Armenia.

MONKEY-SPARS. Reduced masts and yards for a vessel devoted to the instruction and exercise of boys.

MONKEY-TAIL. A lever for training a carronade.

MONK-FISH. The Squatina angelus. (See Devil-fish.)

MONK'S SEAM. That made after sewing the edges of sails together, one over the other, by stitching through the centre of the seam. Also, the fash left at the junction of the moulds when a ball is cast.

MONMOUTH CAP. A flat worsted cap formerly worn by soldiers and sailors. In the old play Eastward Ho, it is said, "Hurl away a dozen of Monmouth caps or so, in sea ceremony to your bon voyage."[483]

MONOXYLON [Gr.] Boats in the Ionian Isles propelled with one oar.

MONSOON [from the Persian monsum, season]. The periodical winds in certain latitudes of India and the Indian Ocean. They continue five or six months from one direction, and then alter their course, and blow (after the tempestuous tumult of their shifting has subsided) during an equal space of time from an opposite point of the compass, with the same uniformity. They are caused by the unequal heating of land and water, and occur in the tropics, where the "trade" would constantly blow if it were not for the presence of land. (See Winds.

) The south-west monsoon is called by the Arabs khumseen, denoting fifty, as they suppose it to precede the overflowing of the Nile by fifty days. (See Kamsin.

MONTE PAGNOTE. In former days an eminence out of cannon shot of operations, where spectators were not exposed to danger.

MONTERO. A military cap and hood formerly worn in camp.

MONTHLY ALLOWANCE. A sum paid monthly to warrant and petty officers not allowed to draw bills; and to seamen, marines, and boys serving on board. Wages are now paid regularly.

MONTHLY NOTES. See Allotment.

MOON. Our satellite; she performs her revolution in 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes. (See Full Moon and New Moon.) A hazy or pale colour of the moon, revealing the state of our atmosphere, is supposed to forebode rain, and a red or copper colour to forebode wind.

MOON-BLINK. A temporary evening blindness occasioned by sleeping in the moonshine in tropical climates; it is technically designated nyctalopia.

MOON-CULMINATORS. Certain stars near the same parallel of declination as the moon, and not differing greatly from her in right ascension, given in the Ephemeris as proper objects for comparison with her, to determine the longitudes of places.

MOONEY. Not quite intoxicated, but unfitted for duty.

MOON IN DISTANCE. When the angle between her and the sun, or a star, admits of measurement for lunar observation.

MOONISH. Variable, as with Shakspeare's Rosalind.

MOON-RAKERS. Sails above the skysails. They are usually designated moon-sails.

MOON-SHEERED. A ship the upper works of which rise very high, fore and aft.

MOONSHINE. Illicit hollands, schiedam, and indeed smuggling in general; excused as a matter of moonshine. A mere nothing.

MOON-STRUCK. An influence imputed to the moon in the tropics, by which fish, particularly of the Scomber class, though recently taken, become intenerated, and even spoiled; while some attribute poisonous qualities to them in this state. Human beings are also said to be injured by sleeping in the moon's rays.

MOOR. An upland swamp, boggy, with fresh water. Also, an open common.[484]