"beril" of a ship?

[Joel S. Berson]

A correspondent on another list has pointed out that "barrell" OED2
sense 5.a can refer to a capstan or windlass (c1500, 1611, and
mid-18th c.).  (I simply missed this when I looked at the OED,
although in extenuation there are no instances of the spelling
"beril*" under "barrel".)  So Charles Doyle was likely right.

Joel

At 4/24/2007 01:23 PM, you wrote:
>I might have wondered about "barrel" also, but an earlier part of the
>sentence explicitly describes a "cask of water [that] broke from its
>lashings and maimed sixteen men before it could be staved"; and the
>immediately preceding context is "one of the braces gave way with
>such a shock, as threw four men over-board, two of whom were lost,
>while the knee of a fifth was crushed in a terrible manner between
>the beril and the mast".
>
>So the cause seems to be the brace failing; Smollett uses the word
>"cask" elsewhere, not "barrel"; and I don't observe quaint spellings
>in this Smollett work ("Account of the Expedition Against Carthagena").
>
>Joel
>
>At 4/24/2007 12:52 PM, you wrote:
>>Probably a BARREL(?).
>>
>>--Charlie
>>____________________________________________________________
>>
>>---- Original message ----
>> >Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:42:02 -0400
>> >From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> >Subject: "beril" of a ship?
>> >>
>> >What, in the 18th century, was a "beril" on a naval vessel?  To
>>quote Smollett:  "the knee of a fifth [sailor] was crushed in a
>>terrible manner between the beril and the mast".
>> >
>>
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>
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