"beril" of a ship?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>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".)

I'm not convinced that "barrel" is likely, although I can't decisively
answer the question myself.

The word "barrel" appears elsewhere in Smollett's works, and it's spelled
in the usual way (at my glance). And, as previously noted, the book is not
full of weird or capricious spellings.

When "beril" appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries, AFAIK, it was
generally the same as "beryl" (meaning a jewel, also a mirror), as
previously noted. I can't see how this can be relevant.

It may be that there was some nautical item called a "beril", but if it had
been obviously equivalent to "barrel" I suppose it would have been spelled
"barrel" in Smollett's book.

Anyway, I can't find any such nautical "beril", or any "beril" = "barrel"
either, elsewhere right now.

One might consider the possibility of a shortened version of some nautical
expression; cf. "bosun" = "boatswain", "tops'l" = "topsail", etc. Could
"beril" = "[something] rail", for example? Here is a description of a
somewhat comparable event from Google Books (from 1860): "The sail flew
into ribbons, and great pieces of canvas went flying to leeward. The
weather topsail sheet drew the eyebolt out of the deck, carrying with it
one half of the belaying rail ...."

I suppose typographical error is always a possibility too.

[Another version of the same event appears in Smollett's _The Adventures of
Roderick Random_: "... one of the main braces broke, by the shock whereof
two sailors were flung from the yard's arm into the sea, where they
perished, and poor Jack Rattlin was thrown down upon the deck, at the
expense of a broken leg." No "beril" involved in this version.]

-- Doug Wilson


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