BOW (Epaule), in Ship-Building, the rounding part of a ship's side forward, beginning at the place where the planks arch inwards; and terminated where they close, at the stem or prow. It is proved by a variety of experiments, that a ship with a narrow bow is much better calculated for sailing swiftly, than one with a broad bow; but is not so well fitted for a high sea, into which she always pitches or plunges her fore-part very deep, for want of sufficient breadth to repel the volume of water which she so easily divides in her fall. The former of these is called by seamen a lean, and the other a bluff, bow. "The bow which meets with the least resistance in a direct course, not only meets with the least resistance in oblique courses, but also has the additional property of driving the least to leeward; which is a double advantage gained by forming the bow so as to give it that figure which will be least re-
* Bouguer's filled in moving through any medium *."
Traité de Navire.
On the BOW, in Navigation, an arch of the horizon comprehended between some distant object and that point of the compass which is right a-head, or to which the ship's stem is directed. The phrase is equally applicable when the object is beheld from the ship, or discovered by trigonometrical calculation: As, We saw a fleet at day-break bearing three points on the starboard-bow: that is, three points from that part of the horizon which is right a-head, towards the right hand. See the article BEARING.