MARINE, a general name for the navy of a kingdom or state; as also the whole economy of naval affairs; or whatever respects the building, rigging, arming, equipping, navigating, and fighting ships. It comprehends also the government of naval armaments, and the state of all the persons employed therein, whether civil or military.
The history of the marine affairs of any one state is a very comprehensive subject, much more that of all
nations. Those who would be informed of the maritime affairs of Great Britain, and the figure it has made at sea in all ages, may find abundance of curious matter in Selden's Mare Clausum; and from his time to ours, we may trace a series of facts in Lediard's and Burchet's Naval History; but above all in the Lives of the Admirals, by the accurate and judicious Dr. Campbell.