a sort of platform, surrounding the lower masthead, from which it projects on all sides like a scaffold. The principal intention of the top is to extend the topmast shrouds, so as to form a greater angle with the mast, and thereby give additional support to the latter. It is sustained by certain timbers fixed across the hounds or shoulders of the masts, and called the trestle-trees and cross-trees. Besides the use above mentioned, the top is otherwise extremely convenient to contain the materials necessary for extending the small sails, and for fixing or repairing the rigging and machinery with more facility and expedition. In ships of war it is used as a kind of redoubt, and is accordingly fortified for attack or defence; being furnished with swivels, musketry, and other fire-arms, and guarded by a thick fence of corded hammocks. Finally, it is employed as a place for looking out, either by day or night.

TOPMAST, the second division of a mast, or that part which stands between the upper and lower pieces.

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1 Stephens's Memoirs of John Horne Tooke. Lond. 1813, 2 vols. 8vo. Quarterly Review, vol. vii. p. 320. British Critic, N. S. vol. i. p. 79. 193. Aikin's General Biography, vol. ix. p. 449. Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, vol. xix. p. 449.