r their agents,
promising to pay a seaman, or to his order, a sum of money in part of
his wages, within a certain number of days after he has sailed in the
ship. Advance notes are quite negotiable before a seaman has taken his
departure.

ADVANTAGE, OR VANTAGE-GROUND. That which gives superiority of attack on,
or defence against, an enemy; affording means of annoyance or
resistance.

ADVENTURE. An enterprise in which something is left to hazard.--_A bill
of adventure_ is one signed by the merchant, by which he takes the
chances of the voyage.

ADVERSARY. Generally applied to an enemy, but strictly an opponent in
single combat.

ADVERSE. The opposite of favourable; as, an _adverse_ wind.

ADVICE-BOAT. A small fast-sailing vessel in advance of a fleet, employed
to carry intelligence with all possible despatch. They were first used
in 1692, to gain tidings of what was transacting in Brest, previous to
the battle of La Hogue.

ADVOCATE GENERAL. An officer of the High Court of Admiralty, whose duty
it is to appear for the lord high-admiral in that court, the court of
delegates, or any other wherein his rights are concerned.--_Judge-advocate
of the navy_, a law officer appointed to watch over and direct
proceedings connected with courts-martial.--_Deputy judge-advocate_, an
appointment made by the sudden selection of some secretary, or captain's
clerk, to perform the duty at a court-martial (where no legal person is
empowered), utterly ignorant of the law or the customs of the naval
service.

ADZE, OR ADDICE. A cutting tool of the axe kind, for dubbing flat and
circular work, much used by shipwrights, especially by the Parsee
builders in India, with whom it serves for axe, plane, and chisel. It is
a curious fact that from the polar regions to the equator, and southerly
throughout Polynesia, this instrument and its peculiar adaptations,
whether made of iron, basalt, nephrite, &c., all preserve the same idea
or identity of conception.

AEINAUTAE. Senators of Miletus, who held their deliberations on board
ship.

AERATAE. Ancient ships fitted with brazen prows.

AEROLITES. One of the many names given to those solid masses or stones
which occasionally fall from the atmosphere to the surface of the earth.
The assumption of their periodicity cannot, as yet, be considered as
confirmed.

AEROLOGY. The rational doctrine or science of the air and its
phenomena.

AEROMANCY. Formerly the art of divining by the air, but n