Part 377

Fermer les PORTS, Fr. to lay a general embargo upon shipping. During the French monarchy this practice frequently occurred for the purpose of securing able bodied seamen.

PORT, Fr. This word is likewise used to express the tonnage of a vessel.

PORTAL, (portail, Fr.) the front or facade of a large building, where the principal gate stands.

To PORT, to carry.

PORT arms, a word of command which has been adopted during the present war, and is practised in the British army. It consists in bringing the firelock diagonally across the chest from the carry. This position of the musquet affords a great facility to the person who inspects the touch-hole, &c. In dismissing guards, preparing to charge, &c. soldiers are ordered to port arms. The French do not practise this method. Their word of command, haut les armes, corresponds with our recover.

PORTCLUSE, or PORT cullice, in fortification, is an assemblage of several large pieces of wood, joined across one another like a harrow, and each pointed with iron at the bottom. They are sometimes hung over the gate-way of old fortified towns, ready to let down in case of a surprise, when the gates could not be shut.

PORT-fire, in artillery, a composition put in a paper case to fire guns and mortars, instead of a lint-stock and match. See LABORATORY WORKS.

PORTGLAVE, Fr. See PORTE-EPEE.

PORT de l’arme, Fr. the carriage of the firelock.

PORTE drapeau, PORTE enseigne, Fr. the person who carries the colors.

PORT étendard, Fr. the standard bearer.

PORTE feu, Fr. a machine made of wood or copper, by which fire is communicated to gunpowder in a shell, fuse, or piece of ordnance. It is sometimes made of pasteboard. Where there is any ground to apprehend that a cannon will burst, the priming made of a certain composition is put into the pasteboard case, by which means the cannoneer has time to retire before any accident can happen.

PORTE feu, Fr. is likewise used among artificers to signify all sorts of fusees or matches, by which fire is communicated to many quarters at once. They last according to the nature of the composition with which they are made up.

PORTE feu brisé, Fr. in artificial fireworks, a species of carriage which is bent into a curve by means of a sloping piece of wood.

PORTE voix, Fr. a speaking trumpet.

PORTE mousqueton, Fr. a swivel.

PORTE arquebuse, Fr. the king’s gunbearer.

PORTE epée, Fr. a sword bearer; It likewise means a sword belt.

PORTE, Fr. a gate. Portes d’une ville. The gates of a fortified town.

PORTE d’ecluse, Fr. a flood gate.

PORTE de secours, Fr. the gate in a citadel, which has an outlet towards the country, is so called. By means of this gate the garrison can always receive succors or reinforcements, in cases of civil insurrection, or under circumstances of surprise.

PORTEE du fusil, Fr. by this expression the French generally understand the distance which a musquet-shot goes to its ultimate destination. It is supposed to vary from 120 to 150 toises.

PORTEE des piéces, Fr. the flight, range, or reach of cannon.

PORTEE à toute volée. Fr. the flight of a cannon shot when it makes an angle of something under 45 degrees with the horizon, or level of the country. In this manner it completes the greatest possible range.

PORTEE de but en blanc, Fr. the forward direction and flight of a ball, constituting a straight line, which it describes from the mouth of the piece to its ultimate object. It has been generally found, by experience that the distance so described, could not exceed 300 toises. Beyond that, the ball has been known to deviate. According to Belidor, pieces of ordnance will carry farther in the morning and at night, when the weather is cool and rarefied, than in the middle of the day, or at noon, when the heat of the sun prevails. This circumstance is amply discussed in his Bombardier Francois; and his observations were proved to be correct by experiments made in June, 1744, at Essonne. These experiments commenced at seven o’clock in the morning, and lasted till twelve. It was remarked, that the shells, which were thrown out of three mortars, gradually fell short of their original range. Besides the portée a toute volée, and the portée de but en blanc, or the full range and the point blank shot, there is the ricochet, which marshal Vauban invented. See RICOCHET.

PORTER, Fr. to carry. It is a marine term; as porter toutes ses voiles. To carry all her sails. It is likewise used as a word of command, viz. Portez vos armes. Carry arms.

PORTER une botte, Fr. to make a thrust or pass.

PORTES d’une ville du guerre, Fr. openings which cross the ramparts of a fortified town or place, and are generally arched over. These openings are usually made in the middle of the curtain, between two bastions. They are from nine to ten feet broad, and from thirteen to fourteen feet high. The gates are mostly decorated with trophies of war: and in some instances a very superfluous magnificence is exhibited.