Also 7 balon, 8 ballong, baloen. A Siamese state-barge, upwards of a hundred feet long, and richly decorated.
1633. H. Cogan, Pinto’s Voy., xi. (1663), 35. With a Galley, five Foists, two Catures, 20 Balons and 300 men.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Balloon, or Baloon … The balloons are a kind of brigantine, managed with oars.
1755. Capt. R. Jackson, in Dalrymple, Orient. Repert., I. 195. The Burmas has now Eighty Ballongs, none of which [h]as great Guns.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Balloen.
