CONVOY

(Fr. convoy er, to conduct.) In Navigation, the term applied to designate a ship cr slips of war, appointed by government, or by the corr.rr.arder in chief on a particular station, to escort or protect the merchant ships pror eiiina to certain ports. Convoys are mostly appointed during war; but they are sometimes also appointed during peace, for the security of ships rav i gating seas infested with pirates. For an account of the various regulations and conditions rolative to convoys, see M-Culloch's Com Diet. Convoy, in the Military service, signifies a detachment of tr.ops appointed to guard suppbes of provisions, ammunition,or money, In their progre to a distant • ■>ti of any country, or to an army in the field, against an att--. k which might be made upon them cither by the peasantry or by parlies of ihe enemy. [s. 295]