The Glossary

Aback: refers to the sails when they are pressed aft against the mast by the wind.

Abaft: the hinder part of a ship, or towards the stern. It also signifies farther aft or nearer to the stern. For example behind the ship is abaft the ship.

Abel-wackets: a jocular punishment among seamen whereby a blow is rendered on the palm of the hand with a twisted handkerchief, instead of a palmer or ferula (a piece of iron at the end of a cane). Seamen sometimes play cards for wackets, the loser suffering a stroke for each lost game.

Abeam: on a line at right angles to a ship's length.

Abreast: off or directly opposite, for example two parallel ships with their heads equally advanced.

Acting Rabbit: a baked meat pie.

Adam Tiler:  a pickpocket's accomplice who scours off with the stolen goods.

Admiralty: the government department in command of the Royal Navy.

Aft: back of the ship, the stern.

Aground: when the ship's bottom, or any part of it, rests in the ground.

All in the wind: the shaking or quivering of sails when they are parallel to the direction of the wind.

Ark ruffian: Rogues who robbed or murdered passengers in a boat, boarding and then plundering, stripping and throwing them overboard.

Awning: the top crust of a baked pie.

Badgers: a crew of desperate villains.

Bark at the moon: to agitate uselessly.

Barky: a barque, barc, or bark, a class of sailing vessel with three or more masts with the mainmasts rigged square.

Barrel fever: to kill oneself or cause ill health by excessive drinking.

Beam: the widest point of the ship, the midpoint of its length.

Beam ends: the sides of a ship. A ship "on her beam ends" means she is over on her side about to capsize, perhaps listing 45 degrees or more.

Beam reached: see "Reaching".

Beat to Quarters: drum is beaten to signal prepare for battle.

Beating: sailing into the wind in a zig zag course (also known as "hauling").

Bleeding cully: someone who parts easily with their money.

Board and board: ships come so as to touch each other, to lie side by side.

Bob Cull: an honest good natured quiet man.

Bold shore: a steep coast permitting the close approach of a ship.

Bonfire Night: an annual commemoration known as Gunpowder Treason Day or Guy Fawkes Night following the plot to assassinate King James I on 5 November 1605.

Bowsprit: large piece of timber, standing out from the bow of a ship, to which the forestays are fastened.

Box the compass: recite the 32 points on the mariner's compass, backwards or forwards and be able to answer any and all questions respecting its divisions.

Brail up the sails:  Brails are small ropes used to haul in or haul up the leeches or bottoms for furling. The command is also "Hale up the brails".  The operation of thus drawing them together is called brailing them up in order to gather the sail close to the mast, spill wind and thereby slow the ship.

Brig: a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts.

Bring-to: to check the course of a ship by arranging the sails in such a manner so that they counteract each other and prevent her from either retreating or advancing.

Bringing by the lee: the ship inclines or turns suddenly to leeward, so as to lay her sails aback. To broach-to is the opposite where the ship turns to windward.

Bristol Milk: a Spanish wine called sherry

Bread basket: stomach.

Broach-to: the ship inclines or turns suddenly to windward against the helm, thus her side is facing the wind (which endangers the masts). To the contrary, if she turns the other way so as to lay her sails aback on the side which is the lee side, it is “Bringing by the Lee”.

Broad: wide in appearance. As ship "broad off the beam" is sailing with her side in view. Opposite is "fine", where either the stern or bow are only in view.

Broadside: a discharge of all the gun on one side of a ship, all decks.

Broad reached: see "Reaching".

Bruiser: a boxer, usually skilled.

Bubble and Squeak: Beef and cabbage fried together, which will bubble up and squeak whilst over the fire.

Bulker:  a pickpocket's accomplice who jostles the person they intend to rob.

Bulkhead: the sides or wall of a ship below the decks.

Bulwark: the sides of a ship extended above the decks.

By: into the wind.

By and large: a ship that handles well (by) into the wind and (large) with the wind.

Caffan: cheese.

Captain: commander of a ship, usually with rank of master, lieutenant, or captain.

Chief cock of the walk: leading man, the best boxer in a village or district.

Clagger: the top crust of a baked pie.

Clakker: the top crust of a baked pie.

Clear the anchor: to ready it for dropping, to get the cables off the flukes, or stock and to disencumber it of ropes.

Close hauled: beating, sailing into the wind, close to the wind direction as possible.

Close reached: see "Reaching".

Cock-and-bull: a tale which is fabricated or untrue.

Cool tankard: wine and water with lemon, sugar and burrage.

Coppering: the practice of protecting the under-water hull of a ship from the corrosive effects of salt water and biofouling through the use of copper affixed to the outside of the hull.

Cove:  a man, a fellow, a rogue.

Crafty clinker: a crafty fellow.

Cramp rings: Bolts, shackles or fetters.

Crook my elbow and wish it never come straight: an expression to add great weight and efficacy to an oath.

Crop: to be knocked down (a crop). Cropped is to be hanged.

Crying cockles: to be hanged, refers to the noise made whilst strangling.

Cuddy: nickname for the captain's cabin.

Cully:  a fool. Also, a dupe to women.

Dancing at Beilby's ball: to be hanged.

Darts: a straight-armed blow in boxing.

Dead lights:  a shutter to cover the windows in the stern of a ship, to block out the weather.

Dicked in the Nob: Silly, crazed.

Dickey box: the front of a carriage where the driver sits, on a box or a perch, usually elevated and small. This is also the term used for a seat at the back for servants. The small platform at the rear is a footboard used by a footman. The seat behind the body is a rumble.   

Dished: to be ruined.

Diving busman: a pickpocket

Dogvane: a small weather vane mounted within sight of the helmsman used to indicate the wind direction. Sometimes improvised with a scrap of cloth or other light material. Also known as a "Tell-Tale" which is moreover a light piece of string, yarn, or rope attached to a stay or a shroud.

Dogwatch: a period of duty, or watch, upon the ship. This watch is two hours long and the first dogwatch commences at 16:00 or 4pm, the second dogwatch commencing at 18:00 or 6pm.

Doodle: a silly fellow.

Doubling upon:  the act of cannonading from both sides of the ship or enclosing any part of a hostile fleet between two fires.

Dub the gigger: open the door.

Dustman: dead.

Ebb: the outgoing tidal current, flowing away from shore. Opposite is "Flood".

Eighteens: a cannon capable of firing an eighteen pound shot or ball.

Empty the bag: to be forthright and tell all.

Fall off: denotes the motion of the ship's head from the direction of the wind. It is used in opposition to “come to” (denotes the motion of a ship's head to the direction of the wind).

Fall not off: the command to steer in order to keep the ship near the wind.

Fair: prison.

Fence:  to pawn or sell stolen goods.

Fiddle faddle: nonsense.

Figging law:  art of picking pockets.

File:  a pick pocket. Also known as File Cloy or Bungnipper. To file is to cheat or rob. The File keeps company with an Adam Tiler and a Bulker.

Fine: narrow in appearance. As ship "fine off the beam" is sailing with either her bow or stern in view. Opposite is "broad", where the sides are in view.

Fire Ship: a woman infected with the venereal disease.

Fish eyes: a version of Tapioca Pudding.

Flash Panney: a brothel.

Flimsies: a certificate from a commanding officer as to conduct and performance. Usually it is provided on a thin or flimsy piece of paper.

Flip: a small beer, brandy and sugar.

Flood: the incoming tidal current, flowing towards shore. Opposite is "ebb".

Flotsam: floating cargo or wreckage.

Fogey: often an old Fogey, which is a nickname for an invalid soldier.

Fore: front of the ship, the stem or head.

Forecastle: the upper deck in the fore part of the ship, pronounced "fohk-sil".

Fork: a pickpocket

Founder: to sink at sea by filling with water.

Free Booter: a lawless thief, a robber who plunders. Originally a soldier paid only by the plundering of the enemy.

Frenchified: infected with the venereal disease. See also Fire Ship.

Full and before: sailing large or with the wind, ensuring the sails are kept full.

Full and by: sailing by or into the wind, although not as close-hauled as might be possible, which ensures the sails are kept full.

Gage (of a ship): the ship's depth of water, or what water a ship draws.

Gage (weather): a ship to windward (or upwind) of another is said to have the weather gage, meaning she has the wind in assistance to be able to approach.

Gangway: place to enter the ship.

Give a bottle a black eye: to empty it, drink it all.

Goosewinged: sailing directly with the wind, the sails set on both sides of the vessel, the mainsail on one side and the jib on the other, thus maximising the canvas.

Gone to the diet of worms: dead and buried.

Great cabin: the captain's berth or cabin

Gruel: a dish composed of boiled oatmeal, with a little butter.

Gunwale: top edge of the hull where it meets the deck. The bulwark extends above. Also known as gunnel.

Gullgroper: usurers who lend money to the gamesters.

Half seas over: almost drunk or inebriated.

Haul the wind: to direct the ship's course nearer to the point from which the wind blows.

Heave-to: to slow the ship from going forward. Hove-to is to have stopped.

Heave out:   to heave out the staysails is to unfurl or loosen a staysail. Distinguishable from the command to "loose the top-sails".

Helm: the wheel and the tiller, used in steerage of the ship.

Helm-a-lee: the command given to turn the ship bringing it closer to the wind. This will slow the ship so it may tack.

Hold: a ship's compartment for carrying cargo.

Hornswoggling: to deceive.

Horse Guards Parade: a large parade ground off Whitehall in central London.

Hove-to: to have stopped the ship from going forward. Heave-to is to slow the ship.

Hoy: a particular kind of vessel. For example a powder hoy, carries powder.

Hull-down: a vessel with only its upper part visible over the horizon.

Hulled between wind and water: cannonaded and shot under the waterline.

In irons: forward momentum is lost while heading into the wind, unable to steer.

Interest: is to have support, usually from someone of high society or a position of influence.

Jack: a sailor. Also refers to the union flag.

Jack Adams: a fool.

Jack at a pinch: a poor hackney parson.

Jack in the box: a sharper, one who lives by their wits, or a cheat.

Japanned: to be ordained and enter into holy orders, a clergyman who adorns the black cloth, similar to the black colour of the japan ware.

Jingle Brains: a wild, thoughtless, rattling fellow.

King's College: the King's Bench prison.

Kiss the gunner's daughter: to be tied to a cannon and flogged on the buttocks.

Laid up in ordinary: a ship out of service for repair or maintenance or a ship no longer required for active service, awaiting a recall.

Landsman's wind: running directly before or with the breeze, a dead (straight) run.

Lap robe: the blanket used in a carriage to cover a passenger's legs.

Larboard: left side of a ship, upon looking forward towards the head. Known as port.

Large: to be sailing large is to sail with or before the wind, so that wind is on the quarter or abaft the beam.

Lee shore: a shore upon which the wind blows towards.

Leeward: the side down wind or away from the wind. Opposite is windward

Letter of Marque: a letter from a state or power authorising action by a privateer.

Lieutenant: the British Royal Navy traditionally pronounced the word as “luhtenant,” whilst the British Army pronounced it as "leftenant" and the American pronunciation is "lootenant".

Listing: a ship's side that is inclined or heeling towards the water, usually due to the addition of weight within, such as taking on water.

Live lumber: what sailors call soldiers or passengers on board a ship.

Log (to heave): throw the log overboard, to calculate the speed of the ship's way.

Long Tom: a paint brush lashed to the end of a long pole, used for painting places which are difficult to access.

Louisette: a machine for execution, or louison, named after its inventor, French surgeon and physiologist Antoine Louis, but later it became known as la guillotine.

Luff: pointing the ship closer to the wind so as to lose wind from the sails which in turn eases pressure on the canvas. To "luff up and touch her" is to bring the ship so close to the wind that the sails flap and shake. The ship will slow.

Mad Tom: a rogue that counterfeits madness.

Master: an officer, primarily in charge of the navigation.

Master's mate: senior petty officer who assists the master.

Masthead: highest part of a ship's mast.

Merry Andrews: or Mister Merryman being the jack pudding, jester or zany of a mountebank, usually dressed in a party-coloured coat, a person who clowns publicly, a buffoon.

Merry-begotten child: a bastard, born out of wedlock.

Milch cow: someone easily tricked out of their property.

Milling Cove: a boxer.

Monkey: a small cannon. Boys who fetch powder from the magazine are called "Powder Monkeys.".

Muzzler: a violent blow on the mouth.

Neap tide: when the moon is at the first or third quarter each month, the sun and moon are at right angles. The gravitational forces cancel each other out resulting in lower high tides and higher low tides.

Nigmenog:  a very silly fellow.

Off the hooks: unhinged to the point of acting silly.

Offing: distant to seaward from the land, towards the horizon.

Panam: bread.

Peeper: a spying glass.

Peg Trantum's: to go there is to die.

Penny-wise and pound-foolish: thrifty with small amounts of money, but not with large.

Pluck: Courage.

Pooping: in a tempest before the wind, the shock of a high heavy sea upon the stern or quarter of a ship, resulting in scudding.

Pope's Nose: the rump of a turkey.

Ports: openings or windows on the outside of a ship. A square-port is square window/opening.

Post Master General: nickname for the Prime Minister.

Powder Monkeys: boys who fetch powder from the magazine.

Press: the act of forcing men into service on naval ships, usually against their will.

Quarter lights: the side windows of an enclosed carriage.

Quartermaster: the helmsman.

Rake: to cannonade a ship through the stern (aft) or through the head (fore), so that the balls scour the entire length of the decks.

Reaching: there are six points of sail referring to the course of a ship in relation to the direction of the wind. Reaching means the ship is sailing across the wind. "Close Reaching" is about 60° to 80° (slightly into the wind), "Beam Reaching" is 90° (perpendicular to the wind, a "soldier's wind") and "Broad Reaching" is about 120° to 160° (with the wind).

Read in: the customary practice of the newly appointed commander reading his commission, or orders, to the crew.

Report: a sudden loud noise, an explosion or gunfire.

Ruffian: a devil or rogue. See also arc ruffians. May also mean, a justice.

Rum bite: a clever cheat.

Rum-cully: a rich fool.

Sailing, by: into the wind.

Sailing, large: with or before the wind.

Scullery: a small kitchen.

Sea daddy: a senior in charge of other seamen to guide as well as instruct them.

Sea lawyer: a shark. Also an obstinate person or a sailor who complains.

Ship of the line: a ship which takes part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle.

Slack: the entire period of a tidal current's low speed just prior to and just after its turning of direction. Not to be confused with "Stand".

Sloop: a sailing boat with a single mast and a fore-and-aft rig.

Sly boots: a cunning fellow under the mask of simplicity.

Soldier's wind: sailing across the wind, beam reaching (perpendicular to the wind).

Son of Prattlement: a lawyer.

Souse: not a souse, as such, not a penny.

Sovereign's parade: the quarterdeck.

Spoon: to take in the sails and drift with momentum.

Spring her luff: a ship is said to spring her luff when she yields to the effort of the helm, by sailing nearer to the wind than before (also see “luff”), which spills wind from the sail.

Square-port:  a square window or opening is known in the Royal Navy as a port or square-port.

Stands: the direction a ship is heading. A ship "standing toward us" approaches.

Stand: when the vertical movement of the water ceases at both high or low tide.

Stem to stern: from front to back, from fore to aft.

Stem: the fore-part or front of the ship.

Stepney: decoction of raisins and lemons in conduit water sweetened with sugar and bottled.

Stern: the after-part or back of the ship.

Stern light: the glass at the back of the ship.

Strike: used emphatically to denote the lowering of colours in token of surrender.

Suds: in trouble or difficulty.

Sugar Sops: toasted bread soaked in ale sweetened with sugar and grated nutmeg. Usually taken with cheese.

Tom: a cannon.

Top heavy: drunk.

Topping it: an act of pretence.

Touched (in the head): insane, mad or crazy.

Tormenter of Catgut: a fiddler. Also known as a Gut Scraper.

Toss pot: a drunkard.

Tradesmen: thieves.

Turnkey:  a jailor also known as a gigger dubber.   

Twaddle: perplexing or confusing (speech). Also a “bore”, a tedious, troublesome person who bores the ears of his hearers with uninteresting tales.

Twenty-fours: a cannon capable of firing a twenty-four pound shot or ball.

Water bewitched: very weak punch or beer.

Wear: to turn (or tack) the ship when going with the wind. The opposite is "going about" or tacking into the wind.

Weather deck:  an upper deck with no overhead protection, above the water line.

Weigh anchor: to heave up the anchor from the bottom.

White Ribbin: gin, an alcoholic drink.

Whitehall: a road in Central London hosting the location of many ministries. Recognised as the centre of the Government. The word is also used as a figure of speech for the British civil service and government.

Wild rogues: rogues trained to steal, from birth.

Wind’s eye: point from which the wind blows.

Windward: towards the direction from which the wind blows. Opposite is leeward.

Yard or Yardarm: the timbers upon which the sails are spread.

Yellow Jack: the tropical disease, a virus, known as yellow fever.

 

SHIPS OF WAR — MURKY WATERS
COPYRIGHT  ©  BRADLEY JOHN TATNELL  2018 – 2024

THE FIRST BOOK IN THE SHIPS OF WAR SERIES.

THE AUTHOR BRADLEY JOHN TATNELL* (BRADLEY JOHN)  ASSERTS THE MORAL RIGHT TO BE IDENTIFIED AS THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED, STORED IN A RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING OR OTHERWISE, WITHOUT THE PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.

1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue (original)

Glossary of Nautical Terms (1790—1815) (original)