Bab el Mandeb THE 20-mile-wide strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
babirussa Found in the East Indies, a species of wild hog (also known as hog-deer, Indian hog, and horned hog), whose upper canine teeth, in the male, pierce the lip and grow up and back like horns.
back To turn a sail or a YARD so that the wind blows directly on the front of the sail, retarding the ship’s forward movement.
back and fill To go backward and forward.
backing Motion in a backward direction. Said of the wind, shifting in a counterclockwise direction in relation to a vessel’s course. When the wind shifts in a clockwise direction, it is called veering.
backstay A long rope, part of the standing RIGGING, that supports a MAST and counters forward pull. Attached to the upper MASTHEADS, backstays slant a little toward the STERN, extending to both sides or to the CHANNELS of the ship, where they are fastened to backstay-plates.
bagnio A brothel.
bahadur An Anglo-Indian term meaning a great man or distinguished person; often used as a title before an officer’s name. From the Hindi word meaning “hero” or the Persian word for “brave.”
bailey The external wall enclosing the outer court and forming the first line of defense of a castle. In a wider sense, any of the circuits of walls or defenses that surround the keep. Also, either of the two-or three-walled courts within the innermost wall surrounding the walled courts.
Bailiff An officer of justice who is subordinate to a sheriff and who executes writs and arrests. A warrant officer, especially one who arrests debtors.
bairn Scottish word for a son or daughter.
bait Of travelers, to stop at an inn to feed the horses, but also to rest and refresh themselves; to make a brief stay or sojourn; to feed, take nourishment.
baize A coarse woolen cloth used for linings, coverings, curtains, and clothing.
Bakewell tart A baked sweet consisting of a pastry shell lined with a layer of jam and filled with a rich almond-flavored sponge cake. Named for the town in Derbyshire where it originated.
ballast Gravel, sand, stones, iron, lead, or any heavy material placed in the hold of a ship to improve her stability. “In ballast” means laden with ballast only.
ball-scoop A surgical instrument for removing small shot from superficial wounds.
balsa A very buoyant raft or fishing float made from the wood of the balsa tree and used chiefly on the Pacific coast of South America.
balsam An aromatic oily or resinous medicinal preparation, usually for external application, for healing wounds or soothing pain.
Baltimore Clipper Name given in the United States to a fast SCHOONER or BRIG-RIGGED vessel, with raked MASTS and a sharp BOW, of about 90 to 200 tons and 35 to 120 feet on deck.
band A slip of canvas stitched across a sail to strengthen the parts most liable to pressure.
Banda Isles A group of 12 small volcanic islands in the Molucca Archipelago.
bandicoot A large Indian rat as big as a cat and very destructive.
banker A ship employed in cod fishing on the Bank of Newfoundland.
Banks, Sir Joseph (1743-1820) Botanist who accompanied Captain James COOK on his voyage (1768-1771) to the Pacific in H.M.S. Endeavour. The Endeavour landed in New South Wales at Sting-Ray Harbour in 1770, and Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain. Cook later renamed the harbor BOTANY BAY in honor of Banks’s many discoveries there. Banks was president of the ROYAL SOCIETY from 1778 to 1820.
Banksia A genus of Australian evergreen trees and shrubs. Also, common name of a species of climbing rose, originating in China, that bears small white or yellow flowers in clusters. It was named after Lady Banks, the wife of Sir Joseph BANKS. The labrador, gray, or jack pine, Pinus banksiana, named after Sir Joseph Banks, is also called banksia.
banns Public announcement in church of an intended marriage so that those who know of any impediment can voice their objection.
Bantu Of or pertaining to an extensive group of peoples inhabiting the equatorial and southern regions of Africa and the languages spoken by them.
banyan or banian In the English Navy, a day on which salt meat was replaced by fish or cheese, a practice begun during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) to reduce costs. The term derives from the Banians, Hindu traders who abstained from eating meat because they held animals to be sacred. Also, the banyan is an East Indian tree of the mulberry family with branches that send out shoots down to the soil, where they root and grow into secondary trunks.
Banyuls A sweetish red or tawny dessert wine made in the communes of Banyuls-sur-Mer in southern France.
baobab A broad-trunked tropical tree (ADANSONIA digitata), also called monkey-bread and Ethiopian sour gourd, found in Africa and long naturalized in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, and some parts of India. Very slow-growing, the baobab reaches up to 60 feet in height and 30 feet in diameter, and some grow to be several thousand years old. Its trunk and lower branches are soft and spongy and can store a great deal of water, inuring them to long dry seasons. The flowers are pollinated by bats. Many animals use the baobab for food and shelter. Its acid fruit looks like a gourd and is edible, and its bark is used to make paper, rope, and cloth.
Barbary The Islamic countries along the north coast of Africa, from the western border of Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean. The Barbary States included Algeria, Tunisia, Tripoli, and sometimes Morocco. See also ALGIERS and TANGIERS.
Barbados leg A form of ELEPHANTIASIS that occurs in hot climates, caused by Wuchereria bancrofti, minute parasitic worms that are transmitted by mosquitoes.
barca-longa A large Spanish fishing boat, common in the Mediterranean, rigged with single LUGSAILS on each of two or three MASTS, and reaching up to 70 feet in length.
Barclay de Tolly, Mikhail, Prince (1761-1818) A Russian field marshal of Scottish descent, he became minister of war in 1810 and commanded the Russian forces against NAPOLEON in 1812. His policy of continuous retreat deep into Russia and his defeat at Smolensk resulted in his being replaced by Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, Prince of Smolensk. After Kutuzov’s death in 1813, he was again placed in command of the Russian forces, distinguishing himself at Leipzig and in the capture of Paris.
bare poles With no sail set, with furled sails, as in “with or under (bare) poles.” Said of a ship in a storm that has taken in all of her sails because of the violent winds.
barge In naval usage, a FLAG OFFICER’S boat or one fitted for ceremonial purposes. Also, a long, narrow boat, generally with no fewer than ten oars, carried on a MAN-OF-WAR. See illustrations, pages 70 and 71.
barge-pole A long pole used to propel a barge.
bark also Jesuits’ or Peruvian bark The bark of various species of the cinchona tree, which contains quinine. Ground into a powder, it was highly effective in the treatment of malaria and became a main-stay in the treatment of almost all other fevers, although not truly curative for them. For nautical meaning, see BARQUE.
barky A sailor’s term for a vessel well liked by her crew.
barley water A drink made by boiling down pearl barley. It is used to soothe or protect irritated mucous membranes.
Barmecide One who offers imaginary food or illusory benefits. Barmecide was the family name of the princes ruling at Baghdad in the 8th century. In The Arabian Nights a story is told of a prince who put a succession of empty dishes before a beggar, pretending they contained a delicious meal—a fiction the beggar humorously accepted.
barometer An instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure. The marine barometer had a column of mercury in a glass tube that was suspended in gimbals to prevent the ship’s motion from affecting it. In general, when the mercury rose in the glass column—a “rising glass”—it signified high pressure or improving weather; a “falling glass” meant falling pressure and bad weather. See also GLASS.
baronet The holder of a title of honor that is the lowest that is hereditary, below a baron and above a knight, carrying the title “Sir,” and, to differentiate from knights, the abbreviation “Bart.” after the surname, as in Sir John Spencer, Bart. A baronet is a commoner, the intention being “to give rank, precedence, and title without privilege.”
baronetcy A baronet’s position or rank; a baronet’s patent.
barouche A four-wheeled carriage having a seat in front for the driver and facing seats for two couples.
barque or bark A three-MASTed vessel with the FOREMAST and MAINMAST SQUARE-RIGGED and the MIZZENMAST FORE-AND-AFT rigged. Also sometimes used for the BARCA-LONGA of the Mediterranean and other small sailing vessels.
barrel A revolving cylinder or drum around which a chain or rope is wound in various machines and appliances.
bar-shot or bar A shot consisting of two half cannonballs joined by an iron bar, used at sea to damage MASTS and RIGGING.
Bartholomew Fair This festival, named after one of the 12 apostles, was held on the 24th of August, from 1133 to 1855, at West Smithfield (Bartholomew Fair) in London. Known for quality presentations and theater but also its rowdiness, it was closed by the city in 1855.
Bartolo (1314-2357) Bartolo of Saxoferrato was an Italian jurist, legal commentator, and professor at Perugia. He wrote a famous commentary on Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis.
bas bleu French for bluestocking, a woman with intellectual or literary interests. The term comes from the Blue Stocking Society, an 18th-century English club whose members—mostly female—met to discuss literature, art, and other intellectual matters. One of the club’s popular speakers was Benjamin Stillingfleet, whose habit of wearing unconventional blue stockings gave the club its name.
bashaw A grandee, a haughty, imperious man. From the title of rulers of BARBARY Coast countries.
bashi-bazouk also bashi-bazo A mercenary soldier belonging to the skirmishing, or irregular, troops of the Turkish army, notorious for lawlessness, plundering, and savage brutality.
basilisk A fantastic reptile, also called a cockatrice, alleged to be hatched by a serpent from a cock’s egg. Ancient authors stated that the basilisk’s hissing drove away all other serpents and that its breath, and even its look, was fatal.
Basque Roads Roadstead off the French coast near Rochefort on the Bay of Biscay where the Battle of Basque Roads (or Battle of Aix Roads) took place in 1809. Although an English victory, Captain COCHRANE contended that had Admiral GAMBIER been more enterprising, the victory could have been much more devastating.
Bastille A prison-fortress built in Paris in the 14th century. The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, touched off the French Revolution.
bastardy order Order made by a magistrate for the support of an illegitimate child by the putative father.
Batavia City and seaport on the northwest coast of Java, now Djakarta. Capitol of the Dutch possessions in the East. Built on marshy grounds and long considered unhealthy.
Batavia salve A topical ointment made of unknown but probably exotic ingredients, associated with the Dutch East Indies.
bate To lower in amount, weight, or estimation; to reduce.
bateleur A small eagle of Africa and Arabia, whose name (bateleur is French for “tumbler”) comes from the birds’ aerial acrobatics, including somersaults, loud wing clapping, and screaming dives. About two feet long, the bateleur has a black crested head, a red face, and long, pointed wings. It hunts for small mammals, reptiles, especially snakes, and carrion.
Bath A well-known city in the west of England, famous for its hot springs. Bath was a center of social life in 18th-century England.
battel Board and lodging expenses, and tuition when applicable.
batten A narrow strip of wood nailed to various parts of the MASTS and SPARS to preserve them from chafing. A similar strip used to fasten down the edges of the tarpaulin fixed over the HATCHWAYS to keep out the water in bad weather. Also, a wooden bar from which hammocks are sometimes slung.
battle-lantern A ship’s lantern made of thick horn to prevent fire and explosion, so called because one was placed at each gun to light up the deck during a night engagement; a fighting-lantern.
baulk A roughly squared beam of timber. Sometimes used specifically to designate Baltic timber, which is roughly dressed before shipment.
Bay of Biscay The Atlantic Ocean immediately west of France and north of Spain, where British blockaders of Napoleon’s ports spent much time. Well known for its ferocious storms and heavy seas.
Beachy Head At 575 feet above sea level, Beachy Head, in East Sussex, is the highest headland on England’s southern coast and a well-known landmark. The French defeated an Anglo-Dutch fleet off Beachy Head in 1690.
beadle A messenger of justice, a warrant officer. An under-BAILIFF
beak or beakhead A small platform at the fore part of the upper deck; the part of a ship forward of the FORECASTLE, fastened to the STEM and supported by the main KNEE. In warships the sailors’ lavatories, or “heads,” were located here.
beam One of the horizontal transverse timbers of a ship that support the deck and hold the vessel together. Also, the breadth of a ship. When preceded by LARBOARD or STARBOARD, it designates the side of a vessel or that direction. A beam wind is a wind hitting the side of a vessel at a right angle to its centerline.
beam-ends The ends of a ship’s BEAMS. “TO be laid on the beam-ends” means to have them touching the water, so that the vessel lies on its side in imminent danger of capsizing.
beamy Of a ship, broad in the BEAM. Wide.
bean-cod A small Portuguese fishing vessel with a sharply curved BOW. See illustration, page 63.
bear For sailors, a word associated with direction and the maneuvering of a vessel. To bear down on something means to head toward it; to bear up is to put the vessel before the wind, which is accomplished by turning the helm to the vessel’s windward—or “up”—side (as the wind in the sail forces the leeward side lower, toward the water); to bear off is to avoid something; to bear away is to change course when CLOSE-HAULED and put the vessel before the wind. Also, a large padded stone used for scrubbing the decks.
beat To sail toward the wind on successive TACKS.
beat to quarters See QUARTERS.
beck To make a sign of recognition, respect, or obeisance; to nod, make a slight bow; to curtsy.
becket A simple contrivance, often a loop of rope with a knot on one end and eye at the other, but also a large hook or wooden bracket, used to hold loose ropes, TACKLE, oars, SPARS, etc., or for holding or securing the TACKs and SHEETS of sails and for similar purposes. The rope handle of a wooden bucket.
Beckford, William (1759-1844) The eccentric English author of the classic Gothic novel Vathek (published in English in 1786), also known for having built Fonthill Abbey, a grand palace of the English Gothic revival.
Bedlam Corruption of the name of St. Mary of Bethlehem Hospital, a London lunatic asylum where the Navy discharged up to 50 men a year for treatment in the early 19th century.
Beechey, Sir William (1753-1839) English portrait painter to Queen Charlotte beginning in 1793. Among his well-known works are Brother and Sister and Cavalry Review in Hyde Park. His son, Frederick William (1796-1856), became a noted naval officer and geographer.
beetle A mallet with a heavy head, usually of wood, used for caulking seams between planks, driving wedges or pegs, ramming down paving stones, or for beating, flattening, or smoothing.
before the mast A descriptive phrase applied to common sailors, who were berthed in the FORECASTLE, fore of the FOREMAST.
before the wind Said of a ship sailing with the wind directly astern.
A ship running before the wind (from Sir William Symonds’s Naval Costumes)
beguin Affection, a crush (French).
behindhand In arrears, insolvent, in debt.
Behn, Aphra (1640-1689) A dramatist, poet, and novelist known as the “Incomparable Astrea,” she is believed to have been the first English female professional writer, particularly known for coarse comedies, such as Forc’d Marriage (1671), The Rover (1677), and The Roundheads (1682). Her personal experiences included growing up in the West Indies, serving as a spy in Antwerp, and imprisonment for debt.
belay To make fast, or secure, a running rope, especially one of the small ones used for working the sails, around a cleat, BELAYING PIN, or KEVEL. Also, to disregard, as in “belay the last word.”
belaying pin The wooden or iron pins around which ropes of the running BUGGING are coiled, also sometimes used as weapons. Normally kept in holes on a rail, called a FIFERAIL or pinrail, around the mast.
Belcher neckerchief A blue neckerchief with large white spots and a dark blue center spot or eye, named after the celebrated pugilist Jim Belcher; sometimes applied to any multicolored handkerchief worn around the neck.
belike Like, likely.
bell See SHIP’S BELLS.
belladonna Literally, beautiful lady, the Italian name for deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna, long used as a poison. The medical uses of its major active ingredient, atropine, included inducing sleep, analgesia, and dilating the pupil before cataract extraction. It is no longer used for those purposes, but it is prescribed today for others.
Bellerophon, H.M.S. A 74-gun ship launched in 1786 and nicknamed “Billy Ruffian” by sailors. Commanded by Captain John Cooke at TRAFALGAR, Bellerophon fought in the LEE line and suffered 132 dead and wounded, including her captain, who was killed. On July 15, 1815, NAPOLEON gave himself up to Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland of Bellerophon and sailed in her to Torquay and then to PLYMOUTH before transferring to another ship for the voyage to ST. HELENA. Leaving the ship on August 7, Napoleon took off his hat to the officers and men of the Bellerophon. In Patrick O’Brian’s fiction, while Jack Aubrey was serving on the Bellerophon in 1797, he and the ship’s MASTER mapped the port at St. Martin’s, France, which proved fortuitous later during a daring CUTTING OUT mission, as described in The Letter of Marque. See also CHIMAERA.
Bellona, H.M.S. A third rate built in 1760 and broken up in 1814.
bend To make fast. To bend a sail means to make it fast to its proper YARD or STAY.
Benedictine Of or belonging to St. Benedict or the religious order founded by him around the year 529. One of this order of monks, also known from the color of their dress as “black monks.”
benefice A church office that receives the revenue of an endowment. Land granted in feudal tenure, a fief.
Bengal A province of Hindustan that includes the delta of the Ganges.
Bengal light A blue light used for signaling and illumination.
ben’t Said of a story that is appropriate, happily invented, even if untrue.
Benthamite A subscriber to the philosophical system of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), an eminent English jurist and writer on law and ethics, who taught that the only good is pleasure and that the highest morality is the pursuit of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
Bentinck, Captain John (1737-1775) Inventor of the Bentinck sail, Bentinck BOOM, and Bentinck SHROUD. The first was a triangular COURSE, used as a storm canvas, that was supplanted by the FORE-AND-AFT storm STAYSAIL in the Royal Navy, although it remained in use in the U.S. Navy somewhat longer. The Bentinck boom spread the foot of the FORECOURSE of COLLIER BRIGS, and simplified the operation of going about, since there were no TACKS and SHEETS to worry about. Bentinck shrounds ran from one side of the top to the CHANNELS on the other side, providing extra support to the TOPMAST RIGGING.
Berber Name given by the Arabs to the aboriginal people west and south of Egypt. Any member of the North African stock to which belong the aboriginal races of BARBARY and the Tuwariks of the Sahara.
berth Sufficient space to allow a ship to swing around at the length of her moorings; the place where a ship lies when at anchor or at a wharf. Also, the room or apartment where the officers or ship’s company mess and reside. A sleeping place in a ship.
berth-deck The deck that contains the sailors’ hammocks.
bespoke Ordered, commissioned, arranged for. Spoken of, talked of. Also, engaged to be married.
best bower The port, or “working,” anchor of the two usually identical anchors, carried at the BOWS of a vessel, the other anchor being the SMALL-BOWER.
betel The leaf of the shrubby evergreen plant (Piper betel or Chavica betel), which is wrapped around slivers of areca nut and lime and chewed as a stimulant by the natives of India and neighboring countries.
beth The second letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
beylik or beylic The dominion or jurisdiction of a bey, an Islamic official.
bezant A gold coin first struck at Byzantium or Constantinople and current in England until the 14th century.
bezoar A layered calculus, or hard mass, found in the stomach or intestines of some animals, usually Persian goats, and used as a counter-poison. An expensive panacea at one time, it had been abandoned by most European physicians by about 1700.
bhang The native name of the Indian variety of common hemp, Cannabis sativa, or marijuana, which possesses narcotic and intoxicating properties. In India the leaves and seed capsules are chewed or smoked, eaten in a sweetmeat mixture, and sometimes drunk in an infusion. The name is sometimes extended to an intoxicating substance prepared from the resin of the plant, called hashish by the Arabs.
bib A bracket under the TRESTLETREE of a MAST, resembling a child’s bib with the mast as the “neck.”
Bible A squared piece of stone used to grind the deck with sand in order to clean it. A small HOLYSTONE.
bight The loop of a rope, as distinguished from its ends; the part between the ends.
bilander A two-MASTed merchant vessel distinguished by a trapezoidal MAINSAIL. Bilanders were used in Holland for coast and canal traffic.
bilbo A long iron bar with sliding shackles to confine the ankles of prisoner’s and a lock for fixing one end of the bar to the floor.
bilge The bottom of a ship’s hull, the part on either side of the KEEL that is more horizontal than perpendicular; the lowest internal part of the hull. Also, the foul water that collects in the bilge through leakage or otherwise and becomes noxious.
bill-boards Projections of oak plank secured to the BOW of the ship behind the CATHEADS for the FLUKE of the anchor to rest on. When the anchor has been stowed on the bill-board, it is said to be FISHed, and the TACKLE by which this is done is called the fish-tackle.
billet An appointment, post, or berth.
billet doux Love letter (French).
billet-head A round piece of wood fitted to the BOW or STERN of a whale boat around which the line is secured when the whale is harpooned; a scroll head.
binge To rinse, as in to “binge a cask.”
binnacle A box, found on the deck of a ship near the HELM, that houses the compass.
Bio-Bio River In central Chile, a 238-mile river flowing from the Andes into the Pacific at Concepcion.
Biscayan A native of any part of the shoreline of the BAY OF BISCAY; a Biscayan ship. Also, an inhabitant of the Basque province of Biscaya, or Vizcaya, in Northern Spain.
bisque de homard Lobster bisque (French).
bistoury or bistory A scalpel that is made in any of three forms: straight, curved, or probe-pointed.
bit A sum of money; money.
bitter-end The inboard end of a ship’s anchor CABLE. The last and direst extremity.
bittern Any of several long-legged wading birds having mottled brown plumage and noted for their deep, resonant cry. Specifically, the European species nicknamed “mire-drum” or “bull of the bog” for the boom it utters during breeding season.
bitts A strong pair of oak posts close to the mast for securing items of running RIGGING, such as the foretopsail-SHEET bitts. When at anchor, the CABLE was hitched around the massive RIDING-BITTS, usually two sets of them, one behind the other.
blackamoor A dark-skinned person, especially a Negro.
blackcap Any of several birds with black heads or crowns.
Black Dick See HOWE, Admiral Lord Richard.
black draught A strong cathartic made of cream of tartar (sodium potassium tartrate), coriander, and, in some formulations, other ingredients.
blackguard A rude or unscrupulous person.
blacking A paste or polish applied to a surface to make it black.
blackjack A tankard, often of tar-coated leather, for drinking beer or ale.
black list A list of delinquents to whom extra duty is assigned as a punishment.
black pudding Blood sausage.
black-strake A band of planks painted with TAR and lamp black, immediately above the wales, which were extra layers of planks bolted in certain places to the ship’s side for protection against chafing and impact.
blackstrap An inferior kind of port wine. Also a drink consisting of a mixture of rum and molasses.
Blane, Sir Gilbert (1749-1834) Physician who helped eradicate SCURVY from the Royal Navy by encouraging the consumption of lemon juice and who is credited with greatly improving the Navy’s health and sanitary conditions. Blane collected naval medical statistics and wrote Observations on the Diseases of Seamen (1785).
blanquette de veau Veal stew in a cream sauce (French).
blateroon A babbler.
blauwbok A large antelope found in South Africa and known for its distinctive ash-gray hair over a black hide.
blewit A kind of edible mushroom.
Bligh, William (1754-1817) Admiral Bligh is most famous for surviving three mutinies. The first occurred in 1789 three weeks out of Tahiti aboard H.M.S. Bounty, a former merchant ship loaded with breadfruit trees. Bligh, who was foul-mouthed and unliked by his crew, was set adrift along with 18 others in a 23-foot open boat, which he proceeded to navigate on a 41-day journey, landing safely at Timor. Later, he commanded one of the ships during the mutiny at the NORE in 1797. He became Vice-Admiral of the Blue in 1814, despite being arrested by his soldiers in 1808 when he was Governor of New South Wales, Australia.
bloater A smoked half-dried herring.
block A pulley or combination of pulleys mounted in a wooden or metal case and used to increase the mechanical power of the ropes running through it, especially in the RIGGING of ships and in heavy lifting.
bloody flux Dysentery, characterized by bloody, painful diarrhea caused by any of several microbial organisms.
Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von (1742-1819) Prussian field marshal who fought against NAPOLEON in the disastrous campaign of 1806, surrendering with honor near Lübeck. In the dark days that followed, he helped re-create the Prussian opposition to Napoleon. He was a leader in the War of Liberation (1813-14). Although ill and subject to delusions, he won brilliant victories at Wahlstatt and Mockern and played a part in the defeat of the French at Leipzig. Crossing the Rhine, he led his army to Paris. In the WATERLOO campaign of 1815, he was defeated at LIGNY but arrived at a crucial moment in the Battle of Waterloo and helped make it a victory for the allied forces.
bluebottle A fly (Musca vomitoria) with a large bluish body; the meat-fly or blow-fly.
blue devil A baleful demon; despondency, depression of spirits; the apparitions seen in DELIRIUM TREMENS.
blue draught A solution of copper sulfate used as an astringent and tonic, especially for consumption (tuberculosis), although it almost always causes vomiting.
bluejacket A sailor (from the color of his jacket). The term is used especially to distinguish seamen from MARINES.
Blue-Nose A nickname for a native of NOVA SCOTIA. A Canadian, especially Nova Scotian, ship.
blue ointment An ointment for syphilitic chancre and rash made with metallic MERCURY, hog’s lard, and mutton suet.
blue peter A blue flag with a white rectangle in the middle, signifying the letter p in the international code, hoisted to signal that the ship is ready to sail, especially to recall the crew.
blue pill A strong remedy for syphilis made with CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE; see MERCURY.
bluff Of a ship, having little inclination in the BOWS.
blunderbuss A short gun with a large bore, firing many balls or slugs and effective within a limited range without exact aim.
Boadicea (d. A.D. 60) The British queen of the Iceni Celts in East Anglia, Boadicea led a revolt against the Romans, but her army was eventually defeated, and she poisoned herself. She is the subject of poems by Tennyson and Cowper and of the 17th-century tragedy Bonduca by John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont.
Boanerges The name given by Christ to the two sons of Zebedee. Hence, a loud vociferous preacher or orator.
board In sailing, to sail as CLOSE TO THE WIND as possible; the course of a ship when TACKing. “To make boards” means to tack; “to make short boards” means to tack frequently. Also, to enter a vessel, generally used in the sense of attacking it or officially entering it to examine papers.
boarding axe A weapon with a steel axehead and a spike used for cutting an enemy ship’s RIGGING and STAYS, thus hindering its ability to maneuver.
boarding-netting Nets fastened to the side of the ship to repel boarders.
Board of Green Cloth The financial office of the Royal Household, named for the green-covered table at which its business was originally transacted. Consisting of the Lord Steward and his subordinates, it controlled various matters of expenditure and had legal and judicial authority within the sovereign’s royal court, having “power to correct all offenders, and to maintain the peace of the VERGE or jurisdiction of the court-royal, which extends every way two hundred yards from the gate of the palace” (Wharton Law Lexicon). Also, the term is associated with naval COURTS-MARTIAL, which also sometimes used a green cloth on the table.
boards In bookbinding, rectangular pieces of strong pasteboard used for the covers of books. If a book has these covered only with paper it is said to be in boards; if covered with cloth, it is said to be in cloth boards; and if the boards are covered with leather, parchment, or the like, the book is said to be bound.
boat-cloak A large cloak worn by officers on duty at sea.
boatswain or bosun or bos’n A multipurpose PETTY OFFICER, usually one of the best seamen, whose responsibilities included inspecting the ship’s sails and RIGGING every morning and reporting their state to the officer of the WATCH. If new ropes or other repairs were needed, he also informed the FIRST LIEUTENANT. The Boatswain was in charge of all deck activities, such as weighing or dropping anchor or handling the sails and he issued orders using a silver boatswain’s pipe. “His vigilance should ever be on the alert, and his eyes should be everywhere,” noted The Naval Apprentice’s Kedge Anchor (1841). “He should be active of limb, quick of sight, and ready in the exercise of his mental faculties.”
bob or bob-wig A wig with the bottom locks in short curls or “bobs,” as opposed to a “full-bottomed wig.” Also, bob only, a curtsy.
bobstay A heavy rope that draws the BOWSPRIT down toward the STEM and counteracts the force of the STAYS of the FOREMAST, which pull up.
Bob’s your uncle A slang phrase meaning everything is perfect.
Boccherini, Luigi (1743-1805) Italian violoncellist and composer born in Lucca. He composed at the courts of the Infante Don Luis in Madrid and Frederick II “the Great” in Prussia. Best known for his chamber music.
boggart or boggard A specter, goblin, or bogeyman, especially a goblin or sprite that haunts a gloomy spot or scene of violence.
Bohea Black tea from the Wu-i hills of China, from where it was first exported to England; applied also to tea of similar quality grown elsewhere. The name was given in the beginning of the 18th century to the finest black teas.
boletus The common name for the club fungi, a red or brown umbrella-shaped mushroom, some of which are poisonous and others edible. The boletus is common throughout the United States and Europe.
bollard A wooden or iron post on a ship, a whale-boat, or a QUAY, for securing ropes to.
bolster Any of a variety of objects used to prevent chaffing in the RIGGING, SHEETS, and anchor line, and on a ship’s sides. For example, a small cushion or bag of tarred canvas used to prevent the STAYS from being chaffed by the movement of the MASTS, and a piece of wood covered with canvas for the EYES of the rigging to rest on the TRESSLETREES.
boltered Clotted or clogged with blood, especially having the hair matted with blood.
bolt-rope A rope sewn around the edge of a sail to prevent the canvas from tearing.
bolus A round medicinal lozenge, often a cathartic of unspecified ingredients. The term was often used disparagingly for a useless or inconvenient remedy of large size.
bomb A small war vessel carrying mortars for throwing bombs and also known as a bomb-galliot, bomb-ketch, bomb-ship, bomb-vessel, or bombard. See also KETCH.
bonito A striped tuna, common in tropical seas, that grows to about three feet and lives chiefly on flying fish.
bonne bouche A tidbit, from the French expression garder quelque chose pour la bonne bouche, to save something until last.
bonne mot Aubrey’s pidgin French for bon mot, a witty remark or saying.
bonnet An additional piece of canvas laced to the foot of a sail to catch more wind. Although this arrangement was used in the 17th century, it was obsolete by the early 19th century.
bonny-clabber Milk that has soured naturally.
bonus nullius No good (that is, of no use), Latin.
booby A fish-eating, island-dwelling bird of tropical and subtropical coasts and the northern Pacific. Up to 40 inches in length, boobies are closely related to gannets and have short legs, white plumage with dark tails, and brownish black, long, pointed wings. They sleep on the water and visit land primarily for breeding. Their brightly colored conical bills with sharp, slightly curved tips are ideal for their mode of fishing, which involves speedy dives from up to 100 feet above the surface of the water. Also, the native name in Australia for the wattlebird, a honey eater with pendulous ear wattles. Booby also means a lubber, a clown, a nincompoop.
Boodle’s Men’s club founded in 1762 by Edward Boodle. Originally on Pall Mall on the site of ALMACK’S Club, it moved to its current location at 28 St. James’s Street in 1783. Among its members were William Pitt the Younger and the Duke of Wellington.
boom A long SPAR run out from different places in the ship to extend the foot of a particular sail, such as the jm-boom, flying jibboom, and STUDDINGSAIL boom. Also refers to the part of a ship’s deck where spare spars are stowed; the ship’s boats are stowed “on the booms.” Of a sail, set to a boom instead of to a YARD; of a SHEET, fastened to a boom. To boom out means to extend the foot of a sail with a boom. To boom off is to push a vessel off with a pole.
boom-iron An iron ring fitted on the YARDARM, through which the STUDDINGSAIL boom slides when rigged out or in; a similar ring by which the flying jiB-boom is secured to the jib-boom, or this to the BOWSPRIT.
boomkin See BUMKIN.
boor A peasant, countryman. From the Dutch word boer, “farmer.”
boot-top To clean the upper part of a ship’s bottom by daubing it over with a coat or mixture of tallow, sulfur, resin, etc. Boot-topping is chiefly performed where there is no dock or when there is not enough time to clean the whole bottom.
borborygm or borborygmus Rumbling in the bowels.
Boreas, H.M.S. A 28-gun sixth-rate ship commanded by NELSON in 1784 on a voyage to the WEST INDIES. Launched in 1774, she became a supply ship in 1797 and was sold in 1802.
boreen A lane, a narrow road. Also, an opening in a crowd (chiefly Irish).
Borgia, Lucréce (1480-1519) The Duchess of Ferrara and the sister of Cesare Borgia (1476-1507), the duke who spread terror in Italy and was praised by Machiavelli in Principe. The daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI, Lucrece married three times for political purposes.
boring iron A tool used for piercing, perforating, or making a borehole.
Borneo An island in the MALAY Archipelago. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and was frequented by English, Dutch, and Portuguese traders in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Bossuet, Jacques-Bénigne (1627-1704) France’s greatest pulpit orator. His funerary orations were classics of French Baroque prose. Wrote tracts in support of absolutism.
bosun See BOATSWAIN.
bosun bird The arctic SKUA (Cataractes parasiticus). Also, a tropical bird, Phaeton aethereus, with a whistlelike call and two long feathers in the tail, called by sailors the MARLINE-SPIKE because it resembled one.
bosun’s chair A chair formed from a board, much like the seat of a swing, that can be hauled aloft and that a sailor sits on when working aloft.
Botany Bay Inlet in NEW SOUTH WALES south of what is today Sydney, Australia, and so named for the flora discovered there in 1770 by Captain COOK’S passenger, the renowned botanist Joseph BANKS.
bottle-jack A bottle-shaped device for roasting meat.
bottom A contract similar to a mortgage, in which a shipowner borrows money to enable him to complete a voyage and pledges the ship as security for repayment.
boules A French game of bowls, which is played with heavy metal balls tossed in the air.
bounty A gratuity given to recruits on joining the Army or Navy; a reward to soldiers; PRIZE MONEY for capturing an enemy ship.
Bourbon A member of the royal family that long held the thrones of France (1589-1793 and 1814-1830), Spain (1700-1808, 1814-1868, and 1874-1931), and Naples (1735-1805 and 1815-1860).
bow or bows The forward end of any craft, beginning on both sides where the planks arch inward and ending where they close, at the STEM or PROW.
bow-and-quarter line The position of ships in a column when each successive vessel has its BOW a little to one side and behind the BEAM of the one in front.
bow-chaser also chase or chase-piece A long gun with a relatively small bore, placed in the BOW-port to fire directly ahead. Used especially while chasing an enemy vessel to damage its sails and RIGGING.
bower or bower anchor The name of the two largest anchors, the BEST-BOWER (STARBOARD) and SMALL-BOWER (LARBOARD), carried at the BOWS of a ship. Bower also refers to the CABLE attached to these anchors.
bow-grace A kind of frame or fender of old junk placed around the BOWS and sides of a ship to prevent injury from floating ice or timbers.
bowler In cricket, the player who bowls or propels the ball at the wicket, something like the pitcher in baseball.
bow-line or bowline A useful type of knot that produces a loop and will not slip. Also, a rope fastened with a bowline to about the middle of the perpendicular edge on the WEATHER side of a square sail and secured forward to keep the edge of the sail steady when the ship is sailing CLOSE-HAULED. A SQUARE-RIGGED ship sails “on a bowline” when her COURSE is as close as possible to the wind.
bowman The oarsman who sits nearest the BOW of a boat.
bowse To haul down on a TACKLE, for instance after a TACK.
bowsprit A large spar running out from the STEM of a vessel, to which the FOREMAST STAYS are fastened and from which JIBS are set.
Bow Street Runners The first organized police force in London, established in 1748 by the writer Henry Fielding, who was then chief magistrate at Bow Street. They were empowered to serve outside of the City in 1757. Incorporated into the Metropolitan Police in 1829.
box-haul A method of going about that involved throwing the sails aback, sailing backward, and turning the ship on her heel. It was used only in an emergency.
box the compass To name the points, half points, and quarter points of the compass in proper sequence in a clockwise direction beginning at north (N, NbE, NNE, NEbN, NE, NEbE, ENE, EbN, E, etc.).
Boyne, H.M.S. A 98-gun second rate that accidentally burned at Spithead in 1795. The crew was saved.
brace A rope or line attached to the end of a YARD, used to swing, or TRIM, the sail. To move or turn a sail using braces. To brace up means to bring the yards nearer to FORE-AND-AFT by HAULing on the LEE braces. To brace in was to bring the yard more square. Also, a timber used to strengthen the framework of a vessel.
brace-pendant Lengths of rope or chain into which the YARDARM brace-BLOCKS are spliced.
Brahmanism The principles and practice of the Brahmans, the highest, or priestly, caste among the Hindus.
brail up To HAUL up the foot or lower corners of a sail by means of the brails, small ropes fastened to the edges of sails to truss them up before FURLing.
breach The breaking of waves on a shore or over a vessel.
bread-barge An oval tub in which bread is placed for mess.
bread pill Bread crumbs rolled into small pills, used for treating many gastrointestinal disorders, but essentially a placebo.
Breadroom A place partitioned off below the lower deck for keeping the bread.
break bulk To begin to unload cargo.
bream To clear a ship’s bottom of shells, seaweed, ooze, etc., by singeing it, thus softening the pitch so that the debris can be scraped off.
breast-hooks Thick pieces of timber, curved like KNEES and used to reinforce the BOWS of a ship.
breech To secure a cannon by means of a BREECHING. Also, the back part of a gun.
breeching A stout rope attached by a THIMBLE to the CASCABEL of a gun and securing the gun to the ship’s side. See illustration, page 214.
Bréguet A watch made by Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823), a renowned French watchmaker of Swiss origin.
Brest The chief naval base and dockyard for the French Navy operating in the Atlantic, located in northwest France and frequently blockaded by the British Channel Fleet.
brickbat A fragment of brick, a useful missile when stones are scarce. An uncomplimentary remark, criticism.
bridle A stout CABLE by which a vessel is secured to MOORINGS. A short piece of rope by which a BOWLINE is attached to the LEECH, or side edge, of the sail.
bridle-port A port or port-hole in a ship’s BOW through which BRIDLES may be run or chase-guns fired.
brig A two-masted vessel, SQUARE-RIGGED on both MASTS, setting on a boom a large main STAYSAIL (known as a brigsail), but lacking a COURSE on the mainyard. The SHEET of the FORE-AND-AFT brigsail is secured to a BOOM. A SNOW was similar but did set a course on the MAIN; it had no mainstaysail, but it did have a loose-footed (no boom) fore-and-aft sail set on a “snowmast.” A hermaphrodite brig has a brig’s foremast and a SCHOONER’S mainmast. See illustration, page 57.
brightwork Polished metalwork, usually brass.
brimstone Formerly the common name for sulfur.
Bristol In southwest England on the Severn River, one of the country’s most prosperous ports after London and home to fleets of traders that imported vast amounts of fruit, wine, oil, and many other products from around the world.
bristol card A kind of pasteboard with a smooth surface suitable for art.
Bristol-fashion Shipshape.
broach to To veer or inadvertently to cause the ship to veer to WINDWARD, bringing her BROADSIDE to meet the wind and sea, a potentially hazardous situation, usually the result of a ship being driven too hard. A ship arriving in this unhappy situation by YAWing to LEEWARD rather than windward was said to have been “brought by the lee.”
broad pendant A swallow-tailed pendant flown by a COMMODORE. The pendant—red, white, or blue depending upon the SQUADRON of the commodore—was originally 14 times as long as it was wide but was shortened gradually to two times its width.
broadsheet A large sheet of paper printed on one side only.
broadside The side of a ship above the water, or with the side of the vessel turned fully toward. The whole array or the simultaneous firing of the artillery on one side of a ship. Hence, a volley of verbal abuse.
Broke, Sir Philip Bowes Vere (1776-1841) The British Rear-Admiral best known for his battle on June 1, 1813, with the U.S. FRIGATE CHESAPEAKE off Boston. Broke, who first served under NELSON and JERVIS, became known for his intense gunnery training, which served the SHANNON well in its duel with the Chesapeake. Two brutal broadsides wracked the Chesapeake, causing heavy casualties and helping to win the fight. Broke was a hero in Britain, having avenged recent British defeats in similar actions. He was made a BARONET but because of a battle wound, never again served at sea.
bromeliad Any plant belonging to the family Bromeliaceae, which are chiefly tropical American and herbaceous plants such as the pineapple and Spanish moss.
bronchus Each of the two main branches of the trachea, or windpipe.
Brooks’s A men’s club created when ALMACK’S Club split into two new clubs, BOODLE’S and Brooks’s, in 1764. Known as a place of excessive gambling, Brooks’s moved from Pall Mall to 60 St. James’s Street in 1778 and later became a meeting place of the WHIGS. Patrick O’Brian is a member.
brow An inclined plane of planks, or GANGWAY, between a ship and shore used for entering and leaving.
Brummagem A local vulgar form of the name of Birmingham, England, used to refer to a FARTHING, GROAT, or HALFPENNY. An allusion to counterfeit groats produced there, and by extension, counterfeit, sham, a cheap or showy imitation.
bubo An inflamed swelling or abscess in glandular parts of the body, especially the groin or armpits. A common sign of the bubonic plague.
buck-basket A basket in which cloth, yarn, or clothes are bucked (washed by being boiled in lye).
Buckler’s Hard A shipbuilding site near PORTSMOUTH on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire, in the south of England, used during the 18th and 19th centuries.
buff or buff-leather Leather made of buffalo hide, but also applied to a stout leather made of ox hide, dressed with oil and having a characteristic fuzzy surface and a dull whitish-yellow color. Buff was formerly much used for military attire.
bugalet A small, two-masted SQUARE-RIGGED vessel used along the coast of Brittany. The after mast, which was the larger one, carried a large square sail and a TOPSAIL, and the FOREMAST, a small square sail. It could also carry one or two JIBS.
bugger A sodomite. In vulgar language, a term of abuse or insult; often, however, simply “chap” or “fellow.” Also refers to something that is a great nuisance.
Bugio Probably Bougie, the French name for a seaport of northeast Algiers.
buke Obsolete form of “book.”
bulbul Any of the medium-sized, dull-colored PASSERINE birds of the family Pycnonotidae, native to Africa and South Asia. Famed songsters having short necks and wings, bulbuls are popular as cage birds in the Middle East. Often found in Persian poetry, the word bulbul is frequently mistranslated as “nightingale.”
bulkhead One of the upright partitions serving to form the cabins in a ship or to divide the hold into distinct watertight compartments for safety in case of collision or other damage.
bullock Originally a young bull or bull calf, but later, a castrated bull, an ox. Applied loosely to a bull or bovine beast.
bulwark The raised woodwork running along the sides of a vessel above the level of the deck.
bum A BAILIFF.
bumboat A scavenger’s boat, employed to remove filth from ships lying in the Thames. Aboat employed to carry provisions, vegetables, and small merchandise for sale to ships, either in port or lying at a distance from the shore. Also used to carry prostitutes to ships in port.
bumkin A short BOOM projecting from each side of the BOW of a ship, to extend the lower edge of the FORESAIL to WINDWARD. Also, similar booms for extending the MAINSAIL and the MIZZEN.
bumper A cup or glass of wine or other drink filled to the brim, especially when drunk as a toast.
bung A large cork stopper for the mouth of a cask; also a sobriquet for the sailor who was responsible for supplies stored in the hold.
bunt The middle part of a sail formed into a bag so that the sail may gather more wind. When the sail is being FURLed, the bunt is the middle gathering that is tossed up on the center of the YARD.
bunting Fabric made of coarse wool often used for flags. Also, naval slang for a signaler.
buntline One of the lines used for HAULing up the foot of a sail in FURLing.
burgoo To seamen, a thick oatmeal gruel or porridge. Easily cooked and cheap to provide, it was frequently served excessively at sea, and so unloved by seamen.
Buriton A village in Hampshire near the London-Portsmouth route. In 1811 Buriton consisted of 48 houses and 72 families, 56 of which were employed in farming, primarily cereals as well as turnips and rape.
burr A rough or dialectal pronunciation, a peculiarity of utterance.
bursten Alternate form of “burst.”
burton A small TACKLE consisting of two or three BLOCKS or pulleys used to set up or tighten rigging or to shift heavy objects.
buss A small, strong vessel of about 60 tons prevalent in the North Sea fishing industry in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Bustamente, Rear-Admiral don José Commanding a squadron of four frigates, the Medea (40) and three 34s, Fama, Clara, and Mercedes, Bustamante was responsible for carrying nearly six million pieces of eight and a valuable cargo of tin, copper, seal oil, skins, and vicuna wool (a payload estimated to be worth anywhere from one million to two million pounds by various historians) to CADIZ from MONTEVIDEO in the year 1804. Although Spain was technically at peace with Britain, it had a special agreement with France and war with Britain was imminent. On October 5, Sir Graham Moore on board Indefatigable (44) and three other British FRIGATES—the Lively (38), Captain Hammond; the Amphion (32), Captain Sutton; and Medusa (32), Captain Gore—waylaid the squadron about 30 miles southwest of Cape Santa Maria, Portugal. A Lieutenant Arscott attempted to persuade Bustamente to surrender but failed, as the impatient Moore fired a gun signaling Arscott to return. O’Brian’s account of the ensuing action in Post Captain is largely historically correct.
In his memoirs, Vice-Admiral William Lovell (who was not present at the action) writes: “I always did think ... that it was a cruel thing to send only four frigates to detain four others, when by increasing the force by two or three line-of-battle ships, this might have been effected without loss of blood, or honour to the Spaniards.... It would have been humane to have sent such a force as would have put resistance out of the question; for what man, who was not a traitor, could yield without fighting (and with such a valuable cargo on board), to a force, in all appearance, not greater than his own. It was an untoward event” (Personal Narrative of Events from 1799 to 1815, p. 37). Prior to the event, Maturin recommends to the Admiralty that just such a superior force be sent.
bustard A member of a family of birds remarkable for its great size and running power. The great bustard is the largest European bird and was formerly common in England, though now nearly extinct.
butt A cask for wine or ale, varying from 108 to 140 gallons. Also, a measure of capacity equaling two hogsheads—in ale usually 108 gallons, in wine 126 gallons—but these standards were not always precisely adhered to. A cask for fish, fruit, etc.
butt or butt-end The end of a plank in a vessel’s side that joins or butts on to the end of the next, or the juncture of two such planks. Also, a small BLOCK consisting of two wings containing rollers for a chain to pass over.
butterbox A derisive British nickname for a Dutch seaman.
Byng, Admiral John (1704-1757) Having failed to prevent the French from taking MINORCA in 1756, Admiral Byng was COURT-MARTIALed and shot on the QUARTERDECK of H.M.S. Monarch on March 14, 1757, for lack of resolution. The execution was strongly decried after the fact as an act of face-saving by the government and is mocked in Voltaire’s Candide.
by the wind As near as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing.