EARING ONE OF A number of small ropes that fasten the upper corner of a sail to the YARD.
Earl Godwin’s piece of bread The Earl of Wessex and father of King Harold II of England, Godwin (d. 1053) gained control of England, but his acts, namely the blinding and death of Alfred, the brother of Edward the Confessor, also precipitated the Norman invasion. One story regarding the death of Godwin (or Godwine) purports that at a banquet, Godwin remonstrated that he was not responsible for the murder of Alfred and that if he lied, God should strike him dead, whereupon he promptly choked to death on a piece of bread. It is more likely that he died from excessive alcohol consumption.
Earnshaws A chronometer made by the English watchmaker Thomas Earnshaws (1749-1829), who was the first to simplify and lower the cost of manufacturing chronometers, making them more affordable to the general public.
earwig Any of various insects, all of the order Dermaptera, with pincerlike appendages protruding from the abdomen. So called from the notion that it penetrates into the head through the ear.
EAST INDIA COMPANY (ENGLISH)
Also known as the Honourable East India Company, H.E.I.C., The Honourable Company, or “John Company.” Like its counterparts in other European nations (e.g., the Dutch East India Company), the English East India Company set up to trade in India, the East Indies, and the Far East. It was incorporated by Elizabeth I in 1600; along with a monopoly on trade in the region, it was eventually given the right to acquire territory, make treaties, and wage war. By 1757, the company controlled India, acting as the governmental authority for British possessions in the Far East. Following the 1774 Regulating Act and the 1784 India Act, it was a Board of Control responsible to Parliament. Its monopoly over British trade in the East was broken in 1813.
The Dutch East India Company, the H.E.I.C.’s chief rival for hegemony in the East, was successful during the 17th century and at one time controlled Batavia, Ceylon, Java, Malacca, AMBOYNA, and the Cape of Good Hope, among other places. It officially closed in 1799 after France invaded Holland.
East Indiaman A large and heavily armed merchant ship built by the various East India companies and, in England, often commanded by a former Royal Navy officer. Considered the ultimate sea vessels of the age, the ships offered relatively luxurious quarters and were often adorned with gilding and ornamental carvings.
East Indies Collective term for the islands off Southeast Asia, including Borneo, Celebes, Java, and Sumatra, along with India, at one point, and the MALAY Peninsula. The sources of much-valued spices and other products, they were subject to various colonial influences beginning with the Portuguese in 1511. In 1811, Java fell to Lord Minto and a British EAST INDIA COMPANY force, and Thomas Raffles was appointed lieutenant-governor.
easting The distance gained to the eastward; a sloping or veering eastwards. Of a wind or ocean current, a shifting eastward of the point of origin.
Eccles cake A pastry with a filling of dried fruit. Eccles is a town in Northwest England, in Greater Manchester.
Echidna A genus of Australian toothless insectivorous mammals resembling hedgehogs, including the porcupine anteater.
echinoderm A member of a phylum of animals (Echinodermata) that includes sea urchins and sea cucumbers. Most echinoderms have pointed spines that stud the skin.
Eclipse Foaled in 1764, he was one of the three stallions (the others were Herod and Matchem) from which all true thoroughbred horses are descended, as registered in the English General Stud Book, first published in 1791. He was, in turn, descended from the DARLEY ARABIAN.
Eddystone A dangerous reef 14 miles southwest of PLYMOUTH in southwest England that has been marked by a succession of lighthouses since 1696.
edema Swelling, usually in the lower legs, abdomen, or chest, caused by abnormal accumulation of fluid, as in DROPSY.
edge away To gradually change the course of a ship by sailing larger (more away) from BEFORE THE WIND.
egard Regard, consideration, deference (French).
egret Any of several white wading birds of related genera.
Egyptian pox Probably syphilis; it was customary for its name in one country to include a pejorative attribution to another nation.
eider Any one of several sea ducks of various genera abundant in northern regions that line their nests with their own down. The males have distinctive black and white plumage.
elbow When a ship moored in a tideway crosses its HAWSER twice, entangling it.
electuary A medicinal paste made with a powder or other ingredient mixed with honey, preserves, or syrup.
Eleonora’s falcon A falcon of the Aegean that winters around Madagascar and the South African coast and returns to Greece in April to forage for large insects. In August, colonies of Eleonora’s falcon breed on remote rocky Aegean islands. This late breeding time enables them to hatch their young at the peak of the fall migration, when an abundancy of songbirds moving south provide food for the young.
elephantiasis Various kinds of diseases caused by parasites indigenous to the tropics that cause the affected part, usually the legs and scrotum, to swell to enormous size.
elevenses or elevens Light refreshment eaten at about eleven A.M.
Elphinstone, George Keith, Viscount Keith (1746-1823) Keith participated in the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, during the American Revolutionary War, and was made Rear Admiral at the beginning of the French Revolutionary War (1793-1801). As Admiral, he was primarily a gifted administrator. He helped resolve the naval mutinies of 1797 and in 1815 commanded the ship to which Napoleon surrendered, the BELLEROPHON. During Elphinstone’s career, he commanded the India Squadron, the Mediterranean Fleet (conducting with General Sir Ralph Abercromby a successful amphibious action in Egypt against the reduced French forces in 1801), the North Sea Station, and the Channel Fleet. His second wife, Hester Thrale, was DR. JOHNSON’S “Queeney” (see KEITH, LADY); in the Aubrey-Maturin novels she is Aubrey’s dear friend and best influence with the ADMIRALTY.
Admiral Lord Keith (reproduced from Alfred Mohan’s Life of Nelson, 1897, courtesy of the Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, Virginia)
embarras de choix An overabundance of choices (French).
embay To lay a vessel within a bay. Also, of wind or tide, to force a vessel into or trap it within a bay.
embrasure In a fortress or parapet, an opening that is narrower outside than inside to allow a gun to be fired from a protected enclosure.
emu A flightless Australian bird discovered soon after the colonization of NEW SOUTH WALES in 1788 that was originally regarded as a species of CASSOWARY. The emu and cassowary are closely related, but the former is distinguished by the absence of the cassowary’s horny “helmet” and the caruncles on the neck, and by the presence of a singular opening in the front of the windpipe.
en clair In ordinary language, as opposed to being in code or cipher (French).
enclosure The act of enclosing water or common land, involving the loss of common rights; the land thus enclosed.
Endeavour, H.M.S. Captain James COOK’S BARQUE, originally a COLLIER built in 1764 and called Earl of Pembroke. She is famous for her part in Cook’s great discovery voyage from 1768 to 1771. She was purchased by the Navy in 1768 and sold in 1775.
Endymion, H.M.S. Modeled after the captured French frigate La Pomme, she was built in 1797 and became one of the Royal Navy’s swiftest ships.
engouement Infatuation (French).
Ennius, Quintus (239-269 B.C.) Born in Calabria and made a Roman citizen in 184 B.C., Ennius hoped to become the Latin Homer and is indeed regarded as the father of Latin poetry. He translated Greek plays, especially those of Euripides, wrote comedies, satires, tragedies, and most notably his masterpiece epic poem, Annales, a literary history of Rome, which served as the national epic until superseded by Virgil’s Aeneid. Only fragments survive from his work, including about 600 lines from Annales. Virgil, Lucretius, and Ovid borrowed freely from his work.
ensign The flag carried by a ship to indicate her nationality. In some navies, the lowest rank of commissioned officer.
eparterial On or over any artery.
epicene In Latin and Greek grammar, nouns having one form to denote both sexes. Also, partaking of the characteristics of both sexes.
epiphytic Disease caused by vegetable parasites.
episcopacy Government of the church by bishops; the system of church government with three distinct orders: bishops, presbyters or priests, and deacons. In the United States, the Church of England (Anglican Church) became the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1784.
Episcopal ring The ring worn by a bishop as an insignia of office.
epocha Something epochal or very significant.
equilibro Balanced.
equinoctial Happening at or near the time of the fall or spring equinox, when the length of night and day are equal. Said especially of the GALES prevailing about the time of the fall equinox.
Erastianism The theory of the Swiss theologian Thomas Erastus (1524-1583), who believed in the complete subordination of ecclesiastical powers to secular ones.
Erse The Gaelic dialect of the Scottish Highlands, which is in fact of Irish origin. Occasionally used to designate Irish Gaelic as well.
Erythroxylon coca Scientific name of COCA.
escheat In feudal law, when a fief reverted to the lord when the tenant died without leaving a successor qualified to inherit under the original grant. The lapsing of land to the Crown (in the U.S., to the state) or to the lord of the manor on the death of the owner.
escota See SHEET.
esculent Suitable as food, edible, used especially for vegetables.
espalier A latticework or frame of stakes upon which fruit trees or ornamental shrubs are trained against a wall. Also one such stake.
esquire A title originally applied to men who belonged to the higher order of English gentry, ranking immediately below a knight.
estovers The rights to wood for fuel, repairs, and other uses from land that one does not own, especially from land on which one is a tenant.
état d’ame State of the soul (French).
Euphorbia A genus of plants that secrete a viscid milky juice that may be astringent, sometimes poisonous, but always bitter.
Euphorbia praestans A gum resin used chiefly to stimulate sneezing in order to remove unbalanced humors via the phlegm; in large doses it caused vomiting and catharsis.
euphory Euphoria, good feeling.
euphroe A long cylindrical BLOCK with a number of holes for receiving the legs, or lines, composing the CROWFOOT.
Euryalus, H.M.S. The fifth-rate 36-gun FRIGATE nicknamed “Nelson’s Watch Dog.” Commanded by Captain Hon. Henry Blackwood, she provided advance notice to Nelson of the massing of French and Spanish ships that led to the Battle of TRAFALGAR. Built in 1803, she became a prison ship in 1826.
Eusebius of Caesarea (c.260-c.339) A Palestinian theologian, church historian, and scholar who wrote Life of Constantine (c.338) and many other works.
evening gun The warning gun that is fired to mark the time of day after which the sentries challenge.
evert To turn the inner surface outward, for instance, to evert the eyelid.
ewer A pitcher or jug with a wide spout used to carry water for washing the hands.
Ex Africa surgit semper aliquid novo,—novi Something new is always rising up out of Africa (Aubrey’s second guess—novi—is the correct one; Latin, from Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis 5).
Excellent, H.M.S. A third rate of 74 guns built in 1787, she was commanded by Lord COLLINGWOOD at the GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE in 1794. She also fought at CAPE ST. VTNCENT in 1797. She was later used as the Royal Navy gunnery training ship at PORTSMOUTH.
Exchequer bill A bill of credit issued by authority of Parliament bearing interest at the current rate.
execrate To pronounce a curse upon; to declare accursed.
Execution Dock The dock at Wapping where criminal sailors were executed by being confined in a cage just over the low-tide mark so that they slowly drowned at high tide.
ex gratia As a favor or gift; without compulsion (Latin).
exiguity Scantiness, smallness in size or quantity.
extravasation The escape of blood into surrounding tissues.
exulans The great albatross, Diomedea exulans. See ALBATROSS.
eye A loop of cord or rope, especially the circular loop of a SHROUD or STAY, where it goes over the MAST. Also, the loop at one end of a bowstring.