ibadite In arabic, “ibadiyyah,” originally part of the puritanical Kharijite Islamic sect that rebelled against Muhammad’s son Ali when he showed willingness to negotiate the succession to the caliphate. The Kharijites felt that the caliphate was turning into a purely political Arab kingdom and were angry that converts to Islam were not being welcomed into full brotherhood. Some Kharijite sects still survive, notably the Ibadites of northern Oman, East Africa, southern Algeria, and Libya.
ibis A member of a genus of large wading birds with long legs and long slender curved bills, related to the stork and heron and inhabiting lakes and swamps in warm climates. Especially the sacred ibis of Egypt with white and black plumage, much revered by ancient Egyptians.
Ibn Haukal or Hawqui An Arab geographer of Nisibis and Upper Mesopotamia, who traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean region and recorded his observations. His chief work was Configuration of the Earth (10th c.).
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) Born in Tunis, he is considered the greatest of the Arab historical thinkers. In his masterpiece, the Kitab al-Ibar (“universal history”), he attempted to treat history as a science and outlined a philosophy of history, setting forth principles of sociology and political economy. He completed an autobiography in 1394 and expanded it a few months before his death.
ice-bird The little AUK, or sea-dove. Also, the Indian NIGHTJAR.
ice fender A guard to protect a vessel from damage by ice.
ice-pudding A frozen, puddinglike confection.
ichu An alpine grass growing on the uplands of the Andes and useful for fodder and thatching.
Idelfonso Treaty The name of two treaties in this period. The first, signed August 19, 1796, was the treaty of alliance between France and Spain. As a result of the treaty, British leaders thought it prudent to withdraw from Toulon, relinquish Corsica, and evacuate the Royal Navy from the western Mediterranean, moving to Gibraltar. By the second treaty, signed October 7, 1800, Spain transferred the Louisiana Territory to France.
idler Anyone on a ship-of-war who is on constant day duty and so not required to keep the night-WATCH, usually the Carpenter, Cook, Sailmaker, and BOATSWAIN.
Île de France See MAURITIUS.
Il faut que le prêtre vive de l’autel The priest must make a living within the Church (French). A variation of the saying Qui serf a l’autel doit vivre de l’autel: Every man must live by his profession.
iliac also iliac passion or ileus Painful obstruction of the longest segment of the small intestine, the ileum.
iliac crest The relatively sharp anterior prominence of the pelvic bone.
Illustrious, H.M.S. A third-rate 74-gun ship built at BUCKLER’S HARD, the shipbuilding port in Hampshire, in 1789. In 1795, she suffered great damage and was captured in a battle known as Hotham’s Action against an inferior French fleet. In tow, the Illustrious broke loose during a GALE, ran aground, and was lost.
Illyrian Of or pertaining to the Illyrians or to ancient Ulyria (or Illyricum), located on what is now the Adriatic coast of Croatia. The breed of dog that originated here.
imago The last and perfect form of an insect after all metamorphoses.
Imam In Islam, a recognized leader or a religious teacher. The Twelve-Imam Shiite doctrine presents the Imams as infallible intermediaries between the human and the divine. The continuous presence of the Imams is a prerequisite for human salvation. AL-MAHDI, the last Imam, is considered hidden from humanity since 874 and is expected to return near the end of creation as a messiah-like figure.
Imperial Guard One of the most celebrated military units in history, the Imperial Guard was so named in 1804, the year of NAPOLEON’S coronation. His beloved highly disciplined and decorated corps evolved during the Napoleonic wars from a small regiment to a complete army, peaking in 1814 at 112,500 but consisting of just 25,900 at WATERLOO. The Guard was formed of three main sections: the Old Guard (the elite, consisting of the GRENADIERS and chasseurs of the Guard), the Middle Guard (formed in 1806 but so named later, eventually two regiments of fusiliers and two of flankers, or marksmen), and the Young Guard (formed in 1809, mainly regiments of light infantry, the cream of the conscripts). “When the eagles of the Old Guard were seen advancing through the smoke of the conflict, the result was no longer doubtful,” wrote one mid-19th-century historian. “When its columns were ordered to move to the attack, every soldier knew it was to march where the struggle was deadliest, and the fate of the army was to be decided. He knew, too, that over the dead and dying, over flaming batteries, and through ranks of steel, the steady battalions were to go. The bugle was never to sound a retreat for him and no reserve help him sustain the shock.”
Implacable, H.M.S. Originally the French 74-gun Duguay-Trouin, taken after TRAFALGAR in November 1805. In the novel Blue at the Mizzen, this third-rate is the fictional Lord Barmouth’s FLAGSHIP.
imposthume or impostume A purulent cyst, an abscess.
Impregnable, H.M.S. A 98-gun second rate built in 1789 that fought in the GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE in 1794. She was wrecked near Chichester in 1799. In Post Captain O’Brian has the “Impregnable’s liberty-men ... staggering by with a troop of whores” (p. 203) in Portsmouth, circa 1804; in reality, there was no ship by that name in the Royal Navy between 1799 and 1810.
IMPRESS OR IMPRESSMENT
Forced service in the British Army or Navy during wartime. It became an important instrument of recruiting during the War of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic War. While no completely reliable figures on the numbers of men forced into the service through impressment have been published, estimates suggest that for the period up to 1802, about half the men in the Royal Navy were pressed. For the period after 1803, the proportion may be as high as 75 percent pressed and 25 percent volunteer.
Certain groups of people were protected from impressment, including those under age 18 or above 55, foreigners serving in British merchant ships or PRIVATEERS, watermen on the Thames belonging to insurance companies (up to 30 per office), certain designated seamen aboard ships in the coal trade, and certain fishermen and whalers, including the “harpooner, line manager, or boat-steerer belonging to any vessel fitted out for the Southern Whale Fishery.”
In 1797, the Impress Service was relatively large, headed by an ADMIRAL with 47 Captains and Commanders under him, and 80 LIEUTENANTS. The war demanded huge numbers to man British ships as the table on page 7 shows, and impressment was unable to meet the Navy’s needs. The government then resorted to the Quota System, or the “Quod,” which required various counties to produce certain numbers of seamen each year for service, in addition to those who volunteered or were impressed.
Local authorities generally passed over the healthy and capable men, choosing instead to send misfits and criminals. Once chosen, a QUOTA-MAN was allowed to find a substitute or buy himself out, but the latter happened only rarely because it was expensive; the price in 1811 was 80 pounds. There is some evidence that suggests it was Quota-men who were the leaders behind the mutinies of 1797.
Another source of recruitment was to cull men from foreign ships and foreign ports. Some of these were British merchant seamen or deserters and others were foreign nationals from merchant vessels or from PRIZES. (Forcing foreigners to serve in the Royal Navy enraged Americans and became one of the causes of the War of 1812.) In 1808, H.M.S. Implacable carried 563 men, of whom 86 percent were British and 14 percent foreign. Of the 80 foreigners, the largest single group (28) were Americans. One historian estimated that in a typical ship of 1812, 8 percent were boy volunteers, 15 percent were men volunteers, 50 percent were British pressed men, 12 percent were Quota-men, and 15 percent were foreigners. Impressment ended in Britain in 1815.
Impress Service The official name for the press gang. See also IMPRESS.
inanition Malnutrition. Also, lack of social or moral will.
Indefatigable, H.M.S. A third-rate 64-gun FRIGATE built in 1784 and commanded by Sir Edward PELLEW, one of the greatest British frigate Captains. Reduced to 38 guns in 1795, she fought in the famous action with the Droits de l’Homme in 1797, when that French ship was driven ashore after an all-night battle. In October of 1804, Indefatigable led the capture of four Spanish treasure ships. She was broken up in 1816.
Indiaman A ship engaged in the trade with India, especially a ship of large tonnage belonging to the EAST INDIA COMPANY. See also EAST INDIAMAN.
indisposee Indisposed; menstruating (French).
indraught An inward flow or current of water or air, especially one toward land or up an inlet or estuary.
infusion A medicine prepared by steeping medicinal plant parts, such as leaves, in hot water (as in making tea).
inguinal Of or in the groin.
ink-horn A vessel fashioned from a horn to hold writing-ink.
innominate artery A large artery branching off from the arch of the aorta.
in omnium In all (Latin).
Inquisition An ecclesiastical tribunal for the suppression of heresy and punishment of heretics, formed in the 13th century under Pope Innocent III and governed by the Congregation of the Holy Office. The Inquisition existed in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and the Spanish and Portuguese colonies. The Spanish Inquisition was notorious in the 16th century for its brutality. The Inquisition lasted in France until 1772 and in Spain until 1834.
in soundings To be relatively close to the shore or in shallows, where the depth is 100 FATHOMS or less, as opposed to “off soundings,” where the water depth is greater than 100 fathoms.
inspissate To thicken, condense.
intension The action of stretching. Tension, straining.
Intermissa, Venus, diu rursus bella moves Venus, you would renew battles long suspended (Latin, from an ode by Horace).
intermittence du coeur An intermission of the heart (French).
interregnum The interval between the end of one king’s reign and the start of his successor’s. Any period where a state has a provisional government or no ruler at all.
in terrorem Literally, into a state of terror (Latin). To warn, done as a deterrent.
intromittent organ A penis.
invalid Of a sailor, to go on the sick-list or to leave the service because of illness or injury.
Invincible, H.M.S. This 74-gun ship was captured from the French by Vice Admiral Sir George ANSON off Cape FINISTERRE in May of 1747 and was taken under the same name into the British Navy. Because of her superior design, she was used as a model for many British 74-gun ships, and after being wrecked at St. Helen’s in 1758 was followed by four other Invincibles. The second was launched in 1765 and took part in the battle of the GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE in 1794. Commanded by Thomas Pakenham, she was severely damaged. In 1801, after a navigational error by the pilots guiding her through the narrow channels of Great Yarmouth, the Invincible was wrecked on Harborough Sands. The crew dismasted her to reduce topweight, but she drifted into deep water and sank, taking down her Captain, John Rennie, and about 400 of her crew.
Io triumphe Hurrah for the triumph! (Latin).
ipecacuanha The dried root of the ipecac plant, ground and used as an emetic.
Iphigenia In Greek mythology, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and the sister of Orestes and Electra. In an early account she was sacrificed to the goddess Artemis after Greek hunters killed one of Artemis’s wild animals. The fifth-century tragic poet Euripides wrote, instead, that Iphigenia was saved at the altar and transported to the land of the fierce Tuaurians, where she was kept as the priestess of the temple of Artemis and made to consecrate her fellow Greeks before they were sacrificed to Artemis by these enemies of the Greeks. She was saved by her brother Orestes after he and his friend Pylades were captured and arrived at the temple. The reunion was a surprise to both. They discovered each other when Iphigenia promised Pylades she would save him if he would return and deliver a letter to her brother Orestes.
iris A member of a genus (Iris) of herbaceous plants native to Europe, North Africa, and the temperate parts of Asia and America, most species having tuberous roots, sword-shaped leaves, and showy flowers. Also called fleur-de-lis or flower-de-luce.
iron-bound Rock-bound, inhospitable.
Ironmonger A dealer in ironware; a hardware merchant.
iron-sick When the iron bolts and nails of a wooden ship become loose due to corrosion. Acid in the wood rusts the metal, creating rot in the wood.
Iroquois A confederacy of North American Indians also known as the Five Nations, primarily in New York State and Ontario.
isabella-coloured Grayish yellow or light buff.