O

Oaks, the  A classic race for three-year-old fillies, dating to 1779, and run at Epsom, England, on the Friday after the DERBY.

oakum  Old pieces of rope untwisted, picked into shreds, and tarred, for use in caulking ships’ seams, stopping up leaks, and sometimes in dressing wounds. The making of oakum, a tedious process, often served as a naval punishment.

objective glass  In a telescope or other optical instrument, the lens or lenses nearest to the object viewed and so receiving rays of light directly from it.

obnubilate  To obscure, dim, or hide with or as with a cloud.

obsidian  A dark-colored volcanic glass.

occultation  The concealment of one heavenly body by another that passes between it and the observer, as of a star or planet by the moon. Also, the concealment of a heavenly body behind the body of the earth.

octavo  The size of a book or the page of a book when the sheets are folded so that each leaf is one-eighth of a whole sheet.

off the reel  Without halting, in an uninterrupted course or succession. Also, immediately.

off the wind  Said of a ship sailing with the wind blowing between the BEAM and the STERN.

offing  The part of the distant sea visible from the shore or beyond the anchoring ground. Also, the distance a vessel keeps from land or other navigational hazards.

O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, agricolas  How exceedingly happy farmers would be if only they knew their good fortune (Latin; from Virgil’s Georgics II).

One, du bateau … Ohé … La Diane, où ce qu’elle se trouve a présent? ... Au quai toujours, nom de Dieu. T’es Guillaume? ... Non. Etienne … Ben. Je m’en vais. Qu’est-ce que tu as là?... Des galériens … Ah, les bougres. Bon. Au plaisir, eh? ... Au plaisir, et je te souhaite merde, eh? Ship ahoy! ... Ahoy.... Where’s the Diane now? ... Still at the quay, for God’s sake. Is it William? ... No. Stephen.... Okay. I’m off. What do you have there? ... Some convicts. ... Oh, the scoundrels. Good. See you later, huh? ... See you later, and break a leg, huh? (French).

O’Higgins, Bernado (1778-1842)  The Chilean-born son of an Irish father and a Chilean mother, O’Higgins was educated in England. He returned to Chile in 1802 and took an active part in liberal politics favoring independence. Inspired by Napoleon’s invasion of Spain and the fall of King Ferdinand VII in 1808, he took part in a revolt in Chile led by Juan Martinez de Rozas in 1810. He was made Commander of the rebel army in 1813 and suffered a major defeat at Rancagua in 1814. But after joining forces with the Argentinian liberator San Martin, he won a decisive battle against the Spanish at Chacabuco in 1817 and led his country to independence, serving as a liberal dictator until 1823 when he was deposed by revolution. Known as “Liberator of Chile.”

oilskin  A cloth or garment made waterproof by treatment with oil.

Old Harry  A familiar name for the Devil. To play Old Harry with someone or something means to play mischief with or to ruin.

Old Ironsides  Nickname for H.M.S. Britannia, a first rate built in 1762 and renamed St. George in 1812. Also the nickname for the sturdy FRIGATE U.S.S. Constitution.

oldster  A MIDSHIPMAN with experience, one of four years’ standing.

olla podrida  A highly seasoned meat-and-vegetable stew traditional in Spain and Latin America.

Omnia perdidimus, tantummodo vita relicta est,/Praebeat ut sensum materiamque mali  We have lost everything, only life is left/Offering the sense and substance of misfortune (Latin; Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto).

omnium  On the British Stock Exchange, the total value of the stocks and considerations offered by the government in raising a loan for each unit of capital (i.e., every £100) subscribed.

omnium gatherum  Coming together (Latin).

on a bowline  Said of a ship when CLOSE-HAULED, sailing as close as possible in the direction from which the wind is blowing.

on the beam  Abeam, at a right angle to a vessel’s FORE-AND-AFT line. See also BEAM-ENDS.

onion-fly  A winged insect, Delia cepetorum,whose larvae are destructive to onions.

on the wind  Said of a vessel when she is sailing with her SHEETS HAULed as far aft as possible, as close as possible to the direction from which the wind is blowing.

opisthotonos  A spasm of the neck, back, and leg muscles in which the body arches backward, as in severe tetanus.

opium  The dried latex exudate of seed pods of the opium poppy. Used in medicine to control diarrhea, induce sleep, and alleviate pain, it was often highly addictive. Commonly prescribed as LAUDANUM.

opium-eating  The behavior of opium addicts, who usually drank LAUDANUM.

orange-peel  Used chiefly as a flavoring, but sometimes as a cooling tonic or for dyspepsia.

orbicular  Various organs or structures of circular or ringlike form, especially muscles, known as sphincters, that surround and close natural apertures of the body, especially those of the mouth, eyes, anus, and vagina.

orchitis  Inflammation of the testes.

ordinary  Of a ship, “in ordinary” means not fully manned and ready to sail, usually in some form of storage or disrepair in a harbor or dockyard. Also said of the men left on a ship laid up in ordinary. A tavern or eating house where meals are offered to the public at a fixed price; a dining room in such an establishment.

ordinary seaman  A RATE of sailors who can make themselves useful on board a ship but who are not expert sailors; one of the latter is known as an ABLE SEAMAN.

ordnance  Military materials, stores, or supplies in general. More specifically, artillery—cannons, MORTARS, and the like.

Orion, H.M.S.  The most famous ship by this name was a 74-gun third rate built on the Thames in 1787. At the GLORIOUS FIRST OF TUNE in 1794, she was commanded by Captain John Thomas Duckworth and suffered many casualties. She also played significant roles at the Battles of CAPE ST. VINCENT in 1797, the NILE in 1798, and TRAFALGAR in 1805 under Captain Edward CODRINGTON. She also fought at COPENHAGEN in 1807 with GAMBIER and in the Baltic in 1808 with SAUMAREZ, who had commanded her in 1795.

Commanded by Sir James SAUMAREZ at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, she and the Irresistable were the first to engage the Spanish flagship Santissima-Trinidad. In Post Captain (p. 38), Aubrey informs Mrs. Williams, “ ‘I was third of the Orion,’ ” at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. Later (p. 426) he mistakenly identifies her as the ship that blew up at the Nile, when he should have said l’ORIENT.

Orkneyman  A native or inhabitant of the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland.

orlop deck  The lowest deck of a ship, lying on the BEAMS of the hold and named from the Dutch words overloop and overlopen. The ship’s CABLES and supplies were stored on the orlop deck, and the PURSER and carpenter often had offices here, near their supplies. Below the waterline, this was also the site of the POWDER MAGAZINE, and sometimes the stuffy quarters for gunners, BOATSWAINS, carpenters, and MIDSHIPMEN. Originally, the orlop deck was the single floor or deck covering the hold of a ship; with the additions of decks above, the orlop became the lowest deck of a SHIP OF THE LINE and was not usually called a “deck.” When a ship had two complete levels these were called orlop and deck; when three levels, they were orlop, lower, and upper deck; when four levels, orlop, lower, middle, and upper deck.

ornithologist  One who studies birds.

Ornithorhynchus  The genus of an aquatic mammal of Australia, the duck-billed platypus, or duck-mole (O. paradoxus or anatinus), the only species of its genus and family in the order Monotremata. It has glossy dark-brown fur, webbed feet, and a bill like a duck’s, and it lays eggs like a bird.

orris-root  The rhizome of Iris florentina, which has a fragrant smell like violets. In powdered form it was used as a perfume and medically as a strong cathartic. It was also applied to the skin to stimulate the circulation.

Ortegal  Cape Ortegal projects into the Bay of Biscay at its most southwestern point, on the northwest coast of Spain.

Orthoptera  An order of insects that includes the cockroaches, walking-stick insects, leaf-insects, crickets, and grasshoppers.

osprey also sea-eagle, fishing-eagle, or fish-hawk  A large dark-brown-and-white bird of prey that frequents rocky sea coasts and lake borders and eats fish.

Ossian or Osian  In one of the more bizarre episodes of literary history, James McPherson (1736-1796), a Scottish poet, created a series of literary forgeries, which he claimed to have translated from Gaelic manuscripts. He attributed the authorship namely to a third-century poet named Ossian. In 1775 Dr. JOHNSON charged McPherson with having written the work himself and demanded to see the originals, which were never produced. McPherson’s sham works, Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland (1760) and the epics Fingal (1762) and Temora (1763), were acclaimed by Napoleon and Goethe and influenced Blake, Burns, and most of the poets of the age. McPherson was granted a position with a salary for life and at his death was buried in Westminster Abbey.

ostler  One who attends to horses at an inn; a stable hand or groom.

otary  Any of a variety of seals with small external ears; fur seals and sea lions.

over  In cricket, the umpire’s call for the players to switch to the opposite places in the field on a change of the bowling to the other end of the wicket after a certain number of balls have been bowled from one end.

overfall  Turbulent water with short breaking waves, caused by a strong current or tide setting over a submarine ridge or shoal or by the meeting of contrary currents.

oxer  Fox-hunting slang for an ox-fence, a sturdy fence used for cattle, especially one bordered by a hedge on one side and a ditch on the other.

oyster-catcher  A wading bird of the genus Haematopus with black-and-white or black plumage and a bright red bill. The common European species was once known as sea pie.