S

sabretache  A leather satchel suspended by long straps from the left side of a cavalry officer’s sword-belt. A flat leather saddlebag.

saddle-bow  The arched front part of a saddle.

Saffron Walden  A market town in northwest Essex, England. The name comes from the purple-flowered crocus, or saffron (Crocus sativus), which was at one time an important crop in this town, its stamens being the source of the yellow-orange dye and food flavoring also called saffron.

sagittal suture  The front-to-back line of union in the top center of the skull, between the two parietal bones.

sago  An edible starch prepared from the pith of the trunks of several genera of palms; a food thickener made by boiling sago in water or milk. Also, the sago palm tree, native to the Indonesian Archipelago, from which sago is obtained.

sagoon or seconde  In fencing, the second of the eight parries recognized in sword-play.

sahib  A respectful title used by the natives of India in addressing a Westerner, roughly equivalent to “sir.” In native use, a Westerner. Also, a title affixed to the name or office of a Westerner and to Indian and Bangladeshi titles and names.

sail or steer large  See LARGE.

St. Anthony  Among the several saints of this name, the ascetic St. Anthony of the Desert (250-356) was known for his modesty and courtesy.

St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430)  One of the greatest early scholars of Christianity, he was from Numidia (today Algeria). Because of his extensive Christian writing, he is considered one of the Fathers of the Church.

St. Brendan (A.D. 484-578)  Also known as Brendan the Voyager, he was the Abbot of Ardfert in County Kerry, Ireland. Brendan established many monasteries in Scotland and Ireland, including one at Clonfert in the year 561. The medieval legend Navigatio Brendani was based on his voyage to the promised land of saints on western islands (Maturin’s “Islands of the Blessed”), which lasted eight years beginning in 565.

St. Elmo  A corruption of the name of Saint Erasmus, an Italian bishop who was martyred in 303. His executioners cut open his stomach and wound out his intestines on a windlass, which resembled a ship’s CAPSTAN. He became the patron saint of Mediterranean sailors. See also ST. ELMO’S FIRE.

St. Elmo’s Fire  A light that occurs when low-intensity atmospheric electricity induces an electrical discharge on the MASTHEADS and ends of the YARDARMs of a ship. The light was observed with awe and looked upon by sailors variously as a good or bad omen. Also called corposant. See also SAINT ELMO.

Saintes, Battle of the  The last major sea battle of the American Revolutionary War. Fought on April 12, 1782, by Sir George RODNEY with 36 SHIPS OF THE LINE and Vice Admiral Comte de Grasse with 30, in the Saintes passage near the lies des Saintes, between Guadeloupe and Dominica in the WEST INDIES. Breaking the line of battle, a bold and innovative tactic at that time, the British captured five ships, including de Grasse’s FLAGSHIP Ville de Paris. This decisive British victory helped to restore the Royal Navy’s prestige after a series of defeats and led to the restoration of Britain’s possessions in the West Indies in the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783.

St. Helena  A small island in the South Atlantic, more than a thousand miles from the coast of Africa, discovered by the Portuguese in 1502. The British EAST INDIA COMPANY established a base there in 1659, and in 1673 the island became a British possession. The British government exiled Napoleon after his defeat and abdication in 1815 to this remote island. He was taken there in H.M.S. Northumberland and stayed until his death in 1821.

St. Helen’s  Village on the Isle of WIGHT at the entrance to SPITHEAD.

St. Ignatius’s bean  The poisonous seed of Strychnos ignatii, which contains strychnine. It was occasionally used in strengthening tonics.

St. James’s Park  Located near WHITEHALL, this 90-acre expanse of trees and greenery, with a pond—the oldest of London’s royal parks—was named for the now-defunct St. James Hospital for female lepers. Before Henry VIII converted it into a bowling alley, the park was a marshy field where the lepers fed their hogs. In 1814 St. James’s Park was the scene of a splendid gala celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of the NILE. The view across its pond to the spires, peaks, and domes of Whitehall is said to be one of London’s most spectacular.

St. Kitts  One of the Leeward Islands, named St. Christopher by Columbus when he discovered it in 1493 and renamed St. Kitts in 1623 by English settlers who established on the island the first successful English colony in the WEST INDIES. The French also settled there in 1627, but the island became entirely English in 1713.

St. Lawrence  The eastern Canadian waterway of rivers and lakes that connects the Great Lakes at Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence at the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal and Quebec are located along the river.

St. Leger  Held at a racecourse in DONCASTER, the famous St. Leger stakes for three-year-olds, run annually in September, was founded by Colonel St. Leger in 1776.

Saint-Valéry (Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme)  A seaport on the northeastern coast of France, where the Somme River empties into the English Channel. The point of embarkation of William the Conqueror in 1066 for his invasion of England.

St. Vincent  See JERVIS. See also CAPE ST. VINCENT.

salaam  A salutation or respectful greeting used in the East, meaning “peace be upon you.” The ceremonial obeisance that accompanies the salutation, a low bowing of the head and body with the palm of the right hand on the forehead.

salamander  A lizardlike animal once thought to live in, or to be able to endure, fire. Hence, a soldier who exposes himself to fire in battle. Also, a round shot with a handle, heated and hung up by sailors on board ship for warmth.

salamander’s wool  Asbestos.

salle d’armes  Fencing school (French).

Sallee Rover  From the 16th to early 19th centuries, the most dreaded of the BARBARY pirates, operating out of the Moroccan port of Sale (also Sallee or Salli), a suburb of present-day Rabat, on the Atlantic coast.

sally  To make a vessel roll by having the crew run from one side to the other. Used to loosen a ship from ice.

Sally Port  The embarkation place at the fortifications on Portsmouth Point in PORTSMOUTH, reserved for boats and men of the Royal Navy, particularly for ships anchored at SPITHEAD. Also, sally port, the opening on a ship’s side used for entry, especially on the LARBOARD side of a warship.

salmagundi also solomongundy or solomon gundy  A dish made of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions with oil and spices. At sea, more often boiled salted or cured fish and onions.

salt horse  Salted beef.

Saluting Days  Days on which a salute was fired in celebration. In this period they included:

Queen’s Birthday, January 18  21 guns

King Charles’s Restoration, May 29  17 guns

King’s Birthday, June 4  21 guns

King’s Coronation, September 22  21 guns

King’s Accession, October 25  17 guns

Gunpowder Plot, November 5  17 guns

salver  A tray used for refreshments or for presenting letters, visiting cards, and the like.

Salve Regina  In the Roman Catholic Church, an antiphon that begins with “Salve, Regina,” recited in the liturgy from Trinity Sunday to Advent or sung as a separate office or devotion. Also, a musical setting for this.

sancta simplicitas  Literally, holy simplicity (Latin). Usually used as an exclamation of astonishment at a person’s naïveté.

sandalwood  A fragrant yellowish heartwood obtained from several trees of the genus Santalum and used in wood carving and cabinetry; sometimes used medically as a mild stimulating tonic.

sand-grouse  Any of various pigeonlike birds that inhabit arid parts of southern Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Sandwich, John Montagu, fourth Earl of (1718-1792)  A British statesman, he served as Lord Commissioner of the ADMIRALTY (1744-1748), twice as Secretary of State for the Northern Department (1763-1765 and 1770-1771), and three times as First Lord of the Admiralty (1748-1751, 1763, and 1771-1782). He was a skilled administrator who attempted to reform the Admiralty and modernize naval practices, advocating coppering ships’ bottoms and employing CARRONADES, but he also achieved fame as a patron of music as well as notoriety as a gambler and rake. Perhaps his greatest contribution to society was culinary: He invented the sandwich as a way to eat supper while gambling.

Sandwich Islands  A chain of Polynesian islands, now called the Hawaiian Islands, discovered and charted by Captain James COOK in 1778 and named by him after the fourth earl of SANDWICH, who promoted his voyage of exploration. Cook was at first treated as a deity here, but later he was attacked and stabbed to death by unfriendly natives.

San Idelfonso Treaty  See IDELFONSO TREATY.

San Martin, José Francisco de (1778-1850)  An Argentinian soldier and statesman who helped liberate Buenos Aires from Spain. With BERNARDO O’HIGGINS, he then crossed the Andes to liberate Chile. San Martin’s army, in which O’Higgins served as a commander, defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Chacabuco on February 12, 1817, and San Martin assured Chile’s independence with a victory at the Battle of Maipo on April 5, 1818. With Lord COCHRANE and the Chilean fleet, he then helped liberate Peru, entering Lima in July 1821. San Martin briefly held the title of Protector of Peru, but he resigned in 1822 and retired to France.

sans revanche  No return match (French).

Santa Ana  Built at El Ferrol, Spain, in 1784, she was the most technically advanced 74-gun three-decker built in the 18th century. She had seven sister ships, built during the following decade at El Ferrol and Havana. Shesawa number of major actions, including TRAFALGAR, where she fought successfully as Vice-Admiral Alava’s flagship and helped recover several British prizes for Spain. She sank at Havana in 1812.

Santander  A province of CASTILE and a major seaport with a spacious harbor on the northern coast of Spain, the city was made a puerto habilitado in 1753, which gave it the privilege of trading with America. Santander was ravaged by the French in 1808.

Santissima Trinidad  A colossal Spanish SHIP OF THE LINE with four decks and 140 guns. She was the largest warship in the world when she fought against NELSON at the Battle of CAPE ST. VINCENT in 1797. After fighting bravely at TRAFALGAR, she was captured and sunk.

Sapphic  Of or pertaining to Sappho (c. 600 B.C.), the famed poet of Lesbos admired for her beautiful writing. Also, a poetic meter used by Sappho.

saraband  Originally, a dance of Asian origin that first appeared in Spain in the 16th century, accompanied by castanets and tambourines. Cervantes denounced it for its indecent gestures, and it was suppressed. It reappeared in the 17th century in a more dignified form and began to appear as a movement in the instrumental suite.

sardana  A popular CATALAN dance to the music of pipe and drum, closely tied to Catalan national consciousness. It is danced by men and women who join hands in a closed circle.

Sargasso Sea  An area of sea in the southwest quarter of the north Atlantic Ocean, between the WEST INDIES and the AZORES, named for sargassum, a type of seaweed floating over a vast part of the sea. First reported by Columbus, who thought it indicated land, the Sargasso was the source of much fear for later seamen, who told highly exaggerated stories of ships trapped in the seaweed and unable to make their way out. It is also a major breeding ground for eels.

sari  A long, often brightly colored length of cotton or silk worn as a garment by Hindu women. It is wrapped several times around the waist to form a skirt, then passed across the chest over the left shoulder and sometimes over the head.

sassafras  A small North American tree, Sassafras albidum, first mentioned by the Spaniards in 1528. The dried root, bark, and wood were Used as a flavoring and occasionally as a multipurpose tonic.

satietas vitae  Weariness of life (Latin).

saturnine temperament  Sluggish, cold, gloomy, leaden; Saturn was the astrological symbol for lead. Although most lead-based medicines were meant only to be applied topically, to assist wound healing, the lead could be absorbed into the body through the exposed tissue, sometimes producing toxic effects on the nervous system and elsewhere that could be regarded as typical of the saturnine temperament.

satyr  In Greek mythology, one of a group of woodland gods or demons, part human and part beast, supposed to be Bacchus’s companions. In ancient Greek art, the satyr had the ears and tail of a horse. Roman sculptors gave satyrs certain features of a goat, including budding horns. Also, a man who shows excessive sexual desire.

SAUMAREZ, JAMES, LORD DE (1757-1836)

A member of a family of Norman descent on the island of Guernsey that distinguished itself in the British Navy during the 18th century, Saumarez was a LIEUTENANT during the American Revolutionary War, seeing action at the DOGGER BANK against the Dutch in 1781 and with RODNEY at the SAINTES in 1782. In 1793, at the beginning of the war with France, while commanding the Crescent, he captured the French FRIGATE REUNION with no casualties, which earned him a knighthood. Considered brave and bold, Saumarez was made Rear-Admiral in early 1801 and shortly thereafter led his SQUADRON in an unsuccessful action at Algeciras, where the 74-gun Hannibal was lost. The fictitious Jack Aubrey, in Master and Commander, observes the unhappy event as a prisoner of war from a French warship. But Saumarez quickly refit his squadron at GIBRALTAR and gained a measure of revenge in an explosive night action that Aubrey also observes, from a distance, in Master and Commander. In over 60 years of Navy service, Saumarez fought in many actions, including those at CAPE ST. VINCENT (in the ORION with Lieutenant Aubrey on board) and the NILE, where he was second-in-command to NELSON. With H.M.S. VICTORY as his FLAGSHIP, Saumarez commanded the Baltic Squadron from 1808 to 1812 as a Vice-Admiral. He was promoted to ADMIRAL in 1814, was COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF at PLYMOUTH from 1824 to 1827, and in 1831 was raised to the PEERAGE as Baron de Saumarez of Guernsey.

save-all  Another name for WATER SAIL. Also a drip pan to collect moisture.

Savoy Chapel  A chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, built in 1510 when Savoy Palace, which had been destroyed in the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381, was rebuilt as a hospital for the poor.

Savoy, Liberties of the  A liberty was a district within the limits of a county but exempt from the jurisdiction of the sheriff. The Liberty of the Savoy was the property of the English royal house of Lancaster. A palace on the ground was rebuilt by Henry, first Duke of Lancaster, between about 1345 and 1370. The Duke also acquired more property, eventually accumulating what would later be the Savoy precinct. In 1505 Henry VII decided that the palace should be rebuilt as a hospital for the poor. The area subsequently housed a hospital, barracks, a prison, and a Jesuit school for boys. Tradesmen moved in, and businesses were established. In 1772, with most of the buildings now in ruins, a longstanding dispute over the ownership of the precinct was resolved. The DUCHY OF LANCASTER retained the outer ring and the SAVOY CHAPEL, and the Crown took possession of the center part of the duchy

Bounded by the Strand to the north, the Thames to the south, Ivy Bridge to the west, and the Temple to the east, the Liberties were, as O’Brian explains in The Thirteen Gun Salute, “legally ... not part of London or Westminster at all, but of the Duchy of Lancaster, and culturally it was a self-contained village.” (From 1816 to 1820, the area was cleared to build the approach road to Waterloo Bridge.) See also LANCASTER, DUCHY OF.

saxifrage  A perennial herb of the genus Saxifraga with tufted foliage and small white, yellow, or red flowers, often growing in rock crevices.

Sayers, Tom (1826-1865)  Known as the “Brighton Boy” and “Napoleon of the Prize Ring,” Sayers was one of the great English heavyweight boxing champions. Weighing less than 160 pounds, he often fought much larger men but beat them with skillful, stiff blows.

scale the shot  To remove the accumulation of rust from the surface of a metal cannonball.

scandalize  To reduce sail in an unusual manner; for instance, instead of lowering throat-and peak-HALYARDs of a GAFF sail together, to drop the peak and perhaps TRICE UP the TACK. Also, when a ship at anchor sets its YARDS askew as a sign of mourning, it is said to be scandalized.

scantling  As applied to timber, the breadth and thickness of a beam, as opposed to its length. In shipbuilding, the scantlings are the dimensions of all structural parts of a vessel regarded collectively.

scapula  Shoulder blade.

scarf or scarph  To join the ends of two timbers forming one longer piece, the ends being halved, notched, or cut away to fit together neatly. A ship’s KEEL consisted of timbers scarfed together. Also, the joint so formed.

scarper  Slang, to leave in haste, escape, bolt.

scaup  Any of several diving ducks having mostly black and white plumage and inhabiting the seas of northern Europe, Asia, and America.

scavenger  A person who is employed to clean streets or to clean a church.

scend  The vertical rise and fall of a vessel caused by the range of the waves; the sudden rising motion when a ship PITCHes in a heavy sea. The scend of the sea is the carrying or upward driving impulse of a sea or wave; also, the surge of the sea into a harbor.

schooner  A FORE-AND-AFT-rigged vessel, originally with only two MASTS, but later with three or more, and sometimes one or more square TOPSAILS. The characteristic schooner RIG consists of two GAFF sails, the after sail not smaller than the FORE, and a HEADSAIL set on a BOWSPRIT. Although British and Dutch prototypes existed in the 17th century, the schooner was developed in the United States, perhaps initially around 1713 (“schooner” possibly is derived from the word “scoon,” a local term for skipping a stone). Later developed for speed, particularly at Baltimore, schooners were used in the COASTING trade and in fishing the GRAND BANK off NEWFOUNDLAND. Used also for blockade running and as fast naval vessels.

schuyt or schouw  A Dutch flat-bottomed boat with a GAFF MAINSAIL, BOWSPRIT JIB, and leeboards, to lessen the leeway (see LEE).

Schwarzenberg, Karl Philipp (1771-1820)  Austrian field marshal and diplomat who commanded the Austrian army in Russia in 1812, became commander in chief of the allied forces opposing NAPOLEON in 1813, and defeated Napoleon at Leipzig. He drove the French across the Rhine and led the campaign in France that resulted in Napoleon’s defeat in 1814.

sciatic nerve  The largest nerve in the human body, which emerges from the spine in the lower back and runs down the back of the thigh to the foot. Sciatica is pain along the sciatic nerve, often caused by pressure exerted on the spinal cord by a ruptured or dislocated disk.

sciatic stay  A strong rope running from the MAINMAST to the FOREMAST HEADS in merchant ships and supporting a TACKLE that can be shifted over the MAIN or FORE HATCHWAYS when loading and unloading cargo.

Scilly Islands or Scillies  Thirty miles southwest of Land’s End in Cornwall, England, an archipelago of small isles, reefs, and rocks often shrouded in fog and mist and consequently the site of many shipwrecks.

scimitar  A short, curved, single-edged sword, used chiefly by the Turks and Persians.

scoff  To eat voraciously, devour.

Scombridae  The mackerel family. A scombri is a mackerel.

scops owl  Any of a group of small owls, such as Otus scops (Old World scops owl) and O. sunia (Oriental scops owl), having ear tufts and a whistling call.

scoria  Rough masses formed by the cooling of molten lava when exposed to the air, distended by the expansion of trapped gases.

scow  A large flat-bottomed rowed boat, used as a LIGHTER or PUNT, or to ferry men.

scrag  To wring the neck of; to manhandle; to kill.

scraper  A cocked hat.

scratch  Hastily gathered or assembled.

scratch-wig or scratch-bob  A small, short wig.

scrim  A thin canvas used for curtains and upholstery lining.

scrofula  Tuberculosis of the cervical lymph glands, resulting in chronic skin ulcers. Often caused by the bovine form of tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis), it was not as likely to kill the patient as the usual pulmonary form of the disease (caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis). It was also called the King’s Evil, because it was supposed to be curable by the touch of the sovereign; the last British monarch to carry out the annual ceremonial touching was Queen Anne (d. 1714).

scroll  In shipbuilding, a curved timber bolted to the KNEE of the HEAD.

scruple  A unit of apothecary weight equal to 20 grains, or approximately 1.3 grams.

scrutineer  One whose job is to examine.

scrutoire or escritoire  A writing desk made to contain stationery and documents, and in early use, often portable.

scud  To run BEFORE THE WIND in a storm under reduced sail or BARE POLES. In a gale, the Master had the choice of running before the wind if there was enough sea room or lying to if there was not. Also, a loose, vapory cloud fragment drifting rapidly under rain clouds (a fracto-strarus cloud).

This ship is scudding before a heavy wind with only the forecourse set to maintain steering control. (From Serres’s Liber Nauticus).

scull  An oar worked from side to side over the STERN of the boat, the blade being reversed at each turn. One of two light oars used in a dinghy by a single rower.

scullery  A small room next to a kitchen used for washing dishes and other dirty work; a back kitchen.

scunner  To shrink back with fear. To feel violent disgust or aversion, to feel sick.

scupper  To SCUTTLE. A slang term meaning to confuse or defeat. Also, one of many drain openings in a ship’s side at deck level that allow water to run into the sea. To be on one’s scuppers means to be sunk or killed.

scurvy or scorbutus  A disease now known to be caused by insufficient ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in the diet and characterized by lethargy, foul breath, extreme tenderness of the gums, loss of teeth, PETECHIAE, and pains in the limbs. Common on long voyages because the diet included few, if any, fruits and vegetables. See BLANE.

scut  A short erect tail, as of a hare, rabbit, or deer.

scuttle  To sink a vessel deliberately. Also, a porthole in the deck or side of a ship for lighting and ventilation. Scuttle-hatch: a lid or covering of a scuttle.

scuttle-butt  A cask of drinking-water on board ship. Gossip.

sea-coal  Coal, as distinguished from charcoal.

sea-cock  An opening through the hull, with a valve, to let a controllable amount of seawater into the ship.

sea-elephant  An elephant seal, either of two types of large seals with trunklike snouts that inhabit the Pacific coastal waters of the Americas.

Sea-Fencibles  See FENCIBLES.

sea-leopard  A leopard seal (Ogmorhinus leptonyx), which inhabits the Southern and Antarctic seas.

sealer  A vessel engaged in the sealing trade, killing seals for fur, hides, and oil.

sea (or nautical) mile  Equivalent to 6,076 feet, or one minute of latitude. Approximately 1.15 statute miles.

sea-otter  A large marine otter (Enhydra lutris) found on the shores of the North Pacific.

sea-pie  A layered dish of meat, vegetables, and fish in between crusts of dough, the number of layers determining whether it was a two-or three-decker. A popular dish on board ship when the ingredients were available.

sear  The part of a gunlock that engages with the notches of the tumbler in order to keep the hammer at full or half cock, and released at full cock by pressure on the trigger.

seat of ease  Latrine seat, located in the Captain’s QUARTER-GALLERY or, for all others on a ship, along the BOWSPRIT (therefore the four to eight holes were called the HEAD).

sea-wrack  Seaweed, especially any of the large coarse kinds frequently washed up on the shore.

sebi confectio discolor  A mottled concoction of suet (Latin).

second  A person who represents and assists a principal in a duel and arranges the logistics, such as carrying the challenge, choosing the site, and loading weapons.

second of arc  In angular measure, 1/60 of a minute, 1/3,600 of a degree.

secret du roi  Secret service of the king (French).

sectary  A member of a sect or someone who is particularly zealous in the cause of a sect.

seizing  A small cord used in binding two ropes together. Also, the line that results when one rope is “seized” to another.

Selsey Bill  East of PORTSMOUTH, a tongue of land that projects into the English Channel and is surrounded by miles of shallows, which before the seas encroached were roamed by deer and are still called the “park” by fishermen.

selvage or selvedge  The side edges, or guarding, of a net or sail.

selvagee  A STROP (loop) made of tightly wound rope yarn and used for lifting or securing. A strop made by wrapping small SPUNYARN around two or more nails or spikes and then splicing or tying them together and tarring them. Stronger than a spliced strop, it is used around a SHROUD or STAY to attach a TACKLE.

semaphore  An apparatus consisting of an upright post with one or more arms moving in a vertical plane that was first used for signaling in Britain in 1816, when it replaced an older TELEGRAPH system in use by the British ADMIRALTY. A semaphore code could also be transmitted using handheld flags or lights.

send  See SCEND.

senna  A tropical shrub of the genus Cassia, bearing yellow flowers and flat greenish pods, used chiefly as a cathartic.

sennet also sennit or sinnet  CORDAGE used for making HALYARDS, mats, and LASHings. Also, plaited straw, palm leaves, and the like, used to make grass hats.

sennight  A week.

sensu strictu (or sensu stricto)  In the restricted sense (Latin). Of a scientific term, in the narrow sense.

sepoy  A native of India employed as a soldier in the command of Europeans, especially the British.

Seppings, Sir Robert (1767-1840)  A naval architect, who rose from SHIPWRIGHT’S apprentice at PLYMOUTH Dockyard to Surveyor of the Navy. He contributed a number of innovations to shipbuilding, including “Seppings blocks,” which improved accessibility to a ship’s hull in DRY-DOCK. For this he was made master shipwright at CHATHAM, where he introduced diagonal bracing of frame timbers for added longitudinal hull strength and modified hull design to provide a cleaner run.

sepsis  Putrefaction (though the meaning is more specific today).

septiéme  Seventh (French).

sequela  An aftereffect of a previous disease or accident.

sequi me  Follow me (Latin).

serang  The BOATSWAIN or captain of a LASCAR (Indian or East Indian) crew.

sercial  A type of MADEIRA wine.

serjeanty  A form of feudalism in which the subject rendered a specified service to the king. In the 13th century, petit serjeanty bound a person to a service “amounting to half a mark or less,” such as taking to the king a bag, an arrow, or a bow without string.

Seth  Adam and Eve’s third son, who was born after Cain murdered his brother, Abel, and so named by Eve, who said, “For God has appointed [in Hebrew, ‘seth’] another seed for me instead of Abel” (Gen. 4:25).

Sethians  According to the 1771 Encyclopaedia Britannica: “Christian heretics, so called because they paid divine worship to Seth, whom they looked upon to be Jesus Christ the Son of God, but who was made by a third divinity, and substituted in the room of the two families of Abel and Cain, which had been destroyed by the deluge. These heretics appeared in Egypt in the second century; and as they were addicted to all sorts of debauchery, they did not want for followers, and continued in Egypt about two hundred years.”

settee  A decked vessel with a long pointed PROW, carrying two or three LATEEN-rigged MASTS, used primarily in the eastern Mediterranean.

setting-rule or composing-rule  A brass or steel rule against which a printer sets the type in a composing stick.

settle  A long wooden bench, usually with arms, a high back, and a locker or box underneath.

settle a person’s hash  To reduce to order; to silence or subdue.

settling day  A day appointed for settling accounts. The fortnightly payday on the London Stock Exchange.

Seven Dials  Behind the junction of Shaftsbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road, this section of London was built on what was once known as Cock and Pye Fields. It was so named for a column in the center topped by seven sundials, facing the seven streets that radiated out from there. Seven Dials was noted for its poverty and squalor.

Seven Years’ War  The third Silesian war (1756-1763), in which Austria, France, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden were allied against Frederick the Great of Prussia. Ended by the Treaty of Paris of 1763.

seventy-four  A third-rate ship carrying 74 guns.

sextant  A hand-held optical instrument invented in 1757 by Captain (later Admiral) John Campbell and used in navigation for measuring horizontal and vertical angular distances between objects, especially for observing the angle of a celestial object above the horizon in determining longitude and latitude at sea. The ultimate refinement of the QUADRANT, a sextant, so called because its calibrated arc, or limb, is one sixth of a circle, is highly accurate.

shaddock  The large pear-shaped citrus fruit of the tree Citrus maxima, native to the EAST INDIES and the Pacific. Lemon-yellow in color, it resembles a grapefruit but has a loose rind and pungent, tart, and agreeable but coarse, dry pulp. Also called pompelmous or pommelo. Also, the tree that it grows on. Named after Captain Shaddock, the commander of an EAST INDIA COMPANY ship, who took the tree to Jamaica in the late 17th century.

shag  A cormorant, a dark seabird with a hooked bill, long neck, and wedge-shaped tail; especially the crested cormorant, which in the breeding season has a crest of long curly plumes.

shakings  Pieces of old rope and canvas used for making OAKUM. The deck sweepings at the end of the day

shallop  A boat powered by oars or by a sail, used in shallow waters or between large ships; a dinghy or SKIFF. Also, a large, heavy boat with one FORE-AND-AFT-rigged MAST, the type that might be built by a ship’s carpenters from the salvage of a shipwreck and used to send for help.

sham  Short for champagne.

shambling  Exhibiting shambles, an awkward, abnormal gait or movement.

Shannon, H.M.S.  The best-known ship of this name was the fifth-rate 38-gun FRIGATE launched in 1806. In June of 1813, under the command of Captain Philip BROKE and known for her expert gunnery, she fought a brief but bloody battle with the 50-gun U.S. frigate CHESAPEAKE off Boston, an event recreated by O’Brian in The Fortune of War, with Jack Aubrey aboard the Shannon as a passenger and combatant. Commanded by Captain James LAWRENCE, the Chesapeake surrendered with 61 crew lost, including her Captain, and more than 85 wounded. The Shannon, whose victory provided a much-needed boost in morale for the Royal Navy, which had recently lost several discouraging actions to the upstart Americans, suffered 33 killed and 50 wounded. Made into a RECEIVING SHIP in 1832, the Chesapeake was finally broken up in 1859. Given the fame that Lawrence’s encounter with the Shannon earned in the United States, it is ironic that the ADMIRALTY unwittingly renamed the ship St. Lawrence in 1844.

shanty  See CHANTERY.

sharper  A cheat, swindler, rogue; a fraudulent gamester.

sharp-set  Very hungry.

Shaw, George (1751-1813)  An ordained deacon, Shaw studied medicine at Edinburgh and Oxford and became a botanical lecturer at Oxford. In 1788, he helped found the Linnean Society. He also served as keeper of the natural-history section of the British Museum.

Shawnee  A tribe of Algonquian-speaking American Indians, formerly inhabiting the Tennessee Valley region and now living in Oklahoma. A member of this tribe or its language.

shay  See CHAISE.

shears  See SHEERS.

shearwater  Any of various long-winged seabirds, related to the PETREL and the ALBATROSS, that skim the surface of the water so closely when they fly that they seem to shear it. Shearwaters are migratory, spending most of their lives over the water, but they nest on land in great colonies.

sheathbill  A white shore bird that inhabits the Antarctic region and has the base of its bill ensheathed in a horny case.

sheave  In a BLOCK, the grooved and revolving wheel over which the rope travels.

shebeen  In Ireland and Scotland, a shop or house where liquor is sold without a licence; a lowly pub.

sheer-hulk  An old ship cut down and fitted with SHEERS, for masting other vessels.

Sheerness  A naval dockyard at the mouth of the Medway in Kent on England’s southeastern coast, whose specialty was FRIGATES and smaller vessels. Sheerness was also the site of a small naval hospital.

sheers or sheer-legs  A device consisting of two or three long poles lashed together at the top, steadied by GUYS, and spread apart at the base, used to support hoisting TACKLE on ships and in dockyards for lifting heavy weights, especially in raising and fixing MASTS.

sheerwater  See SHEARWATER.

sheet  A rope attached to either of the lower corners (CLEWS) of a square sail or the BOOM or after lower corner (clew) of a FORE-AND-AFT sail and used to extend the sail or to alter its direction. To sheet home is to HAUL in a sheet until the foot of a sail is as straight and as taut as possible.

sheet-anchor  Traditionally, the largest of a ship’s anchors, but in Aubrey’s day, similar in size to the BOWER-ANCHORS, which where secured at the CATHEADS. The sheet-anchor (that to which the sheet-cable was secured, ordinarily carried on the STARBOARD side) and a fourth anchor on the other side were secured abreast the FOREMAST, on the CHANNELS, usually set up with tumblers, so they could be dropped in an emergency should the bower anchors fail to hold.

Sheffield plate  A copper plate coated with silver by a process developed in the manufacturing city of Sheffield in Yorkshire, England, about 1742.

Sheikh-al-Jabal  A chief of the ASSASSINS in Syria at a time when they occupied a string of mountain fortresses. French crusaders referred to him as “le vieux de la montagne” (“the Old Man of the Mountain”).

shell  The outer casing of a BLOCK. A THIMBLE DEAD-EYE block used to join the ends of two ropes. The dug-out portion of a West Indian canoe.

shellback  A hardened sailor, especially one raised at sea.

Shelmerston  A fictional seaport on the English Channel in southwest England, most likely in Devon on Tor Bay. Facing east in a protected bay that “on either hand … curved out in tawny cliffs,” the town, home port for the LETTER OF MARQUE Surprise, is dominated by houses of both worship and prostitution, and its prime seamen honed their skills largely as smugglers.

Shepton Mallet  A market town in Somerset, 22 miles southwest of Bath.

shift  A change in the direction of the wind. A clockwise shift is said to be veering and a counterclockwise shift, BACKING. Also, an item of men’s or women’s underclothing, usually made of linen or cotton. Later, a woman’s chemise. To change, as in clothes.

shilling  A former English monetary unit and silver coin equal to 12 pence or V20 of a pound sterling.

shilly-shally  Vacillating, irresolute, undecided.

shindy  A spree, merrymaking. Also, a type of dance among seamen.

shingle  Small, smooth stones found by the sea. Also, a beach or other area covered with loose roundish pebbles.

ship  Today, any sea-going vessel of considerable size, but in the 18th century, specifically a vessel with three or more MASTS, SQUARE-RIGGED, and suitable for navigating the high seas. To put an object in position to perform its function, as to ship oars. To embark. To take in water from the sea.

ship-chandler  A dealer who supplies stores to ships.

ship of the line  A RATEd, sailing warship that is large enough and sufficiently armed to be in the line of battle during a fleet action.

ship-rigged  Carrying square sails on all three MASTS. See also SHIP.

ship’s bells  The system for telling time on board ship. The ship bell, struck every half hour, indicates by the number of strokes the number of half-hours of the watch that have elapsed. The striking of eight bells indicates midnight. After midnight, one bell is struck at 12:30 A.M., two bells at 1:00 A.M., three bells at 1:30 A.M., and so forth until eight bells are struck again at 4:00 A.M., at which point the above progression is repeated until eight bells are again struck at 8:00 A.M. In this way eight bells ring every four hours around the clock. See also WATCH.

shipwright  A man employed in the construction of ships. The Company of Shipwrights was incorporated in 1605.

shittim wood  The wood of the shittah-tree, acacia wood. See ACACIA.

shiver  Of a sail, to flutter or to shake; to cause a sail to flutter in the wind. Sails are said to shiver when a vessel is steered so close in the direction that the wind is blowing from that the air spills out of them. Also, an old word for the SHEAVE of a BLOCK.

shoal  An elevation of the sea-bottom to within six FATHOMS of the surface; a shallow; a sandbank or bar. Shoaling: growing progressively more shallow.

shoneen  A person inclining toward English rather than Irish standards and attitudes, as in cultural life, sports, etc.

short commons  Lacking in rations, scant fare.

short seas  When the waves are irregular, broken, and interrupted, frequently bursting over a vessel’s side. When the distance between successive waves is abnormally short for their height.

short-weight  Deficient in weight, a means of defrauding the buyer.

shot  Any non-exploding missile fired from a naval gun, including LANGRAGE, CHAIN-SHOT, BAR-SHOT, and the normal cast-iron ball, or ROUND SHOT, which was called by its weight, as in 32-pound, 24-pound, or 18-pound shot. A CARRONADE, also called a smasher, fired a 66-pound shot.

shot-garland  A wooden rack running along the ship’s side from one gunport to another and holding the ROUND SHOT for the GREAT GUNS.

shoulder-block  A large single BLOCK, nearly square at its lower end.

shove-groat  The game of shuffleboard, in which a coin or other disk is pushed with a blow of the hand down a highly polished board, floor, or table marked with transverse lines.

Shovell, Sir Cloudesley (1659-1707)  English admiral and commander of the Mediterranean fleet during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14). Sailing for home in October 1707, his FLAGSHIP, the Association, and three other ships met bad visibility in the Channel and were unable to determine their position. Swept by a strong current, four ships, including the flagship, were wrecked near the Bishop and Clerk rocks off the SCILLY ISLANDS, with the loss of more than 1,400 men. Shovell’s body washed ashore and, years later, a woman wrecker confessed on her deathbed that she had found him alive and had murdered him for his emerald ring.

show away  Show off.

shrouds  Part of the standing RIGGING of a ship, a range of large ropes extending from the MASTHEADS to the STARBOARD (right) and LARBOARD (left) sides of the ship to provide lateral support to the MASTS, enabling them to carry sail. The shrouds were supported by HOUNDS at the masthead and the lower shrouds were secured by the CHAINS on the ship’s side. The shrouds of the TOPMAST and TOPGALLANT MAST ran to the edges of the TOPS. The parallel bands of RATLINES running between the shrouds functioned as ladders by which the TOPMEN climbed up to and down from the mastheads.

shrub  An alcoholic drink usually made with orange or lemon juice, sugar, and rum.

shy  To fling, throw, jerk, or toss.

Sic erimus cuncti postquam nos auferet Orcus/ergo vivamus dum licet esse, bene  So we will all be after Orcus [Roman god of the underworld] carries us off/therefore let us live well while we may (Latin; an epitaph from the Satyricon of Petronius).

Sick and Hurt Office  Same as the Sick and Wounded Board; see “The Royal Navy During the War of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic War,” p. 6.

sick headache  A severe headache accompanied by abdominal distress.

side-boy  In a warship, a boy whose job is to attend to the GANGWAY or MANROPES, assisting officers and others boarding from or departing to another boat.

side-fish  Long timbers dovetailed on either side of a made mast (one constructed of more than one timber).

sidereal  Of or pertaining to the stars. Of periods of time, that which is determined or measured by using the stars.

siege-train  All the men, guns, and materials gathered to conduct a siege.

Sierra Leone  A river in West Africa. Also, a British colony in West Africa in whose capital, Freetown, blacks who had been taken to Britain as slaves were resettled by the Sierra Leone Company in 1787. In 1808, the British government took over direct responsibility for the colony of free blacks. From that year, Sierra Leone was also a naval base for anti-slave trade patrols.

Si la personne qui s’intérrese au pavilion de partance voudrait bien donner rendez-vous en laissant un mot chez Jules, traiteur à Frith Street, elle en aurait des nouvelles  If the person who has an interest in the Blue Peter would like to make an appointment by leaving word with Jules, a restaurateur on Frith Street, he will receive information about it (French).

silkstone  A type of coal mined at Silkstone near Barnsley in Yorkshire, England.

sill or port-sill  An upper or lower horizontal timber forming the upper or lower edge of a ship’s square port.

sillabub  See SYLLABUB.

Sillery  A wine of the Champagne region of France produced in and around the village of Sillery, usually the still wine Sillery sec (dry Sillery), formerly made from the grapes of the Sillery vineyards but now chiefly from those of the nearby vineyards of Verzenay and Mailly

Simia satyrus  The orangutan, a forest-dwelling ape of BORNEO, Sumatra, and Java that is about two-thirds the size of a gorilla and has very long arms.

similia similibus curantur  Like things cured by likes (Latin). The practice of treating a disease by giving the patient small amounts of substances that in a healthy person would cause similar symptoms to those the patient is experiencing.

Simonstown  Near the southern tip of Africa, a port about 30 miles south of Cape Town on the western shore of False Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope. From 1741 Simonstown was a Dutch military and naval base, and from 1814 it was headquarters of the Royal Navy’s South Atlantic Squadron.

simoom  A hot, dry, suffocating, and frequently sand-laden wind that blows across the African and Asiatic deserts in spring and summer.

sinecure  An office or position that requires little or no effort but usually provides an income. Of the nature of a sinecure. Involving no duties or work.

single  In cricket, a hit for one run.

sinologist  A Western student of the Chinese language or of Chinese customs, literature, or history.

sippet  Toasted or fried bread, usually served in soup or broth or with meat as a sop.

sirens  In classical mythology, several part-female, part-bird nymphs who lived on an island near Sicily, where they halted sailors’ journeys—and eventually their lives—with their enchanting songs. When passing near them, Ulysses plugged the ears of his crew with wax, so they could not listen, and had his sailors lash him to a MAST, so he could listen without succumbing to their call.

siriasis  A disease that affects children, causing inflammation of the brain and membranes and burning fever and considered by some to be meningitis. O’Brian uses the term as a synonym for heat stroke.

Sirius, H.M.S.  A 36-gun fifth-rate FRIGATE that saw action with Sir Robert CALDER in 1805, after which she towed the Spanish 74-gun Firme back to PORTSMOUTH. The Sirius served at TRAFALGAR in 1805 under Captain William Prowse. In 1810, while serving in the Indian Ocean, she was lost in an attack on the Île de France (MAURITIUS).

sirocco  A hot wind from the Sahara Desert that blows from the south or southeast off the north coast of Africa over the Mediterranean and into parts of southern Europe, in the summer sometimes oppressive and bearing sand.

sister block  A BLOCK with two SHEAVES, one below the other, sometimes seized between the TOPMAST SHROUDS, and through which were ROVE the TOPGALLANT SHEET and topsailyard lift. Also called a long-tail block.

sixes and sevens, to be at  A condition of confusion, disorder, or disagreement. Originally the phrase, from the language of dicing, was “to set on six and seven,” which was probably a fanciful exaggeration of “to set on cinque and sice,” the two highest numbers.

six-water grog  Weak GROG, consisting of six portions of water to each of rum, served occasionally as a punishment to sailors.

Skager Rack  A variation of Skagerrak, the broad arm of the North Sea between Norway and Denmark; also known as the SLEEVE, the channel is about 130 miles long and more than 70 miles wide.

skein  A length of yarn or thread secured in a long, loose coil. A skein of cotton thread consists of 80 turns on a reel 54 inches in circumference.

skeleton at the feast  A reminder of serious or depressing matters at a time of lightheartedness or enjoyment.

skep  A beehive.

skid-beam  One of the BEAMS over the deck for stowing boats.

skids  BEAMS or reserve SPARS kept by a ship usually in the WAIST and used as a support for the ship’s boats.

skiff  A small boat equipped with one or two pairs of oars and used for a ship’s chores in harbor.

skimmer  A bird of the North American genus Rhyncops, especially the black skimmer. These birds use their lower mandibles to skim small fish from the surface of the water.

skink  A small lizard (Scincus officinalis) of northern Africa and Arabia. Also, any lizard belonging to the Scincidae family.

skin up  As in “to skin up a sail in the BUNT,” to make a FURLed sail smooth and neat using part of the sail to cover the remainder of the furled canvas.

skittles  A game traditionally played with nine pins set to form a square on a wooden frame, with the object being to bowl down the pins in as few throws as possible; nine-pins.

skua  A large dark-plumed predatory seabird (Catharacta skua). Growing to about 21 inches long, the skua is a powerful flier and with its hawklike bill often intimidates weaker birds into dropping their prey. They breed primarily along the Arctic and Antarctic shores but wander widely across the open oceans.

skylark  To frolic, play tricks, or roughhouse.

skysail  In SQUARE-RIGGED vessels, a light sail set above the ROYAL, used in a favorable light wind.

skyscraper  A triangular sail set above the SKYSAIL to maximize the advantage of a light favorable wind; a triangular MOONSAIL.

slab  Said of something semisolid, sometimes sticky.

slab-line  A small rope passing up behind a ship’s MAINSAIL or FORESAIL used to hold up the sail so that the helmsman had a clear view or to pull in the slack of a COURSE to prevent it from shaking or splitting while it was being HAULed up.

slab-sided  Having long, flat sides.

slack-cask  A cask used for holding dry goods.

slack water  The situation, lasting roughly half an hour, at both high and low water when the tide does not flow visibly in either direction.

slag  Earthen matter separated from metals in the process of smelting, often used in the construction of roads.

slake  To cause a material, as lime, to crumble or disintegrate by the action of water or moisture.

Sleeve, the  An old name for the English Channel and for the SKAGER RACK, possibly originating from their shapes, which resemble sleeves; sleeve is also used to refer to any strait or channel.

slew  To turn (something) around on its own axis; to swing around.

slide  A runner on which a gun is mounted.

sliding keel  A plank of wood or metal that slides through a slot in the bottom of a vessel to increase the depth of the KEEL; a drop keel.

slime-draught  A word not used in everyday medicine of the time, this appears to be a vernacular term for a liquid medicine of unknown composition used sometimes as a stool softener and sometimes as a sleeping medicine.

sling-dog  An iron hook with a fang at one end and an EYE at the other through which to REEVE a rope. Used in pairs for HOISTing and HAULing.

slings  Ropes or chains attached to an object for HOISTing or supporting, YARD slings are ropes or chains used to secure a yard to the MAST.

sloop  Originally, a term used generally for any relatively small ship-of-war that did not fit into other categories; around 1760, heavier three-masted sloops carrying 14 or 16 guns were used in the Royal Navy. By the early 19th century, there were two distinctive classes of SQUARE-RIGGED sloops, the three-masted SHIP sloop and the two-masted BRIG sloop.

slop-book  A register containing a list of the clothing and other articles issued to the sailors to be charged against their pay. See SLOPS.

sloppy Joe  A slovenly person.

slops  Ready-made clothing and other furnishings from the ship’s stores sold from the PURSER’S chest to the seamen, usually at the MAINMAST with an officer present. The cost of slops purchased were deducted from a sailor’s pay, with a portion going to the ship’s Purser. There was no official uniform for naval seamen until 1857. The word slops derives from the Old English word sloppe, which means breeches, but it also came to cover other commodities sold to the seamen, such as tobacco and soap.

slow-belly  A lazy, idle person; a laggard.

slow-match  A fuse that burned very slowly, used to ignite the charge in a large gun.

slubberdegullion  A worthless, slovenly person.

slush  The fat or grease left over from meat boiled on board ship, from which seamen made a favorite dish. It was also the Cook’s perquisite to sell it to the PURSER, who turned it into candles.

small beer  Weak, inferior beer, with 1.2 percent alcohol.

small-bower  An anchor carried at the STARBOARD BOW of a vessel; also the CABLE attached to it. See also BEST BOWER.

small-clothes or smalls  Breeches; knee-breeches; underclothes.

smallpox  An acute contagious disease also known as variola, characterized by pustules on the skin. See also POX.

smell-smock  A licentious man, lacking in self-control.

Smith, Sir William Sidney (1764-1840)  Described as daring, vain, resourceful, insubordinate, and imaginative, Admiral Sidney entered the Navy at age 13 and was POST-CAPTAIN by age 18. His life of adventure included action early on at CAPE ST. VINCENT and the SAINTES and two years as a French prisoner after an attack on Le Havre in 1796. After escaping from prison, he was sent to the Mediterranean, where he successfully defended ACRE against Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799 in his most admired action. Promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1805, he returned to the Mediterranean and took part in the DARDANELLES expedition in 1807. After serving on the South American station, he was promoted to Vice-Admiral and was second in command in the Mediterranean from 1812 to 1814.

smiting-line  A line used to break a sail out of STOPS without the necessity of sending men aloft. Its successful execution indicates a good seaman.

smock-frock  A long, loose-fitting garment of coarse linen or the like worn by farmers over or as a coat.

smoke  In common use from roughly 1600 to 1850, meaning to get or understand, to smell or suspect a plot, design, joke, or hidden meaning.

Smollett, Tobias George (1721-1771)  A British novelist who drew upon his experiences as a Surgeon’s Mate on H.M.S. Chichester to write a book entitled The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748), which satirized the Navy and the general way of life of British seamen. Smollett, a well-respected figure in 18th-century English literature, also edited the Critical Review.

Smyrna asafetida  ASAFETIDA imported from Smyrna (or Izmir), the major port on the west coast of Turkey, whence it came from Persia, Tibet, and other Eastern areas where it grew well.

Smyth, William Henry (1788-1865)  A British Rear-Admiral who was a founding member of the Royal Geographic Society in 1830. His surveys and scientific observations in the Mediterranean from 1813 to 1824, made with the help of many Continental scholars and surveyors, were highly praised in Britain and the Mediterranean countries. Compiler of The Sailor’s Word-Book, published posthumously in 1867.

snack  A share or portion. See also GO SNACKS.

snapper-up  One who snaps up or pounces on something quickly.

snatch-block  A BLOCK with a hinged opening on one side so that the BIGHT of a rope could be dropped in, saving a seaman the effort of having to REEVE the whole length of the rope.

sneer  To make all sneer again meant to carry so much canvas that it strained the ropes and SPARS to the utmost.

sniggle  To fish for eels by thrusting a baited hook or other device into their hiding places. A baited hook used in sniggling.

snipe  Any of various wading birds related to the woodcock and characterized by long, straight bills.

Snodgrass, Gabriel  As chief surveyor to the EAST INDIA COMPANY, Snodgrass was an influence for progressive ship design. In 1791, for instance, he proposed the use of iron KNEES, instead of wooden ones, to support a ship’s BEAMS and iron riders to reinforce the hull.

snow  The largest type of two-masted sailing vessel of the era, the snow, primarily a merchant ship but also used at war, carried square sails on both masts, with a TRYSAIL on a jackmast known as a snow-mast—which was a SPAR set on the deck about a foot behind the MAINMAST and attached at the top to the mainmast.

snub  To stop a running rope or CABLE suddenly by securing it to a post. To halt a vessel sharply, especially by securing a rope around a post or dropping an anchor. Also, when the BOW of a vessel at anchor is held down as the vessel is lifted by a wave, the vessel is said to be snubbed.

snuff-coloured  Of the color of snuff, brown or brownish.

snug or snuggery  A cosy or comfortable room, especially a small one into which a person retires for quiet or to be alone; a bachelor’s den. The bar-parlor of an inn or public-house.

Society Islands  An isolated group of South Pacific islands in French Polynesia that was charted in 1769 by Captain James COOK and named by him after the Royal Society, which sponsored his trip to observe from Tahiti the transit of Venus.

Society of Jesus  The JESUITS.

Socinian  A member of a sect founded by Laelius and Faustus Socinus, two 16th-century Italian theologians who denied the divinity of Christ.

soft soap  A smeary, semiliquid soap made with potash lye; potash soap.

soft-tack or soft tommy  Sailors’ term for bread, as distinct from ship’s biscuit, known as HARD-TACK.

Solander, Daniel Carl (1733-1782)  A Swedish botanist who studied with Linnaeus and accompanied Sir Joseph Banks on several voyages. He was chosen to catalogue the British Museum’s natural history collection in 1763 and was made its curator a decade later.

sole  Any of various flatfishes of the family Soleidae, related to and resembling the flounder, especially several common British and European species highly valued as food. Any of various other flatfishes.

solen  The razor-fish, any bivalve mollusk of the genus Solen, having a long, narrow shell like the handle of a razor.

Solent, The  In the English Channel, the western portion of the strait that separates the Isle of WIGHT and the mainland of England. Between one and three-quarters and four miles wide, It extends eastward for 15 miles from the Needles, the isolated group of rocks to the east of the Isle of Wight, to just beyond Southampton Water, the inlet leading to Southampton. The eastward portion of the strait is called SPITHEAD.

solitaire  A large flightless bird (Pezophaps solitarius) that once inhabited the island of Rodriguez.

Solomon  A person who is profoundly wise or just, like Solomon, the tenth-century B.C. king and son of David, who was celebrated for his wisdom. Also, said of, ironically, a wiseacre.

Somateria mollissima  The EIDER. Somateria spectabilis is the king eider.

Somerset House  One of London’s most famous buildings, where the Royal Academy and Navy Board Offices were located. England’s first Renaissance palace, it was built between 1547 and 1550 by Lord Protector Somerset. In 1604 peace negotiators from England, Spain, and the Spanish Netherlands met here. After Richard Cromwell’s abdication in the mid-1600s, PARLIAMENT tried unsuccessfully to sell Somerset to pay the Army. The ROYAL SOCIETY met in the house’s north wing from 1780 to 1857.

sonata  A musical composition for instruments, usually the pianoforte or violin, in three or four movements.

soople  Supple.

Sophie, H.M.S.  Aubrey’s first command is on board “almost the only QUARTERDECK BRIG in the service.” She carries 14 four-pounder guns. The Sophie is ficticious but similar in size and armament to the 158-ton converted coasting brig Speedy, in which COCHRANE fought heroically (the basis for the action of Master and Commander).

sopor  A deep unnatural sleep or sleeplike state. See also CARUS.

sordes  Filthy or feculent matter on or in a human or animal body. In typhoid or other fevers, the foul matter collecting on the teeth and lips.

sortie  A dash or sally by a besieged garrison to attack the enemy.

sotto i pini  Beneath the pines (Italian; sung by the Contessa and Susanna in act three of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro).

sou  A French coin, formerly 1/20 of a livre and subsequently the five-centime piece.

sounding  The process of finding out the depth of water by means of the LEAD-LINE and LEAD. TO be in soundings is to be in a place at sea where it is possible to reach the bottom with the ordinary (up to 20 FATHOMS) or deep-sea (up to 100 fathoms) lead. Derives from the Old English word sund for “water, sea, or swimming.” See also MARK.

soupe anglaise  Trifle, a dessert made by soaking stale sponge cake in wine or liqueur, adding fruit or jam and crushed macaroons, and topping with custard and whipped cream (French).

souse  Various parts of a pig or other animal, especially the feet and ears, that have been pickled. Also, to prepare or preserve by pickling.

South Foreland  A 300-foot headland of chalk on the coast of southeast Kent, England, whose two lighthouses, built about 1620, were particularly important in ensuring a safe transit south of the treacherous shoals and banks known as the GOODWIN SANDS that lie off the coast.

South Sea stock  Stock of the South Sea Company, incorporated in London in 1711 to conduct trade with Spanish America primarily in the South Seas. Its value soared to great heights and then crashed in 1720 following a financial crisis caused by rumors about a plan for the company to take over three fifths of the national debt. The crash ruined many shareholders, some of whom fled the country or committed suicide. The ugly scandal, known as the South Sea Bubble, reached into the top echelons of the government. The company managed to stay in business by changing its focus to other areas, such as the Greenland whale fishery.

south-wester  See SOU-WESTER.

Southampton, H.M.S.  A 32-gun fifth rate built in 1757 whose design became the standard for British FRIGATES through the 1780s, at which point this class began to be outgunned by the French 36-gun frigates. The Southampton fought at Bellisle in 1761 and at the GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE in 1794. She was wrecked in the Bahamas in 1812.

Southern Cross  A constellation with four bright stars in the form of a cross, visible in the Southern Hemisphere.

southing  Movement or deviation in a southerly direction.

souviens-toi  Remember (French).

sou-wester or south-wester  A wind or GALE blowing from the southwest. Also, a large oilskin or waterproof hat or cap worn by seamen to protect the head and neck during rough or wet weather.

Sovereign Pontiff  The Pope.

sow-gelder  One whose business is to geld pigs.

span  The distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, or sometimes to the tip of the forefinger, when the hand is fully extended; the space equivalent used as a measure of length, averaging nine inches.

Spanish Disturbance  See NOOTKA SOUND.

Spanish fly  An alcohol solution of powdered Lytta vesicatoria, a southern European beetle, used externally as a blistering counterirritant to fevers and other internal diseases and, rarely, internally as a diuretic. (Erroneously believed to be an aphrodisiac because its irritant effect on the urethra causes a prolonged erection.)

Spanish Main  After Columbus’s voyages, the Spanish called the northern coast of South America “Tierra Firma,” which in English became known as the “Spanish Main.” It was a romantic name for the Spanish possessions in America, consisting of the northeast coast of South America from the Orinoco to the Isthmus of Panama. By the late 17th century, the term also included the Caribbean and its islands.

spanker  Originally, a fairweather sail set in place of the MIZZEN COURSE. Later a FORE-AND-AFT sail, set with a GAFF and BOOM on the afterside of the MIZZENMAST of a SQUARE-RIGGED SHIP, BRIG, or BARQUE.

 spar  The general term for all the poles in a vessel’s RIGGING, such as BOWSPRITS, MASTS, YARDS, BOOMS, and GAFFS.

spar deck  Formerly, a temporary DECK anywhere on a ship, or on the QUARTERDECK or FORECASTLE of a deep-WAISTEDed ship; also a ship’s entire UPPER DECK above the MAIN DECK.

Sparmann  A large hairy shrub of the genus Sparmannia, native to southern Africa and bearing heart-shaped toothed leaves and white flowers in clusters.

spate  A flood, especially a sudden one caused by a heavy rain or melting snow, or an inundation, such as a heavy downpour of rain.

speaking-trumpet  A metal tube or megaphone used at sea to carry the voice a great distance or to elevate it above loud noises.

speaking-tube  A tube or pipe used for conveying the voice to various parts of a ship.

specie  Coin; coined money.

specific gravity  A measure of density, expressed as the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of another substance used as a standard (usually water for liquids and solids, and air for gases).

speculum  A mirror or polished metal plate forming part of a reflecting telescope.

spencer  In SQUARE-RIGGED SHIPS, a FORE-AND-AFT TRYSAIL set on the after of the FORE-or MAINMASTS. Also, a tight jacket or bodice worn by women and children or an undergarment, usually wool, worn by women for warmth.

spermaceti  White flakes of a waxy solid that separates from sperm oil when it cools after boiling. Sperm oil is found mainly in the head cavity of the sperm whale, and in some other whales and dolphins, and was used in internal medicines for colds and gonorrhea. From the 18th century, used in the manufacture of candles. Spermaceti whale: the sperm whale (Thyseter catodon).

speronara  A large rowing and sailing boat, equipped with a LATEEN sail, used in southern Italy and MALTA.

spica bandage  A bandage formed by wrapping successive overlapping strips of bandaging around a finger, limb, or the chest; so called because the overlaps were thought to give the appearance of an ear of wheat (spica is Latin for ear of grain).

spike a gun  To render a gun unusable by hammering a spike into the TOUCHHOLE.

spilling-line  A rope sometimes fixed to a ship’s MAINSAIL and FORESAIL to assist in REEFing and FURLing.

spindle  The upper part of a wooden made MAST.

spindrift  See SPOONDRIFT.

spinet  A musical instrument common in England in the 18th century, similar to the harpsichord but smaller and having a single keyboard and only one string for each note.

spirit-lamp  A lamp burning alcohol or another liquid fuel and used especially for heating, boiling, or cooking.

spirits of camphor  Camphor dissolved in alcohol and used as an analgesic and in treatment of some inflammatory diseases.

spirketing  On the side of a ship of war, the range of planks that lies between the waterways, the planking that connects each deck to the side and forms a gutter for drainage, and the lower edge of the gun-ports.

Spithead  An anchorage in the east SOLENT, the channel between mainland England and the Isle of WIGHT, offering good shelter for ships near PORTSMOUTH. It was the sight of a famous mutiny in 1797 during the War of the French Revolution, when the sailors of the CHANNEL FLEET refused to go to sea until they were promised better pay and conditions. The sailors succeeded without punishment.

Spitsbergen  The main group of islands in the Svalbard Archipelago in the Arctic Ocean frequented from the early 17th century by whalers, sealers, and fur hunters. Used as a base by the Royal Navy’s first polar expedition, under Captain C. J. Phipps in 1773.

splanchnic  Of or relating to the abdominal organs.

splinter-netting  On board a warship, a net or netting of small rope spread above the deck prior to an engagement to protect the men from falling SPARS and splinters.

spoil  SLAG or sludge.

sponge  A mop, or SWAB, for cleansing a cannon-bore after firing. A sponger is one who uses a sponge to clean the bore of a cannon.

sponging house  A detention center for debtors, preceding removal to a debtor’s prison.

Spoom  To run before the sea or wind; to SCUD.

spoonbill  Any of various long-legged wading birds of the widely distributed genus Platalea, which have long spoon-shaped bills.

spoondrift  Spray blown from waves by a violent wind and moving along the surface of the sea. Now also known as spindrift.

spotted dog or spotted dick  A suet pudding containing currants (the spots) and cooked to a firm consistency in a tightly wrapped pudding cloth.

sprigged  Adorned or ornamented with a representation of plant sprigs.

spring  To split or crack a SPAR; to injure by excess strain. A vessel is said “to spring a butt” when a plank is loosened at the end. Also, in MOORing, the spring lines are the ropes from the BOW of a ship aft to a BOLLARD and from the STERN forward to a bollard, one or the other also being useful in disembarking to help maneuver one end of the ship away from the QUAY. Also, a line made fast at one end to the anchor or CABLE and at the other to the ship’s QUARTER, so that by HAULing on it the ship can be brought broadside to the anchor.

springbok  A gazelle (Antdorcas marsupialis) common in southern Africa that is known for its habit of springing almost directly upward when excited or disturbed.

springstay  Smaller STAYS placed above the mainstays and intended to serve as temporary substitutes if the mainstays are shot away in battle. Also, spare MAST stays kept on ships-of-war to replace any shot away in action.

spritsail  A four-sided FORE-AND-AFT sail carried on a long SPAR that reaches from the foot of a MAST diagonally across the sail to its upper outer corner.

spruce-beer  A fermented beverage made with an extract obtained from spruce needles and branches, and molasses or sugar.

sprung  Of a ship timber or SPAR, cracked, split, or warped loose. See also SPRING.

spunk-box  A tinderbox or matchbox.

spunyarn  A line of two or more rope-yarns loosely twisted together, used for a variety of purposes on board ship, including for SEIZING and preserving rope.

squadron  A division of a fleet forming one body under the command of a FLAG-OFFICER. The British Navy was divided into three squadrons—the red, the blue, and the white—which in turn were subdivided into sections—the van, the middle, and the rear. Also, a detachment of warships on some special duty. See also ADMIRAL.

square  To set up in harbor TRIM by laying the YARDS at right angles to the KEEL via the BRACES and to the MAST by trimming with the lifts.

square leg  In cricket, a fieldsman’s position in which he is square with the wicket to be able to stop balls hit to leg, that part of the on side of the field that lies behind, or approximately in line with, the batsman.

square-rigged  Said of a vessel with YARDS and sails set across the MASTS, as opposed to a FORE-AND-AFT rigged craft.

squeaker  A child.

squib  A small firecracker. A damp squib is something that fails to deliver; an anticlimax, a disappointment.

squill  The bulb of the sea onion (Urginea maritima), native to southern Europe and used chiefly as a diuretic medicine.

squireen  A petty squire; a landowner of little property, or a country gentleman, especially in Ireland. Also, a pejorative for a squire too big for his breeches.

stag-beetle  A beetle of the genus Lucanus, the males of which have large and often branched mandibles resembling the horns of a stag.

staging  Scaffolding.

stanchions  The posts that support the guardrail on the UPPER DECK. Longer versions are used to support an awning in hot weather and sometimes to support a light deck. Also, a rough log used as a pillar in the ship’s hold.

stand  Of a vessel, to hold a course for, as in to stand to sea or to stand into harbor.

standish  A stand containing writing materials. An inkstand; also, an inkpot.

starboard  The right-hand side of a vessel when facing the BOW (as opposed to the LARBOARD, or port, side). The starboard side of a ship was traditionally reserved for the Captain, who took his exercise on the starboard side of the POOP DECK or QUARTERDECK. The word “starboard” derives from “steer board,” in early ships a paddle used for steering that was located on this side.

starbowlins or starbolins  The men of the STARBOARD WATCH.

stargazer  In a SQUARE-RIGGED ship, a small sail set above the SKYSCRAPER to maximize the power gained from a light wind.

start  To ease away. To start a SHEET means to give it some slack. To start an anchor means to make it lose its ground-hold. Also, to flog with a rope’s end or cane, a practice used to prod seamen to work harder, which was outlawed by ADMIRALTY order in 1809.

stateroom  A captain’s or superior officer’s room on board ship.

station, naval  A naval station consisted of at least one safe harbor for naval and merchant operations, with a dockyard and a place for launching military expeditions. The British Empire’s naval stations were: Downs, North Sea and Baltic; English Channel and Coast of France; Jersey and Guernsey; Irish; Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar; Mediterranean; Coast of Africa; Halifax and Newfoundland; West Indies; South America; Cape of Good Hope and Southward; East Indies.

stave  Each of the thin strips of wood that together form the side of a cask, barrel, or similar vessel. A rung. To stave is to break up into staves or pieces, or to puncture and let out the contents. To stave in is to smash, crush inward, break a hole in, as “to stave in a boat.” Also, a musical staff or a verse or a stanza, as of a poem.

stay  Part of the standing RIGGING. A large strong rope that supports a MAST, either FORE or AFT. Stays that lead forward are called forestays and those that lead down to rear are called backstays. Stays are named according to the mast they support, as in forestay or mainstay. A ship is “in stays” when her BOW is directly turned to windward when TACK ing. A ship is said to miss stays when she fails in the attempt to go about from one tack to another.

staysail (pronounced “stays’l”)  A triangular FORE-AND-AFT sail HOISTed upon a STAY and taking its name from the stay, such as the MAIN TOPMAST staysail.

steel  A synonym for iron used in medicines, in the form of either iron filings or, more commonly, ferrous sulfate or other inorganic iron salts. Prescribed chiefly to stimulate the circulation but also for other effects.

Steel’s Navy List  Officially Steel’s Original and Correct List of the Royal Navy, first published in 1780. By 1800 the publication served as a complete directory of British maritime activities.

steelyard  A balance consisting of a lever with unequal arms in which the article to be weighed is suspended from the shorter arm, and a counterweight moves along the calibrated longer arm until equilibrium is produced.

steep-to  Said of a shore that drops off almost vertically with virtually no shoaling, allowing a vessel to come directly up to the land in relatively deep water.

steep-tub  A large tub in which salt provisions are soaked, or steeped, before being cooked.

steerage-way  A vessel is said to have steerage way when she is moving fast enough for her RUDDER to be useful for steering. When the vessel loses steerage-way, she no longer answers her HELM.

steeve  The angle of a BOWSPRIT above the horizontal; to incline upward at an angle instead of lying horizontally. Also, to set a bowsprit at an inclination.

steganopod  A bird having webbed toes, such as the pelican, cormorant, FRIGATE-BIRD, and GANNET.

steinbock or steinbok or steenbok  An African antelope (Raphicerus campestris). Also, the ibex (Capra ibex) of western Europ

stem  The curved upright BOW timber of a vessel, into which the planks of the bow are joined. From stem to STERN: from one end to the other. To stem the tide is to make headway in sailing against the tide, current, or wind.

stern  The after, or rear, end of a vessel.

Sterna  A genus of seabirds akin to the gull but with a slenderer body, long pointed wings, and a forked tail.

sternboard  A way to turn a ship when there is not enough room to do so in a forward direction. The HELM is reversed and the sails are BACKED so that the BOW moves in the desired direction. Also, the usually undesired result when the sails are taken ABACK as a vessel is TACKing.

stern-chaser  A gun, often a LONG NINE-pounder, mounted at the STERN of a warship and used to impede a chasing vessel, especially by damaging her sails and RIGGING.

sternpost  A more or less upright BEAM, rising from the after end of the KEEL of a vessel and supporting the RUDDER.

sternsheets  The rear of an open boat or small ship and the seats with which the after portion of a boat is furnished. The area is so named because this is where the SHEET of the sail was worked.

sternway  Movement of a ship in the direction of the STERN, to the rear.

stertor  Heavy snoring.

stertorous  Characterized by noisy inspiration or snoring.

stew  A brothel. In plural, a district of brothels.

steward  A seaman who does the catering for the captain or in the officers’ MESS.

stile  A set of steps or rungs or some other contrivance that allows a person to get over or through a fence but keeps animals in.

stilt  Any of several wading birds of the widely distributed genus Himantopus, having long spindly legs and a thin sharp bill and inhabiting ponds and marshes. The black-necked stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, is the common North American species. It has black feathers above and white below, and its reddish legs trail well behind its white tail when it is in flight. It nests from Oregon to the WEST INDIES, as well as in Brazil and Peru.

Stilton cheese  A rich, blue-veined semihard cheese made at various places in Leicestershire since 1750, so called from having been sold mostly to travelers at an inn in the town of Stilton.

stingo  Strong beer or ale.

stinkpot  An earthenware jar filled with combustibles that create smoke and an intolerable stench, used in sea combat to create confusion on the deck of an enemy ship, much as tear gas is used today.

stink-pot petrel  A PETREL that is known for its offensive odor. The term is sometimes used by sailors to refer to any petrel.

stirabout  A porridge of Irish origin made by stirring oatmeal or cornmeal into boiling water or milk.

stirrup  In a SQUARE-RIGGED vessel, one of the short ropes hanging from the YARD with an EYE at its end, through which a FOOT-ROPE, or HORSE, passes. The stirrups support the foot-ropes, on which TOPMEN walk when FURLing and unfurling sails.

stiver  A Dutch coin of small value, originally silver. Something of little value. “Not a stiver”: nothing.

stoat  The European ermine, especially in its brown summer coat. A treacherous man. A lecher.

stock  A stiff cloth or band worn around the neck by men, now generally only by those in the army.

stock and fluke  The whole thing, the reference being to either end of an anchor, as in “head to toe.”

stock-fish  A fish, such as cod, cured by being split open and dried in the air without salt.

Stockholm tar  A tar made from the resin of pine trees and used as a preservative for RIGGINGS and ropes. Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, was a major exporter of tar made in the Baltic.

stocking  A bandage for a horse’s leg.

stockjobbing  Stockbroking, usually implying rash or dishonest speculation, especially with reference to abuses in England in the early 18th century, such as those that led to the SOUTH SEA STOCK scandal.

stocks  The framework supporting a ship or boat during construction. A ship on the stocks is one still being built.

Stoic  A member of the school of Greek philosophers founded by Zeno in about 308 B.C. The Stoics believed that one should be free from passions and submit readily to divine will; hence, one who is unaffected by or indifferent to pleasure or pain, one who practices patient endurance.

stomacher  A heavily embroidered and often jeweled covering for the chest formerly worn on the front of a bodice, especially by women.

stone  A unit of weight commonly used in Britain, especially for people and large animals, and usually equal to 14 pounds AVOIRDUPOIS but varying with different commodities from eight to 24 pounds. In The Wine Dark Sea it is stated that Jack Aubrey weighed 16 or 17 stone (224 to 238 pounds) while Stephen Maturin weighed “barely” nine (126 pounds).

stone, cutting for  LITHOTOMY, accomplished by cutting through the skin and bladder above the pubic area. Although many therapeutic successes, including those of Dr. Maturin, are recorded, they were probably outnumbered by postoperative deaths caused by infection or by the shock resulting from the pain of the incisions.

stone-dresser  One who dresses, or prepares, stones to be used in building.

stone-horse  A stallion.

stone-pine  Any of various pine trees with edible seeds common in southern Europe and the LEVANT.

stop  Of a CABLE, to check it in order to prevent it from running out too fast. Of a sail, to secure it lightly with SPUNYARN SO that it can be used quickly. Square sails already hoisted and in stops can be brought into action in an instant.

stop-cleat  A wooden wedge attached on its long side to a SPAR to prevent a line from slipping, for example on YARDARMS to secure the RIGGING and the GAMMONING and on MASTS to hold COLLARS.

stopper  A short rope usually secured at one or both ends and used either to suspend something heavy or to temporarily hold a CABLE, SHROUD, or other part of the RIGGING. The anchor hangs at the CATHEAD by a stopper.

stop-water  A softwood plug used between the KEEL and an adjoining timber, such as the STEM, to block seepage through the joint.

storeship  A government ship used to transport stores for the use of the Army or Navy.

storge  Natural affection, especially of a parent for a child (Greek).

storm petrel  See PETREL. Used figuratively, somebody or something that will cause trouble, as this bird was believed to augur a storm.

storm sail or storm canvas  A smaller-than-normal sail of especially strong, heavy canvas used in a GALE, for example, a storm-STAYSAIL.

storm trysail  A triangular or quadrilateral FORE-AND-AFT sail, loose-footed (set without a BOOM), used alone in foul weather when there is too much wind for the working sails, even REEFED, to be used.

stove  Past particle of STAVE.

stow  To fill the hold of a vessel with cargo; to load a ship. This task requires expert skill and judgment to ensure that the cargo doesn’t shift, which could cause the ship to list, and that it doesn’t break loose and damage the ship. Certain kinds of cargo also must be isolated to keep them from tainting others. Also, to fit up a ship.

Strachan, Sir Richard John (1760-1828)  In 1805, while commanding a SQUADRON in the BAY OF BISCAY after the Battle of TRAFALGAR, Strachan defeated and captured four French ships (including the third-rate Scipion) that had escaped from the British fleet. For this action, he received a hero’s welcome in England and a promotion to Rear-Admiral.

strait-waistcoat  A straitjacket.

strake  Each of the continuous lines of planks running from STEM to STERN in the side of a vessel, from the KEEL up to the top of the hull. The breadth of a plank used as a vertical measure: a ship HEELS a strake when a whole plank’s breadth rises above the water on one side and falls below on the other.

strand  One of the parts of a rope. Also, the land bordering a body of water, the coast or shore; the part of a shore between the tidemarks. To strand means to run aground or be driven ashore.

strangury  The slow and painful emission of urine, caused most often by bladder stones or an enlarged prostate.

strangulated hernia  A hernia so constricted that blood flow to the segment extruded into the scrotum is cut off.

strap-bound, or strap-bored, block  A single BLOCK entirely enclosed except for holes left on each side for the rope to pass through. Used with sails to prevent fouling.

Strasburg pie  A pie or pate made from fatted goose liver.

stray line  The roughly ten or 12 FATHOMS of unmarked LOG-LINE between the LOG-SHIP and the first MARK, allowing the log-ship to get beyond the eddy of the ship’s wake before the GLASS was turned and the measuring began.

streak or touch, of the tar-brush  Said in derision of a person of mixed white and black (or Indian, etc.) origin.

stream (or stern) anchor  A light anchor stored in the STERN and used with a BOWER anchor when MOORed in narrow waterways where there is no room for the ship to swing freely with the tide.

stretcher  A piece of wood across the bottom of a boat against which the rowers brace their feet. A short piece of wood used to spread a hammock.

stridulation  A shrill creaking noise, especially that made by certain insects, such as the cricket or grasshopper.

stroke-oar  The oarsman sitting nearest the STERN of the boat, whose stroke sets the time for the other rowers.

Stromboli  An Italian island off the northeastern coast of Sicily and an active volcano located there. Also, the stage of a volcanic eruption in which repeated explosions of moderate force are accompanied by the ejection of gases and bombs of lava. See illustration.

A polacca with a view of the small volcanic island Stromboli (from Sevres’s Liber Nauticus)

strong fives  No such diagnosis was used in regular 18th-century medical practice. O’Brian found the term, along with MARTHAMBLES, in a pamphlet published by a London quack to promote his panacea.

strop  A ring or band of wire or rope used for a variety of purposes on board ship, including surrounding the shell of a BLOCK to form an EYE at the bottom, forming a sling for lifting heavy articles, and doubling around a rope or HAWSER to make an eye into which a TACKLE can be hooked for greater advantage. Also, to furnish (a block) with a strop.

studdingsail or stunsail (pronounced “stuns’l”)  An extra sail set outside the square sails of a ship during a fair wind.

stuff  A fabric used for clothing, especially a woolen fabric.

stuffing-box  An enclosure packed with fluid-tight elastic material to prevent leakage around a moving machine part.

stuiver  See STIVER.

stump  The lower portion of a MAST when the upper part has been broken off or shot away. In cricket, each of the three (formerly two) upright sticks that form the base of a wicket.

stunsail  See STUDDINGSAIL.

stupor mundi  The marvel of the world; an object of awe and wonder. The phrase was originally used by the 13th-century English monastic historian Matthew Paris to describe Frederick II, king of Sicily (1197-1250) and later Holy Roman Emperor (1220-1250).

styptic  An astringent applied topically to stop bleeding, usually after shaving.

suave mare magno  The full quotation from Lucretius is: Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis, e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem. It is pleasant to watch from the land the mighty struggle of another in a sea made great by turbulent winds (Latin).

subaltern  or subaltern officer  An Army officer of junior rank, just below that of Captain.

subclavian  Located beneath the clavicle. Subclavian artery: the principal artery of the root of the neck, being the main trunk of the arterial system of the upper extremity. Subclavian vein: the continuation of the axillary vein from the first rib until it joins the internal jugular vein.

sub Deo  By God (Latin).

subfusc  Of drab or somber hue.

Sublime Porte  The Ottoman court at Constantinople; the Turkish government.

subsultus tendinum  Twitching of tendons, often noticeable at the wrist during low-grade fevers.

subtend  In geometry, to be opposite to and to extend under, especially used for a line or side of a figure opposite an angle, or for a chord or angle opposite an arc.

subvention  Assistance or financial support.

sudation  Sweating, perspiration.

sudor insignis  Remarkable sweating (Latin).

suet  The hard fat around the loins and kidneys of cattle and sheep, which is used in cooking, and, when rendered, makes tallow.

suet pudding  A boiled or steamed pudding made from flour, eggs, sugar, bread crumbs, milk, and SUET.

Suez, Gulf of  The northwest arm of the RED SEA between the Sinai Peninsula and Egypt. At the north end of the gulf was the city of Suez, an ancient port and Ottoman naval base that declined after the Suez Canal was built (1859-1869). Napoleon had seen the possibility of building a canal through the narrow isthmus but abandoned the idea when he was defeated at the Battle of the NILE in 1798.

Suffren de Saint Tropez, Pierre Andre de (1729-1788)  One of France’s greatest admirals, he served with Admiral Jean-Baptiste d’Estaing in American waters during the American Revolution and fought in five actions against the British fleet under Sir Edward Hughes in the EAST INDIES from 1782 to 1783 without ever losing a ship.

suite  A train of followers or attendants; a retinue.

sulphureous ether  Ether, taken internally as a general remedy or applied externally to stimulate the circulation locally. It was not used as a general anesthetic until 1846.

summat  Somewhat or something.

summum bonum  The highest good (Latin); in an ethical system, the determining principle.

Sunda Strait  A strait, 16 miles wide at its narrowest point, separating the islands of Sumatra and Java in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). It links the Indian Ocean and the Java Sea.

sun-dog  A mock sun, parhelion. Also, a small rainbow or fragment of one.

sup  A small quantity of liquid; a mouthful, a sip.

Superb, H.M.S.  A ship name that saw much use in the Royal Navy during the 17th and early 18th centuries. The first ship by this name was a 60-gun French PRIZE taken in 1710 that later participated in the victory over the Spanish fleet off Cape Passaro in 1718, among other actions. The third Superb, a third rate of 74 guns, was launched in 1760 and served as the FLAGSHIP at PORTSMOUTH from 1763 to 1770. In 1782 she served well as Sir Edward Hughes’s flagship in the EAST INDIES. The fifth ship of the name, also a 74-gun third rate, was built in 1798 and fought at Algeciras in 1801, San Domingo in 1806, and COPENHAGEN in 1807. She served as Rear-Admiral R. G. Keats’s flagship until 1810 and saw action at the bombardment of ALGIERS in 1816. She was broken up in 1821.

supercargo  Short for a cargo superintendent, the representative of the owner on board a merchant ship who oversees the cargo and the commercial transactions of the voyage. Also, formerly, an agent in charge of a merchant’s business in a foreign country.

supererogation  The doing of good works beyond what God commands or requires, held to constitute a surplus of merit that the Church could dispense to others to make up for their lack of it. Doing more than is required by duty, obligation, or expectation.

superfetation  A second conception occurring when a fetus is already present in the uterus. Superabundant production or accumulation; an additional product, an accretion, a superfluous addition.

supernumerary  A sailor (or LANDSMAN) in excess of a ship’s complement.

superstructure  The part of the ship above the UPPER DECK.

suppressio veri  Misrepresentation of the truth by concealing essential facts. (Latin)

suppurate  To form or secrete pus; to bring to a head.

surcingle  A belt or girth passing around the body of a horse to bind a saddle to the horse’s back.

surd  In mathematics, an irrational number, one not expressible by an ordinary finite fraction.

surge  To let go or stop pulling, as with a rope being wound around a CAPSTAN.

Surgeon-Major  A seldom-used rank for a Surgeon high in the military chain of command.

Surinam toad  A large flat toad, the pipa, in which the male fertilizes the eggs on the back of the female, and her skin forms cellules in which the eggs are hatched and in which the young pass their tadpole state. Surinam, formerly called Dutch Guiana, is a country in South America.

surplice  A loose-fitting white vestment with wide, flowing sleeves worn, usually over a cassock, by clergy, choir members, and others participating in church services.

Surprise, H.M.S.  This sixth-rate, 24-gun warship, originally the French Unite, was captured in the Mediterranean on April 20, 1796, by H.M.S. Inconstant and her name changed to H.M.S. Surprise. The Surprise was involved in a famous incident at Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, in 1799, when her Captain, Edward Hamilton, recaptured the former British ship Hermione. The Spanish counted over 200 men killed and wounded, while the British had only 10 wounded. (See HERMIONE for an account of the battle.) Hamilton received a knighthood for the exploit, and the Hermione was restored to the British Navy. The Surprise was sold by the Royal Navy in 1802, making it readily available for service in Patrick O’Brian’s naval tales.

swab  A mop made of old rope used for cleaning and drying the deck of a ship. In slang usage, a disagreeable, clumsy person. Also, a slang expression for the epaulet of a naval officer.

swag-bellied  Having a sagging paunch.

swain  A country youth, especially a shepherd. A lover, wooer, sweetheart, especially in pastoral poetry.

sward  Ground covered with grass or other herbage; lawn.

sway up  To HOIST or raise up (especially a YARD or TOPMAST).

sweep  A long, heavy oar used to propel small sailing vessels and to steer barges. To row with sweeps.

sweet biscuit  A cookie.

sweetening-cock  See SEA-COCK.

sweetmeat  A dessert or other food that contains a lot of sugar, as candy or candied fruits.

sweet oil  An oil that has a pleasant or mild taste; olive oil.

swift  Any of numerous small, dark birds resembling the swallow but related to the hummingbird and noted for their swiftness of flight. To “swift the shrouds” means to make use of SWIFTERS.

swifter  A rope securing the ends of the CAPSTAN bars; a rope snaked back and forth between the lower SHROUDS to temporarily tighten up the RIGGING; also the foremost or aftermost (authorities are divided on which) lower shroud. The word derives from the Dutch verb zwichten, or schwichten, meaning “to tighten up.”

Swiftsure, H.M.S.  A third-rate ship of 74 guns that was launched at BUCKLER’S HARD, the shipbuilding port in Hampshire, in 1804. She fought at TRAFALGAR in 1805 under Captain William Rutherford and was sold in 1845.

swing clear  To ride at anchor without colliding with anything.

swingeing  Great or superb; large, immense.

swing out  To move something over the ship’s side horizontally before lowering, said of an anchor or a boat.

swing the lead  To idle, shirk, or malinger (slang).

swipes  Poor, weak, or spoiled beer. Also, beer in general.

swivel-gun or swivel  A gun or cannon, usually a small one, mounted on a swivel so that it can be aimed in any direction.

Sybille, H.M.S.  A 44-gun fifth-RATE PRIZE taken from the French in 1794.

syce  A stableman or groom, especially in India and also in parts of Africa and Asia; also, a mounted attendant to a horseman or carriage.

syllabub  A drink, or dessert if gelatin is added, made of sweetened milk or cream mixed with wine or liquor.

syncope  Fainting. Sometimes fatal if caused by a stroke.