GLOSSARY

 

 

Aft end:

The rear end of a ship.

Ahoy:

A call to attract attention.

Avast:

A nautical term meaning ‘hold fast’ or ‘stop what you are doing.’

Ballast:

Heavy items placed in a ship’s bottom to help it stay upright.

Barbary Coast:

The North African coast of the Mediterranean, where Islamic, or Barbary, corsairs often raided European trading ships.

Beam:

The measurement of a ship at her widest part.

Belay:

To tie or secure a rope-end.

Bilge:

The lowest part of the ship. The dirty water that collects here is called bilge water.

Bilged on her anchor:

A ship pierced by her own anchor.

Black Jack:

A large drinking cup made of leather and stiffened with tar. Many dockside pubs served drinks in these.

Black Spot:

A device thought to have been invented by Robert Louis Stevenson in his novel Treasure Island denoting a pirate passing a death sentence against another pirate.

Boatswain/Bosun:

Supervises the maintenance of the vessel and its supply stores.

Boom:

A spar used to extend the foot of a sail.

Bow:

The very front of the ship’s helm.

Bowsprit:

A spar running out from a ship’s bow to which the forestays are fastened.

Break consort:

To dissolve an agreement between two ships.

Brigantine:

A two-masted vessel with a full square-rigged foremast, a fore-and-aft rigged mainmast and square sails on the main topmast.

Broadside:

To fire all the cannons on one side of a ship simultaneously.

Buccaneer:

Pirates who attacked French and Spanish shipping during the 17th century, although the term has come to denote any pirate or unscrupulous adventurer.

Bumboo:

A drink of watered-down rum flavoured with nutmeg and sugar.

Captain:

The person in command of a ship. Unlike naval captains, the crew democratically elected most pirate captains, and therefore they could be replaced at any time by a majority vote. For the most part control of the ship was shared with the quartermaster. However, the captain came into his own when the ship was engaged in battle, for it was then that he assumed ultimate control of the ship and her crew.

Carpenter:

The officer responsible for the maintenance and repair of the wooden hull, the masts and yards, working under the direction of the ship’s master and the boatswain.

Cat-O’-Nine Tails:

A whip made from rope that was unravelled to form nine separate ‘tails’. Each tail was knotted at the end to cause extra pain and suffering.

Chain shot:

A weapon made from two metal balls tied together, often shot from a cannon in order to destroy a ship’s rigging, masts and sails.

Clap in irons:

To be chained up.

Corsair:

A pirate, especially along the Barbary Coast.

Coxswain:

Another name for the helmsman, or the officer who steered the ship.

Crow’s Nest:

A viewing platform high up on a mainmast, used as a lookout position.

Cutlass:

A short sword with a broad blade. Popularly used at sea because it did not accidentally damage rigging.

Davy Jones’ Locker:

A term for death or an idiom meaning ‘the bottom of the sea’. Davy Jones was a sea devil, and his locker a mythical place seamen went to when they died.

Firebrand:

An outspoken troublemaker.

First mate:

The captain’s right hand man.

For-and-aft rig:

A sailing rig consisting of many sails set along the line of the keel rather than perpendicular to it.

Foremast:

The mast nearest the bow of the ship.

Forestay:

A rope or cable reaching from the head of a ship’s foremast to the bowsprit, for supporting the foremast.

Freebooter:

A person who pillages and plunders, especially a pirate.

Freighter:

A vehicle, especially a ship, used for carrying freight.

Frigate:

A fast warship armed with between 20 and 30 guns.

Galleon:

A large, three mast sailing ship with a square rig and two or more decks, used by the Spanish from the 15th to the 17th century.

Galley:

A large ship powered by oars. Usually manned by slaves, also a term for the ship’s kitchen.

Galliot:

A light, swift galley ship formerly used in the Mediterranean.

Helm:

The equipment used to steer a ship.

Helmsman:

The man who steers the ship.

Jib:

A triangular staysail from the outer end of the jib boom to the top of the foremast or from the top of the bowsprit to the masthead.

Jolly Roger:

A flag, usually bearing a skull and crossbones, indicating a pirate ship.

Keel:

A lengthwise timber or steel structure along the base of a ship, on which the framework of the whole hull is built.

Knights of St John:

A religious/military order operating out of Rhodes, where they held sovereignty. The Knights of St John were charged with defending the Holy Land, and their allegiance was to the pope.

Libertalia:

A free communalist colony in Madagascar, said to have been founded by pirates under the leadership of Thomas Tew.

Master gunner:

Responsible for the ship’s guns and ammunition.

Mate:

The apprentice to the ship’s gunner.

Piece of eight:

A Spanish silver coin worth one peso or eight reales. It was sometimes literally cut into eight pieces, 1 piece being worth 1 real.

Pinnace:

A small boat powered by sails or oars, which is carried aboard a larger vessel.

Pirate Round:

A shipping route used by Anglo–American pirates during the 17th century. It led from the western Atlantic, round the southern tip of Africa, stopping at Madagascar, and then on to India.

Poop deck:

The highest deck at the aft end of a large ship.

Poringer:

A small cup or bowl.

Powder monkey:

Young men who were forced to perform the most dangerous work on the ship – manning the gun crew. Besides the constant threat of death or maiming, they were harshly treated, rarely paid and unlikely to be promoted to pirate crew.

Quartermaster:

The officer chosen to represent the interests of the crew, who received an extra share of the booty when it was divided. He oversaw the day-to-day running of the ship and was equal to the captain in many respects, until they were engaged in battle, when the ship’s captain had ultimate authority.

Rigging:

A system of ropes, chains or cables used to help support a ship’s masts.

Roundsmen:

Pirates who followed the Pirate Round.

Sailing master:

The officer in charge of navigation and the sailing of the ship.

Sailor:

The backbone of the ship, able to work the rigging and the sails, as well as navigate and steer the ship.

Sandbars:

A ridge of sand formed in a river or along a coastline by the action of waves or currents.

Second mate:

The third in command and a watch-keeping officer, customarily the ship’s navigator.

Ship’s gunner:

A person responsible for the ship’s cannons.

Ship’s surgeon:

Ship’s surgeon was a highly valued position, and consequently they were often kidnapped from the crews of captured ships. They were expected to treat colds, fevers and sexual diseases as well as amputate the limbs of those injured in battle. If the surgeon was kidnapped, either the ship’s cook or the carpenter would be asked to step in, since the tools of their trades were thought to be similar!

Sloop:

A single-masted for-and-aft-rigged sailing boat with a single jib.

The Company of Royal Adventurers into Africa:

A company set up during the 15th century by the Stuarts under Charles II and a group of London Merchants. They were given a monopoly over the English slave trade in Africa.

Woold:

To wrap or wind

Woolding:

A method of torture whereby a string is tied around the victim’s eyes and tightened until their eye balls pop out of their sockets.

Yardarm:

The outer edge of a ship’s yard.

Yard:

A cylindrical spar, tapering to each end, slung across a ship’s mast for a sail to hang from.