1. ‘Tom Bowling’ was said to have been inspired by Dibdin’s brother Tom, captain of a ship in the Indian service, who died in 1780, having been struck by lightning. The song formed part of Sir Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British Sea Songs, arranged by him in 1905 to mark the centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

2. to summon all hands.

3. sailors – cf. ‘tarpaulin’ and ‘Jack-tar’.