For Love of Country (40 page)

cable-tier
A place in a hold where cables are stored.

canister-shot
or
case-shot
Many small iron balls packed in a cylindrical tin case and fired from a cannon.

capstan
A broad revolving cylinder with a vertical axis used for winding a rope or cable.

caravel-built
Describing a vessel whose outer planks are flush and smooth, as opposed to a clinker-built vessel, whose outer planks overlap.

cartridge
A case made of paper, flannel, or metal that contains the charge of powder for a firearm.

casbah
or
qasbah
A general term for the walled citadel of many North African cities, the Qasbah of Algiers being the most famous.

cathead
or
cat
A horizontal beam at each side of a ship's bow used for raising and carrying an anchor.

catharpings
Small ropes that brace the shrouds of the lower masts.

chains
or
chain-wale
or
channel
A structure projecting horizontally from a ship's sides abreast of the masts, used to widen the basis for the shrouds.

clap on
To add on, as in more sail or more hands on a line.

close-hauled
Sailing with sails hauled in as tight as possible, allowing the vessel to lie as close to the wind as possible.

commodore
A captain appointed as commander in chief of a squadron or station.

companion
An opening in a ship's deck leading below to a cabin via a companion way.

cordage
Cords or ropes, especially those in the rigging of a ship.

corvette
or
corsair
A warship with a flush deck and a single tier of guns.

course
The sail that hangs on the lowest yard of a square-rigged vessel.

crosstrees
A pair of horizontal struts attached to a ship's mast to spread the rigging, especially at the head of a topmast.

cutwater
The forward edge of the stem or prow that divides the water before it reaches the bow.

 

deadlight
A protective cover fitted over a porthole or window on a ship.

dead reckoning
The process of calculating position at sea by estimating the direction and distance traveled.

dogwatch
Either of two short watches on a ship (1600–1800 hours and 1800–2000 hours).

 

East Indiaman
A large and heavily armed merchant ship built by the various East India companies. Considered the ultimate sea vessels of their day in comfort and ornamentation.

ensign
The flag carried by a ship to indicate her nationality.

 

fathom
Six feet in depth or length.

felucca
A small Mediterranean vessel with lateen sails on two masts, used chiefly for coastal trading.

fiferail
A rail around the mainmast of a ship that holds belaying pins.

figgy-dowdy
A pudding with raisins popular in the West Country of England.

flag lieutenant
An officer acting as an aide-de-camp to an admiral.

fo'c'sle
or
forecastle
The forward part of a ship below the deck where the crew was traditionally quartered.

foot-rope
A rope beneath a yard for sailors to stand on while reefing or furling.

furl
To roll up and bind a sail neatly to its yard or boom.

 

gangway
On deep-waisted ships, a narrow platform from the quarterdeck to the forecastle. Also, a movable bridge linking a ship to the shore.

gig
A light, narrow ship's boat normally used by the commander.

grape
or
grapeshot
Small cast-iron balls, bound together by a canvas bag, that scatter like shotgun pellets when fired.

grapnel
or
grappling hook
A device with iron claws attached to a rope and used for dragging or grasping, such as holding two ships together.

grating
The open woodwork cover for the hatchway.

 

haik
A large outer wrap worn by people from North Africa.

half-seas over
Drunk.

halyard
A rope or tackle used to raise or lower a sail.

hawser
A large rope used in warping and mooring.

heave to
To halt a ship by setting the sails to counteract each other, a tactic often employed to ride out a storm.

hull-down
Another ship so far away that only her masts and sails are visible above the horizon.

 

impress
To force to serve in the navy.

 

jack
The small flag flown from the jack-staff on the bowsprit of a vessel, such as the British Union Jack and Dutch Jack.

jolly-boat
A clinker-built ship's boat, smaller than a cutter, used for small work.

 

keelhaul
To punish by dragging someone through the water from one side of the boat to the other, under the keel.

 

langrage
Case-shot with jagged pieces of iron, useful in damaging rigging and sails and killing men on deck.

lateen sail
A triangular sail set on a long yard at a forty-five-degree angle to the mast.

laudanum
An alcoholic solution of opium.

lee
The side of a ship, land mass, or rock that is sheltered from the wind.

leech
The free edges of a sail, such as the vertical edges of a square sail and the aft edge of a fore-and-aft sail.

Levant
Name for the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Egypt.

lighter
A boat or barge used to ferry cargo to and from ships at anchor.

 

Maghrib
Arabic term referring to the coastal regions of the Barbary States, literally “the west.”

manger
A small triangular area in the bow of a warship in which animals are kept.

muster-book
The official log of a ship's company.

 

ordnance
Mounted guns, mortars, munitions, and the like.

orlop
The lowest deck on a sailing ship having at least three decks.

 

parole
Word of honor, especially the pledge made by a prisoner-of-war, agreeing not to try to escape or, if released, to abide by certain conditions.

petty officer
A naval officer with rank corresponding to that of a noncommissioned officer in the army.

pig
An oblong mass of metal, usually iron, often used as ballast in a ship.

polacca
A two- or three-masted merchant vessel of the Levant and the Mediterranean having a lateen sail on the foremast and sometimes on the mizzen.

poop
A short, raised aftermost deck found only on very large sailing ships.

privateer
A privately owned armed ship with a government commission authorizing it to act as a warship.

prize
An enemy vessel and its cargo captured at sea by a warship or a privateer.

purser
An officer responsible for keeping the ship's accounts and issuing food and clothing.

 

quadrant
An instrument that measures the angle of heavenly bodies for use in navigation.

quarterdeck
That part of a ship's upper deck near the stern, traditionally reserved for the ship's officers.

quay
A dock or landing place usually built of stone.

queue
A plait of hair; a pigtail.

quoin
A wooden wedge with a handle at the thick end used to adjust the elevation of a gun.

 

ratlines
Small lines fastened horizontally to the shrouds of a vessel for climbing up and down the rigging.

reef
A horizontal portion of a sail that can be rolled or folded up to reduce the amount of canvas exposed to the wind.

rig
The arrangement of a vessel's masts and sails. The two main categories are square-rigged and fore-and-aft rigged.

rode
A rope securing an anchor.

round-shot
Balls of cast iron fired from smooth-bore cannon.

royal
A small sail hoisted above the topgallant sail used in light and favorable winds.

 

scupper
An opening in a ship's side that allows water to run from the deck into the sea.

sheet
A rope used to extend the sail or to alter its direction. To “sheet home” is to haul in a sheet until the foot of the sail is as straight and as taut as possible.

ship-rigged
Carrying square sails on all three masts.

shipwright
One employed in the construction of ships.

shrouds
A set of ropes forming part of the standing rigging and supporting the mast and topmast.

slops
Ready-made clothing from the ship's stores.

slow-match
A very slow burning fuse used to ignite the charge in a large gun.

stay
Part of the standing rigging, a rope that supports a mast.

staysail
A triangular fore-and-aft sail hoisted upon a stay.

stem
The curved upright bow timber of a vessel.

sternsheets
The rear of an open boat and the seats there.

studdingsail
or
stunsail
or
stuns'l
An extra sail set outside the square sails during a fair wind.

swivel-gun
A small cannon mounted on a swivel so that it can be fired in any direction.

 

tack
A sailing vessel's course relative to the direction of the wind and the position of her sails; in a “starboard tack,” the wind is coming across the starboard side. Also the corner to which a rope is fastened to secure the sail.

taffrail
The rail at the upper end of a ship's stern.

tampion
A wooden stopper for the muzzle of a gun.

thole pin
or
thole
One of a pair of pegs set in a gunwale of a boat to hold an oar in place.

three sheets to the wind
Very drunk.

top
A platform constructed at the head of each of the lower masts of a ship to extend the topmast shrouds. Also used as a lookout and fighting platform.

topgallant
The third mast, sail, or yard above the deck.

top-hamper
A ship's masts, sails, and rigging.

topsail
The second sail above the deck, set above the course or mainsail.

touchhole
A vent in the breech of a firearm through which the charge is ignited.

tumble-home
The inward inclination of a ship's upper sides that causes the upper deck to be narrower than the lower decks.

 

waist
The middle part of a ship's upper deck between the quarterdeck and the forecastle.

wardroom
The mess room onboard ship for the commissioned officers and senior warrant officers.

watch
A fixed period of duty on a ship. Watches are four hours in length except for the two two-hour dogwatches.

wherry
A rowboat used to carry passengers.

windward
Facing the wind or on the side facing the wind. Contrast
leeward
.

 

xebec
A three-masted Arab corsair equipped with lateen sails. Larger xebecs had a square sail on the foremast.

 

yard
A cylindrical spar slung across a ship's mast from which a sail hangs.

yardarm
The outer extremity of a yard.

About the Author

W
ILLIAM C. HAMMOND is a literary agent and business consultant who lives with his wife and three sons in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A lifelong student of history and a longtime devotee of nautical fiction, he sails whenever possible on Lake Superior and off the coast of New England.

The Naval Institute Press
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