Nelson (166 page)

ADVOCATE An attorney presenting a case

AFT Towards the rear or stern of a ship

ARTICLES OF WAR A statutory disciplinary code, regularly read to the ship’s company

BACK To brace a sail so that the wind blows directly onto the front of it and retards the ship’s progress

BEAM The width of a boat or ship or a frame supporting the decks

BENDING SAILS Attaching sails to yards, gaffs or stays

BITTS A frame to which mooring cables are attached

BLUE, THE The junior of three groups (red, white and blue) across which flag ranks were distributed. They recalled seventeenth-century squadronal colours

BOATSWAIN A warrant officer responsible for much of the routine working of a ship

BOMB VESSEL A vessel reinforced to carry heavy mortars to fire explosive shells. The noun bombard apparently refers to a similar vessel

BOW CHASERS Guns mounted in the bows of a ship

BOWER An anchor on the bow of a ship

BOWSPRIT A spar extending forward from the bows of a ship

BRIG A two-masted, square-rigged vessel, weaker than a frigate but used for similar duties

BULKHEAD An internal partition in a ship

BUMPKIN A short boom used to extend the lower edges of the principal sails on the masts

CABLE’S LENGTH Two hundred yards

CABLE TIER/SCUTTLE An area on the orlop deck used to store cables

CANISTER/CASE SHOT Cased shot designed to scatter among opponents

CAPSTAN A man-powered winch to work anchors, weights or heavy sails

CARRONADE A heavy gun used for close-quarter action

CARTOUCHE BOX A case for ammunition

CASEMATE/BOMBPROOF A place secure from bombardment

CATHEAD A timber projection near the bows of a ship to hold anchors

CHAINS Platforms on the outside of a ship from which the shrouds and ratlines lead to the masts

CHAIN SHOT Shot linked by a bar or chain, used to clear decks of men or bring down sails, spars and rigging

CHASE A ship being pursued

CLERK OF THE CHEQUE A dockyard official responsible for accounts

CLEW UP To draw up the lower edges of a square sail for furling, using the clew and clew-lines

COCKPIT The place below the lower gun deck, near the aft hatchway, used by surgeons in a battle

COMMANDER A ‘rank’ between lieutenant and post-captain, entitling its holder to command a ship no larger than a sixth-rate

COMMISSIONED OFFICER An officer of the rank of lieutenant or above, holding the king’s commission from the Admiralty

COMMODORE A temporary post held by a senior captain, usually one given the command of a squadron; entitled to fly a broad pendant

CORVETTE A French sloop

COXSWAIN The helmsman and commander of a a ship’s boat

CROSS JACKYARD The lower yard of the mizzen

CROW A crowbar used in handling guns

CUTTER A small single-master

DOCKYARD COMMISSIONER The officer in charge of a dockyard, usually by a civil appointment

DOG WATCH Two two-hour watches between 4 and 8 p.m.

DORY A small flat-bottomed American boat

DOUBLE SHOTTING The loading of two round shot within a single charge to increase short-range velocity

DRIVER An additional sail for the mizzen

FASCINE Bundles of brush to pack military defences

FATHOM Six feet

FELUCCA A small, oared vessel, sometimes also equipped with a lateen sail

FIFTY An increasingly obsolete warship of fifty long guns

FIGHTING INSTRUCTIONS Code for tactical signals and movements, frequently elaborated by individual admirals

FISH To strengthen or splint a broken spar

FLAG RANK Loosely, an admiral with the right to fly his flag at the masthead

FOREMAST The mast nearest the bow of a ship, extended by the fore topmast and carrying the foresail, fore topsail and fore topgallant sail

FORECASTLE An area beneath the short raised forward deck of a ship; loosely, the living quarters of a crew, distinguished from those of officers aft

FREIGHT MONEY Money received by captains for shipping freight

FRIGATE A three-masted, squarerigged warship mounting between twenty-four and forty-four guns; light and fast, frigates cruised against enemy merchantmen and small warships and gathered intelligence, but were too weak to stand in the line of battle

GAFF The spar on the after side of a mast, used to suspend a supplementary sail

GALLERIES Stern or quarter walkways

GALLEY An oared fighting ship; a rowing boat, usually with one or two masts

GALLIOT A small single-masted galley

GIG A narrow, light, fast ship’s boat

GRAPE Anti-personnel shot that scatters

GUARDA COSTA
A Spanish guard boat

GUARDSHIP A warship stationed to protect a harbour or anchorage

GUNBOAT A small, lightly armed boat

GUNWALE Timbers covering the upper edge of a ship’s side

HALYARDS Tackle for raising sails, spars or yards

HAUL UP To turn closer to the direction from which the wind is blowing

HAWSE The space between a ship’s bow and the ground in which her anchor was fastened

HEAD MONEY Money paid to the captors of warships, based on the sizes of their crews

HELM Originally the steering tiller but latterly the wheel

HOWITZER A short, heavy siege gun

IMPRESS SERVICE The service for raising men, operating in and out of ports under the command of a regulating captain

INDIAMAN A merchantman trading with the East or West Indies

JIB An extension of the bowsprit

JOLLY BOAT A small, general-purpose boat

JURY MAST A temporary mast

KEDGE ANCHOR A small anchor used to haul grounded ships towards deeper water or to move ships when they are becalmed in shallows

KEELSON An internal keel to strengthen a frame

KETCH A vessel with main and mizzen masts, sometimes used as a bomb vessel

LARBOARD The left-hand side of a ship, looking forward to the bow

LARBOARD TACK To sail with the wind coming over the larboard side of a ship

LATEEN A triangular sail suspended on a yard at an angle of some forty-five degrees to the mast

LEE An area sheltered from the wind

LEEWARD The direction to which the wind is blowing. A vessel to leeward is on the sheltered side of a ship. A lee shore faces an onshore wind. A ship adopting the leeward position in battle places the enemy between herself and the wind. If crippled, such a ship can escape by running to leeward before the wind

LEVANTER A strong easterly or northeasterly Mediterranean wind

LIEUTENANT A commissioned officer, eligible to command unrated ships but usually supporting a commander or post-captain

LINE OF BATTLE The regular battle formation of fleets was line ahead, so that each ship presented a broadside towards the enemy

LOWER DECK Deck of a ship above the orlop; colloquially, ordinary ratings were not allowed use of the quarterdeck

LUFF To change course into the wind

MAINMAST The middle mast of a three-masted ship, extended by the main topmast and carrying the mainsail, main topsail and main topgallant

MASTER-AT-ARMS Warrant officer responsible for discipline, also known as corporal

MASTER’S MATE Technically an assistant to the sailing master, but often a trainee commissioned officer analogous to a midshipman

MERCHANTMAN A merchant ship

MERLON A military parapet between embrasures

MIDSHIPMAN A petty officer, generally presumed to be training to become a lieutenant, and usually a boy or youth

MIZZEN MAST In a three-masted ship the rearmost mast, extended by the mizzen topmast

NAVY BOARD A civil body, primarily responsible for the building and maintenance of ships and supplies

ORDINARY SEAMAN A rating given to a seaman superior to a landman but inferior to an able seaman

ORDNANCE BOARD A board, independent of the Admiralty, supplying guns, ordnance stores and ammunition to the armed services

ORLOP The lowest deck of a ship, above the hold

PANGA A small Central American boat

PASSING CERTIFICATE A certificate attesting to a candidate’s success in an examination for lieutenant

PINNACE Oared ship’s boat, sometimes able to raise a temporary mast

PITPAN A long, flat-bottomed canoe, used in Central America

POLACRE A three-masted Mediterranean vessel, generally possessing square sails on the mainmast and lateen sails on the fore and mizzen masts

POOP DECK A short, high deck at the rear of a ship

POST-CAPTAIN An officer eligible to command any size of warship and entered on an official list according to the date of his first captain’s commission.

POWDER MONKEY A boy employed to carry powder from the magazine to the gundeck

PRIVATEER A private man-of-war authorised to attack enemy commerce in wartime

PRIZE AGENT An agent to whom prizes were entrusted, responsible for overseeing cases and handling pay and prize money

PRIZE CREW A skeleton crew put on a prize to conduct her to port

PROCTOR An official of the viceadmiralty courts responsible for preparing a case for an advocate

QUARTER After parts of a ship on either side of the stern; the direction from which the wind blows

QUARTERDECK A raised part of the upper deck to the rear of the mainmast, reserved for the use of officers

QUARTERMASTER A petty officer who assisted the master and his mates

RATE Six categories of warship, based on the number of guns, excluding carronades. First rates (one hundred guns or more), second rates (eighty-four or more) and third rates (seventy or more) were the principal ships of the line

RIGGING The network of ropes supporting a ship’s masts. Standing rigging refers to fixed ropes, and running rigging to ropes managing sails

ROUNDSHOT Fired from smoothbore cannons, the calibres used were of 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 and 32 lbs

ROYALS Auxiliary sails raised above the topgallants

SCHOONER A two- or three-masted vessel rigged fore and aft

SEA FENCIBLES A maritime militia raised after 1798 to defend Britain from invasion

SEA TIME The six years of sea-going experience necessary to become a lieutenant.

SEVENTY-FOUR The classic ship of the line, with seventy-four guns

SHALLOP A large, heavy boat with fore and aft sails or lug sails, or a shallow-draught boat using oars or a sail

SHEET Ropes manipulating a sail

SHEET ANCHOR An anchor supporting the bower

SHEER-HULK A decommissioned ship equipped with sheers to lift heavy weights. Ships needing masts lifting in or out were brought alongside a sheer-hulk

SHIP OF THE LINE A capital ship, usually of sixty-four or more long guns, strong enough to stand in the line of battle

SHIPS IN ORDINARY Laid up or decommissioned ships

SHROUDS Standing rigging from masts to the ship sides

SICK AND HURT BOARD A subsidiary of the Admiralty, responsible for ships’ surgeons, naval hospitals and (until 1796) prisoners of war

SLING The middle part of a yard, encircled by a sling hoop from which it is suspended from the mast and hoisted or lowered

SLOOP Loosely used in the Navy to describe a warship smaller than a frigate, possibly a two-masted brig or a three-master

SLOPS Clothing supplied by the Navy Board, obtained from a ship’s purser, who deducted the cost from due wages. A slop ship was used to store such clothing

SNOW A two-masted merchantman

SPANKER A supplementary sail raised on a boom attached to the mizzen

SPARS A generic term for masts, yards, booms and gaffs

SPOKE The word used to report an exchange of information between two vessels; this could be by hailing or by a boat from one going alongside the other

SPRINGS Supplementary ropes connected to an anchor, used to manoeuvre a moored ship more adeptly

SPRITSAIL A small sail suspended from the bowsprit

SQUADRON A number of warships too small to constitute a fleet

SQUARE RIG Four-sided sails placed across the yards

STARBOARD Right-hand side of a ship, looking forward to the bows

STARBOARD TACK To sail with the wind coming from starboard

STAYS Fore and aft ropes supporting a mast

STAYSAILS Triangular sails suspended from the stays

STERN CHASERS Guns mounted on the stern

STUDDING SAILS Sails set out upon booms from the square sails in good weather

SUPERNUMERARY A passenger, carried on the books for victuals, but not a member of the regular ship’s company

SWIVEL A light anti-personnel gun that turned on a pivot

TACK To turn a ship by putting her head against the direction of the wind

TARTAN A Mediterranean vessel, generally with one mast, a large lateen sail and a foresail

THREE/TWO DECKER Terms referring to the number of gundecks on a warship

TOPGALLANTS Sails above the principal sails on the masts of a square rigger

TOPMAST Extension to a fore-, main- or mizzen mast

TOPSAIL The sail above the principal sail on a mast of a square rigger

VAN The front of a fleet

VICE-ADMIRALTY COURT An overseas branch of the High Court of the Admiralty

VICTUALLING BOARD A subsidiary of the Navy Board responsible for the provision of victuals and slop clothing

WAD A bundle of rags rammed down the muzzle of a cannon to prevent the shot rolling out

WARD ROOM A mess for commissioned officers

WARRANT OFFICER An officer appointed by a warrant of the Navy Board, such as a master, surgeon or purser

WATCH A period of duty on a ship, usually four hours long; one of two contingents into which the crew is divided, so that some seamen rest while others handle the ship

WEAR To turn a ship by putting the bow away from the wind

WEATHER To pass to windward of a ship or land form

WEATHER GAUGE A ship in the windward position was said to have the weather gauge. Thus situated, it had advantages over an opponent to leeward. Ships with the weather gauge could manoeuvre more easily than those to leeward, which attacked against the wind

WINDWARD Anything to windward of a ship is between that ship and the wind. In a naval action a ship with her enemy to leeward is said to have the windward position or the weather gauge and the advantage of the wind