The Patriot's Fate (40 page)

Gig
– Medium sized boat.

Glass
; – Telescope. Also, hourglass an instrument for measuring time. Also barometer.

Go-about
– To alter course, changing from one tack to the other with the wind crossing the bows.

Gratings
– An open wood-work of cross battens and ledges forming cover for the hatchways, serving to give light and air to the lower decks. In nautical phrase, he “who can’t see a hole through a grating” is excessively drunk.
 

Grappling-iron
– Small anchor, fitted with four or five flukes or claws, Used to hold two ships together for boarding.

Grog
– Rum mixed with water (to ensure it is drunk immediately, and not accumulated). Served twice a day at ratios differing from three to five to one.

Gunpowder
– A mixture of charcoal, salt petre and sulphur.

Half deck
– Area immediately between the captain’s quarters and the mainmast.

Halyards
– Lines which raise yards, sails, signals, etc.

Handspike
– Long lever.

Hanger
– A fighting sword, similar to a cutlass.

Hawse
– Area in bows where holes are cut to allow the anchor cables to pass through. Also used as general term for bows.

Hawser
– Heavy cable used for hauling, towing or mooring.

Head
– Toilet, or seat of ease. Those for the common sailor were sited at the bows to allow for a clear drop and the wind to carry any unpleasant odours away.
 

Head braces
– Lines used to adjust the angle of the upper yards.

Head rope/line
– Line sewn into the edge at the head of a sail.

Headway
– The amount a vessel is moved forward, (rather than leeway the amount a vessel is moved sideways), when the wind is not directly behind.

Heave to
– Keeping a ship relatively stationary by backing certain sails in a seaway.

Holystone
–
(Slang)
Block of sandstone roughly the size and shape of a family bible. Used to clean and smooth decks. Originally salvaged from the ruins of a church on the Isle of Wright.

Hounds
– Top of a section of mast, where the shrouds run from.

Hulled
– Describes a ship that, when fired upon, the shot passes right through the hull.

Idler
– One who does not keep a watch, cook, carpenter, etc.

Interest
– Backing from a superior officer or one in authority, useful when looking for promotion to, or within, commissioned rank.

Jape
–
(Slang)
Joke.

Jeer bits
– Stout timber frame about the mast, these extend deep into the ship.

Jeers
– Thick lines which raise the lower yards.
 

Jib-boom
– Boom run out from the extremity of the bowsprit, braced by means of a Martingale stay, which passes through the dolphin striker,
 

Junk
– Old line used to make wads, etc.

Jury mast/rig
– Temporary measure used to restore a vessels sailing ability.

Lading – The act of loading.

Lake
(Gerard) – English lieutenant-general who took charge of British forces during 1798.

Landsman
– The rating of one who has no experience at sea.

Lanthorn
– Lantern.

Lanyard
– Short piece of line to be used as a handle. Also decorative tassel to uniform.

Larboard
– Left side of the ship when facing forward.

Launch
– Large ship’s boat, crew of 40-60.

Leeward
– The downwind side of a ship.

Leeway
– The amount a vessel is pushed sideways by the wind, (as opposed to headway, the forward movement, when the wind is directly behind).

Legs and wings
–
(Slang)
A surgeon’s ‘offcuts’.

Liner
–
(Slang)
Ship of the line or Ship of the line of battle (later battleship).

Linstock
– The holder of slow match which the gun captain uses to fire his piece when the flintlock mechanism is not working/present.

Lobscouse
– A mixture of salted meat, biscuit, potatoes, onions and spices, minced small and stewed together.

Loblolly men/boys
– Surgeon’s assistants.

Lubberly/Lubber
–
(Slang)
Unseamanlike behaviour; as a landsman.

Luff
– Intentionally sail closer to the wind, perhaps to allow work aloft. Also the flapping of sails when brought too close to the wind. The side of a fore and aft sail laced to the mast.

Main tack
– Line leading forward from a sheave in the hull allowing the clew of the maincourse to be held forward when the ship is sailing close to the wind.

Martingale stay
– Line that braces the jib-boom, passing from the end, through the dolphin striker, to the ship.

Master-at-Arms
– Senior hand, responsible for discipline aboard ship.

Midshipman
– Junior, and aspiring, officer.

Open order
– In fleet sailing, 3 - 4 cables apart.

Ordinary
– Term used to describe a ship laid up; left in storage, with principle shipkeepers aboard, but unfit for immediate use.

Orlop
– Deck directly above the hold, and below the lower gun deck. A lighter deck than the gun deck (no cannon to support) and usually level or below the waterline. Holds warrant officers mess, and midshipmen’s berth, also carpenters and sail makers stores. Used as an emergency operating area in action.

Over threes
–
(Slang)
Referring to a captain of over three years seniority, and entitled to wear both epaulettes (after the uniform changes of 1795)

Palaverer
– One who attempts to fool or con through clever wordplay.

Pariah-dogs
–
(Slang)
Men who change mess so often they are forced to mess alone, or with others of their kind. They are usually unpopular for a variety of anti-social reasons.

Peach
–
(Slang)
To betray or reveal; from impeach.

Peter Warren
–
(Slang)
Petty Warrant Victuals, fresh food sent from the shore to ships staying in harbour.

Pinance
– Ship’s boat powered by oars or sail. Smaller than a barge.

Pissdale
– A basic urinal.

Pointing the ropes
– The act of tapering the end of a line to allow it to pass easily through a block.

Poop
– Aft most, and highest, deck of a larger ship.

Pox
–
(Slang)
Venereal Disease, Common on board ship; until 1795 a man suffering had to pay a 15/- fine to the surgeon, in consequence, many cases went unreported. Treatment was often mercurial, and ultimately ineffective.

Protection
– A legal document that gives the owner protection against impressment.

Provisions
– Naval rations.

Pumpdale
– Gully carrying water cleared by a pump.

Purser
– Officer responsible for provisions and clothing on board.

Purser’s dip
– Tallow lantern allowed below deck.

Pusser
–
(Slang)
Purser.

Quarterdeck
– Deck forward of the poop, but at a lower level. The preserve of officers.

Queue
– A pigtail. Often tied by a man’s best friend (his tie mate).

Ratlines
– Lighter lines, untarred, and tied horizontally across the shrouds at regular intervals, to act as rungs and allow men to climb aloft.

Reef
– A portion of sail that can be taken in to reduce the size of the whole.

Reefing points
– Light line on large sails which can be tied to reduce sail in heavy weather.

Reefing tackle
– Line that leads from the end of the yard to the reefing cringles set in the edges of the sail. It is used to haul up the upper part of the sail when reefing.

Rigging
– Tophamper; made up of standing (static) and running (moveable) rigging, blocks
etc
.
(Slang)
Clothes.

Roach
– The lower edge of a sail, usually scalloped, in the case of a main or fore course. In warships the roach is deeper (more round). Also Gore.

Rondey
–
(Slang)
The
Rendezvous
location where a press is based and organised.

Running
– Sailing before the wind.

Sailor’s joy
–
(Slang)
A home made drink so potent that even men accustomed to drinking grog on a regular basis soon become intoxicated.
 

Schooner
– Small craft with two masts.
 

Sconce
– Candle holder, made of tin, usually large and flat for stability.

Scotch coffee
– An infusion of burnt biscuit thought, by some, to resemble coffee.

Scran
–
(Slang)
Food.

Scupper
– Waterway that allows deck drainage.

Sennight
– Seven days.

Shako
– Marine’s headgear.

Sheet
– A line that controls the foot of a sail.

Sheet anchor
– Heaviest anchor (although often not much bigger than the bower). Also slang for the seaman’s last hope - if the sheet doesn’t hold…

Shrouds
– Lines supporting the masts athwart ship (from side to side) which run from the hounds (just below the top) to the channels on the side of the hull. Upper run from the top deadeyes to the crosstrees.

Sick Bay
– An area permanently set aside for the accommodation of sick and wounded, as opposed to

Sick Berth
– Any other place reserved for invalids.

Skylarking
–
(Slang)
Unofficial exercise aloft, often in the form of “follow my leader” or other games.

Slab line
– Line passing up abaft a ship’s main or fore sail, used to truss up the slack sail.

Sloop
– Small craft, usually the command of a commander or junior captain.

Slops
–
(Slang)
Ready made clothes and other goods sold to the crew by the purser.

Slush
–
(Slang)
Fat from boiled meat, sold by the cook to the men to spread on their biscuit. The money made was known as the slush fund.

Slushy
–
(Slang)
The cook.

Snow
– Type of brig, with an extra trysail mast stepped behind the main.

Spring
– Hawser attached to a fixed object that can be tensioned to move the position of a ship fore and aft along a dock, often when setting out to sea.