slow-match
Mess: meals
Mess area: where the crew eats
Mess number: the assigned seat; to “lose one’s mess number” meant to die
Mizzen: the aftermost sail
Mizzen course: the lowest and larges of the mizzen sails
Mizzen shrouds: the ropes that give sideways support to the mizzenmast
Mizzen stay: the ropes that support front and back support to the mizzenmast
Mizzenmast: the furthest rear mast on a ship
Morgan and Bartholomew: the original pirates who established The Pirate’s Code
Mump: jerk, oaf, idiot
Muster book: book listing the members of the crew
Mutton-fisted: heavy-handed, awkward about something
Muy bien! Habla espanol: “Very good! You speak Spanish.”
Night charlies: hired night watchmen
Offscourings: scumbags
Old Bailey: London Court where many pirates were tried and hung
On the down roll:firing a cannon when the ship is on the downward side of a wave, hence firing low on their opponent
On the rise:opposite of on the down roll
One for the sailmaker’s palm: a body ready to be sewn into its hammock/shroud
Palm: leather protector worn by swordsmen or sailmakers
Pastillas: Spanish for “bricks” or “cakes”
Physick: 18th century for “physician”
Physikan: 18th century for “physician”
Pissdale: an opening along the rail
Piss-vinegar: drunk
Points (four, two, etc):means to indicate direction, referring to the points on a compass
Poop deck: a small raised deck behind the quarterdeck
Port: 1) window or opening; 2) a harbor; 3) left side of a ship; 4) a kind of liquor
Pottle: two quarts
Pounders (sixteen, eighteen, etc.): reference to the size of a cannonball
Press-ganged: essentially kidnapped by the Royal Navy
Prestopans: one of the battles during the Stuart Uprising
Pricking the chart: using the dividers while charting a course
Privy closet: bathroom
Prize: captured ship or loot
Prize Book: a listing of everything taken, so that shares might be figured and kept track of
Providence: 18th century for “God,” “luck,” “fortune,” “karma,” etc.
Prow: front of a ship; bow; forefoot
Puddening chains: chains secured around the yards to keep them from coming down if damaged during a battle
Pulled: rowed
Puncheon: a small cask, of varying size depending on its contents
Put a stopper in your gob:“Shut up!”
Quarterdeck: afterdeck, command deck, often atop the great cabin
Quartermaster: an officer; on a pirate ship, he was often in charge of the plunder
Quid: 1) a coin; 2) a portion of something, often tobacco
Quimwedge: 18th century for penis
Rake: to fire square on to the stern of a ship; most destructive
Rain tarpaulin: rain jacket
Ratlines: stair-like ropes strung between the shrouds, used by the crew to reach the rigging
Reef points: ties in the sails used to reduce the size
Reefed: reduction of sails by increments
Represents: 18th century; “claims” or “says”
Round shot: cannonball
Roundhouse: the curved cabin at the stern of a ship, often very ornate
Running close to the wind:a ship sailing with the wind almost on her nose
Runs: going with the wind
Sabe?: Spanish for “Do you understand?”
Salon: the public or working area of the great cabin
Salt horse: salted beef
Sassenachs: Scots for “English” (derogatory)
Score: 18th century designation for groups of 20
Scrub: same as scug
Scug: contemptible person, often engaged in deceit
Scuppers: deck drains
Scuts: coward; spineless; lily-livered person
Sea lawyer: one who often questions the captain’s authority or stirs up dissent
Sharp set: 18th century for “hungry”
Sheet: rope used in controlling the sails
Shift: 1) an undergarment; 2) to change one’s clothes
Ship’s biscuit: hardtack
Shiver: quaking of a sail when the wind is too near the bow
Shot garlands: racks along the gunwale that hold cannonballs
Show a leg: to swing one’s leg out of the hammock; to hurry, hustle; show some initiative
Sickbay: area for the treatment of the sick or wounded
Side tackle: ropes and pulleys on cannons
Skipjack: scrub or scug
Slab-sided: unseemly, awkward, ugly
Slavering: drooling
Sloop: a small ship, often with sails triangular sails running fore and aft
Slow-match: rope soaked in saltpeter used to ignite the cannons
Small ale:watered-down beer
Smoke: 18th century for “understand” or “figure out”
Sodding: damned, sodomite, cursed
Softtack: bread
Sot: drunkard
Spar: definition needed
Sprats: inconsequential, jerk, buffoon
Squeaker: youngster
St’d’s’ls: studdingsails
St. Agua: Cate’s abbreviation for Isla de las Aguas doe los Santos Sedientos
St. Elmo’s Fire: a natural phenomenon of static buildup, giving the effect of a fire or glow
Starboard: right side of the ship, when looking forward
Starbolins: opposite of larbolins
Stays, jump-style: a softer style of women’s corset meant for heavy labor
Staysails: smaller triangular sails flown in between the larger ones
Stern gallery: windows running around the outside of the great cabin
Stern-chasers: cannon posted at the rear of the ship
Stinkpot: crockery jar filled with sulfur, gunpowder, and a fuse, tossed aboard enemy ships
Stirling: site of a battle during the Stuart Uprising
Stomacher: decorative panel pinned over the laces of a corset’s stays
Strake: the individual planks making up the hull; “a strake or two” means the ship is heeled over until two of those planks are underwater
Stretched rag: worn or old sails
Swabbers: crewmen who swab or sweep the deck
Swaying up: raising
Swell: rise and fall of the water
Swivel gun: a cannon small enough to be mounted on the rail
Swivel-tongued: liar, fast-talker
T’gallants: topgallants; one of the highest sails
Tacks and braces:lines controlling the yards
Taffrail: rail surrounding the quarterdeck
Tampion: wooden stopper in the mouth of the cannon
Tars: mariners, sailors, seamen
Teredo: Spanish for “shipworm”
Time out of mind: 18th century for “forever”
Tops: a generic reference to the highest reaches of the ship
Topsman: men who work in the tops
Tors: Highland mountains
Tortuga: infamous pirate haven off the coast of Honduras
Touchhole: spark hole in the cannon
Traversing board: a chalk board or system of pegs that indicate times, speeds, and headings
Treacle: molasses, or a mix of that and oatmeal
Trenchers: square wooden plates
Triced up: tied up out of the way, secured
Trollop: whore, cheap woman, floozy
’Tween deck: the lower deck
Twice-laid: reused
Unhung: a criminal worthy of being hung, but not as yet
Wadding: stuffing between the ball and powder in either cannon, pistol, or musket
Waist: middle region of the ship
Watch on watch:back-to-back watches with no break
Wear/wore around: when a ship turns and goes in the opposite direction
Weather gauge: the advantage gained by being upwind of an opponent
Weather rail: the rail toward the wind, reserved for the captain on most ships since it offers the best vantage point
Weather shroud: the shroud on the windward side of the ship
Well: bilge, hold
Wharf fever: a generic term for any fever that occurs while the ship is in harbor
Where away?: “where?” or “which way?”
Whips: ropes rigged for loading from over the side
Windward: the side toward the wind
Woad: a blue vegetable dye used mostly by the Celts
Won her anchor: the ship pulled up the anchor
Wood and watering:the activity of a ship bringing fresh water and firewood aboard
Worth his three squares: a worthy man; meals aboard a ship were eaten on square plates
Wrapper: robe
Table of Contents
The Pirate Captain
Chapter 1: Journey
Chapter 2: Purgatory, or Just Hell?
Chapter 3: The Lie Behind the Truth
Chapter 4: Captivated
Chapter 5: Life’s Routines
Chapter 6: Witch o’ the Moors
Chapter 7: Havens
Chapter 8: Social Skills
Chapter 9: Paths Cross
Chapter 10: Devil’s in the Details
Chapter 11: On a Beachfront
Chapter 12: Hot Baths
Chapter 13: What Friends Are For
Chapter 14: Beloved Betrothed
Chapter 15: Falls of Our Existence
Chapter 16: Ghosts
Chapter 17: Desperate Measures
Chapter 18: Twisted Fate
Chapter 19: Declarations in the Dark
Chapter 20: Something
Chapter 21: Storm Tossed
Chapter 22: Trouble in Paradise
Glossary
Table of Contents
The Pirate Captain
Chapter 1: Journey
Chapter 2: Purgatory, or Just Hell?
Chapter 3: The Lie Behind the Truth
Chapter 4: Captivated
Chapter 5: Life’s Routines
Chapter 6: Witch o’ the Moors
Chapter 7: Havens
Chapter 8: Social Skills
Chapter 9: Paths Cross
Chapter 10: Devil’s in the Details
Chapter 11: On a Beachfront
Chapter 12: Hot Baths
Chapter 13: What Friends Are For
Chapter 14: Beloved Betrothed
Chapter 15: Falls of Our Existence
Chapter 16: Ghosts
Chapter 17: Desperate Measures
Chapter 18: Twisted Fate
Chapter 19: Declarations in the Dark
Chapter 20: Something
Chapter 21: Storm Tossed
Chapter 22: Trouble in Paradise
Glossary
Table of Contents
The Pirate Captain
Chapter 1: Journey
Chapter 2: Purgatory, or Just Hell?
Chapter 3: The Lie Behind the Truth
Chapter 4: Captivated
Chapter 5: Life’s Routines
Chapter 6: Witch o’ the Moors
Chapter 7: Havens
Chapter 8: Social Skills
Chapter 9: Paths Cross
Chapter 10: Devil’s in the Details
Chapter 11: On a Beachfront
Chapter 12: Hot Baths
Chapter 13: What Friends Are For
Chapter 14: Beloved Betrothed
Chapter 15: Falls of Our Existence
Chapter 16: Ghosts
Chapter 17: Desperate Measures
Chapter 18: Twisted Fate
Chapter 19: Declarations in the Dark
Chapter 20: Something
Chapter 21: Storm Tossed
Chapter 22: Trouble in Paradise
Glossary