Note: This glossary is from Delano's Voyages of Commerce and Discovery: Amasa Delano in China, the Pacific Islands, Australia and South America, 1789-1807 (originally published as A Narrative of voyages and travels in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, by Amasa Delano, 1817.), edited by Eleanor Roosevelt Seagraves, 1994.
ANTIMONY: A silver-colored metalloid used in medicine.
ARECA NUT: Fruit of a genus of palm; it may be rolled up in betel leaves and chewed.
AZIMUTH COMPASS: A compass designed to rake into account the variation between magnetic north and true north.
BAIZE: Woolen or cotton fabric resembling felt.
BANGUE (bang): A narcotic drug derived from hemp; hashish.
BEACH-LE-MAR (bęche-de-mer): The holothuria, or sea-slug, or sea cucumber, esteemed in China and the Far East as a delicacy; known there as trepang. Also called swalloo.
BEAM, TO: To stretch a hide or cloth over a beam, a wooden form, for scraping or shaving.
BEAM ENDS: The ends of the transverse deck beams of a vessel. A ship "on beam ends" is heeled so far on one side that the deck is practically vertical.
BEAT, TO: The operation of sailing to windward by a series of alternate tacks across the wind.
BEEFWOOD: Any of several hard heavy reddish chiefly tropical woods used especially for cabinetwork.
BEND, TO: To join a rope to another or some other object, originally with a "bend" or hitch; on a square-rigged ship, a sail is bent to a yard.
BENZOIN, BENJAMIN: An aromatic balsamic resin from trees of the genus Styrax of southeastern Asia used in medicine, as a fixative in perfumes, and as incense.
BOATSWAIN: The officer in charge of rigging, anchors, cables, sails, etc.
BOBSTAY: A chain or heavy wire rigging running from the end of the bowsprit to the stem or cutwater.
BOHAN UPAS (Malay pohon upas, poison tree): A tall Asiatic and East Indian tree (Antiaris toxicaria of the mulberry family) that yields a latex that contains poisonous glucosides used as an arrow poison; a shrub or tree of the same region (Strychnos tieuté of the family Loganiaceae) also yielding an arrow poison.
BOLLSY (balsa): A raft or float used chiefly for fishing in coastal waters off the Pacific coast of South America, usually made of two cylinders of buoyant wood, but also made of inflated floats of animal skins.
BOOBY: A gannet of the genus Sula having a bright bill and/or feet; a sea bird.
BOTTOMRY: A mortgage on a ship executed by the captain of a merchant vessel who is out of touch with the owners and needs to raise money for repairs or to complete a voyage. If money is raised on the cargo, it is known as a respondentia bond.
BOWER ANCHOR: The two largest anchors in a ship carried permanently attached to their cables, one on either bow, ready for letting go in an emergency.
BOWSPRIT: A spar projecting from the upper end of the bow of a sailing vessel.
BRACE, TO: The operation of swinging round, by means of braces, the yards of a square-rigged ship to present a more efficient sail surface to the direction of the wind.
BRACE: A rope by which a yard is swung about and secured horizontally.
BROACH, TO: To veer to windward.
CAJEPUT, CAJUPUT: (Malay kayu, wood or tree; puteh, white): An East Indian tree (Melaleuca leucadendron) of the myrtle family that yields pungent medicinal oil.
CAMPHOR: A gummy fragrant compound obtained from the wood and bark of the camphor tree, used in medicine.
CAPSTAN: A vertical windlass for winding in ropes or cables.
CARRONADE: A short piece of ordnance, usually of large caliber, having the chamber for the powder like a mortar; chiefly used on shipboard. Made in Carron, Scotland.
CARTOUCH, CARTOUCHE: A gun cartridge with a paper case.
CASSIA: A variety of cinnamon derived from the cassia-bark tree.
CAT-BLOCK: A two- or three-fold block forming part of the tackle, which raises the anchor to the cat-head.
CAT-HEAD: A projecting timber to which an anchor is hoisted and secured.
CHRONOMETER: "An instrument for measuring time; specifically applied to time-keepers having a special escapement and a compensation balance, used for determining longitude at sea, and for other exact observation." (1735 definition from Oxford Universal Dictionary, 3d ed.) John Harrison, b. 1693, son of a carpenter, was first to solve the problem of determining accurate longitude at sea. "The problem...is one of chronometry, for it depends on making a time-piece that will show the time at the port of sailing, at any moment, not withstanding all the vicissitudes of a sea voyage. On comparing this time with local rime at any place, it is easy to find the difference in longitude…" Harrison's No. 1 chronometer (there were a number of later ones) is still in going order at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Scientific Instruments in Art and History, Henri Michel (New York: Viking, 1967), p. 166.
COPPER, TO: To sheathe the bottom and sides of a ship below the waterline with copper, for protection against damage by weeds, barnacles, or worms.
COWRY: A brightly colored shell of a marine gastropod of the genus Cypraea, used as money in Asia and Africa, also used as ornament.
CROSS-JACK YARD: The lower yard on the mizen-mast of a square-rigged ship.
CROSS SEA: A sea running in a contrary direction to the wind. During a gale in which the direction of the wind changes rapidly, the direction of the sea, whipped up by the wind, lasts for some hours after the wind has changed, creating an irregular wave pattern dangerous for ships.
CURRIER: A person who dresses leather after it is tanned.
CUTTER: A small-decked ship, relatively fast, with one mast and bowsprit; used as an auxiliary ship.
EARING: A rope attached to a grommet or loop, and used for attaching a cornet of a sail to a yard or boom.
EAST INDIAMAN, INDIAMAN: A ship of the various East India companies, particularly those of England and Holland, noted for their size and magnificence.
EPHEMERIS: An astronomical almanac containing tables showing the positions of a heavenly body in a number of dates in a regular sequence.
FACTOR: An agent entrusted with goods to sell for others.
FACTORY: An establishment for factors and merchants carrying on business in a foreign country.
FRIGATE: A fast naval vessel, generally having a lofty ship rig, and heavily armed on one or two decks.
GANG CASK: A water cask used on board ship.
GERMAN-COUSIN (usu. cousin-german or brother-german): Having the same parents or grandparents on either the paternal or maternal side.
GILL: Unit of liquid measurement equal to one-quarter pint.
GO-DOWN (from Malay gudang): A warehouse or other storage place in India and other Asian countries.
GRAIN: A fish spear or harpoon with two or more "grains" or prongs.
GRAPE SHOT: A cluster of small cast iron balls, used as a charge for a cannon.
GRAPNEL: A small anchor with three or more flukes, used for grappling or dragging, or for anchoring a small boat.
GUNWALE: The upper edge of the side or bulwark of a vessel.
GYAL, GAYAL: A semi-domesticated ox found in India.
HACMETAC: The American larch or tamarack tree.
HAND, TO: The act of furling the square sails of a ship to the yards.
HAUL, TO: The seaman's word meaning to pull; a ship also hauls its wind when it is brought nearer to it after having been running with the wind free.
HAWSE: The distance between the ship's head and anchor as it lies on the bottom.
HONG MERCHANT: One of a corporation of Chinese merchants in Canton who, before 1842, had the monopoly of trade with Europeans.
HUBBLE-BUBBLE: A kind of hookah where the smoke bubbles through water.
INSTANT: Of the present or current month.
INTENDENCY: District under the charge of a government official known as an intendant.
JOLLY BOAT: A light boat carried at the stern of a sailing vessel.
LATEEN SAIL: A triangular sail set on a long sloping yard.
LAUNCH: A large utility boar carried by a warship.
LAURUS: A genus of trees or shrubs in the laurel family, including cinnamon and sassafras.
LEAD, LEAD LINE: A weighted rope for determining depth at sea.
LIGHT: Lighthouse.
LORY (Malay nuri, luri): Any of numerous parrots of Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands, particularly of the genera Domicella, Tnichoglossus, Chalcopsitta, and Eos.
LUFF, TO: To bring a ship's head up closer to the wind by putting the helm down, or to leeward.
MACARONI: A fop or dandy, called "macaroni" because of a preference for foreign food; the macaroni penguin was so called because its crest was thought to resemble the coiffure of a "macaroni."
MANCHINEEL: A West Indian tree with a poisonous and caustic milky sap, and acrid fruit resembling an apple.
MANI: A South American earth nut.
MATE, MATTA, MATTE: The leaves and shoots of a South American holly (Ilex paraguayensis) used for making a tea-like beverage.
MINUTE GUN: A cannon fired at intervals of a minute, especially as a signal of distress or in a military or nautical funeral.
MIZEN, MIZZEN: The name of the third, aftermost, mast of a square-rigged ship.
MOTHER CARY'S CHICKENS: Any of various small petrels, especially the stormy petrel.
NANKIN, NANKEEN (from Nanking, China): A durable brownish yellow cotton fabric originally made in China.
NAUTICAL ALMANACK: A publication containing information for working out the position of a sailing vessel by celestial navigation.
NODDY: Any of several dark-bodied terns found on the coasts and islands of warm seas, often so tame as to seem stupid.
PAINTER: A rope, usually at the bow, for fastening a boat to a ship, stake, etc.
PARBUCKLE: A kind of tackle for raising or lowering a cask or similar object, consisting of a rope looped over a post with its two ends passing around the object to be moved.
PAWLS: A series of bars at the bottom of the barrel of a capstan that engage with scores in a pawl-ring around the capstan at deck level to prevent it from recoiling.
PINNACE: a ship's boat rowed with eight or sixteen oars and sometimes equipped with sails.
PROW (Malay prau): A small sailing vessel with a large triangular sail and an outrigger.
PULSE: The edible seeds of various leguminous crops, such as peas, beans, lentils; the plants yielding pulse.
QUADRANT: An instrument used in navigation for measuring attitudes.
QUARTERMASTER: An officer on a ship in charge of the helm and navigational instruments.
REEF, TO: The operation of shortening sail (to roll and tie down) in a vessel by reducing the area exposed to the wind, an operation required when a vessel begins to labor because of the strength of the wind.
REQUISITE TABLE: A set of tables used with a nautical ephemeris, to facilitate navigational calculations.
RESPONDENTIA: A loan upon the cargo of a vessel to be repaid only if the goods arrive safe at their destination.
RIDE, TO: To lie moored or anchored.
ROUND SHOT: Spherical balls of cast iron or steel for firing from smoothbore cannon.
ROYAL: The sail set next above the topgallant sail in a square-rigged ship; the fourth or fifth sail in ascending order.
SCUTTLE, TO: To sink a ship deliberately by opening seacocks or making openings in the bottom.
SEPOY: A native of India employed as a soldier in the service of Europeans.
SEXTANT: A navigational instrument for measuring vertical and horizontal angles at sea, and is capable of measuring angles up to 120° (a quadrant can measure angles up to 90°).
SHADDOCK: A large yellow or orange citrus fruit of a tree of southeastern Asia, also called a pomelo; named after Captain Shaddock, a 17th-century English ship commander, who brought the seed to the West Indies from the East Indies.
SHAG: A small cormorant.
SHEER, TO: To turn or alter direction, swerve.
SHEET ANCHOR: An additional anchor carried in a large ship for security in case the bower anchors fail to hold the ship.
SHEET: A line or pulley used for trimming a sail to the wind.
SISSOO-WOOD: A valuable timber-tree in India.
SLOOP: A smaller auxiliary naval vessel.
SNOW: A European two-masted merchant vessel, rigged as a brig.
SPEAK, TO: To communicate with a passing vessel at sea, by signal, speaking trumpet, etc.
SPECIE: Coined money.
STAYSAIL: A triangular fore-and-aft sail attached to a stay, which is part of the rigging that supports a mast.
SUBAHDAR: The chief native officer of a native company in the army of the British Empire.
SUPERCARGO: An abbreviation of cargo superintendent. "The only approach to a privileged class in the Massachusetts fleet was the supercargoes. This position the business agent of the owners on shipboard was often reserved for Harvard graduates, merchants' sons, and other young men of good family who had neither the taste nor the ruggedness for the rough-and-rumble of forecastle life." The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783-1860, Samuel Eliot Morison (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1920, 1941).
SWALLOO: See beach-le-mar (bęche-de-mer).
SWIVEL: A swivel gun; a gun mounted on a pedestal so that it can be turned from side to side or up and down.
TACK, TO: To change the course of a sailing vessel by bringing the head into the wind and then causing it to fall off on the other side.
TAFFRAIL, TAFFEREL RAIL: The after rail at the stern of a ship, but formerly the curved wooden top of the stern of a sailing man-of-war or East Indiaman, usually carved or otherwise decorated. Taffrail is a contraction of raffarel, the original name for this adornment. In its modern meaning it is often used to indicate the deck area right at the stern of a vessel.
TARRA OR TARO ROOT: An edible tuber of the Pacific Islands.
TENDER: An auxiliary ship employed to attend one or mote other ships.
THRUM, TO: A sail or piece of canvas is thrummed by sewing lengths of rope to it, and then used to cover a damaged part of a ship's hull.
THWART: The transverse wooden seat in a rowed boat on which the oarsman sits.
TIMBER HEAD: The top end of a timber, rising above the deck and serving for belaying ropes.
TIME KEEPER, TIME PIECE: Chronometer (see definition above).
TOP: A platform at the top of the mast of a ship.
TOPGALLANT: The mast in a square-rigged ship set above the topmast to form the third and top part of a complete mast.
TUTENAG: A nickel silver containing copper, nickel, and zinc.
WAIST: The central part of a ship, between the forecastle and the quarterdeck.
WARP, TO: To move a ship by hauling with warps, or ropes, that have been fastened to something fixed, as a buoy or anchor.
WATER PIPE: A large water cask.
WEAR, TO: To put a ship about, bringing the stern windward.
WEATHER: Applied to anything that lies to windward. The "weather-head" is the windward side.
WHORTLEBERRY: The edible black berry of a Eurasian shrub of the heath family.
WINDSAIL: A canvas funnel, the upper end of which is guyed to face the wind, used to ventilate a ship by deflecting the wind below decks, the funnel being led below through a hatchway.
YAW: A deviation from a straight or chosen course, produced by a following wind or sea.
YAWL: A ship's small boat, rowed by a crew of 4 or 6.
Glossary sources: Oxford Universal Dictionary, 3d ed.; Oxford English Dictionary, 1971 two-vol. ed.; The Oxford Companion to Ships and The Sea, ed. Peter Kemp (London: Oxford University Press, 1966); Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary; Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, 2d. ed.; and other sources as noted.