gunroom
wardroom of a frigate
half-pistol-shot
twenty-five yards range
hawse
the point where the anchor cable leaves the ship
ship of the East India Company
jabberknowl
gossip, rantings of a fool
Dutch honorific for a person of note or high birth
littoral
that part of the land adjoining the sea
maulstick
a wooden stick with a soft head, used by painters to support the hand that holds the brush
Mr in Dutch
moil
close-in scrimmage
mongseer
sailor slang for a Frenchman
negus
a drink of port mixed with hot water, spiced and sugared
characteristic storm of wind from the Pampas about the River Plate
Panjandrum
high ruler, from eighteenth-century Samuel Foote play
Partidarios Leales
party of the loyalists
patrician, high-born person
pinnace
one of the smaller of the ship’s boats
poniard
small dagger
priddy
seventeenth-century term for prettifying
projector
promoter of a scheme
purser
appointed by the Admiralty for the supply of provision and slops; was an independent businessman
quintal
an imperial ‘hundredweight’ or 100 pounds in weight
quoin
a wedge of wood at the breech to cause elevation or depression in a gun
eight to the Spanish silver dollar
Portuguese
rixdollar
: main currency of the Cape of Good Hope
sailing master
attends to the navigation and working of a ship under the captain
Dutch honorific – squire
sea fencibles
land-based naval auxiliaries, local to Britain
sea-anchor
device to drag in the sea to orient the ship
sheave
the wheel on which the rope works in a block
supercargo
an agent aboard a merchant ship responsible for cargo and commercial affairs
veduta
highly detailed landscape in the style of Canaletto
