Close hauled. Sailing with the ship pointing as nearly as possible in the direction from which the wind blows. —Keyes ↩
Lying … beam ends. Lying over upon her side. —Keyes ↩
Reef. To reduce the size of a sail by folding and tying. —Keyes ↩
Bilge water. Foul water that collects in the bilge or lower part of a ship. —Keyes ↩
Waist. That part of the ship midway between stem and stern. —Keyes ↩
Weather side. The side from which the wind blows. —Keyes ↩
Slush. Grease. —Keyes ↩
Log. A triangular board, weighted at the bottom, to which a long line is attached. When the log is “hove” from the stern of a moving vessel, the line runs out and the speed of the vessel is computed by the “knots” that pass out in a given time. Each knot on the line indicates a nautical mile of length. The vessel therefore is said to travel so many knots an hour. —Keyes ↩
Horn. Cape Horn, the southern extremity of South America, famed for the rough weather which prevails in its vicinity. Before the building of transcontinental railroads, nearly all commerce between the eastern and western coasts of America was carried on by vessels that sailed “round the Horn.” —Keyes ↩
Athwart our hawse. Sailing across our line of progress. —Keyes ↩
Break them. Deprive them of their official position. —Keyes ↩
Supercargo. An agent employed on some merchant ships to sell the cargo of an outgoing voyage and purchase another one for the return. —Keyes ↩
Sailing master and quartermaster. The officer responsible for navigating the ship and for issuing supplies to the sailors. —Keyes ↩
Logbook. The book in which is kept the record of the voyage. —Keyes ↩
Furl. To gather into a roll and tie securely. —Keyes ↩
Serving boards and marlinespikes. Boards used in making small ropes: sharp pointed instruments of iron used in separating strands of small rope. —Keyes ↩
Galley. The ship kitchen. —Keyes ↩
Gangway. Passageway. —Keyes ↩
Log … relieved. The log line is heaved out to find the speed of the vessel; the new watch is sent to duty; the men on duty assume their places; a fresh man is placed at the steering-wheel. —Keyes ↩
Scuttlebutt. A cask for drinking water; generally placed on the deck of a vessel. It was called a “scuttled” butt because it has a square hole in its cover, with a lid, like the scuttle of a house roof. —Keyes ↩
Spun yarn, marline, seizing stuff. Various kinds of small rope used in binding and splicing. —Keyes ↩
Bowsed well taught. Tightly stretched. The modern spelling is “taut,” though the older form, from the adjective “tight,” might well have been preserved. —Keyes ↩
Seizing and coverings. Binding twine and coverings for exposed places on the ropes. The tackles are the pulley-blocks and ropes used for hauling the rigging ropes tight. —Keyes ↩
Oakum. Hemp fibre procured by picking out the yarns of old rope; used in caulking the seams of a ship. —Keyes ↩
Pea jacket. A short, heavy, close-woven overcoat. —Keyes ↩
Beam. The side of a vessel. —Keyes ↩
Trade winds. Currents of air moving from north and south toward the equator. While steadiest in the Southern Hemisphere, they vary considerably according to the season of the year. They are caused by the heated air at the equator rising, and currents to replace it rushing from north and south. They are called trade winds because of their assistance to merchantmen. —Keyes ↩
Colors … when dying. A notion which the author probably derived from Byron’s Childe Harold.
“Parting day
Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues,
With a new color as it gasps away,
The last still loveliest.”
—Keyes ↩
Running large. Sailing directly before the wind; with the wind astern. —Keyes ↩
Water upon the sails. A process supposed to increase the speed of a vessel, possibly by filling the tiny pores of the canvas, and thus presenting a better surface to the wind. —Keyes ↩
Clipper-built brig. A two-masted vessel built for speed. Its fine lines enabled it to sail on the wind; that is, with the wind on the quarter, faster than a bulky merchantman could. The larger vessel sailed better directly before the wind.
This was presumably a piratical craft. Although piracy was practically extinct at this time, South American waters were still the occasional haunt of oceangoing desperadoes. It is unfortunate that the author dismisses so briefly a matter concerning which there is little available data. —Keyes ↩
Hermaphrodite brig. A brig having one square-rigged and one fore-and-aft-rigged mast. —Keyes ↩
Four points. The circle on the compass is divided into thirty-two “points.” —Keyes ↩
Binnacle. The case for the ship’s compass; generally located forward, beside the steering-wheel. —Keyes ↩
Son of Neptune. According to nautical tradition, a sailor’s right to consideration depends upon his having crossed the equator. Even to the present day, as in the winter of 1907–1908, when the United States fleet sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, the crossing of the equator is signalized by rough horseplay in which the less experienced men are “initiated” as sons of Neptune, the initiation generally taking the form of a thorough ducking. —Keyes ↩
My helm. I was steering. —Keyes
