Chip. The log itself, which, owing to the direction of the sea, failed to show the direct drag of the vessel. —Keyes ↩
Broaching to. To veer suddenly in such a way as to be in danger of capsizing. —Keyes ↩
Hounds. Projections at the masthead. —Keyes ↩
Equal to steam. The swiftest transatlantic steamships have recently covered three thousand miles in a little less than five days. —Keyes ↩
Ipso facto. By virtue of the fact that he does it. —Keyes ↩
Great Bear. A constellation of 125 stars, visible only in northern latitudes. —Keyes ↩
Horse latitudes. So called because vessels engaged in carrying horses from the United States to the West Indies were frequently obliged to throw over part of their cargo for want of water. —Keyes ↩
Erebus. A place, according to classic myth, of utter darkness: Hades, or a place on the way thither. —Keyes ↩
Corposant. This phenomenon, which is the result of electrical disturbance, is not uncommon in the tropics. The term corposant, a perversion of the Latin for “holy body” indicates the superstitious awe with which sailors have viewed it. —Keyes ↩
Scurvy. A disease due largely to a diet of salt meat, without the addition of vegetables. Formerly the sailors’ scourge, scurvy has become less frequent since the introduction of canned vegetables. —Keyes ↩
Spanish Main. The northern coast of South America. —Keyes ↩
Who was president. In the fall of 1836 Martin Van Buren was elected President of the United States. —Keyes ↩
St. Peters. St. Peters Church in Rome: the largest ecclesiastical edifice. —Keyes ↩
The line … swifter. The line is passed through a block attached to one of the shrouds. —Keyes ↩
Pilot. Large vessels do not attempt to navigate the intricate waters of harbor approaches without the aid of a special pilot. —Keyes ↩
On ’change. At the exchange; the general meeting place for men engaged in certain commercial enterprises. —Keyes ↩
Raking. Firing so as to sweep the ship from end to end. —Keyes ↩
Topliff’s agent. The representative of the Topliffs who had established in Boston a kind of news bureau, through which the local papers were supplied with shipping intelligence. —Keyes ↩
Pressgang. A body of men organized to secure compulsory enlistment in army or navy. At one time the English navy was largely recruited by this means. —Keyes ↩
I am not sure that I have stated, in the course of my narrative, the manner in which sailors eat, on board ship. There are neither tables, knives, forks, nor plates, in a forecastle; but the kid (a wooden tub, with iron hoops) is placed on the floor and the crew sit round it, and each man cuts for himself with the common jackknife or sheath-knife, that he carries about him. They drink their tea out of tin pots, holding little less than a quart each.
These particulars are not looked upon as hardships, and, indeed, may be considered matters of choice. Sailors, in our merchantmen, furnish their own eating utensils, as they do many of the instruments which they use in the ship’s work, such as knives, palms and needles, marlinespikes, rubbers, etc. And considering their mode of life in other respects, the little time they would have for laying and clearing away a table with its apparatus, and the room it would take up in a forecastle, as well as the simple character of their meals, consisting generally of only one piece of meat—it is certainly a convenient method, and, as the kid and pans are usually kept perfectly clean, a neat and simple one. I had supposed these things to be generally known, until I heard, a few months ago, a lawyer of repute, who has had a good deal to do with marine cases, ask a sailor upon the stand whether the crew had “got up from table” when a certain thing happened. ↩
Lascars. East Indian sailors. —Keyes ↩
Pronounced Leese. ↩
Colophon
Two Years Before the Mast
was published in 1916 by
Richard Henry Dana Jr.
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