CALLAO A seaport of Peru, near Lima.
CAMPECHE, GULF OF The southern arm of the Gulf of Mexico, bounded on the east by Yucatan.
CANAL DU SUD The passage between Ile de la Gonave and the Tiburon Peninsula.
CARACAS The capital of Venezuela.
CARTERET, SIR GEORGE The proprietor of New Jersey.
CASTILLO BLANCO Don Jose de Santiago's ship.
CATHARINE, SAINT A Christian martyr who forgave her executioner.
CHENG, MRS. Cheng I Sao. Arguably the greatest pirate of all time. Those who may have sought the original of Milton Caniff 's Dragon Lady need look no further.
CHIN One of the narrator's crew. (Presumably a nickname.)
CHRIS (CHRISTOPHER) The narrator.
CIMAROONS Escaped slaves living in the jungle. (From the Sp. cimarron-'wild beast,' 'fugitive.')
CLEMENT A buccaneer turned pirate.
COLE, FATHER ED A missionary.
COPPER RIVER A Jamaican river emptying into Kingston Harbor.
CORSON Bosun aboard the Sabina.
CORUNA A seaport at the northwest corner of Spain.
COX, CAPTAIN One of Captain Burt's subordinates, friendly with the Kuna.
CROMWELL The English revolutionary who made himself Lord Protector. (Born 1599, died 1658.)
CUSTOM OF THE COAST The usages of buccaneers.
DARIEN A Spanish colony roughly congruent with present-day Panama.
DELL Bosun's mate (that is, assistant) aboard the Sabina.
DOBKIN, CAPTAIN One of Captain Burt's subordinates.
DOMINIC, SAINT The founder of the Dominican Order.
DOMINICANS The monastic order founded by Saint Dominic.
DRAKE, SIR FRANCIS An Elizabethan hero who plundered the Pacific Coast of South America and helped defeat the Spanish Armada. He is the father of naval strategy.
DUBEC Apparently, the third mate of the Magdelena.
DUQUESA DE CORRUNA A Spanish slaver. Later, the New Ark.
EMILIA Captain Isham's ship.
ESTRELLITA The Guzmans' housemaid.
FANCY Red Jack's ship.
FAT VIRGIN ISLAND Its official name is Virgin Gorda, q.v.
FRANCINE Valentin's dog, stolen from Lesage.
FULGENCIO, BROTHER An elderly lay brother at Our Lady of Bethlehem.
GAGNE A buccaneer with whom the narrator quarrels.
GIBRALTAR A village at the end of Lake Maracaibo.
GOLDEN HIND The ship in which Drake raided the Indies and circumnavigated the globe.
GOSLING, CAPTAIN A subordinate of Captain Burt's who captures a ship carrying letters of importance.
GROMETTO An armed servant. This interesting word is said to be de rived from an East African language. The gromettos found on sailing ships were slaves or freed slaves.
GUADELOUPE PASSAGE A corridor (between Antigua and Guadeloupe) through the Leeward Islands and into the Atlantic. It is wide and deep enough for large vessels.
GUZMAN, JAIME A merchant of Coruna.
GUZMAN, SABINA MARIA DE VEGA ARANDA A Spanish lady who wished to buy a parrot.
HANSEN GUNNER aboard the Sabina.
HARKER, CAPTAIN HAL One of Burt's subordinates.
HISPANIOLA An island of the Greater Antilles, now divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
HOLY FAMILY A rural parish.
HOODAHS A Moskito slave.
HOUDEK, FATHER The pastor of Saint Teresa's.
HOY As a noun, a work boat or barge. The expression 'all hands hoy' (that is, to work) is equivalent to 'all hands on deck.'
IGNACIO, BROTHER A lay brother at Our Lady of Bethlehem.
IGNATIUS LOYOLA, SAINT The ex-soldier who founded the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus).
ILE A VACHE An island just south of the western end of Hispaniola.
INDIOS BRAVOS Any unconquered tribe. (Sp.)
ISHAM, CAPTAIN A subordinate of Captain Burt's.
ISLANDS OF KING PHILIP The Philippines.
JACKSON, TOM First mate on the Weald.
JAMAICA A large island one hundred and fifty miles south of Cuba. It was a British possession.
JARDEN, PAUL Second mate on the Magdelena.
JERSEY One of the Channel Islands.
JIB A usually triangular sail set on a forestay.
JOAN, SAINT A teenager in armor, one of history's most successful generals. The English burned her alive.
JOHN, SAINT The apostle whom Jesus loved is probably meant.
JUDE, SAINT The apostle who asked the New Testament's most famous question. He is the patron of hopeless causes.
JUNIPER, BROTHER A foolish Franciscan.
KIDD, CAPTAIN A privateer who turned pirate.
KUNA A Central American tribe prone to albinism.
LADY MARIE CAPE Presumably Cape Dame Marie, at the western end of the Tiburon Peninsula.
LAKE MARACAIBO A large freshwater lake near the coast of Venezuela. It receives the waters of the Catatumbo River and empties into the Gulf of Venezuela through a narrow channel.
LANGUEDOC A region of France bordered to the southeast by the Mediterranean.
LESAGE First mate on the New Ark.
LISBOA Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.
L'OLONNAIS, FRANCOIS Also Francis L'Ollonais. A pirate leader most famous for his cruelty. These may be pseudonyms.
LONG BAY A pirate rendezvous on the southern coast of Jamaica. Lucy, Saint A martyred Sicilian girl.
LUIS, FATHER A monk at Our Lady of Bethlehem who taught mathematics. Maas Gunner's mate aboard the Sabina.
MACERER A ship commanded by Captain Burt.
MAGDELENA The naval vessel captured by Melind.
MAHU A slave freed to reinforce the crew of the New Ark.
MANSVELDT, EDWARD Henry Morgan's mentor in piracy.
MARACAIBO A city on the channel linking the Gulf of Venezuela with Lake Maracaibo.
MELIND A buccaneer leader.
MEXICO The Aztec capital, captured by the Spanish.
MIDSHIPMAN An aspirant to an officer's commission. Midshipmen slept between the crew in the forecastle and the officers in the stern.
MORGAN, HENRY Later, Sir Henry. After other daring exploits, Morgan assembled an army of pirates, crossed Darien, and looted and burned the city of Panama.
MOSKITOS A Central American tribe.
MOSQUITOES, GULF OF An arm of the Caribbean bordered to the south by the western end of Darien.
MZWILILI A slave aboard the Rosa who joined the narrator's crew. He is usually called Willy.
NEW ARK The new name given the Duquesa de Corruna by the narrator.
NEW SPAIN A Spanish colony in North America. It is now the Republic of Mexico.
