Sea Terminology

ACCOUNT, TO GO ON THE: to embark on a piratical cruise
ACTS OF PARDON OR GRACE: general amnesty under which a reformed pirate might surrender in return for a certificate of pardon
Avast: nautical term meaning stop what you are doing, derived/corrupted from 'hold fast'.
BALLAST: heavy material used to stabilize rying cargo
Bamboozle: to deceive a passing vessel as to your ship's origin or nationality by flying an ensign other than your own - a common practice by pirates.
BARKADEER: a small pier or jetty vessel
BARQUE: a sailing ship of three or more masts having the foremasts rigged square and the aftermast rigged for fore and aft
BILGED ON HER ANCHOR: a ship holed or pierced by its own anchor
Black Jack: a leather tankard, made stiff with a coating of tar, used by dockside pubs and taverns to serve wine and beer.
BOOMS OR FENDERS: spars to which a sail is fastened to control its position relative to the wind
BOOT-TOPPING: a hurried, partial careen
Boucaneer: early entreprenuers who dried the meat from wild cattle and hogs on the island of Hispañola in the early 1600's to sell to ships returning to Europe (primarily
Spain).
BOWSPRIT: a spar projecting from the bow of a vessel used to carry the headstay as far forward as possible
BRIG, BRIGANTINE: a two-masted sailing ship, rigged square on the foremast and fore and aft with square topsails on the mainmast
BROUGHT A SPRING UPON HER CABLE: came round in a different direction
BRULOT (FRENCH): a fireship
BUCCANEERS: the original "cow killers" who settled illegally on Hispaniola. The name derives from their method of smoke-curing meat on a boucan. Later, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they took to sea and preyed on Spanish colonies and shipping in America and the Caribbean.
CAPSTAN: a windlass with a vertical drum, used for hauling in ropes, etc.
CAREEN: to cause a vessel to keel over on its side in order to clean or repair its bottom
Carry On: hoist all the canvas the yards will carry.
CAREENAGE: a careening place
CHASE GUNS: cannon situated at the bow of a ship, used during pursuit
CHEQUEEN: sequin, a former Venetian gold coin
CLAPINIRONS: to chain
Corsair: maybe derived from the island name Corsica, pirate or pirateship, esp. of Barbary (N. Africa in olden times), attacking ships of European countries; also, a French privateer, or Knights of Malta fighting the Barbary pirates.
Cutlass: a short, curved, thick sword, the prefered weapon of many buccaneers, possibly a carry over weapon from the days of making boucan and probably more suited to the slashing melee amidst the rigging when boarding another ship than a longsword
CRIMP: a person who swindled or press ganged sailors
Devil-to-Pay: Originally, this expression denoted the specific task aboard ship of caulking the ship's longest seam. The "devil" was the longest seam on the wooden ship, and caulking was done with "pay" or pitch. This grueling task of paying the devil was despised by every seaman, and the expression came to denote any unpleasant task.
Dog Watch: Tthe name given to the 1600-1800 and 1800-2000 watches aboard ship. The 1600-2000 4-hour watch was originally split to prevent men from always having to stand the same watches daily. As a result, sailors dodge the same daily routine, hence they are dodging the watch or standing the dodge watch.
DORY: a fisherman's dugout
Doubloon: gold coin minted by Spain or Spanish colonies, worth about seven weeks pay for an average sailor.
DROGER: a West Indian coasting vessel
Dungarees: pants made from old sail cloth.
EXECUTION DOCK: the usual place for pirate hangings, on the Thames, in London near the Tower
FIRESHIP: a vessel loaded with explosives and used as a bomb by igniting it and directing it to drift among an enemy's warships
Flibustier: French term for pirates during the golden age (approximately the same time the term buccaneer came into wide usage)
FLOTILLA: a small fleet
FLnNGJ}B: the jib furthest forward on a vessel with two or more jibs
FREEBOOTER OR FILIBUSTER: another name for a buccaneer or pirate
GALLEON: a large sailing ship having three or more masts, lateen-rigged on the aftermasts and square-rigged on the fore and mainmasts; used as a warship or for trade
GALLEY: a low, flat-built vessel, propelled partly or wholly by oars
GIBBET: a wooden structure resembling a gallows from which bodies of executed criminals were hung for public view
GRAPPLE OR GRAPNEL: a hooked instrument thrown with a rope for gripping and closing with an enemy
GRENADE: these were made from square-faced case bottles, filled with gunpowder, small shot, bits of old iron thrown by hand
GUARDA COSTA: a vessel fitted out in Spanish or colonial ports and commissioned by local governors to enforce Spain's trade monopoly
GUINEAMAN: a ship engaged in the slave trade in the Guinea Coast of West Africa
HEAVE DOWN, TO: to turn a vessel on its side for cleaning
HOGSHEAD: a large cask used mainly for shipment of wines and spirits
INTERLOPER: an illegal trader
JACK: a flag, especially one flown at the bow of a ship to indicate her nationality
JOLLY ROGER: the pirate flag
KEEL HAUL: the punishment of using a tow rope to tie a man to the stern of a ship while it is under way. This has the effect of drowning or nearly drowning as it becomes increasingly difficult to clear the surface and take an unobstructed breath as the speed of the ship increases.
KNOT: The term "knot", or nautical mile, is used worldwide to denote a vessel's speed through water. A speed-measuring device both easy to use and reliable: the 'log line'. From that device we get the term knot. The log line was a length of twine marked at 47.33-foot intervals by colored knots. At one end was fastened a log chip; it was shaped like the sector of a circle and weighted at the rounded end with lead. When thrown over the stern, the log chip was floated pointing upward and and remains relatively stationary. To measure the ship's speed, a sailor would throw the log line over the stern and allow it to run free over the side for 28 seconds before hauling it aboard. He then counted the knots that had passed over the side to determine the ship's speed.
LARBOARD: the left (or port) side of a vessel when facing the bow
LETTERS OF MARQUE OR REPRISAL: commissions or licenses to fit out armed vessels to be employed in the capture of enemy merchant shipping and to commit other hostile acts that would otherwise be condemned as piracy
MAINSHEET: the line used to control the angle of the mainsail to the wind
MAN-OF-WAR: a warship
MAROON, TO: to put ashore and abandon a person on a barren island or cay
MAROONERS: a name sometimes given to pirates because of their use of marooning as a form of punishment
MOIDORE: a former Portuguese gold coin
PATARERO: a kind of muzzle-loading mortar that fired scattering shot, stones, spikes, old nails, broken glass, etc.
PIECE OF EIGHT: a former Spanish coin
PINNACE: any of various kinds of ship's tender
PIRAGUA: a type of native dugout canoe
Pirate: derived from the greek peirate, meaning one who plunders on the sea.
PRESS(OR FORCE): to recruit for naval or military service by forcible means
Privateer: a pirate working for a particular government (often provided with letters of marque to prove this), restricting prey to that of another unfriendly government.
QUARTER: mercy shown to a defeated opponent. Also a ship's quarter is that part of a vessel's side towards the stern, usually aft of the aftermost mast.
ROAD: a partly sheltered anchorage
SALMAGUNDI: a dish of chopped meat, eggs, anchovies, onions, etc.; a pirate favorite
SCHOONER: a sailing vessel with at least two masts with all lower sails rigged fore and aft
Scurvy: a disease resulting from a vitamin C deficiency, characterized by weakness, anemia and spongy gums, although in the sense of 'scurvy dog' it meant low or mean (not angry, but low in quality)
Scuttlebutt: rumor
SEA ARTIST: sailing master
SLOOP: a single-masted vessel rigged fore and aft with a long bowsprit, much favored by the pirates because of its shallow draught and maneuverability
SMACK: a sailing vessel usually sloop-rigged, used in coasting or fishing
SNOW: a small sailing vessel, resembling a brig, carrying a main and foremast and a supplementary trysail mast close behind the mainmast
SPANISH MAIN: the mainland of Spanish America, from the Isthmus of Panama to the present republics of Colombia and Venezuela
SPIKE(GUNS): to render a gun useless by blocking the vent or touch hole with a spike, often a soft nail
SPRITSAILYARD: a yard set on the underside of the bowsprit, to carry a spritsail
STARBOARD: the right side of a vessel when facing the bow
STRIKE(COLORS): to haul down a ship's flag as a signal of surrender
SWEET TRADE: buccaneering or piracy
SWIVEL (GUN): a gun mounted on a pivot so that it might be swung from side to side
TENDER: a small boat, towed or carried by a ship
VICE-ADMIRALTY COURTS: courts established in the British colonies for trial and decision of maritime questions and offenses
WALK THE PLANK: a method of disposing of prisoners at sea; popular belief to the contrary it was not a usual practice among pirates
WARP: to move a vessel by hauling on a rope fixed to a stationary object ashore
WEIGH: to raise a vessel's anchor in preparation for departure
WHERRY: a light rowing boat, used in inland waters and harbors
worchyppe or worchyp: Old English, and means "greatly respected." In the Wycliffe Bible "Honor thy father and thy mother" appears as "Worchyp thy fadir and thy modir." English and Canadian mayors are still addressed, "Your Worship." In some of the Old Constitutions of Masonry is the phrase, "Every Mason shall prefer his elder and put him to worship."
YARDS: the spars slung from the masts of a square-rigged vessel and used for suspending sails
ZEE ROVER: corsair, buccaneer, pyrate.