Half-pike. See Pike.

Hand (the sails). To furl.

Hawser. A large rope or small cable.

Indulgences. The remission by authorised priests of the punishment due to sin. The sale of indulgences was one of the abuses that provoked the Reformation.

Jerk. To cure meat, especially beef, by cutting it into long thin slices and drying it in the sun.

Jury-mast. A small temporary mast often made of a yard; set up instead of a mast that is broken down.

Larboard (or port). The left side of a ship looking towards the bow.

Lay to (lie to). To reduce sail to the lowest limits, so as to become nearly stationary.

Lee. The side or direction opposite to that from which the wind comes.

Line, ship of the. A ship of sufficient size and armament to take a place in the line of battle.

Linguist. Interpreter.

Longboat. See Boats.

Lumber. Sawn timber.

Masts: The masts of a full-rigged three-masted ship are the following: Fore-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.

Main-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.

Mizzen-mast, topmast, topgallant-mast, royal mast.

Monsoon. See Winds.

Mortar. A kind of gun with a very short bore. It throws its projectile at a great elevation.

Mortar, Cohorn (see chapter 7). Cohorn was a famous Dutch engineer and artillerist in the service of William III.

Nailed up. Spiked. To spike a gun is to render it useless for the time by inserting into the vent a steel pin with side springs, which when inserted open outwards to the shape of an arrowhead so that it cannot be released.

Offing: 1. The most distant part of the sea visible from the sh.o.r.e.

2. A still greater distance, sufficient to avoid the dangers of shipwreck, as "a good offing."

Overreach. To pa.s.s.

Parallel, i.e. of lat.i.tude or longitude as the case may be.

Pennant, Broad. See Commodore.

Pidreroes. Light Spanish cannon.

Pieces of eight. Old Spanish coins worth about four shillings each. The piece of eight was divided into eight silver reals. Hence the name which was applied to it in the Spanish Main. It was also frequently called a dollar.

Pike. A long shaft or pole, having an iron or steel point, used in medieval warfare, now replaced by the bayonet. A half-pike was a similar weapon having a staff about half the length.

Pink. An obsolete name for a small sailing ship.

Pinnace. See Boats.

Port (or larboard). The left side of a ship looking towards the bow.

Post-captain. An obsolete t.i.tle for a captain of three years' standing.

Proa. A small Malay vessel.

Quarter. The upper part of a vessel's side from abaft the main mast to the stern.

Quarter gallery. A gallery is a balcony built outside the body of a ship: at the stern (stern gallery) or at the quarters (quarter gallery).

Reef. A portion of a sail that can be drawn close together.

Rosaries. Strings of beads used by Roman Catholics in praying. Each bead told (or counted) represents a prayer.

Scuttle. To make a hole in the bottom of a ship in order to sink it.

Serons (of dollars). A seron or seroon is a kind of small trunk made in Spanish America out of a piece of raw bullock's hide.

Service (of a cable). The part next the anchor secured by cordage wrapped round it.

Ship of the line. See Line.

Shrouds. The stout ropes that are stretched from a masthead of a vessel to the sides or to the rims of a top, serving as a means of ascent and as a lateral strengthening stays to the masts.

Sling. A rope or chain by which a lower yard is suspended.

Sprit-sail. A quadrangular sail stretched from the mast by the help, not of a gaff along its top, but of a sprit (or yard) extending from the mast diagonally to the upper aftmost corner of the sail, as in the case of a London barge.

Sprit-sail yard. Another name for the sprit.

Standing rigging. The parts of a vessel's rigging that are practically permanent.

Starboard. The right side of a ship looking towards the bow.

Stern-chasers. See Chasers.

Streaks (or strakes). Lines of planking.

Supercargo. A person employed by the owners of a ship to go a voyage and to oversee the cargo.

Tacks ("got our tacks on board," chapter 17). Ropes for hauling down and fastening the corners of certain sails.

Taffrail. The upper part of the stern of a ship.