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Resources :: Pirate Glossary
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OVERVIEW
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Pirate Glossary
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Abaft - To the aft or stern of the ship.
Acts of pardon - A letter of marque for a "reformed" pirate, thus making him a privateer; or setting a pirate free.
Aft - Situated at the back or stern part of a ship.
Aloft - At the mast head or in the higher yards and rigging.
Amidships - The middle of the ship, either in regard to her length or breadth.
Avast - stop.
Barbary Coast - The North African coast of the Mediterranean, where Islamic corsairs (also know as Barbary corsairs) raided European trading ships.
Barnacle - Small, razor-sharp shellfish that collect in large numbers on the ships' hulls.
Before the mast - The position of the crew whose living quarters on board were in the forecastle. The term is also used more generally to describe seamen as compared with officers, in phrases such as "he sailed before the mast."
Beam - Measurement across the ship at her wildest part.
Becalmed - When a sailing ship cannot move because there is no wind.
Bilged on her anchor - A ship pierced by her own anchor.
Binnacle - The wooden housing for the ship's compass, usually situated beside or before the wheel.
Black Jack - A large drinking cup made of leather and stiffened with an application of tar.
Block and tackle - An arrangement of pulleys and ropes used to raise heavy loads, and to increase the purchase on ropes used for the running rigging.
Boom - A spar used to extend the foot of a sail.
Bowline - Rope made fast to the leech or side of a sail to pull it forward.
Boatswain (Bosun) - The warrant officer in charge of sails, rigging, anchors, and associated gear.
Bow - The pointed front of a ship, also known as the prow.
Bowsprit - A long spar that projects out from the front of a ship.
Break consort - To dissolve the agreement between two ships.
Brigantine - A two-masted vessel having a full square-rigged foremast and a fore-and-aft rigged mainmast with square sails on the main topmast.
Bring to - Check the movement of a ship by arranging the sails in such a way that they counteract each other and bring the ship to a halt.
Broadside - The simultaneous firing of all cannons on one side of the ship.
Buccaneer - A pirate or privateer who attacked Spanish ships and prosperous ports in the West Indies and Central America in the 1600s.
Bulkhead - A vertical partition inside a ship.
Bumboo - A drink made with watered rum and flavored with sugar and nutmeg.
Careen - An operation that involved beaching a ship, heeling her over, and cleaning the weed and barnacles from her bottom.
Cat-O'-Nine Tails - A whip used for punishing sailors, made by unraveling a piece of rope to make nine separate strands. Knots on the end of the strands made the punishment even more painful.
Capstan - Vertical rotating cylinder used for winding up anchor and other cable.
Catch a Tartar - When a ship is lured into a trap.
Caulk - To repair leaking gaps between the timbers of a ship by filling them with fiber and sealing them with oakum and pitch (tar).
Chain Shot - A weapon made up of two metal balls chained together. It was shot from a cannon to destroy a ship's rigging, masts, and sails.
Chart - A map of land and sea used by sailors for navigation.
Chase guns - Cannon on the bow of a ship, forward facing.
Clap in irons - To be put in manacles and chains.
Clean bill of health - The document issued to a ship showing that the port it sailed from suffered from no epidemic or infection at the time of departure.
Colors - The flags worn by a ship to show her nationality.
Compass - A navigational instrument with 32 points to determine direction.
Consort - A vessel sailing in company with a pirate ship.
Convoy - A group of vessels that travels together for protection against pirates.
Corsair - The term used to describe pirates or privateers who operated in the Mediterranean. The term is also used to refer to the ships sailed by such pirates.
Coxswain - The helmsman of the boat.
Crow's Nest - A small platform high up on a mainmast, used as a lookout position.
Cutlass - A short sword with a broad blade, first used by buccaneers; a popular weapon for battles at sea because it did not get caught in the rigging.
Dance the Hempen Jig - To hang.
Davy Jones Locker - The seaman's name for death. Davy Jones was the sea devil who ruled the evil spirits of the deep. When a ship sank, she was said to have gone to Davy Jones Locker.
Deadeyes - A round wooden block with three holes for extending the shrouds.
Doubloon - A Spanish coin made of gold, worth 16 pieces-of-eight.
Draft - The minimum water depth necessary to float a ship.
East Indiaman - A large armed English or Dutch merchant vessel used to transport valuable cargoes of porcelain, tea, silks, and spices in trade with Asia.
Fathom - A unit of length equal to six feet depth at sea.
Freeboard - The distance from the water to the gunwale.
Fireship - A ship loaded with gunpowder and explosives, set on fire and sent to drift into enemy ports.
Frigate - A fast warship, usually armed with between 20 and 30 guns.
Fore - Situated in front; the front part of a ship at the bow.
Foul wind - A ship in the eye of the wind where she could not sail.
Furl - To wrap or roll a sail close to the yard, stay or mast to which it belongs.
Galleon - A large square-rigged warship with three or more masts used between the 1500s and 1700s for transporting Spanish treasure.
Galley - A large ship powered by oars, which were usually operated by galley slaves. Also the term for a ship's kitchen.
Gallows - The wooden frame used for hanging criminals.
Gibbet - A wooden frame used for displaying the dead bodies of criminals as a warning to others.
Good quarter is granted - The prey is spared.
Go on account - Buccaneers describe their intent to spend their life at sea. It sounded more respectable than saying they were turning pirate.
Grappling Iron - A metal hook that is thrown onto an enemy ship to pull it closer and make boarding it easier.
Grog - Rum and water; in 1740 Admiral Vernon nicknamed "Old Grog" decreed that the pint of rum issued to all seamen should be diluted with two parts water.
Gunwale - The upper planking along the sides of a ship.
Halyard - A rope used to hoist a sail or a flag.
Hardtack - Tough, dry ship's biscuits, which made up the main part of a sailor's diet.
Haul wind - To direct a ship's course as nearly as possible in the direction from which the wind is coming.
Heave-To - To come to a halt.
Helm - The tiller or wheel which controls the rudder and enables a vessel to be steered.
Hispaniola - The former name of the island that is today made up of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and home of the first buccaneers in Tortola.
Hogshead - A large barrel or cask holding alcohol.
Hold - The storage area at the bottom of a vessel.
Holystone - A soft sandstone used to scrub the decks.
Hulks - Naval ships used as floating jails for keeping prisoners.
Hull - The outer shell of a ship.
Jacob’s Ladder - The rope ladder used to climb aboard the ship.
Jib - A large triangular sail set on a forward stay.
Jolly Roger - The common term for the black pirate flag with the skull and bones.
Junk - A wooden sailing ship commonly used in the Far East and China.
Keel - The bottom or flat underneath part of a ship or boat.
Keelhauled - A punishment where the offender is dragged by a rope from one side of the ship through the water under the keel to the other side.
Ketch - A small, two-masted ship or boat.
Knot - A measure of a ship's speed in nautical miles per hour; so-called after the knots tied at regular intervals in the logline.
Lanyard - Any rope that ties something off.
Latitude - Position north or south of the equator, measured according to a system of lines drawn on a map parallel with the equator.
Lay rough - When a seaman slept on the deck instead of a hammock or bed.
League - Three miles at sea.
Lee - Side or direction away from the wind.
Letter Of Marque - A license or certificate issued by a monarch or a government authorizing the bearer to attack enemy ships.
List - The ship leans to one side.
Loaded to the Gunwhales - Someone who is very drunk.
Log Book - The book in which details of the ship's voyage are recorded
Longboat - The long wooden ships powered by sail and oars for transportation from the main ship to land.
Longitude - Position east or west in the world, measured according to a system of lines drawn on a map from north to south.
Lose the weather gage - When the enemy comes between the ship and the wind.
Lubber - A person not accustomed to the ways of ships and sea.
Mainmast - The ship's principal mast.
Man-Of War - A large naval warship with several decks of cannons.
Marlinspike - A pointed tool used for unraveling rope in order to splice it.
Maroon - A common pirate punishment where the guilty party is deserted on a remote island.
Midshipman - Non-commissioned rank below lieutenant in the navy.
Mizzen(mast) - Aftermost mast in a three-masted vessel.
Mount the muzzle - The gunner’s command for elevating a great gun or cannon.
Mutiny - To refuse to obey an officer's orders, or to lead a revolt onboard ship.
New World - The continents of North and South America, called "new" because they were only discovered by Europeans after 1492.
No quarter given - Usually accompanied with the hoisting of the red flag. It means that no mercy would be shown and all souls on board killed.
Oakum - The packing material used to fill the planks in a wooden ship.
Pewter - A mixture of lead and tin used to make the hard-wearing cups and dishes used by pirates.
Pieces of Eight - Spanish silver pesos that were worth eight reales. Piece of eight could be torn into pieces to make change.
Pinnace - A small, fast vessel decked like a ship that could be rowed and sailed.
Pirate - A general term for any person involved in robbery at sea, including buccaneers, corsairs, and privateers.
Port (larboard) - The left side of a vessel facing forward.
Powder - Common term for gunpowder.
Powder Chest - An explosive device made of wood and filled with gunpowder and shot with a fuse running from the ship’s closed quarters to repel boarders.
Powder Monkey - A gunner’s assistant.
Press Gang - A group of people who rounded up likely men and forced them to join a ship's crew.
Privateer - A person who is legally entitled by letter of marque to attack enemy ships; also the term used to describe the ships such people used.
Ratlines - Crossed ropes on the shrouds (the ropes which run from the side of the ship to the mast) that form a rope ladder enabling sailors to climb to the top of the mast.
Rum Punch - A drink consisting of rum, lime juice and sugar. The recipe consisted of one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak (ice).
Salmagundi - A pirate stew made from an assortment of fish and fowl and heavily seasoned with spices.
Schooner - A small, fast sailing ship with two or sometimes three masts. The fore (front) mast is shorter than the mainmast.
Scurvy - A disease, with symptoms including bleeding gums and sores, caused by the lack of vitamin C, which is found in fresh fruits and vegetables.
Ship shape - All in order onboard the ship.
Shiver me timbers - An expression of shock; derived from when the ship ran aground and her timbers shivered.
Silk sling - A ribbon that held the pistol dangling from a pirate’s neck.
Sloop - A small, light single-masted sailing ship.
Spanish Main - The name for the area of South and Central America once ruled by the Spanish. The term later came to include the islands and waters of the Caribbean.
Splice - To weave two rope ends together in order to join them.
Spoiled Sails - Sails that were shredded in battle.
Square-Rigged - Term for a ship carrying square sails set at right angles to the mast.
Starboard - The right side of a vessel facing forward.
Stern - The back end of a ship.
Strike Amain - Lowering the topsails as a sign of submission.
Swivel Gun - A small gun or cannon mounted on a swivel and set on the rail of a vessel.
Swab the Deck - To clean a ship's deck.
Swabbers - Unhandy seaman, fit only to clean the ship.
Swinging the lead - A rope marked in fathoms with a lead weight at one end was tossed overboard to measure the water's depth and the nature of the seabed. Swinging the lead was an easy job and came to be known as the phrase for avoiding work.
Take the caulk - Since the deck’s gaps were sealed with oakum and tar and napping on them would leave black lines on the clothes, a seaman going to take a nap would say he was going to “take a caulk.”
Quarterdeck - A deck above the main deck located at the stern of the ship where the captain and officers controlled the ship.
Quartermaster - The officer who represented the crew in all issues aboard ship. He was in-charge food and supplies, division of the booty, and distributed the punishment to the guilty.
Rail - The timber plank on top of the gunwale long the sides of a vessel.
Reef - To shorten sail by rolling up the bottom section and securing it by tying short lines attached to the sail.
Rigging - The general name for ropes, chains, and wires which hold masts, spars and yards in place and control movement of the ship.
Scuppers - Holes pierced in deck near bulwarks to allow surplus water to drain off.
Schooner - A two-masted vessel, fore-and-aft rigged on both masts. Some ships had square topsails on the foremast or on both topmasts.
Sheet - Line running from the bottom aft corner of sail by which it can be adjusted to the wind.
Shiver me timbers - To be "shocked" because when a wooden ship runs aground, her timbers shiver.
Shrouds - Standing rigging stretched from the side of a ship to support the mast.
Son of a gun - A male child born aboard a ship; a bastard.
Squadron - A group of ten or less warships.
Square-rigged - Rig consisting of four-cornered sails hung from yards.
Stay - Standing rigging fore and aft and supporting a mast.
Stern lights - The ship’s windows in the stern.
Strike the colors - To haul down a ship's flag as a signal of surrender.
Tack - The ship's coarse in relation to the wind.
Topgallant - The sail above topsail.
Topmast - Mast next above lower mast.
Topsail - Sail above mainsail.
Vaporing - The pirate ritual of screaming war cries and banging of weapons against the ship's gunwales to scare their prey prior to attacking.
Wadding - A small piece of cloth placed in the barrel of a pistol or cannon after the powder.
Waggoner - A pirate term for a sea atlas or book of sea charts.
Watch - The ship’s lookout who changed at the turning of the glass.
Weather - The side from which the wind is blowing.
Weigh - To lift, such as weighing the anchor of a ship.
Yard - The wooden pole to which the top of a sail is attached; also known as the yardarm.
Yellow Jack - The seaman's name for yellow fever.
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Pirate Eagle shirt |
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