port—the left side of a vessel when facing forward.
privateer—a vessel with governmental authority to attack and pillage ships of enemy nations, including merchant ships. Privateers were used during wartime.
quarter—a word with many meanings in nautical terminology, but in this context it refers to the sides of the vessel aft of amidships.
quarterdeck—the deck aft of the mainmast.
quid—one pound sterling.
rakish—describing when the masts are not purely vertical but lean aft. Gives the appearance of speed.
reef—to reduce the amount of sail in operation.
rigging—the lines and ropes of a vessel, used to support the masts and work the yards and sails.
schooner—in this instance, a two-masted vessel with the mainmast being taller. Both masts were rigged differently than on a square-rigged vessel, allowing for a smaller crew and enabling the ship to sail closer to the wind.
sextant—a navigational instrument used to determine latitude and longitude.
sheets—lines connected to the lower corners of the sails, used to control the sails.
shoal—a sandbar that projects near or above the surface of the water.
shroud—a rope, usually one of a pair, that stretches from the top of the mast (the masthead) to the sides of a vessel. Sailors climbed the shrouds if they needed to go aloft. The shrouds had horizontal rope rungs called ratlines (pronounced RAT-lunz).
slack tide—the transitional tide between ebb and flood, where the water is neither going in nor going out. There is high-water slack and low-water slack.
sounding lead—a lead weight attached to a rope, used to determine depth.
spar—a beam or pole, such as a mast or yard, that supports rigging.
squall—a sudden, violent wind sometimes accompanied by rain or snow.
starboard—the right side of a vessel when facing forward.
stay—a line that supports the masts or spars.
stays’l—a smaller, triangular sail set between the square sails. Intended to maximize wind power and used only in moderate weather and light winds. (Stays’l is short for staysail and is pronounced STAY-sul.)
steerage—a large space belowdecks. On packet ships, it was usually reserved for passengers who could not afford a private cabin.
stern—the back of a ship.
top—the semicircular platform located just above the lowest yard of each mast. Tops are named after the mast to which they belong: foretop, maintop, mizzentop.
topgallant—the sail above the topsail (pronounced tuh-GAL-unt).
topsail—the sail immediately above the lowest sail on a square-rigged vessel (pronounced TOP-sul).
trick—a period of time in which a crewman is on duty at the helm.
yard—a horizontal beam attached to a mast to support a sail.
yardarm—the end of a yard.
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