A Sea of Words

by Dean King

  board In sailing, to sail as CLOSE TO THE WIND as possible; the course of a ship when TACKing. “To make boards” means to tack; “to make short boards” means to tack frequently. Also, to enter a vessel, generally used in the sense of attacking it or officially entering it to examine papers.

  boarding axe A weapon with a steel axehead and a spike used for cutting an enemy ship’s RIGGING and STAYS, thus hindering its ability to maneuver.

  boarding-netting Nets fastened to the side of the ship to repel boarders.

  Board of Green Cloth The financial office of the Royal Household, named for the green-covered table at which its business was originally transacted. Consisting of the Lord Steward and his subordinates, it controlled various matters of expenditure and had legal and judicial authority within the sovereign’s royal court, having “power to correct all offenders, and to maintain the peace of the VERGE or jurisdiction of the court-royal, which extends every way two hundred yards from the gate of the palace” (Wharton Law Lexicon). Also, the term is associated with naval COURTS-MARTIAL, which also sometimes used a green cloth on the table.

  boards In bookbinding, rectangular pieces of strong pasteboard used for the covers of books. If a book has these covered only with paper it is said to be in boards; if covered with cloth, it is said to be in cloth boards; and if the boards are covered with leather, parchment, or the like, the book is said to be bound.

  boat-cloak A large cloak worn by officers on duty at sea.

  boatswain or bosun or bos’n A multipurpose PETTY OFFICER, usually one of the best seamen, whose responsibilities included inspecting the ship’s sails and RIGGING every morning and reporting their state to the officer of the WATCH. If new ropes or other repairs were needed, he also informed the FIRST LIEUTENANT. The Boatswain was in charge of all deck activities, such as weighing or dropping anchor or handling the sails and he issued orders using a silver boatswain’s pipe. “His vigilance should ever be on the alert, and his eyes should be everywhere,” noted The Naval Apprentice’s Kedge Anchor (1841). “He should be active of limb, quick of sight, and ready in the exercise of his mental faculties.”

  bob or bob-wig A wig with the bottom locks in short curls or “bobs,” as opposed to a “full-bottomed wig.” Also, bob only, a curtsy.

  bobstay A heavy rope that draws the BOWSPRIT down toward the STEM and counteracts the force of the STAYS of the FOREMAST, which pull up.

  Bob’s your uncle A slang phrase meaning everything is perfect.

  Boccherini, Luigi (1743-1805) Italian violoncellist and composer born in Lucca. He composed at the courts of the Infante Don Luis in Madrid and Frederick II “the Great” in Prussia. Best known for his chamber music.

  boggart or boggard A specter, goblin, or bogeyman, especially a goblin or sprite that haunts a gloomy spot or scene of violence.

  Bohea Black tea from the Wu-i hills of China, from where it was first exported to England; applied also to tea of similar quality grown elsewhere. The name was given in the beginning of the 18th century to the finest black teas.

  boletus The common name for the club fungi, a red or brown umbrella-shaped mushroom, some of which are poisonous and others edible. The boletus is common throughout the United States and Europe.

  bollard A wooden or iron post on a ship, a whale-boat, or a QUAY, for securing ropes to.

  bolster Any of a variety of objects used to prevent chaffing in the RIGGING, SHEETS, and anchor line, and on a ship’s sides. For example, a small cushion or bag of tarred canvas used to prevent the STAYS from being chaffed by the movement of the MASTS, and a piece of wood covered with canvas for the EYES of the rigging to rest on the TRESSLETREES.

  boltered Clotted or clogged with blood, especially having the hair matted with blood.

  bolt-rope A rope sewn around the edge of a sail to prevent the canvas from tearing.

  bolus A round medicinal lozenge, often a cathartic of unspecified ingredients. The term was often used disparagingly for a useless or inconvenient remedy of large size.

  bomb A small war vessel carrying mortars for throwing bombs and also known as a bomb-galliot, bomb-ketch, bomb-ship, bomb-vessel, or bombard. See also KETCH.

  bonito A striped tuna, common in tropical seas, that grows to about three feet and lives chiefly on flying fish.

  bonne bouche A tidbit, from the French expression garder quelque chose pour la bonne bouche, to save something until last.

  bonne mot Aubrey’s pidgin French for bon mot, a witty remark or saying.

  bonnet An additional piece of canvas laced to the foot of a sail to catch more wind. Although this arrangement was used in the 17th century, it was obsolete by the early 19th century.

  bonny-clabber Milk that has soured naturally.

  bonus nullius No good (that is, of no use), Latin.

  booby A fish-eating, island-dwelling bird of tropical and subtropical coasts and the northern Pacific. Up to 40 inches in length, boobies are closely related to gannets and have short legs, white plumage with dark tails, and brownish black, long, pointed wings. They sleep on the water and visit land primarily for breeding. Their brightly colored conical bills with sharp, slightly curved tips are ideal for their mode of fishing, which involves speedy dives from up to 100 feet above the surface of the water. Also, the native name in Australia for the wattlebird, a honey eater with pendulous ear wattles. Booby also means a lubber, a clown, a nincompoop.

  Boodle’s Men’s club founded in 1762 by Edward Boodle. Originally on Pall Mall on the site of ALMACK’S Club, it moved to its current location at 28 St. James’s Street in 1783. Among its members were William Pitt the Younger and the Duke of Wellington.

  boom A long SPAR run out from different places in the ship to extend the foot of a particular sail, such as the jm-boom, flying jibboom, and STUDDINGSAIL boom. Also refers to the part of a ship’s deck where spare spars are stowed; the ship’s boats are stowed “on the booms.” Of a sail, set to a boom instead of to a YARD; of a SHEET, fastened to a boom. To boom out means to extend the foot of a sail with a boom. To boom off is to push a vessel off with a pole.

  boom-iron An iron ring fitted on the YARDARM, through which the STUDDINGSAIL boom slides when rigged out or in; a similar ring by which the flying jiB-boom is secured to the jib-boom, or this to the BOWSPRIT.

  boomkin See BUMKIN.

  boor A peasant, countryman. From the Dutch word boer, “farmer.”

  boot-top To clean the upper part of a ship’s bottom by daubing it over with a coat or mixture of tallow, sulfur, resin, etc. Boot-topping is chiefly performed where there is no dock or when there is not enough time to clean the whole bottom.

  borborygm or borborygmus Rumbling in the bowels.

  Boreas, H.M.S. A 28-gun sixth-rate ship commanded by NELSON in 1784 on a voyage to the WEST INDIES. Launched in 1774, she became a supply ship in 1797 and was sold in 1802.

  boreen A lane, a narrow road. Also, an opening in a crowd (chiefly Irish).

  Borgia, Lucréce (1480-1519) The Duchess of Ferrara and the sister of Cesare Borgia (1476-1507), the duke who spread terror in Italy and was praised by Machiavelli in Principe. The daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexander VI, Lucrece married three times for political purposes.

  boring iron A tool used for piercing, perforating, or making a borehole.

  Borneo An island in the MALAY Archipelago. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and was frequented by English, Dutch, and Portuguese traders in the 16th and 17th centuries.

  Bossuet, Jacques-Bénigne (1627-1704) France’s greatest pulpit orator. His funerary orations were classics of French Baroque prose. Wrote tracts in support of absolutism.

  bosun See BOATSWAIN.

  bosun bird The arctic SKUA (Cataractes parasiticus). Also, a tropical bird, Phaeton aethereus, with a whistlelike call and two long feathers in the tail, called by sailors the MARLINE-SPIKE because it resembled one.

  bosun’s chair A chair formed from a board, much like the seat of a swing, that can
be hauled aloft and that a sailor sits on when working aloft.

  Botany Bay Inlet in NEW SOUTH WALES south of what is today Sydney, Australia, and so named for the flora discovered there in 1770 by Captain COOK’S passenger, the renowned botanist Joseph BANKS.

  bottle-jack A bottle-shaped device for roasting meat.

  bottom A contract similar to a mortgage, in which a shipowner borrows money to enable him to complete a voyage and pledges the ship as security for repayment.

  boules A French game of bowls, which is played with heavy metal balls tossed in the air.

  bounty A gratuity given to recruits on joining the Army or Navy; a reward to soldiers; PRIZE MONEY for capturing an enemy ship.

  Bourbon A member of the royal family that long held the thrones of France (1589-1793 and 1814-1830), Spain (1700-1808, 1814-1868, and 1874-1931), and Naples (1735-1805 and 1815-1860).

  bow or bows The forward end of any craft, beginning on both sides where the planks arch inward and ending where they close, at the STEM or PROW.

  bow-and-quarter line The position of ships in a column when each successive vessel has its BOW a little to one side and behind the BEAM of the one in front.

  bow-chaser also chase or chase-piece A long gun with a relatively small bore, placed in the BOW-port to fire directly ahead. Used especially while chasing an enemy vessel to damage its sails and RIGGING.

  bower or bower anchor The name of the two largest anchors, the BEST-BOWER (STARBOARD) and SMALL-BOWER (LARBOARD), carried at the BOWS of a ship. Bower also refers to the CABLE attached to these anchors.

  bow-grace A kind of frame or fender of old junk placed around the BOWS and sides of a ship to prevent injury from floating ice or timbers.

  bowler In cricket, the player who bowls or propels the ball at the wicket, something like the pitcher in baseball.

  bow-line or bowline A useful type of knot that produces a loop and will not slip. Also, a rope fastened with a bowline to about the middle of the perpendicular edge on the WEATHER side of a square sail and secured forward to keep the edge of the sail steady when the ship is sailing CLOSE-HAULED. A SQUARE-RIGGED ship sails “on a bowline” when her COURSE is as close as possible to the wind.

  bowman The oarsman who sits nearest the BOW of a boat.

  bowse To haul down on a TACKLE, for instance after a TACK.

  bowsprit A large spar running out from the STEM of a vessel, to which the FOREMAST STAYS are fastened and from which JIBS are set.

  Bow Street Runners The first organized police force in London, established in 1748 by the writer Henry Fielding, who was then chief magistrate at Bow Street. They were empowered to serve outside of the City in 1757. Incorporated into the Metropolitan Police in 1829.

  box-haul A method of going about that involved throwing the sails aback, sailing backward, and turning the ship on her heel. It was used only in an emergency.

  box the compass To name the points, half points, and quarter points of the compass in proper sequence in a clockwise direction beginning at north (N, NbE, NNE, NEbN, NE, NEbE, ENE, EbN, E, etc.).

  Boyne, H.M.S. A 98-gun second rate that accidentally burned at Spithead in 1795. The crew was saved.

  brace A rope or line attached to the end of a YARD, used to swing, or TRIM, the sail. To move or turn a sail using braces. To brace up means to bring the yards nearer to FORE-AND-AFT by HAULing on the LEE braces. To brace in was to bring the yard more square. Also, a timber used to strengthen the framework of a vessel.

  brace-pendant Lengths of rope or chain into which the YARDARM brace-BLOCKS are spliced.

  Brahmanism The principles and practice of the Brahmans, the highest, or priestly, caste among the Hindus.

  brail up To HAUL up the foot or lower corners of a sail by means of the brails, small ropes fastened to the edges of sails to truss them up before FURLing.

  breach The breaking of waves on a shore or over a vessel.

  bread-barge An oval tub in which bread is placed for mess.

  bread pill Bread crumbs rolled into small pills, used for treating many gastrointestinal disorders, but essentially a placebo.

  Breadroom A place partitioned off below the lower deck for keeping the bread.

  break bulk To begin to unload cargo.

  bream To clear a ship’s bottom of shells, seaweed, ooze, etc., by singeing it, thus softening the pitch so that the debris can be scraped off.

  breast-hooks Thick pieces of timber, curved like KNEES and used to reinforce the BOWS of a ship.

  breech To secure a cannon by means of a BREECHING. Also, the back part of a gun.

  breeching A stout rope attached by a THIMBLE to the CASCABEL of a gun and securing the gun to the ship’s side. See illustration, page 214.

  Bréguet A watch made by Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823), a renowned French watchmaker of Swiss origin.

  Brest The chief naval base and dockyard for the French Navy operating in the Atlantic, located in northwest France and frequently blockaded by the British Channel Fleet.

  brickbat A fragment of brick, a useful missile when stones are scarce. An uncomplimentary remark, criticism.

  bridle A stout CABLE by which a vessel is secured to MOORINGS. A short piece of rope by which a BOWLINE is attached to the LEECH, or side edge, of the sail.

  bridle-port A port or port-hole in a ship’s BOW through which BRIDLES may be run or chase-guns fired.

  brig A two-masted vessel, SQUARE-RIGGED on both MASTS, setting on a boom a large main STAYSAIL (known as a brigsail), but lacking a COURSE on the mainyard. The SHEET of the FORE-AND-AFT brigsail is secured to a BOOM. A SNOW was similar but did set a course on the MAIN; it had no mainstaysail, but it did have a loose-footed (no boom) fore-and-aft sail set on a “snowmast.” A hermaphrodite brig has a brig’s foremast and a SCHOONER’S mainmast. See illustration, page 57.

  brightwork Polished metalwork, usually brass.

  brimstone Formerly the common name for sulfur.

  Bristol In southwest England on the Severn River, one of the country’s most prosperous ports after London and home to fleets of traders that imported vast amounts of fruit, wine, oil, and many other products from around the world.

  bristol card A kind of pasteboard with a smooth surface suitable for art.

  Bristol-fashion Shipshape.

  broach to To veer or inadvertently to cause the ship to veer to WINDWARD, bringing her BROADSIDE to meet the wind and sea, a potentially hazardous situation, usually the result of a ship being driven too hard. A ship arriving in this unhappy situation by YAWing to LEEWARD rather than windward was said to have been “brought by the lee.”

  broad pendant A swallow-tailed pendant flown by a COMMODORE. The pendant—red, white, or blue depending upon the SQUADRON of the commodore—was originally 14 times as long as it was wide but was shortened gradually to two times its width.

  broadsheet A large sheet of paper printed on one side only.

  broadside The side of a ship above the water, or with the side of the vessel turned fully toward. The whole array or the simultaneous firing of the artillery on one side of a ship. Hence, a volley of verbal abuse.

  Broke, Sir Philip Bowes Vere (1776-1841) The British Rear-Admiral best known for his battle on June 1, 1813, with the U.S. FRIGATE CHESAPEAKE off Boston. Broke, who first served under NELSON and JERVIS, became known for his intense gunnery training, which served the SHANNON well in its duel with the Chesapeake. Two brutal broadsides wracked the Chesapeake, causing heavy casualties and helping to win the fight. Broke was a hero in Britain, having avenged recent British defeats in similar actions. He was made a BARONET but because of a battle wound, never again served at sea.

  bromeliad Any plant belonging to the family Bromeliaceae, which are chiefly tropical American and herbaceous plants such as the pineapple and Spanish moss.

  bronchus Each of the two main branches of the trachea, or windpipe.

  Brooks’s A men’s club created when ALMACK’S Club split into two new clubs, BOODLE’S and Brooks�
�s, in 1764. Known as a place of excessive gambling, Brooks’s moved from Pall Mall to 60 St. James’s Street in 1778 and later became a meeting place of the WHIGS. Patrick O’Brian is a member.

  brow An inclined plane of planks, or GANGWAY, between a ship and shore used for entering and leaving.

  Brummagem A local vulgar form of the name of Birmingham, England, used to refer to a FARTHING, GROAT, or HALFPENNY. An allusion to counterfeit groats produced there, and by extension, counterfeit, sham, a cheap or showy imitation.

  bubo An inflamed swelling or abscess in glandular parts of the body, especially the groin or armpits. A common sign of the bubonic plague.

  buck-basket A basket in which cloth, yarn, or clothes are bucked (washed by being boiled in lye).

  Buckler’s Hard A shipbuilding site near PORTSMOUTH on the Beaulieu River in Hampshire, in the south of England, used during the 18th and 19th centuries.

  buff or buff-leather Leather made of buffalo hide, but also applied to a stout leather made of ox hide, dressed with oil and having a characteristic fuzzy surface and a dull whitish-yellow color. Buff was formerly much used for military attire.

  bugalet A small, two-masted SQUARE-RIGGED vessel used along the coast of Brittany. The after mast, which was the larger one, carried a large square sail and a TOPSAIL, and the FOREMAST, a small square sail. It could also carry one or two JIBS.

  bugger A sodomite. In vulgar language, a term of abuse or insult; often, however, simply “chap” or “fellow.” Also refers to something that is a great nuisance.

  Bugio Probably Bougie, the French name for a seaport of northeast Algiers.

  buke Obsolete form of “book.”

  bulbul Any of the medium-sized, dull-colored PASSERINE birds of the family Pycnonotidae, native to Africa and South Asia. Famed songsters having short necks and wings, bulbuls are popular as cage birds in the Middle East. Often found in Persian poetry, the word bulbul is frequently mistranslated as “nightingale.”

  bulkhead One of the upright partitions serving to form the cabins in a ship or to divide the hold into distinct watertight compartments for safety in case of collision or other damage.