by Dean King
In 1808 he led an expedition to assist Portugal in its revolt against the French. In 1809 he returned to the Iberian Peninsula and ultimately assumed command of the British, Portuguese, and Spanish forces in the Peninsular War. Though his campaign received poor support from the British government, he took advantage of the irregular terrain, Portuguese and Spanish nationalism, and Napoleon’s preoccupation with other theaters to drive the French north of the Pyrenees by 1813. He had invaded southern France as far as Toulouse when news of Napoleon’s abdication arrived in April 1814.
Returning to England, he received many honors and was created duke of Wellington. When Napoleon returned from Elba, Wellington took command of the allied armies and, together with the Prussian general, Gebhard Leberecht von BLUCHER, defeated the French at WATERLOO. Wellington then took charge of the army of occupation in France, exerting his influence to restrain harsh treatment of the defeated French.
He served as prime minister (1828-30), foreign secretary (1834-35), and again as minister without portfolio (1841-46). In 1842 he was made commander in chief for life. He is buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
wenching Associating with common women.
were- The first element of, for example, the word “werewolf,” used with names of animals to indicate a human being imagined to be transformed into a beast, as in “were-bear.”
wery Obsolete form of “very.”
West Indies The long chain of islands arcing from the coast of Florida to the coast of South America and separating the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic, discovered by Columbus and so named because he believed that he had reached India from the west. The West Indies consist of the Greater Antilles, including Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico; and the Lesser Antilles, comprising the Windward and Leeward Islands, Barbados, Trinidad, and Tobago. Fought over by Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands because of their rich trade, the West Indies were the site in 1782 of a victorious British battle against the French known as the Battle of the SAINTES. NELSON pursued VILLENEUVE here in 1805. Britain’s success in this region helped to establish a decisive maritime and commercial supremacy over France.
wet A drink of an alcoholic beverage.
wether A male sheep, or ram, especially a castrated one.
whale-back A large mound in the shape of the back of a whale; any land mass with an appearance similar to that of the back of a whale.
whale-bird Any of various birds that inhabit the places where whales live, particularly ones that feed on whale oil or offal, including certain PETRELS, the turnstone, the red or gray PHALAROPE, and the ivory gull.
wheatear A small songbird widely found in the Old World, having a blue-gray back, white belly and rump, and blackish wings. It is considered a delicacy.
wherry A wide sailing BARGE with a single MAST and a large MAINSAIL, used to transport freight on the Norfolk Broads in England. Also, a light rowboat used chiefly on rivers to carry passengers. See illustration, below.
A Thames wherry (from Naval Costume by Sir William Symonds, R.N.)
Whig Although there was no clear distinction between Whigs and Tories during the era of O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels, in general terms, a Whig was one who upheld the supremacy of PARLIAMENT and, while acknowledging the King’s theoretical right to appoint his own ministers, in practice wanted to deprive him of it. The Whigs stood for civil and religious liberty all over the world, including Catholic Emancipation at home. In 1792, Charles J. Fox and the Whigs opposed entering the war as an unjustifiable interference by a reactionary power in the rights of an independent country. The Whigs were in opposition for more than 20 years after 1807. Their leaders included Fox, Lord Grey, and Ponsonby. See TORY for general background.
whinchat A small brown and buff European songbird, closely allied to the stonechat and found in grassy meadows.
whip A TACKLE, or pulley, consisting of a single BLOCK and a rope, used on board ship primarily for light hoisting.
whist A card game, played by four people in pairs, in which points are scored according to the number of tricks won. It was a forerunner of bridge.
Whitehall In the district of Westminster in London, Whitehall houses the chief government buildings, including the ADMIRALTY, the Treasury, the Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street, and the HORSE GUARDS. The site was originally the location of the huge, rambling Whitehall Palace, which in 1532 became Henry VIII’s premier royal residence in London. The palace expanded over the years until 1698, when a fire destroyed everything but the Renaissance-style banqueting hall, designed by the architect Inigo Jones in 1619-1622. The ADMIRALTY Office (see also page 4), a brick building with a large Ionic portico built between 1722 and 1726, is on the west side of Whitehall.
white letter In printing, the type of print now called roman.
white pudding A type of sausage made of oatmeal and suet. Also, pudding made of milk, eggs, flour, and butter.
White’s The oldest and grandest of the St. James’s gentlemen’s clubs in London, White’s was infamous as a gambling spot where anything was worthy of a wager. (Legend has it that Lord Arlington bet £3,000 on which of two raindrops would be the first to reach the bottom of a window pane.) By 1814 the club had 500 members and a lengthy waiting list.
white squall A squall or sudden gust of strong wind that is not accompanied by clouds, as opposed to a black squall, which is, and a thick squall, one usually with hail or sleet.
white-tailed eagle The European sea eagle.
wicket A gate for pedestrians, frequently one to be used when an adjacent larger gate is closed.
widdershins In a direction opposite to the usual; in a wrong or contrary direction.
widow’s cruse A supply that, though apparently meager, is or seems to be inexhaustible. It is an allusion to I Kings 17:12-16, in which a widow feeds the prophet Elijah for many days from only a small pot of oil and a handful of meal.
wigeon Either of two wild ducks with brown plumage found in North America, Europe, and northern Asia.
wight A live creature, especially a human being. Brave, valiant.
Wight, Isle of A diamond-shaped island off the southern coast of Hampshire, across the strait known as the SOLENT from PORTSMOUTH and Southampton. It protects the harbor of Portsmouth.
Wilkes and Liberty The rallying cry for the London-born politician and journalist John Wilkes (1727-1797), who became known as a champion of liberty and an upholder of press freedom. An MP, he attacked the ministry in his weekly journal North Briton. In 1762, Wilkes was found guilty of seditious libel, imprisoned, released, then expelled from the House of Commons. He was reelected and expelled on several occasions, his rioting mob of supporters shouting the slogan “Wilkes and Liberty.” Wilkes pushed for parliamentary reform, including the suppression of rotten boroughs and the protection of individual liberty. Supported by London merchants, he became Lord Mayor of London in 1774 and regained admission to Parliament, where he championed colonial rights in the American Revolution.
William, Prince See CLARENCE, Duke of.
William III (1650-1702) See DUTCH WILLIAM.
Willis, Thomas (1621-1675) Physician of Oxford and London who made several important neuroanatomical discoveries.
Winchester A city in the county of Hampshire in southern England. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Wessex and later the seat of the Danish King Canute’s government (1016-1035). Winchester is famed for its cathedral, the longest in England, and Winchester College, a boys’ school founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 to prepare students for New College, Oxford.
Winchester quart A quart (two pints) in Winchester measure; four Imperial pints (80 fluid ounces). Also, a bottle holding four pints.
windage A space between the inner wall of a firearm and the SHOT or shell that it is charged with to allow for the expansion of gas in firing, the size of which is determined by the difference between the diameters of the bore and the shot.
wind-gall A fragment of a rainbow or co
lorful halo, supposed to presage windy weather.
windlass A mechanism operating on the same principle as the CAPSTAN but on a horizontal axis, used on board merchant ships and some smaller vessels of the Royal Navy for weighing the anchor, hoisting, and hauling.
windsail A long wide tube or funnel of sailcloth with wings at one end that is suspended from a STAY to direct fresh air below deck.
Windsor English city in the county of Berkshire on the Thames River, 20 miles west of London. Location of the principle residence of England’s sovereigns since the time of William the Conquerer, Windsor is the home of St. George’s Chapel, the burial place of many English kings.
wind-suck Of a horse, to noisily draw in and swallow air, often associated with CRIB-BITING.
windward Situated in the direction from which the wind blows; the WEATHER side of a vessel. At sea, the windward side of the QUARTERDECK was reserved for use by the Captain.
wine-cooler A vessel equipped to carry bottles of wine immersed in ice or iced liquid.
wing-transom The uppermost and longest TRANSOM in the stern-frame of a ship.
wireworm A worm that is the slender hard-skinned larva of any of the click beetles, which destroy the roots of plants. Also, similar larvae, especially the leatherjacket grub of the crane fly.
wisent The European bison, Bison bonasus, once found throughout Europe, including Great Britain, and still living in some protected forests on the Continent.
Witch of Endor A medium who can call up the dead; a witch. An allusion to 1 Samuel 28:7, in which King Saul consults with a divining woman.
with a run Rapidly.
Withering, William (1741-1799) Clinician and medical botanist of Birmingham, England. His Account of the Foxglove (1785) introduced DIGITALIS for the treatment of DROPSY.
withy A flexible willow branch used for tying or binding, as in a halter, leash, or hoop.
wizened To be shrunken and dried up, shriveled, as from aging. Also, to have a parched throat.
wombat Any of the stocky burrowing marsupials native to South Australia and Tasmania and resembling small bears.
woodcock A European and British migratory game bird, allied to the SNIPE, with a long bill, large eyes, and brownish variegated plumage. Also, a related American game bird.
wood-louse A small terrestrial isopod crustacean found in old wood and under stones, which often rolls itself up into a ball. Also called cheeselip, hog-louse, pill bug, slater, or sow bug.
Wool A town in the county of Dorset, England, southeast of Dorchester.
woolding Binding a MAST, YARD, or other SPAR with several turns of a rope to strengthen it where it is broken or where, being made of two or more pieces, it is FISHed or SCARFed. Also, the rope used to do this.
worm Any of many species of intestinal worms, but usually the easily visible tapeworm (other species are difficult to see without a microscope, which did not enter common medical usage until the late 19th century). However, MAGGOTS might also be meant, especially in reference to a cadaver. Also, a double or single screw at the end of a rod, used to withdraw the charge or WAD from a muzzle-loading gun. Of a rope, to fill the lay between strands with tarred SPUNYARN or filling to give it a smooth surface or to prevent moisture from getting inside.
wrack Marine vegetation, especially seaweed, cast ashore by waves or growing on the tidal seashore.
wring a mast To bend it beyond its natural position by setting up the SHROUDS too tight.
wryneck Either of two species of woodpeckers, distinguishable by their habit of contorting the neck and head.
X
xebec also xebeque, jabeque, sciabecco, chebeck A small, fast three-masted (originally two-masted) vessel with a shallow draft and a distinctive overhanging BOW and STERN. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, a large xebec carried a square RIG on the FOREMAST, LATEEN sails on the others, a BOWSPRIT, and two HEADSAILS. It was frequently used in the Mediterranean by CORSAIRS, carrying a crew of up to 400 men and mounting up to 24 guns. See illustrations, below and on page 57.
A xebec with a view of the lighthouse on the mole at Naples (from Serres’s Liber Nauticus)
Y
yacht A light, fast, sailing ship, originally used as a vessel of state to transport royalty, ambassadors, and other important people. Later applied to vessels used exclusively for pleasure.
yard A long and narrow wooden SPAR, slung at its center from before the MAST in a SQUARE-RIGGED ship and serving to support and extend a square sail that is BENT to it; a yard that crosses the MAST diagonally is known as a LATEEN yard.
yardarm Either of the ends of a YARD, the outer QUARTERS, where on SQUARE-RIGGED ships signal flags were flown and where men sentenced to death by a COURT-MARTIAL were hung. Often incorrectly used for the yard as a whole.
yardarm to yardarm Of ships, so near to one another that the YARDARMS are touching, as in a battle fought at close quarters.
yard-tackles TACKLES attached to the FORE and MAIN YARDS and used to HOIST and lower a ship’s boats.
yataghan A long knife or short sword of Turkey and other Muslim countries, with no cross guard and often with a double-curved blade.
yaw Of a vessel, to deviate temporarily from the desired course as a result of a powerful following wind or sea reducing the control of the RUDDER, or sometimes as a result of poor steering. Also, to turn to one side or from side to side in her course.
yawl A small craft with two MASTS, FORE-AND-AFT rigged, that resembles a KETCH; a ship’s boat resembling a PINNACE but smaller, usually with four or six oars.
yearth Earth.
yellow To make a YELLOW ADMIRAL.
yellow admiral A POST-CAPTAIN who is simultaneously retired and promoted to Rear-Admiral “without distinction of squadron,” having not served as a Rear-Admiral and having not been attached to one of the Red, White, or Blue SQUADRONS, and so deemed a “yellow” ADMIRAL. The practice, begun in 1747, was used to recognize distinguished service while weeding out less able leaders and also decreasing the logjam of officers eligible for promotion.
yellow fever A viral disease found in most tropical climates and transmitted by mosquitoes. It caused epidemics in cold climates when infected mosquitoes were transported in ships’ water casks, but such epidemics died out, along with the responsible mosquitoes, in the first frosts of autumn. Mortality varied from about 10 percent to as high as 80 percent, but the higher extreme was rarely approached. Typical symptoms included a bright red facial rash, black vomiting, severe diarrhea, liver destruction, and jaundice.
yellow flag A yellow-colored flag flown on a ship formerly as a signal that capital punishment was being carried out on board; later as a signal of the presence of infectious disease or of quarantine.
yellow Jack Slang for YELLOW FEVER and also for the yellow-colored quarantine flag. A nickname of certain pensioners at Greenwich Hospital who were made to wear a coat with yellow in it to warn others of their proclivity to drink.
yeoman In the British and U.S. navies, a PETTY OFFICER who is in charge of the stores of a particular department, such as a BOATSWAIN’S or GUNNER’S yeoman or the yeoman of the SHEETS.
ye thrawn, ill-feckit gaberlunzie You perverse, misbegotten beggar (Scots).
York, H.M.S. A third rate built in 1796. She foundered in 1804.
Young, Arthur (1741-1820) A prolific English writer on agriculture, politics, and economics, Young advocated farming innovations such as the seed drill and enclosure of open fields. In 1771, he published the first of many editions of The Farmer’s Calendar, and in 1774, the widely translated Political Arithmetic. He published the periodical Annals of Agriculture, which included articles from GEORGE III under the pseudonym “Ralph Robinson.” His famous Travels in France (1792) gave accounts of the French just prior to the Revolution.
younker A youngster; a boy or junior seaman on a ship.
Z
Zealous, H.M.S. The 74-gun third rate, built in 1785, that led the British fleet at the Battle of the NILE in 1798. She
was commanded by Captain Sir Samuel Hood and afterward used by Hood when he commanded the force blockading the French army in Egypt. She was scrapped in 1816.
Zeiten (also Zieten or Ziethen), Count Hans Ernst Karl von (1770-1848) A Prussian field marshal whose corps engaged in intense fighting at LIGNY on June 16, 1815. Two days later, at WATERLOO, his crucial 6:30 P.M. arrival compelled NAPOLEON to send his reserve troops into the battle in a desperate and failed attempt to break WELLINGTON’S line.
Zelenka, Jan Dismas (1679-1745) A little-known Bohemian composer of sacred vocal music as well as some chamber and other instrumental works. He studied in Prague and played the double-bass in the royal orchestra at Dresden, where he became kapellmeister. Zelenka died lonely and bitter because of his lack of recognition as a composer.
Zenata One of three tribes of northern Africa (along with the Sanhaja and the Masmoda) constituting the Berbers, a generic name imposed on them by the Arabs and meaning “those who are not Arabs.” The Berbers were well established in North Africa before the Phoenicians arrived in 1200 B.C.
zephyr The west wind, especially as personified, or the god of the west wind. A gentle breeze.
APPENDIX:
A Time Line of the Napoleonic Wars, the war of 1812, and the Fight for Independence in Chile
1793
January 3 French batteries at Brest fire on H.M.S. Childers. These are the first shots in the Anglo-French naval wars of 1793-1815.
January 21 Louis XVI executed.
February 1 France declares war on England and Holland.
March 13 H.M.S. Scourge takes the Sans Culotte off the Scilly Isles in the first engagement with the French at sea.
September 22 New French calendar begins on this date, renamed as 1 Vendèmiaire, Year II of the Republic.
