slops – (i.e. “The pusser’s slops”): Normally the term referred to ready-made clothes that were sold by the pusser to the ship’s sailors, but could include other supplies such as soap or tobacco, but not alcohol. From the older English term sloppes, meaning trousers.
smoke it – An expression meaning to discover a ruse or to understand.
soundings – Depth measurements. A ship is “in soundings” if it is shallow enough that the depth can be measured (usually with the short lead line).
spar – Any of the wooden components of the rigging: masts & booms.
speak – To enable the captains of ships at sea to converse via speaking trumpets, each ship would let its sails loose to stop and “speak” the other. They did not say ‘speak to’, just ‘speak’.
splice – A place where rope is joined to itself to repair it, extend it, or make a loop.
splice the main brace – Although this expression literally means to repair the rope used to rotate the main yard, its true meaning is to reward the entire crew by serving out an extra tot of rum.
starter / to start – A short piece of rope with a knotted end (makeshift whip) or a riding crop used to jolt a man into action. On many ships, used very frequently by the petty officers. Also, the English equivalent of ‘apetizer’.
stem – See ‘bow’. Front vertical beam of the hull (Leading to the modern expression ‘stem to stern’).
stern – The aft (back) end of a boat.
starboard – The right side of a ship (facing forward). The opposite of ‘larboard’ (now ‘port’).
stone – An old English measurement of human body weight equal to 14 pounds
stroke oar – A person, not a thing: the oarsman in a small boat who controls the pace of rowing; the little boat’s ‘captain’.
stuns’l – Spoken form of studdingsails. (See sail illustration.)
supernumerary – An unofficial extra; a passenger, like a lieutenant being carried to his ship.
sweeps – Long oars used for propelling ships when there is no wind.
taffrail – The stern rail of the stern-most deck (the poop deck or quarterdeck, depending on the ship’s construction).
tompion – (pronounced ‘tompkin’): a wooden plug for the muzzle of a housed cannon that kept out rain, seawater, etc.
top hamper – The standing rigging & spars above the primary masts: topmasts and above.
truck – The very top of a mast, often being a decoration such as a painted ball above a block (pulley) that could be used to raise signal flags.
van – The front group of a line of ships or convoy, followed by the ‘center’ and the ‘rear’.
waist – The center (top deck) of a ship; the area of deck between the quarterdeck and forecastle.
waisters – Men who normally work in the waist at unskilled jobs; mostly hauling on the lines – sheets, halyards, braces, etc. Usually landsmen; untrained workers.
weather gage – In fighting sailing ships, the advantageous position of being upwind, from which the one with the weather gage can fall down on his enemy in any direction he chooses.
yards (yardarms) – Horizontal spars of a square-rigger’s rigging. They are attached to the masts with hoops that permit them to be rotated and raised or lowered for positioning the sails. The sails hang on the yards and are reefed or furled onto them.
The Stillwater Conspiracy (The Neville Burton 'Worlds Apart' Series Book 4) Page 32
