Jears are the tackles which hoist or lower the lower yards.
Jib, the foremost sail of a ship.
Jibboom, the continuation of the bowsprit, as a topmast is of a lower mast. A flying jibboom is a spar running out beyond the jibboom.
Jury masts are those makeshifts which replace broken or lost masts.
Lanyards are short pieces of rope used as fastenings or handles.
Larboard is the same as port, meaning the left-hand side of a ship.
Lazaretto, the part of the hold used for stores, usually aft.
Leech, the leech of a sail is its upright side. Leech-lines are fastened to the middle of the leech of the mainsail and the foresail; they serve to truss the sails up to the yards.
Lifts are ropes running from the cap and masthead to the ends of the yard below to support it.
Marline, a small thin rope with but two strands. A marline spike is a handspike for parting the strands of a rope.
Masts: the mainmast is the largest in the ship, and stands nearly in the middle between stem and stern. The foremast stands near the stem, and is next in size to the mainmast. The mizzen is the smallest, and stands about half-way between the mainmast and the stern.
Each mast has three members, the mast itself, which stands upon the keel, the topmast, which is raised at the head of the lower mast through a cap, and the topgallantmast, which is raised on the topmast in the same manner. Sometimes a fourth part, called the royal-mast, is raised above the topgallantmast.
The masts and their members, then, are called thus, the mainmast, maintopmast, maintopgallant; foremast, foretopmast, foretopgallant; mizzen, mizzentopmast, and mizzentopgallant.
Minion-guns, cannon of three-and-a-half inch bore.
Mizzen-gaff, the spar extending the top of the fore-and-aft sail set on the aft side of the mizzenmast.
Nun-buoy, is one that is round in the middle and pointed at each end.
Paterero, a small gun or swivel.
Pink, a small ship with a narrow stern.
Plat, a map or chart.
Poop, the highest and aftermost deck of a ship.
Port is the left-hand side of the ship as you look forward from the stern.
Quarter-deck, that part of the upper deck that lies between the stern and the mizzenmast.
Rattlings or Ratlines are small ropes which traverse the shrouds horizontally, forming a variety of ladders, whereby to climb to any of the mast-heads.
Reefs are parts of a sail that can be rolled up or taken in to lessen the area of the sail according to the force of the wind.
Round-house, the uppermost cabin in the stern of a ship, where the master lies.
Runner, a rope with a block or pulley at one end and a hook the other, for hoisting things.
Sails: there are two sorts of sails in a ship, four-sided sails and triangular. The former are called square sails and the latter staysails, from their being spread on the stays, or ropes that run from the mast-heads forward. The square sails are spread on yards or booms. All sails derive their names from their mast, yard, boom or stay. Thus the principal sail, extended on the mainmast, is called the mainsail; the next above, which stands upon the maintopmast, is termed the main-topsail; and that which is spread across the maintopgallantmast is named the maintopgallantsail; the sail above it is called the main-royal.
In the same manner there is the foresail, foretopsail, mizzentopgallantsail, and mizzen-royal.
Thus also there is the main-staysail, maintopmast-staysail, maintop-gallant-staysail, and a middle staysail between the last two; all these staysails are between the main and foremast. The staysails between the main and mizzen are the mizzen-staysail, the mizzentopmaststaysail, and sometimes the mizzen-royal-staysail. The sails between the foremast and the bowsprit are the forestaysail, the foretopmaststaysail, the jib, and sometimes a flying-jib, and even a middle-jib. There are besides two and sometimes three square sails extended by yards under the bowsprit and jibbooms, one called the spritsail, the second the spritsail-topsail, and the third the spritsail-topgallantsail.
Studding-sails are sometimes set in calm weather; they are extended on booms run out beyond the ends of the yards that hold the square sails. Studding-sails are named from their stations, as, the topgallant-studding-sails.
Scupper holes are made through the ship’s side, through which water is carried from the deck off into the sea.
Scuttles are little square holes with lids cut in the deck, enough to let a man through, they serve to let people down upon occasion: they also serve to light the cabins.
Shallop, a kind of light open boat with a mast that can be set up.
Sheets are ropes fastened to one or both of the lower corners of a sail to hold it in a particular position.
Shrouds are those ropes that come from either side of the masts, being fastened below to the chains and aloft over the heads of the masts. They serve to stay the masts sideways, and they are named (like sails) by the masts to which they belong.
Sloop, a small vessel with one mast.
Starboard is the right-hand side of a ship as you look forward from the stern.
Stays are long strong ropes, supporting the masts by running from the mast-heads towards the stem. The forestay reaches from the foremast-head towards the bowsprit end, the mainstay extends to the ship’s stem, and the mizzenstay is stretched to a collar on the mainmast immediately above the quarterdeck. The foretopmaststay comes to the end of the bowsprit, and the foretopgallantstay to the end of the jibboom; the other topmasts and topgallants are all stayed forward in the same manner.
Steerage, the place in front of the bulkhead of the cabin, where the steersman stands and lodges.
Stern-post, the upright timber which carries the rudder.
Stopper, a rope or clamp to prevent the halliards or cable from running out too fast.
Tacks are ropes for holding the foremost lower corners of the courses and staysails when the wind blows across the ship’s course. A tack is also the direction in which a ship goes; she is on the starboard tack when the wind blows from the starboard.
Tire, a row, as a tire of guns.
Top, a sort of platform surrounding the lower masthead serving to extend the topmast-shrouds. In ships of force the tops are furnished with swivels, musketry and other firearms.
Trennels, wooden pegs used instead of nails.
Try, a ship lies a-try when she has but her main or mizzen sail spread, and is let alone to lie in the sea.
Warps are ropes used in towing or in warping, which is the operation of carrying a rope to a fixed-point and pulling the ship up to it.
Whipstaff, a kind of tiller.
Yards are long pieces of timber suspended upon the masts of a vessel to extend the sails to the wind. They are either square, lateen, or lugsail; the first being suspended across the mast at right-angles, the two latter obliquely. The square yards are of a cylindrical form, tapering from the middle, which is called the slings, towards the extremities, which are termed the yard-arms.
FOOTNOTES
1. Lady Craven: Vienna to Constantinople
fn1 A Cossack if he can avoid it never kills his enemy before he has stripped him, because the spoils are his property, and he fears the blood should spoil the dress—
fn2 That word means the Khan’s first minister—a person called him cream of Tartar—which I fearing he should be told of, turned into the cream of the Tartars—which he said was no wonder; as he was so—
fn3 Kiosk means a summer-house with blinds all round.
Thicknesse’s General Hints to Strangers who Travel in France
fn4Nor do they mean in general what they say; for I am persuaded they sneer so as to be understood by each other, and really mean mauvaise grace. There is nothing so difficult to learn as to sneer in French; I know many gentlemen perfectly acquainted with every power and use of their language but this.
Pellham’s Voyage to Greenland
fn5These be the Scraps of the Fat of the Whale
, which are flung away after the Oyle is gotten out of it.
4. The Nabob’s Lady
fn6 Lately come home.
fn7Since dead. January 1745.
The Works of Patrick O’Brian
The Aubrey/Maturin Novels in order of publication
MASTER AND COMMANDER
POST CAPTAIN
HMS SURPRISE
THE MAURITIUS COMMAND
DESOLATION ISLAND
THE FORTUNE OF WAR
THE SURGEON’S MATE
THE IONIAN MISSION
TREASON’S HARBOUR
THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
THE REVERSE OF THE MEDAL
THE LETTER OF MARQUE
THE THIRTEEN-GUN SALUTE
THE NUTMEG OF CONSOLATION
CLARISSA OAKES
THE WINE-DARK SEA
THE COMMODORE
THE YELLOW ADMIRAL
THE HUNDRED DAYS
BLUE AT THE MIZZEN
Novels
TESTIMONIES
THE CATALANS
THE GOLDEN OCEAN
THE UNKNOWN SHORE
RICHARD TEMPLE
CAESAR
HUSSEIN
Tales
THE LAST POOL
THE WALKER
LYING IN THE SUN
THE CHIAN WINE
COLLECTED SHORT STORIES
Biography
PICASSO
JOSEPH BANKS
Copyright
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First published in Great Britain by Home and Van Thal, London 1947
Copyright © Patrick O’Brian 2013
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A Book of Voyages Page 26