BOAT DECK—the deck where the ship’s lifeboats are stored, often above the main deck.
BOAT STATION—the lifeboat that a crewman is assigned to in an emergency.
BRIDGE—the centrally located room containing a ship’s navigational controls. Sometimes the entire multifloor central deckhouse on a ship is referred to as “the bridge,” and in that case the command center might be known as the navigation bridge or the wheelhouse.
BRIDGE WING—the thin strip of decking that stretches from the enclosed bridge area to the sides of the ship. From the bridge wing it is often easier to look forward and aft and to see how close the ship is to a dock or other obstacle.
BULL DURHAM SACK—a small cloth sack of loose-leaf tobacco.
BULL OF BARNEY—a fierce wind, blowing like an angry bull. Probably a reference to John Masefield’s “Sing a Song o’ Shipwreck.”
THE BUND—the riverfront area that housed the mercantile exchanges and banks of the International Settlement, or “Treaty Port,” of Shanghai, China.
THE BUNK—nonsense.
BURNER—the system in the firebox that spreads burning oil beneath the boiler. Burners had to be regularly cleaned because of the heavy impure fuel many ships burned.
“CALL THE WATCH”—Just before the end of a ship’s four-hour watch, one member of that shift goes around and reminds the next group that it’s nearly time to go to work.
CANNED HEAT—jellied alcohol used for heating food. When squeezed through a cloth filter, the resulting “sock wine” can be consumed as a cheap, though quite poisonous, alternative to liquor.
CANVAS DODGER—a strip of cloth set up in foul weather to protect a seaman from spray.
CAPE STIFF—sailor’s slang for Cape Horn, at the southernmost tip of South America. The wind and waves of Cape Horn made it some of the roughest sailing in the world.
CATWALK—For stability reasons, tankers were built to sit as low in the water as possible. The catwalk allowed sailors access to the forward and aft “islands” of the ship without having to descend to the often wave-swept maze of pipes and valves on the main deck.
CELEBES—an island in Indonesia now known as Sulawesi.
CHART ROOM—Usually situated behind the wheelhouse, the chart room holds the ship’s library of charts and the instruments used to plot courses and navigate.
CHIPPING RUST—On a ship, surface rust or blistering is scraped or chipped away and then the area is repainted.
CHISEL BUM—a mildly derogatory term for sailors often used by the engine crew. It refers to the chiseling away of rust and then repainting that is the constant job of a seaman from the deck crew.
CHRONOMETER—a ship’s clock. Marine chronometers are specifically built to remain accurate despite the motion of the ship and changes of humidity and air pressure. They are used alongside astronomical sightings to determine the ship’s longitude.
CLEW—the lower corner or connecting point of a sail. On board the Lichenfield it might refer to a metal loop attached to the corner of a canvas awning, or “dodger.”
COAL-BOX ATOP THE GALLEY—a receptacle for holding the fuel for the galley’s stove.
COASTWISE RUN—a predictable shipping route that serves ports in the same general locality. A coastal service job would allow for a known schedule and the ability to spend regular time at home.
COMPANIONWAY—usually a passage leading up or down; other times just a passage.
COMPASS BINNACLE—the magnetically compensated console that holds a ship’s compass.
COOK BAY—the western approach to the Beagle Channel on the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego. It is to the northwest of Cape Horn.
COPRA—coconut meat.
CORK FENDER—a net or bag of rope containing cork. Fenders keep a ship from hitting its hull against the dock.
CUT PLUG—tobacco. A plug is a condensed mass of tobacco rather than loose leaves. Pieces can be cut or bitten off as needed.
DAVY JONES’S LOCKER—Davy Jones is a seaman’s version of the devil, so his “locker” is a bit like hell. “Davy Jones’s locker” is the bottom of the sea.
DEVIL’S ISLAND—A section of a larger system of prisons situated in French Guiana that specifically dealt with political prisoners. “Devil’s Island” may refer to any of the Guiana prisons, because conditions in all of them were very harsh. Few who were transported to Guiana ever returned to France.
DHOW—Typically an Arab or Indian sailing ship sporting one or more lateen sails; large triangular fore and aft sails hung from a long angled yardarm.
DOCKMAN—a longshoreman. One of the crew of laborers who loads and unloads ships.
EUROPA—a highly advanced German passenger liner built in 1928.
FIDDLE—the edge or lip around a table or stovetop that keeps plates from sliding off in rough weather.
FIDDLER’S GREEN—the afterlife for sailors. A place full of music and dance. The opposite of Davy Jones’s locker.
FIDDLY—the trunk or shaft above the boilers or engines, used for ventilation and servicing the heaviest mechanical elements. At its top is a skylight that can be propped open in good weather. The Fiddly often contains an access ladder or stairway, and in the days of steamships, crewmen would commonly string a clothesline across it to use the heat of the boilers to dry their clothes.
FIREBOXES—Situated under the boilers, these provide the heat which generates steam to drive the ship’s turbine.
FLOPHOUSE—a hotel offering the most minimal of accommodations, intended for transients or hoboes. A small step up from the crudest of homeless shelters.
FLYING BRIDGE—an exposed control station situated on the roof of a ship’s wheelhouse with reasonably unobstructed views in all directions.
FO’C’SLE OR FO’C’STLE—contractions of “forecastle,” originally meaning the deckhouse in the forward part of a ship where the crew’s quarters are situated. Eventually the term came to refer to the crew’s bunkroom, wherever it was situated. On the Lichenfield, it was housed in the aft part of the ship, with quarters split in two: the “Firemen,” or engineering crew, on one side and the “Seamen” on the other.
FO’C’STLEHEAD or FORECASTLE HEAD—the triangular deck atop the forecastle in the bow of a ship. This is usually the spot where the anchor winches are situated; it is common for a sailor on lookout to be stationed there in good weather.
FORCED DRAFT—the mechanical air supply for the fireboxes.
FORESTAY—the cable stretching from the ship’s foremast to the bow. Though most steamships do not carry sails, the “masts” are used as part of the cargo loading equipment, to support antennas, lights, signal flags; on tankers, they also serve as a trunk for the pipes that vent the cargo tanks.
FOR’RD BULKHEAD—forward bulkhead. A bulkhead on a ship is a lateral dividing wall, often reinforced and watertight in case of accident.
GAFF TOPSAIL or GAFF TOPS’L—the triangular sail that stretches between the topmast and gaff (the spar along the top of the mainsail) on a fore and aft rigged ship.
GALLEY SKYLIGHT—the skylight over a ship’s kitchen. Ships never let their stoves get cold, so a vented skylight was necessary to allow the hot air to escape.
GANDY DANCERS—railroad track workers. A “gandy” is a tool for aligning the rails, but it is not certain whether Gandy Dancers got their name from it or if it got its name from them.
GANGWAY—also known as an accommodation ladder. It is a hinged ramp or stairway attached to the side of a ship that allows access to a wharf or landing stage.
GAOL—A synonym for jail, the term was more commonly used in the British Empire before WWI.
GEAR—the winches and derricks and lines used to load and unload cargo. A tanker might use its gear to manage heavy hoses.
GENERATOR—a device used
to generate electricity for the ship’s lights and electric apparatus.
HAJJI—the title of respect given to a Muslim who has completed the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is also a term, usually used by Westerners, for Muslims on their way to Mecca.
HALF-SWACKED—mostly drunk.
HAPPY VALLEY—a poor shantytown in a narrow draw behind San Pedro’s Beacon Street.
HATCH COVERS—wooden planks fitted inside the metal frame of a ship’s cargo hatches. Several layers of canvas are stretched over them and then tightened around the hatch frames with wedges.
HEAD—the name for a ship’s toilet.
HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY—one of the most prestigious schools in Germany. Its student organizations were once known for a particular style of fencing which, while not specifically intended to cause significant injury, often left distinctive scars. “Heidelberg scars” were a mark of pride among upper-class German men.
JACKSTAFF—a short flagpole in the bow of a ship.
JONAH—a sailor’s term for a person who is believed to be a jinx or bad luck.
LADDER—a term used on ships for both stairways and typical vertical ladders. Many stairways on ships are steeply angled to save space.
THE LINE—the equator.
LOOSE THE FALLS—prepare to lower something with pulleys, in this case a lifeboat.
LUCKENBACH BOAT—a ship belonging to the Luckenbach Steamship Co., a very successful American shipping line started in 1850.
LYLE GUN—a small cannon used for shooting a rope to another vessel, intended for use in rescue operations.
MAINM’ST—mainmast.
MANIFEST FREIGHT TRAIN—a train with a mixture of cars: boxcars, tank cars, flatcars, and so on. These are often slow-moving, low-priority trains, that are reshuffled at many rail yards along a route, and it takes a “manifest,” or list, of what is on the train to be sure that all the cars get to their intended destinations.
MARLINSPIKE—a tool used for working with rope or cable. Similar in many ways to a hickory fid.
MINDANOU—another spelling for Mindanao, the southernmost island in the Philippines.
NAPHTHA—a name for various highly volatile petroleum products.
ON YOUR PIN—on your watch or shift.
OPEN-FLAME LINE—According to one of the sources for this book, some (or maybe all) tankers had the safe areas for exposed flame marked on the deck. Inside these safety lines, the engine room and galley were situated; it was also a place where a crewman could smoke, if he hadn’t already taken up chewing tobacco.
PACIFIC ELECTRIC or PE—a light rail system that connected the outlying communities with Los Angeles. It also operated regular streetcars and buses, and lasted from 1903 until 1961.
PEARL SHELL—Mother-of-pearl, from the inside of oyster shells, was a valuable product until synthetic materials came into widespread use. Before cultured pearls, the pearls used in jewelry were so rare that it was not worth looking for them. Prior to WWII, any moderately sized pearl of good shape and color was extremely valuable.
PILOTHOUSE—another name for a ship’s wheelhouse.
PLIMSOLL MARKS—markings on a ship’s side that indicate the maximum load it can carry in different densities of water.
POOP DECK—the raised deck in the stern of some ships.
PUMP ROOM—the space that houses a tanker ship’s pumps and cargo plumbing, and a critical spot in terms of safety.
PUNTA ARENAS—the southernmost city of significant size in Chile.
RAT GUARDS—cones which when fitted around the mooring lines of a ship prevent rats from climbing aboard.
RATING—rank.
RED BALL FREIGHT—a train with priority routing along the tracks; a “fast” freight.
RED-LEAD—lead oxide paint primer.
RIGGING—the system of ropes used to control a sailing ship’s sails and to stabilize its masts.
RIGGING THE BOOMS—unlimbering the cargo derricks from the manner in which they are secured at sea and preparing them to handle cargo.
A ROLL—a roll of money; a lot of money.
ROLLED HIM—robbed him.
ROMEOS—low slip-on boots.
ROYAL YARD—one of the horizontal spars (from which a sail is hung) closest to the top of the masts on a large square-rigged sailing ship.
RUNNING LIGHTS—As a way of signaling their position and heading to one another, ships always display a red light on their port, or left, side and a green light on their starboard, or right, side. When ships cross paths, the ship on the starboard side has the right-of-way.
SALOON—the dining and reception area used by a ship’s senior officers.
SAN PEDRO—the Port of the City of Los Angeles. Due south of Los Angeles proper, it has been at times one of the busiest ports in the world.
SCHOONER—a sailing ship with two or more masts, the lower sails of which are fore- and aft-rigged and on which the foremast is smaller than the mainmast.
SCUPPERS—the holes or gaps that allow water to drain from a deck.
SEA BOOTS AND OILSKINS—a sailor’s foul-weather gear. Sea boots are very much like a waterproof “Wellington” boot, and oilskins were so named because they were often made of canvas coated with linseed oil to help them shed water.
SEAS—Besides what you’d expect, this is also a term for individual waves, usually large ones.
SET OF TOPS—slang for dice. The term was based on a type of dice with a pin through their centers that could be spun like a child’s top. Crooked “tops” had a weight inside that could be adjusted to make the dice fall a certain way.
SHACKS—slang for a train’s brakeman. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the brakeman’s job evolved from the delicate business of braking a train without automatic air brakes to being a multipurpose member of a train’s crew.
SHIPFITTER—a worker in a ship repair or construction facility, often a steelworker.
SHOT OF THE SUN—At noon a ship’s officers, each using his own sextant (a device for measuring angles), takes an independent measurement of the height of the sun compared with the horizon. These are compared to discover the ship’s latitude, and in conjunction with the ship’s clocks and other celestial sightings a ship’s position is determined. The “noon sight” is the foundation of marine navigation.
SIGN THE ARTICLES—sign onto a ship. The “Articles of Shipping” are the contract between the ship and its crew.
SILENT KEY—SK in Morse code. SK stands for “end of transmission,” but a “silent key” is also a term for an operator (or station, or call sign) that has died.
SING SING—a notorious prison in Ossining, New York.
SINGLET—a sleeveless shirt like a tank top.
SLAVE MARKET—San Pedro’s Marine Services Bureau was one of a number of nonunion employment agencies for sailors. Union and nonunion men alike called these operations “Fink Hall” or the “Slave Market.”
SLUM—slang for terrible food, usually the sort of greasy stew served to large groups like construction workers or ship crews, or at soup kitchens.
SOOGEY RAG—a cleaning rag. “Soogey” was a term for various cleaning solutions, often soda and water.
THE SORBONNE—Located in Paris, it is one of the oldest universities in the world.
SOU’WESTER—an oilskin rain hat with a long back to keep water from running down a sailor’s collar.
SPANNER—a wrench. Some wrenches used on ships are very large and heavy.
SPARS—the horizontal or diagonal poles that sails hang from.
SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE—to have a drink. Named for a difficult, often emergency, operation used to repair sailing ship rigging; afterward, you need a drink to celebrate or to calm your nerves.
STACK OF WHEATS—pancakes.
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STARB’RD HALF DOOR—an access point (in this case on the right side) in the hull of some ships used for loading cargo into the lower decks.
STEAM STEERING GEAR—the “power steering” system for a steamship. Instead of the rudder being controlled by direct muscle power from the wheel on the bridge, the wheel activates a steam-powered set of gears.
STEERING BY DEGREES—using a more sophisticated, 360-degree compass rather than the older 32-point compass.
STEERING BY POINTS—The basic points on a compass rose are north, south, east, and west, but they are split and split again into elements like north-north-west until a full thirty-two points are reached. “Boxing the Compass” is an exercise in which a seaman names all thirty-two points.
STERN SHEETS—the rearward, or after part, of a ship or boat.
STEW BUM—a drunk or a drunken vagrant.
STOKEHOLE—the area, often straddling the width of the ship, where the fireboxes and boilers are serviced. In the days when ships burned coal, “stokers” would shovel coal into the fireboxes. On oil-burning ships, it is where the firemen would adjust and maintain the firebox systems and monitor the water for the boilers. This area is also known as the boiler room or the fire room.
STOPPER KNOT—a knot that prevents a rope from paying out or slipping back through a device by establishing a usable length out of a longer piece of rope.
STOVE IN—broken, collapsed.
STROP—Stropping a straight razor along a piece of canvas or leather straightens (and thereby “sharpens”) the nearly invisible edge of the blade.
TAFFRAIL—the railing around a ship’s stern.
TAILOR-MADES—mass-produced or prerolled cigarettes.
TANK FARM—a cluster of tanks used to store or load oil or chemicals.
TAUDENI—a salt mine in modern-day Mali. Before World War II it was reputed to be the site of a secretive French penal colony, considered a more horrible prison than Devil’s Island.
TERMINAL ISLAND—the island that forms the south or seaward side of the San Pedro ship channel.
THREE SHEETS TO THE WIND—slang for intoxicated. The reference is to a sailing ship with poorly set sails that is at or nearing the point of being out of control.
No Traveller Returns (Lost Treasures) Page 23