gig: a boat reserved for the use of the captain of a ship.→ to text
glass: weather glass; mercury barometer; device used to measure atmospheric pressure and predict changes in weather conditions. A mercury barometer consists of a glass tube, about three feet long, closed at one end, filled with mercury and inverted with the open end immersed in a reservoir of mercury. With the reservoir surface exposed to atmospheric pressure, the height of the mercury column varies with that pressure.→ to text
golden goose: a legendary goose that laid one golden egg a day and was killed by its impatient owner, who wanted all the gold immediately.→ to text
grape: grapeshot; a cluster of small projectiles fired together from a cannon to produce a hail of shot.→ to text
gunner’s mate: naval officer who performs upkeep and repair of cannons or artillery.→ to text
gunwale: the upper edge of the side of a boat. Originally a gunwale was a platform where guns were mounted, and was designed to accommodate the additional stresses imposed by the artillery being used.→ to text
halyards: ropes used for raising and lowering sails.→ to text
hawsepipe: an iron or steel pipe in the stem or bow of a vessel through which anchor cables pass.→ to text
helm: a wheel by which a ship is steered.→ to text
helmsman: the person who guides the ship by the management of the helm, the wheel used to steer a ship.→ to text
holystoned: scrubbed with a block of soft sandstone, usually with sand and seawater. Holystone is a soft and brittle sandstone used for scouring and whitening the wooden decks of ships. The term may have come from the fact that “holystoning the deck” was traditionally done on one’s knees, as in prayer. The stone is also sometimes called a “bible” and smaller blocks for awkward places are called “prayer books.”→ to text
hooker: a worn-out or clumsy ship.→ to text
hophead: a narcotics addict, especially an opium addict. Hop is slang for opium.→ to text
hornpipe: a lively jiglike dance, performed usually by one person and traditionally a favorite of sailors. Named for the sailor’s instrument upon which the dance music was originally played.→ to text
house: any enclosed structure above the weather deck (ship’s deck that is open to the sky and exposed to the weather) of a vessel.→ to text
hull down: sufficiently far away, or below the horizon, that the hull is invisible.→ to text
hurrah’s nest: state of utmost confusion. In nineteenth-century America, hurrah came into use as slang for “an uproar, a commotion,” and anything wild and lawless was described as “hurrah.” With hurrah meaning “disordered,” it made sense for something very tangled or disorderly to be described as a “hurrah’s nest,” as if the “hurrah” were a creature with bad housekeeping habits.→ to text
huzzah: to cheer and shout “huzzah,” used to express encouragement or triumph.→ to text
ifrit: (Arabic) a powerful evil jinni noted for its strength and cunning. According to legend, an ifrit is an enormous winged creature of smoke, either male or female, who lives underground and frequents ruins. ifrits live in a society structured along ancient Arab tribal lines, complete with kings, tribes and clans. They generally marry one another, but they can also marry humans. They consider themselves superior to all races because they “came first,” and they deeply resent that humans have found magical ways to take control over them. As with the jinn, an ifrit may be good or evil, but he is most often depicted as a wicked and ruthless being. The name ifrit comes from the Arabic word for “rebellious” and describes their nature.→ to text
Irving, Washington: Washington Irving (1783–1859), American author, columnist, biographer and historian, best known for his works The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. In 1826 he accepted a position in the US embassy in Madrid. Fascinated by Spain, he wrote four works while he was there, including The Legends of the Alhambra, a collection of over forty tales and essays about the Alhambra (a citadel and palace on a hill overlooking Granada, Spain). Built by Moorish kings in the thirteenth century, the Alhambra is the finest example of Moorish architecture in Spain. The name is derived from the Arabic kal’at-at al hamra which means “the red castle.” Included in this collection is The Legend of the Enchanted Soldier, a story about the existence of profound caverns in which the magic arts were taught, either by the devil in person, or some sage devoted to his service.→ to text
jib: small foremost sail; a small triangular sail in front of the main or only mast on a sailing ship or sailboat.→ to text
jinni or jinn: (Arabic) jinni singular, jinn plural; in Muslim legend, an ancient spirit created from smokeless flame. Jinn (commonly known as genies in Western forms of the word) are of various natures, some good and some bad. The evil jinn are hideously ugly, but the good are exquisitely beautiful. Normally they cannot be detected by humans, but if they choose they can take on either animal or human form and can shift their shape and often travel about as whirlwinds. They are wont to cause great confusion in human society. jinni is from the Arabic word for “demon” which comes from janna, meaning “to cover, hide.”→ to text
kedge: a light, small anchor used for anchoring temporarily.→ to text
Kirker: Father Athanasius Kirker (1602–1680), German-born Jesuit priest, scholar, inventor, composer, geographer, geologist, Egyptologist, historian, adventurer, philosopher, proprietor of one of the first public museums, physicist, mathematician, naturalist, astronomer, archaeologist and author of more than forty published works. Sometimes called the last Renaissance man, he was important for his prodigious activity in disseminating knowledge. In 1665 and 1678 he published two volumes of Mundus Subterraneus (The Subterranean World) which covered subjects such as alchemy, astrology and demons, among many other topics.→ to text
kris: a Malayan dagger with a wavy double-edged blade. Both weapon and spiritual object, krisses are often considered to have an essence or presence, with some blades possessing good luck and others possessing bad. Krisses could be tested in two ways: A series of cuts on a leaf, based on blade width and other factors, could determine if a blade was good or bad. Also, if the owner slept with the blade under their pillow and had a bad dream, the blade was unlucky and had to be discarded. However, just because a blade was bad for one person didn’t mean it would be bad for another. Harmony between the owner and the kris was critical.→ to text
lamped: looked at; saw.→ to text
lanthorn: lantern, as a lantern formerly had sides made of translucent sheets of horn.→ to text
lateen: a triangular sail, suspended by a long yard at an angle of 45 degrees to the mast.→ to text
lee: an area sheltered from the wind.→ to text
library of Alexandria: Alexandria, city founded in northern Egypt by Alexander the Great in 322 BC. His successor established the Royal Library of Alexandria in 283 BC which included lecture areas, gardens, a zoo and over half a million documents from Assyria, Greece, Persia, Egypt, India and many other nations. Over 100 scholars worked full time researching, writing, lecturing or translating and copying documents there. In 48 BC, Julius Caesar was pursuing Pompey into Egypt and was cut off by an Egyptian fleet at Alexandria. He ordered the ships in the harbor to be set on fire. The fire destroyed the fleet as well as the part of the town where the great Library of Alexandria stood.→ to text
Long Tom: a pivot gun of great length and range, on the deck of a vessel. The cannon was mounted on a special carriage that could be swung to face the enemy on either side and could fire a 24-pound iron ball.→ to text
luffed: having brought the head of a sailing ship closer to, or directly into, the wind, with sails shaking.→ to text
luffing: term used to describe the flapping of a sail in the wind. Luffing generally occurs if a sail is too far out relative to the wind, in which case, it will wave like a flag and is said to be “luffing.” Luffing your sails will slow the ship’s speed as it increases drag and decreases t
he performance of the sails. If the sail is trimmed properly, it will not flutter at all.→ to text
lugger: a small boat used for fishing or sailing and having two or three masts, each with a four-sided sail.→ to text
lunger: a person who has a chronic lung disease, especially tuberculosis.→ to text
lycanthropy: (folklore) the magical ability of a person to assume the characteristics of a wolf.→ to text
Madagascar: an island country in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa comprising the island of Madagascar and several small islands. It was originally peopled by Indonesian and African groups around the end of the first century BC. The French first established settlements on the island in 1642 and made it a colony in 1896. The country gained full independence as the Malagasy Republic in 1960 and was renamed Madagascar in 1975.→ to text
magazine: ship’s magazine; ammunition storage area aboard a warship. The term is taken from the Arabic word makahazin meaning “storehouse.”→ to text
mains’l: mainsail; the principal and largest sail of a sailing vessel. In square-rigged ships it is the lowest sail on the mainmast.→ to text
make fast: a term generally used for tying or securing ropes.→ to text
Malay: of or relating to Malay or its inhabitants. Malay is a general term for one of a population of persons inhabiting southeast Asia and the adjacent islands.→ to text
man-o’-war: any armed ship of a national navy, usually carrying between 20 and 120 guns.→ to text
manrope: a rope rigged as a handrail on a gangplank or ladder.→ to text
marid: according to legend, a renegade jinni who sows discord and does evil; one who is strong enough to perform difficult tasks and carry heavy burdens. The marids are a special sort of recalcitrant jinn and are considered particularly dangerous to man.→ to text
meet her: an order to the steersman to apply opposite rudder to check or stop a ship’s swing.→ to text
men-o’-war: armed ships of a national navy usually carrying between twenty and one hundred and twenty guns.→ to text
mizzen: the third mast from forward in a vessel having three or more masts.→ to text
MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology; a private, coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT was founded in 1861 in response to the increasing industrialization of the United States.→ to text
Mount Kaf: (Muslim mythology) a mythical mountain at the end of the Earth which contains the palaces of the gods and is the home of giants and fairies, jinn and other mythical creatures. In a narrower sense and localized on earth, Kaf means that part of the Asiatic highlands which bounds the Muslim world in the North, especially the Caucasus and its spurs in Northern Persia. According to tales, the disk of the Earth is surrounded by the ocean, except on the north, where a great mountain of rock of the purest turquoise cuts off the sea. Immediately adjoining this turquoise mountain, the reflection of which causes the blue of the sky, lies the pure world stretching to the north.→ to text
necromancy: magic in general, especially that practiced by a witch or sorcerer; sorcery; witchcraft.→ to text
niggerhead: a projecting stump of dead coral, notorious as a navigation hazard.→ to text
Nubian: a native of Nubia, a desert region and ancient kingdom (2000 BC–1400 AD) in the Nile River valley of southern Egypt and northern Sudan.→ to text
Olympics: Olympic Mountains; mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the US. The western slopes of the Olympics face the Pacific Ocean; they are the wettest place in the forty-eight contiguous states, and record an average of 142 inches (360 cm) of rainfall each year. The northeast side of the mountains is in one of the driest areas on the West Coast. The English Captain John Meares, seeing them in 1788, thought them beautiful enough for the gods to dwell there and named them “Mount Olympus” after the one in Greece; the present-day name was made official in 1864.→ to text
packet: packet ship; the generic name given to a vessel that sailed in regular service between two ports.→ to text
painter: a rope, usually at the bow, for fastening a boat to a ship, stake, etc.→ to text
peak: the upper, aft corner of a four-sided sail that is extended by a gaff (a stout pole rising aft from a mast to support the head of the sail).→ to text
pelorus: a device used to take a bearing on a distant object.→ to text
pins: belaying pins; removable wooden, iron or brass pins fitted in holes in the rail of a ship, used for securing and tying the running rigging (lines used to raise, lower and trim the sails).→ to text
pipes: 1. the passages of the human respiratory system.→ to text
2. distinctive, silver, high-pitched whistles used by bosuns for passing orders or blown as a salute to certain personages. The bosun (also spelled boatswain) is the officer in charge of the ship’s rigging, anchors, cables and deck crew. The bosun’s pipe, originally termed a call, dates back to the days of sail. Men high in the rigging could hear the pipe under weather conditions that would cause the human voice to be inaudible or unintelligible.→ to text
pitch: a mixture of tar and coarse resin, used to help caulk the seams of wooden sailing vessels. It was heated, then put into a container with a very long spout. The word pitcher is said to derive from this long spouted container used to pour hot pitch.→ to text
points: 1. a point is 11.25 degrees on a compass; thus six points would be 67.5 degrees. 2. a point is 11.25 degrees on a compass; thus two points would be 22.50 degrees.→ to text
poop: poop deck; a deck that constitutes the roof of a cabin built in the aft part of the ship. The name originates from the Latin puppis, for the elevated stern deck.→ to text
port tack: sailing with the wind coming from the port side, and the sails on the starboard side.→ to text
prowler car: a nickname for a police car.→ to text
Puget Sound: deep inlet of the Pacific Ocean, in northwestern Washington State. The Sound, which receives many streams from the Cascade Range, has numerous islands and is navigable for large ships. Along its shores are important ports and commercial cities, including the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The Sound was discovered in 1792 by English Captain George Vancouver and named for his aide, Peter Puget, who explored it.→ to text
quarter: 1. the stern part of a vessel on either side of the rudder. 2. mercy or indulgence, especially as shown in psaring a life and accepting the surrender of a vanquished enemy.→ to text
quarterdeck: the rear part of the upper deck of a ship, usually reserved for officers.→ to text
quartered: sailed at an angle to the wind or waves; a sailing technique for riding over waves at a slight angle to avoid burying the bow in a standing wave.→ to text
quay: a pier or dock providing shipside access for passengers and cargo.→ to text
ratlines: small ropes fastened horizontally between the shrouds in the rigging of a sailing ship to form ladder rungs for the crew going aloft.→ to text
reach: beam reach, sailing with the wind on the beam. The beam is the breadth of the ship at the widest point or side of a ship. When the ship sails with the wind blowing directly across her, she is said to have the wind on the beam.→ to text
rete: an openwork metal plate, affixed to an astrolabe, and serving to indicate the positions of the principal fixed stars.→ to text
rig: the characteristics of a sailing vessel’s masts and type and number of sails by which the type is determined, such as a square-rigged or fore-and-aft rigged.→ to text
rigger: a shipyard worker who fits or dismantles the rigging (ropes, wires and pulleys that support the masts and control the sails) of ships.→ to text
rigging: the ropes, chains, etc., employed to support and work the masts, sails, etc., on a ship.→ to text
roads: roadstead; a place outside a harbor where a ship can lie in anchor. It is an enclosed area with an opening to the sea.→ to text
royal yard: the l
ong crossways pole that spreads the topmost sail of a ship.→ to text
r’yals: royals; the sails next above the topgallant sails. Normally it is the fourth sail in ascending order from the deck.→ to text
sails set: sails raised in preparation to getting under way.→ to text
Salamanca: city of west-central Spain, west-northwest of Madrid. Conquered by Hannibal in 220 BC, it was captured by Moors in the eighth century AD and held by them until the late eleventh century. Salamanca became world famous after the foundation (1218) of its university by Alfonso IX. The university soon rivaled Bologna, Paris and Oxford and it made Arabic philosophy available to the Western world.→ to text