ABAFT: point nearer the stern of a ship than another
ABOUT: to change tack
ACCOUNT, TO GO ON THE: to embark on a piratical cruise.
A pleasant term used by pirates to describe the act of turning pirate.
The basic idea was that a pirate was more "free lance" and thus was, more
or less, going into business for himself.
ACTS OF PARDON OR GRACE: general amnesty under which a reformed
pirate might surrender in return for a certificate of pardon. A letter
of marque for a "reformed" pirate, thus making him a privateer
AVAST YE!: a hailing phrase to indicate that the hailed must
"stop and give attention".
BACHELOR'S WIFE: a mistress
BALLAST: heavy material used to stabilize rying cargo.
BARKADEER: a small pier or jetty vessel.
BARQUE: a sailing ship of three or more masts having the foremasts
rigged square and the aftermast rigged for fore and aft.
BARQUENTINE: vessel resembling a barque, but square-rigged on
foremast only
BILGED ON HER ANCHOR: a ship holed or pierced by its own anchor.
BLACK SPOT: Tipping the black spot was a way pyrates gave a
death threat. As in the Novel, Treasure Island, a paper was marked
with a black smudge on one side and often a message on the other
to make the threat specific.
BOOMS OR FENDERS: spars to which a sail is fastened to control
its position relative to the wind.
BOOT TOPPING: a hurried, partial careen.
BOWLINE: rope made fast to the leech or side of a sail to pull
it forward
BOWSE: to haul with a tackle to produce extra rightness
BOWSPRIT: a spar projecting from the bow of a vessel used to
carry the headstay as far forward as possible.
BRAIL: to furl a sail by pulling it in towards the mast
BRIG, BRIGANTINE: a two?masted sailing ship, rigged square on
the foremast and fore and aft with square topsails on the mainmast. Originally
a abbreviation of "brigantine," but later a two-masted, square-rigged vessel
BRING TO: check the movement of a ship by arranging the sails
in such a way that they counteract each other and keep her stationary
BROUGHT A SPRING UPON HER CABLE: A ship coming about in
a different direction
BRULOT (FRENCH): a fireship. Montaigne word for a fireship (q.v.)
BUCCANEERS: the original "cow killers" who settled illegally
on Hispaniola. The name derives from their method of smoke? curing meat
on a boucan. Later, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they took
to sea and preyed on Spanish colonies and shipping in America and the Caribbean.
BUFFER: chief bosun's mate who is in charge of discipline
BUMBOAT: a boat privately selling goods or provisions to sailors
on ships in harbors
CABLE: a large rope
CAPSTAN: a windlass with a vertical rotating drum, used for
hauling in ropes, etc. Used for winding up anchor and other cable
CAREEN: to cause a vessel to keel over on its side in order
to clean or repair its bottom.
CAREENAGE: a careening place.
CHAIN SHOT: cannon balls fastened together with chain
CHASE GUNS: cannon situated at the bow of a ship, used during
pursuit.
CHEQUEEN: sequin, a former Venetian gold coin.
CLAP IN IRONS: to be put manacles and chains.
CLAP OF THUNDER: powerful drink
CLAP ON: to add a temporary feature
CLIPPER: a fast sailing ship
COAMING: the raised edge around a hatch
CRIMP: a person who swindled or press ganged sailors into serving
on a crew.
CUTTER: small, decked vessel with one mast
DAVITS: a small piece of timber used as a crane
DAVY JONES'S LOCKER: a fictional place at the bottom of the
ocean. In short, a term meaning death. Davey Jones was said to sink every
ship he ever over took, and thus, the watery grave that awaited all
who were sunk by him was given his name. To die at sea is to go to "Davey
Jones's Locker".
DORY: a fisherman's dugout.
DOUBLOON: a former Spanish gold coin.
DRAFT: the minimum water depth neccessary to float a ship
DRIVER: large sail suspended from the mizzen gaff
DROGER: a West Indian coasting vessel.
ENSIGN: a flag.
EXECUTION DOCK: the usual place for pirate hangings, on the
Thames, in London near the Tower.
FATHOM: depth measurement of six feet
FIRESHIP: a vessel loaded with explosives and used as a bomb
by igniting it and directing it to drift among an enemy's warships.
FLOTILLA: a small fleet.
FLUKE: broad part of an anchor
FREEBOOTER OR FILIBUSTER: another name for a buccaneer or pirate.
FRIGATE: three-masted, fully rigged ship heavily armed with
24 to 38 pound guns
FURL: to wrap or roll a sail close to the yard, stay or mast
to which it belongs
GAFF: spar which holds upper edge of a four-sided fore and aft
sail
GALLEON: a large sailing ship having three or more masts, lateen?rigged
on the aftermasts and square?rigged on the fore and mainmasts; used as
a warship or for trade.
GALLEY: a low, flat?built vessel, propelled partly or wholly
by oars.
GIBBET: a wooden structure resembling a gallows from which bodies
of executed criminals were hung for public view.
GO ON THE ACCOUNT: to embark on a piratical cruise
GRAPPLE OR GRAPNEL: a hooked instrument thrown with a rope for
gripping and closing with an enemy.
GRENADE: these were made from square?faced case bottles, filled
with gunpowder, small shot, bits of old iron thrown by hand.
GROUND: the bottom of the sea
GUARDA COSTA: a vessel fitted out in Spanish or colonial ports
and commissioned by local governors to enforce Spain's trade monopoly.
GUINEAMAN: a ship engaged in the slave trade in the Guinea Coast
of West Africa.
HALLIARDS: rope or tackle for hoisting a spar holding a sail
HAUL WIND: to direct a ship's course as nearly as possible in
the direction from which the wind is coming
HEAVE DOWN, TO: to turn a vessel on its side for cleaning.
HEAVE TO: an order to stop
HOGSHEAD: a large cask used to transport beverages. The Hogshead
was an archaic unit of measurement of approximately 100 gallons.
HOLYSTONE: a piece of sandstone used to scrub the decks
INTERLOPER: an illegal trader.
JACK O' COINS: the paymaster
JACK O' CUPS: the first mate
JACK O' STAVES: the first lieutenant
JACK O' SWORDS: the bosun
JACK: a flag, especially one flown at the bow of a ship to indicate
her nationality. A flag or a sailor; showing how sailors would refer to
thier ship's colors as one of the crew. Hence Jack Tar for sailor and the
Union Jack flag.
JOB: triangular sail
JOLLY ROGER: the pirate flag.
KEEL HAUL: ? another term made famous by pirates. This is the
act of throwing a man overboard, tied to a rope that goes beneath the ship,
and then dragging him from one side to the other and hauling him out. Besides
the torment of being dragged under water, this would drag the victim across
the barnacle studded ship's hull and cause great pain and injury. This
was a serious punishment and not administered lightly.
KILLICK: the anchor
LADY OF EXPANSIVE SENSIBILITY: a Jenny
LANYARD: any rope that ties something off
LARBOARD: the left (or port) side of a vessel when facing the
bow.
LEAGUE: three miles
LEE: side away from the wind
LET GO AND HAUL: order on tacking square-rigged ship given when
the bow has just passed across the wind
LETTERS OF MARQUE OR REPRISAL: commissions or licenses to fit
out armed vessels to be employed in the capture of enemy merchant shipping
and to commit other hostile acts that would otherwise be condemned as piracy.
LIST: lean to one side
LOADED TO THE GUNWHALES: drunk
LUGGER: two-masted sailing vessel with a lug-sail rig
MAINMAST: the ship's principal mast
MAINSHEET: the line used to control the angle of the mainsail
to the wind.
MAN OF WAR: a warship.
MAROON, TO: to put ashore and abandon a person on a barren island
or cay.
MAROONERS: a name sometimes given to pirates because of their
use of marooning as a form of punishment.
MATELOT: (pronounced "matlow") another term for a sailor
MESSDECK LAWYER: a know-it-all
MIDSHIPMAN: non-commissioned rank below lieutenant
MIZZEN: aftermost mast in a three-masted vessel
MOIDORE: a former Portuguese gold coin.
NIPPER: short length of rope used to bind anchor cable
NIPPERKIN: a small drink
OLD COAT: a veteran sailor (see "stripey")
PATARERO: a kind of muzzle? loading mortar that fired scattering
shot, stones, spikes, old nails, broken glass, etc.
PIECE OF EIGHT: a former Spanish coin.
PINNACE: any of various kinds of ship's tender. And a small
two-masted vessel; eight-oared ship's boat
PIRAGUA: a type of native dugout canoe.
POOP DECK: the deck at the furthest back of a ship. Usually
above the captain's quarters, the poop deck was usually the highest deck
of the ship.
PRESS(OR FORCE): to recruit for naval or military service by
forcible means.
PRESS GANG: a group of sailors who "recruit" for their ship
using violence and intimidation
PRIVATEER: a privately owned, armed vessel operating under letters
Or marque. A pirate officially sanctioned by a national power
QUARTER: mercy shown to a defeated opponent. Also a ship's quarter is that part of a vessel's side towards the stern, usually aft of the aftermost mast.
REEF: to shorten sail by rolling up the bottom section and securing
it by tying short lines attached to the sail
RIGGING: general name for ropes, chains, and wires which hold
masts, spars and yards in place and control movement of the ship
ROAD: a partly sheltered anchorage.
ROYAL: to sail against topgallant
SALMAGUNDI: a dish of chopped meat, eggs, anchovies, onions and
anything else the cook can throw in; a piratical delicacY
SCHOONER: a sailing vessel with at least two masts with all
lower sails rigged fore and aft.
SCUPPERS: holes pierced in deck near bulwarks to allow surplus
water to drain off
SEA ARTIST: sailing master.
SEA LEGS : after walking on a ship for long periods of time,
sailors became accustomed to the rocking of the ship in the water. So,
early in a voyage a sailor was said to be lacking his "sea legs" when the
ship motion was still foreign to him. Often, after a cruise, a sailor
would have trouble regaining his "land legs" and would swagger on land.
SHEET: line running from the bottom aft corner of sail by which
it can be adjusted to the wind
SHIVER ME TIMBERS: This term was used to express shock or surprise.
The idea of timbers shivering comes from the vibration set up in the mast
(timbers) by either running aground or a solid hit from a larger gun.
The suggestion is that something has shaken the speaker from a state of
less awareness.
SHROUDS: standing rigging stretched from the side of a ship
to support the mast
SKYSAIL: sail above the royal
SLOOP: a single?masted vessel rigged fore and aft with a long
bowsprit, much favored by the pirates because of its shallow draught and
maneuverability.
SMACK: a sailing vessel usually sloop?rigged, used in coasting
or fishing.
SMACKSMAN: sailor on a cutter or ketch-rigged sailing vessel
SNOW: a small sailing vessel, resembling a brig, carrying a
main and foremast and a supplementary trysail mast close behind the mainmast.
SON OF A BISCUIT EATER: not so much a sailor term, but a derrogatory
term indicating a bastard son of a sailor
SPANISH MAIN: the mainland of Spanish America, from the Isthmus
of Panama to the present republics of Colombia and Venezuela.
SPIKE(GUNS): to render a gun useless by blocking the vent or
touch hole with a spike, often a soft nail.
SPRITSAILYARD: a yard set on the underside of the bowsprit,
to carry a spritsail.
SPROGS: raw, untrained recruits
SQUIFFY: a buffoon
SQUADRON: a group of ten or less warships
SQUARE-RIGGED: rig consisting of four-cornered sails hung from
yards
STANCHION: upright support
STARBOARD: the right side of a vessel when facing the bow.
STARGAZER: a sail set above moonsail
START: to hit with a rope's end or cane
STAY: standing rigging fore and aft and supporting a mast
STRIKE: to lower or hit
STRIKE THE COLORS: to haul down a ship's flag as a signal of
surrender.
STRIPEY: long-service able seaman (named for the many stripes
on his sleeves, indicating an "old coat")
SWEET TRADE: buccaneering or the career of piracy.
SWING THE LEAD: The Lead was a weight at the bottom of a line
that gave sailors a way to measure depth when near land. To Swing the Lead
was considered a simple job, and thus came to represent one who is avoiding
work or taking the easy work over the hard. In todays terms, one
who swings the lead is a slacker.
SWIVEL (GUN): a gun mounted on a pivot so that it might be swung
from side to side.
TACK: lower, forward corner of fore and aft sail; in square-rigged
ships, line controlling forward lower corner of sail; ship's coarse in
relation to the wind
TACKLE: ropes and blocks
TENDER: a small boat, towed or carried by a ship
TOP: platform at masthead of ship for sailors to stand upon
TOPGALLANT: sail above topsail
TOPMAN: sailor who works on the sails
TOPMAST: mast next above lower mast
TOPSAIL: sail above mainsail
VICE? ADMIRALTY COURTS: courts established in the British colonies for trial and decision of maritime questions and offenses.
WAISTER: an incompetant sailor
WALK THE PLANK: a method of disposing of prisoners at sea; popular
belief to the contrary it was not a usual practice among pirates.
WARP: to move a vessel by hauling on a rope fixed to a stationary
object ashore.
WEATHER: side from which wind is blowing
WEIGH: to raise a vessel's anchor in preparation for departure.
WHERRY: a light rowing boat, used in inland waters and harbors.
YARDARM: the main arm across the mast which holds up the sail.
The yardarm was another vulnerable target in combat, and it was also a
favorite place from which to hang prisoners or enemies. Black Bart hung
his governor of Martinique from his yardarm.
YARDS: the spars slung from the masts of a square? rigged vessel
and used for suspending sails.
YAWL: four-oared ship's boat or small sailing boat
FOR ADVANCED PIRATE WRITERS AND SPEAKERS
-tion
The "-tion" found at the end of words like "locomotion" and "promotion"
is pronounced "-seeon". So, don't say "locomoshun", but "locomoseeon";
not "promoshun", but "promoseeon".
Missing Letters
There are a few letters you should never pronounce. The first of them
is "g". Drop all your "g"'s when you speak and you'll get words like "rowin'",
"sailin'" and "fightin'". Dropping all of your "v"'s will get you words
like "ne'er", "e'er" and "o'er".
Big, Bigger, Big Biggest!
Pirates are dramatic, and their speech is doubly so. Pirates never
speak of "a big ship", they call it a "great, grand ship!" They never say
never, they say "No nay ne'er!" Double up on all your adjectives and you'll
be bountifully bombastic with your phrasing.
De-Conjugation
The conjugation is a rather modern invention, one that sailors always
seem to be forgetting. Take the verb "to be" for example. Instead of saying
"I am", sailors say, "I be". Instead of saying "You are", sailors say,
"You be". Instead of saying, "They are", sailors say, "They be". Makes
things a lot simpler, doesn't it?
Using Nautical Terms
Another technique for sounding more "piratey" is to use nautical terms.
Here are some examples.
"Indeed were I taken aback!": I was surprised.
"And just as I were forgin' ahead through the crowd…": As I was making
my way through the crowd…
Superstition
Pirates are a notoriously superstitious lot. Not only do they inhabit
a world of vengeful spirits and ghost ships, but they also believe that
using certain words when aboard a ship will give offence to King Neptune.
Things which are not to be mentioned include women, cats and the terms
left and right, hence the elaborate taboo language which grew up around
these things.
