The Seafaring Dictionary: Terms, Idioms and Legends of the Past and Present

399 Pages·2009·5.72 MB·English

by  David S. T. Blackmore

The Seafaring
Dictionary
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The Seafaring
Dictionary
Terms, Idioms and Legends
of the Past and Present
DAVID S.T. BLACKMORE
Foreword by Vice Admiral J.A. Baldwin, Jr.,
U.S. Navy (Ret.)
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Blackmore, David S.T.
The seafaring dictionary : terms, idioms and legends of the past and
present / David S.T. Blackmore ; foreword by J.A. Baldwin, Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-4266-9
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Naval art and science—Dictionaries.
I. Title.
V23.B583 2009 623.803—dc22 2009001471
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2009 David S.T. Blackmore. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover images ©2009 Shutterstock
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
T C
ABLE OF ONTENTS
Foreword by Vice Admiral J.A. Baldwin, Jr., U.S. Navy (Ret.) 1
Preface 3
Introduction 7
The Dictionary 15
Appendix: Real and Speculative Sea Monsters 367
Tables:
1. A—Beaufort’s Original Scale. B—The Modern Beaufort Scale 371
2. The Douglas Scales 371
3. Pierson-Moskowitch Sea State 372
4. World Meteorological Organization Sea State Codes 373
5. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale 373
6. Wind Speed Scales Compared 373
7. COLREGS (Navigation Rules or Rules of the Road) 374
8. International Flag Signals 375
9. Sound and Light Signals 377
10. Distress Signals 377
11. Examples of Phonetic Alphabets 378
12. International Standard 8601 378
13. Comparative Officer Ranks 379
14. NATO and United States Rank Codes 380
15. The Evolution of United States Navy Officer Titles 380
16. Equivalent U.S. and Foreign Naval Officer Ranks 381
17. Boxing the Compass 381
Bibliography 383
Index 385
v
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F
OREWORD
Vice Admiral J.A. Baldwin, Jr.,
U.S. Navy (Ret.)
In contrast to the thrust of this volume, which in the main looks to
the past for origins, definitions, and anecdotes, David Blackmore and I met
in a thoroughly modern way—through the internet. David had received
my email address from a mutual friend, and thus began a valued associa-
tion.
Indeed, associations engendered by the sea and by having gone to sea
make it easier for most sailors to communicate because of their acquired
vocabulary, and made our collaboration easier as well. While most profes-
sions have their own lexicon, “sailor speak” seems to me to be older, broader,
and deeper than others.
The importance of this was made clear to me during my plebe year
at the U.S. Naval Academy by a crusty retired chief petty officer whose mis-
sion it was to impart some salt along with his wisdom to the landlubbers
in my class. His view of the need for using a different vocabulary—port,
starboard, forward, aft, galley, head, overhead, and the like—was so that a
sailor would “think ship” in everything he or she thought and did. And so
it was.
If you have half as much fun delving through The Seafaring Dictio-
nary as I did rummaging around in the interstices of the draft and thrash-
ing out with David the different usages between the U.S. and Royal navies,
then you will have an interesting read and learn something to boot.
Nantucket, Massachusetts
September 1, 2008
1
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P
REFACE
The writer writes in order to teach himself,
to understand himself, to satisfy himself.
—Alfred Kazin, 1963
An author who speaks about his own books is almost
as bad as a mother who talks about her own children.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1873
I will go back to the great sweet mother
Mother and lover of men, the sea.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne, 1852
What qualifies a retired oil company ex- At ten I joined the Sea Scouts, learning
ecutive to compile a book such as this? Well, how to box the compass, tie knots and splices,
I’ve been connected with ships and the sea for and other bits of oceanic lore, plus countless
as long as I can remember. Born in the shadow hours (and countless blisters) rowing whale-
of Salisbury Cathedral in England, I was taken boats up and down the Thames River. By then
on my first ocean voyage (to Egypt) when just my family had deserted Sheringham in favor
a few months old, returning by sea several of the little seaport of Mevagissey in Corn-
years later. I have no recollection of either pas- wall, from where I spent most of my summers
sage, but perhaps I got a little salt in my blood. sailing solo around the rocky wave-beaten
Back in England my family spent every headlands. (Solo because, sad to say, Tiny had
July and August at Sheringham, a then-tiny gone to doggy Fiddler’s Green, where I think
fishing village in Norfolk, where crab and lob- of her perpetually performing her self-ap-
ster fishing, along with long-lining for cod, pointed duty—standing stiff-legged on the
herring, and mackerel made the local fisher- heaving bow as forward lookout, enjoying the
men major suppliers to the London fish mar- salty spray on her face.)
kets. At that time there were over 200 boats, At fourteen I temporarily deserted the
today, only eight remain. sea to become a founder member of the Air
There, I met Tiny, a pure-bred Cairn ter- Cadet Corps, where I found the recruitment
rier puppy who had been born at sea when her propaganda of naval aviation more compelling
dam whelped unexpectedly early. On virtu- than the rival claims of the Royal Air Force.
ally every one of the sixty or so halcyon days we Then came the Battle of Britain and Nazi in-
spent there every year, Tiny and I were on the vasion threat, during which I spent my days as
wharf before dawn begging a ride. The fisher- a bicycle courier for Civil Defense and many
men must have looked on the little boy with his nights equipped with rifle and bayonet on sen-
dog as some kind of good luck mascots, because try duty with the Home Guard (which was
they were always ready to take us on board. happy to overlook the age regulations to re-
Days spent handling the lines in bouncy little cruit 15-year-olds at one end of the spectrum
boats on the seldom-smooth North Sea gave and octogenarians at the other).
me sea legs that I have never lost. Two years later, I graduated high school
3