Pirate Lingo

ACCOUNT, TO GO ON THE: to embark on a piratical cruise

ACTS OF PARDON OR GRACE: general amnesty under which a reformed pirate might surrender in return for a certificate of pardon

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

BILGED ON HER ANCHOR: a ship holed or pierced by its own anchor

BOOMS OR FENDERS: spars to which a sail is fastened to control its position relative to the wind

BOOT-TOPPING: a hurried, partial careen

BOWSPRIT: a spar projecting from the bow of a vessel used to carry the headstay as far forward as possible

BRIG, BRIGANTINE: a two-masted sailing ship, rigged square on the foremast and fore and aft with square topsails on the mainmast

BROUGHT A SPRING UPON HER CABLE: came round in a different direction

BRULOT (FRENCH): a fireship

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.

CAPSTAN: a windlass with a vertical drum, used for hauling in ropes, etc.

CAREEN: to cause a vessel to keel over on its side in order to clean or repair its bottom

CAREENAGE: a careening place

CHASE GUNS: cannon situated at the bow of a ship, used during pursuit

CHEQUEEN: sequin, a former Venetian gold coin

CLAPINIRONS: to chain

CRIMP: a person who swindled or press ganged sailors

DORY: a fisherman's dugout

DOUBLOON: a former Spanish gold coin

DROGER: a West Indian coasting vessel

EXECUTION DOCK: the usual place for pirate hangings, on the Thames, in London near the Tower

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

FLnNGJ}B: the jib furthest forward on a vessel with two or more jibs

FREEBOOTER OR FILIBUSTER: another name for a buccaneer or pirate

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

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

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

HEAVE DOWN, TO: to turn a vessel on its side for cleaning

HOGSHEAD: a large cask used mainly for shipment of wines and spirits

INTERLOPER: an illegal trader

JACK: a flag, especially one flown at the bow of a ship to indicate her nationality

JOLLY ROGER: the pirate flag

LARBOARD: the left (or port) side of a vessel when facing the bow

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

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

MOIDORE: a former Portuguese gold coin

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

PIRAGUA: a type of native dugout canoe

PRESS(OR FORCE): to recruit for naval or military service by forcible means

PRIVATEER: a privately owned, armed vessel operating under letters Or marque

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.

ROAD: a partly sheltered anchorage

SALMAGUNDI: a dish of chopped meat, eggs, anchovies, onions, etc.; a pirate favorite

SCHOONER: a sailing vessel with at least two masts with all lower sails rigged fore and aft

SEA ARTIST: sailing master

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

SNOW: a small sailing vessel, resembling a brig, carrying a main and foremast and a supplementary trysail mast close behind the mainmast

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

STARBOARD: the right side of a vessel when facing the bow

STRIKE(COLORS): to haul down a ship's flag as a signal of surrender

SWEET TRADE: buccaneering or piracy

SWIVEL (GUN): a gun mounted on a pivot so that it might be swung from side to side

TENDER: a small boat, towed or carried by a ship

VICE-ADMIRALTY COURTS: courts established in the British colonies for trial and decision of maritime questions and offenses

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

WEIGH: to raise a vessel's anchor in preparation for departure

WHERRY: a light rowing boat, used in inland waters and harbors

YARDS: the spars slung from the masts of a square-rigged vessel and used for suspending sails