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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
Main Page | Krys' Info | Drunken Pirate Fun
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| Pirate Lingo
All text unless otherwise indicated ©
1996-2003 HLM of White Dutchess Enterprises.
Disclaimer
OOC: Pirate Lingo found from Cao's and Grunk's old pirate
page.