Period sailing jargon

[Daniel]

One of the things I love most about pirates, and ancient sailors generally, is their picturesque language. Phrases like "lay her by the lee," "lay aloft the windward mizzen yard," "blowing marlinspikes," "have a care of the lee latch," and "how cheer ye fore and aft?" are like poetry to me. Although sailing jargon changed remarkably little over the centuries - sailors on the Golden Hind and the Cutty Sark would both easily understand a phrase like "the main mast is shot by the board" - it did evolve slowly. "Ahoy," for example, does not appear in print until the 1750s; the Sea-Man's Vade Mecum of 1707 has no entry for "ahoy," and suggests you greet an approaching vessel with the words "Hoa hoa!" Even the 1757 edition of Mountaine's Sea-Man's Vade Mecum and Defensive War by Sea does not have "ahoy" in its dictionary, instead saying "Hoa the ship!"

Two of my favorite nautical phrases are "Sail ho!" and "Land ho!" But are they period? I have often read in older sources of sailors simply shouting "Land, land!" or "A sail! A sail!" These latter are so much more prosaic that I hate to write them in my stories, but are they more authentic?

I couldn't have been more than ten years old when I first read the enchanting expression, "Hard a-lee!" Not until much later did I realize that "helm's a-lee!" is far more common, and also much more descriptive of what's actually happening. But which, if either, of these phrases was used in GAoP?

I don't want to add too many other questions, but I'd like to invite everybody generally to mention any well known maritime lingo that wasn't around during our period.

[Fox]

I've always had a liknig for the response to 'sail ho!' from the deck, 'where away?'. Imagine my delight then when yesterday I read 'where away' in a period text - Jean Marteilhe's Memoirs of a Galley Slave (Rotterdam, 1757. English translation, 1758. My edition, Folio soc. 1957), recounting the author's life as a galley slave at the very beginning of the eighteenth century.

I went back to check the reference to 'where away' to post here, and discovered something for you too.

We had not been lying-to more than a quarter of an hour when the lookout on watch at our mainmast-head hailed the deck, 'Sail hoa - a fleet!' 'Where away?' they asked. 'Northward.' 'Whither bound?' 'Westaway,' said he. (p. 94)

[capn'rob]

I don't know the dates of origin but the right side of the vessel being the "starboard" side came from pre-stern hung rudders when the "steer board" was positioned on the right aft quarter. The opposite side was called "larboard" until the late 18th century when "port" became the term. It is said that became the term because the steerboard would be damaged if docked starboardside to, so the other side became the "port"side. Again, I know not why but the Yankee Whalermen continued to use the term "larboard" through the industries days which ended in the closing of the 19th century.

[Fox]

The word 'port' for the left side of a vessel dates back at least to the 1620s because it appears in Boteler's Dialogues. 'Larboard' continued to be used as well, but 'port your helm', for example, has an older pedigree than it's generally given credit for.

[Quartermaster James]

I know this has been posted before, but it's good enough to post again: http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/seamansgrammar/

[Daniel]

I've always had a liknig for the response to 'sail ho!' from the deck, 'where away?'. Imagine my delight then when yesterday I read 'where away' in a period text - Jean Marteilhe's Memoirs of a Galley Slave (Rotterdam, 1757. English translation, 1758. My edition, Folio soc. 1957), recounting the author's life as a galley slave at the very beginning of the eighteenth century.

Excellent! Delighted to hear that!

Regarding "port" and "starboard," my understanding is that "port" was initially used just for helm orders, to avoid the possibility of confusion because "starboard" and "larboard" sound so similar. Only much later did "port" supplant "larboard" for other uses. And I read in Time-Life's The Vikings that "starboard" goes all the way back to the Vikings, whose steering oar on the right side of the vessel was called the stjornbord.

[Fox]

Yar, that's pretty much the case. As a steering command the OED dates it back as far as 1544. By Butler's (or Boteler's) time though it had gone beyond mere steering: 'A ship is also said to heel a-port when she inclineth to the left hand and so swims not upright. Likewise when anything is to be carried or removed to the left side of the ship, it is said put it a-port'

[MarkG]

I've always had a liknig for the response to 'sail ho!' from the deck, 'where away?'. Imagine my delight then when yesterday I read 'where away' in a period text - Jean Marteilhe's Memoirs of a Galley Slave (Rotterdam, 1757. English translation, 1758. My edition, Folio soc. 1957), recounting the author's life as a galley slave at the very beginning of the eighteenth century.

Excellent! Delighted to hear that!

Regarding "port" and "starboard," my understanding is that "port" was initially used just for helm orders, to avoid the possibility of confusion because "starboard" and "larboard" sound so similar. Only much later did "port" supplant "larboard" for other uses. And I read in Time-Life's The Vikings that "starboard" goes all the way back to the Vikings, whose steering oar on the right side of the vessel was called the stjornbord.

The steering oar was still mounted on the right side of the ship into the 14th century. By the 15th century they were hanging the rudder from the stern and using a tiller. Obviously the term continued long after it stopped being descriptive.

Mark

[Daniel]

You can actually find sternpost rudders on North European cogs as early as the 12th or 13th centuries, and much earlier than that in some other civilizations. But yes, the steering oar continued to be used on various other vessels at least into the 15th century, and maybe longer.

[MarkG]

You can actually find sternpost rudders on North European cogs as early as the 12th or 13th centuries, and much earlier than that in some other civilizations. But yes, the steering oar continued to be used on various other vessels at least into the 15th century, and maybe longer.

I was thinking more of when the last ones were used instead of when the first ones appeared but I also have a Mediterranean bias because of our Santa Maria.

The cog was a Medieval workhorse of a boat and was big enough that it had to have a stern-post mounted tiller.

Mark

[Coastie04]

As a more modern note, port and starboard are begining to change yet again, and ironically are begining with helm commands. Many ships (including the U.S. Coast Guard) are using right and left for rudder commands instead of port and starboard. This is to avoid confusion (sounds familiar, doesn't it?) about what the officer of the watch actually wants. For a ship with a rudder, in order to turn to port, would have to push the rudder to starboard, thus turning the rudder to port. So, 'port your helm' would actually turn the rudder/boat to starboard. For a while, the terms 'starboard helm' and 'port rudder' meant the same thing: turn the rudder to port. As it has been mentioned, nautical terminology evolves slow (on a side note, my knowledge of traditional ship rigging once helped me pass a test on shipboard cranes). So, in the early 20th Century, there was a crossover period where confusion was caused depending on whether people learned to sail on ships with wheels or tillers. 'Hard-a-starboard' would mean two different things to different sailors. However, since some people still cling to the old ways, rudder commands are now often given in left/right instead of port/starboard, so that everyone knows it's a rudder command, not a helm/tiller command.

Coastie

[Mission]

OK, "we bent our sails" appears to me to mean they took the canvas down. (Also, "we unbent our sails.") How ever did they arrive at that meaning?

[Swashbuckler 1700]

I saw no actual answers to that "sail ho" question so:

Well it is from this site http://pirates.hegewisch.net/nautical_lexicon.html#s but it is better than nothing

"According to Adm. Smythe, this was a phrase used to signal a ship of unknown origin or intentions. It dates from 1840. Other sources say that the phrase "Sail! Sail!" was used to by ships during the Golden Age."

Interesting that it might be that new...

Also interesting that the term "(land) lubber" dates back at least as early as 1740s and can, and probably is, years older than that. Interesting. I always thought is as a Hollywood cliche.

I think the difference of "Ahoy" and "Hoa hoa!" is rather small. But still it is "sad" that the newer sailing terms are almost always messed with pirates of 1600-1700s...

Edited January 16, 2013 by Swashbuckler 1700

[Zaknesbitt]

OK, "we bent our sails" appears to me to mean they took the canvas down. (Also, "we unbent our sails.") How ever did they arrive at that meaning?

My good Doctor! Bending a sail to a yard simply means to rig it up to said yard. Naturally to 'unbend' would be to take it down for repair or other need. I myself often wonder how they came to these crazy-sounding words for simple things, the origins of which probably lye back in some archaic (and thus) forgotten Elizabethan-or-older definition/pronunciation... which we may never know.

Regarding 'Ahoy' Vs. 'Hoa', phonetically they sound quite similar, i.e. 'Sail Hoa' sounds to me much like 'Sail ahoy!' when spoken, or something of the like. I always understood the origin of 'Ahoy' to be an early 18th-century portmanteau of 'Ah' and 'Hoy' a word used in this 18th century sense much like we use 'Hey!' today to attract someone's attention, which is also where the East Londoners get the exclamation 'Oy!' or 'Oi!', having evolved out of their 'H' dropping habit.