THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ THE READERS’ DICTIONARY OF SAILING SHIP TERMINOLOGY ___________________________________________________________________________ 90 91 THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF PETER TURNER ©2024 THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF PETER TURNER ©2024 If any reader can provide information, please send to galf@abandos.com If any reader can provide information, please send to galf@abandos.com in 1740. Grog-Fast - A form of punishment in which the felon was issued no grog for a period of sentence. This was not considered a trivial punishment. Groggy – The condition of seamen who had too enthusiastically partaken of grog. A term that has come ashore to not unreasonably denote an unsteadiness. Grog money - Substitute for grog paid to teetotallers. Grog-Oh! - The call to inform the crew that grog was about to be dished up. This was not often missed by crews who were alert for the call. Grommet – 1. A small rope ring made and stitched around a hole in canvas to prevent it fraying. 2. The name given to apprentice or trainee seamen, from the Spanish word 'grumete'. Grossmast - SMS Ground – Seabed. Ground (vb) - To bring a vessel’s keel into touch with the bottom – not often done intentionally. Groundage - Quay or shore dues on docking. Ground rope - The tough bottom rope attached to the D-shaped mouth of a trawl net to protect it from chafing. Groundswell – Sea waves from distant stormy areas. Ground tackle – Anchors and their cables. Ground tier – The lowest tier of casks or cargo stowed in a hold. Group flashing (Gp.Fl.) or Group occulting (Gp.Occ.) lights - Of buoys, flashes or occultations of light coming regularly in groups of two or more. Grow – Said of a cable’s direction away from the ship towards its anchor. Growl - Seamen's slang for a conversation between crew members in the forecastle. Growlers - See Ice. Grown spar - A spar made from a single piece of tree. Guano - Phosphate and ammonia rich fertiliser comprising seabird dung, which was a valuable S American Pacific cargo. Guard Boat - Deployed by Guard Ship* and used to patrol fleet in moorings. Also the response to "Boat Ahoy!" challenge, if appropriate. Guard irons - Curved iron bars fixed over ornamental carvings or figures, on a vessel's head or quarters, to protect them from damage. Guardo - (US) Receiving ship for temporary quartering of enlisted men; Guardo-move - Trick played on a novice in a receiving ship. Guard rails - Either iron safety rails, or chains suspended between stanchions, along a ship's sides where the deck is exposed to the sea. Guards - In Elizabethan times, blue and green stripes used as decoration. Guardships - Warship on escort duty, appointed in rotation to watch squadron anchored together. Deployed Guard Boat. Gudgeon - A metal, usually bronze, clamp fastened to the stern post into which the pintles of the rudder fit, providing the hinged mechanism part of the rudder assembly. Guernsey - Or Guernsey Jacket. Guerre de Course Guess warp – A rope attached to the shore and the vessel that can be used to move the vessel by hauling on the inboard end. cf warp. Guest Warp – Rope with a Turk’s Head worked at intervals, rigged down the accommodation ladder. Guess (or Guest) warp boom - A boom rigged from the side of a vessel to provide a temporary mooring for a small boat. Guffey, guffies - A marine or jolly. +98 Guinea boats - Fast smuggling boats. Guinea Coast - The west coast of Africa, from Sierra Leone to Benin, where there were many defending Portuguese forts in Elizabethan times. Guinea Pigs - Inexperienced sailors, or midshipmen on Company Ships. Guineamen Guineas Gulf-Weed - Found mid-Atlantic. Gull - Old word for stream or channel. Gullies - Sea-gulls, Cape Horn pigeons, etc. Gulper, Gulpers - A long single swallow of grog from an oppo's tot, repaying a favour owed, or a debt. Two sippers equals one gulper. Gun – Usually referred to heavy cannon (cf), but also referred to small cannon and carronades. Gunboat Gun-brig Gun Crane Gun Crew Gun deck - The lowest deck on a ship-of-the-line on which the heaviest gund are mounted and used. Gunfleet, The - Deep water channel in the shallows off Harwich, on the Essex coast. Gunhammer – The striking part of a flintlock, onto the frizzen. Gun Layer Gunlocks Gunnel - Seamen's slang for Gunwale. Gunnels under - Seamen's slang for being overloaded with work, or with drink (drunk). Gunner Gunner's daughter - A midshipman being punished by spanking whilst laying over a gun was said to be 'marrying the gunner's daughter'. Gunner's Mates Gunner's store Gun port - The hole in a vessel’s side through which the guns were fired. Gun port lid - Hinged cover for the gun port. Gun Racks Gun-room, Gun Room - The Gunner's quarters in the main compartment at the after end of the lower gun-deck of a man-of-war, used by the gunner or as a mess for lower-ranking officers, where also younger midshipmen slung their hammocks. Guns - Slings, fowlers, bassils, top-pieces, hailshot pieces, hand-guns. Guns – For 16c guns see Clowes Volume1, p410. Gun, Son of a – If a child was born aboard a warship – a not unknown occurrence – it usually happened between guns on the gun deck, and if the father was not known, the infant was entered in the ship’s log as a ‘son of a gun’. Gunstock Rudder -CTC Gunter - See Gunter's scale, Gunter’s scale, or Gunter – A flat wooden ruler engraved with lines and scales, used in making headed barbed harpoon used to catch seals and fish. Grain space – The total internal volume of a ship’s hold. Grampus Grampussing - Punishment of half drowning by pouring water down sleeves while arms are held up. Granado – An early explosive shell. Grand bankers – Schooners from various countries, line-fishing on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. Grandissimus – A whale’s penis, sometimes over six feet long and one foot diameter. Grand Fleet - Our Western Squadron or Channel Fleet. Grand magazine Granny – An insecure knot comprising two identical half knots. Granny Knot Grapnel – A four-pronged anchoring or dragging device made up from four hooks on a central shaft. Grappling – 1. Using a grapnel. 2. An old term for a grapnel. Grating - The open grid covering for a hatch, used to provide light and ventilation, but covered with tarpaulin in foul weather. Gratings Grave - To clean off a ship's bottom by burning away all accretions and treating it all over with tar. This in obviously done with the ship ashore or in a dock, in the latter case known as a Graving Dock. Gravel(The) - Urinary complaint. Graveyard watch – The Middle Watch, from 0000 to 0400, from the quietness of these hours. Also grave-eye watch, from the difficulty experienced by the watchkeeper in trying to keep his eyes open. Graving – Cleaning a ship’s bottom by breaming. Graving dock - A dock where graving was done. The name came to be used for any dry dock. Graving piece - A wooden patch or inset used to repair a hole in a rotten or otherwise damaged plank. Great Cabin - (tge) Great circle – A circle on the surface of a sphere, whose centre is at the centre point of the sphere, such as the equator. Great Guns - CTC Great, Middling and Minor Repairs – Three grades of repair and refit to ships in royal dockyards. Great Ships – The term applied to 1st and 2nd rates. Great Ship Swallower, The - Goodwin Sands. Great Sticks - Trees felled for masts, hence Great Masts Great Timbers Great Wen - London. A wen is a wart. Grecian splice - A technique used to splice standing rigging, in which the hearts of two ropes are short-spliced and served. The ends are then divided, married and tucked in twice, then fayed , parcelled and served. Green coat - Seamen's slang for feigning ignorance in order to escape being held responsible for something and so avoid punishment. To wear a green coat. Greener gun - A type of American harpoon gun. Greenheart Greenlanders - Whalers around Greenland. Greenlandmen - Whalers around Greenland. Greenland Ship - Sailing ship equipped for journeys to the north of Greenland, for seal hunting and whaling, from about 12c. Green rub - Seamen's slang for an undeserved rebuke. Green sea - A sea that sweeps over the deck without breaking. Greenwich Hospital - Established 1664 by Charles II, for veteran seamen. Received pay due to deserters Greenwich Mean Time – The mean time on the meridian of Greenwich. Also universal time. Greenwich Pensioner - Seamen's nickname for a standard wooden leg. Gregale - A strong Mediterranean gale. Grego, greygoe - (Am) Sailor's surtout, or short heavy coat. Grenades - Used in warfare at least from 16c. Hollow cast iron or glass sphere weighing about two pounds, with a bursting charge of about four or five ounces of powder. Grete bote - 15c ship's boat of eighteen oars. Greygoes - Short heavy coats. Also Grego's. Gribble or Gribble worm – (Limnoria) A small crustacean, one eighth of an inch long, that makes shallow burrows in timber hulls, which weaken them. Found in temperate latitudes, as distinct from the Teredo worm, which is found in tropical latitudes. Gridiron – A heavy framework of girders used to hold a vessel upright in a dry dock. Griff - Seamen's slang for information. Gripe – 1. (v) To tend to windward of the course with a wind on the quarter. 2. The curved outer surface of the forefoot. Gripes - Two pieces of sword matting or other form of lines that cross over the outside of a ship’s boat and keep it hard against the griping spar, from which "the longboat was cut loose". Griping - SMS Griping spar – A long spar covered by canvas puddening, held between the davits and against which the boat was firmly held. Grippa - 15/16c Mediterranean oared sailing ship about 55 feet long and 10 feet wide, similar to Brigantine. Grippos - Seamen's slang for something for free. Groat - An Elizabethan coin worth four pence. Grog - Mixture of rum and water named after Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, who issued the first general Grog order in 1740 and whose nickname was Old Grogram (grog-rum), after the fabric of his waterproof cloak. The daily allowance to each crewman was one Gill, or seamen could take money in lieu. Usually issued as Three Water Grog, meaning a 3:1 mixture of water:rum. Often referred to by seamen as "Due North" - neat rum; "Due West" - pure water; "North West" - half and half; "North North West"- 2/3 rum etc. Neaters diluted two and one. It would not keep once diluted, so could not be stored or hoarded. Also called bubbly. After Admiral Vernon (Old Grogram), who first ordered it in the West Indies
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