Nautical Terms
Ballad = a song that tells a story.
Bilge pump = a cranked machine to pump water out of the bilges (lowest part of the ship).
Boney = Napoléon Bonaparte, an infamous despot.
Bulgine = a steam locomotive.
Bunting = pleated sails.
Capstan = the turnstile that is used to winch up the anchor and perform heavy tasks.
Chantey = Shanty = a call and response song to perform the many heavy, laborious, and boring work aboard a sailing ship.
Currach = Irish wooden-framed boat with an animal skin covering.
Donkey Riding = Not sure. Either it’s the sailors making fun of the steam donkey engine used to assist in hauling lines, or simply riding a donkey for fun in port.
Feathers on stacks = decorative and functional smokestack terminals designed to arrest sparks.
Fore and Aft = towards the front (bow) and towards the rear (stern) of a boat.
Forebitter = a song sung during a sailor’s leisure time.
Forecastle = foc’s’cle = the place below decks in the bow where the sailors slept.
Glass = portable barometer used at sea.
Got us in tow = Sailors thought their favorite women on shore had a line attached to tow them back home.
Heave = push.
Halyard = the line to haul up the yards (booms).
Haul = pull.
Long Haul = the line to haul up heavy objects (other than yards).
Mollymauk = albatross of the southern oceans.
O'Bruadair = 17th century Irish pirate and smuggler.
Old Horse = A ceremonial horse made of old canvas and straw, thrown overboard to commemorate sailors paying off the cost off their gear and crimp (agent on shore).
Packet = fast-moving cargo ship.
Seven Seas = per Greek literature they are: Aegean, Adriatic, Mediterranean, Black, Red, and Caspian seas, with the Persian Gulf thrown in as a "sea."
Shinbone Al = waterfront alley in Bermuda (on the wrong side of the tracks).
Short drag = a song to do quick hauls, tension lines, etc. Also known as hand-over-hand.
Sweating up = getting the slack out of the lines.
To me (t'me) = chanteyman's call to signal a response and start the haul.