Aground—Resting on the bottom.
Aloft—Anywhere above deck, such as in the upper yards, rigging or masts.
Becalmed—Motionless because of lack of wind.
Blockade—Incoming and outgoing traffic barred from a port by a patrolling enemy squadron.
Board—Taking possession of an enemy ship by climbing onto her deck.
Bomb Vessel—Two-masted vessel armed with one or two mortars for bombardment.
Bow—The front of the ship.
Brig—Shorthand for “brigantine,” a two-masted vessel. U.S. Navy brigs often were armed with 16 guns.
Broadside—Simultaneous firing of all guns on one side of a ship.
Cannon—Guns of medium and long range. They were denoted by the weight of shot fired: 9-pound, 12-pound, etc.
Careen—Turning a ship onto its side to make repairs to the other side, or to remove barnacles.
Carronade—A large-bore carriage gun, usually on the top deck, used at short range, sometimes to fire a shrapnel charge to kill enemy sailors.
Cat-O‘-Nine-Tails—A device for flogging sailors, comprised of nine knotted lengths of rope.
Corsair—A Barbary Coast ship licensed by the government to conduct raids on enemy shipping.
Corvette—A fast, three-masted ship with one gun deck.
Cutlass—A saber with a curved blade used in naval hand-to-hand combat.
Dry-Dock—A basin whose water level can be raised and lowered at will so that vessels can be guided onto blocks, the water then drained, and the ships examined and repaired.
Felucca—A small Mediterranean coastal trading vessel, narrow-decked with one or two masts.
Fireship—Any vessel filled with combustibles and explosives and sailed among enemy shipping, where crewmen would light a long fuse giving them time to evacuate before the vessel exploded.
Frigate—A three-masted ship with 24 to 44 guns mounted on one or two gun decks. Swifter than the larger “ships of the line,” yet with enough firepower to hold their own against ships up to 64 guns, frigates were the mainstay of the U.S. Navy during its early years.
Galley—Oar—powered warship of the pre-sail era, often crewed by slave rowers.
Grog—Water-diluted rum.
Gunboat—Small, lightly armed naval vessel suited for shallow-water operations.
Halyard—Rope for raising and lowering sails.
Handspike—Wooden tool for maneuvering ship guns.
Hold—Large, below-decks storage chamber for provisions and cargo.
Impressment—Forcible draft into naval service during wartime. British impressment of U.S. merchant seamen led to the War of 1812.
Ketch—Two-masted sailing vessel used for coastal trading or fishing.
Lateen—A four-sided sail of Arabic origin seen almost exclusively on Mediterranean vessels.
Merchantman—A merchant ship.
Midshipman—The bottom officer rating, followed in ascending rank by lieutenant, captain and commodore in the early U.S. Navy.
Mole—Breakwater that protects a harbor from the sea.
Muster Book—Shipboard book listing the names of everyone aboard.
Passport—A pass issued by the Barbary States to merchantmen from friendly nations, protecting them against capture by corsairs. During the U.S.-Tripolitan war, U.S. consuls issued passes to Barbary traders as a guaranty against capture by U.S. naval vessels.
Polacre—A two- or three-masted, lateen-sail Barbary vessel comparable in size to a Navy brig or small frigate, often employed as a corsair.
Port—Left side of a vessel, viewed from the rear.
Privateer—Privately owned ship authorized by a government to capture enemy shipping in time of war. Privateers were granted government “letters of marque” permitting them to take possession of enemy prizes. If the captured vessel were condemned in a “prize court,” the captor crew was entitled to share in the value of the spoils.
Prize Court—Place where captured ships, or “prizes,” were adjudicated and shares of condemned prizes awarded to captor crews.
Quarantine—A restriction placed on ships arriving from ports notorious for disease. A quarantined crew could not land until local health officials cleared them. Quarantines normally lasted no more than 40 days.
Quay—A manmade strip of land in a harbor where ships can load or unload cargo or passengers.
Schooner—A two-masted vessel typically carrying eight to 12 guns and slightly smaller than a brig.
Shoal—Shallows in an area of deeper water.
Ship Log—Offrcial ship record book, updated daily with observations on navigation, weather, and occurrences.
Ships of the Line—Ships of 64 to 130 guns that carried sufficient firepower to take positions in the “line of battle,” a formation from which an admiral could bring the utmost firepower to bear at one time.
Sloop—A small sailing vessel, often one-masted, usually with fewer than eight guns. The term sometimes is used generically to refer to small warships.
Spar Deck—The upper deck behind the main mast from which the captain commanded his ship.
Speaking Trumpet—A crude megaphone used by officers to shout orders and communicate with other ships.
Sprung Mast—Mast that has broken free of its fastenings and must either be repaired or replaced.
Squadron—A small number of warships under one commander.
Starboard—Right side of a vessel, viewed from the rear.
Stern—The rear of a ship.
Struck his Flag—Lowered the flag in surrender.
Tack—An oblique ship’s maneuver enabling it to sail into the wind.
Watch—On shipboard, the 24 hours of the day were divided into five four-hour and two two-hour watches, with the crewmen assigned to a watch responsible for the ship’s operation during that period.
Xebec—A three-masted Mediterranean vessel, similar to a polacre. Xebecs were often used as corsairs.