Avast Ye Scurvy Dogs!

I'm practicing for Talk Like A Pirate Day.

To start helping us get into the correct frame of mind, I'm posting some helpful nautical terms.

• ASTERN - In back of the boat, opposite of ahead.
• BATTEN DOWN - Secure hatches and loose objects both within the hull and on deck.
• BITTER END - The last part of a rope or chain.The inboard end of the anchor rode.
• BLACKJACK - A pirate flag with a skull or skeleton was referred to as a jolly roger. A black and white jolly roger (used from 1690 onward) was referred to as a blackjack.
• BOOTY - The goods seized from enemy ships in times of war. Other terms are loot, plunder or spoils.
• BOUCAN - The Buccaneers used this knife when they hunted wild pig and oxen on the Islands around Santa Domingo and Jamaica. Boucans came in all sizes and shapes and looked like a cut down cutlass. These knives were primarily used as a utility knife, but could be used in combat to hack or slash an enemy in battle.
• BOUNTY - The reward offered for the capture of a pirate. The person doing the capturing of the wanted pirate is called a bounty hunter.
• BUCCANEER - Buccaneers got their name from the French word boucan which means barbecue. Buccaneers were originally pig and cattle farmers and the term referred to the way they barbecued their meat on grills as taught to them by the local natives. Buccaneer referred to the pirates and privateers who were based out of the West Indies.
• CABIN BOY - A young boy who worked aboard pirate ships as a servant. Many cabin boys made their way aboard ship by being kidnapped by pirates or were runaways looking for a means of escape.
• CAREEN - To clean or repair a pirate ship by beaching it and turning it over on its side. This was the time when pirate ships were most vulnerable to attack.
• CAT O' NINE TAILS - This whip was designed with nine knotted cords fastened to a handle. The name of the whip comes from the scars it left on the backs of the pirates who were flogged with the whip. The marks resembled cat scratches.
• CORSAIR - This term is used for privateers who operated in the Mediterranean. The most famous were the Barbary Corsairs from the Barbary Coast of North Africa (so called by the European crusaders who called their Muslim opponents barbarians) who were authorized by their governments to attack the shipping of Christian countries. The Maltese Corsairs were sent out by Knights of St. John in a religious war against the Turks, but the rewards of privacy soon became more important.
• CUTTHROAT - Someone who robs or plunders at sea or plunders the land from sea without having a commission from a sovereign nation; a ruthless pirate.
• DEAD ASTERN - Directly aft.
• DOLDRUMS - Located between 5 degrees north and 5 degrees south of the equator, the doldrums are a belt of very still air near the equator that stalled sailing ships.
• DOLPHIN - A group of piles driven close together and bound with wire cables into a single structure.
• EBB - A receding current.
• FATHOM - Six feet.
• FLOTSAM - Flotsam is a term for floating remnants of a shipwreck.
• FREEBOOTER - Another name for a pirate or buccaneer, Dutch pirates were known as "vrijbuiters," the word "vrij" meaning free, "buit" meaning loot, and the ending "er" meaning agent. The word "vrijbuiter" eventually morphed into "freebooter" in English and "flibustier" in French.
• FORE-AND-AFT - In a line parallel to the keel.
• FOULED - Any piece of equipment that is jammed or entangled, or dirtied.
• GIBBET - Public gallows used for displaying hanged criminals to the public. It was a custom to display pirates in this way as a warning to would-be pirates entering a city, town or harbor.
• HOLD - A compartment below deck in a large vessel, used solely for carrying cargo.
• JACOBS LADDER - A rope ladder, lowered from the deck, as when pilots or passengers come aboard.
• JETTY - A structure, usually masonry, projecting out from the shore; a jetty may protect a harbor entrance.
• KEEL - The centerline of a boat running fore and aft; the backbone of a vessel.
• KEELHAUL - This was a form of punishment for pirates, which originates from the Dutch and English navies. A sailor was hauled under the keel of a ship, hanging by ropes attached to the yardarms on each side.
• KNOT - A measure of speed equal to one nautical mile (6076 feet) per hour.
• LADE - Put cargo on the pirate ship.
• LAZARETTE - A storage space in a boat's stern area.
• LEE - The side sheltered from the wind.
• LEEWARD - The direction away from the wind. Opposite of windward.
• LETTER OF MARQUE - The papers a government issues to privateers granting permission to attack, take by force and return the goods from enemy merchant ships.
• MOORING - An arrangement for securing a boat to a mooring buoy or a pier.
• MUTINY - When the crew rises against the those in charge of the ship, taking over command.
• NAUTICAL MILE - One minute of latitude; approximately 6076 feet - about 1/8 longer than the statute mile of 5280 feet.
• OUTBOARD - Toward or beyond the boat's sides. A detachable engine mounted on a boat's stern.
• PILLAGE - The act of seizing by force the goods from a merchant ship in time of war. The pillaged goods are referred to as plunder, loot, booty or spoils.
• PIRATE - To raid a merchant ship. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, the difference between a pirate and a privateer is that the privateer was commissioned by a government and the pirate was non-commissioned. (See Privateer)
• PLUNDER - The act of stealing goods from a merchant ship in time of war. The stolen goods are referred to as plunder, loot, booty or spoils.
• PRIVATEER - A privately-owned, armed sea vessel commissioned by a sovereign government to attack and raid the merchant ships of a hostile nation. The term also applies to the ship's owner, its captain or crew.
• QUARTERDECK - This smaller deck located above the main deck is where the officers control the ship.
• RUN - To allow a line to feed freely.
• SALMAGUNDI - A highly-seasoned pirate dish made from available meats or fish.
• SCUPPERS - Drain holes on deck, in the toe rail, or in bulwarks or (with drain pipes) in the deck itself.
• SCURVY - Many sailors on long trips got scurvy, which debilitates and then kills its victims. When the cause of scurvy was determined to be caused by a dietary deficiency in vitamin C, limes which are high in the vitamin were brought along for long voyages. After which, the British sailors who were forced to drink the lime juice in prevention of scurvy became known "limeys."
• SCUTTLE - To sink one's own ship on purpose.
• SQUALL - A sudden, violent wind often accompanied by rain.
• SWABBIE - A swab is type of mop made out of rope-yarns or threads. A person who mopped the decks using the swab was called a swabbie.
• TRANSOM - The stern cross-section of a square sterned boat.
• WINDWARD - Toward the direction from which the wind is coming.
• YAW - To swing or steer off course, as when running with a quartering sea.
  

(Shamelessly looted, pillaged and plundered from this site and this site.