Naval sayings

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- R -

Rack and ruin:

Destroyed; severely damaged; wrecked
Rack is a variant of ‘wreck’, and then ‘wrack’, and describes the complete destruction of a ship.

Round robin:

Tournament in which every competitor plays each other in turn
The origins of this expression come from seventeenth century France, where ruban rond (‘round ribbon’) was the method of signing petitions on ribbons which were attached to documents in a circular manner so as not to reveal who signed the petition first. Similarly, British sailors signed petitions of grievances to resemble spokes of a wheel radiating form its hub so as to protect leaders’ identities.

Rummage sale:

Sale of second-hand, unclaimed or damaged items
Damaged or unclaimed cargo was sold in port in a rummage sale. Rummage derives from the French arrimage, meaning to stow cargo.

Rub salt into wounds:

Make a situation worse; aggravate; add insult to injury
Salt was used aboard naval vessels as a disinfectant, and was applied to wounds to prevent gangrene. The process of rubbing salt into wounds was extremely painful.

Run the gauntlet:

Risk being attacked or criticised from two or more sides
A form of punishment involving forcing a sailor to make his way between two rows of men, each armed with a rope cosh with which to hit the offender. ‘Gauntlet’ here derives not from glove, but is a corruption of the obsolete ‘gantlope’, which in turn derives from the Swedish ‘gata’ (lane) and ‘lopp’ (running course).

- S -

Sail close to the wind:

Take a risk; get to the limit of what is considered acceptable
The quickest way to make progress into a headwind was to sail towards the edge of the wind. There was a fine line between sailing towards the edge and directly into the wind, to do the latter risked being taken aback, with dangerous consequences.

Ship shape and Bristol fashion:

Neat and in good order; ready to go
Bristol was renowned for its high standards of shipping and equipment. Before the docks were built in the mid-nineteenth century the tide ebbed and flowed more than ten metres. At low tide ships could have been stranded on the exposed seabed; to avoid damage they needed to be sturdily built with their cargoes securely fastened.

Shoot ahead:

Move forward swiftly; overtake
A ship sails very quickly past another.

Shot across the bows:

A warning
A cannon was fired in front of a suspect vessel as a warning or threat, or as a show of strength, or to bring that vessel to a halt, without causing damage.

Show a leg:

Wake up; get out of bed
Sailors were often refused shore leave whilst a ship was in port for fear that they might desert, particularly as many of them would have been pressed against their will into service. To compensate, civilian women (ostensibly wives) were allowed to live on board for the duration of the ship’s stay. In the mornings the boatswain’s mate called the hands with a shout of ‘Show a leg or a purser’s stocking’. If a woman’s leg appeared, she was to stay in the bunk until the men had left. The custom of women being allowed to stay on board visiting ships was abolished during the 1840s.

Show your true colours:

Reveal where your sympathies lie
A ship’s flags where known as ‘colours’, and flying them made identifying the ship easier from a distance. If the captain of a ship wanted to confuse an enemy, flags of other nations were flown, until just prior to engagement when etiquette ruled that the ship fly its real colours. (see also nail one's colours to the mast and pass with flying colours)

Skylarking:

Having fun; mucking about
During rest periods, sailors raced up and down the rigging; something encouraged by the officers as it kept the crew fit.

Sling your hook:

Go away
What one sailor might say to another in the next hammock wanting him to move elsewhere, to sling his hammock somewhere else.

Slush fund:

Money that is separate and kept secret from other funds
Slush was the term for waste or surplus fat or grease from fried salt pork, a significant portion of a sailor’s diet. The ship’s cook collected and sold this slush in port in order to buy little ‘luxuries’ for the crew. (see also money for old rope)

Son of a gun:

Person who may have done something to surprise, annoy, disappoint, or be admired
The son of a liaison between a civilian woman, allowed on board whilst ships were in port prior to the 1840s, and an unnamed sailor was recorded in the ship’s log as a ‘son of a gun’, implying that the child was conceived on the gun deck.

Sound off:

Express an opinion forcefully
When a sailor measured the water’s depth, he would shout out, or ‘sound off’ the number of fathoms. (see also plumb the depths and swing the lead)

Spin a yarn:

Tell a tale
A yarn was a single strand or thread used to make, splice or repair ropes and lines. When working with yarn, sailors were able to sit together and tell stories.

Square meal:

Generous, nutritious meal
A sailor’s diet was for the most part sparse, except for the main, evening meal which was served on a square tray. Hence, a square meal described a sailor’s most substantial meal. (see also on the fiddle)

Sweet Fanny Adams / Sweet FA:

Nothing at all
Fanny Adams, aged about nine, was murdered in Alton, Hampshire in 1867. Her murderer, Frederick Baker, cut her up and left the pieces of her body in Deptford Victualling Yard. Tinned mutton was added to the diet of sailors at about this time, and became known as ‘Fanny Adams’, whilst ‘fanny’ became slang for a cooking pot.

Swing the lead:

Shirk whilst giving the impression of working hard
Sailors would plumb the depths, measure the depth of water using a lead weight attached to a marked rope. A sailor bored with this task or lazy would sound off false readings, or if he wanted to waste a bit of time he may have pretended to take depth readings when it was not necessary.


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- T -

Taken aback:

Startle; surprise; shock
Unexpected shifts in the direction of the wind caused problems for sailing ships. Being taken aback posed the greatest danger to a ship, the result of the wind suddenly shifting to straight on and blowing sails back against the masts, which may have caused the masts to break under the strain. (see also sail close to the wind)

Take the wind out of someone’s sails:

Deflate; frustrate; get the better of
In battle a ship would pass an enemy ship on the windward side, denying that ship its wind and causing it to lose manoeuvrability.

Three sheets to the wind:

Drunk
A sheet was a rope used to control a sail. Usually four sheets were used to adjust (trim) a sail’s angle to the wind. If a sheet became damaged or was released, it was said to be ‘in the wind’, and the corner of the sail it was securing was left to flap about. The more sheets damaged or released the greater the sail billowed and the harder it became to regain control of the ship. The sayings ‘one sheet….’, ‘two sheets….’ and so on were used to describe various stages of drunkenness; a sailor described as being ‘three sheets in the wind’ would have been very drunk.

Toe the line:

Conform to laws, rules or doctrines
When a ship’s crew was called on deck, sailors would stand in neat rows with men in each row lining their toes along a seam running between two deck planks.

Touch and go:

Uncertain; risky
Two dangerous circumstances were perhaps the origin of the expression ‘touch and go’. A ship that touched the bottom would get off as quickly as it could. Two ships that transferred goods or people from one to the other got so close that they touched.

Try a different tack:

Try an alternative course of action
Ordinarily, a ship didn't sail in a straight line with the wind directly behind it. In order to progress a ship was required to change direction, or tack, according to the direction of the wind.

Turn a blind eye:

Ignore
At the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Nelson was signalled an order from the Admiral of the Fleet. Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye so as not to see the order; thinking that to carry out the order would have endangered his ships on nearby shallows.

- U -

Under the weather:

Not feeling well
Seasickness is caused as a ship pitches on rolling waves; the rougher the sea, the greater the pitch. Sailors who suffered in high seas were sent below decks, ‘under the weather’, where the movement of the ship was less severe.

- V -

- W -

Wash out:

Remove; wear away; eliminate; abandon
Signals were once written in chalk on slate. Once the signal had been relayed, the slate was washed clean. (see also clean slate)

When my boat comes in:

With luck, when I make my fortune
Merchants and traders made their livings and settled their debts after their ships returned to ports with cargoes to sell. From the sixteenth century such traders promised to pay money owed within an agreed period of time of a ship's return.

Whistle in the wind / whistle for it:

Attempt to get the impossible
It was a traditional, superstitious belief amongst sailors that if there was no wind and the ship was becalmed, then whistling would cause a wind to blow. Others feared that whistling, the ‘Devil’s music’, might raise a storm. In any event, ‘whistling in the wind’ was a futile practice.

Whole nine yards:

Everything; full measure
Square sails were supported at their tops and bottoms by wooden yards, which were attached at right angles to the masts. The ‘whole nine yards’ describes a three-masted ship sailing with all three major sails unfurled on each mast.

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