When people think of sailing today, they often think of iconic franchises such as the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Jack Sparrow’s irreverent and smarmy portrayal contributes to the image of sailors as little more than uneducated laborers, but their language belies something more: a specificity that can only come from carefully crafted jargon that keeps a ship functioning successfully.
Crew Life and Comaraderie
The language of ships serves three primary purposes: to instruct, identify, and bond. For crew, forming tight-knit relationships was the basis for a successful voyage. Collaboration is the name of the game on ships, where a single task can take a dozen or more people working in sync to complete.
While crewmates often functioned by utilizing the same language used by their captain (and the industry at large), developing additional, non-work-related language was common. These words usually originated from their shared experiences, such as being away from home or meeting someone on shore that they then left behind. This is where some of the words most associated with pirates, such as “hearties,” came from.
- Hearties – Most people associate the phrase “me hearties” with sailors, and for good reason. “Hearties” refers to those close to one’s heart, as were crewmates who had sailed together for many years. Thus, phrases such as “drink up, me hearties” came to mean “let’s drink together, friends!”
- Dogs – It’s unclear exactly where the term “dog” or “sea dog” arose to reference sailors. Some suggest that it came from the other meaning of sea dog: a harbor seal (or, in other words, something that lounges about near and in the water). However, the term gradually gained a positive connotation among friends, describing sailors who were respected for their experience. Sailors who had served on ships for many years were called “salty sea dogs,” a reference to having sailed for so long that all of the saltwater from their many voyages had encrusted their skin with salt.
- Johnnies – Sailors frequently entertained themselves or kept a rhythm during work by using songs known as sea shanties. Across the verses of such music, it was common for sailors to reference events in their past, such as meeting someone ashore or sailing alongside someone. However, as these tales were spun, exaggerated, and built upon over the years—or because the sailor had never learned the person’s name in the first place—it was common for crews to simply replace any man’s name with “John” or “Johnny.” Both in song and work, crews may refer to strangers or each other as Johns.
- Jennies – Just as sailors used “Johnny” as a fill-in name for men, “Jenny” often became the standardized name for women.
It’s Ropes All Around
While the crew had their own microcosm of language shared with each other and the outside world, jargon quickly kicked in when there was work to be done. People visiting wooden tall ships today often remark on the many “ropes,” but despite their appearance, there are no ropes at all on a ship. Instead, these essential pieces of equipment are called “lines.”
When it comes to managing the minutiae of a ship, such as the orientation and size of the sails, the lines are the key to success.
- Docklines – Also called mooring lines, these lines hold a ship next to a dock while in port.
- Halyards – These lines are responsible for hoisting (raising up) something, such as a flag.
- Sheets – When sails need to be expanded, sailors pull on the bottom corners (the clews) to spread them out and down. The lines used to do so are the sheets.
- Braces – In order to control the direction in which a ship sails, the sails themselves must be able to turn from side to side to catch the wind. Turning the yards (the wooden arms to which the sails are attached) is accomplished by pulling on lines called braces.
- Bunts – If sailors tried to control an entire sail using just its corners (the clews, mentioned above), they’d have a hard time! Sails are heavy and large, often weighing a thousand pounds or more. To assist with adjusting the sails, lines called bunts are attached at regular intervals along the sail. By easing the bunts and pulling the sheets together, the crew can adjust the entire width of the sail evenly and allow it to fill with wind.
The Captain’s Orders
If the general public knows anything about sailing terms, it’s probably the orders a captain shouts across the deck. Avast! Heave! Haul! These succinct (and often loudly proclaimed) words encapsulate big ideas, and that’s why they’re the jargon of the sea.
- Heave – Used primarily in the form of “heave to,” this term calls for the crew to change the directions of the sails. Usually, one set of sails will be turned toward the wind and the other away from the wind so that the sails conflict with each other. This helps the boat to slow down and stop.
- Brace – While the verb “brace” sounds just the same as the noun describing one of the ship’s many lines, this command means to hold on tight and stabilize (either yourself or the ship). It can also refer to adjusting the sails to catch the wind.
- Set – To “set sail” is to prepare sails to commence a voyage.
- Avast – To stop. Initially, this command came from the Dutch “houd vast,” which means to stop; this is also where the term “hold fast” comes from, which means to hold on tightly (or, in other words, to stop moving).
- Belay – This term has multiple contextual meanings. To belay a line means to tie the line to a belay pin, or a wooden hook on a ship that prevents the ship’s lines from coming undone once they’re set the way the captain asks. However, the captain may also shout, “belay that!” which means “take that back” or “no, that’s not right.” Presumably, this meaning arose from the same context, in which a person is asked to “hang up” or “put away” an idea, the same as putting away a line after use.
These are just a few of the many commands a captain can offer. Beating to windward, readying about, easing, trimming, and more all incorporate very niche meanings that communicate a lot of information in very little space. Similarly, nouns or adjectives such as jibe (gybe), beam to, and helm’s a lee can accurately describe the orientation of a ship with very few or no visual reference points for the crew.
The origin of many ship terms comes from a conglomeration of languages mixed with the demands of ship life. In this sense, note that many of the captain’s commands are a single syllable with a very audible central vowel. Words like “think,” made of weak “th” and “nk” sounds, would hardly carry over the crash of the waves the same way a loud “a” (as in brace) could. Thus, sailing language developed in response to the demands of the job itself as well as the multicultural influence of the crew.
