It takes a while to learn all of this, but I''m sure our Sam will meet the challenge. The toilets are called "heads" the kitchen is the "galley" a mop is a "swab" and stairs are called "ladders" - by which one can go upstairs ("above") or downstairs ("below"). One travels by means of passageways (hallways) and goes either forward (towards the front, or bow of the ship), aft (towards the rear, or stern) or athwartships (from one side to the other). A door/doorway is the same thing as on land hatches are portals between comparments with covers that can be sealed ("dogged") making them watertight.
#Scuttlebutt navy term windows
Openings in the hull can be windows (openings with glass panes), portholes (windows with hinged protective metal coverings) or scuttles (open holes with protective metal coverings). It's quite a vocabulary to learn: On board ship, the ceiling becomes the "overhead" walls are "bullkheads" a room is a "compartment" and the floor is of course the "deck". I expect Pepys' use of naval terms to improve as he gains his sea legs. Navy veteran, I can confirm that the term "scuttlebutt" is still in regular use, referring to both drinking fountains and to gossip. Perhaps we can imagine Sam singing along on one of those convivial evenings below decks. Indeed, the casks of drinking water eventually became known as scuttlebutts, and the term eventually migrated to the gossip and rumour to be expected there.Īs an interesting sidenote on this, in researching 'scuttle' I came across this link to one of a set of ballads owned by Pepys some time after the diary finishes: Indiscreet remarks would be easily carried down such scuttles, especially if butts of fresh water (where people might gather to drink and gossip) were positioned near them.
This leads to the interesting etymological derivation of the term 'scuttlebutt'. Hence the term 'scuttling a ship' for punching holes in it to make it sink. Originally the name for a hatch, the name 'scuttle' became applied to any opening. They could be built up and curved over at the top to prevent rain or seawater penetration. Scuttles were not windows but vents and would often open onto the deck rather than the side of the ship - thus making the fear of somebody 'creeping in' a more realistic one. Although the term 'porthole' was used as early as the reign of Henry VI, it referred to openings in the ship's side. Windows in ships were rectangular, like windows on land, in the 17th century. That in the deck is a small hatch-way.” - Smyth’s Sailor’s Word-Book. “A small hole or port cut either in the deck or side of a ship, generally for ventilation.At night supped with my Lord too, with the Captain, and after that to work again till it be very late. My Lord brought him to see my cabin, when I was hard a-writing. In the afternoon, Sir Harry Wright came onboard us, about his business of being chosen Parliament-man. All the afternoon exceeding busy in writing of letters and orders. 1 This noon I sat the first time with my Lord at table since my coming to sea. This morning, the wind came about, and we fell into the Hope, and in our passing by the Vice-Admiral, he and the rest of the frigates, with him, did give us abundance of guns and we them, so much that the report of them broke all the windows in my cabin and broke off the iron bar that was upon it to keep anybody from creeping in at the Scuttle. Early in the morning at making a fair new establishment of the Fleet to send to the Council.
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