ballast – heavy material, often stone, carried onboard ship to provide stability.
Barbary Coast – an area of the North African coast roughly corresponding to modern-day Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, the area provided a haven for piracy and the slave trade. In 1805, the first United States overseas military operation was carried out against the Barbary Pirates (leading to, among other things, the line in the United States Marine Corps Hymn: “..to the shores of Tripoli,” Tripoli being considered the capital of the region at the time.
Barque (or Bark) – a type of ship. The definition changed over the years, but the term ended up meaning a ship with at least three masts with fore-and-aft rigged sails on the aft mast, and square-rigged sails on the other masts.
becalmed – the condition of a sailing ship that is motionless due to lack of wind.
begad – an exclamation that’s a mangled form of “By God.” As in, “Begad! I’ll see you in Davy Jones’ Locker!”
belay – To cease, or to discontinue a previous order. Pirate: “Hoist the colors! Belay that! Let’s see what he runs up first.”
belaying pin – a short round bar, traditionally made of wood but later of metal, fitted like a peg into a wooden railing that is outfitted with holes to receive the pins. Lines would be tied the pins (”belayed”) to secure whatever the object was at the other end of the line. The pins also made a handy improvised club in case of combat.
bilge – the lowest portion of a ship, where the curves of the two sides of the hull meet to form a bottom. Being the low point in the ship, any water that enters the ship anywhere above tends to collect there, carrying with it a wash of every water-soluble substance along the way. In normal operation this results in a pool of foul brine. While during storms the water can collect quickly, leading to the danger of sinking and requiring that sailors constantly pump the water back out. “Bilge” can also be use to describe lies or nonsensical speech, as in “Silence! I’ll hear no more of your bilge!”
bilge rat – a pirate insult, the bilge being an unsavory part of the ship, and a rat being a low form of life.
bilge water – the water that collects in the bilge of a ship, which is usually rather foul.
binnacle – a pedestal used to hold the ship’s compass.
black flag / black jack – another name for the Jolly Roger
black spot – Made famous in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and of doubtful use anywhere else, the term means to be given a card or letter on which was printed a black spot, indicating that one has been sentenced to death by a band of pirates.
blimey – exclamation of British origin used to indicate surprise, a reduction of the original phrase “God blind me!”
blow the man down – an expression meaning to knock someone down in a fight. Also the lyrics to one of the more famous sea chanteys (”I’ll sing you a song, a good song of the sea/With a way, hey, blow the man down”)
boatswain (pronounced “bosun” or “bos’n” and also frequently spelled that way) – the officer traditionally in charge of a ship’s anchors, cordage, boats, occasionally rigging, and also with general oversight over the deck crew.
boom – a horizontal spar used to secure the foot of a sail.
booty – any goods or treasure seized by pirates. “Arrr, I’ll have me fair share of the booty!”
bounty – a price offered by the government for the capture or death of a pirate.
bowsprit – a spar extending from the bow of a ship to which the stays of the foresail are typically lashed.
Brethren of the Coast – The Brethren of the Coast were a loose coalition of pirates and privateers commonly known as buccaneers and active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. The most famous member was probably Henry Morgan.
brigantine (also brig) – a sailing vessel with two masts, the forward of which is square rigged.
broadside – either a term referring to the side of a ship, or (more likely) the act of firing all guns on one side simultaneously.
buccaneer – Coastal pirates, originally operating out of the Caribbean, who attacked French and Spanish shipping lanes. Later came to be a generic reference to any pirate.
bulwark – the planking or plating along the sides of a nautical vessel above her gunwale that reduces the likelihood of the sea washing over.
bumboo – a drink made from rum, water, sugar, and nutmeg and/or cinnamon.
