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You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written concent of the author.
In my last few columns I've left you with a few of the same questions that I had about Sailor Talk. Why is a storm sail called a trysail? Why is one end of a rope called the bitter end? Why do ships have gender? Why is shipboard gossip known as scuttlebutt? Why is a drinking establishment ashore called a saloon? Why do we have yachts instead of boats? Let's see how many of these I can answer.
I'll start with why shipboard gossip is known as scuttlebutt. Ships carried much of their liquid cargo, such as wine or olive oil, in large casks. Each liquid had its own kind of cask for shipping. The largest wine cask was known as a tun, and had a capacity of 256 old wine gallons, or about 33 cubic feet. A tun was equivalent to two pipes (128 gallons) or four hogsheads (64 gallons) of wine. A tierce was a third of a pipe (42 gallons) of wine.
In shipping terms, the tun is the origin of the term 'ton' when talking of the carrying capacity of a vessel. A 100-ton vessel had the capacity to store 100 tuns in her hold.
Salt beef was carried in what sailors whimsically called harness casks. This was in honor of the wonderfully tender texture and delightfully delicate flavor of the contents.
The contents of the harness cask, by the way, gave rise to another common phrase. Sailors would have a hard time getting any part of (what was supposed to be) salt beef soft enough to swallow. Even the fat, which was the softest part, was pretty chewy. Consequently the crew would do a lot of chewing. To passengers, it appeared from a distance that the crew were just sitting around and talking. When the landlubbers asked what the sailors were doing, the master would usually respond with 'chewing the fat'.
Shipboard drinking water was carried in water casks of about 126 gallons capacity, known as butts. Since water is a precious commodity on long voyages, the master would often have a butt lashed to a convenient location on deck. There he could keep a watchful eye to insure that the water was being issued sparingly.
A scuttle is a small hatch or opening on deck. When a ship is scuttled, she has openings cut in her bottom to allow water to come in to fill her to her scuttles. This, of course, would sink her. When a butt is scuttled, it has a small hole cut in it to allow for a ladle to be used distribute the water. The water cask lashed on deck was a scuttled butt, or more simply, a scuttlebutt.
As the sailors would gather around the scuttlebutt for their ration, they would talk much as our modern counterparts talk around the water cooler at the office. This idle chatter took on the name of the water cask itself, becoming known as scuttlebutt.
Hmmm... Butt...? Kicking...? Sorry, no relationship. That's one phrase that didn't start at sea.
Why is a shoreside drinking establishment known as a saloon? In the 16th century as ships began to carry paying passengers, a separate area was set aside to feed them and keep them out of the way of the sailors. At first the passengers would share the officers' cabins aft. Later some of the bulkheads would be removed to create a larger common space, known as a great cabin. As ships became larger and the number of passengers increased the presence of passengers in the great cabin interfered with the work of the officers. A separate cabin was needed.
Eventually shipbuilders constructed a cabin below decks amidships for the wealthier paying passengers, as that was the location of the most gentle motion. This special cabin was furnished opulently and comfortably to cater to the wealthy. At that time, every aristocrat had a saloon in his home. The saloon was the room where guests would be entertained. It was only natural that the similar area aboard ship would also be called a saloon.
From the very beginning, Mississippi River steamboats carried paying passengers. These passengers also needed a comfortable place to dine and socialize, so riverboats also were provided with saloons. Although riverboat passengers were of generally more moderate means, the owners decorated their saloons quite opulently to attract customers. In addition to the standard saloon comforts, many riverboat owners provided hard liquor, games of chance and 'companionship' for their patrons to increase profits.
Many riverboat passengers worked their way west, far away from navigable rivers. Some of the more enterprising Westerners built, decorated and operated establishments in the manner of riverboat saloons, giving them the same name.
All too often I hear people use the French word salon to refer to their boat's saloon. Perhaps this is to avoid any negative associations, or because they think it's a high-class term. While a saloon ashore may be a place for drinking and other carousing, a boat's saloon is still a comfortable cabin amidships where the owner would be honored to serve and entertain guests.
Why do we have yachts instead of boats? This is one of the few Sailor Talk that we can trace to a specific date. It entered the English language in 1660, the year of the restoration of Charles II. In honor of his restoration, the States General of Holland presented him with the Mary, a private pleasure vessel of 100 tons and 8 guns. In Dutch, the Mary was a jacht. With the Dutch 'j' being pronounced like the English 'y', the gift was recorded as the yacht Mary.
Jacht is a form of the Dutch verb jachten, to hurry or to hunt. Until relatively modern times, most Dutch towns were accessible only by water. A Dutch jacht of the times was a vessel built for speed, with quarters built especially for the comfort of important personages as they were transported from one town to another.
Have you ever wondered why a ship has gender? I wish I could give you a better answer, but this is one of the nautical traditions that seem to have no clear source. We do know that Roman ships were given feminine attributes in honor of Minerva, the goddess of navigation. Some suggest that we continue that tradition by way of the Roman occupation of Britain. It's also been said that the ship upon which a sailor's life depends would be as near and dear as his wife. Personally I favor the idea that a ship is as lovely, capricious, demanding and absorbing as a woman. On this question, your answer is probably as good as mine.
Why is one end of a rope is called the bitter end? Very simply, it's because that's the end that was secured to the bitts when the rope was put to use. The other end would have already been attached to a block, cleat or some other object.
Oh, darn. I've just run out of room for this column and still have one unanswered question. I guess I'll have to save it for the next column and, just for fun, ask you some more. Why is a storm sail called a trysail? Why is a deck ventilator called a dorade? Why is an empty bottle of wine called a dead soldier? Where does 'caught between the devil and the deep blue sea' come from? Hmmm... Given how I tend to ramble, I wonder if I can get these all answered in only one column.
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