Sailor Mouth Saturday: Pay

The word pay, in the sense of remuneration for work accomplished or yet to come, is dear to every sailor's heart. Dearer still is pay for a prize - the only kind of pay known to pirates. But there are other uses for the word pay at sea, and some have nothing to do with coin in hand.

Pay can also mean the act of caulking a seam on deck. In particular it refers to the pouring of pitch into the seam after the caulking is done. The pitch makes the oakum that seals the seam waterproof. The word pay in this sense derives, according to Admiral Smyth in The Sailor's Word Book from the French word for pitch: poix.

A slight variation on this comes with references to paying a mast or yard or paying a ship's bottom.

In the case of the mast or yard, the wood is anointed with tar or the tallow left over from cooking often referred to as "slush" (thus the nickname for the cook: Slushy). This allows for ease in hoisting and lowering sails and yards, cutting down on the friction and thus wear-and-tear on the rigging. This is a dangerous job, however, as the sailor is dealing with slippery substances while suspended on a bosun's chair. The point was well illustrated in the "Tar Rigger" episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike Rowe was obliged to pay a mast aboard the Star of India.

To pay a vessel's bottom (also known as breaming) involves cleaning the entire hull, not by scraping as in careening but by fire. The hull is thus covered with tallow, sulphur or rosin to discourage the fire from actually burning the ship's bottom.

To pay round is to turn the ship's head in another direction. Paying off is "the movement by which the ship's head falls off from the wind, and drops to leeward" to quote the good Admiral. Pay away and paying out mean the same thing: this is the slackening of rope which allows it to run without hindrance. Paying down is the act of lowing heavy articles down into the hold or to a lower deck.

A paymaster is a 19th century naval invention. This individual did the job formerly taken by a ship's purser as part of his duties. It was up to this person to both provision and pay the crew. Paying off may also mean the final payment to officers and crew when a ship is lost or taken out of commission.

A man who speaks "gandiloquently", according to Admiral Smyth, is said to be "paying it out" among his mates; derogatorily, of course. And as all the Brethren know, the Admiral reminds that:

Pay [is] a buccaneering principle of hire, under the notion of plunder and sharing in prizes, was, no purchase no pay.

You can read the lyrics to, and hear the wonderful Corsairs sing, the shanty of the same name here.

Happy Saturday, Brethren! Fair winds, following seas and full mugs to you all.

Header: Make Sail! Photograph via the Under the Black Flag Team on Facebook

Booty: Laffite as Sex God

My dear friend, the brilliant historian Pam Keyes, is just as smitten with the Laffite brothers, their lives, friends and times as I am. She's also a great fan of Yul Brynner and Anthony Quinn's wonderful remake of Cecil B. DeMille's The Buccaneer that starred the very same. Her collection of items from the movie should be the envy of any Hollywood collector.

What a treat it was for me to receive an email from Pam recently with the above photo attached. This rather racy theater card would have been sent to movie houses for display before and during the run of the feature. This type of advertising is a dead art, unfortunately, so something like this is valuable on many levels. Click to enlarge and note not only the details of the photo but also the beautiful preservation of the item itself.

The thing that struck both Pam and me is the overt sexuality of the picture. The Buccaneer was released in 1958, a time when we generally imagine morality as just this side of Victorian. But here, in one picture, is the classic visual of Laffite the sex god. The lady in question is not only kneeling before him but her hands rest on his knees. Her blouse is just about to treat us to a wardrobe malfunction, and she has eyes for only him. Meanwhile, he lounges in a completely relaxed if bored attitude. Legs apart, he gazes into the middle distance and one wonders whether or not a cigar is only a cigar. Regardless of what happens next, we can rest assured the Monsieur Laffite has been there and done that.

Laffite the lady killer is summed up in one picture: power, charisma, sexual tension at its highest height. Many a bodice-ripper has been - and continues to be - based on this image of Laffite the pirate.

You can watch this scene from the movie on YouTube if you've a curiosity about what put this lady with the heaving bosom in thrall to Jean Laffite. It's certainly a worthwhile Friday pastime... Tell your boss Pauline made you do it.

Header: Theater card from the 1958 version of The Buccaneer via Pam Keyes to whom I am once again very much indebted ~ thank you Pam!

Ships: Queen Anne's Cannon

The painstaking work of raising the ship off Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina that is believed to be Blackbeard's flagship continues at a pace. Thanks to private donations, a large chunk of which come from pirate expert Pat Croce, East Carolina University has been able to raise some of the ship's cannon and many other artifacts from the sediment-clouded waters.

As this article from Hampton Roads notes, some of the more interesting guns were found to be loaded when hoisted up. This goes against naval philosophy of the time - the Royal Navy rarely if ever pre-loaded guns - and may point to a common practice among pirates of the Golden Age. Or perhaps this was simply a common practice of Blackbeard's.

Queen Anne's Revenge was sunk, not in battle, but after hitting a sandbar near the inlet where it now lies. This occurred in July or August of 1718 and Blackbeard met his end at the hands of Royal Navy pirate hunters the following November. There is no record that the QAR sank during a battle or chase, so we must imagine that the guns were loaded simply in preparation.

The cannon are now being kept in a warehouse at the ECU campus where they are taking a long bath in a sodium-carbonate solution to remove close to 300 years of seaworthy crust. Other items, including more guns, have been left in situ where they too are being cleaned by carefully place anodes which draw away the accumulated corrosion. As archaeologist David Moore puts it in the article: "We're using the bottom of the ocean as a conservation space."

A former French slaver, Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge was one of the larger and more elegant pirate ships of any era. She carried over 20 guns, had four decks, three masts and a spacious great cabin complete with gilt fixtures. Her loss must have been a sore trial for the man whose real name was Edward Teach.

On a final curious note, the article mentions that Edward's name may have been Thatch rather than Teach. That's one I have not heard before.

Header: Ocracoke Inlet Map by Henry Mouson c 1775 via Wikipedia

History: John Adams and the U.S. Navy

We will make peace with all our might and we will build up the military ~ President John Adams

In the popular mind, the memory of John Adams has been poisoned to a large degree by false remembrance. His support of - and even insistence on - the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts has made him persona non grata among those who would embrace all comers as part of the U.S. melting pot. It's a slippery slope to trust that everyone - absolutely everyone - that comes to your country comes with a bag full of hope and good intentions. Adams knew that very well. Having traveled more than any of the other founding fathers by the time he was elected to the highest office, he knew how much other countries coveted all that America had.

Adams, however, was a visionary who understood long before Teddy Roosevelt that to "walk softly and carry a big stick" was the best strategy in the treacherous world of international politics. He knew England, France and Spain - all superpowers whose grip on the New World was slipping - wanted America back. He knew that the only way they could achieve that was to send men and arms here by ship. He knew that a strong, capably manned and well equipped Navy was the one sure way to stop that from happening.

I had planned to discuss John Adams' pioneering advocacy for the U.S. Navy and for privateering as well but there is no reason for me to reinvent the wheel. Click over to Naval History Blog to read historian David McCullough's brilliant lecture on just that subject. His focus on the importance of "the war that never was" - America's entirely nautical Quasi-War with France - is a fascinating evaluation of a time that Americans have largely chosen to forget but that was so very important to the shaping of the country and indeed the world that we know today.

The French foreign minister, the Comte de Vergennes, once said of John Adams that his "pedantry, stubbornness, and self-importance will give rise to a thousand vexations."

Adams, in reply, said simply: "Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right." Spoken like a true Yankee.

Header: America by David Armstrong via American Gallery ~ U.S. citizens, get out and vote today; it matters!

Lady Pirates: The Viking Grande Dame

Aud the Deep-Minded, whose name is spelled Unn by some chroniclers, is a curious case. While her life and times are pretty well known, particularly in Iceland where she is considered a founding mother, she has become a bit of a political football among modern historians. Finding pagan heroines is a particular delight among late 20th century feminist scholars, and Aud is the darling of many. The fact that her mother, Yngvid or Ingvid Ketilsdotter was of Celtic descent and a Christian is basically overlooked by those who put forward the pagan Aud. It seems that many of these historians are trying to explain Aud's "freedom" as a Viking leader by making her pagan. This is a large leap that overlooks quite a few things about the early Church and, in particular, Celtic Christianity. To my mind the issue is neither here nor there. Aud was clearly a strong-minded, resiliant woman who lived through treachery and tragedy and came out on top.

Born in Scotland's Outer Hebrides in 855, Aud was the daughter of a powerful Viking chief who spent his life annexing parts of mainland Scotland to his kingdom. At a young age, Aud was married to another Viking chief in what might have been her mother's native country, Ireland. Olaf the White was ruler of Dublin when he and Aud celebrated their nuptials. They had a son, Thorstein the Red, and Olaf, much like Aud's own father, spent his days conquering native tribes. According to Vicki Leon in Uppity Women of Medieval Times, Olaf and Aud nulified their marriage by mutual agreement. Other historians claim Olaf met his end in battle. Either way, Aud returned to her parent's home bringing young Thorstein with her.

The middle portion of Aud's life was quiet and seemingly blissful. She raised Thorstein who eventually took over his grandfather's holdings. She settled into the role of wise woman, mother-in-law and eventually grandmother to Thorstein's brood of eight or so children. But tragedy struck when Thorstein's subordinates fomented a rebellion. The Red Chief was assassinated and Aud took her daughter-in-law, grandchildren and a small band of loyal vassals to a secluded long house by the North Sea. Here, while continuing to pay tribute to her son's murderers, Aud quietly built a small fleet of viking ships in secret.

Only one ship was completed before the threat from the new chiefs of the area became overwhelming. Aud packed up her family and considerable wealth and set out for the Orkneys.

It seems that Aud's family was well connected and most probably distantly related to many of the Viking chiefs in the area. At her first stop, Aud negotiated a marriage for one of her granddaughters, Groa or Grainne, to the son of a chieftain. Not satisfied with the area as a potential settlement, Aud - who was unquestionably in command of not only her ship but the entire expedition - moved on to the Faroe Islands. Here, another granddaughter's marriage was arranged to another chieftain's son. All the same, Aud was not ready to settle in. She set her sights on a place where her growing band could spread out: Iceland.

The group was growing, curiously enough, because along the way Aud's ship was making raids on coastal towns. Taking much needed provisions was a priority but Aud's men captured locals as well and particularly young men who could do heavy labor such as rowing aboard ship. These slaves, often called "bondsmen" in the Icelandic chronicles, would later found some of the great families of Iceland.

It appears that at least two of Aud's brothers had gone to Iceland either before or after the death of her father. Why one of them did not take over as chief but Aud's son did remains a question and may have something to do with a family dynamic that included a chief wife (Aud's mother?) and one or more concubines or "bondswomen". At any rate, Aud again seems to have headed toward a place where she had connections.

The cruise could not have been pleasant as the ship was packed with people, provisions and probably livestock as well. But it was by now a familiar trip for Vikings of both sexes, and Aud seems to have had no trouble getting her polyglot band to the land of ice. Aud's navigation skills were not up to the jagged coast; her ship ran aground on a reef not far from her brother's land and slowly sank into the frigid water.

Most of Aud's people and all of her grandchildren managed to get safely to shore - with or without the help of her brother Helgi, who was in no way thrilled to see his now elderly sister. Aud packed up her people and moved them to her other brother's domain where she announced that she would need a boat in order to claim her own lands. Icelandic tradition says that she did just that, spending weeks sailing around the coast and lighting huge bonfires on patches of land that she claimed as her own. When she was done she freed her "bondsmen" and parceled out the lands she claimed to each member of her expedition. Where her bonfires had once burned, Aud had stone crosses erected, some of which stand to this day.

While a flury of building and livestock raising ensued around her, Aud went back to being a wise woman and grandmother. She could not, it seems, give up matchmaking, however. Aud personally saw to the marriages of all her remaining grandchildren. She died, in fact, at the wedding of her youngest grandson. Well into her sixties when she passed, most say quietly in her sleep after drinking a good bit of ale, Aud left instructions that she be buried below the high tide line on the coast of Iceland. She was clearly a woman who loved the sea enough to want to be near it for eternity.

Header: A Viking woman's dress via Fossil Science; photograph by Annika Larsson

Seafaring Sunday: Seneca Chief

November 4, 1825: The first vessel to traverse the new Erie Canal from Buffalo to the Hudson River, a small barge named the Seneca Chief, arrives in New York City.

Header: Watercolor painting depicting the opening of the Erie Canal c 1825 via Library of Congress

Booty: A Pirate Hideaway, Mid-Century Style

While I'm no fan of "Mad Men" (sorry AMC; the only show you produce that I can't miss is "The Walking Dead"), and those Jacqueline Kennedy fashions do nothing for my broad-shouldered, 5'10" frame, I love, love, love mid-20th century architecture and decorating. That's why I am an enormous fan of Mid-Century Modern Freak on Tumblr. So when I saw this house-on-the-water over there, I felt compelled to share it with the Brethren.

The living space is pure mid-century: clean lines, open design and floor-to-ceiling windows that must make washing those drapes an unimaginable chore. But what this design by Charles Schriedde adds is an attractive nautical theme. Note the central pylon with its steps that literally take you to your own private dock where your James Bond-esque speed boat awaits. The bedroom is a main top complete with rigging, canopy and a hanging ship's lantern to set the mood. And then there's the view. I'm fairly certain this Fiddler's Green is parked squarely in the Pacific Northwest; perhaps the San Juan Islands. Click the picture to enhance all the stunning detail that was created, believe it or not, as an ad for a television.

Unfortunately, this place is pure fantasy. But a sailor can always dream.

Happy Friday, Brethren!

Header: Motorola ad from 1962 via Mid-Century Modern Freak on Tumblr