Fighting Naturalist

coxswain - coxsun

crossjack - crojik

forecastle - fo'c'sle - folksil

gunwale - gunnel

mast- mist

sail- sill

schooner - skunner

tackle - taykull

topgallant mast - t'garns'l mist

boats are big, the ocean is loud, and there's a lot of stuff that gets in the way of words traveling coherently across the deck. it's also so rare to get a command when you aren't already entrenched in something else, and so may not be able to turn your head before acknowledging that you've heard. i've linked an NPR article from 2015 about how words travel in different environments, but basically the big takeaway for this scenario is: consonants get lost easily in windy or obstructed environments. there's been many a time (even in fair weather) where i'm having a conversation, on the opposite side of the boat, or even down below when an order is given, where i just hear the cadence of a command i'm familiar with and know immediately what i'm supposed to be doing.

on particularly well-practiced crews, i notice that even the tonal pattern of the officer giving the command is repeated. even without the tonal match, it's critical for the officer to have immediate feedback AND immediate response. when you get an order, you lay into it with urgency; therefore, if you repeat just as you head to your station, redirection can be given swiftly if an incorrect order has been transmitted, BUT if you heard it right the first time there's no delay in the task.

quick example (callback italicized):

"haul away!" "haul away" clear! exactly the same! i know they heard and the sail is doing the thing!

"haul away" "hauling" sounds an awful lot like holding.. is something wrong? did we forget something? was someone not ready? oh the sail is going up they said HAULing

ever wonder what was in Gregory's Polite Education?

(aka The elements of a polite education; carefully selected from the letters of the late Right Honble Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to his son. By G. Gregory... 1800)

or Robertson's Elements of Navigation?

(aka The elements of navigation; containing the theory and practice. With the necessary tables, ... To which is added, A treatise of marine fortification. ... By J. Robertson, ... The fourth edition, with additions. 1780: Vol 1)

Fishing was a popular means of augmenting supplies. Traditionally, any of the fish that the men caught were retained by themselves, the exception being flying fish that became stranded on the deck, which by long custom were given to the captain's wife. When a lot of fish, or very large fish, were caught, everyone on board enjoyed a fresh mess. On the Clarissa B. Carver, Annie Dow kept a line trailing over the stern the whole time, baited with a piece of pork rind cut in the shape of a fish. Jemima Horton did the same, borrowing "a hook of one of the men." She did get a bite, but "the fish ran off with it, so Will made me one of a hair pin."