GLOSSARY/VOCABULARY LIST

ALIENEST - Psychiatrist

ASSEGAIS - Light, slender spears

ASTERN - Toward the stern, or rear, of a boat

BOILER - The tank or container in which water is heated into steam to provide power for the steamboat. A vertical boiler is a relatively simple type that takes up little space.

BOWS (IN THE BOWS) - Toward the bow, or front, of a boat

CALIPERS - An instrument with two curved, movable legs, used to measure the diameter of a thing

CONCERTINA - A kind of small accordion

DRAKE, SIR FRANCIS - English navigator (1540?-1596). The first Englishman to sail around the world, which he did in his ship the Golden Hind (1577-80). Participated in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588).

ESTUARY - The mouth of a river

FAIRWAY - The navigable part of a river

FALERNIAN WINE - A well-known ancient wine which was made in southern Italy

FIREMAN - The man who tends the steamboat's furnace, stoking it with wood

FLEET STREET - An important business street in London

FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN - British explorer (1786-1847). With his ships the Erebus and the Terror, he set out for the Arctic in 1845 to search for the Northwest Passage-an expedition that ended, tragically, in the deaths of all members.

FUNNEL - Smokestack

HELMSMAN - The man at the helm (steering mechanism), who steers the boat

MARTINI-HENRY - A kind of military rifle

MEPHISTOPHELES - In the Faust legend, the wily devil who tempts Faust

MIZZENMAST - A mast toward the back of a boat

OFFING - The distant part of the sea visible from the shore

PILOT-HOUSE - The enclosed cabin in which the helmsman steers the boat

RAVENNA - The site of an important Roman naval base in northern Italy

SCOW - A flat-bottomed boat with square ends, used for transporting freight

SOUNDING-POLE - The long pole used to sound, or measure, the depth of the water

STERN-WHEEL - The paddle wheel at the back (stern) of a steamboat

STONE - 14 Pounds (British measurement) 16 stone = 224 pounds

TIME CONTRACTS - Legal contracts to work for a specified period of time. Such contracts were used to exploit the African natives, who had little understanding of European law.

TRIREME - An ancient Roman ship with three tiers of oars on each side

YAWL - A small sailboat

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