the whitby seagull: Maritime words and phrases 2

Whitby is famous for?

Whitby (St Hilda's) Abbey, Dracula, Bram Stoker, Captain Cook, Whitby Goths, Whitby Regatta, Whitby Whaling, Fishing, St Mary's Church, Whitby Jet, Whitby Witches, Whitby Town, The Whitby Seagull, 199 Steps, Harbour, Whitby Piers, Shipping Trades, Alum Production, B&Bs, The East Cliff, Captain William Scoresby, Fisherman's Cottages, Whitby's Yards, Steps and cobbled streets, Fish and Chips, The Endeavour, Ghost Walks, Sea Food, Seaside, The West Cliff, Whitby Folk Festival, Caedmon, Frank Sutcliffe, Whitby Kippers, Lobster, Crabs and Scampi, Synod of A.D. 664, Australian 'First Fleet' supply vessels,

Do you know any other things Whitby is famous for? Let us know and we'll add it to the list, see here!

Discover Whitby's street names and their history here

Break the ice, Jury, Binge drinking, Incredible Hulk, Down the hatch, ...discover these and many more well known phrases from our maritime past here

Find out about the building styles and architecture found in the buildings of Whitby here.

Whitby in times gone by, ads from the past here

Old Whitby Ad

CABIN - Today used to also describe the area the passengers sit in on an aircraft. On a boat, the area passengers sleep in.

CAREER - Instead of a job, you can have a career, a way of moving swiftly or progressing forward in your chosen field. Career is a word used to describe when a boat moves swiftly forward swaying from side to side.

CARRIED AWAY - When we get excited or go too far, we say we get carried away. On the ships, if a gust of wind tore a sail, or broke a mast it would be carried away by the wind.

COLOUR - (1590 Colour) colour a word first used to describe the flag of a regiment or ship. A word today used to describe what we see (light frequency) e.g blue, red, yellow etc

CORVETTE - A fast american sports car. Originally (French 1636) a word to describe a small fast frigate ship.

CREW - Today used to also describe the employees in the cabin on the aircraft (cabin crew), originally used to describe the personnel on ships and boats, excluding the captain and officers.

DOCK - In a court the place the accused stands, but in maritime terms the dock is where the boat stands.

DOWN THE HATCH - To quickly down the last of a drink. Should really be down the hatchway as the access hatch on deck to load the boat was called the hatchway.

FRAUGHT -We use this word to describe when someone is fraught with worry. Fraught means to load or laden a ship. (M.Eng C1300).

FRIENDSHIP - To describe when two people who share similar traits, feelings, interests. The connection with ships is clear. Also words such as kin-ship, relation-ship, leader-ship, court-ship, companion-ship, citizen-ship, partner-ship, member-ship, wor-ship, sponsor-ship, apprentice-ship, all to do with a bond between people.

GODS OF THE SEAS - There's been many gods and deities (mythology) over the centuries, here are a few of them. GREEK: Poseidon. ROMAN: Neptune. EGYPTIAN: Proteus. SUMERIAN: Ea. IRISH: Lir. WELSH: Llyr.

GOVERN - To control, to rule, as in govern-ment. Ment or mente meaning of the mind. Govern (13C French) originally meant to steer or pilot a ship.

HARD TO FATHOM - If something is perplexing or difficult to understand, then it's hard to fathom. Fathom is a nautical measurement, approx 6ft. A sailor would drop a line into the sea to find out how deep the water was, how many fathoms deep it was.

HIGH AND DRY - Left in a position where you are on your own, without the support of others, left in a bad situation where it's impossible to get out of. High and dry is used to describe a boat that it either grounded, if the tide went out, then the boat would be high and dry.

HIJACK - A phrase we are all too familiar with. A man would be approached by a lady of the night, saying Hi Jack! Her apprentice would then clobber the unsuspecting man over the head, robbing him and then selling him to a ship as extra help.

HULL - A town named after that part of a ship?

IN DEEP WATER - Used to describe when someone in in trouble, or "out of their depth". Sailors would make a distinction between sailing in safer coastal water near to land and the oceans deep waters. If a boat is sailing in deep water, it can be open to the swells, waves, storms without the safety of land nearby to dock.

INCREDIBLE HULK - It's incredible to find out the word hulk is actually a word meaning a big clumsy person, but it's even more incredible to find that the original use of the word was to describe a heavy, unwidely ship, from the greek word hulcas meaning merchant ship.

JUNK - Today used to describe worthless goods. Origin from 1613 a chinese sailing ship, earlier from 13c malaysian word "jong" meaning large boat.

JURY - (1616) Meaning "temporary", as in jury-mast, which is a temporary mast put in place of a broken mast. There is a possible connection to a jury in a court in the sense a jury is temporary and guides the decision of the court, like a mast guides the ship with it's sails. Interestingly, admiralty law is what originally governed England and Wales from around 1360. It's also interesting that another nautical term "appeal" meaning to drive a ship towards a particular landing, is a legal word used to describe calling to a higher authority.

JURY RIGGING - Similar to Jury above, only refering to the rigging used to put up the jury mast. Now a legal term used to describe when a jury has been rigged in some way to favour the outcome of the court case.

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