Jack Tar, the sailor man

S. MOHAN

By and large, Jack Tar is an A-1 fellow. I cannot fathom why he is hanging between the devil and the deep sea. Perhaps if he had sounded the boss earlier, or logged in more time studying navigation, he would not have had to go to the bitter end!

Did you find anything odd about the above paragraph? Well, it was full of nautical expressions. Being a sea-faring nation, the English have adopted a number of nautical terms.

"By and large" generally means, under all conditions. When a ship or sailing vessel sails against or into the wind, with the sails (and the attached ropes) hauled in closely, she is said to be sailing by the wind. With the wind blowing from behind the vessel, the sails are let out loosely to billow out, then the vessel is said to be sailing with the "wind at large".

A fathom is a nautical unit of measurement. It is the span between out-stretched hands, and is taken to be six feet. It is often used by the British to measure the depth of water. It has also come to mean "to get to the bottom of", or "to comprehend". In the olden days, sailors measured depth by means of a "hand lead and line," and that was called taking "soundings". A long rope with a lead weight at one end had a series of knots (along its length every six feet) which was dropped to the bottom of the sea. As the rope ran out through one's hand, when the "Hand lead and Line" is cast out, one could count the number of knots and hence gauge the depth in fathoms, by night or day.

Nowadays, use is made of Echo Sounders, or Sonars. A sound ray is sent out into the sea, which is reflected by the bottom of the sea (or a submarine). The speed of sound being constant, (in a particular area at a particular season), the time elapsed is accurately measured electronically, and that gives the reading of depth in fathoms or metres. It is possible to have this sounding accurately, from 10 cms to 5000 metres (five kms deep!).

Talking of knots again it is the unit of reckoning speed at sea (and in the air, while flying). It is simply "nautical miles per hour". For distance, sailors streamed a log of wood behind the vessel, and that's how we have the expression "logged so many miles" at sea. The expression gradually came to mean "any data recorded systematically", in the ship's Log Book.

When we talk of the bitter end, do you know there is no reference to any taste or smell? The inboard end of the ship's anchor cable (or rope, which is wrapped around the ship's capstan and is slowly let out, as the anchor is dropped and the cable is "paid out") it is securely tied to the bitt, a fixture in the ship. When the rope is fully paid out, they have reached the "bitter end".

There is no reference to any devil, when someone is hanging "between the devil and the deep sea"! You see, in large sailing ships, the devil was a broad, continuous plank on the ship's side running right along the entire length, just above the water line. Due to the bulging sides, this was always a difficult part of the ship to repair or paint. So sailors who went over the ship's side, suspended precariously to effect painting or repairs, were literally hanging between the devil and the deep sea.

To date, we say something is A-1, when we mean it is excellent. This term originated in the early 1800s, when the British Admiralty decided to categorise and classify thousands of naval store items, - from the steel hull to the smallest nut and bolt used on board: in fact, the precursor of present-day coding of stores inventory, in any factory, starts with A-1, as the code for the complete ship, the most sea-worthy item, they classified stores as H-23459, or B-34672, etc. So the most sea-worthy item A-1, signified "excellence".

To round off on an interesting note, have you heard the expressions, "Rise and shine, sleepy Joe," or "Shake a leg"? These originated in the days of sailing ships, when people on board slept in hammocks (which are very comfortable, despite the rolling and pitching of the ship!)

During the 1600s, women were allowed to be carried on board. There were many cases of mistaken identity, - among the sleeping folks in the hammocks. The Master-at-Arms, usually woke up people early in the morning and sang out "Shake a leg", so as to identify the sailors. If he saw a dainty leg out of the hammock, she was allowed to sleep on, but if he saw a hairy leg, he was rudely collared to "Rise and Shine" the ship's brasswork, the wooden deck, etc.

Duckbacks and Souwesters are effective raincoats, made of sturdy rubber sheet, likened to water falling off a duck's back; the peculiar-shaped rubber caps worn in heavy rain were named after the south-westerly monsoons - those lashing rains and gales, dreaded by sailors. The most common English name is Jack and sailors applied coal tar on their trousers to make them waterproof! So, the name "Jack Tar, Sailor man!"

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