Introduction to Pirates: Pirate Ships
The exact design of ships changes by the time and place of their manufacturing, but they had common builds and terminology.
Directions on a ship are:
starboard (right, as seen when standing on the ship facing prow)
port (left, as seen when standing on the ship facing prow)
amidship (in the middle of the ship)
windward (the direction the wind is blowing)
leeward (the opposite of windward, sheltered from the wind or downwind)
Important places on a ship are:
bilge (the lowest part of the ship, the part most likely to leak and be filthy)
crow's nest (a small platform near the top of the mast for lookouts)
fo'cs'le or forecastle (the section of the upper deck in front of the foremast)
helm (the steering wheel. contains the bittacle/bitacola/binnacle, a box which holds the compass)
hold (storage space in the lower part of the ship)
hull (the body of the ship)
keel (the underside of the ship)
mizzenmast (the largest mast. on a ship with three or more masts, the mast aft of a mainmast)
poop deck (the highest deck, usually above the captain's quarters)
quarterdeck (the aft part of the upperdeck)
Depending on the size of the ship, it may have one or multiple decks and masts. The flagship of Blackbeard, the Queen Anne's Revenge, was an English-built frigate. It was a 200-ton, 103 foot long vessel with three masts (the fore, the mizzen, and the main). It allegedly had 40 cannons, though only 30 have since been found (far more than most of the ships it attacked) and as many of four anchors, which could weigh up to 3,100lb and take over an hour to raise.
Vessels such as pirate ships cannot accurately be called boats, this is a pet peeve of many nautical workers.
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