Beat to Quarters

I welcome you honorable lords and ladies. You can call me William Mowett and I will bring you closer to the Age of Sail and the ancient seafaring. Here you can learn the history of seafaring with pictures, articles and artefacts. Because history is not boring, it can explain things of this time and be extremely exciting. I'm looking forward to you and should you have any questions once, please don't be shy I will answered them gladly. I will follow you as @fleur-de-paris  -

[ltwilliammowett]

Nautical Terms

Here are just a few terms that might be of interest to some of you.

Before the mast – refers to the sailors’ quarters, which were located in the fore part of the ship (the bow), whilst the officers’ quarters were near the stern. The term can also be used as a synonym for a common sailor.

Clap on – to increase power by adding more rigging or deploying more men. Also: to set more sails.

Deck passage – accommodation for passengers on deck when there was insufficient cabin space. Often used on short voyages.

Hail – a greeting at sea

Handsomely – slowly and carefully; particularly when handling ropes under tension.

Maiden Voyage – the first voyage of a ship that has recently been fitted out and is finally fit for service.

Salt – nickname for a sailor. Also ‘Old Salt’ for a very experienced sailor.

Slew – to turn something around its own axis: to swing a mast round.

Stand by – to be ready

Stave off – to push a boat or floating object away from a jetty or the side of a ship using a pole, a boat hook or a similar tool.

The sailor's word-book, by Smyth, W. H (William Henry), 1788-1865; Belcher, Edward, Sir, 1799-1877

The Visual encyclopedia of nautical terms under sail, by Basil W. Bathe 1978

[ltwilliammowett]

Being a ship's cat is hard work – here's the mascot and presumably the chief mouser aboard HMS Hermione, WWII

[ltwilliammowett]

Shipping on the Clyde, by John Atkinson Grimshaw, 1881

[silky-selkie]

[leona-florianova]

...

[dailyclassicart]

Frederick Judd Waugh - "The Great Abyss" (1909)

[ltwilliammowett]

Medicine Box, the hinged lid marked "1914 R.M.S. Majestic, White Star Line, tonnage 56,551" and the front panel painted "Opium"

[best-ship-tourney]

Best Ship - Round 1 Match 10

Vasa (Real Life) vs Adventuress (Real Life)

Vasa

Adventuress

Remaining time: 4 days 21 hours

[ltwilliammowett]

Rigging of the Bark Europa

🎥 @joshuavelaf

[ltwilliammowett]

The Ship “Vlissingen” — a 17th-century Dutch vessel beautifully portrayed in oil by Jan de Quelery (1957)

[ltwilliammowett]

Sunset behind the sea cliff, by Harut Danielyan, 2025

Source

[ltwilliammowett]

Working on a new overskirt

[knights-of-the-glittery-table]

💀 Fuck it, not again… Ready the cannons

[cryoverkiltmilk]

Flint, Benjamina has some words for you and your feral child.

[ltwilliammowett]

Under fire off Manhatten, by Geoff Hunt (1948-)

[benjhawkins]

From the “Life of Captain Jeremiah O’Brien, Machias, Maine: Commander of the First American Naval Flying Squadron of the War of the Revolution” (1902)

[acrossthewavesoftime]

I am late joining the Battle of Machias commemorations, but here are two favourite sources from the Naval Documents of the American Revolution relating to that battle:

Samuel Graves’ orders to his nephew John, who is being tasked, among other things, to hunt Jeremiah O'Brien:

Whereas his majesty’s armed Schooner Margueritta was on the 11th of last month attacked and taken by rebels in a sloop & schooner from Mechias, after an obstinate engagement in which the commander of the said schooner Margueritta & one Marine were Killed and four wounded, and the rest being made Prisoners were carried by the Rebels into the Country; and whereas I have undoubted Information that these pirate Vessels and several others are now cruizing about Mechias in the Bay of Fundy, and to the Southward as far as Sheepscut River, with intent to take and destroy all Vessels and People employed in bringing Supplies to the Kings Army and Fleet at Boston, You are hereby required and directed to take Lieut [George] Dawson in his Majesty’s Schooner Hope under your Command, and proceed together in search of these Pyrates or any others you can [get] Intelligence of, whom you are to do your utmost to take, sink, burn or destroy by all means in your power, wherever you find them, and all persons who shall be actually aiding and assisting them. You are to take the two Transports named in the Margin under your Convoy and see them safe into Annapolis Royal, and then proceed to Windsor where there are six or more Vessels laden with Cattle, Sheep and other Provisions for the use of the Kings Forces at Boston, which Vessels cannot sail without Convoy: You are either to bring these Vessels away directly, or acquaint their Masters when you will return and convoy them to Boston. Having determined this as you shall see best for the Kings Service you are jointly to proceed in quest of the Pyrates that infest the Coast as aforementioned, giving all possible assistance to known friends, and encouraging and protecting all persons who are willing or inclined to bring Supplies or Fuel to Boston, and seizing every Vessel you find offending against the restraining Acts or otherwise acting contrary to Law. And whereas I am informed the Enemy depend chiefly for Success upon Boarding, and to that end carry an extraordinary number of hands; you are to be very careful that you are not surprized. You are to inform yourself when the Brigs will be ready to Sail, and bring them with you to Boston, where you are to come in company with the Hope or not as the Service will admit. Given under my Hand on board his Majs Ship Preston at Boston the 18July 1 7 75 Sam Graves

(NDAR 1, p. 913-14)

Knowing that Samuel Graves was exceptionally close with his nephews, this last highlighted passage warning John to be careful seems particularly poignant in the wake of the death of Midshipman James Moore.

And secondly, an epitaph published on James Moore in a local newspaper:

(NDAR 1, p. 971)

[pentecostwaite]

@acrossthewavesoftime​ I’m SO EXCITED you posted the letter from Adm. Graves above. It dovetails beautifully with an interesting local legend I have been trying to verify. 

Here is the story, from Wheeler’s History of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell (1878):

About the same time [summer 1775] Robert Fulton, John and WIlliam Patten, Thomas Harward, Joseph Berry, and David Fowler, from Topsham, went in a vessel to the mouth of the Androscoggin [River] for hay, and were taken by the English and carried to England. Robert Fulton and William Patten died there; the others returned.

This story has fascinated me since I first heard it. It meant that a British ship had to make its way from the Atlantic (see arrow on map below) close to 18 miles up the tidal Kennebec River, pop out past the chops at Bath, into Merrymeeting Bay, and then sight AND capture what was probably a gundalow full of men haying along the mouth of the Androscoggin (see star on map below). That’s a long way up the Kennebec into the interior of Maine. There is very little chance the captured men of Topsham would have expected to have encountered a ship of the British Navy in their inland bay.

I actually dismissed the story as a typical Maine tall-tale for a long time, but then about a month ago I came upon the testimony of one of the captured men, Joseph Berry, given after his return to Maine:

Apart from it being an amazing story of survival and an incredible journey, Berry actually gives the name of the commander, Dawson, and the name of the ship, the schooner Hope, that captured him and the five others on the last day of August, 1775. Furthermore, we learn that he was held on HMS Preston for three months–presumably in Boston Harbor–before being transported to England.

Adm. Graves’ letter, written in the aftermath of the Battle of Machias, neatly confirms Berry’s story. Lt. Dawson’s orders were to “proceed in quest of the Pyrates that infest the Coast as aforementioned, […] seizing every Vessel you find offending against the restraining Acts or otherwise acting contrary to Law […].” It’s difficult to understand how exactly men loading their gundalow with salt hay to take up the Cathance River home to Topsham could possibly have been violating the Restraining Acts. But Dawson clearly justified the capture somehow, and these six farmers were unwittingly pulled into the intensifying conflict between the American colonies and Britain, becoming early naval prisoners of the new war.

[ltwilliammowett]

A Bone and Brass Sundial, 19th century

[sinni-ok-sessi]

highlights from the Terra Nova's biological and whale logs, currently part of the Wellcome Collection's material related to Denis Lillie

I am as always delighted to add another wretched penguin sketch to my collection

(bottom left is from the fair copy of the whale log; the rest are the original biological log)