GLOSSARY OF NAUTICAL AND TURKISH TERMS USED IN THE SULTAN’S HELMSMAN
(available from Amazon.com in paperback and kindle editions http://www.amazon.com/The-Sultans-Helmsman-Robert-Colburn/dp/1439249539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368626651&sr=8-1&keywords=sultan%27s+helmsman )
Some readers have asked for a glossary of terms used in the novel, so here it is. Let me know if there are additional terms you think should be here.
Alınlık -- a silver or gold fitting that held the tip of the plume for a turban or a hat, reflective of the wearer's rank.
Braces -- ropes running to the yardarm through pulleys which control the yardarm's angle to the wind
Buntlines -- ropes hanging down from the yardarm to bottom edge of the sail to allow the sail to be quickly hauled up to the yard to be reefed or furled.
Caravelle -- a lateen-rigged (i.e. with triangular sails), sailing ship, usually with one or two masts.
Carrack -- a square-sailed, round-hulled ship with more than one mast and a built-up forecastle.
Columbarium -- the part along the side of a galley where the oars stick out. It got its name because the rows of square oar ports made it look like a row of pigeonholes. Thus "columbarium" from the Latin word for "dovecote." The Byzantine navy kept the use of many Latin terms even after the language of Byzantium became mostly Greek, and the Ottomans inherited many of their nautical terms when they conquered Byzantium.
Culverin -- a type of gun with a longer barrel than a cannon. The ratio of bore to barrel length is what defines culverins, demi-culverins, and cannon. Cannons came later than culverins.
Demisaker -- a small swivel gun sometimes mounted on a ship's gunwales or fighting platforms for repelling boarders.
Falconetti -- a small naval gun, usually firing a 3-pound shot or less.
Galeot -- a small maneuverable galley with one mast and usually only one or two cannon in the bow. Also called a Fusta.
Galley -- a large oared warship, often with two masts and usually mounting 4 or 5 guns across the bow and with fighting platforms (rambades) in the bow for archers.
Gunwale -- the side of a ship. This term is slightly anachronistic because "gun walls" did not become the term until guns started to be mounted on ships broadside, after the time of the novel. However, no other English word would have made sense, so I used it.
Halyard -- ropes running up to the masthead to haul up the yards with the sails on them
jali boat -- a small rowing boat carried or towed by a larger ship. The word became "jolly boat" in nautical English
Lateen rigged – having triangular sails
Linstock -- a piece of old rope, usually impregnated with oil or creosote, that was used to light a spark to the touchhole of a cannon or culverin.
Kurekhane – Shed where the fleet’s oars were stored
Quoin -- wedge-shaped block of wood that fits under the breech of a gun, used for raising or lowering the elevation. As the gunner pulls the quoin out, the wedge becomes thinner, thus the breech lowers and the muzzle raises.
Reef points -- short ropes sewn into the sail at intervals allowing part of the sail to be tied in a bundle to reef it.
Sheets -- ropes attached to the bottom corner(s) of a sail. Pulling them tight shapes the sail to catch the wind.
Strakes -- horizontal wooden planks that form the hull of a ship
Tersane -- arsenale, shipyard
Thole pins -- wooden dowels in the gunwale of the ship that the oars brace against (in place of oarlocks)
Tompions -- round wooden and canvass stoppers that fit into the muzzles of a naval gun when not in use to keep the salt and the spray out.
Tophane -- Cannon foundry (lit. "gun house")
Trunions -- cylindrical knobs that stick out from a cannon (or culverin) barrel about halfway along it and which hold it in the gun carriage.
Vailing one's topsails -- to dip the topsails of a ship in salute by lowering the topsail yardarms
Yardarm -- the pole that the sail hangs down from
