The Pirate Queen (67 page)

Chapter 41.
Raleigh, Virginia, and Empire

1. A. Latham and J. Youings (eds.),
The Letters of Sir Walter Ralegh
(London, 2001), pp. 50–51, no. 33.

2. Elizabeth’s final illness was more complex than that, and was as much due to old age and depression at the loss of so many of her contemporaries, poor understanding of medical matters, and the feeling that she had served her time on earth.

3. D. B. Quinn,
Ralegh and the British Empire
(London, 1973), pp. 134–135.

4. A. Latham and J. Youings (eds.),
The Letters of Sir Walter Ralegh
p. 87, no. 56.

5. D.B. Quinn and A.M. Quinn,
The First Colonists
(Raleigh, NC, 1982), p. 108.

6. D. B. Quinn,
Ralegh and the British Empire
, p. 149.

7. Ibid., p. 151.

8. Ibid., p. 158.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid., p. 157.

11.
HMC Salisbury
(London, 1888), vol. 9, p. 311. Also see A. Latham and J.
Youings,
The Letters of Sir Walter Raleigh
, pp. 240–241, letter no. 161.

12. Ibid.

Chapter 42.
The East and East India Company

1. G. Milton,
Nathaniel’s Nutmeg
(New York, 1999), p. 41.

2. This is a distinctly English perspective, I’m sure, though not without foundation.

3. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
(Cambridge, 1999), p. 256.

4. J. Keay,
The Honourable Company
(London, 1993), pp. 10–13.

5. There were other reasons as well for Elizabeth to hesitate as she did: it was a favorite game to wrong-foot her courtiers, at times pandering to one faction or another, as well as a way of keeping her enemies (foreign ambassadors and unseen traitors in her midst) guessing as to her true purpose. Sometimes she would change her mind simply for the fun of it. But when it came to matters of national or international importance, she invariably hesitated for one of the two reasons I give.

6. Kenneth Andrews,
Trade, Plunder & Settlement
, pp. 258–259.

7. Ibid., p. 263.

8. J. Keay,
The Honourable Company
, pp. 14–15.

9. S. Ronald,
The Sancy Blood Diamond
(New York, 2004), p. 137.

Glossary

Sources for this glossary were provided primarily by the
Oxford English Dictionary
, Kenneth R. Andrews’s
The Spanish Caribbean
, N. A. M. Rodgers’s
The Safeguard of the Sea
, and David Loades’s
The Tudor Navy
. My
sincerest thanks to them all.

abeam,
(adj.) at right angles to the ship’s center line.

admiral,
1. the officer commanding a squadron of ships; 2. the Lord (High) Admiral, an officer of the crown in charge of Admiralty and naval affairs; 3. a flagship in a fleet (16th and 17th centuries).

adviso,
announcement.

afore,
same as fore.

aft,
abaft, towards the stern or rear of a ship.

aftercastle,
the tower or fighting platform built at the stern of a ship from the 13th century.

agreeing,
(as in climate), becoming acclimatized.

alcaide,
Spanish governor.

aloft,
1. relating to the masts and rigging upwards, or 2. on deck.

amidship(s),
relating to the middle or centerline of a ship.

anatomy,
a skeleton or mummy.

ancient,
1. an ensign or standard; 2. an ensign or standard-bearer.

annoy,
injure.

appointed,
equipped or armed.

armada,
any fleet of warships, or if large enough, a single warship. Used in this book solely for Spanish warships.

arquebuse (also harquebuse),
a portable fire-arm with a box-like fire lock of variable size, but usually a large, cumbersome kind of musket.

artificial,
skillful, workmanlike.

ashore,
towards or on the shore.

assay,
assault. (Term “at all assays,” meaning “in any attack,” or “any danger.”)

astern,
behind the ship, in the direction from which she is moving.

astrolabe,
a navigational instrument used for measuring the altitude of heavenly bodies and thereby the ship’s latitude.

asiento,
a Spanish commercial contract or licence.

audiencia,
the high court of a region within Spain’s jurisdiction.

back,
1. to trim sails so that they catch the wind from ahead; 2. (of the wind) to change in a counter-clockwise direction.

ballast,
stones, gravel, or other weight stowed low in a ship to improve her stability.

banquet,
dessert; sweetmeats and wine.

bar,
a shoal across the mouth of a tidal estuary.

Barbary,
from the northwest coast of Africa (as in barbary pirate, or barbary trade).

barbican,
a man-made structure defending the gate of a castle.

barge,
an oared sailing vessel used for war and trade (14th–16th centuries).

bark,
any seagoing sailing ship of moderate size (16th century).

barrel,
1. a cask of specified capacity, usually between 30–34 gallons; 2. the muzzle of a gun.

base,
a very small cannon, probably firing a six-ounce shot.

basilisk,
a type of long heavy gun, usually breech-loading (15th–16th century).

battery,
1. the broadside guns mounted on one deck or the side of the ship; 2. a group of guns mounted ashore to fire on ships.

beach,
to run a ship aground or ashore.

beam,
1. the width of the ship; 2. the direction at right angles to the center line of the ship; 3. a timber running from side to side of the ship to support the deck.

bear,
1. to enter names in the ships book as part of the ship’s company; 2. to lie or point in a certain direction; 3.—
away
, to bear up or turn downwind; 4.—
room
, to bear up (16th–17th century); 5.—
up
, to turn downwind.

beat,
(of a ship), to work windward by several tacks (turnings).

behoveful,
advantageous.

bill,
halberd (see
halberd
).

block,
a pulley.

boatswain,
1. a ship’s officer responsible for sails, rigging, and ground tackle; 2. boatswain’s mate, the petty officer assisting the boatswain.

bolt,
a short arrow fired from a crossbow.

bonaventure mizzen,
see mizzen.

boom,
1. a light running spar, especially one at the foot of a sail; 2. a floating barrier protecting a harbor.

bow,
verb, 1. to bend; 2. to cant a broadside gun as far forward as possible (16th century).

bowline,
a line or tackle led forward from the leach of a square sail to haul the weather leach taut when beating to windward.

bow-shoot,
bow-shot, a distance of about 240 yards.

bowspirit,
a spar projecting over the bows, spreading various riggings and one or more sails.

brave,
beautiful, fine, decorated.

Brazil,
a wood used for dyeing cloth. (Brazil was named after its wood.)

breach,
the breaking of the sea on the shore.

breech,
the inner or rear end of a gun.

breeching,
a rope attaching the breech of the gun to the ship’s side to restrain the recoil or movement of the gun.

brigantine,
a small vessel equipped for sailing or rowing, swifter and more easily maneuverable than large ships, frequently used for piracy, espionage, or reconnoitering.

brow,
a portable bridge for crossing from dockside to the ship or from ship to ship

brownbill,
a burnished axe.

brustling,
crackling, rustling, roaring.

buff,
buffalo.

buskin,
a boot reaching to the calf or the knee.

by and by,
at once.

cable,
1. a thick long rope, particularly the anchor cable; 2. a measure of distance originally 120, then later 100 fathoms or one-tenth of a nautical mile.

cabrito,
goat (Spanish).

cacique,
an Indian chieftain.

caliver,
a long, light musket.

cannon,
the English cannon was probably a 7-inch gun firing a 40 pound round of shot. The Spanish cannon was larger, firing a 50 pound round of shot.

cant,
to turn or change the heading or direction of the ship.

capitana,
Spanish flagship.

caravel,
a small, light, fast lateen-rigged ship, originally a Portuguese type.

carvel,
adj. Of the “skeleton-first” method of shipbuilding in which a frame of timbers is clad with planking laid edge to edge.

cargason,
cargo, bill of lading.

carrack,
a large “round ship” used as a merchant ship, (merchantman) with a high superstructure fore and aft (15
^th
–16
^th
century) particularly to transport cargo from the East Indies.

castle,
1. a structure erected forward (forecastle) or aft (aftercastle).

caulk,
to make seams watertight on a ship.

cause,
causeway or raised roadway across water.

chamlet or camlet,
presumed to be a type or mohair or camel hair cloth mixed with wool, silk, or cotton
(A Handbook of English Costume in the Sixteenth Century).

chamber,
a detachable breech containing the explosive charge of a gun (15th–16th century); 2. the inner end of the bore of a muzzle-loading gun which is bored to a smaller diameter than the rest to accept a reduced charge.

chargeable,
responsible, expensive, or troublesome.

charged,
high or having tall castles fore and aft.

chase,
the bow of a ship.

chirurgeon,
surgeon.

Cimarróne,
Cimarroon, a runaway slave.

Cipango,
Japan.

clift,
split wood.

clinker (clench),
a system of shipbuilding where the hull is made of overlapping strakes of planking built up from the keel with light frames inserted later for stiffening.

close-hauled,
steering as close to the wind as possible.

cock-boat,
a small boat or dinghy.

cod,
pod

cog,
a type of merchant ship with a flat bottom and high freeboard rigged with a single mast and sail.

commodious,
convenient, advantageous or profitable.

composition,
agreement, treaty, compromise.

conceits,
ideas or fancies.

contagious,
foul.

contractátion house,
a commercial exchange center.

cooper,
1. a skilled repairer of casks; 2. a rating employed to assist the purser to dispense beer and other liquids.

cordovan skin,
fine leather from Cordova, Spain, or in the style of Cordova.

corinths,
currants.

corregidor,
a magistrate or sheriff.

coxswain,
a petty officer in charge of a boat’s crew.

crossbar,
cross-shot, cannon shot in the form of a bar or a cross.

cross-staff,
an instrument for observing the altitude of the sun or star in order to fix latitude. John Dee made vast improvements to the cross-staff.

cruet,
a small vessel holding wine or water for the celebration of the Eucharist.

crumbs,
to gather up or pick up strength.

culverin,
the longest range gun in use in the 16th century. A long, muzzle-loading smooth bore gun, usually firing a round of shot of about 17 pounds in weight. The demi-culverin shot was about half that weight at 9 pounds.

cunning,
skillful or clever.

customer,
a customs house officer.

cut out,
to take as a prize a ship from its fleet.

daw,
to revive, bring back to consciousness.

dead reckoning,
the captain would throw a log overboard and observe how quickly the ship receded from this guidepost. Noting the speed reading in his ship’s logbook, along with the direction of travel, which he took from the stars or a compass, and the length of time on a particular course, he then determined his longitude. He routinely missed the mark.

defend,
to forbid.

deliver,
quick to, active, or nimble.

demurrage,
a payment made by a shipper to the ship owner in compensation for unreasonably detaining the ship on her voyage.

detract,
to withdraw from.