Driftwood

By Dot Theeboom.

Here are some terms in common use which originated in sailing:

At a loose end – unoccupied. Nautically, loose ends are unattached ones that are not doing their job. “Tying up
loose ends” is used to mean finalising details of a matter as a sailor makes fast the loose ends to ensure the boat is
shipshape.

Between the devil and the deep blue sea – faced with two dangerous alternatives. The derivation seems obscure but try this one. The “devil” is the seam between the deck planking and the top plank of the ship’s side. It would have to be watertight and would need filling or caulking regularly, which would require a sailor to stand on the very edge of the deck or even be suspended over the side. A dangerous place to be.

Chock a block – crammed tightly together to prevent movement. Chocks are wedges used to secure moving objects and a block and tackle is a pulley system used on sailing ships to hoist the sails. A possible derivation is that when two blocks of rigging tackle were so close together they couldn’t be tightened further, it was said they were “chock-a-block”.

Fathom out – to deduce something from the facts. A fathom is a unit of measurement – the distance from fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched. In the 14th century, “fathoming” meant embracing someone, so to “fathom out” may have just been a way of measuring with outstretched arms.

Let the cat out of the bag – disclose a secret. This refers to the cat o’ nine tails, a whip made of rope with nine unbraided strands at the end, used to flog sailors. The “cat” refers to the scratches and wounds the sailors would incur from the flogging. The “cat” was kept in a bag and when it was brought out there was obviously going to be trouble ahead.

No room to swing a cat – a very confined space. When a sailor was punished by flogging with the “cat o’ nine tails”, the whole ship’s company was required to witness it. The deck became very crowded and there was sometimes “no room to swing a cat”.

Over a barrel – to be in a situation where one cannot change one’s mind. The most common form of punishment for sailors was flogging. The culprit was tied either to a grating, the mast, or over a barrel. “Kissing the gunners daughter” was being tied to the barrel of a deck cannon while it was fired.

Slush Fund – money put aside to bribe or influence. In 18th century “slush” or “slosh” was the fat or grease skimmed off by the cook when boiling up salted beef. This “slush” was a perk for the ship’s cook who sold it when the ship reached port. The money derived in this way was known as the “slush fund”.

Pipe down – a request for silence. The boatswain’s pipe was used to give signals to the crew of sailing ships. “Piping down the hammocks” was the last signal of the day, to go below decks and retire for the night. Also when an officer was “piped down” he was dismissed.

Three sheets to the wind – very drunk. In sailors’ language, a sheet is a rope. If three sheets are not attached to the sails as they ought to be, the sail will flap and the boat will lurch around in a drunken fashion. Sailors had a sliding scale of drunkenness. Tipsy was “one sheet”, whereas falling over was “three sheets”.