state, were dressed as harlequins; the HMS Caledonia ’s crew wore the tartan; and HMS Tulip ’s boatmen had a green suit with a flower in their caps. But the most memorable outfits of all were the snappy blue jackets worn by the boat’s crew of HMS Blazer . In no time the crew became known as ‘the blazers’ and that is how the garment got its name.
A Blind Eye
Turning a blind eye stems from the famous incident during the Battle of Copenhagen when Admiral Nelson, as second in command, complained he could not see the flag signal from his superior which ordered him to break off the bombardment. He had deliberately placed the telescope to his blind eye, and proceeded to ignore the order, with glorious results.
’Tween the devil and the deep blue sea
Blood is Thicker than Water
These words were first spoken by Commodore Josiah Tattnall, USN to justify the intervention in the British attack in 1859 on the Peiho forts, during the China Wars. He towed boatloads of survivors from the shore with his ship USS Toegwan . A southern-born officer, he might well have used the words later in his career when he quit the United States Navy and joined the Confederacy.
Blood Money
Lower deck name for what was officially termed Bounty Money – monies paid to crews for sinking an enemy vessel. Blood money was however the more honest appellation since the amounts were reckoned not on the size or importance of the enemy ship but rather on the numbers of crew slaughtered. At one time this was as high as five guineas for every man killed.
Bottle Up
Comes from the days (before August 1970) when rum was issued daily to crews in the Royal Navy. Instead of drinking their tot at the time of issue as the rule required some men would spit their tot into a bottle and when the bottle was full drink it in one wild session.
Brace Up
Braces were the names given to the ropes which controlled the yards from which the sails were hung. Yards and sails were said to be braced up when they were tensioned hard against the wind. A nice comparison with someone puffing out their chest and ready for anything. Sometimes used as an order meaning get organised, stop messing about, etc.
Brought up Short; Brought up All Standing
From the practice of stopping a ship by letting go the anchor. Used only in emergencies (or by accident), it has the most dramatic effect. As the anchor bites so the ship shudders to a standstill accompanied by a cloud of chain chippings and dust, tremendous noise and the whipping and clanging of masts and rigging.
Another way to bring a vessel up short was to fire a shot across its bows . This was done as a warning. If the vessel failed to stop the next shot was trained upon her. This saying too has come ashore.
Blind eye
Buccaneers
Originally a name for the purveyors of dried meat called boucan which was eaten throughout the Caribbean. The word was extended to include the French settlers who hunted the meat and later to the English and Dutch who in their turn hunted the French settlers. Soon the word came to mean any lawless adventurer. It became popularised throughout the English language in 1684 after the publication of John Esquemeling’s book Bucaniers of America . Esquemeling, a French doctor, was for a short period a buccaneer.
Burning your Boats
Although a military tactic since Roman times when it was meant to instill a backs-to-the-wall spirit, the most quoted case concerns the Spanish conquistador Herman Cortez who, having reached the shores of Mexico, and salvation so far as his men were concerned, found them in no mood to go traipsing off into the Yucatan jungle. To drive home the purpose of their mission he had the ship’s boats drawn up on the beach and burnt. Then, with no alternative but to move forward, the conquest of central America could begin. Hundreds of years later during the Battle of the Falkland Islands in World War I, ships of the British squadron running short of coal used wooden boats to fire their
A Blind Eye
Turning a blind eye stems from the famous incident during the Battle of Copenhagen when Admiral Nelson, as second in command, complained he could not see the flag signal from his superior which ordered him to break off the bombardment. He had deliberately placed the telescope to his blind eye, and proceeded to ignore the order, with glorious results.
’Tween the devil and the deep blue sea
Blood is Thicker than Water
These words were first spoken by Commodore Josiah Tattnall, USN to justify the intervention in the British attack in 1859 on the Peiho forts, during the China Wars. He towed boatloads of survivors from the shore with his ship USS Toegwan . A southern-born officer, he might well have used the words later in his career when he quit the United States Navy and joined the Confederacy.
Blood Money
Lower deck name for what was officially termed Bounty Money – monies paid to crews for sinking an enemy vessel. Blood money was however the more honest appellation since the amounts were reckoned not on the size or importance of the enemy ship but rather on the numbers of crew slaughtered. At one time this was as high as five guineas for every man killed.
Bottle Up
Comes from the days (before August 1970) when rum was issued daily to crews in the Royal Navy. Instead of drinking their tot at the time of issue as the rule required some men would spit their tot into a bottle and when the bottle was full drink it in one wild session.
Brace Up
Braces were the names given to the ropes which controlled the yards from which the sails were hung. Yards and sails were said to be braced up when they were tensioned hard against the wind. A nice comparison with someone puffing out their chest and ready for anything. Sometimes used as an order meaning get organised, stop messing about, etc.
Brought up Short; Brought up All Standing
From the practice of stopping a ship by letting go the anchor. Used only in emergencies (or by accident), it has the most dramatic effect. As the anchor bites so the ship shudders to a standstill accompanied by a cloud of chain chippings and dust, tremendous noise and the whipping and clanging of masts and rigging.
Another way to bring a vessel up short was to fire a shot across its bows . This was done as a warning. If the vessel failed to stop the next shot was trained upon her. This saying too has come ashore.
Blind eye
Buccaneers
Originally a name for the purveyors of dried meat called boucan which was eaten throughout the Caribbean. The word was extended to include the French settlers who hunted the meat and later to the English and Dutch who in their turn hunted the French settlers. Soon the word came to mean any lawless adventurer. It became popularised throughout the English language in 1684 after the publication of John Esquemeling’s book Bucaniers of America . Esquemeling, a French doctor, was for a short period a buccaneer.
Burning your Boats
Although a military tactic since Roman times when it was meant to instill a backs-to-the-wall spirit, the most quoted case concerns the Spanish conquistador Herman Cortez who, having reached the shores of Mexico, and salvation so far as his men were concerned, found them in no mood to go traipsing off into the Yucatan jungle. To drive home the purpose of their mission he had the ship’s boats drawn up on the beach and burnt. Then, with no alternative but to move forward, the conquest of central America could begin. Hundreds of years later during the Battle of the Falkland Islands in World War I, ships of the British squadron running short of coal used wooden boats to fire their
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