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Glossary

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	Packet A vessel traveling on a regular schedule between two ports for the carriage of mail, goods, and passengers.

	Pagoda A sacred tower or temple in the Orient

	Pairs fishing Pairs fishing or pair trawling is done by two vessels, each of which tows half of a large trawl. Otter boards are not needed to keep the net open and the net can be much larger than that towed by a single ship. Pair trawling can be bottom trawling or midwater, in the middle of the water column.

	Panama Canal Opened in 1914, the canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and is 51 miles long. It crosses the Isthmus of Panama. It was completed by the United States but now belongs to the nation of Panama.

	Pandemic Occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high number of people. Usually refers to a disease.

	Panic of 1857 A strong, sharp recession that ended a grouth period following the end of the Mexican War and the discovery of gold in Colorado. Recovery took about three years.

	Paper pulp A soft mass of slightly sticky wood and/or cloth fiber used to make paper.

	Parallel ruler Parallel rules An instrument made up of two linked moving rulers that can be used to transfer a line from one place to another, keeping them parallel. Known in the 18th century. Useful in working with Mercator charts as it allows courses and bearings to be transferred and read at a compass rose. One of a large family of instruments for the navigator to work on charts called navigational aids.

	Parceling Wrapping the standing rigging ropes with tarred canvas

	Parlor In lobstering, the second compartment in a trap into which lobsters crawl to try to escape from the kitchen, the section in which the bait is placed.

	Patent log Mechanical log, taffrail log Colloquial term for any mechanical log or speed measuring device. These were all patented by their inventors.

	Pay payed (verb)To pour hot pitch into a deck or side seam after it has been caulked with oakum, in order to prevent the oakum from getting wet. Also, to dress a mast or yard with tar, varnish, or tallow, or to cover the bottom of a vessel with a mixture of sulphur, rosin, and tallow (or in modern days, an anti-fouling mixture.)

	Pelagic Fish living in the open ocean or seas rather than in waters adjacent to land or inland waters.

	Penobscot Expedition In June of 1779, the British set up a fort at Castine. Hearing of this, the Continental Congress sent a strong expedition to drive the British out, with some forty ships and 1,000 men. Arriving in late July, the Americans lay siege to the British instead of attacking. This delay was costly, for by the time the Americans decided to attack from the sea, they were confronted by a British relief fleet. The Americans fled up the river, destroying all of their shipping, with over 400 men killed wounded or captured. This is considered to be the worst American naval defeat until Pearl Harbor. Commodore Dudley Saltonstall was blamed and dismissed from service. Paul Revere was court martialed but acquitted.

	Perry, Matthew Matthew Perry 1794-1858. Commodore Matthew C. Perry is best known for taking four warships to Japan in 1852, an event that led to the opening of Japan to foreign trade and the overthrow of the feudal government.

	Philanthropist A person who actively tries to promote human welfare.

	Photosynthesis Process of creating energy (sugar) from light, carbon dioxide and water.

	Phytoplankton Microscopic plants that live in the ocean, the foundation of the oceanic food chain.

	Pickled Pickling is the process of preserving food by soaking and storing it in brine (highly salted water) or vinegar.

	Pidgin A means of verbal communication developed by speakers of two different languages, who need to communicate for trade or business purposes. It usually contains vocabulary from one language and structure from another.

	Piece work piecework In the early days of factory-made clothing, workers were paid by the pieces produced.

	Pierhead painter port painter Slang expression for the ship portrait painters that were found in many major ports in the 19th century.

	Pilgrim Pilgrims are travelers to sacred places for religion or embark on a quest. In America, the best known pilgrims are the people that left England for America in 1620 and founded the colony at Plymouth.

	Pilot A qualified individual who possesses knowledge of local shallows, rocks, etc., who is taken on board at a particular place to conduct a ship through a river, road, or channel, or to and from a port. Pilot also refers to a book containing sailing directions for certain waters and giving all needed information for navigating them. Also called a routier or rutter.

	Piloting pilotage The art of navigating along coasts, using visual guides.

	Pinky A small, sharp-sterned sailing vessel, 40 to 70 feet long, employed primarily for fishing. One of the oldest types of New England fishing and trading vessels. It is chooner rigged, with a false stern and narrow transom that runs beyond the rudder at deck level.

	Pinnace A small vessel of about 20 tons dating from the 16th century, with two masts, normally both square-rigged, but occasionally with a lugsail on the mainmast. Later the square rig was abandoned for a schooner rig. A pinnace carried oars as well as sails. In early voyages of exploration the pinnace was also used as a small ship accompanying the explorers' larger vessels. Pinnace also refers to a ship's boat which could be rowed with up to sixteen oars, or sailed.

	Plane A tool for smoothing or shaping a wooden surface or (verb) to smooth or shape wood.

	Planking Lengths of wood fastened to the outside of a vessel's frames forming the outside skin, and attached to the beams to form the deck.

	Plankton Microscopic organisms that float freely in the ocean. Plankton is made up of both plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton).

	Plaster A combination of lime or gypsum, sand, water, and sometimes hair or other fiber applied in a paste form to walls, ceilings, etc., and allowed to harden.

	Plymouth Colony Founded in December 1620 at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts by English Separatist Puritans. See also Plymouth Company.

	Plymouth Company Also called the Virginia Company of Plymouth, English stock company set up in 1606 to establish colonies. Its territory lay north of the London Company. It established the Popham Colony at the mouth of the Kennebec in 1607, but the colonists returned in 1608.

	Pneumatic Operated by air pressure.

	Pocket chronometer Highly accurate navigation grade pocket watch.

	Pollock Pollack are the most active members of the cod family. They are deep, plump bodied fish that have three dorsal fins, two anal fins and a forked tail fin, with slightly projected lower jaw. Pollock average between 4 and 15 pounds in weight, although large ones can weigh to 35 pounds. Over fished commericially in the 1980s, they are still caught commercially in smaller numbers and are a hook and line recreational fish. They make strong, powerful runs, thus making them fun to catch on light tackle.

	Polo, Marco Marco Polo 1254-1324 Venetian who traveled to China in a jouney that lasted 24 years and returned and wrote about it. His was the first major account of a world outside of Europe and opened up trade to China.

	Popham Colony The first English colony in New England, established at the mouth of the Kennebec River in 1607, called Fort St. George. The colonists returned to England in 1608.

	Popham, George George Popham c. 1550-1608 . Merchant and ship captain, nephew of Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England and one of the prime financial backers of the Popham colony. George Popham was in command and president of the Popham Colony; his death in February, 1608 was a major factor in the colonists' decision to abandon Fort St. George.

	Porcelain A very white, hard, translucent type of ceramic ware.

	Port duties Fees paid for the use of a port's facilities.

	Port watch Larboard watch One of the two watches into which the crew was divided. The port watch was led by the mate. Port and larboard are the seafaring terms for the left side of the vessel, the opposite side from starboard which is where the steering oar was hung on a Norse vessel. On those vessels it was easier to come alongside a pier on the left or port side.

	Porthole The circular opening in the side of a vessel to give light and ventilation to living quarters. Also called side light, sidescuttle, or air port.

	Portolano Italian manuscript sailing directions used in the Mediterranean between the 12th and 15th centuries. Contemporary with and backed up the portolan charts of the areas, hand drawn charts with compass or direction lines.

	Pot warp Line used to attach lobster pots or traps to buoys that mark their location.

	Preble and Jewett Preble and Jewett, of Portland, Maine, partnered with a Salem, Massachusetts shipbuilder to build the Portland, which cost $60,000 to build and was launched in the spring of 1796. The Portland sailed from Boston to Bombay with a captain from Saco. She carried beef, cod, salmon, oak staves, barrel staves, and sugar for sale in various Mediterranean ports, and wine and other goods were acquired there for trade in the Far East.

	Prevailing westerlies Winds that blow from to east between 30 and 60 degrees north and south in both northern and southern hemispheres. These winds helped vessels sail from American to Europe and to sail out to Australia and New Zealand via the Cape of Good Hope. They also make it difficult to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific west around Cape Horn.

	Prevailing winds The winds that normally blow in a region.

	Prime meridian The meridian from which longitude is measured eastwards or westward. The longitude of the prime meridian is 0 degrees. Throughout history, different locations have been designated prime meridian, sometimes each nation using their own choice. In 1884 the meridian of Greenwich, England was recognized as the generally accepted prime meridian.

	Pring, Martin Martin Pring c.1580-1646. English explorer, first sent to America in 1603 in a follow-up to Gosnold's voyage in search of sassafras, then thought to be a cure for syphillis. With two vessels, he made landfall in the vicinity of the Penobscot Bay, probably around Matinicus. After exploring Penobscot Bay, he coasted down to outer Cape Cod, probably visiting the mouths of the Saco, Kennebunk and York Rivers, and possibly sailing up the Piscataqua. Finding no sassafras, he sailed for Cape Cod where Gosnold had found sassafras, likely landing at Provincetown. After filling up his ships with sassafras and exploring Massachusetts Bay he returned to Bristol. Pring returned to the New England coast in 1606, surveying it carefully, but these records have been lost. The Popham expedition appears to have had a chart made during the 1606 voyage.

	Privateer A privately-owned vessel armed with guns which operated in time of war against the enemy's merchant ships. Privateers were commissioned by letters of marque, which licensed them to take prizes. Privateering was abolished by the Declaration of Paris in 1856.

	Proprietors Those to whom the British king granted exclusive control over a colony. This allowed the king to indirectly control the colony without investing. Sir Ferdinando Gorges became one of the proprietors of the Province of Maine in 1622, splitting it at the Piscataqua River in 1629.

	Protest A declaration made by the master of a vessel before an official, in cases of damage to the cargo. The protest might be required by insurance underwriters in the event of a claim.

	Ptolemy, Claudius Claudius Ptolemy c.90-168. Probably born in Egypt of Greek heritage. Mathematician, astronomer and cartographer. With simple projections created a world map which summarized geographic information of the Greco-Roman world in which he created a latitude/ longitude system to describe locations. He conceived a world or heliocentric model of the Universe to explain celestial motions drawing on the work of Greek and Babylonian astronomers. Both of these served for practical navigation until the 15th century.

	Pulling boats The nautical term for rowing is pulling; thus a pulling boat is a rowed boat.

	Puritans Members of the English Anglican Church who wanted to reform or purify the church, advocating strict religious discipline and simplification of the ceremonies of the Church of England. In America the term is used to refer to the immigrants led by John Winthrop who arrived in 1630.

	Purse seine A net gathered at the bottom like an inverted drawstring purse. It encircles a school of fish. A rope runs through rings along the bottom to draw it together. The fish are then pumped or dipped out of the purse. If the purse is small the net may be lifted to deck and the purse opened.