• 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 growth period following the end of the Mexican War and the discovery of gold in Colorado. Recovery took about three years.
  • Paper pulp
    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 called navigational aids, that allow the navigator to work on charts.
  • 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.)
  • Peck
    A unit of dry volume equivalent to 2 gallons, 8 dry quarts or 16 dry pints. Four pecks make a bushel.
  • 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 was 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.
  • Pensacola
    The westernmost city on Florida's panhandle, a port on the Gulf of Mexico.
  • Per Diem
    Latin for per day, or a day.
  • Pernambuco
    "Fernanbuco"
    A state in the northeast coastal area of Brazil. The correct spelling is Pernambuco.
  • 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.
  • Physic
    A medicinal agent, or medication. Also used as a verb meaning to practice medicine or healing.
  • 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 around the world in the 19th century.
  • Pilgrim
    Pilgrims are travelers to sacred places for religion or those who 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 schooner 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).
  • Plantain
    Plaintain
    Correct spelling is plantain. A member of the banana family. Plantains are starchy, low in sugar, and must be cooked before serving, usually fried or baked. Used in many savory dishes somewhat like a potato would be used. Plantains are very popular in Western Africa and the Caribbean countries.

Pages