There is one thing that we do know for certain about him, and that is that the worthy Captain’s spelling, according to the pirated version of his book, was indefinite even for his own day. He was one of those inspired folk who would be quite capable of spelling “schooner” with three variations in as many lines. In this edition the spelling has been more or less modernized.

Lastly, it is to be remembered that the ships of this period, according to our modern ideas, would be the veriest cockle-shells, and so that we should know what manner of vessel he refers to in these pages, I had recourse to a friend of mine whose knowledge of things nautical is extensive enough to have gained for him the coveted “Extra Master’s Certificate,” and who was kind enough to supply me with the following definitions:

SLOOP.

A vessel rigged as a cutter, but with one head-sail only set on a very short bowsprit.

SCHOONER.

TOPSAIL SCHOONER.

Two-masted vessels, fore and aft rigged, sometimes having square topsails onthe fore-mast.

BRIGANTINE.

A two-masted vessel, square rigged on fore-mast.