[32] When a ship is abandoned a certain amount of water, biscuit, and rum is placed in all the boats.
[33] A coast or a shoal is said to be 'steep to' when comparatively deep water extends right up to its seaward edge. The lead, therefore, gives little indication of a ship's proximity to danger.
[34] Oil-fuel supply ship.
[35] 'Make and mend' = an afternoon set apart for making and mending clothes—that is, a half-holiday.
[36] 'Our boss,' the commodore in command of the force to which the Mariner was attached.
[37] A tracer shell for use against aircraft has a small cavity in its base filled with composition which is ignited when the gun fires. It emits a thin trail of smoke in the daytime and a luminous track at night, so that the gunners are able to see where their projectiles are going.
[38] That is, those destroyers attached to Sir David Beatty's squadron.