I am reading The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder, David Grann’s best-selling account of a 1742 voyage when a group of British warships attempted a trip around the tip of South America.
In the process Grann gives us an insight into how some common English phrases evolved out of the experience of naval exploration and warfare. Grann writes (on p. 35):
“To “toe the line” derives from when boys on a ship were forced to stand still for inspection with their toes on a deck steam. To “pipe down” was a boatswain’s whistle for everyone to be quiet at night, and “piping hot” was his call for meals. A “scuttlebutt” was a water cask around which the seamen gossiped while waiting for their rations. A ship was “three sheets to the wind” when the lines to the sails broke and the vessel pitched drunkenly out of control. To “turn a blind eye” became a popular expression after Vice-Admiral Nelson deliberately placed his telescope against his blind eye to ignore his superior’s signal flag to retreat.”
Later (on page 51) he mentions the source of the phrase “under the weather.” It referred to when sailors became so sick that they were moved below deck, away from the weather.
The Wager is a great read. Grann brings together 18th century social and technological issues, international politics, the impact of social stratification, and the role of naval innovation in the politics of European expansion. I am still early in the book. I know it will end in tragedy, but am looking forward to learning more about the fate of The Wager and of the sailors who manned it.
