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Quiz about Finding Your Way Around a Warship  1
Quiz about Finding Your Way Around a Warship  1

Finding Your Way Around a Warship - 1 Quiz


In the age of fighting sail the most important factor of all was the men (and some women) that manned the fleet. But the warship was the most technologically advanced machine of its day, and tough to master.

A multiple-choice quiz by cyeomans. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
cyeomans
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
399,639
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
178
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. It is 1808. You were just taken by a press gang to a Royal Navy frigate, the 38 gun fifth rate Horatio, and were assigned the larboard watch (as opposed to the starboard watch) and have been told you have the first dog watch tonight, the first day at sea. Puzzled, you ask an old salt when that is. What is his answer? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. In your prior life you were a pretty good autodidact, but the fantastic variety of ropes and cables has you utterly confounded. A fellow with a knotted rope whacks you with it, insisting you find and pull on a sheet. You do not see any sheets, unless he means one of the sails. He doesn't. What is a sheet? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. The captain informs you, along with the rest of the crew, that their destination is the horse latitudes, which elicits both excitement and concern among the crew, who apparently know where that is. You ask a gunner's mate where you are going. What does he say? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. You watch while two sailors in a violent argument each seize a wooden peg with a handle at one end from what you are told are "pinrails" and go at each other until an officer ends their tiff. What are those pegs called, you ask? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Under supervision, you and another well-behaved new crew member are permitted ashore for a last farewell to you family for a voyage that may go on for years, leaving your family to fend for themselves. The mate in charge points to a blue flag flying from the foretruck of the Horatio and grunts it is time to go. What is the flag? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Now you are thoroughly befuddled, as well as perhaps a bit despairing, but back aboard. Bootnecks, bosuns, bowers, bollards - it all becomes a blur. Fortunately it is dinner time, 1130 hours, and your mess shares out its meal of lobscouse. It is actually pretty good, but what is it? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. It is your first action, a cutting out party to sneak into a harbor of the French island of Guadeloupe and sail off with an enemy vessel, a French warship smaller than a frigate but bigger than a sloop of war. What is the term for this kind of ship? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Captured ship in company, the captain gives the word to raise the anchor and get underway. The crew seizes the capstan bars and begins hauling in the anchor, but the anchor cable is too thick to wind around the capstan so the ship's boys run about attaching smaller ropes to an endless loop of rope, the messenger, around the capstan. What are the ropes employed by the boys? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. The ship you have taken turns out to be a prize with an unexpected bonus: the hold has chests of gold and silver that were intended as pay for an army. The crew is ecstatic. How much of the prize money (including eventually the value of the prize itself) was shared out to the captain and crew, other than the admiral's share (if the ship were under orders from an admiral) and agent fees? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Your cruise is coming to and end, thank God. But on the way home the captain's orders require him to proceed to Rio de Janeiro. On the way there, a strange ceremony is performed, involving shaving of heads, a character named "Badger Bag" and King Neptune, pitch rubbed in faces and mouths to be scraped off with a rough bit of metal and other indignities. What happened? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. It is 1808. You were just taken by a press gang to a Royal Navy frigate, the 38 gun fifth rate Horatio, and were assigned the larboard watch (as opposed to the starboard watch) and have been told you have the first dog watch tonight, the first day at sea. Puzzled, you ask an old salt when that is. What is his answer?

Answer: 1600 - 1800 hours (4pm to 6pm)

There are two dog watches, one after the other. Since you have the first one, you will be on watch from 1600 - 1800 hours this evening, the second dog watch being from 1800 - 2000 hours. You will have another overnight watch as well. The dog watches allowed the men to avoid standing the same watches every day, therefore "dodging" watches, later corrupted to "dogging" and finally "dog".
2. In your prior life you were a pretty good autodidact, but the fantastic variety of ropes and cables has you utterly confounded. A fellow with a knotted rope whacks you with it, insisting you find and pull on a sheet. You do not see any sheets, unless he means one of the sails. He doesn't. What is a sheet?

Answer: Ropes that attach to clews on a sail, pulled tight to allow it to draw

A sheet is a term still used by sailors to describe the rope that holds a sail in place, and on a fore and aft rig is used to adjust the sail's angle to the wind direction, and thereby add or reduce thrust.
3. The captain informs you, along with the rest of the crew, that their destination is the horse latitudes, which elicits both excitement and concern among the crew, who apparently know where that is. You ask a gunner's mate where you are going. What does he say?

Answer: In the West Indies between 30 and 40 degrees north

In the ocean area near the West Indies ships would often be becalmed for days or weeks, and to save water ships would sometimes toss horses and cattle overboard. This happened frequently enough that the area came to be known as the "horse latitudes".
4. You watch while two sailors in a violent argument each seize a wooden peg with a handle at one end from what you are told are "pinrails" and go at each other until an officer ends their tiff. What are those pegs called, you ask?

Answer: Belaying pins

Those are all real things on a sailing vessel of the era. Belaying pins were found all over the ship, however, and made a handy weapon when the moment called for it.
5. Under supervision, you and another well-behaved new crew member are permitted ashore for a last farewell to you family for a voyage that may go on for years, leaving your family to fend for themselves. The mate in charge points to a blue flag flying from the foretruck of the Horatio and grunts it is time to go. What is the flag?

Answer: The Blue Peter

The Blue Peter, a blue and white flag, was flown at the foretruck of a naval ship notifying shore parties of its intention to sail on the tide, meaning soon, and so ship's company and passengers should get aboard.
6. Now you are thoroughly befuddled, as well as perhaps a bit despairing, but back aboard. Bootnecks, bosuns, bowers, bollards - it all becomes a blur. Fortunately it is dinner time, 1130 hours, and your mess shares out its meal of lobscouse. It is actually pretty good, but what is it?

Answer: Beef stew thickened with ships' biscuit

That one may have been a little obvious. But those are all real foods of sailors of the era.
7. It is your first action, a cutting out party to sneak into a harbor of the French island of Guadeloupe and sail off with an enemy vessel, a French warship smaller than a frigate but bigger than a sloop of war. What is the term for this kind of ship?

Answer: Corvette

Corvettes generally were equivalent to the Royal Navy's sixth rates, or post-ships, and carried about 20 guns. They were captained by a Capitaine de corvette, the equivalent of a commander in the Royal Navy, and were used for various missions, often on detached service. Gunboats were used primarily for shore defense, usually carrying one large gun, and a 74 was a third rate ship of the line that was a major battleship of the era.
8. Captured ship in company, the captain gives the word to raise the anchor and get underway. The crew seizes the capstan bars and begins hauling in the anchor, but the anchor cable is too thick to wind around the capstan so the ship's boys run about attaching smaller ropes to an endless loop of rope, the messenger, around the capstan. What are the ropes employed by the boys?

Answer: Nippers

And that is why they call boys "nippers".
9. The ship you have taken turns out to be a prize with an unexpected bonus: the hold has chests of gold and silver that were intended as pay for an army. The crew is ecstatic. How much of the prize money (including eventually the value of the prize itself) was shared out to the captain and crew, other than the admiral's share (if the ship were under orders from an admiral) and agent fees?

Answer: All of it

A major incentive for captains and crews of that era was prize money. The captain received two eighths, and the admiral under whose orders he sailed received an eighth, unless the ship was under Admiralty orders, in which case the captain received that eighth as well.

The crew received the rest, dividing it in precise portions according to rank. The barely literate suddenly became human calculators with a fat prize in tow.
10. Your cruise is coming to and end, thank God. But on the way home the captain's orders require him to proceed to Rio de Janeiro. On the way there, a strange ceremony is performed, involving shaving of heads, a character named "Badger Bag" and King Neptune, pitch rubbed in faces and mouths to be scraped off with a rough bit of metal and other indignities. What happened?

Answer: You crossed the equator

Most navies of the world have a ceremony for crossing the equator involving various forms of hazing. Over the years such hijinks have become more tame, but during the Napoleonic Wars era it was a rough business indeed.
Source: Author cyeomans

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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