Reference
Sailor’s Glossary
Real sailing terms and Blue Seas inventions, side by side — clearly marked which is which.
Two kinds of words. Terms marked [real] are genuine nautical vocabulary. Terms marked [Blue Seas] are invented for Martin’s fictional world.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Bowline [real] | A fixed loop knot that won’t jam — “the king of knots.” Martin’s first lesson to every hand. |
| Brig [real] | A two-masted, square-rigged sailing ship. The Second Dawn’s rig. |
| Glass Calm [Blue Seas] | A windless mirror-sea in the far west where ships can sit for weeks. Martin spent eleven days there, happily. |
| Lantern Eel [Blue Seas] | A ribbon-thin eel trailing cold green light; sailors read their patterns like weather. |
| Mistwhale [Blue Seas] | A gentle whale with lantern-like glowing spots; said to remember ships. |
| Mrs. Pettifer [Blue Seas] | Martin’s private name for a fussy crosswind. The crew uses it behind his back. |
| Singing Fog [Blue Seas] | Harmony-humming fog off the Lantern Isles. Sailors sing back; that’s how half the shanties were born. |
| Squall of Nine Days [Blue Seas] | A decade-storm that parks over the central Blue Seas and refuses to move. |
| Tidewell Drift [Blue Seas] | The great westward current along the lantern chain. Named by fans; Martin finds it embarrassing. |
| Topman [real] | A sailor who works aloft in the rigging. The runaway clerk became the Dawn’s best. |
| Widow’s Counter [Blue Seas] | A cold contrary current. Respected, never whistled at — except once, by Martin, in an emergency. |