Cruising yawl a small, two-masted sailing vessel.
Gravesend a seaport on the Thames River in southwest England.
the greatest town on earth London.
Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540–1596) English admiral and buccaneer: 1st Englishman to sail around the world.
Sir John Franklin (1786–1847) English Arctic explorer.
the Golden Hind a ship sailed by the English navigator Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540–1596) during the reign of Elizabeth I.
the Erebus and Terror In 1845, the English Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin led a voyage in the ships Erebus and Terror in search of the Northwest Passage; the ships were stuck in ice from April 1846 to September 1848.
They had sailed from Deptford, from Greenwich, from Erith Deptford, Greenwich, and Erith are three ports between London and Gravesend.
men on 'Change Men working in a place where merchants meet to do business; exchange.
trireme an ancient Greek or Roman galley, usually a warship, with three banks of oars on each side.
Gauls the Celtic-speaking people dwelling in the ancient region of Western Europe consisting of what is now mainly France & Belgium: after 5th century B.C.
Falerian wine wine made in a district of Campania, Italy.
a mighty big river the Congo River in Africa.
Fleet Street an old street in central London, where several newspaper and printing offices are located; the term "Fleet Street" has come to refer to the London press.
whited sepulchre in the Bible, a phrase used to describe a hypocrite. The relevant allusion in Matthew is "beautiful to look at on the outside, but inside full of filth and dead men's bones."
Brussels The hypocrisy alluded to is that King Leopold's brutal colonial empire was run from this beautiful, seemingly civilized, city.
Ave! Old knitter of black wool. Morituri te salutant. Literally, "Hail! Those who are about to die salute you"; a salute of the gladiators in ancient Rome to whomever was hosting their tournaments. Here, Marlow is ironically comparing the knitters to Roman emperors.
Plato (c. 427–c.347 B.C.) Greek philosopher.
alienist an old term for a psychiatrist.
Du calme, du calme. Adieu. French: "Stay calm, stay calm. Goodbye."
Zanzibaris natives of Zanzibar, an island off the E coast of Africa: 640 sq. mi. (1,657 sq. km).
sixteen stone 224 pounds; a stone is a British unit of weight equal to 14 pounds (6.36 kilograms).
assegais slender spears or javelins with iron tips, used in southern Africa.
serviette a table napkin.
Ichthyosaurus a prehistoric reptile with four paddle-like flippers.
