a blue mug a blue face; apparently Flint's habitual heavy drinking of rum had resulted in broken capillaries in his face, making his skin in those areas appear to be purplish or blue.
a gay lot to look at Silver means something like "a nice lot," spoken ironically; "gay" had not in Stevenson's time taken on a widely known sexual meaning.
a kind of a chapling a kind of a chaplain; Hands implies that Silver is known for not carousing like the other pirates.
a man who sailed before the mast . . . a common sailor, not an officer; from the quarters of the crew ahead of the foremast.
a noo boarder . . . a new boarder; throughout, in the speech of Silver and others, the vowel sound in such words as duty and new is often rendered as oo, apparently to denote a difference in dialect between that of these uneducated men and that of the "gentlemen," Trelawney and Livesey. (While in American speech today this distinction is seldom made, in Stevenson's time the difference between the vowel sounds of "noo" and "new" would have been approximately the same as the difference made today in such pairs of words as "coot" and "cute.")
a pretty rum go . . . a shame, a bad thing.
a rank Irelander a low Irishman; "rank" may be used as an adjective in several senses, including "offensive-smelling" and "complete; utter;" Hands may be using it in either or both of these senses, to express his dislike of the Irish.
a red ensign a red flag or banner.
a rum puncheon a wooden cask or barrel for holding rum.
a score twenty.
a stiff man . . . a stern man, strict, unbending (Smollett will later be called the ship's captain, a higher rank than sailing master, so perhaps Trelawney is belittling him here).
a strong scour with the ebb . . . To scour is to wash or clear as by a swift current of water; here the ebb (outgoing) tide is very strong and has cleared away a channel deeper than it was when the chart was drawn.
a trump a good fellow.
a-blowing like a garding blooming like a garden.
aboveboard in nautical terms, above deck; here used figuratively to mean still alive.
ague shakes trembling from a fever.
alow and aloft nautical terms for "below and above" meaning thoroughly, in every possible place.
already ambushed already waiting in ambush.
ankecher handkerchief.
apoplexy a stroke.
assizes court sessions held periodically in each county of England to try civil and criminal cases.
astern behind a ship.
back to back facing away from each other, with backs touching, as in holding off attackers or opponents.
backstay a stay (heavy rope or cable used for support) extending aft (toward the rear) from a masthead to the side or stern of a vessel.
batten down your hatches to fasten canvas over a ship's hatchways (covered openings in the deck) as in preparing for a storm; here Silver simply means "shut your mouth."
Ben Gunn is fly Fly is thieves' slang, originally, meaning "alert and knowing; sharp, quick."
biscuit ship biscuit or hardtack, unleavened bread made in very hard, large wafers.
blocks pulleys or systems of pulleys (in this case, for manipulating the sails).
boatswain a ship's warrant officer or petty officer in charge of the deck crew, anchors, boats, etc. (pronounced and often spelled bosun).
booms spars extending from the masts to hold the bottoms of the sails outstretched.
broom any of a group of flowering shrubs of the pea family.
buccaneer a pirate, a sea robber.
bulkhead any of the upright partitions separating parts of a ship.
by the stone A stone is a British unit of weight equal to fourteen pounds; hence, Jim is saying Ben Gunn may have all the cheese he wants.
calker a variant spelling of caulker: a substance, as a puttylike sealant or oakum, used to stop up cracks in a boat. Silver calls his drink of cognac a calker, because he is using it to prepare for trouble from his crew, figuratively rough weather.
cannikin a small can; a metal drinking cup.
capstan an apparatus around which cables or hawsers are wound for hoisting anchors. The devise resembles a tuning peg on a stringed instrument, so the captain's voice sounds as if it had been tuned too tightly and broken.
careen to cause a ship to lean or lie on one side, as on a beach, for cleaning.
carpet bowls a game played by rolling a weighted ball at a target ball or jack, as in lawn bowling but played indoors on a carpet.
catechism a handbook of questions and answers for teaching the principles of a religion.
cession ceding; giving over.
chuck farthen on the blessed gravestones Chuck-farthing is a game, usually called "penny-pitch" in the United States, in which small coins are tossed or chucked to bank off a wall or obstacle of some kind, with the player whose coin lands closest to the obstacle winning and taking the others. Ben Gunn is saying his career in vice began with this mild form of gambling, apparently using gravestones in a churchyard as backboards. (Later, in a conversation with Livesey, Silver will use "playing chuck-farthing with my life" to mean gambling with his life.)
clove hitch a kind of knot used to fasten a rope around a pole, spar, or another rope; used figuratively here, it means a tight spot, a very difficult situation from which there seems to be no escape.
conned the ship . . . To conn a ship is to direct its movements, specifically by giving directions to the helmsman, who operates the tiller and actually steers the ship.
contrariety the condition of being contrary (in opposition); here, the wind and current are in the same direction.
coracle a short, roundish boat of skins or waterproofed canvas stretched over a wood or wicker frame.
cordage cords and ropes collectively, especially the ropes in a ship's rigging.
cove a small bay or inlet.
coxswain a person in charge of a ship's boat and usually acting as its helmsman.
crosstrees two short bars across a ship's masthead to spread the rigging that supports the mast.
cutlas an old spelling of cutlass; a short, thick, curving sword with a single cutting edge, used especially by sailors.
