dared not beach her Because Jim has cut away the anchor, they must beach the ship (ground it on a beach) in order to keep it stationary, but they must wait to do this until the tide has come in enough so that they can steer close to shore where the ebbing tide will not wash the ship back out to sea.
Davy Jones in folklore, the spirit of the sea, or the sea personified; used by sailors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
dead-eye a round, flat block of wood with three holes in it for a lanyard (short rope or cord), used in pairs on a sailing ship to hold the shrouds and stays (ropes for moving the sails) taut.
deadlights windows of heavy glass set in the side of a ship; nautical slang for "eyes."
depytation deputation, a group of persons or a person appointed to represent others.
die a gentleman a gentleman of fortune, a pirate.
dingle a deep, wooded valley.
dirk a long, straight dagger.
dogwatch nautical term for either of the two duty periods (from 4 to 6 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m.) that are half the length of a normal duty period.
doldrums equatorial ocean regions noted for dead calms; a sailing ship in the doldrums may be becalmed indefinitely for lack of wind.
don't hang so long in stays "In stays" or "in irons" is said of a sailing vessel that is headed into the wind with no way on, one that has failed to come about (to change course so that the sails shift); the captain is using the phrase figuratively to urge Gray to change his loyalty from Silver to his rightful captain; he uses "in irons" in much the same way during his later parlay with Silver.
don't vally bullying a marlinespike don't value [appreciate] bullying at all; a marlinespike is a pointed metal tool for separating the strands of a rope in splicing.
Dry Tortugas a group of small islands of Florida, west of Key West.
England In Silver's conversation with Dick and Hands, England is the name of a pirate captain he has sailed with. (Edward England was a historical pirate; he died in the early 1720s, and one of his companions, a one-legged man, is said to have been the model on whom Stevenson based the character Long John Silver.)
environed surrounded.
Execution Dock a wharf on the north bank of the river Thames at Wapping, in London, the traditional place for execution by hanging of pirates.
figurehead a carved figure on the bow of a ship.
Fo'c's'le council forecastle council; the man is citing rules that allow the crew to take council among themselves.
foc's'le forecastle; the area of a ship ahead of the foremast.
forefoot the meeting point of the keel and the stem of a ship.
forehold storage space below the front part of a ship's deck.
French leave an unauthorized, unnoticed, or unceremonious departure.
fried junk a casual or slang term for fried salt pork.
