Afterword

Sailor talk is far more than nautical terminology or technical language. At times specific, at times nuanced, it engages with and intersects other forms of language. An understanding of sailor talk adds layers of meaning to the works of Herman Melville, Joseph Conrad, and Jack London. Yet these layered meanings of sailor talk are difficult for non-sailors to recover. Few modern-day readers have had the chance to sail on the open sea and fewer still the chance to work aloft on a square-rigger. How might one otherwise acquire sufficient insight and experience to more wholly incorporate a fuller understanding of this language into a literary analysis of Melville’s, Conrad’s, and London’s works? This short afterword suggests primary and secondary written works and field recordings and other audio works to create a “toolkit.” It also offers various forms of experiential learning to gain a kinesthetic understanding of the seafaring world, even far from the ocean.