bilboed

Updated: May 16, 2025

Lastly, he was the ship's executioner, his mates acting as assistants, and at his hands, under the supervision of the marshal, the crew received their "red-checked shirts," and such bilboed solitude as the captain might direct. The coxswain had to stay in his barge when she towed astern at sea, and his office, therefore, was often very wretched, from the cold and wet.

John Masefield - On the Spanish Main: Or, Some English forays on the Isthmus of Darien.