purser rigged and parish damned

English

Etymology

purser (“ship mate in charge of accounting for passengers aboard”) + rigged (“fixed”) + parish (“meaning church community ashore”) + damned (“forsaken”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Adjective

purser rigged and parish damned

1. (obsolete, nautical, slang) Having joined the United States Navy, either because of destitution or in order to flee problems on land.
   • 1850, Herman Melville, White-Jacket, page 352:

     “Purser rigged and parish damned,” is the sailor saying in the American Navy, when the tyro first mounts the lined frock and blue jacket, aptly manufactured for him in a State Prison ashore.

References

• “purser rigged and parish damned” from the pirate dictionary.