The Nautical Encyclopedia

Patterson’s Illustrated Nautical Encyclopedia — Howard Patterson, 1891

⚓ The Superstition Locker ⚓

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Home ⚓ Letter F ⚓ Fillibuster

Fillibuster

Sea Terms

Of the freebooter class.

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2026 Editor's Note: Before it meant talking a bill to death, a filibuster was a Caribbean freebooter — Dutch vrijbuiter by way of Spanish. The U.S. Senate borrowed the pirate's name for legislative piracy in the 1850s. See filibuster. (Ed: BR 2026-06-23)

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The Nautical Encyclopedia (1891) is in the public domain; this digital edition © 2026 PhotoOpAI.