Black market

In medieval England there were nomadic mercenaries who wandered the countryside and would sell their services to the highest bidder. These were hardened fighters who lived solitary lives in the wilderness. They did not have the luxury of servants to polish their armor and it would oxidize to a blackish hew, E and the 18 to be known as black knights. At local town festivals they would have an exhibition jousting matches in which the winner of the fight would win the losers weapons and armor. The local gentry softened by the good life, would lose to these black knights. The nomadic knights didn't have much use for an extra set of armor and would sell it back to them immediately after the fight. The losing nobility would be forced to buy back their armor and this after the market came to be known as the black market. 

The Devil To Pay

Today the expression "devil to pay" is used primarily to describe having an unpleasant result from some action that has been taken, as in someone has done something they shouldn't have and, as a result, "there will be the devil to pay." Originally, this expression described one of the unpleasant tasks aboard a wooden ship.
The "devil" was the wooden ship's longest seam in the hull. Caulking was done with "pay" or pitch (a kind of tar). The task of "paying the devil" (caulking the longest seam) by squatting in the bilges was despised by every seaman.

Calm before the storm

Although not exclusively nautical, this has been attributed to seagoing folk as a result of their constant and intimate interaction with the weather. Although not known at the time, an approaching storm will drop the barometric pressure, creating a low directly ahead of the storm front. If a storm comes from a direction that is opposite to the prevailing winds, the prevailing breezes will eventually be overcome by the storm front. Just before this happens, however, there will be an equalization of wind speed from two opposing directions resulting in an absence of any wind. The meaning is not lost on landlubbers: Before someone explodes in anger, they almost invariably become overly quiet and, in some instances, even tranquil.

Have you ever spent an afternoon in the backyard, maybe grilling or enjoying a game of croquet, when suddenly you notice that everything goes quiet? The air seems still and calm -- even the birds stop singing and quickly return to their nests.

After a few minutes, you feel a change in the air, and suddenly a line of clouds ominously appears on the horizon -- clouds with a look that tells you they aren't fooling around. You quickly dash in the house and narrowly miss the first fat raindrops that fall right before the downpour. At this moment, you might stop and ask yourself, "Why was it so calm and peaceful right before the storm hit?"

It's an intriguing phenomenon that people have recognized for centuries, but what on Earth causes this calm? And why do whip-like winds, dropping temperatures and rumbling thunder sometimes precede storms instead of a peculiar and eerie calm?

Do you want a hint at what might be at the root of this old sailors' adage? Think of all the different types of storms you've seen -- one variety of storm can have a different effect on the atmosphere than another. There are brief thunderstorms that rattle through like a couple of rowdy frames at the bowling alley, and there are long, tumultuous downpours that drown the streets. And then there are the strongest of all, like massive, violent hurricanes or spinning, furious tornadoes. All these different manifestations of intense weather happen because the interactions in the atmosphere can unfold in a variety of different ways, to vastly different effects.

So, if the weather is calm and fair for your backyard barbeque, does that mean you should make backup plans indoors?

Answer:

So, is there a calm before the storm?  You may have already guessed the answer.  Sometime there is; sometime there isn't.  Under the right conditions an eerie or peaceful calm will befall your picnic before a storm moves in.  Other storms skip the calm and proudly announce their presence by instantly unleashing bad weather.

keel haul

A medeival naval punishment that involves tying a line to each arm of the convicted sailor and pushing him off the bow of the ship under sail. The sailor was 'hauled' along the barnacle encrusted 'keel' of the vessel aided by the movement of the ship and pulled back aboard at the stern of the ship. It hurt really bad.

"The punishment for stealing rations is keelhauling!"

"to drag along the keel"  It is a form of punishment meted out to sailors at sea. The sailor was tied to a rope that looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, and dragged under the ship's keel, either from one side of the ship to the other, or the length of the ship (from bow to stern). As the hull was usually covered in barnacles and other marine growth, if the offender was pulled quickly, keelhauling would typically result in serious cuts, loss of limbs and even decapitation. If the victim were dragged slowly, his weight might lower him sufficiently to miss the barnacles, but this method would frequently result in hisdrowning.

Keelhauling was legally permitted as a punishment in the Dutch Navy. The earliest official mention of keelhauling is a Dutch ordinance of 1560, and the practice was not formally abolished until 1853. While not an official punishment, it was reportedly used by some British Royal Navy and merchant marine captains, and has become strongly associated with pirate lore.

Today keelhauling can refer to the spinnaker sheets getting stuck under the hull after dousing the sail. This occurs especially in dinghy sailboats such as Laser 2 because nothing prevents the sheet from being pulled under the bow.   

Flying Dutchman

One superstition has it that any mariner who sees the ghost ship called the “Flying Dutchman” will die within the day.  The tail of the “Flying Dutchman” trying to round the Cape of Good Hope against strong winds and never succeeding, then trying to make Cape Horn and failing there too, has been the most famous of maritime ghost stories for more than 300 years.  The cursed spectral ship sailing back and forth on its endless voyage, it’s ancient white-hair crew crying for help while hauling at her sail, inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge to write his classic “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” to name but one famous literary work.  The real “Flying Dutchman” is supposed to have set sail in 1660.

Still waters run deep

 Some rivers have rough surfaces with waves. That's usually because the water is shallow and there are rocks near the surface. But deep rivers have no rocks near the surface and the water is smooth and still. "Still waters run deep" means that people who are calm and tranquil on the outside, often have a strong, "deep" personality.

Any port in a storm

Any port in a storm: When trouble struck at sea, seamen would go to the nearest to "any port in a storm."  Now this phrase has entered our everyday language and is used when we have problems and any and all help is welcome. 

Meaning: In times of danger, any shelter is better than none. In an emergency, we have to accept whatever solution presents itself (for the time being).
Note: port (noun) = harbour; a place on the coast where ships can find protection from rough seas

Origin: For ships at sea (especially) in older days, a bad storm could be very dangerous, and at such times they had to find shelter in "any port", even one that they would not normally have entered.