Chances are that the members of the crew handling a “jolly boat” rarely were, if ever, rollicking or gayhearted.
It is, or was, a work-boat, one used formerly around sailing vessels, chiefly in harbors, in carrying out errands in small duties about the ship.
It was, in fact, a yawl of small size, the source of the name being the Danish jolle, “yawl.”
Another of the numerous instances of English mispronunciation of alien words.
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