These resources might help you with the material in the first eight chapters of Billy Budd.

Nautical References, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/bb/bb_naut.html.

Allusions, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/bb/bb_hibimy.html.

Spithead and Nore Mutinies, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spithead_and_Nore_mutinies.

Horatio Nelson, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson,_1st_Viscount_Nelson.

Eighteenth-Century Sailing Vessels

The Physics of Sailing