Shiver me timbers

This expression is generally acknowledged as a sailor’s oath that expresses surprise or annoyance. Its most famous utterance was by actor Robert Newton playing the role of Long John Silver in the 1950 movie Treasure Island with a few ‘aarrh Jim lads’ thrown in. Its first appearance in print was in Frederick Marryat’s Jacob Faithful in 1834 but was subsequently immortalised by Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in 1883. Shiver is actually an archaic English word from the 14th century meaning to break into pieces. Thus, the sailor’s oath referred originally to the worst thing that could befall a ship, namely to break up into pieces and was probably in nautical use long before it first appeared in print in the 19th century.