What does "master o' the Tiger" mean?

Question

In Macbeth, before the witches go to speak to Macbeth, they have a little meeting where they discuss what they've been up to. That includes this bit about a greedy sailor's wife who won't share her chestnuts:

Third Witch
Sister, where thou?
First Witch
A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd. "Give me," quoth I:
"Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger;
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
_{Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3, Amsco Literature Program edition}

Her husband has apparently sailed off to Aleppo, a piece of information that is followed by the phrase "master o' the Tiger".

I'm not quite sure what that phrase is supposed to mean. Is this a comment on the sailor? The city of Aleppo? Something else? In any case, what does that comment mean?

What does "master o' the Tiger" mean here?

Answer 1

G. K. Hunter's edition of Macbeth for the New Penguin Shakespeare (Penguin, 1967, page 141) points out that this is a reference to an actual ship (whose name is not mentioned) that sailed to Aleppo (in present-day Syria) in 1583 and that it was in the news in 1606. Hunter writes,

It sailed from England on 5 December 1604 and arrived back after fearful experiences on 27 June 1606. If we call the time away 568 days, this would be close enough to the 'Weary sev'n-nights nine times nine' that the witches calculate (567 days).

A. R. Braunmuller's edition (The New Cambridge Shakespeare, Cambridge University Press, 1997, page 110) points out that Tiger was a common name for a ship and that "master" means "captain, commanding officer". A. E. Loomis had found out that there was a ship named Tiger that made a voyage to the Middle East from 5 December 1604 to 27 June 1606 (A. E. Loomis: "Master of the Tiger", Shakespeare Quarterly, 1956). Loomis must have been G. K. Hunter's source.

Kenneth Muir's edition for the Arden Shakespeare (Routledge, 1984, page 12) merely points out that Tiger was a common name for ships in Shakespeare's time and provides a reference to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, V.1.65 ("And this is he that did the Tiger board").