Port & Starboard, left & right? Bow & stern, front & rear?
OK Pls don't kill me but can someone explain me the terms? I still get confused everytime I try to sound cool
A simplified picture..
It comes from Old English steorbord which it's self is a derivative of a Norse word , it means the side of the boat that is steered from as before rudders a ship was steered by a large oar to the right of the ship (us right handlers have ruled the world), port is obvious if you use some simple logic is the side the ship is tied to the wharf/port. To confuse things port was also known as larboard which is a derivative of the Middle English word ladebord (lade being equivalent to load so ergo the load side) until it was dropped by the Royal Navy in the late 1840's as it was too similar to starboard and led to confusion in the heat of battle. There you go my useless bit of knowledge for you. Learned about it after film like master and commander used larboard and saw that whalers and merchantmen continued to use the term for some years after the Navy dropped the term.OK Pls don't kill me but can someone explain me the terms? I still get confused everytime I try to sound cool
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You're up late/early....
Talking about golden rivets.
Traditionally, where do shipbuilders put the last rivet?
In the last hole. Of course.
I use port and starboard and being a Brit I always pass the port to the left. But just to annoy the matelots I use pointy end and blunt end for fore and aft.
started at 06:00 today buddy
I've been a sailor since before I could walk and use all the terms in the OP - depending on audience. If you want someone to do something to help sail the boat and say "pick up the sheet from the starboard gunwale and run it through that cleat" as opposed to "grab that rope on the right and hold on to it" you're asking for trouble
Qualified skipper, yachts. Mostly lived next to the sea, Gibraltar and Scotland military family, Southampton and now Cornish fishing village. Boating parlance is second nature. It avoids confusion. Port, left, red. Know your painter from your sheet!
You just reminded me. I was a lifeboat coxswain on an oil and gas platform. Put, put, put... [smile]
I don't use nautical terms, for I was a Redleg. The Field Artillery is where it's at.
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Just been going through my late ma in law's effects, found some cap badges and medals from her uncles , WW1. We think four went, one returned. Were Gunners from Cheshire. Field Artillery or something. Just researching their past now. Was my ma in law who got us back into sailing. Miss her lots. Owe her loads.
I've been a sailor since before I could walk and use all the terms in the OP - depending on audience. If you want someone to do something to help sail the boat and say "pick up the sheet from the starboard gunwale and run it through that cleat" as opposed to "grab that rope on the right and hold on to it" you're asking for trouble
I'm not a Navy man myself, but I come from a long line of seamen.