Where ‘left’ and ‘right’ could lead to confusion, ‘port’ and ‘starboard’ are perfectly clear and unambiguous to a seafarer. Show At sea, an emergency can happen at any time, so it is vital that everything aboard can be clearly identified and quickly described. Which side of a ship is starboard?Starboard is the right of the ship as you look forward. What’s the origin of the sailing term ‘starboard’?Boats developed from simple dugout canoes. As the majority of people are right-handed, most paddlers steering canoes naturally steered from the right-hand side (looking forward) of the boat. As canoes developed into larger vessels, the steering paddle grew larger and developed into a broad-bladed oar, held vertically in the water and permanently fixed to the side of the boat by a flexible lashing or a built-in moveable swivel. The seagoing ships of maritime Northern Europe all featured this side-hung rudder, always on the right-hand side. This rudder was known as ‘steorbord’ in Anglo-Saxon, and was further developed in medieval times into the more familiar apparatus fixed to the sternpost. The word ‘steorbord’ evolved over time into ‘starboard’, and it remains in the English language to describe anything to the right of a ship’s centreline, when viewed from the rear. What is the bow of a ship?The bow is the part of the ship that is usually most forward when the vessell is moving - the front end. What is the stern of a ship?The stern is the back of the ship, or the aft-most part. Which side of a ship is port?Port is the left hand side of a ship. What’s the origin of the sailing term ‘port’?While ‘starboard’ means to the right-hand side of the vessel, the left-hand side is now referred to as ‘port’ – though this wasn’t always the case. In Old English, the term was ‘bæcbord’ (in modern German Backbord and French bâbord). This did not survive into medieval and later English, when ‘larboard’ was used – a term that possibly derived from ‘laddebord’, meaning ‘loading side’; the side rudder (‘steorbord’) on the right-hand side would be vulnerable to damage if it went alongside a quay, so early ships would have been loaded (‘laded’) with the left-hand side against the quay. However, from an early date, port was sometimes used in place of ‘larboard’, probably deriving from the loading port. However, it was only from the mid-19th century that the term was formalised. According to Admiral Smyth’s The Sailor’s Word Book, published in 1867, ‘the left side of the ship is called port, by Admiralty Order, in preference to larboard, as less mistakeable in sound for starboard.’ What were port and starboard watch stripes?It was customary from Elizabethan times to divide the ship’s company into two watches – starboard and port – one of which is always on duty watch. Watch stripes were lengths of material worn around the shoulder seam of a sailor’s jumper to show which watch they belonged to. The starboard watch wore the stripes on the right shoulder, the port watch on the left shoulder. On blue clothing the stripe was red, on white clothing it was blue. Watch stripes were scrapped in around 1895, but continued to be used on boys’ training ships until 1907.
October 8, 2019 Have you ever wondered why sailors use the terms ‘port’ and ‘starboard’, instead of left and right side on ships? In the past, ships used to have rudders on their centre line and they were controlled using a steering oar. As it is the case today, back then as well the majority of the people were right handed. Thus, as most of the sailors were right handed, the steering oar used to control the ship was located over or through the right side of the stern. For this reason, most of the seafarers were calling the right side as the ‘steering side’, which later was known as ‘starboard’. The word ‘starboard’ is the combination of two old words: stéor (meaning ‘steer’) and bord (meaning ‘the side of a boat’). The left side is called ‘port’ because ships with steerboards or star boards would dock at ports on the opposite side of the steerboard or star. As the right side was the steerboard side or star board side, the left side was the port side. This was decide so that the dock would not interfere with operating the steerboard or star. Another reason why the left side is ‘port’ is because it sounds different from ‘starboard’. Originally, sailors were calling the left side ‘larboard’, which was easily confused with ‘starboard’, especially when challenging conditions at sea made it difficult to hear. The switch was done to lead to a distinctive alternate name. Namely, the old English name for the port side sounded like ‘backboard’. On big vessels, the sailor using the steering would have his back facing the ship’s left side. As a result, ‘backboard’was named ‘laddebord’, which is the loading side of the ship. Later, ‘laddebord’ became ‘larboard’, causing the confusion that led to change to port. This is why ships are using the terms ‘port’ and ‘starboard’, as they are unambiguous references that are independent of a mariner’s orientation. With these terms, seafarers remove ambiguity, and they prefer them over using the terms left and right.
Boats come in many styles and shapes, but the names of the different parts remain consistent. Every boat operator should know the following terms and definitions.
bow Front of a vessel cleat Metal fitting on which a rope can be fastened gunwale Upper edge of vessel’s side (generally pronounced "gunnel") hull Body of a vessel port Left side of a vessel propeller Rotates and powers a boat forward or backward starboard Right side of a vessel stern Rear of a vessel Page 2
beam Maximum width of a vessel draft Depth of water needed to float a vessel freeboard Distance from water to lowest point of the boat where water could come on board keel Main centerline (backbone) of a vessel or the extension of hull that increases stability in the water What a great day to go boating. But before we head out on the water, we need to learn some of the specific terms that are used to describe common parts of all boats. For example, did you know that the two sides of a boat are called "port" and "starboard", not left and right? Let's review some more boating terms, starting with the body of a boat. Now let's learn the words for the front, rear, left and right sides of the boat.
A handy tip for remembering which side is port, is to remember that port and left have the same number of letters. Now that we know where the bow, stern, port and starboard are located, let's learn some more important boating terms.
Now that we have covered the major parts of the boat and some important boating terms, let's take a closer look at the hull and how boats move through the water depending on their hull design. Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front). Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are mirror images of each other. One asymmetric feature is where access to a boat, ship, or aircraft is at the side, it is usually only on the port side (hence the name). SidePort and starboard unambiguously refer to the left and right side of the vessel, not the observer. That is, the port side of the vessel always refers to the same portion of the vessel's structure, and does not depend on which way the observer is facing. The port side is the side of the vessel which is to the left of an observer aboard the vessel and facing the bow, that is, facing forward towards the direction the vehicle is heading when underway, and starboard side is to the right of such an observer.[1] This convention allows orders and information to be given unambiguously, without needing to know which way any particular crew member is facing.[2][3] EtymologyImage from the Bayeux Tapestry showing a longship with a steering oar on the starboard side[4] Oncoming boat indicating its port (red) and starboard (green) sidesThe term starboard derives from the Old English steorbord, meaning the side on which the ship is steered. Before ships had rudders on their centrelines, they were steered with a steering oar at the stern of the ship on the right hand side of the ship, because more people are right-handed.[2] The "steer-board" etymology is shared by the German Steuerbord, Dutch stuurboord and Swedish styrbord, which gave rise to the French tribord, Italian tribordo,[a] Catalan estribord, Portuguese estibordo, Spanish estribor and Estonian tüürpoord. Since the steering oar was on the right side of the boat, it would tie up at the wharf on the other side. Hence the left side was called port.[6] The Oxford English Dictionary cites port in this usage since 1543.[7] Formerly, larboard was often used instead of port. This is from Middle English ladebord and the term lade is related to the modern load.[3] Larboard sounds similar to starboard and in 1844 the Royal Navy ordered that port be used instead.[8][9] The United States Navy followed suit in 1846.[10] Larboard continued to be used well into the 1850s by whalers.[11] In chapter 12 of Life on the Mississippi (1883) Mark Twain writes larboard was used to refer to the left side of the ship (Mississippi River steamboat) in his days on the river – circa 1857–1861.[12] Lewis Carroll rhymed larboard and starboard in "Fit the Second" of The Hunting of the Snark (1876).[13] An Anglo-Saxon record of a voyage by Ohthere of Hålogaland used the word "bæcbord" ("back-board") for the left side of a ship. With the steering rudder on the starboard side the man on the rudder had his back to the bagbord (Nordic for portside) side of the ship. The words for "port side" in other European languages, such as German Backbord, Dutch and Afrikaans bakboord, Swedish babord, Spanish babor, Portuguese bombordo, Italian babordo,[a] French bâbord and Estonian pakpoord, are derived from the same root. Importance of standard termsThe navigational treaty convention, the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea—for instance, as appears in the UK's Merchant Shipping (Distress Signals and Prevention of Collisions) Regulations 1996 (and comparable US documents from the US Coast Guard)[14]—sets forth requirements for maritime vessels to avoid collisions, whether by sail or powered, and whether a vessel is overtaking, approaching head-on, or crossing.[14]: 11–12 To set forth these navigational rules, the terms starboard and port are essential, and to aid in in situ decision-making, the two sides of each vessel are marked, dusk to dawn, by navigation lights, the vessel's starboard side by green and its port side by red.[14]: 15 Aircraft are lit in the same way. See also
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References
Look up bæcbord, larboard, starboard, or port in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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