Why do sailors use the terms "Port" and "Starboard" instead of "Left" and "Right"?
Category: Health, Science & Technology
Via: the-irascible-harry-krishner • 12 years ago • 1 comments
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Category: Health, Science & Technology
Via: the-irascible-harry-krishner • 12 years ago • 1 comments
92 visitors
Sort of Lancer. Steering commands used to be given in terms of Port/Starboard, particularly in sailing ships. More recently that was changed to left rudder or right rudder eg. 15 degrees right rudder. This designates the position of the rudder (indicating the rate of turn) rather than the course. This is supposed to be followed by the command "come to new course 213". These two commands tell the helmsman how sharp the turn is to be and at what point he is to stop the turn. (I've had officers neglect to give the second order. Unless the reason is obvious, such as the officer conning the ship visually rather than by compass, the helmsman usually starts giving reports when he starts getting nervous eg. Passing 150, passing 160. This is considered better than having an enlisted helmsman yell at the Officer of the Deck, "Hey stupid, you forgot to give me a course"). Originally, the designations were Starboard and Larboard. However it was found, particularly on a ship with an open helm where the white noise factor could be high, that the two could easily be confused, so larboard was changed to port. When locating things on a ship, port and starboard are still used because they are an absolute. Left and right are relative terms, depending on which direction you happen to be facing. Port and Starboard are always relative to the bow of the ship