Nautical Quiz

[dnej]

Where did the name " Starboard" come from?
Where did the name "posh" come from?
Answers later
David

[Morlers]

In ancient times, a long long time ago the ships were steered by a paddle (or steor) that was operated from the right side (or bord) of the ship...thus the steorbord side which latter adapted to the starboard side. As the steering paddle was on the right side the ship had to berth in port on the left side to load cargo...thus the port side.

Posh came from port side out and starboard side home. It described the on-board ship accomodations of the rich.

How's that? Is it close?

:) :)

Morlers

[dnej]

Morlers, spot on . Go to the top of the class.
The reason for shifting cabins was to get the sun in through the port holes, when the poms travelled to France and back.
Port out on the way, sun on the port side.
Only the well to do could afford to book the cabins in that way, as you mentioned.
The starboard answer is about correct
Regards David

[Morlers]

Ok, seeing as I was close, the batton must be passed to me for the next question. ;D

Where did the term "SHIT" come from?

Now, it's not what you might initially think and yes I can be a rude bugger sometimes, but not this time.

Hint. It has its origins in the merchant navy a long, long time ago.

:) :)

Morlers

[Lucky_Phill]

" She Hit It Twice " ?

" Sailors Have Ice Too " ?

" Split Her In Two " ?

" Send Her In, Tiger " ?

" Ships Have Internal Toilets " ?


Oh bugga me, I don't have a clue, Graeme.

Phill

[nisrol]

hey phil you must have seen my boat at some stage it has an internal toilet just like your ships LOL
andy ;D ;D :-X

[Morlers]

No Phil. Sorry, but not even close.

Come on all you ancient mariners. Let's have another go.

Hint: It dates back to the 16th / 17th century and relates to a certain cargo.

:) :)

Morlers

[Morlers]

OK, to put you all out of your misery, here it is:

In the early days of commercial shipping, manure, as countless other commodities, were shipped by sea. In dry form, manure was relatively light in weight and was easily manageable in shipping. However, in being stored in the lower holds below the water line, if it became wet, it held the moisture, becoming a weight problem, and, more importantly, the fermentation process was set in motion (the by-product being methane gas).

The manure was stored below decks in bundles. If they became wet, methane began to build up, and the first time someone went below deck at night with a lantern.. BOOM!

Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was understood what was happening. After the discovery, maritime regulations stated that all bundles of manure where to be stamped with the name "S.H.I.T." "Ship High In Transit". In other words, this particular cargo must be stored high enough above the lower decks so that any water which came into the hold would not wet the volatile cargo and start the production of methane.

So, the next time you use the term, "shit," you will be demonstrating your knowledge of little known historical events, technical maritime terms, and the evolution of a unique well known colloquialism.

You probably did not know the true history of this word. Neither did I. I always thought it was a fishing term used when you had a bite-off! ;D

OK, now who wants to take the batton and give us another one. ???

:D :D

Morlers

[dnej]

Well ,and all this time I thought people were just swearing .
What about he word COP.
Any one know where that came from?
David

[ba229]

Thats great general knowledge and i am sure i will tell at least 10 people before i forget it.

Got any more good ones?

[dnej]

C onstable
O n
P atrol
Cant understand why they object to that ,cept you could substitute a different word at the top I suppose
David

[philip_thomson]

posh is Port Out Starboard Home (i have a friend who asks to be POSH when he comes out on my boat :-/

as for starboard

Stop Terrorising All Rabbits Before Off And Round Deck (ie i have no idea)

cheers philip

[ba229]

haven't the answers already been given?

[Morlers]

Looks like Philip is a bit of a late starter ;D

How about a simplier one and a bit more nautical?

Why is the loo on a ship called "the head" ???

:) :)

Morlers

[ba229]

I'm not going there ;D

[phewy]

Graeme, I'd say it comes from the old days when sailors were instructed to relieve themselves right up the front (the head) of the ship.

What about the meaning of the distress signal S.O.S?

[ba229]

save our souls. lol too easy even i know that one

[phewy]

wrong ba229 ;D

[phewy]

No one knows or is everyone Googling for the answer :D

[Morlers]

Phewy, your spot on. Nobody wanted to piss into the wind that blew mostly from aft on sailing ships.

I understand that SOS has no meaning. Rather it was adopted because it would be the easiest code (in morse) to remember ...---...

:) :)

Morlers

[phewy]

Thats it Graeme :D most people mistakenly think it means save our souls or save our ship, just myths :)

[Morlers]

OK. who's got another one?

:D ;D

Morlers

[phewy]

No takers? I'll have another go. What does the word fathom mean and where did it come from? :)

[ba229]

ok i'll try again lol :-)

fathom = a unit of measurement equal to six feet. collins english dictionary lol

as to where it came from ? beats me

[ba229]

oh and on the sos thing, i can never remember if it is ---...--- or ...---...

any easy ways to remember?

by the way, little tricks we use to remember things is called mnemonics (look it up in your dictionary)

i was once taught the little poem ... hy he li be bc nof ne

this is for the periodic table hyd,helium,lithium,berilim,boron,carbon,notrogen,o xygen,florine, neon.

it goes on from there but i forget it now :-)

[phewy]

You're dead right with the measurement ba229,:) anyone know where the name came from. Relates to the way it was actually measured with before it was known as approx 6 foot. I dont know of any easy way to remember the SOS code either. :)

[SeaSaw]

I googled it an got this:

Fathom was originally a land measuring term derived from the Ango-Saxon word "faetm" meaning to embrace. In those days, most measurements were based on average size of parts of the body, such as the hand (horses are still measured this way) or the foot (that's why 12 inches are so named). A fathom is the average distance from fingertip to fingertip of the outstretched arms of a man — about six feet. Since a man stretches out his arms to embrace his sweetheart, Britain's Parliament declared that distance be called a "fathom" and it be a unit of measure. A fathom remains six feet. The word was also used to describe taking the measure or "to fathom" something.

Cheers,

Mark

[SeaSaw]

Here is another one. Where did the term Port Holes come from ?

[phewy]

Thats it Mark :)

[phewy]

Port Holes...I'll take a guess. Small windows fitted to the port side so sea going important clients could see the port/dock/pier as they approach. ???

[SeaSaw]

Sorry Phewy, but not the answer. Any other takers. Hint: the french word for door is "porte".

[banshee]

Freez the balls off a brass monkey?.....seriously.

[Morlers]

I think it was the doors put into the sides of the ships and when opened the cannon behind them did their work.

:) :)

Morlers

[phewy]

Banshee...I googilized brass monkeys and got the follwing--It has often been claimed that the "brass monkey" was a holder or storage rack in which cannon balls (or shot) were stacked on a ship. Supposedly when the "monkey" with its stack of cannon ball became cold, the contraction of iron cannon balls led to the balls falling through or off of the "monkey." This explanation appears to be a legend of the sea without historical justification. In actuality, ready service shot was kept on the gun or spar decks in shot racks (also known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy) which consisted of longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, into which round shot (cannon balls) were inserted for ready use by the gun crew. :) ;)

[Kerry]

.... Rather it was adopted because it would be the easiest code (in morse) to remember # ...---...

So wonder why they didn't make it the shortest code? Was the rule of 3's easier to remember? but then it's longer to transmit than other letters and in an emergency one might have thought the shortest transmission time would have been more appropriate as the shortest 3 letters in morse only requires 4 transmissions where as SOS requires 9.

Cheers, Kerry.

[SeaSaw]

Morlers, Thats it. :D

The word "port hole" originated when Henry VI of England insisted on mounting guns too large for his ship and the traditional methods of securing them on deck could not be used. Tp solve the problem, a French shipbuilder put small doors in the side of the ship and mounted the cannon inside the ship. These doors protected the cannon from weather and were opened when the cannon were to be used. The French word for "door" is "porte" which was later Anglicized to "port" and later went on to mean any opening in the ship's side, whether for a cannon or not.

Cheers,

Mark

[banshee]

Yep phewy,got it in one.

[ba229]

hey kerry as a kid i always wondered why the emergency phone number was 000. on the old handsets 0 was the number that took the longest to dial. 111 always seems more appropriate to me but hey, i was only a kid and what do kids know :-)

[Morlers]

So wonder why they didn't make it the shortest code? Was the rule of 3's easier to remember? but then it's longer to transmit than other letters and in an emergency one might have thought the shortest transmission time would have been more appropriate as the shortest 3 letters in morse only requires 4 transmissions where as SOS requires 9.




Hi Kerry
...---... were selected to indicate a distress because, in Morse code, these letters and their combination create an unmistakable sound pattern.

Sorry ba229

Don't know why "000" was selected for the phone emergency. Perhaps to eliminate false alarms that might occur with 111 ???

Can any one else fathom that one out ???

:) :)

Morlers

[Morlers]

Here's another one. :D

Where does the term "Eight Bells" come from ???

And no, it's not from Alaister McLeans novel "When Eight Bells Toll".

:) :)

Morlers

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

Try this ...
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/questions/bells.html
;)
Cheers
Jeff

[Kerry]

The thing with "perceived" myths is that really nobody is really quite sure what they were really thinking anyway. Much has been lost with many translations of what might have been intended. The thing is do we really know, that is really know for sure?

As for "000" well it really should be "555" #??? why well have a look at your phone, it's an easy one, well for touch phones it is but we still live in ages gone bye.

Cheers, Kerry.

[Morlers]

Thanks for the link Jeff. Didn't know the Dog watch was split into two watches of 'four bells' each.

:) :)

Morlers

[philip_thomson]

thanks heaps jeff for that link something i been wondering about for a long time. appreciate it heaps :D

cheers phil

[ba229]

is that sarcasm i detect phil? if not i am concerned that you have wondered about such an issue for so long :)

[philip_thomson]

alex im a big fan of the 18th century naval wars. and love the movies like hornblower etc. when i have watched those movies and they are talking about the bells and watches ive always wondered what they meant by it all ;D

[Morlers]

ba229

Love your new image and signature

:) :)

Morlers

[dnej]

What about "letting the cat out of the bag?"
Anyone know?
David

[Morlers]

Anything to do with the cat-o-nine tails?

:) :)

Morlers

[dnej]

Let the Cat Out of the Bag - In the Royal Navy the punishment prescribed for most serious crimes was flogging. This was administered by the Bosun's Mate using a whip called a cat o' nine tails.

The "cat" was kept in a leather or baize bag. It was considered bad news indeed when the cat was let out of the bag.
Other sources attribute the expression to the old English market scam of selling someone a pig in a poke (bag) when the pig turned out to be a cat instead.
There are more
David

[dnej]

Son of a Gun ?
Anyone?

[Tony_N]

This one is probly outside the guidelines - but why is it that when you order spaghetti marinara in America there is never any fish in it? Not a trick question - they give you a tomato based sauce but no seafood!!

[dnej]

Son of a Gun - When in port, and with the crew restricted to the ship for any extended period of time, wives and ladies of easy virtue often were allowed to live aboard along with the crew. Infrequently, but not uncommonly, children were born aboard, and a convenient place for this was between guns on the gun deck. If the child's father was unknown, they were entered in the ship's log as "son of a gun".

Now you know.Well I will be a son of a gun

[Morlers]

Hi Tony

Your query on spaghetti marinara sounds like one for 'el_carpo' or 'rebbasser' our US cousins.

:) :)

Morlers

[NQCairns]

Good read guys anyone know about the "crows nest" sounds academic but it might have a story? I dont know.

[philip_thomson]

i guess they calleda crows nest a crows nest because it was that high off the ground and it was sort of like a nest for crows ??? ??? ;D

no idear on that one

[SeaSaw]

The term crows nest originated from the Vikings who used to carry crows in cages high on the masts of their ships. When the weather was bad and visibility reduced, they would release the crow which would fly straight towards land and they would follow the crow back towards shore as a means of navigation.

The things you find with a simple google search ;D

Mark

[NQCairns]

I got one now. :)

Beating a Dead Horse

A dead horse was the seaman's term for the first month at sea, a month for which he was already paid and spent the money soon afterwards. To the seaman, with his money gone, he was working that first month "for free." To mark the end of this "dead horse" month, the crew would make an effigy of a dead horse, beat the thing, and dump it overboard in celebration. To officers on the ship, beating a dead horse described the difficulty in getting the crew to do any extra work during this first month at sea.

[Morlers]

Hey NQ

Beating a Dead Horse sounds like something 'JOH' would have said a few years ago when he was Premier.

Here's one. What is the origin of the "Three Mile Limit" countries used to have to mark their boundaries from international waters?

Any takers ???

:) :)

Morlers

[SeaSaw]

Morlers,

Is it something to do with how far you could fire a gun?

[Morlers]

Yep. Seasaw is on to it.

The original three-mile limit was the recognized distance from a nation's shore over which that nation had jurisdiction. This border of international waters or the "high seas" was established because, at the time this international law was established, three miles was the longest range of any nation's most powerful guns, and therefore, the limit from shore batteries at which they could enforce their laws. (International law and the 1988 Territorial Sea Proclamation established the "high seas" border at the 12-mile limit.)

Doesn't Australia has a 200klm limit?

:) :)

Morlers