How to remember Port & Starboard

[Aquahound]

15 hours ago, clo said:

The Seattle ones that I've noticed just have vending machines for food and beverages.  If there's anything else I'd be surprised,  The trips seems to be pretty short.

 

I ride the Seattle ferries every day.  They have cafeterias on board.  

[Aquahound]

These are the double ended ferries being asked about.  They obviously are not typical vessels when describing port and starboard.  Port and starboard is determined by the direction in which the vessel is being operated. 

 

 

And yes, these vessels do have cafeterias on board....at least, the ones serving Seattle do.  This is the café on Walla Walla.  It's not a cruise ship buffet or anything but they do serve comfort food along with beer and wine. 

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by Aquahound

[ldubs]

10 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

But for cars & shoes & other stuff mentioned in various posts left & right are pretty unambiguous, except to nerds, trolls & jokers,  - the presumption is that they're all L or R when looking toward the front, and the same applies to ships.

If I ask an officer whether the tenders will be leaving from the left or right side of the ship,  he knows exactly what I mean.

If the coastguard asks which side of the ship has got a damned big hole in it & is told it's the right-hand side, again he knows which side that is.

 

No, I don't want to look at the keel - if I can see it I reckon the ship is in pretty big trouble (that's the joker in me )

Which creates another problem - if the ship has capsized, are port & starboard reversed? (that's the troll in me )

 

JB  

Yes, you guessed - I've been having a pretty slow & boring day 

 

Hey, we gotta have some fun with this.  I just hope I never have to wonder which side is topside.   

[QueSeraSera]

12 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 I just hope I never have to wonder which side is topside.   

Yes, there would be a downside to that.

[clo]

2 hours ago, Aquahound said:

at least, the ones serving Seattle do. 

I realized after posting that the last few years we've been taking the ferry from Tukwila to Whidbey Island, 30 minutes total, so no reason to have real food.  Don't want to spoil our appetite for the Penn Cove mussels at Toby's in Coupville.

 

[cruznjan]

Port and left have four letters.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

55 minutes ago, cruznjan said:

Port and left have four letters.

The original post.

Which side of the ship is PORT & STARBOARD?

 

Referencing the bow or the front of the ship.

 

The PORT side of the SHIP is the LEFT side of the SHIP.

 

PORT has 4 letters just like the word LEFT. Easy to remember.

 

STARBOARD is simply the right side of the SHIP and just the opposite of PORT.

[Subman738]

Port has 4 letters just like "Left"  

[zekekelso]

I’m good with port and starboard. Now draft vs beam, those can trip me up. 

[d9704011]

50 minutes ago, zekekelso said:

I’m good with port and starboard. Now draft vs beam, those can trip me up. 

Oh oh.... Now we’re really switching gears from two related things (port & starboard) to two things that aren’t connected much at all.

 

Draft - the vertical distance from the bottom of the keel to the waterline.  Often, ships have different drafts fore and aft which gives them a trim (normally by the stern).

 

Beam - the maximum width of the ship’s hull.  Usually located around amidships.  The maximum overall width of the ship may actually be greater if the bridge wings extend beyond the hull of the ship.

Edited May 27, 2021 by d9704011

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

Hate it when a person says how many floors up or down, or is it in the front or back. Don't the new elevators go front to back? Going to my room. Is that the kitchen? bathroom? The typical land lubber.

How about the nautical Mess deck. Bet that would put a confused look on many a face. 😎

[d9704011]

34 minutes ago, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

How about the nautical Mess deck. Bet that would put a confused look on many a face. 😎

Sort of like a visit to ‘the heads’.

[skrufy]

On 8/3/2019 at 11:11 AM, dkjretired said:

 

That too, I grew up in the 50s in Northern NJ and listened to the very colorful announcers for the Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Giants.

I grew up in the Bronx and Long Island, when baseball was a game. So many memories. Never being exposed to the ocean, I had to figure out why lefties were called portsiders

[d9704011]

8 hours ago, skrufy said:

lefties were called portsiders

I hope you’re not pulling our legs on this; it would be devastating to find out  that the most interesting thing I’ve learned on CC over the last 15 months is just another fabrication.

[skrufy]

On 5/28/2021 at 4:41 AM, d9704011 said:

I hope you’re not pulling our legs on this; it would be devastating to find out  that the most interesting thing I’ve learned on CC over the last 15 months is just another fabrication.

Would never do that to you

[navybankerteacher]

23 hours ago, skrufy said:

Would never do that to you

Or send a green seaman apprentice just reported on board to get some relative bearing oil from the engine room.

[d9704011]

31 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Or send a green seaman apprentice just reported on board to get some relative bearing oil from the engine room.

While he’s stocking up, can ask the bosun for 100 feet of shore line.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 5/27/2021 at 2:32 PM, d9704011 said:

Sort of like a visit to ‘the heads’.

So what do you call the person in charge of cleaning the bath rooms? Head of the heads.

[donaldsc]

Hard to believe that there are 100+ posts on tricks on how to remember port and starboard.  Facing forward, port is to the left and starboard is to the right.  How hard can it be to remember that. 

 

If you have so much trouble remembering that, take a magic marker and write "Starboard" on your right hand and "port" on your left hand.  Now if you have trouble remembering forward and aft, I guess that you can write "forward" on your stomach and "aft" on your back.

 

DON

[d9704011]

5 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Now if you have trouble remembering forward and aft, I guess that you can write "forward" on your stomach and "aft" on your back.

This is a good example of why we need pages and pages of tips on how to identify and remember port and starboard.  Your suggestion is absolutely useless!  What happens if the person is not facing forward when he/she consults the belly or butt then refers to the hands?  Easy to get totally turned around!

[navybankerteacher]

21 hours ago, fyree39 said:

When I was in the Navy (never shipboard) I was told "red is never right." We had to make sure we had our blue and red wands in the correct hands, too. That was many, many moons ago.

 

How about “red right returning” (except in the Med, of course)?

[d9704011]

43 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

How about “red right returning” (except in the Med, of course)?

Not sure that will help the landlubbers with port and starboard side of the ship.  More to do with buoyage system.

[ldubs]

On 6/1/2021 at 9:48 AM, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

So what do you call the person in charge of cleaning the bath rooms? Head of the heads.

 

In "No Time For Sergeants" it was the Permanent Latrine Orderly.   😀

[donaldsc]

On 6/8/2021 at 5:08 AM, d9704011 said:

This is a good example of why we need pages and pages of tips on how to identify and remember port and starboard.  Your suggestion is absolutely useless!  What happens if the person is not facing forward when he/she consults the belly or butt then refers to the hands?  Easy to get totally turned around!

 

If the ship is backing up, does port become starboard and forward become aft?  Since ships can now move sideways, what then.  If it is moving to the left, does port become forward and forward become starboard.  

 

DON

[broberts]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

If the ship is backing up, does port become starboard and forward become aft?  Since ships can now move sideways, what then.  If it is moving to the left, does port become forward and forward become starboard.  

 

DON

 

No. A significannt reason for retaining port and starboard is they convey the orientation of the vessel along with the side.

 

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by broberts