Marine terminology

[Eddy Matthews]

Ever wondered where some of the peculiar words that are used in the maritime environment come from? I know I have, so to kick things off, here's the definaition of Port and Starboard:

The Vikings called the side of their ship its board, and they placed the steering oar, the stéor, on the right side of the ship, thus that side became known as the stéorbord or "star board." It's been that way ever since. And, because the oar was in the right side, the ship was tied to the dock at the left side. This was known as the loading side or "larboard". Later, it was decided that "larboard" and "starboard" were too similar, especially when trying to be heard over the roar of a heavy sea, so the phrase became the "side at which you tied up to in port" or the "port" side.

Anyone care to add more? It's a fascinating subject....

[Eddy Matthews]

S.O.S.
The international Morse code distress signal, S.O.S., is another "word" with a false acronymic origin. S.O.S. does not stand for Save Our Souls, Save Our Ship, Stop Other Signals, Sure Of Sinking, or any other phrase.

S.O.S. was chosen as the universal distress signal by the International Radio Telegraph Convention of July 1908 because this combination of three dots followed by three dashes followed by three dots (...---...), was easy to send and easily recognized, especially since they were usually sent as a nine-character signal, which stood out against the background of three-character Morse Code letters. The letters themselves are meaningless.

The first recorded mention of the false acronymic origin is in reference to the Titanic sinking of 1912, which may account for its wide spread and endurance.

Prior to 1908, the high seas distress signal consisted of the letters C.Q.D., which many took it to mean Come Quickly, Danger. Actually this term is a combination of the letters C & Q, the standard radio hail meaning essentially "calling all stations" or "is anyone out there?" and the nonsense letter D. Some suppose that the D stands for distress, but this is not documented. Use of C.Q.D. continued past 1908, and the Titanic's initial distress calls used this older signal. It was not until that ship was near sinking did the radiomen send out the new signal.

[Eddy Matthews]

I should point out that the definitions I've given are the ones I beleive are correct, some of them will be open to conjecture, and no doubt some people will have other variations that they beleive to be right....

So if I, or someone else, posts a definition that you disagree with, please discuss it by all means, but remember to keep it friendly - We're here because we enjoy maritime history (and paddlers in particular), no-one will appreciate a slanging match! :-)

[derekwarner_decoy]

Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea

With the straightforward meaning of being in a troublesome spot, the interesting thing is the origin of this expression.

The deep blue sea part is obvious - but in this case the "devil" is not the scary guy with horns but the Hull plank closest to the waterline where barnacles and marine growth gather the heaviest.

The crew on long voyages would always spend time maintaining the Ship and scraping the growth off this area was one of the nastiest of jobs.

Both due to the fact that Barnacles are very sharp and cut like a razor and the fact that this was done while the Ship was underway with ships movement to contend with.

To make matters worse, should the member of the crew performing this task happen to Fall into the water a the Captain of a square rigger would rarely even consider stopping his vessel to effect a rescue. Taking could take up to 45 mins and the chance of survival by that point was slim at best (if they could even find a tiny Head bobbing in the sea)

Understandably, being caught - between the devil and the deep blue sea was never a good position in which to find ones self.


When I first read this in "Nautical Terms Glossary" it was clear that I did not really know of the original meaning so here it is - Derek  :wink:

[Eddy Matthews]

That's a one I'd not heard before Derek. I'd heard the expression but didn't know what the origin was.....

[derekwarner_decoy]

Hi PD's - a compromise of two terms - we know know who the devil was in betw....& the deep blue sea, but if we add Keel Hauling we see than any poor soul that was keel hauled would have been lucky to drown or be eaten by sharks as these would have been relatively quick deaths as opposed to be slowly bled or poisoned until death by the same marine crustations as mentioned earlier & remember they did not have any medicine as we know it - just maybe some tar to stop bleeding & salt for a wound - :sob

[Eddy Matthews]

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey....

I'm sure we've all heard that expression before, and NO it's not vulgar in it's original context...

The explanation I was given is as follows....

In the days of the old sailing ships, cannon balls were stored in small piles next to the gun. These piles were like small pyramids in shape, and of course with the movement of the ship they tended to roll around the deck. So an square iron plate (called a monkey) was made with holes drilled in it - The cannon balls were then placed onto these holes which allowed the cannon balls to be stacked in a pyramid pile and not roll around... However, the cannon balls would tend to rust solid onto the plate, so that was no good....

The plate was eventually changed to brass - so no more rusting!  BUT when the ship encountered really cold weather, the brass and the iron cannon balls would contract at different rates and the cannon balls would roll off - Hence, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey"

I have no idea if this explanation is genuine, but it certainly sounds plausible to me...

[derekwarner_decoy]

Cold enough t F T B of a B Monkey

Eddie - You are certainly correct in terming a ferrous monkey as iron [as opposed to steel] however I believe the non-ferrous monkey was a bronze material, but with the difference in the co-efficient of linear expansion between bronze & iron due to temperature change I think the person who provided this topic to you may have had TWO TOO many glasses of amber fluid prior to their curry sandwich with this one - Derek  

Oh sorry All - the above was based on my assumption that Eddie's reliable topic source was a POM & hence the curry sandwich - but if the person just happened from my land, just substitute a veg...te sanga

[jock]

I have a Marine Terminology page which is in constant flux.
http://www.geocities.com/cjstein_2000/dictionary.html

[derekwarner_decoy]

what have you started here Eddie :?:  - the more I look the stranger I find things & this is a typical back to front term that only gentleman from Britan & France [Poms & Frogs] could agree to

In 1970 the Coordinated Universal Time system was devised by an international advisory group of technical experts within the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU felt it was best to designate a single abbreviation for use in all languages in order to minimize confusion. Since unanimous agreement could not be achieved on using either the English word order, CUT, or the French word order, TUC, the acronym UTC was chosen as a compromise. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a 24 hour astronomical time system based on the local time at Greenwich, England. GMT can be considered equivalent to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)when fractions of a second are not important. However, by international agreement, the term UTC is recommended for all general timekeeping applications, and use of the term GMT is discouraged.

UTC is the standard time used for all shipboard log entries and radio communication
I can only think those learnard gentlemen had TOO many 's when they made this decision - Derek

[derekwarner_decoy]

appears that the Americans did not respond too well to a time term "UTC" as being based in Europe, so whilst they accepted the unit of measure relative to lines of latitude they call it ZULU Hours

"ZULU - the Americam military name for UTC indicating the time at the prime meridian. The standard time used in all shipboard log entries and radio communication"
see also:
GMT
UTC

So now nautical time in hours could be expressed as UTC=GMT=TCU [courtesy of the CUT or and ITU groups] or if you were on an American vessel of any description in any part of the world, time would = ZULU hours

Since a very young age we were all taught about GMT, and we all have watched American movies were the pilot said "yea CHARLIE DELTA FOXTROT - I'll be there in 3 1/2 minutes ZULU" but I never realised what he meant ! - I am glad that Z is the end of our alphabet  :rant - Derek

[derekwarner_decoy]

I have a Marine Terminology page which is in constant flux.
http://www.geocities.com/cjstein_2000/dictionary.html

Thanks Jock & thanks to our Australian Jim Stein - and as expected I note that Jim  has correctly listed : ZULU=GMT=UT  which was news to me ten minutes ago :post Jim - regards Derek

[derekwarner_decoy]

Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey....

I'm sure we've all heard that expression before, and NO it's not vulgar in it's original context...

the brass and the iron cannon balls would contract at different rates and the cannon balls would roll off - Hence, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey"

I have no idea if this explanation is genuine, but it certainly sounds plausible to me...

Eddie - I have pasted this from a Google search

Summary of the eRumor
This piece of alleged history explains that in the olden days of sailing ships, cannon balls were stacked on the decks on brass plates called "monkeys."  The plates had indentions in them that held the balls on the bottoms of the stacks.  Brass, however, expands and contracts with the temperature and if it got cold enough, the cannon balls could fall...giving real foundation to the phrase "cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!"  
 
 The Truth
According to the United States Navy Historical Center, this is a legend of the sea without historical justification.  The center has researched this because of the questions it gets and says the term "brass monkey" and a vulgar reference to the effect of cold on the monkey's extremities, appears to have originated in the book "Before the Mast" by C.A. Abbey.  It was said that it was so cold that it would "freeze the tail off a brass monkey."   The Navy says there is no evidence that the phrase had anything to do with ships or ships with cannon balls.  

  - Derek

[jock]

I have altered the the defination to be a bit more specific.

Greenwich Meridian Time (sometimes called Greenwich Meridian Time) it is measured from the Greenwich Meridian Line at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, it is also known as Universal Time or Zulu time. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was replaced with UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) in 1972 as the official world time standard changed. While GMT is based on Earth's rotation and celestial measurements, UTC is a based on cesium-beam atomic clocks. The two clocks are rarely more  than a second apart as leap seconds are applied to UTC.

[derekwarner_decoy]

I have altered the the defination to be a bit more specific.

Greenwich Meridian Time (sometimes called Greenwich Meridian Time)UTC is a based on cesium-beam atomic clocks. The two clocks are rarely more  than a second apart as leap seconds are applied to UTC.

Jock - I have acknowledged that I was only quoting from Google like searches - but when you mention CBAC my mind hurts

Could you please remind me of what a "leap second" in atomic counting is - Derek