Why are Port and Starboard not called Left and Right?

Question

What is the source of this nonsense?

Answer 1

At sea, an emergency can happen at any time, and it is vital that everything aboard can be clearly identified and described. Where ‘left’ and ‘right’ could lead to confusion, ‘port’ and ‘starboard’ are perfectly clear and unambiguous to a seafarer.

Starboard: Boats developed from simple dugout canoes. When the paddler steering a canoe is right handed (and the majority of people are right-handed), he or she naturally steers over 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 of the ship. This rudder (in Anglo-Saxon the steorbord) was further developed in medieval times into the more familiar apparatus fixed to the sternpost, but starboard remains in the language to describe anything to the right of a ship’s centreline when viewed from aft.

Port: If starboard is the right-hand side of the vessel, looking forward from aft, the left-hand side is port – at least, it is now! In Old English, the term was bæcbord (in modern German Backbord and French bâbord), perhaps because the helmsman at the steorbord had his back to the ship’s left-hand side. This did not survive into Medieval and later English, when larboard was used. Possibly this term is derived from laddebord, meaning ‘loading side’; the side rudder (steorbord) would be vulnerable to damage if it went alongside a quay, so early ships would have been loaded (‘laded’) with the side against the quay. In time laddebord became larboard as steorbord became starboard. Even so, from an early date port was sometimes used as the opposite for starboard when giving steering orders, perhaps deriving from the loading port which was in the larboard side. However, it was only from the mid-19th century that, 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’.

Answer 2

Starboard
The term starboard, the nautical term for the right-hand half of the ship, comes from Old English stéorbord and is a combination of stéor, meaning "steer," and bord , meaning "board." On old ships the rudder or steering paddle would be on the right side of the ship. Hence, the term starboard.

Larboard

The counterpart to starboard is larboard, which derives from ladde and bord. American Heritage has ladde as the past participle of the verb "to lead." The left side of the ship would be led by the right, where the rudder was. Most other sources derive it from laden , meaning "to load." The left-hand side being the side put to the dock for loading cargo. The Old English Dictionary Volume 2, says the origin is undetermined.

Well you can probably guess the similarity in sound of the two names caused a great number of communications problems. "Ensign, was that lookout on the mizzen mast reporting a whale off the starboard bow or larboard bow, this wind makes it hard to tell. Lets turn to larboard and see if we can find anything." A different word was required. The term port for the left-hand side of a ship dates to the 16th century, but it was not until the 1840s that both the Royal and US Navies officially abandoned the term larboard in favor of port.

Port

Why port was used for this is not known for certain, but most sources believe it is because the left-hand side of a ship was the side typically put next to the wharf or port. Especially if your rudder was on the starboard side, this would be the case.


This is nothing really an answer to your question but I thought you might find it interesting?-
"posh" (meaning wealthy or upper-class) originated as an acronym P.O.S.H. (standing for "Port Out, Starboard Home") used by booking staff on British cruise-liners to describe the cabin arrangements for rich passengers wanting the sunny (southern) side of the ship on Atlantic crossings out to America and back

Regards
John

Answer 3

Left and Right have different meanings depending on which way you're facing. I suppose you could say "The boat's left" or "the boat's right," but that would be a little confusing.

Imagine a captain at the wheel shouting instructions to a crewman on the rear deck in an emergency, like a man overboard. Should he say "Left" because he's looking back at the stern, or "Right" because the crewman is looking back up at him? "Starboard" is unambiguous in an emergency.

Answer 4

I heard once it comes from the norse for steering board which was always on the righthand side of their longships.

This became starboard.

I can only assume that port was the left as this was the side that was always next to the quay leaving the steering board useable and protected on the outside.

Answer 5

It is the same reason kayakers say river right river left. Port is port is port no matter where you stand on the boat. Its so no one gets confused.

Answer 6

whos left, mine or yours? by the time the sailors would have figured that out, they would have been dead or knocked overboard by a sail. so having terms that meant only one thing, or one side or direction left little doubt and made things easier in a time of confusion

Answer 7

Because, in the dark it's not always easy to tell a ships direction or if it's coming towards you or away, this makes it easier to follow.

Answer 8

Asphyxia + Annie = perfect answer. It isn't nonsense!

Answer 9

On a ship/boat.

Answer 10

this is a repeater so I am not going to give you the answer!