The same as a car/other vehicle.
Near side is kerb side, so for UK, that is the left hand side of the vehicle, when looking to the front.
So, for "normal" (Right hand drive) car in this country, nearside is passenger side.
On the continent, the near side would be right hand side, but still passenger side, of course, unless you take your UK car over...... no, lets not confuse matters!! LOL :-)
Starboard is the right side of the ship as you are facing the bows. It comes from a Norse work for steer board meaning the side that the steering oar would be placed on an old boat - most people are right handed so the steer board would be over the right side of the boat.
Originally the left side of the ship was the Larboard or Leeboard - a word meaning the loading side, it was important not to dock with the steering oar close to the bank as it would get stuck and the boat would not be steerable and that side would always be in the lee of any waves by being close to the bank.
To avoid confusion with similar sounding words the left side (larboard) was changed to port by the Admirlty in the mid 19th century.
A ship will show a green light on the Starboard side and a red light on the port side (easy to remember if you think that the drink Port is red).
This is used universally and you will see planes with red and green navigation lights.
A life in the Sea Cadets has had it's uses at last
A tip for remembering Port and Starboard and the associated navigation lights is "There's a little RED PORT LEFT in the bottle"
You may never watch Titanic again without spotting that the second officer called the order "Hard to starboard" yet the wheel was turned to the port side.
Port out, Starboard home.
An old seagoing saying.
Travelling out from the UK to the Persian Gulf via the Cape.
Land will always be on the Portside sailing out from the UK and on the Starboard coming home.
The red and green navigation lights can only be seen on a vessel coming towards you and as has been said signify port and starboard respectively.
Quote: Course you have to be facing north at the time..
Who wants to go north at this time of the year?
------------- Love a lot. Trust a few. But ALWAYS paddle your own canoe!!
Minds are like parachutes:- They only function when they are open!!!
Those who talk don't know.
Those who know don't talk.
Quote: Originally posted by Davebelcanto on 15/2/2013
The red and green navigation lights can only be seen on a vessel coming towards you and as has been said signify port and starboard respectively.
Not stricly correct. They can be seen up to a bearing of 112.5 degrees port and starboard which means that you can see them if looking just abaft the beam of the showing vessel.
Quote: Originally posted by Davebelcanto on 15/2/2013
Port out, Starboard home.
An old seagoing saying.
Travelling out from the UK to the Persian Gulf via the Cape.
Land will always be on the Portside sailing out from the UK and on the Starboard coming home.
On the way out the port cabins were shaded for most of the day and were therefore cooler, likewise on the way back the starboard cabins were the ones that were shaded.
------------- Love a lot. Trust a few. But ALWAYS paddle your own canoe!!
Minds are like parachutes:- They only function when they are open!!!
Those who talk don't know.
Those who know don't talk.
Quote: Originally posted by Highlander09 on 18/2/2013
Quote: Originally posted by Davebelcanto on 15/2/2013The red and green navigation lights can only be seen on a vessel coming towards you and as has been said signify port and starboard respectively.
Not stricly correct. They can be seen up to a bearing of 112.5 degrees port and starboard which means that you can see them if looking just abaft the beam of the showing vessel.
What I was trying to get across was that they give an indication of a vessel coming towards you be it from dead ahead or at an angle.
With the other fore and aft lights you can then establish the direction the other vessel is preceding towards. i.e if dead astern you can tell the vessel is moving away from you.
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Topic: nearside offside
