Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right?”

Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by taeric on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @06:44PM (#35621497)

This isn't accurate, either. Most of us are decidedly not facing the direction of travel. Specifically, we are evenly split in large parts of the boat, as they have bench chairs that face each other. Or you are on the side of the boat facing out.

The ferry is actually a very odd boat in this, btw. As I am not clear that starboard/port are fixed. The boat literally goes in both directions, such that I'm assuming I don't have to know which is the "front" of it irrespective of the direction it is currently traveling.

I get your point, that things can be difficult. And I appreciate having jargon that is specific for an attempt to make things clearer. I just find this as the sole explanation kind of unsatisfactory. Seeing the history of the terms makes a lot more sense.

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by dvt on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @06:56PM (#35621625)

> The ferry is actually a very odd boat in this, btw. As I am not clear that starboard/port are fixed. The boat literally goes in both directions, such that I'm assuming I don't have to know which is the "front" of it irrespective of the direction it is currently traveling.

From what I understand, on ferries (and similar "two-sided" working boats), port and starboard get switched around when the boat changes direction of travel, usually when docked (and its navigation lights also turn from green to red and vice-versa).

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by dceddia on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @06:52PM (#35621580)

Port and starboard are indeed fixed (same with bow and stern), so that no matter which way the boat is moving or the passengers are facing, those words always refer to the same physical sides of the boat :)

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by taeric on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @06:55PM (#35621615)

Per another thread, this may not be the case for ferries? At least not for ones that don't turn around. (Note that many "people ferry" boats are able to turn around. Larger car ferries are fully symmetric and have no fixed bow/stern.

Edit: I found more discussion on this by searching for "double ended" boats. Port/starboard do indeed change depending on the direction of travel from all results I've found.

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by dceddia on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @07:01PM (#35621679)

Hmm interesting. Wonder if they have some non-symmetrical parts, like the location of the engine maybe?

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by toast0 on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @07:13PM (#35621811)

Sure. If nothing else, they've got labels on 'end 1' and 'end 2', and the rest of the boat is labeled into quadrants that don't change (A-D). If there's a galley, that's on one end or the other; the passenger deck is assymmetric.

The car decks and the sundeck appear to be mostly symmetric other than labelling, and maybe elevator placement? The machinery under the car decks is likely somewhat assymetric too, but I've never gotten to go down below.

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Re:Why do ships use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left”... by taeric on Tuesday April 18, 2023 @07:06PM (#35621730)

Not the ones I ride. They have engines on each end.

To be fair, they may not be 100% symmetrical. I am not measuring. They are close enough that I can't imagine it would be a good use of the terms. (That is, when the VAST majority of the time the bow is the front of the boat, having a few bigger boats where I have to inspect it to know which is bow and stern would be a bad idea.)

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