When I was a child, I once wore odd socks to my uncle's house. He was in the navy and pointed the port and starboard colours out to me and I wore them like that for years afterwards.
I was taught "The big red ship left the port" as a way of remembering which is which. We never did get to hear Ronni's interesting naval fact, due to Jimmy interrupting her so often.
Yeah, it was like Ronni: "I actually know this!" Everyone: *does not let her answer* It was especially cruel of Sandi to turn to someone who wasn't her and then to just go ahead and reveal it. Usually folks get points for that sort of thing.
When I was in the Navy, I served aboard the City of Corpus Christy. Of course, that was kind of a mouthful for a group of simple seamen, so we shortened it. We would go home to our families and loved ones and proudly tell them about how we were all serving aboard the COCC.
Interestingly, the name of my college is the college of corpus christi and the blessed virgin Mary, but we more boringly call it Corpus. At least we do have the Corpus Christi College Cambridge Cross-Country Club.
The way you remember it is the number of letters. Port, left, and red are all shorter than their counterparts: Starboard, right, and green. No need for a rhyme.
There is another trick. Have a look what side the lights are on your own boat. Problem solved. Because chances are when you see that at sea you’re also in a boat.
If you can see the port and starboard lights, it's coming towards you! Because, those particular light only have a 120° visible arc (centre-line to 30° aft of abeam). If it was going away from you, all you would see is the white stern light (no coloured lights on the side of the vessel would be visible).
^^ You should only see the red OR the green. The only time you see both is when you're straight in front of it as their arcs overlap only the tiiiiniest bit. You can still see a white AND a red/green when the ship is motorized but not when it's sailing. If you see ONLY the white, it's indeed going away. Of course seeing red + green doesn't mean that you'll collide given you might be moving AWAY from where the ship is heading. HOWEVER, there's another handy trick here (though that requires some visible static object) which is if the ship is in line with such an object and STAYS IN LINE, that means you're on a collision course and WILL collide unless one of you changes course/speed.
I was upset they didn't keep that. I mean, YES they should have known better than to trust the internet, but the thing is, they said they'd take the top suggestion, and they went back on their word. Not to mention that's the most memorable boat name ever! I will never, ever forget that name as long as I live!
Jimmy jokes about "How to Avoid Huge Ships" being a book for small islands, but checkout The Queen of the North (I think a BC Canada ferry) when it ran into Gil Island in 2006. Fishermen in a nearby village rescued almost everyone, but the captain spent 4 years in jail for the deaths of two passengers.
Only one person, 4th Officer Karl Lilgert, was actually criminally charged following the RCMP investigation and convicted. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board concluded that duty crew had not followed sound navigational practices and regulations in its report but a TSB investigation is separate from any disciplinary investigation. A separate BC Ferry investigation resulted in the firing of 4th Officer Lilgert, 2nd Officer Keven Hilton who had taken a meal break and was off the bridge, and Quartermaster Karen Briker who had been piloting the vessel The captain was off duty and asleep in his bunk at the time of the collision. He wasn't fired but he no longer had a job since his command had sunk.
@@sureshot8399 That would be the same accident. Two of the crew members, Lilgert and Briker, were FORMER lovers but the claim that the two were having sex on the bridge at the time of the accident was an unfounded rumour.
@@andrewharris4268yeah it happens a lot on the show. When you are surrounded by comedians who live off attention, you need to be pretty assertive. But I agree. Wanted to hear the rest.
Reminds me of the book that was mentioned in one of the harry potter books "Powers you never knew you had and what to do with them now you've wisened up"
'Red" "Port" "Left" in a glass is an easy way to remember it, meaning port is on the left of the vessel while facing forwards (and ergo, green is starboard, right side).
There was a book published in 1975 called Living on the Sun and it was by Godfrey Boyle, which seemed fitting. It was actually about harnessing renewable energy
I thought "constant bearing" was gonna come up , but they just went with the red & green . Im sure i remember Steven Fry going more in depth, or it may have been James May
"Constant bearing, decreasing range" is how you know it's a collision course, rather than just facing your way. "Constant bearing" by itself means nothing; it could be going away from you. Incidentally, the "constant bearing" part is why mid-air collisions are so common when ATC separation isn't in play. It's much harder to notice a small speck in the sky that *isn't moving* but just getting slightly bigger…
When two sidelights you see ahead, Right your helm and show your red; For green to green and red to red, Perfect safety go ahead. When to starboard bow red appear, It is your duty to keep clear; But when upon your port is seen, A vessel's starboard light of green; There's not much for you to do, Since green to port keeps clear of you. Whether is safety or in doubt, Always keep a good lookout. Oh, and you won't see those red and green lights from astern. All you'll see is a single white light.
This is why amateur sailors are so dangerous. They don't have running lights on, they don't follow the correct traffic lanes in channels, they cross in front of ships that can't maneuver easily, and they try to cross the wakes of larger ships. The thing to remember is that Port if Left (same number of characters in the name) and Starboard is Right (odd number of letters in both), but that those sides are relative to the bow of the ship. Also, the stern is required to have a white light, so you should see Red on the Left, Green on the Right and a White light between them. Also depending on the size and type of ship, there may also be masthead lights. Part of naval seamanship training is being able to identify the course of a ship by the running light configuration, as well as their silhouette, if visible (identify a merchant ship vs naval vessel, or a destroyer from a frigate).
On a ship, you can't see the stern light at the same time as the port and starboard running lights. From dead astern, you see one white light. They left something out, if the ship is coming straight at you, you will see the port and starboard running lights and two white lights, one above the other, above and between them. All the lights have shields at particular angles, so you can tell what aspect of the ship is presenting itself. It's all quite ingenious, when you know how it works you can tell what profile of the ship you are seeing including where the bow and stern are, in the dark without being able to see the silhouette.
I remember my dad (who was an officer in the Navy,) teling me the best way to remember which was which was to ask "Is there any red port left?" (Port being the alcoholic drink, which is typically red in colour.)
Every ship larger than a bathtub has a white light at the back, but the colours are not visible. But if it has an engine (running) is has a white light at the front, too. (above the colours)
The answer is of course wrong, because you can never see both red and green when a boat or ship is moving away from you. Only white, and one or the other colour if the other vessel is at some angle relative to the observer. Also, the white running light (s) is also missing.
If you can see both port and starboard lights usually with a white ('steaming light') above and between them, then its coming straight at you. Two whites if its a big one. The nav lights are supposed to be screened so that in any other orientation you only see one of them: e.g. when you are dead astern you only see the white stern light. "Red beside green, white over white" is time to panic.
I've an easy way to remember the port & starboard colours, "How much Red Port is Left?", never had to use it though, last boat I was on was one of the Skipton Castle canal tour narrowboats... :P
@@AndrewBlacker-t1d That's good only starboard is green. If you're seeing blue then it means you've had one port too many and the bobbies are after you 😉
At least in English, short words to describe one side and long ones for the other: - left right - red green - port starboard Other languages might require different techniques or groupings... (In French, the words linking the right side all include the letter 't', unlike the ones for the left side.) 😊
The Flower-class of Royal Navy corvettes during WW2 had the least warlike names. For example; HMS Buttercup HMS Fennel HMS Periwinkle HMS Wallflower USS Pert USS Saucy USS Temptress HMSC Asbestos
Canada was boring and named them after communities near their construction shipyard. That's after Asbestos Quebec. For some reason they changed their name recently.
On a square-rigged ship like TS Royalist, the Spanker is a sail at the back of the ship. Mounted fore and aft it gives an amount of stability as it acts like a rudder in the wind.
I was brought up on the saying "Red Right Returning." Meaning that if the red light is on the right, the the vessel is 'returning,' i.e., coming back toward the observer.
He was also one of the first sons of Gaea but was also her husband and father of the Titans like mentioned. Some scholars suggest Gaea is the origin of all life in the Greek / Hellenistic mythologies. Some scholars suggest Gaea has no parents while others like Hesiod suggest she was birthed out of Khaos (a personified name for empty space sometimes referred to as a "gap" in space). Although given a name, Khaos refers to a place (like the name of a bridge).
As a way to remember: the seaman entered port with a bleeding heart. Not only does this tell you which side is port, it also indicates which side of the waterway has red buoys
I always say PORT is where I’ve LEFT, and GREEN means something is RIGHT. Technically of course it doesn’t really matter if the boat is just coming towards you, but if it’s on the same bearing over time with this light configuration then you want to start panicking because you are on a collision course.
Some say that ships have 2 white lights as well, one on the bow and another on the stern with the stern white light positioned higher than the bow white light. If those two lights line up one above the other, the ship is heading straight for you.
I was once in a book shop years back and there was a book titled "How to Raise Your IQ by Eating Gifted Children" I think that one might beat some of the ones on her list.
Additional fact: you're not going to see the nav-lights from behind. You have to be outside the rear quarter and then you'll see only one (and the stern-light ofcourse).
If the ship coming at you seems to hold its heading, it will hit you. If the heading is changing, the other ship is not hitting you. "Constant bearing", as another person kindly posted/
There was floating around the internet an exchange between two radio operators. They disagreed on the bearing of one of the ships. Both maintained the other should change course. One was a US navy destroyer or some such. It turns out, the other was a US Coast Guard lighthouse. They signed off, with something like "I suggest you change course. Your call."
I learned the rule as "Red Right Returning" i.e. if the red light is on the right, the ship is returning towards you. It's the title of a wonderful piece of music by Michael Manring.
I thought the green and red bit was about buoys. In marked waterways, ships must keep red buoys on the left when going out of port and on the right when coming into port. Hence the phrase "red right return."
@@akcarlos No, it's North and South America, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan. So about 1.3 billion people. You might as well say only the Brits drive on the left. And the rest of the world uses the same system, just with the colors reversed. So the episode still could be about lane markers, just with red and green switched.
I wanted to hear what Ronni had to say with her inside information but it went on a bit with the interruptions and then Sandi rudely cut her off completely. Gah.
"No _red port left_ in the bottle." Easiest way to remember. Red = colour Port = side name Left = side position (when facing the same direction of the vessel)
