Jim 3 of --

My only knowledge of nautical terms

In 1946, I was in the Merchant Marines. I had just been assigned to a ship, SS Marine Cardinal, that was in the repair docks in Oakland. I was washing dishes in the crew mess hall, when I felt movement. I had been told we were going out to the Ocean for a few miles, than back to the dock, just to test that all was OK.

I hurried to the open deck, so I could see us pass under the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the first time I had been on the water in anything bigger than a row boat, so I was thrilled. I had signed up for the Merchant Marines in an office in San Pedro (Near Long Beach, CA) I had attended no schooling or anything, I had just gone to the Union Hall, and saw a note on the blackboard, so went to the office window and got the assignment.

As I stood there on the deck, it dawned on me that I must become an expert in nautical terms and descriptions, and do far I had been told nothing that added to my complete lack of information about ships.

I heard someone mention the word Port or Starboard, and it dawned on me that was a good place to start. As I looked here and there, I could think of nothing that would jar my memory, if someone said those terms, and I had to do something.

Then it dawned on me that the word Port had four letters just like the word Left, and Starboard had more letters than Port, just like Right had more letters than Left. Of course I had to be facing the front of the ship to make that work, if I was looking towards the stern, the opposite was true.

Well that got me through the few months that I served, including my 18th birthday in the harbor at Singapore.

Many years later I remembered this story, so called my older brother, who had been an officer in the Navy during WW II, and in the reserves for many years. He was also a 50 year College Professor, so I thought he knew everything worth knowing.

However when I told him my story, he laughed and said he had never heard that before, but it sure made sense.

I then told my daughter, and she responded that when she set the dinner table, she used the same formula. Fork had four letters, and went on the left of the plate, while knife had more letters just like the word right, and the knife went on the right of the plate. She said she had used that logic for years.