Left and Right

[William Martin]

Why do boats drive on the right while cars drive on the left?

 

I have heard that in the days of old, horsemen always kept left so that they had their sword arm ready to spring into action on the right but that Napoleon banned the practice in every country where he had influence - hence the difference between mainland Europe and Britain and Ireland etc.

[Guest]

Why do boats drive on the right while cars drive on the left?

 

I have heard that in the days of old, horsemen always kept left so that they had their sword arm ready to spring into action on the right but that Napoleon banned the practice in every country where he had influence - hence the difference between mainland Europe and Britain and Ireland etc.

Interesting explanation. I had always assumed that for some reason, one or two countries (us included) for some reason drove on the "wrong side" when compared to others. As far as I am aware, boats have always traditionally driven on the right.

[Hairy-Neil]

As far as I am aware, boats have always traditionally driven on the right.

 

Only since nationalisation, previous to that it was down to the company rules of the canal you were traveling on. If I remember correctly the Staffs & Worcs Canal Co. was one where the rule was on the left.

[Guest]

Only since nationalisation, previous to that it was down to the company rules of the canal you were traveling on. If I remember correctly the Staffs & Worcs Canal Co. was one where the rule was on the left.

Never knew that. Bet that caused a bit of confusion. I think there are one or two who still don't know about the standardisation! I won't name names, but a certain boat passed us recently on the wrong side. As it got alongside it emerged that it belonged to a narrowboat handling training organisation. There is hope for me yet.

Sorry to wander off topic slightly.

[dor]

Only since nationalisation, previous to that it was down to the company rules of the canal you were traveling on. If I remember correctly the Staffs & Worcs Canal Co. was one where the rule was on the left.

 

It's not just canals. All ships pass "port-to-port", i.e. red to red, and also pass marker bouys in the same way, i.e. you pass a red bouy to the right.

 

As for driving on the left, remember it is not just us; about one third of the world's traffic drives on the left - Japan, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia to name but a few.

 

In Europe, Sweden also used to drive on the left but changed over about 1970. Apparently it was very well organised (well it was Sweden), with all non-emergency traffic banned from the roads for a couple of days while all the signs were changed over. The UK also considered it at the time, but decided it would cost too much, and why should we conform with the rest of Europe anyway.

[Alastair]

International regs for shipping are set on the continent - so I've assumed that boats/ships 'drive' on the right, because everyone drives on the right on the continent.

[Richard Fletcher]

It's not just canals. All ships pass "port-to-port", i.e. red to red, and also pass marker bouys in the same way, i.e. you pass a red bouy to the right.

 

As for driving on the left, remember it is not just us; about one third of the world's traffic drives on the left - Japan, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia to name but a few.

 

In Europe, Sweden also used to drive on the left but changed over about 1970. Apparently it was very well organised (well it was Sweden), with all non-emergency traffic banned from the roads for a couple of days while all the signs were changed over. The UK also considered it at the time, but decided it would cost too much, and why should we conform with the rest of Europe anyway.

 

Its not strictly true that you pass to the right of a red buoy. There are two International buoyage systems, one is IALA A and the other is IALA B. IALA A is used by everything that is not/was not owned by America and is exactly the opposite to the rest of the world i.e. you pass to the left of a red bouy. The rest of the world is IALA A and you pass to the right of the red buoy.

 

This also depends on the "direction of buoyage" because since in the sea you can travel in either direction along a safe water channel you cannot have a particular coloured buoy on your left when you travel up the channel as well as when you travel down the channel. The direction of buoyage is marked on the charts and is usually organised so that when you are going into a harbour or port the red buoys are to your left on the way in (IALA A) and therefore on the right when you come out.

[alan_fincher]

In Europe, Sweden also used to drive on the left but changed over about 1970. Apparently it was very well organised (well it was Sweden), with all non-emergency traffic banned from the roads for a couple of days while all the signs were changed over.

 

The UK also considered it at the time, but decided it would cost too much, and why should we conform with the rest of Europe anyway.

 

I can't imagine us being as efficient as the Swedes, if a decision were ever taken to do it in the UK.

 

Our wonderful planners would probably suggest a phased approach, with just lorries changing sides for the first couple of weeks, then once that had bedded in, cars and other vehicles swapping over later on.........

[anhar]

My guess is that if there's any explanation at all for driving and shipping sides, it is that there isn't one.

 

There are only two possibilities and consequently if I'm correct that there's no particular reason for either, then it is just chance, an equal one that it could have developed either way. If so, it would explain why road driving sides are not the same everywhere. But once a particular rule becomes established then it tends to spread. For example any country setting up a road driving rule now, were that to happen, would almost certainly choose the right simply because that is the most common in the world.

 

As for shipping, because it is international and not something that applies to any particular country, it had to be decided by international rules rather than national. They had to choose one of the two possibilites and it was likely just chance.

 

 

regards

Steve

[Hairy-Neil]

I think the rule is often taken far too literally on the canals. There are times when you suddenly meet a boat on a blind bend when it would be more expedient to pass wrong side yet I've seen people do emergency stops and then struggle to reverse out rather than simply pass wrong side. Its like the police might see them or something.

[jerrytug]

By the way..in a canal or river,drive in the middle,where it`s deepest,you`ll be less likely to hit anything,and you`ll go faster/cheaper. Only move to the side to pass another boat,if you want to pass them on the wrong side for any reason,two hoots or flashes IF you know they know that signal regards Jerry

[NB Willawaw]

To answer the original question.

 

Starboard and Port is said to be derived from the times when boats had a steering oar for a rudder, set on one side of the boat (the steer-board side).

Port denoted the side that the ship docked to avoid damaging the oar.

 

Boats passed port to port to avoid potential damage to the steering oars if they got a bit close.

[Guest]

I think the rule is often taken far too literally on the canals. There are times when you suddenly meet a boat on a blind bend when it would be more expedient to pass wrong side yet I've seen people do emergency stops and then struggle to reverse out rather than simply pass wrong side. Its like the police might see them or something.

I tend to agree that sometimes it is impossible to emerge from a bend on the "correct" side. But that is always the bend where somebody is coming the opposite way of course. The only sensible option then is to signal the other boat to pass on the wrong side. Unfortunately not everybody seems to understand this procedure.

 

By the way..in a canal or river,drive in the middle,where it`s deepest,you`ll be less likely to hit anything,and you`ll go faster/cheaper. Only move to the side to pass another boat,if you want to pass them on the wrong side for any reason,two hoots or flashes IF you know they know that signal regards Jerry

I got told off the other week by a crew rowing a skiff for staying in deep water until meeting them. They said I "should stay on the right on the canal, as they couldn't be sure which side I was going to pass on." You see 30 odd years steering and you are never too old to learn.

 

To answer the original question.

 

Starboard and Port is said to be derived from the times when boats had a steering oar for a rudder, set on one side of the boat (the steer-board side).

Port denoted the side that the ship docked to avoid damaging the oar.

 

Boats passed port to port to avoid potential damage to the steering oars if they got a bit close.

Well done Mark, go to the top of the class

[William Martin]

"Starboard and Port is said to be derived from the times when boats had a steering oar for a rudder, set on one side of the boat (the steer-board side).

Port denoted the side that the ship docked to avoid damaging the oar.

 

Boats passed port to port to avoid potential damage to the steering oars if they got a bit close."

 

 

That is it! - the entire mystery explained - roads we can put down to swords and Napoleon - but boats - this must be it!!! Thanks

[John Orentas]

To answer the original question.

 

Starboard and Port is said to be derived from the times when boats had a steering oar for a rudder, set on one side of the boat (the steer-board side).

Port denoted the side that the ship docked to avoid damaging the oar.

 

Boats passed port to port to avoid potential damage to the steering oars if they got a bit close.

 

 

All that assumes that all boats had the steering oars on the same side, when and by whom was that decided. Perhaps the most credible reason for the standardisation on the roads was for coachmen to have their whip hand in the middle of the road without getting tangled up in the hedgerows.

[Guest]

All that assumes that all boats had the steering oars on the same side, when and by whom was that decided. Perhaps the most credible reason for the standardisation on the roads was for coachmen to have their whip hand in the middle of the road without getting tangled up in the hedgerows.

This is typical of the right-handist approach from society. Spare a thought for the left handed.

[anhar]

To answer the original question.

 

Starboard and Port is said to be derived from the times when boats had a steering oar for a rudder, set on one side of the boat (the steer-board side).

Port denoted the side that the ship docked to avoid damaging the oar.

 

Boats passed port to port to avoid potential damage to the steering oars if they got a bit close.

Hi Mark

 

This in my view explains from where the oddly named marine terms port and starboard, instead of left and right, are derived. It still doesn't explain why boats pass to the right.

 

If I had to assume a reason based on your explanation, it could be that I guess the steering oar would usually be set to the right of the boat because most people are right handed, but I don't know that.

 

In any event canal boats have their own range of traditions which as far as I've read have virtually nothing to do with marine traditions so this doesn't explain the pass to the right rule.

 

I'm back to my belief that the whole thing, for roads and canal boats, is just a 50/50 chance. It had to be one or the other.

 

regards

Steve

Edited September 12, 2006 by anhar

[Guest]

Found this but the second paragraph doesn't hold water for me, unless of course I am missing something.

 

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.17900

[Hairy-Neil]

Just to confuse matters........Up until the 1840's the terms were Larboard and Starboard.....

 

Port/Larboard/Starboard

The term starboard, the nautical term for the right-hand half of the ship (as one faces the bow), has a simple and straightforward derivation. It comes from Old English stéorbord and is a combination of stéor, meaning steer, and bord, meaning the side of a ship or boat (also found in the word overboard). On old ships the rudder or steering paddle would be on the right side of the ship. Hence, the term starboard.

The opposite of 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 Oxford English Dictionary says the origin is undetermined, but notes that in Old English, the term was bæcbord, meaning the side to which the steersman kept his back. This term did not survive into Middle English, being replaced by larboard

 

The problem with these two words was that starboard and larboard were easily confused. It would not do for a shouted command to be misinterpreted, so 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.

 

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. The OED2 lists the derivation of this usage of port as obscure, but in addition to the above explanation says it could also derive from port meaning "gate" because of a door for loading cargo.

 

Port derives from the Indo-European root *por-, meaning going or passage. It was brought into Old English from the Latin portus, meaning harbor. The name of the wine derives from the city of Oporto (literally, the port) in Portugal.

 

Unless one believes the one possible explanation listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, the use of the term port in nautical terms like porthole or gunport is not related to the nautical usage of port as "left," although they do eventually derivefrom the same Indo-European root. The usage of port meaning a hole in the side of a ship dates to the fourteenth century. This usage of port came into English from the Latin porta, meaning gate or door,via Old French.

 

(Sources: Oxford English Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary)

[awatsonbcp]

I think I read somewhere that the americans and most of the rest of the world drive on the right because its something to with which side of the brain is best at spatial whateveritis.

 

And after all only one in seven people is left handed so that doesnt count.

[Guest]

I I see that geezer in the skiff again, he is in for a very long lecture after reading all of this

[Guest]

Deleted, sorry put it in wrong topic.

Edited September 12, 2006 by Guest

[carlt]

I lived with a girl in paris who told me a tale of a taxi journey in rome. The taxi was being driven very erratically so, sarcastically, she asked 'which side of the road do you drive on in Italy?' The response was ; 'sometimes we drive on the left, sometimes the right, but mostly we drive in the shade.'

[William Martin]

Its is fairly clear the "steer board" would be on the right hand side of the boat so a right handed steerer is comfortable- think about steering a trad stern NB- so the explanation of Port and Starboard must be accurate. Passing port side to port side. is again logical.

 

Up until the late 1940s large british (but not US) airplanes had only one pilot - and he sat on the left! I think even to this day the actual pilot (as opposed to the co-pilot) sits on the left.

[Hairy-Neil]

Its is fairly clear the "steer board" would be on the right hand side of the boat so a right handed steerer is comfortable- ....................

 

............. Passing port side to port side. is again logical.

 

 

I'll second that......

 

Even left handers have to steer with their right as the Morse control is predominantly mounted to the left hand position.

 

The Staffs & Worcs Canal co. was just the exception that prooved the rule, perhaps its chief exec. was a left hander?