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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mercutio01" data-source="post: 5926640" data-attributes="member: 37277">The use of the word "port" to mean left is a relatively recent phenomenon in nautical history. Up until the middle 1800s, the left side facing forward was the larboard side, a corruption of "ladderboard." The calling of directions in the wind caused a lot of confusion, so the term "port" which had been used informally, became the standardized term. Both ladderboard and port reference the direction that ships tied to the piers.The silver coin at the base of the mast is something that I believe is still performed, if not with as much pomp and circumstance as it was when sailing ships were still the most common method of sea transportation.I ran a Pirates of the Spanish Main PBP for about three months a few years ago. Here's a somewhat shorted list of terminology than the one listed above, but it has a few items that are missing from the above.For this time period, both larboard and port are okay. Port didn't technically become commonplace until the mid 1800's, but it was in use in the mid-1700's. Ships always tried to tie up larboard side towards the port, hence replacing larboard (which sounds too much like starboard, especially when under fire or similarly pressured). Ropes are on land. They are lines at sea. If you call something a rope at sea, you are either referring to "wire rope" or else you're about to get your ass kicked. The lines at sea are: Mooring lines - for tying up to port Hawsers - for towing Anchor lines (also called "rodes") - for dropping anchor (the time period in question didn't use chain yet) Painters - lines on small boats (not ships!) for tying up to piers Sheets - lines that control tension on the sails - these are on the forward end of a sail where the boom meets the mast Outhauls - lines that control tension on the sails - these are on the after end of a sail where the edge of the boom farthest from the mast. Halyards - lines that are used to hoist sails Shrouds - lines that hold masts in place laterally (look at a telephone pole and look at the wire rope that anchors to the ground. The purpose to to make sure winds don't knock over the poles. Same concept) These tie down to the port and starboard sides of the ship Stays - lines that hold masts in place fore-and-aft. Ratlines - lines strung between Shrouds to use as steps for climbing up the mast. Think of these as "rungs" like on a ladder. Shrouds and stays are called "Standing Rigging" because they stay in place pretty much all the time. Heaving line - a smaller line with a weight or a monkey's fist that is tied to a larger line like a mooring line. The weighted end is thrown from the ship to a pier so that someone on the shore can haul a mooring line across (mooring lines are too heavy to throw) Lanyard - a line that keeps a small object tied to a person or ship Leadline - for sounding depths. So called because it's a lead weight attached to a length of line with markings at each fathom A few other terms pertaining to lines: Bight - any bend in a line. Very dangerous to stand near. If a line starts to run, and your foot is in a bight, you're going to get tangled up and dragged overboard. Bitter end - the free end of a line Masts: This is all dependent on how many masts are onboard a ship. Below is a three-mast setup. Foremast - forward most mast Mainmast - largest and generally most central mast Mizzenmast - aft most mast For two-masted ships there's just a main and mizzen. One-masted ships just have mains. We won't worry about four masted or more ships as we won't see any. Sails: Mainsail (pronounced mains'l - the sail that flies from the mainmast and provides most of a ship's speed and manueverability Topsail (pronounced tops'l) - the sail that flies above another sail at the very top of the mast Jib - the sail that runs from the bowsprit back to the foremast (or main in a two or one masted ship) Mizzen - the sail that flies from the mizzen mastI think the two most important things to note from the above are bight and bitter end. Getting caught in a bight is one of the most dangerous routine errors (and one of the most common) to lead to injury, man overboard, or possibly death. The bitter end is less common, but one of the horror stories is of chains running out to the bitter end and decapitating or dismembering people. In my time as a First Lieutenant onboard ship in the US Navy, I never saw an actual bitter end incident (but quite a few training videos of actual incidents, and they're frightening), but I did see a person caught in a bight and nearly get dragged overboard until an alert boatswain's mate managed to cut the line.Bitter end actually gave rise to the term in normal conversation, where we've ascribed a different definition of bitter (unpleasant, distressful) in order to explain someone coming to a "bitter end" when it actually referred to the end of the line that was tied to "bitts."</blockquote>

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