How Ship Savvy Are You?
If somebody asked you a question about the wooden model ship on your mantel, would you know the answer? Because these ships are replicas of real ships, knowing nautical terminology will make you sound real savvy when talking about your décor to a guest. Besides port, starboard, forward, and aft (that’s left, right, front, and back respectively), what other nautical terms are important to know?
Some nautical terminology is very technical. For example, do you know what a binnacle is? My guess is that unless you are a full time sailor, you did not know that a binnacle is the stand on which the ship’s compass is mounted. But other terms are much more common. If you hear the captain say the ship is floating at 100 fathoms above Davy Jones’ Locker then you know that there is six hundred feet from water level to the bottom of the ocean. The fathom is the most common form of measure of depth in nautical terms. So, next time you are sitting around with company and someone asks about your ship, be sure to amaze them with your nautical knowledge. You may even be able to point to the binnacle on your model.