HMS Surprise and The Fight for Lake Erie May 1813

[Admiral_Of_The_Fleet]

I have posted this video in the forum section because it is part of our past naval history and is also present today.

Please watch the write up as the video starts,

very interesting indeed as it tells us how the names that we use for today's ships came about.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW4qV8I0duk

 

 

[kumisz]

Those little ships are adorable. Are they screw driven or sails?

[Zargor]

Larboard to Port

 

This actually made me look it up out of curiosity:

 

"Formerly larboard was used instead of port. This is from Middle-English ladebord and the term lade is related to the modern load.^[3] Larboard sounds similar to starboard and in 1844 the Royal Navy ordered that port be used instead.^[4] Larboard continued to be used well into the 1850s by whalers. In Old English the word was bæcbord, of which cognates are used in other European languages, for example as the German backbord and the French term bâbord (derived in turn from Middle Dutch)."

 

"

Norie, John William; Hobbs, J. S. (1847) [1840]. Sailing directions for the Bay of Biscay, including the coasts of France and Spain, from Ushant to Cape Finisterre ("A new ed., rev. and considerably improved" ed.). C. Wilson. p. 1. OCLC 41208722. Retrieved 7 February 2010. An order, recently issued by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, states, that in order to prevent mistakes, which frequently occur from the similarity of the words starboard and larboard, in future, the word port is to be substituted for larboard, in all Her Majesty’s ships or vessels.

"

 

1844 is 31 years later after the incident so it is unlikely that this particular occasion has fostered the change but rather a string of incidents spanning several years.