Nautical Idioms

During the winter months there seems to be more time for reading and reflection. Thinking about where the words “Shipyard Log” came from, I started digging into expressions or idioms that came from nautical roots.

In the early days of sailing ships, the ship's records were written on shingles cut from logs. These shingles were hinged and opened like a book. The record was called the log book. Later on, when paper was readily available and bound into books, the record maintained it’s name.

Today to show your true colors is to reveal your true character or intentions. Pirate ships would approach their intended victim showing a false flag to lure them into a false sense of security. When it was too late for the victim to escape they would then show their true colors or flag.

Food and drinks are always a topic of interest. One common expression is: Down the Hatch. This is a drinking expression, but has its origins in loading cargo onto boats as you might expect. As the cargo is put into the hold, it travels down the hatch, and appears to be consumed by the ship.

In today’s economy we are ever mindful of our finances. We may have money set aside to use for fun and entertainment expenses, which we call our slush fund. So where does this phrase slush fund come from? This nautical expression has been around since 1939. It refers to the waste fat or grease left over from meat boiled down on board the boat. Sailors boiled down and stored the fat remains of their salted beef rations; this was then sold to soap and candle makers. The money received from the sale of the slush' was used for the crew's comfort and entertainment.

So, use some of your slush fund to celebrate the new year and keep warm with a drink down the hatch.

Women Sailors

Two avid women sailors have continually amazed the shipyard over the last 20-30 years. Susan Sproul has been coming to Boothbay Harbor from the Chicago area, every year for at least 20 years. We at Boothbay Harbor Shipyard have been caring for Ku’uipo, (a Hawaiian word meaning sweetheart), her 12 1/2 ft. Herreshoff, (actually 16-17 ft) for 20 years. Her focus for 2-3 weeks each summer is sailing Ku'uipo. She and her husband book a room at Linekin Bay Resort in Boothbay Harbor and we deliver her boat to greet her on her arrival. For the following weeks, she usually sails three times a day: morning, afternoon and evening. She takes time off for her meals in between. She will go out with friends or by herself, but she almost always goes out.

Barbara Lockwood, another avid sailor has given Boothbay Harbor Shipyard the care of her Herreshoff 28, Ariel for the last 30 years. Being a teacher in a suburb of Boston, Barbara has time in the summer to enjoy a great deal of sailing. She moors Ariel on one of the 24 moorings in the harbor belonging to Boothbay Harbor Shipyard. Often she will come up to Maine and take Ariel out for a couple to 10 days followed by Ariel resting for week or so on the mooring. Along with friends and family, Barbara takes her beautiful wooden dingy, Louise, which was a gift to her from her father. She repeats this sail plan often from Memorial Day to November.

We would like to toast these two extraordinary women sailors for their continued love of sailing.

Shutter or Whiskey Plank

What is it with alcoholic beverages and ships? We all know the tradition of breaking a bottle of champagne on the hull of a ship for its christening before it is launched. However, pouring whiskey on a plank of the hull of a ship is a bit more unknown.

In December, the shutter plank, or whiskey plank was installed on the CHEROKEE, the Sparkman and Stevens six-meter yacht being build by Boothbay Harbor Shipyard as an exhibit, at the Museum of Yachting.

Why a celebration for this plank? A whiskey or shutter plank is the last plank, which needs to be put in place to finish a ship's hull. The Shutter Plank Party is an old tradition. Sometimes a glass of the last captain’s favorite drink is poured on the plank. However, the drink of the last captain of the original CHEROKEE is unknown so they used whiskey.

After a whiskey plank is put on, the hull can be treated, sealed, and painted, and work begins on the inner fixtures of the ship. Because this marks a turning point in the construction, it is traditional to take a brief moment to celebrate the mounting of this special plank. Often, this tradition involves shots of whiskey for all.

Although the CHEROKEE is still far from finished, once the shutter or whiskey plank is installed, a major milestone in the construction has been reached.

It has been a while since we have checked in on the progress of the CHEROKEE, from the lofting to the completed hull. A larger view of these images can be view here.

If you would like to see more great pictures and read more details of this project click into the CHEROKEE Blog by Tom Daniels.

Boothbay Harbor Lights Boat Parade

On a cold winter Saturday night during the holiday season, one might ask what happens in a small coastal town in Maine. One special activity in Boothbay is the Boothbay Harbor Lights Boat Parade. On Friday night Joe Reardon, Micheal Connors, Jeff Dick, Michael and Pam Bauregard and Michelle Farnham gathered to decorate the Glenn-Geary for the parade. The red lights went up on the port side and the green lights went up on the starboard side with white and mixed colors in between. The lights were powered with a generator donated by Kevin Roux.

At 5:00, the parade began to circle the harbor from the town float around the east side to the shipyard on the west side and back to the town float. The judges made up of merchants from town, looked at the 13 participating boats and chose our own Glenn-Geary, piloted by Capt. Dave Thompson wearing his white beard and red Santa hat, as FIRST place. The shipyard won bragging rites for the year, along with $100 and a silver engraved cup. Congratulations to all who participated in this celebration. Pictures of the event are available here.

Red and Green

As we enter into the holiday season, the colors red and green come to our mind as colors of seasonal decorations. Where as, in the summer, those colors mean something very different for those that maneuver sailing ships and powerboats along the coast of Maine. Red represents the port (or left) and green represents the starboard (or right) side of a ship or boat.

Historically, before ships had rudders on their centerlines, they were steered by a specialized oar. Located in the stern (back) of the ship, this oar was held by an oarsman. However, like most of the rest of society, there were many more right-handed sailors than left-handed sailors. Therefore, the oar was usually on the right side of the ship. The Old English word steorbord evolved into starboard, which meant, the side on which the ship is steered.

Originally, the port or left side of the ship was known as larboard. Larboard is derived from the practice of sailors mooring on the left side (the larboard or loading side) as to prevent the steering boards from being crushed. The term larboard, when shouted in the wind and weather, was presumably too easy to confuse with starboard. Later in the 1850’s, the word port came to replace it, referring to the side of the ship where cargo is loaded from the port.

So, if you have difficulty remembering left-port and right-starboard, here are a couple of suggestions:
1. "Port", "left", and "red" are all short words while the other side are long words “starboard", "right", and "green".
2. Or if you are a wine lover this one might be the easier to remember. “Is there any Red Port Left in the bottle?

International WorkBoat Show

Boothbay Harbor Shipyard representatives Capt. Dave Thompson and Dave Ernst, head for the International WorkBoat Show this week in New Orleans.

The International WorkBoat Show is the largest commercial marine tradeshow in North America serving people and businesses working on the coastal, inland and offshore waters. One thousand companies will display products and services for commercial vessels and the companies that build, service and operate them.

In the future, BBHS will be teaming with Cummins to install propulsion and auxiliary engines from 50 to 2000 horsepower (37 to 1492 kW). Boothbay Harbor Shipyard can install engines into such boats as: gill netters, ferries, yachts, tugboats, fishing boats, fire boats, seiners, and crew boats.

Installations such as the Cummins engines in the tugboat Lucinda Smith are an example of the teaming effort. See a video on the tugboat Lucinda Smith installation here.

International Sail Training Association Conference

On November 14 and 15, 2008, Boothbay Harbor Shipyard was proud to help sponsor the first joint Sail Training International/American Sail Training Association annual conference, which was held at Halifax. It was the first Sail Training International conference to be held outside Europe.

More than half of the 400 delegates from 28 countries were sail training tall ship operators from around the world. Other attendees represented ports that host the Tall Ship events. Click here for a new video on Sail Training International.

“Bringing our conference to Halifax is one of a series of initiatives we have embarked on to extend our global reach and influence, working with our member national organizations.” For more details on the conference click here.

“The American Sail Training Association is a founder member of Sail Training International. The joint venture on this year's conference will strengthen our links with the international sail training community as a precursor to the Tall Ships® Atlantic Challenge 2009,” said Mike Rauworth, Chairman of the American Sail Training Association.