Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-05-19
PHYSIOLOGY OF THE SEA.
Some of the Most Familiar Titles and
Their Origin.

From the Detroit Free Press
In the early days of English naval organs
| izauon vessels OF war had double crews n
military one for fighting purposes and an
! other of mariners for navigating duties
In consequence, a large number Of Eng
fish sea terms have a military ORIGIN
AT that time the rank Of admiral was I'M
| known. and the chief officer Of the saua.l-
ron was called a constable. or justice. Tls
i term admiral now used is derived from
the Arabic amir or ''emir" a commander
las in ''Amir-al-Bahr," commander of the
sea). The carly English form was ann
| iral.' and is still preserved as such by The
French.
The title of captain is not a naval. hut 4
military one Originally. the real caD.ain
of ship was master" \ military Off
| Ger was placed on board though he knew
nothing OF nautical matters Gradually his
Importance increased while that of the
master diminished proportionately iii at
tAe present day the masters office is grad
ually becoming obsolete. Commodore COMES
from the Spanish ''comeudador"
Inc utie OF lieutenant is borrowed direct
ly from the French. and Is meant as a
place holder, or one who took m. Ila,-.. of
the captain when absent. In former DAYS
there were no cadets but volunteers bur
win the gradual advance of poItengss. the
Term cadet was appropriated from the
French.
"Boa;swain" is derived from the saxon
sWeln. a servant. The term quari,.lr,as-
ter, As used in both the army and navy.
appears 10 be. confusing and anomalous.
IN The army il il the title of a commits
stored officer VINO performs import;tut 3u1
responsible duties. In the navy ne is SIM
ply a warrant officer directing Suborlinata
duties IN old ships and in olden times
MS position was more important one. 50
much SO that ne was considered to he ma
1ourth part OF the master-hynce the term
quartermaster.
The ships cook was once a great man,
ana there are instances on record OF his
being promoted for efficient 5reuaratf,n Of
Iood. The ships steward was originally
the caterer.
The terms larboard and staIboard come
fIolH the Italian 'qUestra borda'' and
'qIelia borda, which by rapid delivery h.-
came starboard and larbOara; but owing 20
ire strong similarity OF sound they were
changed Into stdrbOard and bort Lain
porto, to carry, the use of the terms in
the original form having been the cause Of
many accidents.
Gangway has been handed down from
the days of the ancient galley of he
Pho enicians, Carthaeinians and Romans n
having been board which ran along The
whole length serving as a passage for the
roWers 10 and from their seats. 1t was also
used as resting place for the mast and
sail when not in use.
The cockpit in the lowest part of the
vessel below water used during an action
for the treatment OF the wounded is do
rived from the old days of the English
sport or cock fighting; but this has been
modernized and is now known as the
mats why, no one can explain.
Luboer Is frc:a the Dutch, meaning q
lazy, cowardly fellow.
Anchor come from the Latin "anchora"
or ancora,' which up to 600 b. g con.
sisted simply of large stone with hole
through ii.
The popularity of so many portions Of n
ships rigging bearing names derived from
me trappings of a horse can only be ac-
counted for from the fact that the early
warshlps We're manned by soldiers as well
as sailors, the natural consequence being
mat they, the sailors, adapted some OF
their terms to meet their fancy, among
these being brides, whips. bits, stirrups,
and the like,