Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-06-02
Making Over Our seala,au.,e

l .
For port and starboard, read left an
| right hereafter. Shades OF Marrya
and Fenimore Cooper, yes, and of Joh
| Paul Jones' SO much of the romano
Of the sea went when the steam ket
| tic came in and the great square rig
| ged windjapmer began to dsappea
| that at least the language of the ocea
| might have been spared and left to un
dergo no more violent transformatiol
than that wrought by the natura
han es til : and the coming of al
ra rollers as engines, and elec
rici lat th ere are traitors in tn
- ms W camp, it appears, ant
q loard ALL port are to go by th'
h, aiu-or. should we more properl,
say. pass out of the left gangway"
After this nothing is safe; front ant
rear will soon take, of course, The
Itace of fore and aft; and the fore
and-after which graces cur coasts. Will
She become the ard-and-rearer?
There is much, of course, about the
terrlinologY of our battleships that
could I've civilianized Thus, If port and
starl oard must go, let the sponsons be
called bay windows and the turrets
morrv-go-rounes "Go below, sir will
nov read. Walk downstairs and pip
ing an officer over the side will doubt
loss read .swhistling an officer in tor
o,t) Of the left or right door to the
chin The object of the abolition of
,,nrt AMI starboard is stated to be SIM
i,lify matters for the hosts of landsmen
,rbn man our foating machine-shlpS
"a e1n-nearine vessels Now, in the
old davs of sailing craft, 1t usually
.trifh
rone's end, only about two watches TO
lick into the veriest ahaiuppet 'ne
fart that starboard is right ana port
laft. even if the recruit was as auli DIS
fbo historic Irish lookout who. Whea
asked what he made of an Approaching
rcd and a green light said: Il thlhk IL
:. droog store, sirr." A man ike TINS
might find it hard to knew the oillet-
encp between a patenuog ana range
fnder. and he would surely fnd hih-
self on the battleship Florida IN log
,f the technical terms in which me
cbanical. electrical and ballistle ehSl-
naars rejoice, beside which port anu
starboard are mere a. b, es. But IL
NO must make navigation easy Tor the
masses, why, reform always did love
shining mark.
Rut what fate is in store Tor the
,=3chtine reported who undertakes TO
,yrite his description of the coming
inton Americas cup contest in the
new ea-linge2 Are we TO learn that
- DO shamrock was elose-hauled
ON the right tack" and then to be told
that this was the wrong tack from the
noint of view of scientific seaman
shin? Worse than that may come.
Shall we not read that Shamfock
came about to right at 1e.12, WIN
,he explonation for the layman thal
she was then headed to the left, TAKING
the wind over her right bow, peahi'
mr. nuarter2 If this does not mean
confusion worse confounded, We know
not whereof we write. And what is to
become of the classics of our sea ut
,reaturep Must we edit "Pinofore'
like a play of Shakespeare ana ehahee
the good old song from larboard
watch ahoy'' to ..left-h-a-a-and Watch
ahovq" And the sea novels IN Whlch
the romance or the tragedy always
ha npened by the light of the moon III
the nort-Wateh-muSt We recall thein
now for fresh and revised edlliohs
The bells, of course, will go next. II
will no longer be eight belis anu the
vatch below, but four o'clock ana the
watch below, but four O'Clock ana att-
arnoon tea with patent clocks to strike
the hours on the ships bell ike any
IA me grandfather's clock on the front
stairs in the old home on the farm.
We are reeonciled, of course, to the
.ssinp of the mizzentapgallant brace
cr0SG-1acK lIIS,
and spanker-gaff and the monkey
eaff vangs. The parting win tiieini
xpas softened by the thought that we
should have found it hard TO oe'iiie
them ofthand nowadays without SLY
resort to that diagram OF iuii-iis gu
ship which graces almost every uic-
tionary. We know, with resishatioh'
ton. that the ships eyes nave gone ,ie
yyav of the ships husband ana the
ship's corporal. and that the DAY Oh
the fo-castle and the quarteroech Is
drawing to its close. But when you
talse away starboard and port you de-
,rive thousands Of landsmen ana
i,ndcvonoen of the easiest way OF
chewing how familiar they are with
boats. and the men that go down to
tho sea in ships You rob us, Secre-
,arvD Daniels, of two of our never-to-
bc- -forgotten days when one lay on
the nursery floor and read OF inc nea
Rover and the Sea Lions ana MIC
shipman Easy, and thrilled over sooh
tale as this:
"At 2 A. NJ, being in AZ Ia.lloins ~
water with Bald Head Light bearing Il
u N. and Bug Light N. T.. NJ saw
n suspicious looking, very small, am
b,ujsh white water crossing our stern
TO westward. We soon Haae /. o"'
To belong to something hat lookec
like large whale with the water
washing over either end OF II. ! sup
posed it to be the torpedo boat thei
on our starboard quarter and staha
ing toward u.s. / started ahead on ON
hell to bring our starboard broaosiu'
gun to bear upon him, and hred a
soon as possible. He soon made MS ap
pearance upon our starboard quart
as before. and then rang one bell. I"
soon brought him aheam, hred s'ar
hoard gun again. In about tweht'
minutes found him again on our pol
quarter. turned the ship toward hi.'
until abeam. and fired port broadsio
gun at him."
/ Nurt this read hereafter: FIRED on