Twiss’ Black Book of the Admiralty
Vol 4 Page 373 footnote 2:
[I]n the Code of
The Sailor’s Defence!!
“Please your
Magistrates worship and glory – he run foul of my
Larboard Side…..”
Until the
invention of the steamship there were no regulations for the avoidance of
collisions at sea. There were, of course, unwritten laws and the custom was
that the ship sailing with the advantage of the wind would give way to the ship
whose course was less favoured by the wind.
However, when two
ships were on crossing courses and both were close hauled to the wind an
arbitrary rule was required if one was to keep out of the way of the other.
The rule which
developed was that the ship on the port tack would give way to the ship on the
starboard tack.
The origin of this
rule is said to lie in the custom that early ships carried their steering oar
on the starboard side of the ship. When two ships were tacking on crossing
courses the ship which was presenting her starboard side to the other would
alter course first in order to show her port side and thereby protect her
steering oar from the other ship.
In any event, it
became a law of the sea that a sailing ship on the port tack would give way to
a sailing ship on the starboard tack.
She would do this
by putting her tiller up wind and altering so as to pass port to port. She
would have to alter sufficiently to keep well clear of the port side of the
other ship and it seems that the sailors in the other ship would become very
“touchy” if she came too close to their port side.
This is
illustrated in a caricature made by George Moutard
Woodward in 1807 entitled The Sailors Defence
where the defence –
“he run foul of my larboard side”
– appears to be an allusion to the port tack
rule.
The rule was later
adopted for steamships on crossing courses and when side lights were introduced
the red light for danger was placed on the port side to indicate to the other
ship that she should keep clear. A ship was perceived by mariners to be in some
legal difficulty if she crashed into the red side light of the other ship. It
was for this reason during the Cod War that Icelandic tugs would choose to ram
the starboard side of Royal Navy frigates with their own port side.
It is something of
a paradox that the custom of carrying the steering oar on the starboard side may
have led to the law that one is required to keep clear of a ship showing her
port side.
Report of Select Committee on Steam Navigation 1831
When
paddle-steamers first appeared in the rivers and estuaries, the practice which
was naturally adopted for passing each other is described by Captain K. B.
Martin in his evidence
to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Steam Navigation in 1831 as
follows:-
88. What are you? - I am in the command of
the City of
209.
You are out in your vessel at night? - Yes.
210. What is your custom about lights? - My
custom would be to place a very good lantern at the foremast head; it must have
a back to it, or it would intercept the sight; and one under each paddle box.
211. Is that always done? - I always do it,
and then any vessel ahead of us sees that we are coming.
212. Do you know that other vessels do it? -
I saw yesterday evening five vessels in the river, and every vessel had a
lantern at the mast head.
213. Is that a particular plan of your own,
or is it an order from your owners? - They order me to fix lights, but I
exercise my own discretion as to the manner of fixing them.
214. Have you ever seen Higgins's revolving lights? - Yes, I have seen them tried.
215. Do you approve of them? - Yes, I think they are clever things.