Q 01/05

When facing the bow of a boat, which side is starboard?

A) Right

B) Bow

C) Stern

D) Left

Answer · why

A) Right

The word comes from Old English steorbord, the steering side, because ships were once steered with an oar on the right.

Q 02/05

Which colour navigation light does a boat show on its port side?

A) White

B) Yellow

C) Green

D) Red

Answer · why

D) Red

The rule of thumb is that a red port light tells the other skipper "you must give way".

Q 03/05

What word did the Royal Navy use for the left side of a ship before 1844?

A) Larboard

B) Leeboard

C) Ladeboard

D) Backboard

Answer · why

A) Larboard

Whalers went on using the old word into the 1850s, and Mark Twain still wrote it in Life on the Mississippi.

Q 04/05

One knot is a speed of one nautical mile per hour, which is exactly how many kilometres per hour?

A) 1.852

B) 1.609

C) 1.000

D) 1.200

Answer · why

A) 1.852

That is roughly 1.15 mph; a boat doing 1 knot along a meridian covers about one minute of latitude an hour.

Q 05/05

The knot takes its name from what speed-measuring device sailors threw over the stern?

A) A lead line

B) A patent log

C) A sounding rod

D) A chip log

Answer · why

D) A chip log

Knots tied every 47 feet 3 inches ran through a sailor's fingers while a 28-second sand-glass timed them.