Q 01/05

In modern naval terms, what qualifies a vessel as a boat?

A) It can be carried aboard a ship

B) It has no auxiliary engine

C) It has a single mast

D) It is under 100 feet long

Answer · why

A) It can be carried aboard a ship

It can be carried aboard a ship: that is the navy's test for a boat. Submarines are the exception, still called boats by tradition however large they ...

Q 02/05

The world's oldest known boat, the Pesse canoe found by Dutch road builders, was made from what?

A) Sewn birch bark

B) A hollowed pine log

C) Bundled reeds

D) Stretched animal hide

Answer · why

B) A hollowed pine log

A hollowed pine log: crews clearing peat for a motorway in 1955 took it for an old tree trunk, and it proved to be a dugout roughly 10,000 years old.

Q 03/05

Which colour of navigation light does a ship show on its starboard side at night?

A) Red

B) White

C) Green

D) Yellow

Answer · why

C) Green

Green marks starboard and red marks port, so at night another crew can tell which way a ship is pointing, and seeing both at once means it is coming h...

Q 04/05

Why was the steering oar of early ships mounted on the starboard side?

A) Prevailing winds favoured it

B) Harbours were built that way

C) Religious custom demanded it

D) Most people are right-handed

Answer · why

D) Most people are right-handed

Most people are right-handed, so early steersmen worked the oar over the right-hand side, and ships tied up on their other side to keep it clear of th...

Q 05/05

Before 'port', the left side of a ship was known by what name?

A) Larboard

B) Leeboard

C) Ladeside

D) Freeboard

Answer · why

A) Larboard

Larboard, possibly from a Middle English word for the loading side, was too easily mistaken for starboard, so the Admiralty ordered 'port' used instea...