Re: MtMan-List: direction?

["John L. Allen" <jlallen@snet.net>]

Ho the list,

OK, I wasn't going to get in on this one but I couldn't resist when Kurt
mentioned Lewis and Clark. The captains did use "larboard" and "starboard"
to mean (usually) the left and right side of the boat. Occasionally, they
used "larboard side" and "starboard side" to mean the left and right banks
of the river. According to DeVoto's edition of the Journals, the left and
right banks of the Missouri are (I'm quoting here): to the right and the
left respectively of the boat.

In other words, the right bank of the Missouri (to Lewis and Clark) was the
bank on their left as they proceeded upstream, on their right as they
proceeded downstream. I have, in my own examinations of the Original
Journals, verified DeVoto's conclusion. For Lewis and Clark, the convention
was to name the banks of a stream based on the direction in which the stream
was flowing. For a stream flowing from the north, then, the right bank was
the west bank, on the right hand side of someone traveling south down the
river.

I certainly hope that clears up the confusion! I thought I understood
perfectly what Lewis and Clark meant by "l.s." and "s.s." until I started
this.

Keep your horse happy and you won't have to deal with either bank of the
river.

John

Dr. John L. Allen
21 Thomas Drive
Storrs, CT 06268
860/487-1346
jlallen@snet.net


-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt Westenbarger <kwesten@wyellowstone.com>
To: hist_text@lists.xmission.com <hist_text@lists.xmission.com>
Date: Thursday, November 12, 1998 7:22 PM
Subject: Re: MtMan-List: direction?


>I tried sending this once, I guess it didn't get through so if this is
>double for you folks I apologize.  KW
>
>
>Isn't it amazing (and wonderful) how such a simple question can raise so
>much contoversy!  I was laying up
>thinking about this last night (yes I need to get a life, or mayhap
>better dreams) and wondered about Lewis &
>Clark.  After all they wrote bunches about where they went.  Often they
>refer to left & right as "larboard &
>starboard" which refer to left & right sides of a water craft. (as I
>understand it - been on the ocean twice and
>never heard either term - so if I'm wrong please correct)  But they use
>it in reference to the river banks such as a
>river might enter upon the larboard side.  My question is:  do their
>references to left and right change when they
>change direction in relation to river flow.  Is larboard (their left)
>when facing up the Missouri still their left when
>going down the Columbia in 1805?  Is an object spotted on the larboard
>side on the way up the Missouri still on
>the larboard side while headed down?  And is the same true when they
>refer to right and left instead of starboard
>& larboard?
>
>Just thought I'd throw this out and see if anyone wants the research
>challenge and will report back.  Personally I
>find the topic interesting but there's not enough spark to catch fire -
>yet anyway.
>
>Another brain fart:  I thought that when a ship entered harbor in the
>early days (whenever that was) there was a
>"pilot" or some such person who came out to the vessel to guide it in.
>This implies (to me) an absence of
>channel bouys.  If this is so (and I plainly admit I'm way over my head
>when out on the ocean) when did
>channel bouys come into common use in harbors, river mouths, and in
>navigable rivers such as the
>Mississippi?  I ask because the date may provde some insight into the
>direction issue.
>
>Snowin' here in West Yellowstone!  :-)
>kurt
>
>
>