THE RULES OF THE SEA

Articles In This Section:

· At Water’s Edge

· DIVING

· BOATBUILDING - Part 1

· BOATBUILDING - Part 2

· BOATBUILDING - Part 3

· THE RULES OF THE SEA

· SAILING SHIPS

There are regular traffic rules at sea. In accordance with these rules, at night a ship must display a red lamp on the port side and a green one on the starboard side. When looking in the direction the ship is going—that is, from the stern toward the bow— starboard is to the right, port to the left. The simple phrase, "My left cheek is red," will help you remember this rule. You can easily see why the colored lights are necessary—if one ship sights another at night, the captain must be able to recognize immediately whether the ship is moving toward him. If the ship is approaching, he will see a pair of lights ahead of him, green to the left, red to the right. For a small ship this is sufficient marking. The position of large ships is indicated by the stern lantern (or the top light in the case of steamships) as well as the lights at the sides.

The crew of the Kon-Tiki proved that even on a raft a sea voyage is possible. Their primitive raft of balsa-wood logs carried them from Peru to Polynesia—over 5000 miles! The drawing on page 75 was done by a member of the crew and is taken from the book Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl.