# nave in vista a babordo



## maria vecchi

nave in vista a babordo!

Hello, it seems I can't find this typical nautical phrase, I could only find the separate elements but I don't know how to piece them together:
- ship (rather than boat, I suppose)
- in sight? in view? ho?
- port
The context is 17th-18th century, pirates, the Caribbeans, and so on.
I also checked with the Seatalk Nautical Dictionary without success.
Don't know if there are any seamen in this forum... or readers of adventure novels...


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## dulwich

ship ahoy to port!!


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## Nerino

Forse "in sight (ahead) on the port side". Ciao!


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## maria vecchi

Thank you all! I like "ahoy" very much...


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## furs

dulwich said:


> ship ahoy to port!!


 (you could also say 'in sight' instead of 'ahoy, I suppose.)

Incidentalmente, il termine marinaresco italiano attuale sarebbe 'sinistra'. Babordo e' un francesismo, forse giustificato in questo caso data l'ambientazione caraibica.


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## maria vecchi

Incidentalmente: what about directions in general in seatalk?
for example, "a dritta", "a babordo", etc.?
Is that always "to starboard", "to port", or should the preposition "to" not be used?


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## furs

That depends on the context. Note that sinistra is usually _portside_, rather than just 'port'.


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## dulwich

to port - to the left
to starboard = to the right 
astern = behind 
abeam = directly to either side 
ahead = to the front
aloft = above
davy jones's locker = below

Furs - I have spent many a year afore the mast and never have I heard the term "portside" being used


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## maria vecchi

A wonderful navigation chart!

But not "Stern astarboard", then? (The original being: Poppa a dritta)


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## furs

Poppa a dritta? e che vor di'?


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## maria vecchi

Don't ask me! Ask my characters. They are getting ready to save some shipwrecks from a burning ship.


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## furs

Poppa a dritta non ha senso. Sarebbe come dire che hai la schiena a destra.


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## maria vecchi

Suppongo si intenda "indirizzare la poppa a dritta"...


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## furs

Mah, non mi sembra una manovra da veliero.... Mi sa che trattasi di testo scritto da chi di barche ne capisce poco...


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## maria vecchi

Poco ma sicuro... mica sto lavorando su Salgari...


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## Gianfry

furs said:


> Mah, non mi sembra una manovra da veliero.... Mi sa che trattasi di testo scritto da chi di barche ne capisce poco...


Magari se vai a retromarcia può funzionare...


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## dulwich

Stern astarboard would be written as "on the starboard quarter"


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## maria vecchi

Even if it were a command? Like "mandate la poppa a dritta"?


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## dulwich

no - "mandate la poppa a dritta" would be "helm a starboard"


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## maria vecchi

Mon dieu


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## Teerex51

furs said:


> (you could also say 'in sight' instead of 'ahoy, I suppose.)



Sono d'accordo. 

_Ship ahoy_ in italiano si traduce all'incirca con "_Ehi della nave!_", è il modo di attrarre l'attenzione di qualcuno sull'altra imbarcazione.

La storia del termine _ship ahoy_ è lunga, ma non mi risulta che possa significare "nave in vista".


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## london calling

Teerex51 said:


> La storia del termine _ship ahoy_ è lunga, ma non mi risulta che possa significare "nave in vista".


Ti assicuro che per noi bambini inglesi "ship ahoy!" nei libri che leggevamo o nei film che vedevamo significava una cosa sola: nave in vista (aldilà della storia del termine).


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## Teerex51

Must have been a bitter disappointment when you grew up and realized it meant something else...

(I used to think "to weigh anchors" involved the bathroom scales...)


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## london calling

Teerex51 said:


> Must have been a bitter disappointment when you grew up and realized it meant something else...
> 
> (I used to think "to weigh anchors" involved the bathroom scales...)


Not in the slightest...for us it was pirate language.

_Ship ahoy:_

*Ahoy*
Ahoy is the pirate equivalent of a greeting.
*It can also be used in relation to incoming ships. *
_1) Pirate says: "Ahoy mates!"_
_*2) Pirate says: "Ship ahoy!"*_

As you can see, it doesn't mean something else, it means *something else as well as* a greeting.

Hey, I grew up on this, when English was still a foreign language for you! __​


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## Teerex51

OK, let me put it another way.



Would you recommend translating "nave in vista" with "ship ahoy"?
What have you got to back that up? 

All you've come up with is _ship ahoy_ is a greeting  (to a mate or to a ship) and I fully agree.

It still does not mean you've _sighted_ a ship.

PS: are there parts of _my_ life you want to tell me about?  Shouldn't we perhaps stick to linguistics?


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## london calling

Teerex51 said:


> Would you recommend translating "nave in vista" with "ship ahoy"? It is an option, yes, or it was for us kids. Not the main or even real meaning,  of that I am convinced.
> It still does not mean you've _sighted_ a ship. Then what does the second example (it can be used in relation to incoming ships) mean to you? To me it means you shout "ship ahoy" because a) you've sighted the ship and you're advising the rest of the crew of this sighting; b) you're hailing it
> 
> PS: are there parts of my life you want to tell me about? My apologies, you state here you're a native speaker of Italian. If you were brought up bilingual, say so.


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## furs

dulwich said:


> Furs - I have spent many a year afore the mast and never have I heard the term "portside" being used


 
Well, I spent about 10 years working in the shipping business (in an office, not on board a ship), and that is precisely the term we used all the time.


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## Teerex51

_Port_ defines the left side of the ship. In the olden days of sailing, this was the only side used for mooring, since the paddle rudder located on other side, in Old English _stēorbord_, would not allow mooring maneuvers using the _starboard_ side.

_To port_ (or _aport_) is a _direction_ (left) (_helm hard aport!_ = timone tutto a sinistra!)

_Portside_ is an adjective or adverb indicating a ship's left side. _Sul lato sinistro, del lato sinistro._ Example: _the portside boat deck._

This holds true regardless of where you were born.


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## maria vecchi

Hello,
this has turned into an engaging discussion on two levels, the technical and the novelistic. Thank you all for your contributions. 
As far as this case is concerned, the second level was originally more relevant. FYI, I only wanted to add that before querying the forum I had googled "ship in sight" and nothing had come up. But again, everyday language is not at issue in this particular case, and the more 'picaresque' the better. As always, there are no standing solutions.


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## Lorena1970

Hi,

Just in case it can help to confirm what already said by some forum users (LC, dulwich et al), as well as, possibly, help Maria Vecchi to sort her doubts out, I have found this and this and this, where I have the feeling that "_*ship ahoy*_" can only mean "_*nave in vista!*_" (according to the articles' content) Or am I mistaken...? 

HTH


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## byrne

Not wanting to but in, but I agree with London Calling _ahoy_ is a great piratey way to say _in vista_...
Cambridge def:
• 
a shout used, especially by people in boats, to attract attention _Ahoy there!_

• 
used, especially on a boat, when you see something, usually something which is in the distance _Land ahoy!_
_Ship ahoy!_

p.s. complimenti Dulwich and thanks for sharing your nautical knowledge!


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## Teerex51

I think this thread has pretty much run its course. 

IMHO, however many inconclusive links you post, _Ship ahoy_ only means _Ehi della nave!_, a greeting from days of yore when you had no ship-to-ship radio. 
The fact that it appears in a headline cannot change its meaning, or can it? 
One might well have used "ship ahoy" as a child meaning to say "ship ahead!. Who knows?

As I believe we all want to avoid aimless speculations, I've asked our friends on the "English only" forum to weigh in with their opinion and I'll gladly defer to it.


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## dulwich

So on your analysis when one uses the phrase "_land ahoy_" one is greeting the land rather than informing one's fellow crew that land has been sighted??


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## Teerex51

dulwich said:


> So on your analysis when one uses the phrase "_land ahoy_" one is greeting the land rather than informing one's fellow crew that land has been sighted??



I can only repeat what I said above: 



> As I believe we all want to avoid aimless speculations, I've asked our friends on the "English only" forum to weigh in with their opinion and I'll gladly defer to it.


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## Nerino

byrne said:


> Not wanting to but in, but I agree with London Calling _ahoy_ is a great piratey way to say _in vista_...
> Cambridge def:
> •
> a shout used, especially by people in boats, to attract attention _Ahoy there!_
> 
> •
> used, especially on a boat, when you see something, usually something which is in the distance _Land ahoy!_
> _Ship ahoy!_
> 
> p.s. complimenti Dulwich and thanks for sharing your nautical knowledge!


 
Just to stress once again that this is not the only dictionary reporting the dual usage:

Definition:1. *expressing greeting: *used by sailors to greet another ship or person or to attract attention
Ahoy there!

2. *registering sighting: *used by sailors to announce that something, usually another ship or land, is in sight
Land ahoy!

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861584274

Bye everybody!


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