Is your boat a SV or SY?

[Tradewinds]

I used to think that only American yachties used to use SV - Sailing Vessel - (eg SV Carpe Diem) & we Brits would use SY - Sailing Yacht - (eg SY Dreamer).

A few posters of UK origin are now signing off as SV xxxxx on this site & on some blogs I've read.

Am I now behind the times?

And should I also be saying gotten instead of got?

Yours,
Nigel
SY Rose of Wight

 

[LadyInBed]

I'm not sure.

Yours,

PHCCK LadyInRed

 

[catalac08]

designation of sailing catamarans have always puzzled me also!

 

[MacMan]

designation of sailing catamarans have always puzzled me also!

Well you've confused me with that statement - what do you mean ?

 

[oldsaltoz]

designation of sailing catamarans have always puzzled me also!

SVX2

 

[michael_w]

Neither - AS = Auxillary Sloop

 

[Tin Tin]

In a similar vain: are you the 'Captain' or the 'Skipper' (or just the poor mug who pays the bills)?

 

[TamarMike]

The list of abbreviations in an old dictionary I've got gives SY as "Steam Yacht".

I always thought that in designations of vessels sail was the default and prefixes were needed for other means of propulsion, e.g. Cutty Sark is simply a Ship whereas the Titanic was a Steam Ship. Similarly yachts ought perhaps simply be referred to as "Yacht" or "Sloop", reducing things to initials is perhaps rather more modern (Victorian or Edwardian!) idea for seafaring tradition.

 

[lw395]

The list of abbreviations in an old dictionary I've got gives SY as "Steam Yacht".

I always thought that in designations of vessels sail was the default and prefixes were needed for other means of propulsion, e.g. Cutty Sark is simply a Ship whereas the Titanic was a Steam Ship. Similarly yachts ought perhaps simply be referred to as "Yacht" or "Sloop", reducing things to initials is perhaps rather more modern (Victorian or Edwardian!) idea for seafaring tradition.

I thought it was:

SS Titanic = Screw Steamship,

as opposed to PS Waverley, Paddle Steamer

Is that correct?

 

[TamarMike]

I thought it was:

SS Titanic = Screw Steamship,

as opposed to PS Waverley, Paddle Steamer

Is that correct?

I think it must have changed over the years as the early paddle steamers such as Brunel's Great Western were prefixed SS in contemporary accounts whereas with more recent usage I assume the terms you suggest. I have now checked the Concise Oxford Dictionary and that also gives SY as "Steam Yacht" while for SS it gives both "Screw Steamer" AND "Steamship" as meanings!

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

I don't have anything authoritive to add, but surely a yacht with SV would not be a yacht? As I recall a yacht is a boat that is purely used for pleasure, so my boat would be M/Y Sultan (Motor Yacht Sultan) where as if she were a working boat she would be M/V Sultan, or some such?

Mal

 

[gandy]

Ours isn't registered, so there's no official name. One that we saw for sale, same model as ours, was Part I registered as a "Single screw auxilliary sailing yacht"

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

Ours isn't registered, so there's no official name. One that we saw for sale, same model as ours, was Part I registered as a "Single screw auxilliary sailing yacht"

So to be precise Sultan should be T/S/D/Y Sultan (Twin Screw Diesel Yacht)
seems a little over the top! And just think of all the extra money for a sign writer and paint

Mal

 

[trapezeartist]

Well I'm glad we've cleared that up then.

 

[westernman]

In a similar vain: are you the 'Captain' or the 'Skipper' (or just the poor mug who pays the bills)?

I am the poor mug who pays the bills.
But I aspire to become the Master of my vessel.
At the moment, too often, it is the other way around.

 

[snowleopard]

I thought it was:

SS Titanic = Screw Steamship,

No, it was RMS Titanic (Royal Mail Ship)

 

[Stemar]

In a similar vain: are you the 'Captain' or the 'Skipper' (or just the poor mug who pays the bills)?

Difintely the Captain - Sole master on board under God, entirely responsible for the conduct and safety of his vessel and, subject to those responsibilities, under the command of the Admiral. (Guess who she is )

Also the poor mug who pays the bills

 

[Ariadne]

In a similar vain: are you the 'Captain' or the 'Skipper' (or just the poor mug who pays the bills)?

Captain is a military rank i.e. you hold the Queens commission.
Skipper - don't know where this one came from - bomber crews in WWII & Holywood?

Boats, ships, yachts, etc all have Masters, that's it. You are the Master before God, not Captain, Skipper or anything else.

 

[Sultans_Kapitein]

Captain is a military rank i.e. you hold the Queens commission.
Skipper - don't know where this one came from - bomber crews in WWII & Holywood?

Boats, ships, yachts, etc all have Masters, that's it. You are the Master before God, not Captain, Skipper or anything else.

Erm well I have a bit of paper that says I'm a 'Dazed Kipper'
But that is where I got my 'login name' from my boat is of Dutch construction so I looked up the Dutch for 'Skipper' and it came up with Kapitein. So I am Sultan's Kapitein,
I know I'm a sad git, I'll go and play on the motorway

Mal

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Nagged SWMBO and some Dutch freinds on "skipper". Both agree (Naval Museum is often asked) that it comes from Dutch "schipper" which means, in essence "man in charge of the ship" with the clear inference that ship is a larger or seagoing vessel and not a small open inland craft. As for origin and first useage, there is a suggestion of Restoration times, and it came over with "jacht", which would be run by a "schipper".

In the transition from purely sail to purely powered the default was sail. Non sail vessels defined themselves as such.

SS: steam ship, SS Great Britain
PS: paddle ship came into being following the widespread uptake of screw propulsion, post 1850 or so, PS Medway Queen
MV: motor vessel, came into use as diesel power came into being, 1920s at the earliest. Never very common as a lot of the motor vessels were replacements of steam vessels lost in wartime so there was limited confusion. Supposedly more common with tankers because of a reduced fire hazard.

Reciprocating and turbine ships were not often differentiated, not least of which because the turbine powered ships tended to be high status passenger liners which took RMS most of the time. (Or HMS of course!)

TSMY/TSDY are mostly a mix of owner's conceit and to differentiate between a sailing yacht with auxilliary power and a purpose built powered craft without sails.

There's one I've not mentioned.

NV, not many have ever been built for civillian purposes and all the others are variants of HMS/USS. Nuclear Vessel