Rowing. Or Not.

I

Ink

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In July's YM (where does the year go! ) Dick Durham writes " I shipped the oars and rowed towards...."

I always understood that "shipping oars" brought them inboard and stowed. Just a slip of the typewriter?

Ink
 
Ink said:
In July's YM (where does the year go! ) Dick Durham writes " I shipped the oars and rowed towards...."

I always understood that "shipping oars" brought them inboard and stowed. Just a slip of the typewriter?

Ink
Click to expand...

I always thought the same as you, and taught my kids that. However looking in a 1951 copy of the Manual of Seamanship Vol 1, it states 'Ship Your Oars' means put them in the rowlocks and be ready to row, 'Boat your oars' means bring them inboard and stow. ( page 191 ).

Now I have to explain to my kids I got it wrong :rolleyes:

Edit: or do I?
Macmillan Dictionary says it means "to stop rowing a boat and put the oars inside it"

SHIP OARS (phrase) definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary

However this says to place them in the rowlocks:
Definition of To ship the oars

as does websters:
To ship the oars | Definition of To ship the oars by Webster's Online Dictionary

So now I'm really confused !
 
dolabriform said:
[SNIP]
So now I'm really confused !
Click to expand...
It is not unknown in English for a word to mean something and its opposite - cleave is the example that springs to mind, which can mean both to stick together and split apart. The same word can also mean opposite things in different contexts, so in a British committee if you table a motion you want the committee to consider it, while if a committee in the US tables a motion it sets it aside.
 
alan_d said:
It is not unknown in English for a word to mean something and its opposite - cleave is the example that springs to mind, which can mean both to stick together and split apart. The same word can also mean opposite things in different contexts, so in a British committee if you table a motion you want the committee to consider it, while if a committee in the US tables a motion it sets it aside.
Click to expand...
Every day is a school day, I shall enjoy those factlets :)
 
dolabriform said:
I always thought the same as you, and taught my kids that. However looking in a 1951 copy of the Manual of Seamanship Vol 1, it states 'Ship Your Oars' means put them in the rowlocks and be ready to row, 'Boat your oars' means bring them inboard and stow. ( page 191 ).

Now I have to explain to my kids I got it wrong :rolleyes:

Edit: or do I?
Macmillan Dictionary says it means "to stop rowing a boat and put the oars inside it"

SHIP OARS (phrase) definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary

However this says to place them in the rowlocks:
Definition of To ship the oars

as does websters:
To ship the oars | Definition of To ship the oars by Webster's Online Dictionary

So now I'm really confused !
Click to expand...
I remember from seamanship training in the RN and from my Lifeboatman course in the MN that "boat oars" meant bring them inboard and lay them fore and aft on the thwarts.
 
Last edited:
"Definition of ship (Entry 2 of 4)

transitive verb
1a : to place or receive on board a ship for transportation by water
b : to cause to be transported shipped him off to prep school
2 obsolete : to provide with a ship
3 : to put in place for use ship the tiller
4 : to take into a ship or boat ship the gangplank
5 : to engage for service on a ship
6 : to take (water) over the side —used of a boat or a ship "

Definition of SHIP
 
But is he the only man who still knows how to row?
“ I shipped the as-supplied, hinged , plastic paddlets on my JumboSupreme deflatable hardtail yacht tender and commenced to paddle furiously , drifting helplessly like a confused duck for 5 minutes…. So then I fired up my 15hp yamazuka and zoomed off to the pub scattering birds, oars and fish for miles …”?
 
alan_d said:
It is not unknown in English for a word to mean something and its opposite - cleave is the example that springs to mind, which can mean both to stick together and split apart. The same word can also mean opposite things in different contexts, so in a British committee if you table a motion you want the committee to consider it, while if a committee in the US tables a motion it sets it aside.
Click to expand...

English can be a difficult language to ravel and unravel.
 
Poignard said:
"Definition of ship (Entry 2 of 4)

transitive verb
1a : to place or receive on board a ship for transportation by water
b : to cause to be transported shipped him off to prep school
2 obsolete : to provide with a ship
3 : to put in place for use ship the tiller
4 : to take into a ship or boat ship the gangplank
5 : to engage for service on a ship
6 : to take (water) over the side —used of a boat or a ship "

Definition of SHIP
Click to expand...
So, if you accept the above (from Merriam-Webster), "shipping the oars" can mean either deploying them (def. 3) , or the opposite (def. 4). I would suggest, however, that the antonym "unship" can only be applied to definition 3.
 
Many years ago my employment included teaching rowing to school pupils, four oars and a cox in each boat. I used the orders passed down from previous generations.
"Toss oars" = hold oar vertical, blade upwards. This would then be followed by either:
'Ship oars' = oars horizontal in rowlocks, await next order.
"Boat oars" = stow oars fore and aft along center of thwarts.

However, I have also come across others using ship oars to mean stowing them inboard. As long as the cox and the crew agree what orders mean there should be no problem.
 
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