S/S

English translation: sailing ship

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:S/S
Selected answer:sailing ship
Entered by: zmejka

08:17 Jun 27, 2009
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Ships, Sailing, Maritime
English term or phrase: S/S
I've already posted this to the English-Russian pair, but we seem to be stuck, so I thought I'd consult with you.

I have an S/S "La Ventura" in my text, and I can't decide whether it's a sailing ship, a steam ship, a single screw brigantine or what.

Here are some phrases where the ship is mentioned; they all seem to point to "sailing ship", but the events in the book are taking place ten years ago from nowadays, so I thought that a sailing ship is unlikely; on the other hand, steam ships aren't used much today either if I understand correctly. Please let me know what you think. And thanks!

1) Now keep staring until you see a ship appearing, its three masts raking the sky.
2) She’s so close that you can hear the wind snapping in the thick canvas sails. And now you shield your eyes from the sun, taking in the ship’s majestic lines, her tar-colored hull, and skyscraper masts.
3) If you’re so far away you can only make out the people on deck as little stick figures, the S/S “La Ventura” will seem to you a mirage, a vision from a bygone age. You’ll think you’re still dreaming of clipper ships and buccaneers.
4) Some of the sails are torn, their rigging flapping down the oak sides like whips. The mizzen mast has been secured with extra lines, because it looks like a broken toothpick someone shoved back after using it.
5) The craft draws you near, her beams like crossed spires on a cathedral.
6) You may be closer still, your smaller craft bobbing in the swells produced by the three-masted brigantine.
zmejka
Local time: 09:00
sailing ship
Explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_ship

Even considering that the events in the book are ten years ago, reading through 1) to 6) makes me believe that it is definitely a sailing ship (vessel). Keywords: three masts, a vision from a bygone age, sails are torn.
Please refer to the link above.
Selected response from:

Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 15:00
Grading comment
even if it's against the dictionaries, the description points to the first "S" standing for "sailing", not "steam". thanks for your help and for the discussion, everyone!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +4sailing ship
Yasutomo Kanazawa
5 -1steam ship
Gary D
Summary of reference entries provided
Wiki
B D Finch
writeaway

Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
s/s
sailing ship


Explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_ship

Even considering that the events in the book are ten years ago, reading through 1) to 6) makes me believe that it is definitely a sailing ship (vessel). Keywords: three masts, a vision from a bygone age, sails are torn.
Please refer to the link above.

Yasutomo Kanazawa
Japan
Local time: 15:00
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
even if it's against the dictionaries, the description points to the first "S" standing for "sailing", not "steam". thanks for your help and for the discussion, everyone!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Stanislaw Czech, MCIL CL
1 hr
  -> Thank you Stanislaw

agree  Marianna Tucci
2 hrs
  -> Thank you Marianna

agree  Mirra_: of course... ;))
3 hrs
  -> Thank you Mirra_

agree  Jack Dunwell: Clearly as "romantic" as Coleridge the essence of the vision is salt on canvas
1 day 9 hrs
  -> Thank you fourth
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1 day 1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
s/s
steam ship


Explanation:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_SS_on_Navy_Ships_stand_f...

SS is short for Steam Ship and used on civilian ships. NS would be Nuclear Ship and there was at least one civilian nuclear powered vessel.

A lot of the early sail ships also had steam engines to assist, esp in the 1800's, It carried over from this that going into the 1900's they were still called steam ships as they were coal fired, later after WWII Diesel / oil became the preferred choice of power.

Example:

SS Mississippi, SS George Washington. are steam ships and have the prefix SS.

http://atlantictransportline.us/images/11big.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/SS_George...
The SS George Washington was a captured German Passenger liner

http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&ch...

This is a tug boat which is clearly a steam ship, as most of them were as they had the best horse power at the time to move the bigger boats around the harbor.
http://www.anniemayhem.com/blog pics/SS_Hurricane_Camille_1....

Here is the SS great Britain
http://www.datareservoir.co.uk/ss_gb1.jpg
A sail and steam ship

And through this picture diary you can get all the definitions.

http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.boblero...


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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2009-06-28 09:40:01 GMT)
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http://www.hazegray.org/faq/smn2.htm Part B... there is also a part A

Gary D
Local time: 16:00
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Mirra_: yes of course, this is how they WERE called. Now, many people - like in this 3-masted case - uses S/S for sailing ship because in their ignorance of the past SS stands just for 'sailing ship'. Even a rapid tour on the web can help you to understand it.
3 hrs
  -> They may have started calling it SS as sailing ship, But when all the different forms of ship came in they would have had to change and use correct coding. The SS Mississippi has no sails, and the SS/SSN for submarine, become a sailing ship?
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Reference comments


2 hrs
Reference: Wiki

Reference information:
The reference below gives historical info and a list of ships' name prefixes, according to which "S/S" should definitely stand for "steamship". However, if the ship in question is clearly not a steamship, then I'd just avoid the issue by simply giving the name as is or omitting "S/S", i.e. assume that it is a mistake in the original and that they used the prefix in a misguided attempt to sound more authentic and nautical.


    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_prefix
B D Finch
France
Native speaker of: English
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1 hr
Reference

Reference information:
In sailing, a brigantine is a vessel with two masts, only the forward of which is square rigged.

Originally the brigantine was a small ship carrying both oars and sails. It was a favorite of Mediterranean pirates and its name comes from the Italian word "brigantino" which meant brigand's ship.[1] In modern parlance, a brigantine is a principally fore-and-aft rig with a square rigged foremast, as opposed to a brig which is square rigged on both masts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigantine

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-06-27 09:30:10 GMT)
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the source text says it's 3 masted brigantine. This does help prove they are talking about a sailing ship and not a steam ship.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2009-06-27 12:21:17 GMT)
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http://www.shipyard.co.za/index.php?comp=product&op=view&id=... Here we have a picture of a steamship with sails. Am so glad I prefer motorboats.

writeaway
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Note to reference poster
Asker: yeah, i read the wikipedia entry, but this vessel has three masts, which also confused me

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