What is the leeward side of a ship?

Question

Oddly enough I was on a carrier in the USN, but I am presently reading the Master & Commander series by P. O'brian. And, as you can imagine this term has been used several times. Thanks!

Answer 1

As others have said, "leeward" just means the side facing away from the wind; it's also the side facing away from the wind of a building, rock or island. Islands which occur in areas of very consistent prevailing winds (like Hawaii) have permanent windward and leeward sides, often with completely different climates. It's pronounced LOO-urd.  

Answer 2

Windward is the side that the wind is blowing against .. Leeward is the side away from the wind ... the leeward side of the ship would be downwind and a bit sheltered.  

Answer 3

Interesting, I also was on a carrier in the Navy, I liked to hang on the leeward side, somewhat protected from the wind.

Back to the question at hand, the leeward side is the protected side of the vessel.

This for interesting, being pronounced "loo-ward" is where the brits get the term "loo" for the toilet, they used the leeward side of the bow of the vessel to do their bodily functions.

Answer 4

You've already gotten good answers, but as a P. O'B fan let me turn you on to two other sources. One is "A sea of Words" - a companion book to the series about life in those times and explanations of terminology encountered in the series. The second is "A Guide for the Perplexed" which are the translations of all the Latin, Greek, Spanish and French words and phrases, found at this link- http://www.agbfinebooks.com/Publications...

'A Guide for the Perplexed': Translations of the 'Foreign' in Patrick O'Brian,        If this link doesn't work for you use a search engine to find it- it's worth it!

Answer 5

the down wind side.  and actually that applies to anything that is out in the wind.  there will always be a windward and leeward side... with windward being the side the wind is hitting.

Answer 6

The side the wind is going to> Not from>