Rapid Explorer - Your Luxury, High-Speed Specialists!

The nautical mile is based on how far it is around the earth at the equator. If you were standing in the center of the earth, and marked off 360 degrees (how circles are measured using geometry) the distance from the beginning to the end of 1 degree would still be very large, so scientists decided to break it down farther. One degree is broken into 60 "minutes", that means the distance around the earth is 360 * 60 = 21,600 "minutes" around the earth.

It sounds funny to measure distance in minutes when we are used to measuring time this way, but that is how scientists do it! This is where the nautical mile came from. 1 minute of distance at the equator is equal to 1 nautical mile. So the earth is about 21,600 nautical miles around at the equator.

So how far is 1 nautical mile in feet? It is about 6,072 feet. If you compare this to the length of a mile on land, which is 5,280 feet, you will see that a nautical mile is longer than a mile on land by 796 feet!

Why is speed on the water measured in knots?

Before computers and other types of technology, the only way sailors could measure their ship's speed was to throw a log into the water and watch how fast it moved away from the ship. This approximate method of ship speed measurement was called 'Heaving the Log' and was used until 1500-1600s when the 'Chip Log' method was invented. Historians believe that both methods were probably invented by Dutch sailors.

It worked like this - a small weighted wood panel that was attached to a reel of rope, and a sand glass was used to measure time (like the picture to the right). The rope had knots tied at equal distances along the reel. Sailors would throw the wood panel into the sea, behind the ship, and the rope would start unwinding from the reel. The faster the ship was moving forward the faster the rope would unwind. By counting the number of knots that went overboard before the sand glass was empty, they could tell the ship's speed. This is how they came up with the term the knot .

How fast is a knot?

Distance on water is not measured the same as it is on land. The dictionary defines a knot as the speed you have to go to travel one nautical mile per hour. Since we know that a nautical mile is 6,076 ft or 1,852 meters in length, we can convert between knots and miles per hour or kilometers per hour by multiplying.

convert	into	multiply by
Knots	Miles per hour	1.151
Knots	Kilometers per hour	1.853

If you travel on a Hydrocruiser, you move at about 35 knots per hour. That's the same as moving over 40 miles or almost 60 kilometers per hour! Since most ferries only go between 18 - 22 knots per hours, you will really be able to notice the difference. You will also get where you are going much faster and be able to spend more time having fun instead of asking your mom or dad 'Are we there yet?'

What is a foil? Do Hydrocruisers use them?

The reason we care is because we want to get the boat out of the water. We don't want to take it home, or make it fly; we just want to hold it slightly above the water. When this happens, the boat uses much less fuel. There is also less resistance because the boat doesn't have to cut through the water which means you can go faster!

Did you know that the whole idea of a wing was discovered by a Swiss mathematician named Daniel Bernoulli who lived from 1700 - 1785. Not only did he invent the name "hydrodynamics," but he also discovered that a fluid's pressure is inversely proportional to its flow velocity. In other words, the faster the fluid moves, the lower its pressure will be.

Airplane designers, including the Wright brothers, saw how this worked and used the idea when they were designing wings for their airplanes. Dr. Bernoulli looked like this.

What is a water jet engine? How does it work?

Water jet engines work differently from engines that use propellers. A water jet is just a high speed stream of water that is 'spit out' so fast that it creates enough force to move a boat. It is similar to how when you blow up a balloon and then let go of it before tying it closed. The balloon flies through the air while the air on the inside is forced out. You can do the same thing underwater with a water balloon.

How far is it to St. Maarten?

Too far to walk or swim and you can't drive there. St Maarten is an island in the ocean. Here are some distances from major cities in the world.

City	Distance in KM	Distance in Miles
Los Angeles	5715	3551
New York	2728	1695
Paris	6376	3962
Honolulu	9755	6061
London	6582	4090
Tel Aviv	3233	2009
Sydney	8730	5425
Mexico City	3792	2356

Here there be Pirates!

Pirate language

If you want to talk like a pirate, you have to learn some special words! Here are a few to get you started.

• Aarrr!: Pirate exclamation. Done with a growl and used to emphasize the pirate's current feelings. Best used on occasions like when you dog eats your homework, your mom or dad tells you that you have to take a bath in the middle of your favorite TV show, or your kid brother is bugging you

• Avast: Stop and pay attention. Pirate moms and dads probably said this to their pirate kids who didn't want to stop what they were doing and take a bath.

• Aye aye: yes sir. Good pirate kids would reply "Aye aye sir" when their dads told them to take a bath.

• Beauty: a lovely woman or impressive boat. Sometimes you have to be careful using this term because someone might think you are talking about one thing when you really mean another. For example if you see some really big strong girls unloading booty (see below) off a big fancy ship and you say "Ay, she's a beauty" and you're talking about the ship, your friend might think you are talking about the girls.

• Bilge rat: a very unfriendly term. The bilge of the ship was at the bottom where gross smelly yucky things (including rats, the stuff you didn't want to eat at dinner that you hid in your pocket, and old gym socks) were frequently found. This is a term you might use for that kid in school who always knows the right answers or tries to push you around on the playground.

• Davy Jones' Locker: The bottom of the sea. The final resting place for many pirates and their ships. As far as anyone knows, there was no real person named Davy Jones.

• Flogging: getting whipped. Common usage includes "Avast ye foul rugrats! If ye don't weigh anchor now, I'll flog ye and send ye to Davy Jones' Locker!"

• Foul: Turned bad or done badly, as in 'Foul Weather' 'Foul Dealings' or 'Foul Mouth'. Pirate moms and dads were known to have yelled "Avast ye foul mouth rugrat!" when their kids talked back after being told to take a bath.

• Keelhaul: Punishment. Usually tying the sailor to a rope and dragging him under the ship from stem to stern. This was much worse than flogging.

• Matey: Your friend. If you yelled "Ahoy me matey" it was the same as saying "Dude, what's happening?!" today.

• Mutiny: when everyone gangs up and overthrows the captain. Occasionally tried in pirate school classrooms, but rarely successful. If your mutiny failed, you would certainly get a flogging and maybe be keelhauled.

• Ne'er-do-well: A scoundrel or rascal. The bully on the playground at the pirate school was a fine example of a ne'er-do-well.

• Pieces of eight: Spanish silver coins that could actually be broken into eight pieces, or bits. Two of these bits were a quarter of the coin, and that's where we get the expression "two bits" for a quarter of a dollar, as in the cheer, "Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar ." When you counted your booty, you wanted there to be lots of pieces of eight in it.

• Rigging: Ropes that hold the sails in place. If your clothes dryer broke on the ship, you could always hang the wet clothes on the rigging.

• Saucy Wench: A wild woman, like crazy aunt Shirley who has a tattoo, pierced nose or tongue, rides motorcycles and is always dating someone that her parents don't like.

• Tankard: A large mug. Pirate kids wanted tankards full of chocolate milk and pirate men wanted them full of grog.

• Wastrel: A useless man, like your friend George's older brother who quit college, lives at home and plays video games and chats on the internet all day and night.

• Weigh anchor: Prepare to leave. Frequently used when it is time to go home for dinner.

• Yardarm: A long pole that sticks out from the ship's mast. Supposedly used to hoist cargo on board ship but also used to hang criminals or mutineers.

Pirate jokes

Q: What was the new movie rated?
A: AARRRRGGH!

Q: What's a pirate's favorite mode of transportation?
A: cAARRRRGGH!

Q: What's a pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet?
A: arrrr

Q: What's a pirate's favorite kind of socks?
A: arrrrgyle

Q: What is a pirates favorite study subject?
A: arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.

Q: What's a pirate's second-choice job?
A: an arrrrrrchitect!

A pirate walks into his favorite restaurant and the waiter says, "Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. What happened, you look terrible!"
"What do you mean?" the pirate replies, "I'm fine."
The waiter says, "But what about that wooden leg? You didn't have that before."
"Well," says the pirate, "We were in a battle at sea and a cannon ball hit my leg but the surgeon fixed me up, and I'm fine, really."
"Yeah," says the waiter, "But what about that hook? Last time I saw you, you had both hands."
"Well," says the pirate, "We were in another battle and we boarded the enemy ship. I was in a sword fight and my hand was cut off but the surgeon fixed me up with this hook, and I feel great, really."
"Oh," says the waiter, "What about that eye patch? Last time you were in here you had both eyes."
"Well," says the pirate, "One day when we were at sea, some birds were flying over the ship. I looked up, and one of them did his thing and it went in my eye."
"So?" replied the waiter, "what happened? You couldn't have lost an eye just from some bird poop!"
"Well," says the pirate, "I really wasn't used to the hook yet."

What is a pirate?

Piracy is defined as any robbery or other violent action, for private ends and without authorization by public authority, committed on the seas or in the air outside the normal jurisdiction of any state.

In much more simple terms, it means that anyone who takes stuff that doesn't belong to them while in the ocean or in the air above an ocean, is a pirate.

Since oceans don't belong to any country, nobody can make rules about what is allowed there. For this reason, all the countries of the world have agreed that anyone from any place that catches pirates can take their ship, bring them to a port, take the crew to court, and if they are found guilty, to punish them.

Pirates have been around since ancient history. In the ancient Mediterranean, piracy was often found where lots of sea trade was done. The Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians wrote about pirates. In the Middle Ages, Vikings from the north and Moors from the south also engaged in piracy. Frequently after wars, sailors from navy ships would end up out of work and were recruited to work on pirate ships.

A common source of piracy was the privateer. This was a privately owned and armed ship commissioned by a government to 'get even' with people who stole things from them or to prey upon the enemy in time of war.

Typically, armed thugs would try to sneak on board a ship and overcome the crew in an attempt to steal the cargo. Believe it or not, there are still pirates around. Today, the pirate's sloop has been replaced by small motorboats. Often ships are attacked while docked and most of the crew is away.

Today pirates usually use axes and long knives instead of swords. Occasionally some may have guns. They tend not to fight hard and prefer to flee if the crew manages to organize any kind of defense. According to the ICC International Maritime Bureau 2004 Annual report on piracy, the number of attacks reported worldwide through the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur was 325, down from the 445 recorded in 2003.

When did pirates like we see in the movies live?

Did pirates really fly a flag with a skull and bones?

They certainly flew a flag to warn or signal other ships. There are many myths about the background of the Jolly Roger which is also known as Captain Death among pirates. The most popular myth is that plague ships (ships full of sick people) would fly a black flag to warn others to stay away.

That flag became a black flag with a white cross that somehow mutated to a skull and crossbones on a back ground of black. The pirates began flying this flag as a way to keep prying eyes away. Eventually everyone caught onto the scheme.

However, it is clear that privateers sailed under a national flag and not the Jolly Roger. The buccaneers would often raise a red flag along with their national flag when calling on a ship to surrender. The red flag simply meant that no quarter (a term for mercy or safety) would be given if a ship offered resistance. This flag was called joli rouge. It is easy to see how this could have been changed into English as the Jolly Roger. The name stuck when the flag switched from red to black.

The skull and cross bones, or "deaths head" had been used as a cap badge among European armies since the 1600s. The first use of the same ensign on a flag was from the early 1700s so the design was probably borrowed. There are many variations of the flag, but the most common Jolly Roger is the Skull and cross bones, usually with the bones crossing under the skull but sometimes the bones are behind the skull.