"Happy as a sand boy". On a riverbank in Bristol, on the site of the original harbour opposite the Thekla, not far from where the replica Mathew was built is a pub called The Ostrich. The Inn stands next to the Redcliffe Caves,
which was a major source of sand. Landlords used to send little boys (sandboys) into the caves to collect sand for spreading on the Inn floors to mop up beer spillages. They were paid in beer!
"Paying on the nail". Paying on the nail is a phrase signifying cash payment (rather than credit payment). Standing on Corn Street outside the Corn Exchange are four bronze tables known as Nails. These round topped pedestals with raised edges which prevent coins from tumbling onto the pavement, were made as convenient tables at which merchants could carry out their business. The oldest pillar is undated, but experts say is late Elizabethan. The second oldest was given by Bristol merchant Robert Kitchen, who died in 1594. The two remaining nails are dated 1625 and 1631 and were used by merchants when closing deals. Placing money on top of the Nails indicated a deal had been struck. However, the origin is still being debated to this day.
"As straight as the crow flies". British coastal vessels often carried cages of crows. It was believed that crows hated large expanses of water and headed straight towards land when released at sea. Something that was useful when the helmsman was unsure of their bearings or in limited visibility or just plain geographically embarrassed. The lookout perch on sailing vessels became known as the crow's nest.
"Why port and starboard?" Boats were developed from simple dugout canoes. As the majority of people are right-handed, most paddlers steering canoes naturally steered from the right-hand side (looking forward) of the boat. As canoes developed into larger vessels, the steering paddle grew larger and developed into a broad-bladed oar, held vertically in the water and permanently fixed to the side of the boat by a flexible lashing or a built-in moveable swivel. The seagoing ships of Northern Europe all featured this side-hung rudder, always on the right-hand side. This rudder was known as ‘steorbord’ in Anglo-Saxon, later becoming the "steer-board" and was further developed in medieval times into the more familiar apparatus fixed to the sternpost. To allow control in harbours, ships always had to be berthed i.e. secured to the harbour walls of the port or "the loading side." Over time, larboard which was too easily confused with starboard was replaced with port. This made sense since this was the side that faced the port, allowing supplies to be brought or "ported" aboard by the harbour porters.
The great problem was that a wind blowing on the starboard beam might push the ship away from the vertical lifting the steer board out of the water making steering next to impossible. A violent wind on the port side could roll the ship so badly that the steer board was broken off, again, causing a steering issue. Only the innovation of the centreline rudder, brought back to Europe by the Crusaders, solved the problem and made the steer-board obsolete. We now know it as the plain old rudder.