Name Histories P

Ship Name Histories - Database of histories of ship names beginning with letter P.

Name Origin: The ancient capital of Burma destroyed by the Chinese in 1356.

Name Origin: A cape between the Gulfe of Salerno and Policastro, said to derive its name from Palinurus, the helmans of Aeneas, who was drowned off it.

Pallada

Name Origin: In Greek mythology Pallas Athene(Minerva), the goddess of wisdom and war.

Pallade

Name Origin: Pallas Athene (Minerva). In Greek mythology the goddess of wisdom, who sprang full armed from the head of Zeus (Jupiter). She is the virgin protectress of arts, industry, and agriculture, the guardian of cities, and the tutelary deity of Athens, at whose foundation she was present.

Paltus

Name Origin: Species of turbot.

Paluma

Name Origin: (Queensland)-The North Australian aboriginal word for “thunder”.

Pamiat Azova

Name Origin: “Souvenir of the Azov.” So called in remembrance of the frigate Azov, Captain M. P. Lazareff, in which Rear-Admiral Count Heyden, commanding the Russian squadron, led the attack at the battle of Navarino, October 27^th 1827. The Azov destroyed the Turkish flagship and sank two frigates and a corvette. In recognition of these services the Emperor Nicolas I, ordered that the Azov and any later ships bearing that name should wear the badge of St. George in the centre of the ensign.

Pamiat Merkuria

Name Origin: “Souvenir of the Mercury.” So called in remembrance of the brig Mercury, Captain Lieutenant Kazarsky, which on May 4^th1829 gallantly fought and repulsed the attack of two Turkish ships of the line of 110 and 74 guns off Constantinople. The Emperor Nicolas I ordered that the Mercury and any later ships bearing that name should wear the badge of St. George in the centre of the ensign.

Pandora

Name Origin: In Greek mythology a woman created by Zeus to bring misery on mankind. The god had given her a box in which he had enclosed all the evils to which humanity is subject. Overcome by curiosity Pandora opened the box, thus letting loose all its nefarious contents, deceptive hope only remaining at the bottom of the box.

Pangrango

Name Origin: A volcano in Western Java.

Panteleimon

Name Origin: The name of a Russian saint.

Panther

Pao-Min

Name Origin: Protector of the people.

Paralos

Name Origin: “By the sea,” the name of one of two sacred ships of the Athenians which annually bore their gifts to the shrine of Apollo at Delos, and which during the Peloponnesian War acted as scouts to the Athenian fleet. In 428 B.C. the Spartan fleet, having failed to relieve Mytilene, sailed from the Bay of Ephesus to make a sudden descent upon Corcyra (corfu). The Paralos and her sister ship, the Salaminia, which had detached by the Athenian Admiral from Mytilene, guessing at the enemy’s intentions, outstripped him and brought up a detachment of Athenian ships from Naupaktos (opposite Patras) just in time to save the hastily equipped Corcyrian fleet from utter destruction and the island from capture.

Parana

Name Origin : Name of a river in the Argentine Republic.

Partenope

Name Origin: Parthenope, the name of a siren after whom the Greek colony of Naples was originally called. In 1799 the short-lived Parthenopian Republic was formed out of the kingdom of Naples.

Pascal

Name Origin: - Blaise Pasal, born 1623, died 1662, French mathematician and philosopher. He had such a natural gift for mathematics that, as a small boy, through forbidden by his father to learn geometry, he rediscovered and solved the problems in the first book of Euclid, without ever having studied any work on the subject. He invented the wheelbarrow, exposed the fallacy of the theory that “nature abhorsa vacuum,” and first applied the barometer to the measurement of altitude. He was a very religious man, and became a warm adherent to the sect of Jansenists. His Pensees are one of the classic works in French literature.

Patagonia

Name Origin : Name of a territory in the southern part of the Argentine Republic.

Pathan

Name Origin: Another name for Afghans proper as distinct from the various other cases, which make up the population.

Pathfinder

Patria

Name Origin: Fatherland, native country.

Patrie

Name Origin: - Native land, mother country.

Patrol

Peder Skram

Name Origin: A great fighter on land and sea, born early in the sixteenth century, died in 1581. As a soldier, his first profession, he took part in numerous battles in Sweden and Germany. His naval career began in 1532, after short service at the Court of King Frederick I. A few years later, he served for a time in Sweden whilst that country was in alliance with Denmark. He successfully commanded ships and squadrons in both Navies during the wars against the Hansa towns, and was greatly instrumental in breaking their power in the North. His intrepidity gained him the nickname “Vorehals.” He left the Navy in 1555, but on the outbreak of the Northern “Seven Years War” in 1563, King Frederick II persuaded him to assume command of the fleet which he held for a short time until replaced by Herluf Trolle.

Pedro Affonso

Name Origin: A Captain in the Brazilian Navy, who was killed onboard his ship, the Parahyba, at the battle of Riachuelo June 11^th 1865, during the war with Paraguay.

Pedro d'Annaya

Name Origin: A distinguished Portuguese navigator of the sixteenth century.

Pedro de Alemquer

Name Origin: A pilot in Vasco da Gama’s fleet.

Pedro Ivo

Name Origin: A Brazilian naval officer who fell in the war with Paraguay.

Pegaso

Name Origin: Pegasus. The winged horse of Greek mythology generally associated with the Muses. It arose from the blood of Medusa, when killed by Perseus. With its aid Bellerophon successfully fought the Chimaera. Zeus used Pegasus to carry his thunderbolts.

Pegasus

Name Origin: The winged horse of Greek mythology, generally associated with the Muses. It arose from the blood of Medusa, when killed by Perseus. With its aid Bellerophon successfully fought the Chimaera. Zeus used Pegasus to carry his thunderbolts.

Pelayo

Name Origin: Pelayo, or Pelagius, the semi-legendary founder of the kingdom of Asturias, which developed into the Kingdom of Leon. After the defeat by the Moors, in 712, of Roderick, the last Gothic king of Spain, and the destruction of his kingdom, Pelayo rallied the remnants of the Christian forces, and taking refuge in the mountains of Cantabria, successfully withstood the attacks of the Saracens. In 718 he was elected King of Asturias, as his newly formed little Kingdom was called.

Pelicano

Name Origin: Pelican.

Pelikan

Name Origin: Pelican

Pelikan

Name Origin: Pelican.

Pellicano

Name Origin: Pelican.

Pelorus

Name Origin: The ancient name for Cape Faro, the north east point of Sicily.

Pembroke

Name Origin: The first ship to bear this name was a 22 gun frigate, so named by Cromwell to commemorate his capture of Pembroke Castle in July 1648.

Penguin

Perla

Name Origin: Pearl.

Perle

Name Origin: - Pearl.

Pernambuco

Name Origin: One of the twenty United States; its capital is Recife Pernambuco.

Perseo

Name Origin: Perseus. In Greek mythology the son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Danae. He was sent by his foster father to fetch the head of the Gorgon Medusa, and with the assistance of Hermes (Mercury) and Athense (Minerva), succeeded in slaying her and accomplishing his mission. On his homeward way he proceeded to Aethiopia, where he delivered the maiden Andromeda from the rock to which she was claimed as a sacrifice to a sea monster, and slew the beast. Returning to Greece he accidentally killed his grandfather, the King of Argos, when in despair at his deed, he left the throne to Megapenthes, settling at Tiryns, which he received in exchange.

Perseus

Name Origin: In Greek mythology the son of Zeus and Danae. He was sent by his foster father to fetch the head of the Gorgon Medusa, and with the assistance of Hermes and Athene, succeeded in slaying her and accomplishing his mission. On his homeward way he proceeded to Aethiopia, where he delivered the maiden Andromeda from the rock to which she was chained as a sacrifice to a sea monster, and slew the beast. Returning to Greece, he accidentally killed his grandfather, the King of Agros, when in despair at his deed, he left the throne to Megapenthes, settling at Tyrins, which he received in exchange.

Pertuisane

Name Origin: - Partizan, a species of halberd, where a long and broad cutting blade is substituted for the axe.

Peterboorg

Name Origin: St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703.

Peterel

Petrel

Pfeil

Name Origin: Arrow.

Philomel

Name Origin: In Greek mythology a daughter of Pandion, king of Athens, who was dishonoured by her sister Procne's husband and transformed into the nightingale.

Phlegeton

Name Origin: - In Greek mythology one of the rivers of the nether regions.

Phoque

Name Origin: - Seal

Piemonte

Name Origin: Piedmont, province in Northern Italy, formerly a separate principally, which passed by inheritance to the Dukes of Savory.

Pierrier

Name Origin: - Swivel gun, stone mortar.

Piet Heijn

Name Origin: Pieter Pietersen Heijin, born 1577, died 1629. Of humble origin, he rose from Cabin boy to Captain, and after defeating the Spaniards and capturing their rich silver fleet in All Saints Bay on the coast of Brazil in 1626, he was made Admiral of Holland. He fell in an action with the Spaniards off Dunkirk.

Pil

Name Origin: Arrow.

Pilcomayo

Name Origin : Name of a river in the southern part of the Argentine Republic.

Pinedo

Name Origin : Captain Jose Maria Pinedo fought under Admiral Brown during the war with Spain. He served as Sub Lieutenant on board the corvette Vigilancia, Captain Taylor, during the expedition to the coast of Spain, and was wounded at each of the actions off Cape St Vincent and Cape Finisterre. He commanded the Sarandi during the war with Brazil.

Pinguin

Name Origin: Penguin

Pinios

Name Origin: Peneus or Peneios, ancient name for the river Salamvira or Salmavela; it flows through the vale of Tempe and into the Gulf of Salonika.

Pioneer

Piotr Veliki

Name Origin: Peter the Great, born 1672, reigned 1682-1725; at first, together with his brother Ivan V, under the guardianship of their sister Sophia; from 1689 on alone. He determined to convert the Tsardom of Mercury into a State on the European model, and in 1721 proclaimed himself Emperor of Russia. He travelled in Germany, Holland, France, and England to study their institutions, and took many foreigners into his service. He founded St. Petersburg as the capital of his new Empire in 1703, remodelled the whole administration of the state, and created a powerful army and navy. In several arduous campaigns he victoriously fought the Swedes both by land and sea, conquering Livonia, Esthonia and large territories on the Gulf of Finland. His Black Sea fleet defeated the Turks in 1696, and the important port of Azov captured.

Pique

Name Origin: - Pike (weapon).

Pisa

Name Origin: The chief city of one of the four ancient Italian maritime republics.

Piskar

Name Origin: Minnow.

Pistolet

Name Origin: - Pistol.

Planet

Plejad

Name Origin: Pleiades, name of as group of stars, forming part of the constellation of Taurus.

Plotva

Name Origin: Dace (fish).

Pluviose

Name Origin: - “Month of rains.” The fifth month of the New Calendar instituted by the First French Republican on September 22^nd 1792, and which continue in use until Napoleon reintroduced the Gregorian Calendar on January 1^st 1806.

Podvijni

Name Origin: Mobile.

Pogranichnik

Name Origin: Frontiersman.

Poignard

Name Origin: - Dagger.

Poliarnaia Zvesda

Name Origin: Polestar.

Pollux

Name Origin: The star Gemini.

Pommern

Name Origin: Pomerania, one of the provinces of the kingdom of Prussia.

Ponce de Leon

Name Origin: Don Ponce de Leon, a renowned captain who served under Ovanda, the first Governor of Hayti. In 1508 he captured the island of Porto Rico and became its Governor. From thence in 1512 he set out on an exploring exoedition, which resulted in the discovery of Florida.

Porajayuschi

Name Origin: Striker.

Porcupine

Poslooshni

Name Origin: Obedient.

Possadnik

Name Origin: Chief magistrate of Novgorod in its independent times.

Poterasul

Name Origin: Constable. Prutul- The River Pruth, forming the eastern frontier of Tromania.

Pothuan

Name Origin: - Louis P. A. Pothuan, born 1815, died 1882, naval officers who fought in the Crimea, and commanded the southern forts of Paris during the siege of 1870, and at choisy-le-Roi in 1871, in which year he became a Vice Admiral. He was Minister of Marine from 1871 to 1873 and from 1877 to 1879, after which he was Ambassador in London for a year.

Powerful

Prairial

Name Origin: - “Month of meadows.” The ninth month of the New Calendar instituted by the First French Republic on September 22^nd 1792, and which continued in use until Napoleon reintroduced the Gregorian Calendar on January 1^st 1806.

President

President Errazuriz

Name Origin: President of the Republic from 1871 to 1876, he reorganised the Army and Navy. In anticipation of the secret armaments of Peru he built the ironclads Blanco Encalada, Almirante Cochrane, and other vessels, which proved the salvation of the country in its struggle with Peru a few years later. He had previously been Minister of War and Marine, was a member of two faculties at the University, also author of various historical works. He died in 1877.

Presidente Sarmiento

Name Origin : Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Argentine General, ex-President of the Argentine Republic, founder of the naval school.

Preussen

Name Origin: Kingdom of Prussia, the leading Federal state of the Empire.

Primeira De Marco

Name Origin: “1^st of March,” the date in 1870 which marked the end of the war with Paraguay.

Prince George

Name Origin: The first ship to bear this name was called after Prince George of Denmark, consort to Queen Anne; he was appointed Lord High Admiral on May 20th 1702, retaining the office until his death on October 28th 1708. Prince George was assisted by a council, of which the four original members were: Sir George Rooke, Sir David Mitchell, George Churchill, and Richard Hill. The name was revived in 1894 in honour of HRH Prince George of Wales, now Prince of Wales, then Captain R.N., only surviving son of HM the King. Born June 3rd 1865, he entered the Royal Navy in 1877, commanded as Lieutenant the Thrush, as Commander the Melampus, and as Captain the Crescent. He was promoted to Rea-Admiral in 1901, Vice Admiral in 1903, Admiral in 1907.

Prince of Wales

Name Origin: In the autumn of 1900 it was decided to revive this ship name in honour of HRH Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Victoria, who had then borne this ancient title for fifty nine years. The battleship destined to bear the name was however, not laid down until two months after the Prince of Wales had, on January 22nd 1901, succeeded to the throne as Edward VII.

Princesa de Asturias

Name Origin: The Infanta Maria de las Mercedes, Princess of the Asturias (a title borne by the heris to the throne of Spain), born 1880m died 1904, elder sister of King Alfonso XIII.

Prinz Adalbert

Name Origin: Prince Adalbert of Prussia, born 1811, died 1873, first cousin of the late Emperor William I. Having first served in the Army, he was in 1849 placed at the head of the young Prussian Navy, and in 1854 was made Admiral and Commander in chief, which he remained until the Imperial German Navy was formed in 1871. In 1856 during a cruise in the Mediterranean in command of a small squadron, he chastised the riff pirates at Manilla. The German Navy owes to his exertions the military port of Wilhelmshaven in the North Sea.

Prinz Eugen

Name Origin: Prince Eugen of Savoy-Carignan, Imperial Field Marshal (born 1663, died 1736), the famous General. He entered the Austrian service in 1683, and in a few years rose to the highest military rank. Almost the whole of his long life was spent in warfare. He defeated the Turks I three brilliant campaigns, notably ion the battles of Mohacs 1687; Zenta 1689; and Peterwardein 1716. He commanded the Imperial troops in the War of the Spanish Succession against France, defeating Marshal Villeroy at Cremona in 1702, and together with the Duke of Marlborough, gaining the victories of Hochstadt (blenheim) 1704; Oudenarde 1708; and Malplaquet 1709. He was Governor General of the Austrian Netherlands from 1714 to 1716, and again from 1718 to 1724.

Prinz Heinrich

Name Origin: Prince Henry of Prussia, born 1862, son of the late Emperor Frederick and brother of the Emperor William II, Admiral in the German Navy and Vommander in Chief of the high sea fleet since 1906.

Prinzess Wilhelm

Name Origin: Augusta Victoria, Princess William of Prussia, now German Empress, born 1858, a princess of Schleswig-Holstein.

Prochni

Name Origin: Steadfast.

Procione

Name Origin: The star a Canis minoris.

Prometheus

Name Origin: In Greek mythology a Titan, the brother of Epimetheus and Atlas. For the benefit of newly created mankind he stole a spark of fire from the heavens. In punishment for this, Zeus chained him to a rock in the Caucasus, where an eagle daily tore at his liver, which grew afresh by night. From these torments Herakles at length delivered him.

Pronzitelni

Name Origin: Quick eyed.

Proot

Name Origin: The River Pruth, a tributary of the Danube, forming the southwestern frontier of Russia

Proserpina

Name Origin: The Latin name for Persephone, in Greek mythology the daughter of Demeter, goddess of earth. She was carried off by Hades (Pluto), with whom she reigns over the nether world. At her disconsolate mother’s prayer, Zeus (Jupiter) permitted her to return every spring to earth, and to remain there for half a year. She thus symbolised the resurrection of nature and the soul.

Prosperine

Name Origin: The Latin name for Persephone. In Greek mythology the daughter of Demeter, goddess of earth. She was carried off by Hades, with whom she reigns over the nether world. At her disconsolate mother's prayers Zeus permitted her to return every spring to earth, and to remain there for half the year. She thus symbloised the resurrection of nature and the soul.

Protector

(South Australia)

Protee

Name Origin: - Proteus, in ancient mythology a god of the sea endowed with prophetic powers, who could at will change into any shape with extraordinary rapidity.

Protet

Name Origin: - Rear Admiral Protet, who was killed in China during the Taeping Rebellion in 1861.

Prozorlivi

Name Origin: Perspicacious

Pruitki

Name Origin: Alert.

Psara

Name Origin: An island in the Greek Archipelago, northwest of Chios. Its seamen carried on an extended trade at the beginning of last century, and had frequent fights with the corsairs. When the War of Independence broke out, in contributed a contingent of forty armed vessels to the national fleet under a number of fireships, which did great execution under Kanaris. In June 1824 a large Turkish fleet attacked the island, which was taken after a heroic resistance. Most of the inhabitants were massacred, and the Turkish Admiral sent 500 heads and 1200 ears as trophies to Constantinople.

Psilander

Name Origin: Gustaf von Psilander, born 1669, died 1738. He entered the Navy in 1688, but obtained permission to join the Dutch service the following year, where he remained six years, taking part in the battle off Beachy Head in 1690, under Admiral Evertsen. On June 28^th 1704, in command of the 50-gun ship Oeland, off Orfordness, he bravely fought for five hours against a British squadron of eight ships of the line and a frigate, and only surrendered when completely dismasted. After having been repaired in the Thames the ship was restored to Sweden. Promoted to Vice-Admiral in 1714, he was appointed Governor of Gothland in 1716, and defended this island successfully against the Russian fleet under Admiral Apraxin the following year. In 1734 he became President of the Admiralty.

Psyche

Name Origin: "The soul" - A Greek tale relates how Psyche was one of three sisters of whom Cupid became enamoured and whom he visited nightly, unseen and unrecognised by her. Yielding to her sisters' persuasions Psyche, disregarding his injunctions, determined to see him, and one night during his sleep lit up his face with a lamp. Cupid fled, and Psyche wandered disconsolate over the earth seeking him in vain. After she had undergone many trials the gods took pity on her and placed her among the immortals as Cupid's wife.

Pueyrredon

Name Origin : General and first Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata.

Puglia

Name Origin: Apulia, territory in the southeastern part of Italy. The ancient Apulians were the Japyges of the Greeks. During the middle ages Apulia was a separate Duchy, and then became incorporated with Sicily.

Puilki

Name Origin: Ardent.

Pyramus

Name Origin: Pyramus and Thisbe are the chief characters in one of Ovid's Metamorphoses, the scene of which is laid in Babylon. They were devoted lovers, whom the opposition of parents forced to meet clandestinely. Pyramus, finding one night at the place of meeting his sweetheart's mantle all covered with blood, concluded that she must have been devoured by wild beasts, and killed himself on the spot. Thisbe, who had escaped with the loss of her mantle from the clutches of a lion, returned soon after, found her lover's corpse, and in despair put an end to her life. Shakespeare has parodied thisstory in his Midsummer Night's Dream.

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