Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and spacecraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front).
Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are of each other. One asymmetric feature is where access to a boat, ship, or aircraft is at the side; it is usually only on the port side (hence the name).
Side
Port side and starboard side respectively refer to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow. The port and starboard sides of the vessel always refer to the same portion of the vessel's structure, and do not depend on the position of someone aboard the vessel.
The port side is the side to the left of an observer aboard the vessel and , towards the direction the vessel is heading when underway in the forward direction. The starboard side is to the right of such an observer.
This convention allows orders and information to be communicated unambiguously, without needing to know which way any particular crew member is facing.
Etymology
Starboard derives from the Old English
steorbord,
steor meaning steer, and
bord meaning side. Before ships had
, they were steered with a
steering oar on the right hand side of the ship, because more people are
right-handed.
The "steer-board" etymology is shared by the
German language Steuerbord, Dutch language stuurboord, Icelandic
stjórnborði Scandinavian
styrbord,
French language tribord,
Italian language tribordo, Catalan language estribord, Portuguese
estibordo,
Spanish language estribor and Estonian
tüürpoord.
Since the steering oar was on the right side of the boat, it would dock on the left side. In Old English, this side was known as bæcbord.
From around 1300 the term ladde-borde was used, from Middle English ladebord, lade meaning load, and bord meaning side.
Larboard sounds similar to starboard and in 1844 the Royal Navy ordered that port be used instead.[Admiralty Circular No. 2, November 22, 1844, cited in Western Courier newspaper (Plymouth) December 11, 1844.]
Importance of standard terms
The navigational treaty convention, the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea—for instance, as appears in the UK's Merchant Shipping (Distress Signals and Prevention of Collisions) Regulations 1996 (and comparable US documents from the US Coast Guard)
—sets forth requirements for maritime vessels to avoid collisions, whether by sail or powered, and whether a vessel is overtaking, approaching head-on, or crossing.
[ To set forth these navigational rules, the terms starboard and port are essential, and to aid in in situ decision-making, the two sides of each vessel are marked, dusk to dawn, by , the vessel's starboard side by green and its port side by red.][ Aircraft are lit in the same way.
]
Other nautical uses
Port and starboard are also commonly used when dividing crews; for example with a two watchkeeping system the teams supplying the personnel are often named Port and Starboard. This may extend to entire crews, such as the forward-deployed crews of the Royal Navy’s Persian Gulf-based frigate,
See also
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Anatomical terms of location, another example of terms of directionality that do not depend on the location of the observer for things that are bilaterally symmetrical
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Dexter and sinister, in heraldry
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Direction (disambiguation)
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Glossary of nautical terms
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Handedness
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Laterality, preference in humans etc. for doing things with the left or right hand etc.
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Proper right and proper left, in images of people, etc.
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Reflection symmetry
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Sinistral and dextral, chirality, in scientific contexts
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Terms of orientation
Notes
