Port And Starboard

Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, 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 mirror images 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 and starboard unambiguously refer to the left and right side of the vessel, not the observer. That is, the port side of the vessel always refers to the same portion of the vessel's structure, and does not depend on which way the observer is facing.

The port side is the side of the vessel which is to the left of an observer aboard the vessel and , that is, facing forward towards the direction the vehicle is heading when underway, and starboard side is to the right of such an observer.

This convention allows orders and information to be given unambiguously, without needing to know which way any particular crew member is facing.

Etymology

The term ''starboard'' derives from the Old English ''steorbord'', meaning the side on which the ship is steered. Before ships had rudders on their centrelines, they were steered with a steering oar at the stern of the ship on the right hand side of the ship, because more people are right-handed. The "steer-board" etymology is shared by the German ''Steuerbord,'' Dutch ''stuurboord'' and Swedish ''styrbord'', which gave rise to the French ''tribord'', Italian ''tribordo,'' Catalan ''estribord'', Portuguese ''estibordo'', Spanish ''estribor'' and Estonian ''tüürpoord''.

Since the steering oar was on the right side of the boat, it would tie up at the wharf on the other side. Hence the left side was called ''port''. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' cites ''port'' in this usage since 1543.

Formerly, ''larboard'' was often used instead of ''port''. This is from Middle English ''ladebord'' and the term ''lade'' is related to the modern ''load''. ''Larboard'' sounds similar to ''starboard'' and in 1844 the Royal Navy ordered that ''port'' be used instead. The United States Navy followed suit in 1846. ''Larboard'' continued to be used well into the 1850s by whalers. In chapter 12 of ''Life on the Mississippi'' (1883) Mark Twain writes ''larboard'' was used to refer to the left side of the ship (Mississippi River steamboat) in his days on the river – circa 1857–1861. Lewis Carroll rhymed ''larboard'' and ''starboard'' in "Fit the Second" of '' The Hunting of the Snark'' (1876).

An Anglo-Saxon record of a voyage by Ohthere of Hålogaland used the word "bæcbord" ("back-board") for the left side of a ship. With the steering rudder on the starboard side the man on the rudder had his back to the bagbord (Nordic for portside) side of the ship. The words for "port side" in other European languages, such as German ''Backbord'', Dutch and Afrikaans ''bakboord'', Swedish ''babord'', Spanish ''babor'', Portuguese '' bombordo'', Italian ''babordo'', French ''bâbord'' and Estonian ''pakpoord'', are derived from the same root.

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 navigation lights, the vessel's starboard side by green and its port side by red. Aircraft are lit in the same way.

See also

* 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
* Dexter and sinister
* Direction (disambiguation)
* Glossary of nautical terms
* Handedness
* Laterality
* Proper right and proper left
* Reflection symmetry
* Sinistral and dextral

Notes

References

{{Aircraft components, state=collapsed

Aeronautics
Nautical terminology
Orientation (geometry)