Why is the right side of a ship called starboard
Why Port and Starboard Indicate the Left and Right Side of a Ship
the origin of port and starboard if
you've ever found yourself wondering why
port and starboard indicate the left and
right side of a ship well wonder no more
starboard is referencing the old
practice of having a steering oar on one
side of the ship rather than a centrally
placed rudder but this was basically
just a modified or generally attached in
a vertical attitude to the right side of
the ship near the back with the right
side thought to have been chosen simply
because most people are right-handed as
to the name itself
starboard this comes from the
anglo-saxon name for the side steering
or steer board which literally means the
side on which a vessel is steered the
fact that the rudder was orientated this
way gave a very convenient and
completely unconfessed eyelids without
any mental gymnastics to know which side
of the ship was being referenced it's
just the sight the steering or ISM as
report the original name of the left
side of the ship was not port but rather
the old English back board this was
probably referencing the fact that on
larger boats the helmsman would often
have to hold the steering oar with both
hands so that his back would be to the
left side of the ship after back board
came ladder port meaning Leyden meaning
to load and board meaning ship side this
gave rise to the starboard rhyming word
larboard in the 16th century just
meaning the side of the ship that faced
the dock or shore
this was the opposite side as the
steering oar to minimise chance of
damaging the oar as well as to make it
easier to load and unload without the
steering oar in the way port also popped
up in the 16th century with the origin
similar to why the left side of the ship
was called larboard when you docked or
more - if with the rudder affixed to the
right side it was always done with the
left side of the boat facing the harbour
or dock presumably the fact that port
and larboard first popped up around the
16th century is no coincidence
once Lada board was sled to lob ought to
rhyme with starboard a problem was
introduced with the word sounding so
similar there was now a good chance of
people miss hearing which direction was
given particularly in stormy settings or
on a battle or the like with a similarly
meaning port there was no such confusion
around the early to mid 19th century
port popularly replaced larboard for
this reason at first when he just made
the switch on their own but in 1844 the
change from larded to port was made
official in the British Navy and two
years later in the US Navy and has
pretty much become ubiquitous since
bonus fact some more confusingly
depending on your frame of reference on
many boats until the nineteen
30s when someone said something like
hard to starboard the helmsman would
understand that mean to turn the ship to
the left port
rather than starboard why because for a
time the standard was to go by the
tiller direction or the bottom of the
wheel if there was one rather than the
way the ship will go thus if you wanted
the ship to turn to port you'd move the
tiller to starboard
or turn the wheel such that the bottom
of the wheels turn direction goes to
starboard a famous example of where you
can see this isn't some depictions of
the Titanic wreck where first officer
William Murdoch gives a hard to
starboard command in the ship intensed
port this was not a mistake the helmsman
did exactly as he should have when the
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