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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. [2]
AAW An acronym for anti-aircraft warfare. aback (of a sail) Filled by the wind on the opposite side to the one normally used to move the vessel forward.On a square-rigged ship, any of the square sails can be braced round to be aback, the purpose of which may be to reduce speed (such as when a ship-of-the-line is keeping station with others), to heave to, or to assist moving the ship's head ...
A heavily listing ship. The angle of list is the degree to which a vessel heels (leans or tilts) to either port or starboard at equilibrium—with no external forces acting upon it. [1] If a listing ship goes beyond the point where a righting moment will keep it afloat, it will capsize and potentially sink. [2]
Also ship's magazine. The ammunition storage area aboard a warship. magnetic bearing An absolute bearing using magnetic north. magnetic north The direction towards the North Magnetic Pole. Varies slowly over time. maiden voyage The first voyage of a ship in its intended role, i.e. excluding trial trips. Maierform bow A V-shaped bow introduced in the late 1920s which allowed a ship to maintain ...
A brace on a square-rigged ship is a rope (line) used to rotate a yard around the mast, to allow the ship to sail at different angles to the wind. Braces are always used in pairs, one at each end of a yard ( yardarm ), [ 1 ] termed port brace and starboard brace of a given yard or sail (e.g., the starboard main-brace is the brace fixed to the ...
A tack is the windward side of a sailing craft (side from which the wind is coming while under way)—the starboard or port tack. Generally, a craft is on a starboard tack if the wind is coming over the starboard (right) side with sails on port (left) side. Similarly, a craft is on a port tack if the wind is coming over the port (left).
The steering oar or steering board is an oversized oar or board to control the direction of a ship or other watercraft before the invention of the rudder. It is normally attached to the starboard side in larger vessels, though in smaller ones it is rarely if ever, attached.
The original meaning of 'bæcbord' is not clear. The implication in the text is that the word in Modern English would be 'back-board' however I suspect that it is more likely 'beach-board' i.e. the side of a ship which one would present to a beach rather than the steering-board with its easily-damaged steering oar. Cassandra