<P> One asymmetric feature is that on aircraft and ships where access is at the side, this access is usually only provided on the port side . </P> <P> To understand which is which, when a person is facing the bow on a vessel or aircraft, that is, forward towards the direction the vehicle is heading when underway, the port side is the left - hand side and the starboard side is the right - hand side . However, port and starboard never change; they are unambiguous references that are not based on the relative directions of an observer, just as the cardinal directions of east and west do not change no matter the direction a person faces . </P> <P> 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 . 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 . </P> <P> 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 . </P>

Where did the name port and starboard come from