Port and starboard vessel's starboard side by green and its port side by red. Aircraft are lit in the same way. Port and starboard Port and starboard are nautical and aeronautical terms of orientation that deal unambiguously with the structure of vessels and aircraft. Their structures are largely bilaterally symmetrical, meaning they have mirror-image left and right halves if divided long-ways down the middle. 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. To understand which is which, when a person is facing the bow on a
Pacific (1850) ship under the command of the second mate with instructions fall off to the west if he spotted anything. Indeed, that is exactly what the mate did when he spotted a light on his port bow that he thought was the Cape Flattery lighthouse. Had he been correct, his action would have saved the ship from wrecking on the rocky shore. Instead, the light turned out to be "Pacific" and by turning to the west, "Orpheus" ran directly in front of the approaching steamer. "Pacific" hit "Orpheus" near her bow on her starboard side. The two ships hit at an