The Slave Ship at the event, to see it and be moved to increase British anti-slavery efforts. Placed next to the painting were lines from Turner's own untitled poem, written in 1812: The first impression that the painting creates is of an enormous deep-red sunset over a stormy sea, an indication of an approaching typhoon. Upon closer inspection one can discern a ship sailing off into the distance. The masts of the ship are red, matching the blood-red colour of the sky and the sickly copper colour of the water, which serves to blur the lines between various objects in the painting. The
Port and starboard 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. 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