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Starboard is the nautical term (used on boats and ships) that refers to the right side of a vessel as perceived by a person facing the bow. Note that starboard refers to a particular and unchanging side of a ship, and thus is not a synonym for "right", a direction which is completely observer-dependent; for example, an observer on board who is facing the stern would perceive starboard to be on his left, not his right. The starboard side of a vessel is indicated with a green navigation light at night.
Overview
The origin of term comes from old boating practices. Before ships had rudders on their centerline, they were steered by use of a specialized oar. This oar was held by a sailor located towards the stern (back) of the ship. However, like most of the rest of society, there were many more right-handed sailors than left-handed sailors. This meant that the right-handed sailors holding the steering oar (which had been broadened to provide better control) used to stand on the right side of the ship. The word starboard comes from Old English steorbord, literally meaning the side on which the ship is steered. The old English term steorbord descends from the Old Norse words stýri meaning “rudder” and borð meaning “side of a ship”. The modern term "steering wheel" comes from the same language root as "starboard" or "steer board".
Similarly, the term for the left side of the boat, port, is derived from the practice of sailors mooring on the left side (i.e., the larboard or loading side) as to prevent the steering boards from being crushed. Because the words larboard and starboard sounded too similar to be easily distinguished, larboard was changed to port.
The starboard side of most naval vessels the world over is designated the 'senior' side. The officers' gangway or sea ladder is shipped on this side and this side of the quarterdeck is reserved for the captain. The flag or pennant of the ship's captain or senior officer in command is generally hoist on the starboard yard.
Right of Way for Sail-Powered Craft
When the wind is on the starboard side of a sailing vessel, i.e. blowing from the right, the boat would be defined as on starboard tack. As a rule, sailing vessels on starboard tack have right of way over sailing vessels on port tack, unless circumstances prevent the vessel on port tack from giving way. See International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.
Right-of-way for other vessels
Consider two ships on courses that intersect. The rule is that the ship on the left must give way. The ship with right-of-way sees the green light on the starboard (right) side of the ship on the left. The ship that must yield right of way sees the red light on the port side on the ship on the right. This was likely the beginning of the convention for traffic lights that use red to mean stop and green to mean go.
There are other rules governing right-of-way, such as small ships giving way to big ships, and powered ships giving way to sailing ships. Therefore the green light does not mean an unqualified go, but rather it means proceed with caution subject to other rules applying. The earliest railway signals went red/green/white for stop/caution/go following this naval practice and were only later changed to the more familiar red/yellow/green.
It would also be true that if the oarsman with the steering oar is on the right side of the ship, the oarsman on the port tack can see the red light of the ship on the starboard tack better than vice versa. While fanciful, regulations regarding the right of starboard tack vessels over port tack vessels are derived from yacht racing rules and are a rather recent convention.
External links
Steuerbord | tribordo | Estribor | tribord | סיפון כוכב | 面舵 | stuurboord | burta (statek wodny) | styrbord
"Starboard"