Re: is it GUNNELL- GUNWALL ?
I know Port and Starboard are from the vikings(military)there boat had a rudder called a starbard on the right side of the boat so the would have to come into port on the left side hence port and starboard.
That is close to the origin..
Starboard
Before ships had rudders on their centerlines, they were steered by use of a specialized steering oar. This oar was held by an oarsman located in the stern 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 steering oar used to be affixed to the right side of the ship. The word starboard comes from Old English
steorbord, literally meaning the side on which the ship is steered, descendant from the Old Norse words
st?ri meaning ?rudder? (from the verb
st?ra, literally ?being at the helm?, ?having a hand in?) and
bor? meaning etymologically ?board?, then the ?side of a ship?.
Similarly, the term for the left side of the boat,
port or
larboard, 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.
Gunwale
Originally the gunwale was the "Gun ridge" on a sailing warship. This represented the strengthening
wale or structural band added to the design of the ship, at and above the level of a gun deck. It was designed to accommodate the stresses imposed by the use of artillery.
In modern boats, it is the top edge of the side where there is usually some form of stiffening.
