When on a vessel and facing the front of the vehicle, the left side is the port side. To remember the left side of the ship is the port side, remember the phrase: "the ship's left port!'" To remember which side is represented by which color, use the following phrase: "Port wine should be left alone when it isn't red." Port wine signifies the port side of the vehicle, while the port wine's color--red--signifies a red light.
The starboard side of the ship is the right side, which can be remembered by the phrase "starboard is right," where the number of 'R's is an indication of the starboard side. With the red wine saying, the port side is red, which makes the starboard side green. Both starboard and port navigation lights are placed as close to edge of the vessel as possible.
White lights are used in both ships and airplanes on fore, or front, and aft, or back, locations for similar reasons as the colored navigational lights. These white lights let other pilots and captains judge a vehicle's length at night. Additional white lights are located on the back of the starboard and port sides of the vessel. This serves as a visual indicator to other vehicle operators the direction the vehicle is traveling.
The colored navigational lights used on marine vehicles are placed as near to the middle of the bridge as possible, while the lights on aircrafts are mounted on the wing tips. While these differences may be subtle, all these lights are integral to increasing a water or air vessels visibility from any perspective.
