The game uses the nautical terms Port (left), Starboard (right), Bow (front) and Stern (back) to refer to different sides of the ship. This especially matters in regard to Artillery; both because Artillery Upgrades are installed in one of three slots (Port, Bow/Stern and Starboard), and because there are four Artillery Nodes (Port, Bow, Stern, Starboard) in the On Deck area.
Relative to a ship miniature on the Game Board world map, Bow is the direction of the hex in front of the ship, Starboard the next two hexes clockwise around the ship, Stern the third hex clockwise (thus the opposite direction of the Bow), and Port is the fourth and fifth hex clockwise from the Bow hex.