Bearings can also be expressed in relative terms, ie bearings relative to the ship’s fore and aft centreline.

1. All bearings on the port side will be prefaced with the word “red” and those to starboard, with the word “green”. They will be followed by the angle measured from the bow, ie a ship is situated 45° on the starboard bow will be reported as “green 45”.
2. The above example could also be reported as “45° on our starboard bow”. A vessel directly ahead of us would be reported as “dead ahead”. A vessel 90° on our port side would be reported as “on our port beam”. A vessel 120° on our starboard side would be reported as “on our starboard quarter”.
3. A third method of using relative bearings is the use of “points”. As an example, if a vessel is 45° on our port bow, it would be reported as “four points on our port bow”.