Gunwale
The Gunwale (pronounced “gunnel”) is the upper edge of the side of a ship or boat — the line where the hull's side meets the deck. Historically it was the reinforced timber where guns were mounted on a warship (hence the name), and it remains the term for the top rail or edge of the hull side.
The gunwale provides structural stiffening to the top of the hull and the point to which fittings, rails and (on small boats) rowlocks are attached; on small craft “gunwale under” describes heeling so far that the gunwale reaches the water. It is one of the traditional terms for the parts of a vessel, alongside the keel, hull, bow, stern, beam and freeboard. The gunwale is a small but named part of the ship's structure, part of the enduring vocabulary of a vessel's anatomy.
The gunwale is one of those precise pieces of a ship's anatomy that the language of the sea keeps a word for — the top edge of the hull's side. It stiffens the hull top and anchors fittings, and completes the traditional vocabulary of a vessel's parts alongside the keel, hull and freeboard.
What is the gunwale?
The upper edge of a ship or boat's side, where the hull meets the deck; pronounced "gunnel".
Where does the name come from?
From the reinforced timber where guns were mounted on old warships — the "gun-wale".