The front end is called the bow and the rear the stern. The main mass is termed the hull. The overhanging part of the stern is the counter. The raised deck at the bow is the forecastle – abbreviated to fo’c’sle and pronounced “foksul” – and the corresponding part at the stern is known as the poop. The poop was at one time called the “aftercastle” because in olden days the two ends of the ship were strongholds or castles from which boarding parties were launched or repelled.