This is actually quite an intriguing subject and as such not as straight forward as it seems. I see where vnkiwi is coming from. I realised that I didn't really know the answer so looked it up in my own old and trusted reference books, "The Boatswain's Manual" and "Know Your own Ship" by Dalton. These both suggest that "bulkheads" refers to internal vertical surfaces in the ship and not to the ships side. Indeed, personally, I would, if inside a hold, refer to the port and starboard limits of the space as the ships side or the side plating. I would understand the meaning of another person referring to these terms and expect him to understand me. Similarly if outside, say on the dock, I would call it the ship's side. Other well used (not necessarily correct) terms used came to mind, eg. "The bridge front". It's what I'm used to but when I think about it, it doesn't have that nautical ring to it. Then, while searching further I came across the instructions for what to ring on the bell when on lookout duty. The book said, "one stroke for a ship to starboard, two strokes for a ship to port and three strokes for a ship right ahead, or the other way round, according to the ships rules!". Rules do change between ships and shipping companys. I remember joining a Safmarine ship and turning up in charge of the wrong boat at lifeboat drill because that company referred to the forward port boat as number one. Another thing to be aware of is that seamen and naval architects is different animals. As seamen, we take pride in walking on the ceiling an having vertical "floors". I quite often refer to the walls of my house as bulkheads and often Hoover the deck. It's all part of being a silly old fart. Finally I do find it strange that people can get heated up about all this. If the other guy knows what you mean surely it's ok. Try communicating with Russian, Dutch, Indonesian Filipino and Ethiopian all at once!
Jerry.