A taller stern structure could be fairly called a stern castle, for the same reasons that a forward structure is referred to as a fore castle or focs'l (sp?); a defensive fighting position on early war ships analogous to a castle ashore. The command center of a vessel is sometimes called a "bridge" because early vessels were sometimes, perhaps often, commanded from a position on an open athwartships structure which "bridged" the vessel from side to side to provide a platform from which to view the vessel. Those structures were later enclosed and otherwise evolved so that they may no longer resemble a bridge but the name stuck. ----- Original Message ----- From: peg.hall@sbcglobal.net Only a raised afterdeck is properly called a poop deck. It has nothing to do with waste, but got its name because being swamped by from waves coming over the stern is a condition known as being "pooped." Now, class...who knows why a ship's command center is called the bridge? Peggie