In the momentous scene when they shout "Hard to starboard" the Helmsman turns the wheel left, the ship also turns left, (passing the burg on the left). I may be wrong but starboard is right...port is left. One of the track titles on the soundtrack is called Hard to starboard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiller#Tiller_orders
That explains it. The picture actually explains it all. Before the large ships like the Titanic were built, they used levers to turn the rudder. A "hard-a-starboard" tiller order actually directed the helmsman to pushed/pulled the lever to the starboard(right) side, thereby turning the bow, and thus the ship, to port(left).
By the time the large ships were built featuring the wheelhouse, the convention stuck. This time, however, a "hard-a-starboard" order will be followed by turning the wheel port side (left) to turn the bow/ship to port(left).
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