A wale is a thick plank of wood fastened to the side of a ship to provide protection from wear. The garboard is the wale next to the keel; the gunwale is the top such plank and covers the heads of the timbers between the main and fore drifts.
Wale is also a term for a horizontal member of a tieback wall which transmits the force from the tieback to the beams.
References
Wale Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA