ships steering wheel

[Red Lead Ted]

I had the Chain and Rod Steering with a Big six foot diameter wheel on the old `Beechfield`, You had to have a back on you like Garth to swing that.
If a big sea hit the rudder you had to let go quick or be spun over the top.
Brian.

You are so bloody unlucky m8. What i want to know is were do you find the crews sick list these days Terry.

[Charlie Hannah]

Reckon Booker ships were the ones for the rum Brian, every one had there own gimlet and two match sticks to go with it, Good times were had by all.

[John Pruden]

blue funnel you always had the mate over your shoulder of by 3 deg and he would soon remind you but good work horses of the sea's oh and you stood on a grating when on the wheel.jp

[sailor63]

did 5 trips on the beaverfir, got quite good at using the aircraft type control eventually. quite liked the system actually.

[Ivan Cloherty]

blue funnel you always had the mate over your shoulder of by 3 deg and he would soon remind you but good work horses of the sea's oh and you stood on a grating when on the wheel.jp

John that bluddy ticking gyro repeater was a dead give away

[John Pruden]

looking at the modern ships all the computers and other gizmo controls i was talking to an old chief engineer on rememberance day he was fuming about white boiler suits he was in his 80s but a funny fella the old ships the wheel house the size of a garden shed but all you needed was in there pennant locker the lot chart table and always an officer on the watch i think shipping now is to short staffed=accidents nothing like a pair of eyes.jp

[j.sabourn]

If remember correctly a 5 degree snake i.e. going 5 degrees either side of course continuously, put an extra 5 miles in every 100. Some mathematician maybe able to confirm or repudiate this. Cheers John Sabourn.

[Robert T. Bush]

Always fancied myself as a helmsman.

The bridge operators could be a pain particularly with a beam wind.

Was lucky to be on the first Voith Schneider in Australia and could laugh instead of worrying about going aground when the bridge operator took his sweet time. Don't remember what sort of controls we had.

The best assortment of wooden steering wheels I saw was at a Taiwan scrap yard. All custom made.

[Tony Geeves]

Off the subject a bit, ref. #56 and the white boiler suits: I was donkey greaser on a Star boat and had aquired a couple of new white boiler suits. I was wearing one and going about my duties when a junior engineer approached and told me that I should not be impersonating an officer! I told him he was the last thing on earth that I would want to impersonate, and as long as it kept me clean I would wear what I liked. He didn't speak to me for the rest of the trip, I could not sleep worrying,NOT.

[j.sabourn]

Everyone now seems to wear an orange one. So is no demarkation line. Excuse is safety, as are supposed to be of high luminosity and very visible, although when covered in crap cant see what difference this makes. Was always suspicious of people in immaculate white boiler suits especially after coming off watch. Cheers John Sabourn