ships wheel

[E.Martin]

The man at the wheel said come and have a feel
The steward said Cor Blimey, ????


AB at the wheel the
The Old Man said Hows your head helmsman?
AB Oh about 345
Good heavens man that's not the way,I'll take the wheel you ask me the same question
The Old Man took the helm
The AB said Hows your head helmsman?
The Old Man replied 345 Sir
The AB said Good keep her like that
I'm going down for a smoke

[Lou Barron]

I have had some bad times on the wheel in very bad seas but then some good times when the ocean is like a mill pond i always prefer the time on lookout when i could have sly smoke

[Shaun Gander]

One tale of the wheel which sticks in my mind (and other places)...

I was still fairly naive and had worked mostly on modern vessel with hydraulic steering until this point but now I was making some pocket money delivering a rather nice motor sailing boat for a young couple. Anyway everything was set for a 2 am departure to make tides and locks and bang on time I 'expertly' back her out of her very tight marina berth.

The wheel - a big 4 ft diameter thing with those nice hand spokes protruding from the outer ring, all polished wood and brass - is midships and I am stood beside it looking towards the port side as I put one engine ahead and one astern to turn her for departure. Now if I tell you that this fine old yacht had cable and chain steering you can guess what is coming next!

Luckily the wheelhouse was dark and the owner didn't notice the tears in my eyes or me trying not to collapse in a heap on the floor from the pain between my legs from the wheel spinning as the prop wash moved the rudder rapidly to hard over.

SDG

[j.sabourn]

Similar to wheels of the past are the old ships bell and rope. Although you see in a lot of venues replicas of such is rarely to see the bellrope with all the fancy knots of the day, probably nowadays see a crown and wall knot with a monkeys fist on the end. The same as bridge handrails leading up from lower decks there was always someone wanted to practice their art on. Suppose this may have been the forerunner of some of the better graffiti artists, which some now do consider as an art form. Rope and canvas work was nearly always done on most ships on long ocean passages, maybe out of boredom, or some wishing to express their proficiency in doing so, is nearly a lost art nowadays. JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi All.
Surprised me that many seamen didn't like the wheel, as I have posted before we were cleaning tanks not a job I was in love with so volunteered to do the wheel, I was there for eight hours a day plus my night watch two hours, took a week to clean tanks, I loved every minute of it.
One thing I can't remember ever getting a steering ticket unless it was given out at the Vindi for steering the launch up the canal.
Cheers Des

redc.gif

[j.sabourn]

If remember correctly Des, you only had to do 12 hours for a steering ticket, so the week cleaning tanks you could have claimed half a dozen, asked to leave the name and particulars blank and sold them on. Cheers JS

[cappy]

If remember correctly Des, you only had to do 12 hours for a steering ticket, so the week cleaning tanks you could have claimed half a dozen, asked to leave the name and particulars blank and sold them on. Cheers JS

####now thats what i call business minded......regards cappy

[E.Martin]

North Atlantic having a good ow blow the ship was yawing 30-40 degrees either side of her course,
Thinking on would it be possible to yaw that much?
The ship Federal Voyager (Ex Fort Boat) would fill herself up forrard then poop one then fill her self aft.
At times during the night the watch would use the search light on the Monkey Island to check the hatch
covers .
I never know'ed a noight loike it.

[Captain Kong]

Those Chain and Rod wheels were the very worst.

I wrote this about it on the BEECHFIELD................

."It was December, the weather was atrocious, and on the open bridge the wheel was six feet in diameter with chains and rods to the rudder. When she was shipping seas they would go right over the open wheel house and you would get swept off the wheel and if you hung on to the wheel and a sea hit the rudder it would spin and throw you over the top and across the bridge if you tried to hang on."

.Happy Days of Seafaring.
Cheers
Brian

[John Arton]

One of tasks on the Empress of Canada was to conduct bridge tours for Tourist and 1st Class passengers, held separately of course. The tourist class bridge tour was a great opportunity to meet young female passengers and have an opportunity to hook up with them later. After showing the passengers round the bridge, explaining all the navigational and safety gear, the last part of the tour was to give them an opportunity to have their photo taken whilst steering the ship. This was a nice earner for the ships photographers, one of whom was a very tasty looking young lady who I was chasing relentlessly. The Canada had hydraulic telemotor steering and as I approached the steering position on one tour the Q.M. steering started giving me "go away" hand signals. Going up to him whist getting the passengers focused on looking out for whales {as if}, I asked him in a whisper what was up to which he replied in a whisper " the effing wheels stuck with stbd 10 deg. of hem on" This had occurred a bit earlier and the Canada was describing a graceful stbd. turn mid Atlantic at 26knots. Had to make up an excuse to the passengers to keep them away from the wheel position whilst the staff chief engineer quickly solved the problem, which was caused by one of the internal gear cogs in the steering stand having come loose and causing the gears to jam. Fixing it took about 5 minutes or so and throughout this none of the passengers realised that we were describing a huge circle, even though they were looking at the ships wake. The delay allowed me more time to talk to a very nice female Canadian steward who later that night showed her appreciation when I had to step in and wallop a passenger who was trying to molest her in a dark corner of the swimming pool deck at 0200 in the morning. His initial response to myself and the Q.M. interrupting his attempts to force himself on the lady was to tell us to "have sex and travel" but a sharp rap on his noggin with the large metal torch I always carried on night rounds plus one of his arms been bent backwards by the Q.M. persuaded him that getting drunk and attempting to molest a fellow female passenger at 0200 was not one of his better ideas and he quickly retired to his cabin.
Coming off watch at 0400 I was grabbed by said female passenger who insisted on showing me her gratitude for rescuing her from her dire situation and that she was in need of a drink and some comfort to help her over the trauma she had suffered. Being the gentleman I was {and still am} how could I refuse a damsel in distress even if it meant I lost my mornings kip.
rgds
JA.
p.s. regarding ships bells, it is still a legal requirement to carry a bell with a certain sized mouth and which has its certificate number stamped on it but not necessarily the ships name.