Wheel have that

[albertliss1935]

In the early 1950s every ship that I sailed on when we where in the mess room telling stories some one would come up with the same story on every ship I sailed on about an ordinary seaman who was steering the ship in the pacific ocean the sea was like a duck pond and the ship was steering is self so to aleviate the boredom he started carving his girl friends name on the steering wheel with a pen knife the officer on watch caught him and reported him to the skipper who charged him £55 for a new steering wheel, as his wages were only £15 a month they stopped the allotment which he was sending home to his mother as he had no money in the ship. the ship was out another 8 months before she came home and when she docked the ordinary seaman took the shipping company to court and claimed 8 months rent off them for using his steering wheel. can any one on the site confirm if this story is true story or is it just a yarn some one started spinning.

[Captain Kong]

I once carved "I love Elsie" on the steering wheel on the TILAPA, Fyffes skin boat in 1954, but I never got caught.
That lad , if it happened could have taken the wheel home with him , if he had bought it. He then owned it.
I never heard the story but it could have happened.