History of wheel steering

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robert_craig0

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I'm aware that prior to 1930 or so it was a custom on at least some ships to order "Port your helm" to initiate a turn to starbord. After that date it became illegal, and the order was "starboard" for a turn to starboard.

I also tried for the first time recently wheel steering (rather than tiller steering) in a yacht. Despite 30 years of driving cars, I found the wheel hard to adapt to - I tried to turn it the wrong way. If I'd been a ship designer in ancient times, inventing wheel steering for the first time, I'd have made it feel the same as a tiller - move the top to port for a turn to starboard. This is opposite from today's ships.

But how were ships actually designed? Anyone know which way the wheel turned in the early days of wheels? And when did wheel steering come in?
 
Wheel steering was developed in sailing ships as an improvement on the whipstaff, in the 17th century, I think.

The whipstaff was a device which resembled a vertical tiller, connected to the actual tiller, which was underdeck, by blocks and tackles.

The early wheels simply represented a greater mechanical advantage and greater convenience than the whipstaff. The wheel turned in the same sense as it does now - but the helm orders were given by reference to what the tiller, under deck, was doing when the wheel was turned.

HMS VICTORY offers a first rate example of the system.

The helm orders were reversed by international convention in 1930.
 
Whipstaffs are still in use. Mine is offset for access to the rear cabin and connected via linkages and a DC3 aileron bar to the rudder. Most Fairey Atalantas have theirs centrally and connected via cables to a quadrant. They fold down for access. Major advantages are added space in the cockpit and visibility when coming alongside. Crew new to helming seem to like the idea that pushing the top of the tiller has the same effect as pushing the back of the boat in the same direction.
Atalanta Whipstaff
 
Right, thanks very much for this info.

Next puzzle: on a number of ships which I've looked at (not many, mostly models in the Glasgow Museum of Transport), I notice that the wheel is situated where the helmsman can't see where he is going. So he must have just steered by the compass.

But it's a lot easier to steer (and to keep a look out) if you can see forward. So why make the helmsman blind?

If he is just following orders, and steering a compass course, why not put him below deck - or at least in a sentry box out of the weather?
 
When you are at sea you have to steer by compass, there's nothing to see...except sea!

The helmsman was expected to go where he was told, not to steer where he thought he should go. Commands would have been on the compass rather than on landmarks.
 
Yes, I know he was expected to go where he was told - but it's easier to steer a boat (and so presumably a ship) if you can watch the bow against a cloud or something. "I must go down the the sea again ... and a star to steer her by".

Certainly doesn't seem to make it easier (or safer) not being able to see forward.

I'm missing something here
 
I can tell you for a fact that trying to steer a boat with the wheel working opposite to what a car would do is nigh on impossible.

Luckily I managed to rectify the "repair to steering cable" that the boatyard had fecked up....
 
Two comments if I may. In the RN the helmsman is nearly always blind. He can be found at his station below the Bridge in voice communication with the OOD only. Supposedly, it was said so he would not panic and take unilateral action in times of stress! The other comment is, I would love to convert my Colvic Sailer to wheel steering, simply because the tiller takes up so much room in the cockpit. But how do I do that? I can find no references to kits or intructions on the net.
 
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