Titanic
 

My wife watched Titanic the other night, I sat down for the 'crash'
scene. When they spotted the ice cube, they yelled 'hard to
starboard, but it looked to me like they turned the wheel to port.
Then the order 'hard to port' was given and , to me, they turned to
'the right'. Anybody else notice this? Should I quit drinking?


--
Scott Vernon
Plowville Pa _/)__/)_/)_

My wife watched Titanic the other night, I sat down for the 'crash'
scene. When they spotted the ice cube, they yelled 'hard to
starboard, but it looked to me like they turned the wheel to port.
Then the order 'hard to port' was given and , to me, they turned to
'the right'. Anybody else notice this? Should I quit drinking?


Poor Scotty Potti is soooo ignorant that he doesn't know that ship wheels
worked like tillers on ships until late 20's and early 30's, then were slowly
converted to "car logic." In other words, turn the wheel left to go right.

RB

Scotty wrote...

and why is the ship in color? Wasn't everything black and white at that
time?

Scott Vernon wrote:
My wife watched Titanic the other night, I sat down for the 'crash'
scene. When they spotted the ice cube, they yelled 'hard to
starboard, but it looked to me like they turned the wheel to port.
Then the order 'hard to port' was given and , to me, they turned to
'the right'. Anybody else notice this? Should I quit drinking?

Yes, it was quite a little controversy and some people will still argue
about it.

It used to be common for the watch officer or pilot to give helm orders
in terms of a tiller... ie, to turn starboard, they'd order the helmsman
"put the helm to port." and vice versa. That way, it was up to the
helmsman to know how his helm worked, not the officer. A pilot could
step aboard any ship using a tiller, wheel, whipstaff, shin-cracker, or
whatever, and bring her safely in.

Somewhere around World War 1, people noticed that no ships had tillers
any more. So they changed the standard terms. the Royal Navy held on to
"reverse helm orders" until the early 1930s, most everybody else changed
about 10 ~ 15 years sooner.

So, when 2nd Officer Murdoch received the report of an iceberg right
ahead (and the odds are good he saw it himself about the same time), he
ordered the boatswain's mate of the watch (who survived BTW, a man named
Hitchins) to put the helm "hard a-starboard" in order to put the ship to
port. Then as the ship started swinging, Murdoch ordered the helm put
the other way in order to swing the stern out away from the iceberg.

They almost made it.

Regards
Doug King

It used to be common for the watch officer or pilot to give helm orders
in terms of a tiller... ie, to turn starboard, they'd order the helmsman
"put the helm to port." and vice versa.


Good god. WRONG!!!!
Titanic's wheel worked counter to today's wheels. Tiller logic prevailed for
quite a few years, even with wheels on large ships.
The wheel on Titanic had to be turned to PORT for a starboard course.

RB

OH! Thanks Doug.

SV

"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Scott Vernon wrote:
My wife watched Titanic the other night, I sat down for the
'crash'
scene. When they spotted the ice cube, they yelled 'hard to
starboard, but it looked to me like they turned the wheel to port.
Then the order 'hard to port' was given and , to me, they turned
to
'the right'. Anybody else notice this? Should I quit drinking?

Yes, it was quite a little controversy and some people will still
argue
about it.

It used to be common for the watch officer or pilot to give helm
orders
in terms of a tiller... ie, to turn starboard, they'd order the
helmsman
"put the helm to port." and vice versa. That way, it was up to the
helmsman to know how his helm worked, not the officer. A pilot could
step aboard any ship using a tiller, wheel, whipstaff, shin-cracker,
or
whatever, and bring her safely in.

Somewhere around World War 1, people noticed that no ships had
tillers
any more. So they changed the standard terms. the Royal Navy held on
to
"reverse helm orders" until the early 1930s, most everybody else
changed
about 10 ~ 15 years sooner.

So, when 2nd Officer Murdoch received the report of an iceberg right
ahead (and the odds are good he saw it himself about the same time),
he
ordered the boatswain's mate of the watch (who survived BTW, a man
named
Hitchins) to put the helm "hard a-starboard" in order to put the
ship to
port. Then as the ship started swinging, Murdoch ordered the helm
put
the other way in order to swing the stern out away from the iceberg.

They almost made it.

Regards
Doug King

Doug was correct about the wheel.

I was wrong. Scotty Potti is still an idiot.


RB

Bobsprit wrote:
Good god. WRONG!!!!
Titanic's wheel worked counter to today's wheels.

No, it did not. You are misinformed.

... Tiller logic prevailed for
quite a few years, even with wheels on large ships.
The wheel on Titanic had to be turned to PORT for a starboard course.

That's a misconception. Does the USS Constitution wheel work backwards?
How about all theose skipjacks from the 1890s and early 1900s?

For that matter, the diagrams of the Titanic's steering system (provided
by Brown & Co, Marine Engineering & Hydraulics) are still on file at
Harlan & Wolff's, the shipbuilder.

Several writers from Darcy Lever, Esq ('Young Sea Officer's Sheet
Anchor, 1819') to Allan Villiers have documented how ships wheels
worked. Not one case of a "tiller rigged" wheel is known to have existed.

If you get a copy of Joshua Slocum's "Voyage Alone Around The World" he
includes a diagram of his steering rig. Guess which way the wheel turned...

DSK

Doug was correct about the wheel.
I was wrong.

As usual.
S/V Express 30 "Ringmaster"
"Trains are a winter sport"

In article ,
SAIL LOCO wrote:
Doug was correct about the wheel.
I was wrong.

As usual.

At least he stood up and admitted it.... something your hero Bush
refuses to do.

--
Jonathan Ganz (j gan z @ $ail no w.c=o=m)
http://www.sailnow.com
"If there's no wind, row."