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 Jack Gallagher's wonderful photograph of CalMac's "Bute" at Wemyss Bay on January 10, 2006
ALL ABOUT STEAMERSShip Handling Principles
Because of their ‘fixed’ paddle-wheels, only being able to go ‘forward-or- backwards’, paddlesteamers have to put their helm over and swing their bow slightly out as they come alongsidepiers. As the bow of the ship comes across the end of a pier, the heaving line for the bowrope is thrown to the waiting piermen and then, as the ship’s bow begins to swing out, itfollowing that the after part of the ship and the stern are then being brought ever closer to thepier, the heaving lines for the stern, then ‘waist’, ropes can then be more easily caught bythe piermen.For manoeuvring purposes, it is perhaps useful to think of all twin and indeed triple screwships as
single-screw
ships until their engines are all driving in the same direction and thefollowing little bit of theory should therefore be of interest to anyone ignorant of the generalprinciples of steering and controlling screw driven vessels, pleasure steamers and motorboatsalike. The first effect of ‘putting the helm over’, trying to change direction, when the ship or boat isgoing ahead, is that the bow actually goes off in the opposite direction to that in which onewants the ship to go and it takes two or three ship lengths along the original course before she1
 
will start to turn.By this time, the ship’s bow will have turned about three ‘points’, about 30 degrees, towardsthe new course, the stern of the ship continuing to drag round for a further two or three shiplengths along the original course before it finally follows the ship's bow.In theory, if a danger ‘dead ahead’ has to be avoided, one must alter course at least some sixship lengths before it in order that it is cleared. Two ships on potentially colliding coursesmust alter their courses ‘timeously’ indeed and, although one may gain a few extra secondsby easing down the ships’ speeds before any potential collision (and of course somewhatlessening the force of any impact), it should be clearly understood that the speed at which theship is travelling, when her course is changed, does not greatly affect the distance along heroriginal course which she will take before actually turning off on to her new course andclearing her original course !High speed e.g. in a small motor yacht may be helpful but her hull will still slide along heroriginal course, as above and ‘over-steering’ may actually even force her further into dangertill she clears her old course. The effect of the ship’s propellor(s) is as important as the effect of her rudder(s). Apart fromMacBrayne’s first ever twin-screw steamer, the 1878-built
“Flowerdale”
, which veryunusually had
inward-turning propellors
, all the other Clyde and West Highland twin-screwships had their propellors
outward-turning
when going ahead, the starboard engine turning
right 
and the port engine turning
left 
when going ahead. The converse happening in the case of a left-turning port engine, the following explanation of the
right-turning
starboard engine may be of interest.It has the effect that, the engine going astern from rest, the ship’s stern will go immediatelyto port even with a full starboard rudder on and the ship will only begin to go to starboard asshe gathers way, given a full port rudder, from rest and going astern, the ship’s stern will bethrown rapidly port. There is a widespread ignorance of the effect on a ship’s steering when her engine(s) aresuddenly reversed while the ship is going ahead and the assumption that the ship will continueto answer her helm in the usual way as she continues to forge ahead, her propellor(s) inreverse and gradually slowing her down, is indeed not the case as new forces affect therudder and the afterbody of the ship from the very moment when her engine(s) is/arereversed.Following the case of 
right-turning
(ahead) starboard engine, the ship’s rudder kept‘amidships’ and the starboard engine suddenly reversed, from full ahead to full astern, theship’s head will fall off immediately to starboard and the ship will gain ground and begin toslide ‘to the right’.If the
helm of a ship
is put hard over
to port 
as her starboard engine is suddenly reversed,from full ahead to full astern, the ship’s head will usually, but not very rapidly nor very far, goto port but will then begin to
swing to starboard 
and the ship’s head, her rudder still ‘hard-a-port’, will fall off more or less to starboard.But, if the
helm of a ship
is put hard over
to starboard 
as her starboard engine is suddenlyreversed, from full ahead to full astern, the ship’s head will go to starboard and then, moreoften than not, will swing
to port 
! The slower the ship or boat is going ahead and the fasterthe propellor is going astern, the more likely it is that her head will swing
to port 
!2
 
In the case of the ship going astern, her starboard,
right-turning
, engine going ahead andher helm ‘amidships’, the ship’s stern should move to starboard
but 
there is no guaranteethat her head may actually set to pay off in one direction rather than the other !In the same situation, the ship going astern, her starboard engine going ahead and her helmput ‘hard-a-starboard’, it will be found that her stern will go very decidedly to port. With herhelm ‘hard-a-port’, her stern, most commonly, would be likely to go to starboard.A ship or boat has a
right-handed 
(ahead) propellor can always turn easily and rapidly tostarboard in a confined space, turning to port taking more space and time.In coming alongside a pier (or another ship), it is indeed bad seamanship to make the mistakeof keeping too much speed on and then relying on the engine(s) going full astern to bring theship to a stop at the appropriate point. The engines (and the engineers) may fail to act promptly and the suddeness of going asternthrows an undue strain on the machinery (especially the crankshafts) and the ship’s rudderfastenings and the sudden going astern throws the ship suddenly to one side or anotheraccording to the ‘handedness’ of the propellor(s).In a tideway too, particular care must be taken not to catch the tide on the ‘off’ bow as it mayactually push the bow into and under the pier or against the other ship.Changes in water density can catch the unwary and the
“Maid of Cumbrae”
crashedexpensively into Gourock Pier because of a hidden fresh water outfall between the regular pierberths.Another ‘Maid’ skipper demonstrated the effect of the ‘fresh water phenomenon’ one winternight coming up the coast from Largs to Wemyss Bay, heavy rain having put the burn atManor Park Hotel into spate and the helmsman of the ‘Maid’ being able to spin the wheel from‘hard-a-port’ to ‘hard-a-starboard’ without there being any effect on the direction of the ship’sheading till we re-entered near 100% salt water again.
‘Docking Telegraphs’
On the paddle steamers, orders were transmitted to the ‘waist ropemen’, located at maindeck level on the after end of the paddle-wheel sponsons, by means of a series of bell signalsoperated from the
‘Docking Telegraphs’
on the bridge wings -
1 bell
,
“Throw Line” 
, the heaving-line itself normally being usually thrown after the sternheaving line and both being thrown by a seaman immediately above the waist ropeman fromthe upper deck of the sponson;
2 bells
,
“Make Fast” 
;
3 bells
,
“Slack Away” 
and
4 bells, “Let Go” 
, all these signals too being audible to the engineer on the near-by engine controlplatform. The ship’s fore and aft
‘Docking Telegraphs’
, these operated from the bridge wings, alsohad ‘answering handles’ ringing back acknowledgements from bow and stern, their ‘faceplates’ sequentially reading, from ‘port-to-starboard’,
“Make Fast” 
,
“Come On Deck” 
,
“HaulIn” 
,
“Throw Line” 
,
“Hold On” 
,
“ALL CLEAR” 
,
“Stand By” 
,
“Slack Away” 
,
Look Out for Fender” 
,
“Slow” 
and
“Let Go” 
. The first
‘Docking Telegraphs’
, simply an adaptation of the engine-telegraphs, wereinstalled on the 1889
“Caledonia (I)”
, she built by John Reid, grand-nephew of the builder of the first
“Comet (I)”
, at Port Glasgow and the complementary ‘bell-system’ to the paddle3
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