Hi,
can someone identify the parts of the wheel mechanism.
I believe the number that number 3 is the base where it used the compass to sit.
Any idea for the rest?
This picture appears to have been taken underwater? While I was a ships engineer now and then I worked on bridge steering mechanisms. I will leave it to a deck person that may have more knowledge but I believe # 3 is something that was named ?????? bars and was used to adjust the magnetic field of the compass. You perhaps should try and find a picture without all the sea growth so you can more clearly see what you are looking at.
Yes the photo was taken underwater,
it's the ex Thomas Hardie,
a flat iron colier built in 1949,
now lying in the Greek Skopelos island,
where it sank as Christoforos in 1983.
Thanks for the clue about the No3
Normally on the for'd bulkhead of the wheelhouse directly in front of the helmsman line of sight and above the centre line window (or porthole on some of the old Liberty and Empire ships)
The mechanical rudder indicator or more correctly the angle the wheel movement has indicated is the semi circle construction abaft the figure 4 in the photo and directly in front of the wheel, this indicated the angle of the rudder according to the wheel and was usually hard over at 37.5 degrees on either side. This is why an electric rudder was fitted to give the true position of the rudder.
I would tend to agree that #1 is from its position is probably a master gyro repeater for the QM and the structure on top is a magnifier rather than an azimuth, as there would be too many obstructions in its line of sight to make it a useful azimuth. But we have all been on ships where we have said 'Why in Gods name did they put that there!' or words to that affect!!
After penning my #10 I had to go out, and my mind got to wandering about a steamship I served on, she had no gyro, no radar, a tempramental D/F and a wonky echo sounder, but we did have an auto pilot that worked off the magnetic compass, if I remember rightly it was an ARKAS (Swedish or Danish possibly). I had never sailed with one before (or since) its course keeping was not gyro straight but fairly reasonable, but did free up a man for work on deck, which most preferred (except in the higher latitudes!)
Years ago I met the Mate of the "Darwin" in Montevideo. He told me they prefered the auto pilot on magnetic in heavy weather because it didn't "hunt" the true course so violently but , even though slower, made for a more weatherwise trip.
I think running Monte ~ Falklands they would know plenty of weather.
Just browsing and saw this thread ... no one seems to have answered the original question, although a multiple choice answer was presented with the correct answer included. Item in question is a Flinders Bar.
The binnacle had the port and starboard iron balls and the support case was filled with horizontal steel rods which the Compass Adjuster moved about when the magnetic compass was adjusted, usually after dry dock. The Flinders Bar was a soft iron bar placed vertically in a brass tubular case affixed to the fore part of the binnacle to counteract the ships vertical members such as masts and derricks/ booms. Rather a late response but some one may be interested, hope the questioner didn't need a quick answer !?
Apologies to Howard ... your complete and prompt reply was correct ... being somewhat senile, I jumped to the conclusion you were giving a multiple choice response for we to solve. Sorry ...
Also these new photos. Definitely a telemotor and helm indicator. Howard, you nailed it first. Look at the Flinder's Bar... offset and on the after side of the binnacle. Might be an after end steering station. If it was on board a puffer the Bar would be on the aft side too!
Stephen
The ship with its 15 crew members left the port of Volos, loaded with 2.600 tons of concrete, early in the morning of the 2nd of October 1983 for the port of Piraeus and final destination Algeria. The weather conditions were good but during the evening became overcast with rains and strong North gales. In the evening the ship had a 7 degrees list to the right which continued to increase as the time was passing by. Due to these conditions, while being 12 nautical miles north of the islet Pontikonisi, the ship changed course for a safe anchor, which with the suggestion of the fishing vessel Giannakis was Panormos in Skopelos island. When it finally arrived in Panormos, at about 16.00 of the 2nd of October 1983 the waves had broken one of the portholes of the bridge. As a result the bridge had flooded and the list on the left had increased in 17 degrees while there was influx of water in the hold No1. The ballast pump and a portable one were used to pump the water but the level of the water in the hold was not lowering. At about 22.00 the list of the ship increased that much that the right gunwale was in the water. The captain contacted the ship owners and the operations chamber of the Ministry of commercial shipping, operations chamber gave order to abandon the ship, while himself, the second lieutenant and a boatswain remained on the ship, with the help of the vessel Giannakis, checked the depths in Panormos to founder the ship. But there where many variations in depth so there was the fear that the ship could split in two. On the 3rd of October 1983 the tries to save the ship were futile so the captain gave order to abandon the ship, boarding on Giannakis vessel.
Christoforos sank in an upright position at about 05.30, in a depth of 43 meters [1].
The above is the official report of the sink of Christoforos,
and it was taken from the book "shipwrecks of the Greek seas" by Admiral Christos Dounis.
The text has a mistake, the ship was 12 NM East of Pontikonisi, if it was 12 miles North it would have been on Land.
The matter now seems to be confused by Stephen's reference to Titanic. The wreck shown appears to be much more modern than Titanic; and the wreck of Christoforos in 1983 (as reported by Sidnik, the original enquirer) seems to be far more relevant.
Perhaps Item 1 is not a Sperry gyro-repeater. But it certainly looks like a gyro repeater; and there were numerous other makes.
Well,
in the hull specification contract i can read,
"Siemens electric helm indicator to be fitted on the bridge bulwark, tachometer to be fitted on the bridge, docking telegraph positioned on port side of E.R. telegraph"
maybe this can help?
Whatever item 1 might be, it is plainly not fitted on the bridge bulwark, which non-placement casts further doubt on its identification as a helm indicator.
May God bless Wikipedia, which tells us that the first gyrocompass for a commercial vessel was developed by C.Plath & Co (a name which I had long forgotten) in 1913. This seems to rule out any suggestion that Titanic might have had a gyro compass.
Perhaps Item 1 as shown is a C. Plath gyro-repeater? Merely a suggestion.
This 'thing' is practically the same set up as Titanic. Wheel with shaft running under the binnacle or to the side of it, to the telemotor. The top would be the rudder indicator. Might not be anything at all. The indicator might have fall off over the years. See the Titanic.
A gyro repeater at Position 1 would be quite useless. You would have to look over the binnacle to see the repeater and if the binnacle cover was on, as it would be at night, it would be useless. Even from early years the gyro repeater could be vertically mounted, like most other ships.
Could it be a horizontal gyro repeater to use for taking bearing? Well, this thing appears to be no higher that 36 inches. How do you take bearings from this repeater when you could not see anything, because the bridge dodger is higher. See photos of the THOMAS HARDIE. The wheelhouse is very low but the dodger appears to be normal height... and more than the top of the telemotor pedestal.
It would not be a gyro repeater. In that position and height it would be of no use. It is too low to see anything over the bridge window sill. Item 1 is simply the telemotor and might, or might not have a rudder indicator on top. Wheelhouse gyro repeaters to be used for taking bearing is usually at about 4ft 6 inches height to see through the windows. Navy does on at that height and on the Centreline but then their wheel is somewhere else!
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