Ship Steering Wheel History

The invention of the ship steering wheel was a huge leap forward in nautical technology, as the antiquated whip staff was a markedly inefficient way for navigating a ship. Unfortunately, the ship's wheel as we know it today was not invented until ships had been navigating the world's waters for many centuries.

When the first ship steering wheel was invented, it was regarded as a huge milestone in the evolution of the ship. It replaced the extremely inefficient whip staff, revolutionizing nautical navigation.However, the invention of the ship wheel was not implemented at the helms of large boats until relatively recently in the history of nautical travel.For a long period of time the antiquated whip staff was the standard method of steering ships of the time.Historians have difficulty pinpointing the true origins of the ship's wheel as it was not properly documented, but it is believed by many to have been invented by the British Royal Navy.Even though the British military gets the credit for the invention of the ship's wheel, many believe the real inventors were likely local artisans and craftsmen that were not officially commissioned by the government.To get the complete story of the ship wheel's invention, the archives at the Greenwich National Maritime Museum has a complete official record of the ship steering wheel's invention.

The first ship steering wheel is widely believed to have been implemented at the beginning of the 18th century, around 1703.Historians base this date on seeing a number of ships around this time start to make use of the ship steering wheel.However, this date is often refuted because there is simply not enough evidence short of a singular model ship which shows a fully developed wheel.The ship steering wheel may have been invented long before 1703, but the first real implementations of it are simply seen around this date. For this reason it is difficult to say for sure without proper documentation of the event.

The Earliest Ship's Wheels

When the earliest version of the ship steering wheel began to grace the boats of the day, they were placed behind the mizzen mast and above the tiller's head.However, because the ship steering wheel was positioned this way, the sailor steering the ship had an obstructed view of what lay in front of the ship.In order to balance the helmsmen, the ship steering wheel was generally placed in front of a large wooden barrel.Because larger ships were especially difficult to control, it often required the strength of two sailors in order to keep the ship heading in the correct direction.However, the space where the typical ship's wheel was located was often very cramped, causing a lot of difficulty when two men were trying to work in tandem to get the ship on course.By 1740, some ships began to be manufactured with 2 separate wheels to allow for more helmsmen to effectively steer at the same time.

As ships took to the sea for long periods, the tiller ropes often started to stretch or loosen, causing one to be tighter than the other.This would often cause the ship's center to change in relation to the steering wheel, making it far more difficult to control the ship effectively.This caused the rope to either become too tight or too slack.It was not until many years later a ship engineer named Pollard invented a new system to address this growing problem.Pollard's novel method of keeping the ship centered made use of "sweeps and rowles", an apparatus that kept the tiller ropes taught in adverse conditions.This new system developed by Mr. Pollard became the defacto standard on brand new ships after a few short years.

To this day it is not entirely clear how the ship wheel evolved during the 18th century.No matter what the real story is, the ship steering wheel is still a nautical culture icon and an important part of seafaring history.Not only does this significant artifact maintain its place in history, it also serves many modern day collectors as a necessary part of any nautical gifts collection. 

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