Tiller or wheel
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fin john
Aug 14, 2009, 3:18:03 PM8/14/09
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All,
At some point in the past I am sure that we discussed why the Pequod has a jaw-bone tiler and possibly a wheel. Perhaps someone can dredge up that discussion. In chapters 61 and 118, Melville refers to the helmsman's spokes, possibly alluding to a wheel.
Joseph C Baillargeon in "At the Helm pf the Pequod: Wheel and Tiller," MSEx, #79, 1989, 7-8, tries to solve this apparent steering discrepancy. If this article is online, I encourage one to read it for a somewhat resolution of this problem.
Perhaps Hardeman could relate something about the efficacy of having a tiller over a wheel.
Also in this edition of Extracts is a short article by Mark Dunphy who significantly proposes that Melville parodied Darwin's quantitative science in "The Encantadas." Mark at the time was affiliated with Flaming Rainbow University, a name which grabbed my eyes. Perhaps Mark might inform who Flaming Rainbow was and why this Indian was entitled to grace the name of a university. Just curious! John Gretchko
Dunphy, Mark
Aug 14, 2009, 5:27:31 PM8/14/09
to ishma...@googlegroups.com
Yeah, sure thing. Flaming Rainbow, founded in 1971, was located in Tahlequah, Oaks, and Stillwell, Oklahoma. It was the first fully accredited Native-American emphasis institution. I’ll quote the opening paragraph of the catalog:
“The Flaming Rainbow, a symbol of power through knowledge and understanding, appeared to the Oglala Sioux medicine man, Black Elk, in his Great Vision nearly one hundred years ago. It symbolizes the educational mission of Flaming Rainbow University today.” Some of you may recall the book Black Elk Speaks—popular with the Woodstock Generation as I recollect.
Unfortunately, there is no more “today” for FRU. It went under in 1992. We primarily served the Cherokee population but also those of Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole descent.
And yes, my name tag had quite a few quizzical stares whenever I attended the MLA, for example.
Thanks for your inquiry, John, and best to you and yours.
Mark
Hardeman
Aug 16, 2009, 8:23:10 PM8/16/09
to Ishmailites
Dear John,
Once upon a time Melville’s maritime contradictions bothered me but
since I gave up my maritime mask there is no conflict. I noticed that
scholars were able to create a conference uniting Conrad and Melville
yet surely they must know that the old sailor Conrad greatly disliked
Moby Dick as well as HM. Perhaps Conrad never could escape the
consequences of his maritime identity. In any case Melville is
contradictory on the Pequod’s helm and we his readers need to examine
ourselves if it bothers us. And perhaps Melville could never escape
the consequences of his time at sea.
Helm up is the same as “helm aweather”
Helm down is the same as “helm alee”
Melville never misuses these terms and he knows that steering commands
of a sailing vessel at sea are often relative to the wind. His only
“error” relating to the helm appears to be he forgets whether it’s a
tiller or wheel that one “helms.” All whaling ships of his day had
tillers which were conned with a wheel connected to the tiller with
chain or rope.
In 19th century marine usage spokes are an element of a wheel.
Melville’s “spokes” must refer to a wheel used in steering the ship.
Professor Baillargeon covers Melville’s use of “helm” terminology well
but makes the serious mistake of applying contemporary understanding
to the 19th century usage in building his case. He says, “The words
“up” and “down” are rarely applicable to the action of a ship’s wheel
and if the wheel were turned toward the downwind side of a ship, the
ship would also turn downwind.” He uses Layton’s <Dictionary of
Nautical Terms> 1955 [from my favorite nautical publishing house
Brown, Son and Ferguson] but fails to note these terms are those in
current use by the merchant marine. He does not realize in Melville’s
day the wheel before motor vehicles were common worked in reverse of
how we think of steering today. So his hypothesis is based on a false
premise. Melville's use of commands for the helm are correct for both
wheel and tiller.
Wikipedia got it right . “Helmsmen on older ships steer using a tiller
(a long stick) fixed directly to the rudder, or a whipstaff (a
vertical stick acting on the tiller). Early ships wheels were operated
to correspond to the motion of the tiller, with a clockwise motion
(corresponding to a right tiller motion) turning the rudder and thus
the ship to the left. Eventually the control direction of the wheel
was reversed to make it more consistent with the action of a motor
vehicle's steering wheel.”
I leave it to readers to evaluate Baillargeon’s assumption of
Melville’s intentional irony. To me when he rewrote MD after
conversations with Hawthorne the Pequod was transformed into a
mythological ship with a whalebone tiller for effect and also to
emphasize she “was a ship of the old school.” His memory of helms from
his whaling days all had wheels so in the furry of his writing
passion it appears the image of the real occasionally pushed its way
into the mythical. Hundreds of hours handling spokes in real life
leaves its effect. He certainly only steered with a whale bone jaw in
his metaphors if not metaphysics.
Some more maritime sources for helm;
“HELM, (gouvernail, Fr. helma, Sax.) a long and flat piece of timber,
or an assemblage of several pieces, suspended along the hind part of a
ship's stern-post, where it turns upon hinges to the right or lest,
serving to direct the course of the vessel, as the tail of a fish
guides the body.
The helm is usually composed of three parts, viz. the rudder, the
tiller, and the wheel, except in small vessels, where the wheel is
unnecessary.
The rudder is turned upon it's hinges by means of a long bar of
timber, called the tiller, which is fixed horizontally in it's upper
end within the vessel. The movements of the tiller to the right and
lest, accordingly, direct the efforts of the rudder to the government
of the ship's course as she advances, which, in the sea-language, is
called steering. The operations of the tiller are guided and assisted
by a sort of tackle, commnicating with the ship's side, called the
tiller-rope, which is usually composed of untarred rope-yarns, for the
purpose of traversing more readily through the blocks or pullies.
In order to facilitate the management of the helm, the tiller-rope, in
all large vessels, is wound about a wheel, which acts upon it with the
powers of a crane or windlass. The rope employed in this service being
conveyed from the fore-end of the tiller k, to a single block i, on
each side of the ship, (plate III. DECK) is further communicated to
the wheel, by means of two blocks, suspended near the mizen-mast, and
two holes immediately above, leading up to the wheel, which is fixed
upon an axis, on the quarter-deck, almost perpendicularly over the
fore end of the tiller. Five turns of the tiller-rope are usually
wound about the barrel of the wheel, and, when the helm is amidship,
the middle turn is nailed to the top of the barrel, with a mark by
which the helmsman readily discovers the situation of the helm, as the
wheel turns it from the starboard to the larboard side. The spokes of
the wheel generally reach about eight inches beyond the rim or
circumference, serving as handles to the person who steers the vessel.
As the effect of a lever increases in proportion to the length of it's
arm, it is evident that the power of the helmsman, to turn the wheel,
will be increased according to the length of the spokes, beyond the
circumference or the barrel.”
[William Falconer’s Dictionary of the Marine 18th century]
Hardeman
On Aug 14, 9:18 pm, fin john <stein.fin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> All,
>
> At some point in the past I am sure that we discussed why the
> *Pequod*has a jaw-bone tiler and possibly a wheel. Perhaps someone can
> *MSEx*, #79, 1989, 7-8, tries to solve this apparent steering discrepancy.
Once upon a time Melville’s maritime contradictions bothered me but
since I gave up my maritime mask there is no conflict. I noticed that
scholars were able to create a conference uniting Conrad and Melville
yet surely they must know that the old sailor Conrad greatly disliked
Moby Dick as well as HM. Perhaps Conrad never could escape the
consequences of his maritime identity. In any case Melville is
contradictory on the Pequod’s helm and we his readers need to examine
ourselves if it bothers us. And perhaps Melville could never escape
the consequences of his time at sea.
Helm up is the same as “helm aweather”
Helm down is the same as “helm alee”
Melville never misuses these terms and he knows that steering commands
of a sailing vessel at sea are often relative to the wind. His only
“error” relating to the helm appears to be he forgets whether it’s a
tiller or wheel that one “helms.” All whaling ships of his day had
tillers which were conned with a wheel connected to the tiller with
chain or rope.
In 19th century marine usage spokes are an element of a wheel.
Melville’s “spokes” must refer to a wheel used in steering the ship.
Professor Baillargeon covers Melville’s use of “helm” terminology well
but makes the serious mistake of applying contemporary understanding
to the 19th century usage in building his case. He says, “The words
“up” and “down” are rarely applicable to the action of a ship’s wheel
and if the wheel were turned toward the downwind side of a ship, the
ship would also turn downwind.” He uses Layton’s <Dictionary of
Nautical Terms> 1955 [from my favorite nautical publishing house
Brown, Son and Ferguson] but fails to note these terms are those in
current use by the merchant marine. He does not realize in Melville’s
day the wheel before motor vehicles were common worked in reverse of
how we think of steering today. So his hypothesis is based on a false
premise. Melville's use of commands for the helm are correct for both
wheel and tiller.
Wikipedia got it right . “Helmsmen on older ships steer using a tiller
(a long stick) fixed directly to the rudder, or a whipstaff (a
vertical stick acting on the tiller). Early ships wheels were operated
to correspond to the motion of the tiller, with a clockwise motion
(corresponding to a right tiller motion) turning the rudder and thus
the ship to the left. Eventually the control direction of the wheel
was reversed to make it more consistent with the action of a motor
vehicle's steering wheel.”
I leave it to readers to evaluate Baillargeon’s assumption of
Melville’s intentional irony. To me when he rewrote MD after
conversations with Hawthorne the Pequod was transformed into a
mythological ship with a whalebone tiller for effect and also to
emphasize she “was a ship of the old school.” His memory of helms from
his whaling days all had wheels so in the furry of his writing
passion it appears the image of the real occasionally pushed its way
into the mythical. Hundreds of hours handling spokes in real life
leaves its effect. He certainly only steered with a whale bone jaw in
his metaphors if not metaphysics.
Some more maritime sources for helm;
“HELM, (gouvernail, Fr. helma, Sax.) a long and flat piece of timber,
or an assemblage of several pieces, suspended along the hind part of a
ship's stern-post, where it turns upon hinges to the right or lest,
serving to direct the course of the vessel, as the tail of a fish
guides the body.
The helm is usually composed of three parts, viz. the rudder, the
tiller, and the wheel, except in small vessels, where the wheel is
unnecessary.
The rudder is turned upon it's hinges by means of a long bar of
timber, called the tiller, which is fixed horizontally in it's upper
end within the vessel. The movements of the tiller to the right and
lest, accordingly, direct the efforts of the rudder to the government
of the ship's course as she advances, which, in the sea-language, is
called steering. The operations of the tiller are guided and assisted
by a sort of tackle, commnicating with the ship's side, called the
tiller-rope, which is usually composed of untarred rope-yarns, for the
purpose of traversing more readily through the blocks or pullies.
In order to facilitate the management of the helm, the tiller-rope, in
all large vessels, is wound about a wheel, which acts upon it with the
powers of a crane or windlass. The rope employed in this service being
conveyed from the fore-end of the tiller k, to a single block i, on
each side of the ship, (plate III. DECK) is further communicated to
the wheel, by means of two blocks, suspended near the mizen-mast, and
two holes immediately above, leading up to the wheel, which is fixed
upon an axis, on the quarter-deck, almost perpendicularly over the
fore end of the tiller. Five turns of the tiller-rope are usually
wound about the barrel of the wheel, and, when the helm is amidship,
the middle turn is nailed to the top of the barrel, with a mark by
which the helmsman readily discovers the situation of the helm, as the
wheel turns it from the starboard to the larboard side. The spokes of
the wheel generally reach about eight inches beyond the rim or
circumference, serving as handles to the person who steers the vessel.
As the effect of a lever increases in proportion to the length of it's
arm, it is evident that the power of the helmsman, to turn the wheel,
will be increased according to the length of the spokes, beyond the
circumference or the barrel.”
[William Falconer’s Dictionary of the Marine 18th century]
Hardeman
On Aug 14, 9:18 pm, fin john <stein.fin...@gmail.com> wrote:
> All,
>
> At some point in the past I am sure that we discussed why the
> dredge up
> that discussion. In chapters 61 and 118, Melville refers to the helmsman's
> spokes, possibly alluding to a wheel.
>
> Joseph C Baillargeon in "At the Helm pf the *Pequod: *Wheel and Tiller,"
> that discussion. In chapters 61 and 118, Melville refers to the helmsman's
> spokes, possibly alluding to a wheel.
>
> *MSEx*, #79, 1989, 7-8, tries to solve this apparent steering discrepancy.
> If this article is online, I encourage one to read it for a somewhat
> resolution of this problem.
>
> Perhaps Hardeman could relate something about the efficacy of having a
> tiller over a wheel.
>
> Also in this edition of *Extracts *is a short article by Mark Dunphy who
> resolution of this problem.
>
> Perhaps Hardeman could relate something about the efficacy of having a
> tiller over a wheel.
>
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