Ship’s wheel

[Hallibag]

I’m hoping someone might be able to tell me something about this ship’s wheel. I’ve been told it came from a three-masted schooner that was wrecked near Penetanguishene in Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada, but I have no idea if this is correct. The wheel measures 54” in diameter and is made almost entirely of wood. It still bears traces of paint, shown in the photos. 

 

Any info at all - when it dates to, nationality, type of ship it came from, etc. - would be greatly appreciated!

[John Allen]

It looks like the real McCoy, but I do not see a keyway. I admit I can't verify when they started using those to snug up a wheel.??

 

It does look good

[Captain Poison]

Maybe you can find more info here

 https://www.niagaradivers.com/index.html

 https://www.niagaradivers.com/divesites/pentang.html#Western Islands

 

http://www.boatinggeorgianbay.com/wrecks.html

Edited June 19, 2019 by Captain Poison

[Roger Pellett]

All wooden wheels were also used on some Great Lakes steamships.  By the 1890’s these vessels were often steered with steam steering engines- little more than winches that drove steering chains running back to the rudder quadrant in the stern.  The wheel was just required to open and close valves on the winches.

 

This is important because this wheel looks to be too lightly built to stand up to forces from hand steering a sailing vessel.  Also by the second half of the Nineteenth Century cast metal steering wheels were readily available and widely used on sailing vessels.

 

This does not make this artifact any less interesting.

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

[Bob Cleek]

50 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

This is important because this wheel looks to be too lightly built to stand up to forces from hand steering a sailing vessel.

I immediately thought the same thing. It appears to be a wheel intended for use within a pilothouse, not on deck in a sailing vessel. And it is still an interesting artifact, regardless of its lack of detailed provenance.

[Hallibag]

Thank you for your replies!

 

I was wondering, could this have been half of a double wheel? Looking at the back of the wheel, it appears that somebody sawed through the drum, and the iron spindle that runs through it. Maybe we have just half of this wheel...

 

It’s also interesting to me that the wheel hub was made from a single piece of wood, like a section of tree trunk. The wood has shrunk and split into wedges over the years, but the same tree rings can be traced completely around the hub. I don’t know if this helps date it, but I thought it was worth noting.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Hallibag

[Hallibag]

Something like this, but not as chunky because I doubt our wheel came from a vessel as large as the USS Constitution!

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

No, I think more likely like the drawing below.  In this case there were three wheels in the pilot house of this vessel.  The smaller metal wheel operated the steering engine below while the double wooden wheels could be used to steer the ship manually.  Sorry, my IPad insists on turning the picture on its side.

 

Roger

[Hallibag]

Interesting! Thank you, Roger.

 

So, 1890’s, then?