Ship Wheel 72"

These ship wheels for sale portray the amazing history of sailing as a nautical symbol, but also show the early creativity and ingenuity of sailors and ship craftsmen. At the start of the 1700s, taking the place of tillers and whipstaffs, the first wooden ship wheels were invented and implemented throughout Europe. These three tools, the tiller, whipstaff, and wheel, are all devices that are used to manipulate a ship’s rudder. Initially just a large master oar used for steering, the rudder became a fixed part of any vessel, with the tiller taking the place of the oar handle. As a simple lever, the tiller was moved to starboard or port in maneuvering a ship. With the invention of the ship wheel, the motion of moving the rudder was transformed from linear to circular, allowing for more leverage with less applied force. The first stage of ship wheels was the use of the windlass, a basic cylindrical hand crank used in hoisting anchors and sails, which allowed a helmsman to operate the tiller by rotating a handle. Eventually becoming the wheel, this system used ropes and pulleys to move the rudder. These ropes were wrapped around the barrel of the crank, sent through pulleys below deck, and attached to the rudder and the curved stabilizing “sweep.” As the wheel is turned, tension is applied to the ropes along one side of the rudder as slack rope is created on the other, moving it along the sweep, and pulling it to starboard or port as necessary.  With the decrease in effort needed to move the rudder, these ship wheels for sale allowed for the ever increasing size of ships, all operated with fewer and fewer sailors. By the end of the Industrial Revolution, with mechanical innovations taking the place of ropes and pulleys, a single wheel and helmsman was able to steer an entire ocean liner with ease. Bring the history and wonder of sailing and nautical life into your home with these ship wheels for sale, and ponder the evolution of a seemingly simple device that forever altered the course of sailing history.