Rudder

“ With square, massive bows they thicken away aft, until, curving upwards with a bold sweep of the gunnels, their covered-in sterns, high above the balanced rudder, form good quarters for the lowdah and his family, where from tiny windows women and children peep in shy curiosity at the foreigner sailing by. ”

“ That the action of the rudder, when forced over till it is at an angle with the keel, is to act as a drag on that side and so deflect the boat’s course, is plain enough. But it is not so obvious a fact that this action of the rudder in turning the boat is not to turn her bow round through the water, but to push the stern sideways while the bow is almost at a standstill. For the centre of rotation of a boat, that is, the imaginary pivot on which she turns, is always well forward. ”

“ II. the rudder working in a rule-joint in the stern-post, facilitates its being shipped at sea; and fitting so closely at the heel, it precludes the possibility of any ropes getting in between.
“III. The rudder is found to work easier in consequence of these pintles being turned in a lathe; and we recommend the upper pintle (which is of iron, and upon the old plan) to be altered so as to correspond with the others, which we consider will make the plan most perfect. ”

“ Our boat lay in a calm. Not a breath of air around us. Will this wandering giant strike us and break upon us, deluge and swamp us? Automatically Leudemann at the rudder tries to steer us. Without wind our boat cannot move, much less steer. ”

“ The nearest approach to a rudder is a chimney or an unfinished pillar; the closest resemblance to a pilot is a hod-carrying workman clambering up a gangway. Dismissing the nautical hypothesis, your next effort to relieve your perplexity results in the conjecture that the prodigious masts and booms may be nothing more than curious gibbets, the cross-pieces to which, conforming rigidly to the Washington rule of contrariety, are fastened to the bottom instead of the top of the upright. ”

“ The rudder affords a constant fund of interest when the ship is at her full speed. The parting and closing water makes incessant forms of beauty; you may hang over the counter and look down into the wake for a long time, and not be weary. ”

“ While in the mountains we frequently came to shoals and riffles over which the boat dashed at a speed that turned us dizzy, but we had to stay with it and trust to the man at the rudder to keep her straight ahead. ”

“ He knows, by feeling the movements of the rope, its tension, sliding, and jerking, whether the drag is passing over sand, mud, hard ground, or solid, jagged rock. At times the youth stands alone at the capstan, and the sailors take the rudder in hand and turn the vessel as the padrone directs. ”

“ Before you put your sails on, or, in fact, any of the spars, standing or running rigging, you must remember that you have not put the runners on yet, nor got the rudder in place. See that the blacksmith has made the iron-work according to the drawings. Bolt the rudder to the rudder-post, screw the irons to the runners, the chocks to the under side of the runner plank, and then to the runners. ”

“ Do you notice that large helm-port over the head of her rudder?"
"That's so," said some of the sailors; "but what does that prove?"
"That proves, my men," replied the quartermaster with a scornful smile, "that you can neither see nor think; it proves that they wanted to leave the head of the rudder free, so that it might be unshipped and shipped again easily. ”

“ A ship should therefore be so balanced by her sails that a slight change of her helm may answer the purpose.
If a vessel is going astern, and the rudder is turned off from the line of the keel, the water, striking against the back of the rudder, pushes the stern off in the same direction in which the rudder is turned. For instance, if sternway is on her, and the helm is put to the starboard, the rudder turns to port, the water forces the stern in the same direction, and the ship's head goes off to the starboard. ”

“ The rudder is so hung that the rudder-stock, which is cylindrical, turns on its own axis, to prevent the rudder being jammed if the well should be filled with ice. Aft of the rudder-well the space between the stern-timbers is filled with solid wood, and the whole is securely bolted together with bolts running athwart-ship. ”

“ Now, where there is a definite object to steer by, or a compass to guide one, and a decent rudder, even an inexperienced hand can manage to come somewhere near the point that he aims at. But take a boat like Tom's, and a rude and suddenly extemporized sail, with no other rudder than a bit of board, with no compass, and a surrounding of thick fog, and it would puzzle even an experienced sailor to guide himself aright. ”

“ Most small boats are steered by means of a rudder and tiller, the rudder being a wooden or metal affair submerged at the stern and the tiller consisting of a handle at the rudder’s upper end. Some rudders are hung or fastened to the counter and can be easily taken off or “unshipped,” while others are under the counter and are fastened to the sternpost with the upper end coming up through the boat or the deck. ”

“ The rudder is moved from side to side by a huge handle or lever on deck, called the tiller; but as in large ships the rudder is difficult to move by so simple a contrivance, several ropes or chains and pulleys are attached to it, and connected with the drum of a wheel, at which the steersman stands. In the largest ships two, and in rough weather four men are often stationed at the wheel. ”

“ Leeway and lateral resistance—Heeling—Balancing sails—Tacking—Action of rudder—Longitudinal resistance—Deep keel or centre-board.
Any object floating on the water will have a tendency to drift before the wind; but a boat, with its scientifically constructed hull, sails, and rudder, can be so guided as to sail with the wind on her quarter or abeam, or even close-hauled, as it is called, that is, with the wind meeting her at an angle of about forty-five degrees. ”

“ PLANS OF A SAIL-BOAT.
Now for the blacksmith. Make the rudder-post of iron three-quarters of an inch in diameter, running through gas-pipe, and fastened to the deck and the bottom with collars. (Fig. 7 gives details.) A steel pin through the rudder-post keeps it from falling through. This rests on the collar. The stay irons are screwed to the sides and inside of the oak ribbon; the traveller is fastened to the inside of the stern. ”

“ The stern also, as well as the stem, is iron-plated, and the rudder post, which is the Achilles’s heel of an Arctic ship, is of unusually strong construction. The rudder is so arranged that it can be hoisted on deck out of the way of the ice if necessary. The propeller is so arranged that it can be used either as a two-bladed or a four-bladed propeller, and is made of unusual strength. Powerful deck appliances in the shape of windlass, steam capstans and winch, enable the ship to warp herself out of a dangerous place, or pull herself off the bottom should she get aground. ”

“ The ship is guided by a rudder, and a compass is placed just before the man who steers, that is, turns the rudder—this way or that—so that he can look at it, and know which way to turn the rudder, and so to keep the ship on her course. ”

“ We were now apparently without hope or remedy, unless we made a new rudder, and could contrive to hang it at sea, which may easily be judged was no easy matter, in so dangerous a sea, and our ship being of seven or eight hundred tons. [117] But necessity compelled us to try all possible means. The general ordered our carpenters to make a new rudder of the mizen-mast; but there was this great obstacle, that we had lost all our rudder-irons along with the old rudder: Yet we proceeded with all expedition ”

“ We found, also, that the rudder-cases in both ships had been fitted too small, occasioning considerable difficulty in getting the rudders down when working, a circumstance by no means disadvantageous (perhaps, indeed, rather the contrary) on ordinary service at sea, but which should be carefully avoided in ships intended for the navigation among ice, as it is frequently necessary to unship the rudder at a short notice, in order to preserve it from injury, as our future experience was soon to teach us. ”

“ Fifthly, the effect upon the steerage is singular, the mass of water put into motion by the thrust of the screw is thrown directly upon the rudder, and the consequence is not only that when the ship is going at any given rate, the rudder is passing through the water at a greater rate, and consequently is more sensible, and acts more powerfully upon the ship ”

“ Just as the curve of a clam shell helps it to mount upward, so the curve of the elevating or depressing rudder on an airship helps it to go up or down. If the rudder is inclined upward the aeroplane shoots toward the clouds. When the rudder is parallel to the plane of the earth's surface, the airship flies in a straight line. When the rudder is tilted downward, down goes the craft. ”

“ The little staples on the keel, in which the bent pins work, are to be formed of brass wire. The stem of the rudder passes through a hole in the stern of the vessel, and is provided with a tiller. Before launching the ship, the tiller must be fixed so as to keep the rudder at the required angle. Many boys fear to launch their ships in large [607] ponds; but if a ship is properly rigged, and answers to her rudder, there need be no doubt as to her safe arrival at port.
SMACK.
The smack is not so graceful as the cutter, but is a capital sailer. ”

“ After what has been said of the helm, it is easy to judge, that the more a ship increases her velocity with regard to the sea, the more powerful will be the effect of the rudder, because it acts against the water with a force, which increases as the square of the swiftness of the fluid, whether the ship advances or retreats ”

“ An ordinary vertical rudder placed just after the screws may, however, prove more convenient if not more efficient.
The machine is provided with fore and aft horizontal rudders, both of which are connected with the same windlass. ”

“ In the afternoon of the same day, we got on 264board some ballast, unhung the rudder, and sent it on shore, the lead of the pintles being found entirely worn away, and a great part of the sheathing rubbed off. ”

“ We may be sure that in any future actions their broadsides will be aimed at rudder and fantail screw, and therefore it becomes important to have some other mode of propulsion, entire or supplementary, not capable of destruction, and the only eligible methods appear to be, to pump water through the hull, hauling as it were on an endless water-rope, or applying water-billows externally. ”

“ Tribord means the right-hand side, looking ahead. A fellow don't need a slate and pencil to figure up the meaning of babord. Now we are going along all right, and we will look over the wheel. Can you all see it?"
"I can," replied Archie.
"The upper end of the rudder is the head of it. The tiller is set in the rudder-head, and is 230simply a lever for turning the rudder. The bow of the boat is called the head. If you put the helm--that is, the tiller--to starboard, what will be the effect upon the head, Archie?" ”

“ There were two sets of rudders, though one, as has been explained, was more like a big box-kite than a rudder. This controlled the depression or elevation of the ship. The other, shaped like a fish-tail, sent it to right or left.
The planes on either side of the gas bag were intended to better balance the motor ship, to render it less liable to be sent out of its course by contrary winds, and to support it in case of accidents. The planes were on the same principle as a bird’s wings [92] when it is gliding or swooping down from a great height. ”

“ I always take considerable interest in the yacht races for the America's Cup, and when my friend Donovan informed me recently that the next boat would have a wonderful rudder filled with air, to add to the buoyancy and save weight, I began to consider whether the advantages might not be offset by the new dangers accompanying a pneumatic rudder. ”

“ The movement of the rudder, hereinbefore described, prevents this action, since it exerts a retarding influence on that side of the machine which tends to move forward too rapidly and keeps the machine with its front properly presented to the direction of flight and with its body properly balanced around its central longitudinal axis. ”

“ This shows that one screw or the other has almost stopped for a moment. [Pg 266] The ship-channel coming up the bay is so narrow and shallow that at certain low stages of the tide a great steamship drags the water along with her body, just as your own body can drag the water in a bath-tub. The result is that the rudder has very little effect in guiding the ship. ”

“ You want the sails to fill on the new tack, and she should be met with the helm before she has fallen off much beyond her proper course. In a light wind, when the boat moves sluggishly, she may fall off somewhat before she feels the pressure on the rudder. ”

“ The modern rudder being unknown for many centuries after this period, they were steered by paddles fixed to the quarter. While the steersman, who was also the captain or master, and perhaps, too, the pilot, held the paddle in one hand, he kept the sheet of the sail in the other, thus guiding and providing for the safety of his vessel at the same time. It is doubtful if for any purpose these vessels ever carried more than fifty or sixty men ”

“ The rudder is a light frame of cane covered with silk, somewhat of the form of an elongated battledoor, about three feet long, and one foot wide, where it is largest. It might be made considerably larger if required, being exceedingly light and yet sufficiently strong for any force to which it could be subjected. ”