Posted by Tom Napier on April 28, 2012 at 04:11:26 user Didymus.
In Reply to: Re: Remote link Titanic to WDMTGTS posted by Allan_Lang on April 27, 2012 at 17:19:25:
I stand corrected. According to Wikipedia on "Tiller" the sense in which the wheel turned was, at least in Britain and the USA, the same as the direction the boat turned but opposite to the "Tiller Order." Some countries and some individual boats used the opposite wheel convention in which clockwise meant a turn to port.
Specifically:
"A well-known and often-depicted example occurred on the RMS Titanic in 1912 just before she collided with an iceberg. When the iceberg appeared directly in front of the ship, her officer-of-the-watch, First Officer William Murdoch, decided to attempt to clear the berg by swinging the ship to its port side. He ordered 'Hard-a-Starboard', which was a Tiller Order directing the helmsman to turn the wheel to port (anti-clockwise) as far as it would go. The Titanic's steering gear then pushed the tiller toward the starboard side of the ship, swinging the rudder over to port and causing the vessel to turn to port. These actions are faithfully portrayed in the 1997 film of the disaster. Although frequently described as an error, it is correct.[7][8]" (Wikipedia)