# How did old sailing ships maneuver?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 11, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307 "2010-11-11T14:57:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![topsyturvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@topsyturvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/topsyturvy)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/61 "2011-09-11T16:55:46Z")

</div>

This isn’t a reply it is actually another question on the same subject matter.  
I came across this set of questions and answers via google. I wonder if anyone knows how tall ships managed to get into and out of port. Was it just relying on the wind? So quite often, I would imagine, there would have been long waits for the right wind or actually for some wind. There were no tugs to rely on at the time, maybe horses pulling the ships along the quays like they did towing barges?  
Cheers all and thank you for any insight.

> [@Drum\_God](#):
>
> My son is building a model of the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides”. This got me to thinking, how did these ships maneuver themselves? There was, and is, transatlantic trade. However, the winds primarily blow from west to east. So, how did the ships make the voyage from Europe to the New World? Is there some way to rig the sails so that the wind propels you in the direction you want to go even if the wind is actually blowing the other direction?
> 
> When the ship got to harbor, how was it safely maneuvered up to the dock? There were no tugboats and the ships themselves obviously did not have bow and stern thrusters. Would a sudden gust of wind send the ship crashing through the pier?
> 
> So, in short, with wind being a variable source of power, how were people able to get where they were going with some reasonable degree of safety and reliability?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307/62 "2011-09-11T18:22:51Z")

</div>

> [@topsyturvy](#):
>
> This isn’t a reply it is actually another question on the same subject matter.  
> I came across this set of questions and answers via google. I wonder if anyone knows how tall ships managed to get into and out of port. Was it just relying on the wind? So quite often, I would imagine, there would have been long waits for the right wind or actually for some wind. There were no tugs to rely on at the time, maybe horses pulling the ships along the quays like they did towing barges?  
> Cheers all and thank you for any insight.

If you read the rest of this thread, that has pretty much been answered. To get in and out of harbor where maneuvering would be too difficult, the ship would be warped (by having a boat row an anchor in front of the ship and then pulling the ship towards it) or towed out by row boat.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-sailing-ships-maneuver/560307.md?page=3)