Ok, so I’m watching the TV show Dirty Jobs, and he’s on an old sailing ship (the Star of India) this week helping to keep it maintained. I noticed, not for the first time, that the big ol’ steering wheel on the back of the ship is on the open deck. I got to wondering why it’s out in the open, where the guy steering the boat is exposed to foul weather. Why didn’t the put it in an enclosed room with lots of windows?
My guess is that they enclosed the wheel very shortly after speaking tubes came into regular use.
Before that, the helmsman had to be in close communication with whoever was in charge of sailing, so without some way to effectively and quickly relay his orders, the helmsman had to be within earshot of whoever was in charge.
Windows need glass. Big windows need big glass. Lots of big windows need lots of big glass. That used to be really expensive. Furthermore, during a storm in the open ocean, those windows will be rendered completely useless by rain and spray. Without radar, you’ll be sailing completely blind. You can’t run radar anyway because it hasn’t been invented yet. You also don’t have electricity, so you can’t run wipers either.
I suspect that the need to keep an eye on the sails played some part in it as well.
I do not think enclosed wheels were ever common on sailships at all. For one thing the helmsman had to be in communication with whoever was directing operations on deck and, for another, the entire watch was working on the open decks and rigging and I cannot think why the man at the helm, who was the most comfortable, would be afforded extra comfort.
I think the question only arises when thinking in today’s terms but a hundred years ago it would not make sense.
The only inclosed spaces on a sailing ship above the main deck would be the Forecastle. When on watch you were on deck. Bridges as we know them today came about with power vessels.
And far as comfort for the crew, say what. If you lived before the mast your comfort was of no consern. And aft the mast was not much better, except you got a cabin and a bed.
I think it was considered important for the man steering to have the wind “on his face” - there are times when it’s important to react more or less instinctively to a gust or a wind shift. And at night in foul weather visual clues aren’t worth all that much.
Sometimes you don’t need to be able to see very much. For close maneuvering in a harbor, the helm follows directions from the captain or mate (“hard to port,” “rudder amidships,” that sort of thing). When it’s overcast at night, you steer by the compass. Assuming there wasn’t enough metal around you to screw with the compass, you could do either of those in an enclosed room. Wouldn’t even need any windows.
But sometimes you do need to see. When the stars were out, it was more accurate to steer by them. As the ship rolled with the waves, the compass would bob and wobble a bit. Once it settled down and you’re on course, you’d pick out a bright star and note where it was in relation to all the lines and rigging. If you started going off course, you’d notice it sooner by watching the star than the compass. The sooner you correct the helm, the smaller the correction and the easier it is to stay on course.
There’s also the command to steer “full and by” where you hold the most effective course based on the set of the sails. You watch the sails for ripples that indicate you’ve come too far to windward. The upper sails would ripple first.
I was never on the helm in really bad weather, but I assume you’d want to approach the waves at the best angle. And that’s also when the compass and windows would be at their least useful.
The discussion of the distinction beteen bridge and wheelhouse a couple of weeks back triggered a memory. Wikipedia implies that wheelhouses came in with steam.
What are those round windows in modern bridges that I see now with little gizmos in them? Some kind of anti-fogging feature?
The helmsman standing behind the wheel is a bit of a stereotype. Many smaller ships had tillers with wheels being more common in later times. Also many times there was no space behind the wheel so the man had to stand beside it or in front. Sometimes the helmsman stood in a covered well but this was a result of the mechanical design rather than any desire to protect him from the elements.
Here’s a picture looking aft. The steering gear is in that big box directly behind the wheel. The ship would lean with the wind, so I’d stand on the windward side (the uphill side) with my hip braced against the steering box and facing forward.
It looks a little inconvenient at first, but it worked.
The helm on the USCGC Eagle looks like this. You need a lot of muscle to turn the rudder on a big ship.
Ah, thanks!
During most of the age of sail (all of it I suspect) the word was “unavailable” not expensive.
Large sail warships had a ‘repeater’ system, where there was a wheel below the upper deck, the whole lot being linked together through ropes and pulleys.
If you take a look at HMS Victory you can see this. I expect this made sense in close quarter fighting, you would not want to lose your wheel control due to a sniper shot when coming alongside, quite how orders were transmitted I don’t know, I doubt it would be by bosuns call but whatever method, it would have to be pretty swift to ensure that tight control was maintained.
Glass was already available in Roman times and by the middle ages glass for windows (of very low quality by today’s standards) was available to the wealthy. Remember the beautiful stained glass medieval windows. In the early 19th century larger panes made using the cylinder were available and cost would not have been cost prohibitive for a ship at all. The windows of ships’ stern galleries were quite ornate. So in the 19th century, the golden age of sail, and into the first third of the 20th century when sail disappears commercially, there was indeed plenty of glass available and even used in ships. Just not for this purpose.
As sailor notes, glass was certainly used in sailing ships. Here’s a stern view of HMS Victory (launched in 1765), showing an impressive array of windows.
As long as nobody asks why the helmsman turned the wheel the wrong way in Titanic… 
Big glass that you can see through very well without distortion or dimming and which is strong enough to withstand being forward facing is a very different proposition to what is good enough for decorative windows, or windows that just let light in, or which are only rear-facing.