Engine Telegraphs: How Did They Work? | Nautical Tales

Today I discuss the engine order telegraph, how they operated, what its like in the present day and a little theory of mine about the Titanic.
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[@MrKinnoull]

Engine Room Telegraphs. Most steamships have what are known as repeater telegraphs - that is to say that the order sent from the bridge is acknowledged by the engine room, the indications on the bridge telegraph being repeated by a pointer. Normally there are four positions of the telegraph ahead - Stand By, Slow, Half and Full, Stop with the handle vertical, and four positions astern Finished with Engines, Slow, Half and Full. In some cases Dead Slow is added. On moving the handle on the bridge telegraph - twin screw ships normally have separate handles for port and starboard on the same pedestal, as the handle passes each sector a gong sounds in the engine room. E.g. if you move the handle from stop to full ahead the gong sounds four times. On receiving the order the engineer acknowledges by moving the handle on the engine room telegraph and the pointer moves accordingly inside the bridge telegraph a gong of different note sounding inside that instrument. Moving the bridge telegraph from say half ahead to full ahead would sound the engine room gong once. Gongs of different notes in the engine room identify ahead and astern. Titanic films depict the sound effects incorrectly. Similar telegraphs are used to send messages to mooring positions on the ship. Coastal passenger vessels tend to have non repeating telegraphs i.e. there is no return from the engine room.

[@FIZZLifez]

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[@dand5593]

Nice video, also at the end i'm used to hear a "bye", or " next time". I'm not always watching, but hearing on the headfones and a salute at the end will be usefull for ppl like me. Be shure i have subscribed! Keep going 👍

[@FIZZLifez]

Great Video Icemonster

[@MrDaddynomates]

How about if Titanic hit the iceberg head on? It would cause a lot of damage but only at the front. Maybe she wouldn't have sunk.

[@thechosenone9965]

she would've survived. it has happened previously, even before 1912.

[@Real_Moon-Moon]

She probably would have survived, but it would have been devastating. The bow destroyed and passengers thrown. Historic Travels made an excellent video on it. But yeah, it wouldn’t have ended well. Best to try and avoid it then ram it. I know hindsight is always 20/20, but at the time they were unknowingly sailing blind. No moon, no waves, and a deceptive false horizon. So, they thought they could see for miles, but in reality they couldn’t. It was an unfortunate accident that wasn’t negligence.

[@Stitchxavi]

@@Real_Moon-Moonabsolutely! Historic Travels and ocean liner designs both address this. They’re excellent resources for all things Titanic

[@leah5215]

If I remember correctly I‘ve read that this would have been the "better" option because it‘s alleged that theoretically the Titanic wouldn’t have sunk but it meant sacrificing about 200 people in the front of the ship. Obviously a lot more people died back then but I guess the crew probably believed they stood a slight chance of not hitting the iceberg or having less severe harm done to the ship and clung to it, not wanting to actively decide on killing hundreds of people. They surely weren’t in their right minds in such a devastatingly dramatic moment.

[@twistedaxles9126]

I wonder of the telegraphs on Titanic were indeed lit up like in the movie

[@jasonpoole2093]

I don't know, but since the bridge was probably darkened during the hours between sunset and sunrise, that would make sense.

[@Real_Moon-Moon]

What if the crew had ordered the port side engine full astern and the starboard full ahead? Like, used asymmetrical power to turn?

[@JouMaxu]

BRO WHAT I WAS LOOKING THIS FOR REFERENCE HOW TO MAKE IT IN STORMWORKS AND THE "tutorial" IS IN STORMOWKS WHAAAAT

[@kristoffgavinconcha7043]

It is a nice video

[@anastazjamalczyk7683]

While Titanic was in nearby Queenstown, picking up its last passengers from the tenders, would the engines go "stand by"??

[@pachirayanantalit9968]

Ding I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed iiiiiiiiiitttttttttttt

[@Reskinfodawin]

Why did they move it back and forward again?

[@SS_Atlantic_Greyhound1119]

To ring the bell inside and have a better chance of the engineers hearing it.

[@kristoffgavinconcha7043]

Just watch 👍

[@kristoffgavinconcha7043]

I know engine telegraph at the ship

[@jasonmendez6203]

Sería genial en español.

[@kristoffgavinconcha7043]

I know Titanic the ship

[@MrKinnoull]

Telegraphs don't operate in quite the way you describe in your video.

[@jorgeadrianhidalgo7455]

But...how it works?

[@stephenwilson5043]

Inside is a cog wheel like that found on a bicycle with a small chain this runs down in ducts where either more chains or rods running on small pulleys transmit the movement to the equivalent device in the engine room. I used to work on tne PS Waverley and she uses that system to this day. In addition to engine telegraphs there are also docking telegraphs which tell the rope handlers what to eg ‘let go’, ‘make fast’, ‘slack away’ etc

[@TheTreegodfather]

You still didn't explain HOW it works...

[@gatolocoverga152]

yep. It is like He reads wikipedia. Nothing more but I appreciate the effort anyway