How the Pilot House to Engine Room Telegraph System Works onboard the steamer Belle of Louisville

Learn how the Pilot House to Engine Room Telegraph System Works from Captain Mike Fitzgerald of the historic steamer Belle of Louisville! Captain Mike Fitzgerald explains how the pilot navigating the authentic steamboat on the river utilizes the telegraph to communicate with the engineers in the Engine Room, as well as how the pilot indicates that they are finished with the engine at the end of a cruise.
#steamboat #steamer #telegraph #rivercruise #riverboat #ohioriver #pilothouse #kentuckiana #louisville #kentucky #louisvillekentucky #nationalhistoriclandmark
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Belle of Louisville Riverboats presents history through a variety of engaging cruise and dockside events-entertaining and educating over 12 million passengers since 1963.
As a National Historic Landmark and an icon of the Louisville Waterfront, the Belle of Louisville is the only remaining authentic steamboat from the great American packet boat era on America’s waterways. She is also the oldest operating Mississippi River-style steamboat in the world. At 107-years-old and counting, the Belle remains purely steam-powered and paddlewheel-propelled.
The Belle’s sister vessel and a newer addition to the Louisville Waterfront, the Mary M. Miller, was named after Mary Millicent Miller, who also happened to be the first woman to attain her steamboat captain’s license in 1884. With as much spirit as her namesake, the Mary M. Miller is a propeller-driven riverboat with old-fashioned charm and modern amenities.

[@DeltaStar777]

With a mechanical telegraph you sometimes do these back and forth movements just to get the bells ringing longer indicating urgency. With electrical telegraphs you don’t need to do that because they will keep ringing until the engine room responds

[@weltraumbummler2780]

Thank you. I was wondering why they do this extra movements. Now I know the answer.

[@landonpratt2574]

I heard that the first ring is to get the engine operator’s attention and the second one is the command

[@EonityLuna]

I was watching a clip of the 1997 Titanic movie’s “Iceberg, right ahead!” scene the other day, which portrayed the use of these things on the eponymous ship. When I saw how they were used I was like “wait, those ship throttles don’t actually directly control the ship engines and only simply control a dial in the engine room telling the engineers how to set the engine?”, so I decided to look it up on Google and Wikipedia about them. Apparently they are called engine order telegraph (EOT), and that’s precisely how they worked; these things were common in steamships from the 19th until the mid-20th century. In fact, even on modern ships of today, their throttles - which can directly control the engines and are referred to as remote control throttles - can still be switched to operate in a mode not dissimilar to how EOTs work, and traditional EOTs are still used on nuclear-powered ships and submarines as they require an engineering crew to work the nuclear-driven steam turbines.

[@ZaHandle]

Maritime nuclear engines are just steam turbines with a fancy boiler

[@MrWill1985]

This is on lusitania murder in the Atlantic when Captain turner said take her out. Except only on the bridge

[@hiddensquid42069]

It's amazing isn't it? Splitting the atom ​@@ZaHandle

[@retroryan838]

I’ve always wondered why you move the telegraph in such a way. At the end why do you go to half astern, then go to standby, and then go to finished with engine?

[@BelleofLouisvilleRiverboats]

It's to make the bells ring!

[@qazxsw21000]

@@BelleofLouisvilleRiverboats I always wondered the same and that was my presumed answer (both due to the scene in Titanic after the callout of the iceberg). When I was way younger, I thought it just worked that way. Later, when I noticed all the noise being made in the engine room, I was like “wait a minute. Maybe they’re being aggressive with it to get the engineer’s attention”

[@EnzedderEntertainment]

There are different ways to use the bells to get attention. For example, in Titanic's case, Murdoch pulls the handles back and forth three times as that is the correct way to warn engineers about an urgent order. This is going off my memory though so take it with a grain of salt.

[@chasecarlson4502]

@@EnzedderEntertainment what about the Take Her To Sea Mr Murdoch thing where they move it back and forth 2 times

[@EnzedderEntertainment]

@@chasecarlson4502 unsure, I think it’s just like the creator said, to warn engineers of an upcoming command

[@julycious86]

Good job Captain 👍

[@oppoandroidf1174]

Thnkyu, Capt.🙏🙏🙏😊😊

[@Da_TboneLife]

That's very easy to understand

[@jshenderson8147]

Answering bells was one of my favorite parts of shipboard life. Except for the dreaded full astern bell when you know something is wrong

[@davidantl9583]

bro this Is amazing

[@Qewy]

I see... Thank you!

[@CETravelGames]

How much of the back and forth on the telegraph is used for signaling the urgancy of the order and how much is just to make the bells ring and see the little indicator move around

[@rosiehawtrey]

Urgency on US Navy PT boats and other vessels was a repeated signal - so emergency full astern would be ring the command through three times instead of just once. Four times astern probably meant we're just about to ram something we don't want to hit. Three rings full ahead meant we really need to be somewhere else now. Four rings of the same command meant we need to be somewhere else last week... Think coming round a blind headland on a solitary PT boat slap bang into three Japanese cruisers kind of situation. Basically get us out of here preferably without blowing up the engines.

[@growlinglucario7922]

Didn't expect to see you here C&E, how are you.

[@CETravelGames]

@@growlinglucario7922 in idaho rn but kinda good

[@applejacks971]

Hmm, to me this shows what they do, not how it works or explains why the engine guy runs his from side to side before stopping on the selection desired. I don't know or understand the set up anymore after watching the vid than I did when it started.

[@thoregries6899]

fair point, the two sides are ussually connected by chains or wires that run throughout the ship. this pulls and pushes the arrow on the other telegraph. The lever is pushed and pulled in different directions before setting the order because a bell will ring on the otherside as long as this is done, indicating that a new command has been given. The other side then rings the bell confirming that the command is received and imputs the same command by setting his telegraph in the same position. this way the bridge knows that the right command was received.

[@oppoandroidf1174]

👍👍👍👍👍....Great invention at thst time,Capt...👍🙏👍🙏👍🙏😊😊

[@trabbipaul]

Greetings from germany. Its a double function the maschiene telegraph right !!

[@dtwdvne]

I remember the Titanic had these

[@thatoneracingguy_alt9999]

Practically every ship from the start of steamships to about the 1950s had these. Modern day ships have smaller and more simpler ones.

[@vebrinavalentine6689]

Yes

[@MrHarry5001]

Do you really?

[@thatoneracingguy_alt9999]

@@MrHarry5001 lol

[@orlandodrivewaycleaning4274]

@@MrHarry5001😂

[@stefanjelisavac4217]

I am suprised that we still use ships with telegraph systems! By the way I just wanna know, is the ship still in use?

[@BelleofLouisvilleRiverboats]

Yes, the Belle of Louisville still cruises on the Ohio River and is based in Louisville, KY. The vessel is currently 108 years old.

[@vladislav9431]

Для чего капитан и инженер в конце несколько раз поворачивали рычаг телеграфа в разные стороны, перед тем как поставить рычаг где написано "finished"? In English: Why did the captain and the engineer turn the telegraph lever in different directions several times before putting the lever where it says "finished"?

[@vovan8695]

Чтобы на противоположном конце абонент заметил, что его вызывают. Сначала дергают туда-сюда, потом поворачивают стрелку на команду.

[@Chris-qg6kc]

Mr. Laforge, take us to warp.

[@aartikulkarni8462]

Well what is the of the ship

[@ahalverson1122]

What is Stand by used for

[@pinkiepie1656]

Wait for command

[@kevinrivera1492]

We are missing about 90% of commands

[@lidiamariatomedias548]

E a velocidade: dead slow?

[@alljourney2834]

no need in a small boat/ship on the titanic full ahead could get you tops 22-23 knots and slow would probably be around 5-7knots and dead slow would probably be around 2-3 knots. a small boat/ship like this would have full ahead at like 15 knots and that fact that it could stop much much quicker makes it so dead slow is less needed.

[@ferrangalyfigueras7310]

EN ESPAÑOL

[@rinkubhola1980]

Two crouse fix and bacs lories big fix pasingers on work

[@danielmorris6523]

Would be much easier if they were connected directly to the engine control unit via wires, no? Just kidding, fascinating video. Thank you.

[@eugeniusro]

Can use bluetooth also 😅

[@E.V.A.N-COProductions]

@@eugeniusro You're not very smart, are you?

[@nunyabuisness626]

Yes, but such technology didn’t exist in the early 1900s. This ship must be a replica just for the sake of history but ethically no ships operate under telegraphs anymore

[@xaviert.123]

No such engine control unit! Many valves and timings to be adjusted in these engines.

[@chasecarlson4502]

Why in James Cameron titanic movie, let’s say you have full ahead and then you want to throw it into reverse. Why do they go forward, Back, forward to operate them while here you just put them forward 1 and you don’t have to do that back and forth thing.

[@mister-v-3086]

The "more" commands you hit, the more the bells ring at the other end, signaling URGENCY; just make sure you stop on the one you Want.

[@TototinoYT]

POV: iceberg ahead Crew: Iceberg right ahead sir! *runs to the telegraph* 0:32 BAD ENDING OF TITANIC Captain: look at those two people, Lets make this a movie. 0:46 *hits iceberg* Crew: well then *goes to telegraph again* 0:51

[@TheDylanJoyce]

………And if they don’t respond?

[@Lazymotion]

If they don't respond, no change in speed.

[@seven8n235]

Doesn't really show HOW it works. Just moving handles back and forth explains little. Is this done electrically, mechanically, I sure don't know.

[@Nibby12]

It tells the engineer what state he wants the engines in, and then he will send a similar telegraph regarding engine revolutions. The Engineer will then operate the ahead/astern throttles accordingly.

[@fryloc359]

@@Nibby12 how do the pointers move? Is it done electrically, or cables or something else?

[@Nibby12]

@@fryloc359 your guess is as good as mine, could be pnuematic.

[@TimCan144]

it's a chain mechanism, goes from the bridge to the engine room, think of it as a bicycle chain that is stretched across from the bridge to the engine room.

[@Nibby12]

@@TimCan144 is that what they call 'Chain mail'? lol

[@kevinrivera1492]

Sail boat has 100× more than this