Fred Hecklinger, a Mate on the Nor’Easter at 17: a SpinSheet contributor, shared this Chesapeake Classic story and photo with SpinSheet in June 2013:
There is something special about the feel in one’s hands of a nicely varnished eight-spoke ship’s steering wheel that is connected by cables directly to a good sized rudder. This is especially so if you are a boy of 17 years who had not done so before.
This photograph shows me in 1954, to be very pleased with myself, at the helm of the motor-sailor Nor’Easter that was designed by William Hand and built at Wareham, MA, in 1927. At 59 feet, she was largest vessel that, at that time, I had the opportunity to steer. The wheel was on an open bridge. You can see better from an open bridge and tend not to fall asleep.
I was a “paid hand” but on occasion was referred to as “the mate.” The captain was Odie Sloan. I had joined Nor’Easter at the Trumpy Shipyard at Annapolis in the spring of 1954. She was owned by Henry B. du Pont who had a summer “cottage” at Pine Orchard, CT. Mr. du Pont also owned a 46-foot ocean racer named Cyane and a 35-foot Eastern Interclub named Vega for day sailing. Captain Sloan and I were very busy that summer.
In mid-April, we headed up the Chesapeake to the C & D Canal and then down the Delaware to Cape May, NJ, and up the Jersey Coast to Sandy Hook and New York Harbor, the East River and Hell Gate to Long Island Sound, and on to Connecticut. All of this was new to me and at times, rather exciting. The activity of New York Harbor and the East River and the tall buildings of Manhattan were rather much of a change to me as they are to all of those who have never seen such before.
But back to the eight-spoke wheel. If you lose control of the wheel and it starts to spin, it is rather hard to stop without hurting yourself. Mr. du Pont was handling Nor’Easter in a confined space one time and had the wheel “hard over” and gave the engine some power. He lost his hold on the wheel, and a spoke hit him in the chest and broke a rib and the spoke. You will note that today you seldom see an eight-spoke wheel but see a “Destroyer” wheel that has no spokes outside of the rim. ~by Fred Hecklinger
