[FONT="]The Date of the Wheel [/FONT]It [FONT="]has often been remarked that th e wheel cam e su rp risingly late in the development of the ship, and that the inefficient whip[/FONT][FONT="]staffwas [/FONT][FONT="]retained for a long time. But, as we have seen, [/FONT]it [FONT="]had onl y just been discovered, or redi scovered, how to operate the tiller through a wide angle, an d th e wheel followed this de velopment remarkably quickly. Though the in vention of the whe el is rightly credited to the British Na vy, no trace of any order to introduce it has ever been found , despite ex tensive searches in the archives. This suggests that it was developed by sea officer s and the artisans in the dockyards, rather than by the central admi nistration. Much of our evidence about the early wheel comes from two models in the Nationa l Maritime Museum at Greenwich.' The earliest of these, already mentioned, shows a windlass with its barrel running athwartships. The other (above, right) shows a ship fitted with a full y developed stee ring wheel, but still with th e rowle for th e whipstaff fitt ed below. Both th ese models are considered [/FONT][FONT="]to [/FONT][FONT="]date from about 1703, though the evidence for this is based almos t entirely on their deco rations . It is conventionally believed that de corati on was gre atly restricted by an order of 1703, and that ships built aft er that year were much pl ainer. Both these model s have dimensions which suggest a later date than 1703, but decorations which , according to this theory, can onl y have come from before that year. Therefore they are dated as '1702' and 'circa 1703'. All these theorie s are based on rather flim sy premises . Many orders were issued [/FONT][FONT="]to [/FONT][FONT="]restrict carved works in the late years of the seventeenth century, and the early years of the eighteenth. Most were almost comp lete ly igno red by the ma ster sh ipwr ights , an d there is no reason to believe that the orders of 1703 alone were effective. [/FONT]It [FONT="]is more likely that the orders had a cumulative effect over the years, and it is rathe r dangerous to single out 1703 for exclusive menti on . Moreover, it is believed that the second of these models, the one with the full y developed wheel, was made for or by th e Master Shipw right of Plymouth, and was not an The Steering Wheel [/FONT][FONT="]The olden known model ofa fully developed [/FONT]SUtn"ng [FONT="]wheel, on another model at the [/FONT][FONT="]National [/FONT][FONT="]Marit ime Museum. [/FONT][FONT="]Author's photograph, courtesy of NMM.. [/FONT][FONT="]official Navy Board model. T o decorat e his home, he might well have requested a model with carvings which were no longer fitted [/FONT][FONT="]to [/FONT][FONT="]real ships. The other model is also very unconventional in sty le, and does not have the look of a true Navy Board model. Nevertheless, both models do date from th e early years of the eighteenth century, as one bears th e cypher of Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702 [/FONT][FONT="]to [/FONT][FONT="]1714, and the othe r has a partly obscure d dat e wh ich reads ' 170-' . More precise dates can be found from other sources. It is clear from her contrac t th at the [/FONT][FONT="]Russell, [/FONT][FONT="]an 80 -gun sh ip begun in 1707, was intended [/FONT][FONT="]to [/FONT][FONT="]carry a wh ips taff. ' On th e othe r han d a plan of the Ossory , a 90 ·gun ship launched in 1711 shows a 's teering rowIe' in exac tly the right position for a steering wheel. Another ship of the same date, the 50-gun Gloucester, had a companion for the whi pstaff.? All this evidence tends to suggest that th e wheel was invented a little later than usually believed, nearer to 1710 th an to 1703, and th at it was applied first [/FONT][FONT="]to [/FONT][FONT="]larger ships. T his is no surprise, for larger ships suffered worst from the disadvantage s of the whipstaff, its bad location and relative weakness. No F irs t and Second Rates were used between 1697 and 1702 because the y were rarely employe d in peacetime. On the other hand, the y saw heavy service in the early years of the War. of Span ish Succession , whi ch began in 1702. It was probably dunng these years that the whee l was developed, on active service. Its use spread fairl y ra pidly [/FONT][FONT="]after [/FONT][FONT="]1711, and it seems [/FONT][FONT="]to [/FONT][FONT="]have been a standa rd fitting on warsh ips by 1715.[/FONT]