Tim Brennan found our “Two Man” ship wheel latched to the side of a barn out in the country and worked a deal with the farmer to buy it. Painted white and not in the best condition, he removed the paint, cleaned off all the dirt, and found a beautiful antique “Two Man” ship wheel.
Tim told me that it was called a “Two Man” wheel because the ship it was on was so big that it took the strength of two men to turn it. On these types of ships, there was a slot cut in the deck for half the wheel to slide into. There was a crawl space, under that slot in the deck, for the smallest man on the ship to be stationed. When it was time to move the ship, the man on the top deck and the man under the deck pulled in the same direction, be it port or starboard.
