"It will turn the head," replied Archie thoughtfully.
"Turn it upside down, or turn it like a lunatic's! Which way will it turn the head when you put the tiller to starboard?" demanded Thad.
"It won't turn it upside down: it will turn it to one side," added Archie seriously.
"I should say that it would; but it is rather necessary to know to which side it would turn it."
"It would carry the head of the boat the opposite way, I should think."
"But you must know. Which is the opposite way?"
"To port; and if you put the helm to port"--
"One thing at a time, if you please. Put the helm to starboard, and it carries the head to port: that's enough. If you try to remember any thing more, Archie, you will forget the whole. As I said before, the terms weather and port are also used."
"What is the use of those terms when we have starboard and port?" asked Con.
"No conundrums of that sort. We take things as we find them, and we are not inventing a system. We speak of a weather and a lee helm. As you may see by the position of the wheel, this boat carries a weather-helm; and it only means that the trim of the craft inclines her to stick her head up into the wind, and we have to carry the helm a little to the weather-side in order to make her go straight ahead. If I should let go the wheel, the boat would come to."
"Come to means to come up into the wind, or turn her head in the direction from which the breeze comes. If she carried a lee-helm, she would turn the other way, if left to herself; and in that case she would be likely to upset, or have the mast taken out of her if it were blowing fresh. It is a good thing, therefore, to have a boat carry a weather-helm, within reasonable limits; and a lee-helm is a very bad trick in any craft."
"But suppose the boat has a lee-helm: you can't help yourself," said Syl Peckman.
"Yes, you can. Shifting the ballast will sometimes correct it, by bringing her down more by the head or stern, as the case may require. Possibly the position of the mast in a sloop may have to be changed. There are two other terms that apply to the helm."
"More of them!" exclaimed Archie. "A fellow can never remember them."
"Why not, as well as the different names of a vehicle? The other terms are up and down, and these depend upon the position of the boat in regard to the wind. When you put the tiller away from the wind, it is down. We have the wind on the port-side now. If we put the tiller to starboard, it is down. Never mind what will happen, Archie, if we put it to port. We shall have more to say about down and up farther along, when we are dealing with the sails."