Helm Commands

I’ve seen pilots in many ports around the world and sailed both commercial and military. In practice it’s not as clear-cut as in the book.

For example I don’t recall hearing the command “steady as she goes” used anywhere. AFAIK it can be considered obsolete.

Some ports/ pilots don’t use some terms the same. For example pilots in the Suez Canal will bark out “Course!” when they want to know the heading.

In many ports the command “steady” is not used, in places where it is used it is not used as defined in the U.S. In many ports it means something like to check the swing rather than steer that heading at the time.