Ship “Sołdek” – engine order telegraph

The sound of the engine order telegraph in the engine room of the steam ship “Sołdek”. The recording was realized on board of the ship-museum belonging to the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk (Poland).

Engine order telegraph was used to transmit steering orders from the bridge to the engine room of the ship. With the use of a lever, appropriate speed range was set on a dial, e.g. stop, dead slow ahead, half ahead, full astern. The signal was received and displayed by a similar dial in the engine room and then, the mechanics were sending the confirmation that the signal has been received. Engine order telegraph used on the ship “Sołdek” was manufactured by the A. B. Lyth company from Stockholm.
The ship “Sołdek” was the first seagoing cargo ship constructed by Polish ship industry. The construction was carried out by the Gdańsk Shipyard and the vessel was launched in November 1948. “Sołdek” was a coal and ore freighter, i.e. the ship intended for exporting coal from Poland and importing iron ore on its way back. Although it operated on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea area, “Sołdek” sometimes sailed on the Atlantic, transporting coal to French ports.
In 1980, “Sołdek” was withdrawn from service and listed as a monument of Polish ship industry. It is open for tourists as ship-museum for 20 years now, constituting a department of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk.

Sound recordist: Monika Widzicka
Photographer: Piotr Leszczyński