08/31/2026
A ship’s engine order telegraph (EOT), often simply called a ship’s telegraph, was an important communication device used aboard commercial vessels on Lake Winnipeg from approximately the 1890s to the 1960s. It allowed the captain or officer in the wheelhouse to quickly send instructions to the engineers below in the engine room about the speed and direction of the ship.
As large steamships and tugboats such as the S.S. Keenora, built in 1897, and the CGS Bradbury, launched in 1915, travelled Lake Winnipeg and the Red River, ship’s telegraphs became an essential link between the wheelhouse and the noisy engine room.
These brass dial-and-bell instruments were especially common from the 1920s through the 1950s, when steamships carried passengers, freight, mail, and other goods between communities.
These brass dial-and-bell instruments featured a large dial with commands such as Full Ahead, Half Ahead, Slow Ahead, Stop, Slow Astern, Half Astern, and Full Astern. When the captain or officer moved the handle to a command, the telegraph in the engine room would ring and display the same instruction. The engineer would move their handle to match, confirming that the order had been received, and then make the necessary adjustments to the ship’s engines.
This simple but effective system was particularly important when navigating Lake Winnipeg’s storms, shallow waters, narrow channels, and busy harbours. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, traditional engine order telegraphs gradually became less common as older steamships were retired and newer vessels adopted diesel engines and more modern communication and engine-control systems.
