The Name
You may be wondering, how did we come up with the name FULL AHEAD?
“Full Ahead” is an age old ship command, referring to the fastest speed a ship can go in the forward direction.
In order for this command to be adhered with, a request needs to be sent from the ship’s wheelhouse down to the engine room via an engine order telegraph (EOT). The EOT has an indicator which turns to point toward the current speed and direction of the vessel, either ahead (forward) or astern (reverse). When the request is sent from the wheelhouse, the time of the order along with the command is recorded in the bell book, and the large lever of the EOT is moved to the requested position. Then, the indicator on an identical unit in the ship’s engine room repeats the movement, and the engineer must acknowledge the request by moving his own lever, recording the time and command in his own bell book, and manually adjust the engine(s) to match the requested speed.
What’s a bell book? A bell book records all orders affecting the main engines of a ship. In case of an accident or official inquiry, this record is used to either confirm or revoke any misinterpretation of speed or direction which may have led to the accident.
In order to save officers time when recording orders in the bell book, quick hand abbreviations were created. In the case of FULL AHEAD, a check mark drawn left to right with two hash marks is used. This is the symbol embedded in the Full Ahead logo. We think this is an excellent way to pay tribute to the mariners of yesteryear, while also focusing on the forward moving motion of our company.
