Note 20 — BOOK V.
Rowland Smith translation
A ship had one, but more commonly two rudders. (See Acts xxvii. 40.) In the Caspian Sea, where the old practice not long ago remained in force, a modern traveller was nearly shipwrecked, because the rudders were in the hands of two pilots who spoke different languages. To obviate such disasters among the ancients, the same steersman held both tillers, if the boat was small. In larger ships the extremities of the helms were joined by a pole, which was moved by one man and kept the rudders always parallel.—Smith's Greek and Rom. Antiq.