Yuri -- docking telegraphs allowed the bridge to pass back instructions regarding line handling. They also allowed the officer at the stern to pass certain critical information regarding the docking of the ship forward to the bridge. These telegraphs pre-dated functional telephones and continued in service until quite recently because of the natural conservative nature of seamen. Sometimes, they were also installed on bridge wings for communications to the wheelhouse and/or the stern. On modern ships, they have largely been superceded by the walkie-talkie.
The steering wheel on the docking bridge was an emergency measure. It went straight down to the steering engine. If the main telemotor system failed, then the quartermaster stationed at the stern (Rowe was on duty there at the time of the accident) could have assumed the steering duties by following orders via telegraph from the bridge. Even if the steering was being done from the docking bridge, the nerve center of the ship would have remained the forebridge where the navigation materials were handy, etc.
The juxtaposition of mechanical telegraphs and voice telephones on Titanic illustrates the technological "cusp" of 1912. The ship is still largely a mechanical vessel not much different than Great Eastern of two generations earlier. However, it has telephones that hint of the changes to be wrought by electricity and electronics. Titanic's telephones were still too clumsy to be the primary means of communication. Hence, telegraphs.
Titanic could be steered from four places: the forebridge, the wheelhouse, the docking bridge, and the steering engine flat. A so-called "trick wheel" on the steering engine (Titanic had two such engines) allowed an engineer to steer from there. And, if the steering engines both failed, they could rig block & tackle to the steam docking windlasses and heave the quadrant that way. Steering failures were greatly feared in that era, probably with good reason. The 1911-era ship that I'm associated with in Toledo has two wheels with completely separate connections back to the steering engine--just in case.
And, if all else failed, they could have secured Titanic's rudder amidships and steered across the ocean simply by use of the outboard wing propellers. The ship's bow will turn ("fall" in sailor talk) toward the side with the weak propulsion. So, if you wanted to turn left, you could pull back the throttle on the port engine.
--David G. Brown
