Elaborating on a recent post that mentioned steering poles on forward pilothouse vessels, here's a sequence of the Edward L Ryerson transiting the Welland Canal north/downbound on April 24 2009:
1) ELR in the "double length" Welland Canal Lock 8. No need to retract the pole as there's plenty of room to avoid overhanging the arrester boom. The booms in this lock are unusual as they are the old type with fixed cables and there is one at each end of the lock.)
2) ELR exiting Lock 8 showing steering pole rigging, which can also be used to display pennants. Note the bow mounted floodlights, if you're up front, you might as well be able to see at night. The Ryerson was known for being able to "thread the needle" going into a lock, rather than "sliding the wall".
3) ELR clearing the infamous Allanburg bridge (the one that took out the Windoc). It's hard to see, but there are a couple of crew members at the base of the steering pole starting to retract it in preparation for entering the shorter Lock 7 where the pole could/would overhang the arrester cable.
4) ELR imminently approaching Lock 7 with the pole now retracted (and being admired by a typical ELR lovin' boatnerd.)
5) Lock 7 showing the newer type arrester boom which comes down, attaches the cable to the far side, then retracts upward. The boom comes down again to retrieve the cable before the ship leaves the lock, eliminating the chance of a boat hitting and damaging the more expensive boom, as only the relatively easily replaced cable is vulnerable. This lock is typical of the current practice of only having an arrester at the downbound end of locks, where running into the "V" point of the gates would be more likely to cause catastrophic damage to the lock.)