Be a Pirate Sailing Guide: How to Take the Helm and Sail

Quick answer

Interact with your ship's helm to take the wheel. The helm card shows four actions — Sail, Brake / Reverse, Steer and Leave the helm — and while you're at the wheel, a destination marker names your current target and its live distance, like 'Small Island - 108m'. Steer toward the marker and keep sailing until you reach the island or port.

• No ship yet? Talk to Old Finn on Starter Island during the tutorial to unlock the raft, your very first ship.
• Players report EXP and strength for simply sailing around, and reaching an island you haven't visited triggers an 'Island discovered' notice.

Get your first ship from Old Finn

Every captain starts the same way. The tutorial's first objective is 'SWIM TO SHORE'; talk to Old Finn on Starter Island and a banner announces 'RAFT UNLOCKED! Your very first ship. Climb aboard, captain!' — the next objective becomes 'SAIL TO THE SMALL ISLAND'. Finn hands over the raft he calls 'my old raft'. It's a starter hull, but it's a real, working ship: walk up to the helm, take it, and follow his send-off, as one player relays it — 'just sit at it and sail'.

The four helm controls

Taking the helm brings up a control card with exactly four actions:

While you're at the helm, a destination marker names your current target and its live distance — 'Small Island - 108m' showed on the tutorial's first trip, 'Starter Port - 210m' on the sail home. Keep the marker ahead of you and steer until you reach the island or port.

Your first sail: island, treasure, back to port

The tutorial teaches the whole loop you'll repeat for real loot later:

1. Sail out. Take the helm and steer for Small Island, following the distance marker.
2. Dig up the treasure. On the island, the objective becomes 'FIND THE TREASURE', with the hint 'Dig where the ground glows gold'. Dig the glowing spot and you strike a wooden chest.
3. Carry it aboard. The objective reads 'CARRY IT TO YOUR RAFT'; climbing aboard stows the chest — the starter raft's hold readout showed 'Stored in Hold: 1/2'.
4. Sail home. The objective flips to 'RETURN TO STARTER PORT' with its own distance marker. The port's Treasure Broker opens or buys the chest, and the selling guide covers what happens next.

Mind the hold, though. One player on an early small ship found his already full — 'I think I ran out of room'. The long-term fix is a bigger hull (more below), and the cargo hold guide explains how storage works.

What sailing earns you

• EXP and strength for cruising. Players report gaining EXP every time they just sail around — one logged 'plus nine strength' from a stretch of open-water sailing. No fighting required. The experience guide and how to progress fast break down the rest of leveling.
• Island discoveries. Reaching an island you haven't visited before triggers an 'Island discovered' notice.
• Dolphins under way. Dolphins surface alongside your ship while you sail — one of the nicer touches on a long crossing.

Sailing hazards to respect

• Sharks — don't shoot them. A player's boat was destroyed moments after he accidentally fired on a sea creature; his warning afterwards: 'do not shoot the sharks or else it's going to completely destroy your boat.' Treat that as a reason not to shoot sharks or other sea life, not a confirmed rule.
• The leviathan. A player heard a leviathan while sailing with loot aboard — reason enough to stay alert on long hauls.
• Enemy ships. Other ships can attack and sink you: 'pirates sink them before they sink you,' as one player put it. The combat guide covers ship fighting.
• Boss warnings. A 'Something big is coming' banner teased a large boss encounter with Captain Blacktide. If the sea announces something big, expect a fight.

Firing the swivel gun while sailing

Ships you buy come with a swivel gun bolted on by the shipwright, fired with Q and E. Three lessons players learned the hard way:

• Cannons only fire from the sides. As one crew put it, 'we're going to shoot from the sides' — if your gun stays quiet, you're pointing the wrong side at the target.
• There's an aim assist. One narrator points it out while lining up shots.
• Misses pass through. Shots that miss a target can sail straight through it ('How am I not shooting that?'), so swing the ship and try a new angle rather than holding fire.

When to upgrade your ship

The raft teaches you the helm; the port shops fit you out properly. After selling your first chest, a dinghy is a solid first 'real boat', with the sloop and cutter as the next steps up — the boat dealer Barnacle Bill sells the ships and bolts on the swivel gun for you. See how to get ships for the full lineup and ship upgrades for what to buy first.

Ship cards list stats such as speed, acceleration, cargo, cannon count, crew capacity and wave resistance — the strongest ship shown in one walkthrough listed 44 cannons and 95% wave resistance. The most practical early reason to upgrade is simpler, though: hold space. One player bought a sloop specifically 'so we can have like more hold'. When you're ready to plan the next voyage, point your bow using the treasure locations list.