Charles Ellicott Commentary James 3:4

"Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth." — James 3:4 (ASV)

The governor—that is, the “helmsman,” from the Latin gubernator. The Venerable Bede, our earliest English translator, refers the ships here to an image of ourselves, and the winds to the impulses of our own minds, by which we are driven here and there.

St. James, remembering the storms of the Galilean lake, could well rejoice in a simile like this, although he himself may only have known the craft of an inland sea, and never have seen broad rivers and streams in which went galley with oars and gallant ship (Isaiah 33:21). And none knew better than the brother of the Lord who was the true

“Helm of the ships that keep
Pathway along the deep.”