Propeller predicament

Peter Davies restores power to his 60ft charter yacht with the help of Mr Rosebud

- Peter Davies

I looked up through the Aegean water to see wavy faces peering at me. I was at the bottom of Pythagorio harbour, Samos, wearing diving gear and holding a large adjustable pipe wrench. The water was clear, and it was easy to see my task, which was to remove part of a broken propeller shaft. It seemed that the tourists on the quayside could also see me clearly working under water.

The day before, when leaving an anchorage in the nearby Greek Fourni islands, an ominous clunk had preceded a rapid increase in engine revolutions. I backed off the throttle and turned the wheel to steer towards the entrance of the anchorage. The wheel jammed and the rudder appeared to be locked in a fixed position. There was no response from the engine which, although running normally, was not moving the yacht.

We had been anchored in the bay overnight with a family of charterers on board who were due to leave us the next day in Samos. The loud clunk occurred just as the anchor came aboard and the engine was put in gear to motor out of the bay.

Fortunately, we were still in the middle of the bay and I ran forward to let the anchor go into the crystal-clear water. After considering the situation I found a snorkel and mask and hung the swimming ladder over the side.

Once in the water, it was easy to understand what had happened. The propeller shaft had broken within the stern tube. The propeller, with some of the shaft attached, had slid out and wedged into the aperture in the rudder, preventing clearance for it to move from side to side.