NAUTICAL FIRST AID

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 96, 23 April 1912, Page 7

NAUTICAL FIRST AID

A BROKEN SHAFT. THE CLAN OGILVY'S EXPEDIENCE. •After half an hour in. a 6ffc shaft-tun-nd. one can sympathise with engineers, miners, suffragettes, and other people who at times grope in darkness. The Clan Ogilvy had come to grief when approximately 400 miles from the New Zealand coast, Everything was, apparently, going smoothly, when, for no special reason, the shaft, as is the way of shafts all the seas over, broke across and struck work — at least it refused to drive the propeller. Although the engines were immediately stopped, the severed half of th© lft-thick steel rod continued to revolve until the ship lost way. Moreover, the fracture was v diagonal one, and at every turn the propeller made, the wedge-shaped end rf one piece ground against the correspond ing wedge of the other half. Then the shaft complained, and with a few sulky strokes it threw off three of the bearingcollars and churned up the thick sheets of motal as if they had been cardboard. With over a foot of play, the after portion of the damaged member waved its ragged end, and in concentric circles, sometimes a foot and over in diameter, sometimes not more than an inch. The extent of its waywardness was merely governed by the roughness of the seas, which happened to strike the propeller outside. The bolts holding tho- bearings to their bed-plates were sheared off and are now lying like broken reeds on che floor of the tunnel. EFFECTING EEPAIBS. Then came the work of putting right the wrong wrought by the frolicsome driving-gear. Luckily the sea was comparatively smooth, and things might easily have been worse. As it was, che work must have been one of great difficulty and infinite patience. Imagine the scene in the tunnel. Thb 12in shaft snapped like a crayon, with diagonally broken ends showing bright as the clean steel catches the light of the smoking flare-lamps; the lame end of the shaft wandering aimlessly about in circles, independent of all such trivial things as bearings ; and, remember, above all, that this is in a tunnel approximately 6ft by 6ft. Then look at the repairs that were done at sea. Here is th« coupling, bolted over the fracture in three sections, making the whole "mend" at this place almost 3ft through. Just aft are the marks on the solid steel where this thing in delirium bruised itself on its supports. On each side of the coupling and wound close up to it are lashings of wire cord, and these have their own functions. Tlwy are to show whether any movement has taken place, ior, were the collar to slip either forward or aft the gap on one side between it and the wire lashings would act as a gauge and a" tell-tale. All tiiis, perhaps, eeems simple to the layman, but it must be remembered that in that confined space the handling of such a large "splint 'is in itself a difficult feat. Added to this came another trouble. MOBE TROUBLE. The after end of th© shaft had to be jacked into position for coupling, and every now and again, just as the two ends were brought together, the propeller would get tired of staying in the one position, and revolving would take the shaft away with it. Then the bearings had to be thought of. One, crushed and maimed, was removedi altogether, and two others were wedged and. jacked up to support their burden. Foundations were jammed beneath them, and for the purpose the engine-room floor-plates, bunker-doors, and other odda and ends were used. Then came the crux of the crisis, and as the engines turned slowly, persuasively, and with not over-much reluctance, the' deck hands and stewards climbed back up the cat ladders to where they belonged, leaving below them the men who were to nurse the shaft and watch it with anxious eyes until port was reached. And, complainingly and with much ill-tempered muttering, the ship crawled back to Wellington.