99043 Steering Gear Failure?

Steering Gear Failure?
Report No. 99043.

Some years ago I was Chief Officer on an old, small ro-ro vessel in ballast transiting the Kiel Canal whilst on passage from Spain to Finland. We were about one hour from Holtenau at the beginning of my afternoon watch. I was on the bridge with the pilot and a helmsman at the wheel. The master was in his cabin and the other watch AB was on stand-by in the crew mess room, both were easy to call through the ship's intercom.

I was on the port side of the bridge and studying the NAVTEX navigational warnings and weather forecast as I did at the beginning of each watch. The pilot was standing by the engine telegraphs and chatting with the helmsman. Everything was peaceful. Own ship was keeping to the starboard side of the Canal because there was a convoy in sight which we would be passing in a few minutes.

Suddenly the helmsman said, "No rudder". At first I did not pay much attention because the steering gear failure alarm had not sounded. The he shouted the same thing again. I cursed and with a few long strides I jumped to the steering position. Within a very short time I realised what the problem was. There was nothing wrong with the steering gear but a small stool which some of the helmsmen used was stuck under the steering wheel preventing the helmsman from returning the wheel, which was stuck at 10 or 15 degrees to starboard, to the midships position. The helmsman had accidentally moved the stool to a position where it jammed the spokes of the wheel. This happened whilst he was standing there steering the ship and had not been done on purpose.

I pulled the stool out of the way and the helmsman brought the ship back under control again. I noticed that the stern of our ship had already started to swing to port and the pilot warned the oncoming tanker on the VHF. I believe that the "bow cushion" effect prevented our bow from hitting the bank of the Canal. The oncoming tanker was still a way off but a collision with her had been averted by good luck and quick action. I had already learned during my career that incredible things could happen at any time and this incident certainly confirmed this.