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THE Marine Review FROM AFRICA TO LIVERPOOL: BY JURY RUDDER. The story of how the African liner Nigeria (managing owners, Messrs. Elder, Dempster & Co.), was navigated by jury rudder, from the remote shores of West Africa to the Mersey, a distance of about 4,200 nautical miles, will for long years be a cherished narrative as well by seamen as by marine engineers, to five of the latter of whom belongs the glory of having made the accomplishment possible. The Nigeria while on a voyage from Liverpool to Forcados--one of the West African ports--struck the bar at the entrance to the Forcados river and remained fast. Repeated at- tempts were made to tow the steamer off, but every time the effort was frustrated through the heavy seas running at the time. After about 4oo tons of her cargo had been _jet- tisoned, a furtner attempt to tow the Nigeria off was made on July 2. This time the operation proved successful, but only at the expense of the rudder and rudder-post, which were ruthlessly carried away. Forcados anchorage being about twenty miles distant from the bar, the steamer was partly towed and partly drifted to the mooring ground, where at length she was safely anchored. Conscious that the towage of a vessel of the size and value of the Nigeria from Forcados to Liverpool would be an expensive and--bearing in mind the strong trade winds which would inevitably have to be encountered--a dangerous expedient, it was decided to try and rig up a jury rudder and rudder-post strong enough to take the ship home unassisted: under "her own steam. The Chief engineer of the Nigeria, Mr. Alex. Craigie, was consulted as to the possibility and practicability of such a course of action, and, after due reflection, he volunteered to essay the task involved--a task, be it confessed, of such magnitude and difficulty as might have appalled a less stout- hearted and less skilled engineer. With him in the plucky project Mr. Craigie had the loyal support of his staff--sec- ond engineer John Walker Kerr; third engineer T. E. Rich- ardson; fourth engineer, L. D. Risk; and fifth engineer Ne H. Bowen. An examination of the damage sustained by the ship was made, when it was found that the rudder had been broken off at the coupling, part of the coupling being also broken; the rudder-post was found to be broken off close up to the arch, and a long boat-hook failed to find any part of the post under water. Besides all this dire and grave injury the rudder-stock was found to be badly bent and twisted, thus adding to the formidable nature of the work to be under- taken, Despite all this, however, Chief Engineer Craigie, after conferring with his assistants, came to the conclusion that the jury rudder could be successfully fitted.. Upon this decision a visit was paid to the Niger company's works on the west coast of Africa, with a view to ascertaining what material could be procured with which to carry out the her- culean job. Sufficient channel and scrap iron was, luckily, forthcoming, to obviate the necessity of cutting up any part of the ship for material. As the Nigeria had a full cargo on board--less, of course, the 400 tons previously alluded to as having been jettisoned-- it was decided in the first instance to discharge the cargo, then fill the forehold with water to tip the ship, and as there was a rise and fall of the tide of about 4 ft. it was also plan- ned_to pull the steamer as far up on the bank of the river as possible. It was expected that the Nigeria would thus be got down to a 9-ft. draught aft. The calculations of the en- gineers were made accordingly. All this having been suc- cessively achieved, a wooden rudder was made, 15 ft. long by 4 ft. 6 in. wide, composed of 4¥2-in. pitch-pine planks bolted together with 1-in. diameter bolts, and sheathed with %-in. plate, the plate being fastened with Y4-in. rivets. One of the principal difficulties to be surmounted was the fasten- ing of the jury rudder to the rudder-stock. To accomplish this the broken flange was cut away and the sides leveled off; templates were made, and two cheekplates were formed by riveting two 14-in. steel plates together and bending them to shape, the bend on the port plate being much larger than that on the starboard side, to compensate for the bend in the rudder-stock, and to bring the pintles into line with the center of the ship. Eleven 11-in. bolts were used to fasten the cheekplates to the rudder-stock. . The cheekplates came down over the rudder about 3 ft., and the rudder was fast- ened to them by ten 1-in. bolts and three 1-in. bolts, the 1%-in. bolts also going through the top pintle band. There were four pintles; the top gudgeons of the original post being above the fracture it was utilized, and for the other three the gudgeons and pins from the cargo derricks were used. Three of them were cut off the masts; pieces of hard wood were fitted to the backs of them to level them, and then riveted to stout plates to attach them to the post. The pintle bands were simply bent round to fit the pintles and rudder, and a piece of flat iron was bent and fitted into the band close up to the pin to take up the play of the pin in the band. : Ts The rudder-post was formed of two channel-bars, 9 in.: by 4 in., one on either side of the stern frame, and bolted to it by means of ten 1%-in. bolts. Two other channel-bars (the Niger company's slipway racks) were fastened to the :ship's counter and carried down as far as the bottom gudgeon, being fastened to the post by four r-in. through bolts, a block of pitch-pine' wood being inserted between the bars forming the post. These stays were designed to take up the side strain on the rudder-post. Another stay on either side was fastened immediately above the side-stays and carried as far forward as possible, just clearing the propeller blades. These stays were to take up the after-drag of the rudder. - and post, and were formed of two 3-in. by 3-in. angle-irons, placed flange to flange and bolted together. Two other stays or struts were attached, one end to the side stays and the other end to the top of the arch. These were meant to stiffen the side stays, and also to assist in taking up any forward strain due to the ship going astern, or a following sea strik- ing the rudder. Bolts were used in most of the work, as rivets were not available. As the rudder-stock was twisted at least 45 deg. to port, the starboard steering-chain was shortened, and the port chain lengthened to enable the rudder to be put hard over to either side, as the steam-steering gear was to be used all the way to Liverpool. <A stout shackle was fastened to the 'rudder, and preventer ropes were attached to it in case of the rudder fastenings giving way. To assist the cheekplates in the twisting motion a channel-bar was fastened down the front of the rudder-stock by five 1-in. tap-bolts, and carried out to the full width of the rudder. A piece of %-in. plate was fastened to it on either side and to the rudder. Two other channel-bars were fastened above the cheekplatés and carried out diagonally to the edge of the rudder. The completed jury rudder represented a very substantial job, and looked capable of taking the ship anywhere. As subsequent experiences showed, it was well such a splendid strong finish had been put to the Work, as the vessel en- countered very heavy weather during the homeward passage, a full gale raging for three days off the Portuguese coast. Notwithstanding the stress of weather, however--or, per- haps, rather because of it--the faith of the five engineers in their work was abundantly justified. It might be parenthetic- ally added that when the jury rudder was completed a trial trip was made in the Forcados river. With such admira- ble proficiency and normal sensitiveness did the jury rudder obey in the course of this preliminary spin, that Lloyds agents on the coast unhesitatingly gave a certificate testifying