QUEEQUEG

During the early afternoon, that bowlin knot in the  sheet at the head of the mizzen staysail slipped loose and the sail fell on deck. That sheet became entangled in the rigging. Try as I could, I could not jerk that sheet out of the rigging. I left it whipping about all afernoon. So, I had no line to put the mizzen staysail up again. I didn't know it at the time but I had set a trap for myself.

At 4:30, Kathleen came up on deck and said that she had heard on the radio that a hard "norther" was on the way with winds up to 55 miles per hour. It was time to change tactics since we could no longer hold our course under sail anyway. I went up to take the sails down and called for Kathleen to start the motor. She started the motor and put it into gear. Instantly that mizzen staysail sheet fell out of the rigging, went overside and into the propeller. This was just the beginning of troubles. The chickens came home to roost in quick succession. the engine locked up tight, stopped dead by the rope.  There was nothing to do but cut that rope out of the wheel.

We were sailing west in a north wind on a starboard tack. I took my clothes off and went overboard with a butcher knife. Good waves were rolling and we were sailing parallel to them, Kathleen steering.  We were making knots, even with only two sails drawing. The boat was going at such a rate through the ridges and valleys that I could scarcely keep my grip on the rudder. I was about to be left swimming behind. I yelled  up to Kathleen to come up into the wind and slow the boat so I could work. The brave old Queequeg came up close hauled and almost in irons. I soon hacked the rope out of the wheel.

But besides being tangled in the wheel, it was wrapped around the shaft with many turns. I unwound it and climbed over the rudder to the deck.

"Put her in gear", I said.

Kathleen put it in gear but nothing happened.

"Give it some gas", I called.

Still nothing happened. The motor reved up but the boat didn't surge ahead. Now what??

I took up the motor compartment hatch which is on the bridge deck between the mizzen mast and the cabin to look inside. The motor was running but the propeller shaft was no longer attached to the the motor. There is a plastic spacer between the flange on the shaft and the flange on the motor. The four bolts in the shaft flange had pulled out of the plastic spacer and we were adrift with no power. The wind was exactly in the direction we wanted to go and the howling norther was bearing down on us.