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What happened to QE2's Stem Anchor. on Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:37 am
Brian_O
3 Deck Officer
QE2 originally had 3 identical anchors in her bow but the number was reduced to 2 in October 1979 and remained that way for the rest of her career.
On QE2's westbound crossing of October 2 - 7 in 1979 she ran into a severe storm. During the storm sea water got into the control mechanism for the stem anchor causing a short circuit which in turn caused the anchor to start lowering itself. By the time its descent was stopped the foot of the anchor was just below the waterline. However, it could not be raised and it was left dangling and banging against the bow until the ship reached New York.
Since the control mechanism was not repairable, the decision was taken to remove the anchor and store it on the foredeck, at least until QE2's end-of-year refit. When I arrived at the pier in New York at 4:30 pm on October 7, workers were in the process of cutting the anchor chain just below the hawser hole and by the time the ship sailed at 7 pm, bound for Southampton, the anchor had been secured to the deck.
As it turned out, the anchor was never re-installed. In her refit later in the year the hawser hole was plated over and the anchor was kept as a spare, secured to the foredeck, for the rest of QE2's career.
On QE2's westbound crossing of October 2 - 7 in 1979 she ran into a severe storm. During the storm sea water got into the control mechanism for the stem anchor causing a short circuit which in turn caused the anchor to start lowering itself. By the time its descent was stopped the foot of the anchor was just below the waterline. However, it could not be raised and it was left dangling and banging against the bow until the ship reached New York.
Since the control mechanism was not repairable, the decision was taken to remove the anchor and store it on the foredeck, at least until QE2's end-of-year refit. When I arrived at the pier in New York at 4:30 pm on October 7, workers were in the process of cutting the anchor chain just below the hawser hole and by the time the ship sailed at 7 pm, bound for Southampton, the anchor had been secured to the deck.
As it turned out, the anchor was never re-installed. In her refit later in the year the hawser hole was plated over and the anchor was kept as a spare, secured to the foredeck, for the rest of QE2's career.
