Propeller Blades

[Jessie M.]

So after watching a couple snippets of James Cameron's Titanic I found an interesting line said by an extra that goes a little something like this...

First Class Female Passenger: I felt a shudder, is everything alright?

Butler: Nothing to worry about Miss, we've likely just thrown a Propeller Blade, can I get you anything?

Now; I know this scene was most likely to express both the effects of the collision within the ship and how the staff did their damndest to keep folks calm but that bit about Propeller Blades made me a touch confused. Just the way he said it... Like it was somehow normal? It also felt somewhat genuine in the sense that that was something likely said at some point during the sinking.

So that leads to my question... Was "throwing" a propeller blade (Which I assume means one of the Propeller blades came free of the ship) a common occurrence for ships back then?

 

[Rancor]

The Olympic threw a propeller blade in February 1912. Given the proximity to the Titanic disaster perhaps this would have been fresh in the minds of passengers and crew and may have been the first conclusion they jumped to.

 

[Tim Aldrich]

The outer propellers of Titanic were built-up units. A central hub had three individual blades attached. Failure of the studs which attached the blades to the hub, hidden casting flaws in a blade (no ultra-sound tech in those days to check with), contact with a solid object... Many things could cause a propeller blade to come off and if one did come off there would be one heck of a vibration.

The center propeller was a single casting. Blades and hub were all one piece.

 

[Dave Gittins]

Just to make it clear, on some ships the propeller blades were bolted to a central hub. Any failure in the bolts and a blade came off.

 

[Jessie M.]

Thank you guys for answering! I think I've got a better understanding now.

If I'm being totally honest though; had I been told that I probably would be even more anxious. Always a little nervous going on a ship cause there's nothing underneath you except for endless water, and then to be told that something's wrong with the ship? Yeah no, get me back on land please.

 

[Rancor]

Most ships even today have at least two propellers, so you'd be unlikely to get completely stranded. Though the recent example of the Viking Sky does rate a mention I guess!

 

[Roger Southern]

With aircraft if there is a problem with the propellers then getting back to land quickly is a forgone conclusion- it's what happens when you get there that's the problem. Give me a ship with a propeller problem any day!

 

[Kurt Urbain]

I believe Olympics starboard prop got nicked up in the Hawke collision, and the shaft was also damaged, so they snagged replacements off the Titanic which was still being built. It delayed the Titanics completion for a couple weeks.

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

I believe Olympics starboard prop got nicked up in the Hawke collision, and the shaft was also damaged, so they snagged replacements off the Titanic which was still being built.

Only part of the starboard shaft was taken from Titanic.
The blades were different from the one Olympic had also there were replacement blades for every ship.

 

[Dave Gittins]

Actually, only passenger ships are likely to have two propellers. Most freighters are quite crude, with one big engine and one big prop. They don't even have bow thrusters. They make work for tugboats.

 

[Jessie M.]

Y'know, when it came to incidents where the blade was damaged or just straight up fell off I thought more of the Atlantic than the Olympic... Although, throwing a propeller blade sounds much less violent than having it ground to nothing by a bunch of rocks.

Not as recent as the Hawke accident... But just as memorable. I've heard the Atlantic tragedy called "Titanic before Titanic" a time or two before.

 

[Mike Spooner]

Whist on the subject of propellers it will be another theory to prove right or wrong whether the centre propeller was a four blade or three blade? So you sea dives next time down can you please remove the sand or sea mud away from the two propellers, were we can put to bed of how many propeller blades are there?

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

Whist on the subject of propellers it will be another theory to prove right or wrong whether the centre propeller was a four blade or three blade?

I don't know why people refer to it as a "theory" and other like that. It is documented in the H&W papers so there is no reason to doubt it.

 

[Mike Spooner]

Yes we know there was a three bladed centre propeller and used on the Olympic in the war years. But did the Titanic have one fitted? As there are no known photos of Titanic propellers.

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

No a photo we did not have but the H&W records and why is there a reason to doubt the records?