The Saga of the Triumph’s Propeller
Or – Doing your homework
Bruce Higgins
To qualify as a Sea Story – This ain’t no shit since truth is stranger than fiction.
The story begins in December 1998 with contact by Doug Foulds who had a tugboat hull to donate to the Edmonds Underwater Park. He owned a marina in Washington Harbor, Bremerton and had a tenant who has failed to pay his moorage. But that was not the issue as the Triumph had sunk and was refloated. The Triumph had been a live aboard for about 5 years and was salvaged and currently floating again but it was obvious that this tug had become an issue as the Coast Guard was involved in the recovery. The owner was now dodging all contact. It had changed owners early in 1998 with the new owner being a flake. I mentioned I was interested in the hull and he had found out about me via the City of Edmonds who was neutral about being involved unless I thought it was a good idea. The City and I had discussed having some feature to replace the Fossil (the FOSS 16) which we had placed in 1982 which was long decayed. This was a way to get divers farther north away from the ferry terminal and our efforts had stalled.
The City was completing the revised paperwork which had already been started for a Park hull replacement (which had begun in fall 1997) and Doug took over ownership as it sank again and was refloated; we visited the Triumph in Bremerton. This time refloating ruining the dock and in this salvage the bow port cleat had damaged the deck during recovery so there was now a hole. The hole was about three feet in diameter in the deck. The hull was floating but was now covered with a blue tarp on top, on port side underwater and plastic sheeting underwater on the other to keep the leaking to a minimum. What had happened was in both cases the rains had over come the plugged bilge pumps and just filled with water and sank. Doug now had ownership and it had a much better bilge pump. We were encouraged as it was well practiced at sinking.
In our discussions about placement we visited the hull a couple more times as Doug hired a crew to strip it and cart off the mildewing drywall, clothes, and just junk which was left behind. We had made arrangements to make sure all the glass was out and had made a trip to help open the ship up for diver access. More access was needed so we cut away.
We also had elected to make the hull a photo opportunity by leaving some portholes, running gear, and the propeller. It still had the engine block in it which was why it was still heavy enough to sink but the engine head was off and someone had been seriously working on getting it going again but that effort had stalled but tools were everywhere. We elected to let the clean up crew leave things like the two bow facing portholes and much of the brass but we removed doors, glass, and anything which would cause permitting issues. Doug was handing the cost and labor for this which was a great gift to the City and the diving community. We spent time just making sure every compartment had a separate way in and out.
To zoom headed the hull at about 70 feet was towed to the Park by the harbor tug the Little David which was only 25 feet long which took about 11 hours with the tide. It was secured by the bow to the north which had a 750# navy style anchor and a 500# Danforth backed up with two 500# lamp post bases to make sure the anchors would not drag. For the stern to the south we had tied that to a 101 ton block of concrete which was part of the Cathedrals. We had issues with anchor drag during the Fossil placement so worked to avoid that this time. Placement was just by removing the tarps that covered the hull. The water rushed in through the seams like Niagara Falls Filling the hull took about an hour as it settled lower and lower. Sorry no explosions. The City wanted no news coverage and we lucked out as Present Clinton came to town that AM, what timing. The City of Edmonds Police Divers came to check it out and confirm it was as described. It ended up resting on its’ port side just leaning offshore.
On the bottom I had hoped that the portholes and other nautical things we had left behind would be photo opportunities. About month after placement I was graced with visit by Jerry Gray and Mark Schneider who came up to visit and see what I was up too. That was nice and even with less than ideal visibility they had a great time.
We spent the summer adding ballast to the hull since we were concerned it would not do well in the winter storms and the summer showed the divers true colors with the theft of both portholes was well as many other smaller items. But one still remained and that was an about 3-foot diameter propeller next to the rudder which still made for great photo opportunities. Also, that summer Kirby who had not traveled to Bremerton decided to measure and document the ship using the techniques we had learned at an underwater archeology class hosted by the UASBC in Vancouver, BC. Of course, not the easy way, but while it was on the bottom. He followed up with a beautiful drawing of the Triumph. We all pitched in on trying to help with the Triumph’s history. The ship was built in Coos Bay in 1888 as a bar tug with the skipper standing in the open on the stern. Some fire bricks from the original steam boiler were still on the inside of the hull.
To zoom ahead again to late spring of 2001, we were doing a Saturday inspection dive around the Triumph as things were decaying and we wanted to make sure all would be safe for the summer season. We came across a 10-foot piece of 2-inch steel pipe which was bent resting on the bottom off the starboard side. A few minutes later Kirby showed me a wrench looking thing resting to west on the port side. It was metal homemade wrench painted yellow. We signaled each other that we would discuss this later. These parts were not from the Triumph. After the dive we puzzled out what was going on so on Sunday we got out again and this time I took the wrench and bar which I hid nearby after confirming our suspicions as the propeller retaining nut was shiny. We suspect that an effort was made to remove the nut holding the propeller to claim it. Our guess was that the wrench was placed on the nut and the pipe used as an extension with a lift bag used to twist the nut. The pipe was bent a lot, so they gave it what they had on hand. More on this part later.
I approached the City about the attempted theft and they really just handed it back to me since they had no way to cope with the issue. That led to the next weekend us getting a bag of premix concrete and placing it in a sandbag then placing this over the nut on the propeller labeled City of Edmonds Parks Dept secured it with rope. We also had Ralph Sweet place a cable from the propeller to the rudder and lock that in place. The premix would cure overnight. We had hoped that would be the end of the issue and went about our business coping with buoys and trails. I had contacted a salvage yard about what a brass propeller might be worth given the dimensions. The answer I got was maybe about $700 to $800 as just metal but likely over $4,000 as a feature piece in a bar or hotel lobby.
A few weeks later we were passing by the Triumph again and as we approached the stern I saw what looked like cigarette butts lying on the bottom. Maybe about a dozen or more scattered about. I picked one up and remembered it looked like the cutting torch stubs left by my old dive buddy Jim McGinnis from my college days. This led me to look closer and I could see someone had now resorted to a cutting touch to try to burn off the propeller shaft. The lock had been hacked but put back in place to hide that and so we had to reconsider our efforts since they were not giving up.
Back on shore we needed to hatch a plan to deal with this. Lots of ideas were floated but it all boiled down to us needing to be first. During the week I accumulated a number of hacksaws, bunch of blades, and made up a deep throat hacksaw to be able to finish the job. The shaft seemed to be at least 4 inches in diameter. We also elected to dive in relay so we could start Saturday AM and cycle though everyone in like 30 minutes shifts both sawing and assisting as I suspected correctly arms would get tired as well as divers getting cold just using one arm for such a long time. Some divers took two shifts. We also had some ankle weights to substitute for the lower diver on the saw. We had also puzzled out that the early effort had gotten about halfway (using ‘write in the rain’ paper as a template) and we suspected it was because the shaft looked brass but was actually a brass sleeve over a steel center.
With a plan in place we started the next Saturday AM and worked on it about seven and a half hours and made good progress but still no dice. We had made great headway, but it was a lot of metal for our manual methods. On Sunday Kirby and I returned to see if we could finish the effort. I started with a 30 minute or so shift and then traded off to Kirby as I went to get the three lift drums (55 gal, 1,500# of lift) which we would use to relocate the propeller once it was free and to trade out cylinders. As I returned to the Triumph, as if on cue, Kirby had finished, and it just fell away. Next up was to rig it to get it out from under the hull which was not too big a chore since we had done that kind of lifting before. We also had extra lift so we could slide and then lift it without re-rigging. The propeller came in at about 700#. Now with the propeller floating we headed to a secrete spot to place it and have it hidden from view. The current was with us which was a nice change of pace. We lined up a house on the beach and placed it shallow enough that it would not be accessible by boat as likely the other group would likely need that to get it off site. The spot was so secret that Kirby could not find it the following weekend. I knew it was safe. We all wanted to see the surprise on their face to see that it was no longer where they had left it. Sorry not for giveaway.
But there is a hitch to the story. Back when we found the wrench, and everyone heard Kirby’s and my puzzling out what likely happen. We had all bought into the wrench and extension bar with lift bag idea as to what had happened and that the pieces got left behind since that approach had failed. The way the ship leaned to the port and the bar being on the starboard where there was clear access for a lift bag to stretch upward toward the surface. They likely had spent a lot of time fooling around but the nut just did not budge. In reality they had a great idea, but they had a fatal flaw which Kirby pointed out. My take had been that after so many years the nut was really locked in place. But Kirby reminded us all that this was to be a servable part. In his research the Triumph was a special tug in that during its’ later years the direct drive diesel ran best in reverse due to old age and bearings, so it was outfitted with a left handed propeller. This translated into the group spending all this time tightening the nut not loosening it. The moral of the story is that it pays to do your homework. Many thanks Kirby.
Since we were casting up anchors later that year, we placed the homemade wrench in one as a keepsake and project reminder. The rudder is still proudly on display.