Steering gear failure

My steering gear failed a few years go when I was cruising off the French coast. What happened was the old Mathway steering gearbox suffered a colapse of the ball bearing races. This allowed the pinion to come out of mesh with  the crown wheel and the rudder could  move freely from side to side. (No drive). You can use the emergency tiller to steer and as I mentioned elsewere I used my Fleming wind vane to steer back to the uk. The Mathway box had served for about 40 years and wear and corrosion had taken its toll. It was rebuilt by a local marine engineer and has been fine ever since. Good sailing