"the first turn of the screw pays all debts" meaning in English

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "the first turn of the screw pays all debts",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Nautical",
          "orig": "en:Nautical",
          "parents": [
            "Transport",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1943, Geoffrey Willans, One Eye on the Clock, page 41",
          "text": "On the one hand was Martyn's dictum that the 'first turn of the screw pays all debts';",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1955, William Gaddis, The Recogntions, page 9",
          "text": "—The first turn of the screw pays all debts, he had muttered (crossing himself) in the stern of the Purdue Victory, where the deck shuddered underfoot as the blades of the single screw churned Boston's water beneath him;",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, T.R. Frame, J.V.P Goldrick, P.D. Jones, Reflections on the RAN, page 16",
          "text": "The first turn of the screw pays all debts, they say, except when there is a warship about.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One's problems on shore may be forgotten at the first turn of one's ship's propeller."
      ],
      "id": "en-the_first_turn_of_the_screw_pays_all_debts-en-proverb-Izzr-t-Q",
      "links": [
        [
          "nautical",
          "nautical"
        ],
        [
          "shore",
          "shore"
        ],
        [
          "propeller",
          "propeller"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nautical) One's problems on shore may be forgotten at the first turn of one's ship's propeller."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "nautical",
        "transport"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/θə‿fɚɹst‿tɚn‿ʌv‿θə‿skɹu‿peɪ̯z‿ɑl‿dɛts/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "the first turn of the screw pays all debts"
}

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb"
      },
      "expansion": "the first turn of the screw pays all debts",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Nautical"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1943, Geoffrey Willans, One Eye on the Clock, page 41",
          "text": "On the one hand was Martyn's dictum that the 'first turn of the screw pays all debts';",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1955, William Gaddis, The Recogntions, page 9",
          "text": "—The first turn of the screw pays all debts, he had muttered (crossing himself) in the stern of the Purdue Victory, where the deck shuddered underfoot as the blades of the single screw churned Boston's water beneath him;",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, T.R. Frame, J.V.P Goldrick, P.D. Jones, Reflections on the RAN, page 16",
          "text": "The first turn of the screw pays all debts, they say, except when there is a warship about.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One's problems on shore may be forgotten at the first turn of one's ship's propeller."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nautical",
          "nautical"
        ],
        [
          "shore",
          "shore"
        ],
        [
          "propeller",
          "propeller"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(nautical) One's problems on shore may be forgotten at the first turn of one's ship's propeller."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "nautical",
        "transport"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/θə‿fɚɹst‿tɚn‿ʌv‿θə‿skɹu‿peɪ̯z‿ɑl‿dɛts/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "the first turn of the screw pays all debts"
}