To provide an apparatus and method for driving an electric propulsion ship that controls stop by a simple method without abruptly changing a voltage of a power bus of an inboard power supply.

The apparatus for driving an electric propulsion ship includes a motor 1 connected to a shaft of a propeller P for ship propulsion, an electric converter 2 to be supplied with power from an inboard power supply 3 to drive the motor 1, and a controller 4 for controlling the electric converter 2. The controller 4 includes a speed controller 41 that controls a speed on the basis of an external speed command to output a torque reference, and an operation sequence control unit 46 that controls operation stop of the motor 1 on the basis of an external operation command. The operation sequence control unit 46 temporarily reduces a speed reference at a predetermined speed-reduction rate when the external operation command is off, and stops the electric converter 2 to shut off a current when the torque reference becomes less than a predetermined value or it changes from power running to regeneration.