Anchor

a heavy drag attached to a cable and thrown overboard to hold a ship from drifting. The first anchor was, no doubt, some rude weight, such as a stone; but the modern anchor is a heavy specimen of the blacksmith's art, combining several features suggested by centuries of experience. Lloyds, the London marine insurance association, prescribes not only the number but the weight of the various anchors to be carried by ships according to their tonnage. They are called stern, sheet, and bower anchors, according to the part of the ship in which each is stored. The right bower is kept at the right side of the bow; a sheet anchor near the middle of the ship, and so on. A ship of 100 tons is expected to carry four anchors, the bowers weighing four hundredweight each. A ship of 3,000 tons is supposed to have seven anchors, the bowers weighing 4,500 pounds each, and so on. A sailing ship requires more in the way of anchors than is necessary for a steamship. A modern ironclad carries two bower, two sheet, two kedge, one stream, and one stern anchor. The kedge anchors are designed for use in warping the ship from one place to another. The cables are now almost universally iron chains with short links made with care of the best material.

A number of nautical terms are interesting. To cast or drop anchor is to lower it into the water. If the anchor stands on end without falling over, it is said to be a-peak. If it drags on the bottom without catching, it is said to come home. To weigh anchor is to draw it up out of the water. An anchor is fouled when it becomes entangled in its cable. A ship rides at anchor when its anchors hold it in position. In many harbors anchors are fastened permanently to the bottom, as in a ledge of rock, or they are made with a peculiar corkscrew shape and twisted into the mud. One end of a short cable is fastened to the anchor, the other is held at the surface by a buoy. When a ship ties up to a buoy of this sort, it is said to be moored.

An anchor is essentially a heavy hook that catches on the bottom when dragged. The best shape has been a subject of controversy for a long time. The most approved form consists of a shank terminating at one end in a ring for the cable. A curved crosspiece is fastened in a slot at the other end, in such a way that it is able to turn a short distance on a pivot. The arms end in broad, pointed, shovel-like palms called flukes. When either fluke catches in the bottom of the sea the crosspiece turns on its pivot until the other fluke comes against the shank, leaving no chance for the cable to foul. In order to prevent the anchor from falling sidewise so that neither fluke will catch, the ring end of the shank is fitted with a second crosspiece called a stock. The stock extends in a direction at right angles to that of the arms. When the anchor is cast, it is sure to tip over in such a way that the shank and stock lie flat, and turn one fluke or the other downward, so that it will catch and prevent the anchor from dragging. Good anchorage should be deep enough so that ships may pass above an anchor without injury, hard enough so that the anchor will not drag, and yet not too stony, lest the flukes be broken off in crevices of the rock. The parts of an anchor are made usually of a number of bars welded together. It was considered formerly a very difficult piece of blacksmithing to make an anchor, but they are forged now by steam hammers.

An anchor is weighed by winding up its cable on a cylinder, called a capstan. Formerly the capstan was turned by the sailors, who thrust their handspikes into its head and followed each other round and round in a circle, singing merry songs. In well equipped ships this work is now done by a small engine for the purpose. The stock is constructed usually so that it may be withdrawn on shipboard, with a view to stowing the anchor in a smaller space.

See Steamship