Anchor

Hooking the sea floor.

Anchors

It all started with the desire to stop a boat from moving while not being able to tie off to something on the shore. For that, a boulder tied to a rope was taken onboard, the weight of the rock was enough the stop the boat from being taken away by wind and current. But as ships got bigger, the weight of the rock was not enough anymore, and once iron was discovered, it worked its way into anchors. The first models were simple hooks, designed to secure themselves into the sea floor. But as they started to slip too, they got more and more complex with specially designed bars, stocks and flukes, and some even hinged in special ways.. Even the complex anchors were not enough. The rope had to go and chain came into play. Now the anchor just had to hold the end of the chain into position while the weight of the chain held the ship in place.

Narwhal

The Narwhal is equipped with a single anchor on a bow roller just port of the bowsprit. They have a Delta anchor with three boat lengths of chain and then a long weighted rope. The Delta anchor is derived from the plough anchor, and is still shaped like a farmer's plough, but without the hinges that came in the first version. As a spare, they have a light Danforth, which is nice because it is stored flat in the bottom of the sail locker.

Sunset Dawn

The Sunset Dawn has two stockless anchors in hawse pipes with ten shackles of chain on the port and eleven shackles on the starboard. The two anchors are similar and the industries default for ship anchors. Size, weight and chain link dimensions length are set in rules by the Class society. Not that the Sunset Dawn is still under class rules, but she was when she was built.

Ground tackle

Another name for anchor is ground tackle, but usually that includes the whole setup, from the; anchor, chain, ground stopper, winch, chain locker to the bitter end.

Anchor windlass

Although winch and windlass are used synonymously, there is a difference. A winch stores the wire, rope, chain or cable on a drum. A windlass only pulls it and the thing is stored elsewhere. An anchor windlass is located at the bow where the anchor chain is passed through over a specially designed disc that grabs the links of the chain. The windlass can lower (pump out in nautical terms) the chain or hoist it up, but also un-clutch to let the anchor and chain fall by gravity. A brake on the windlass is used to slow down the chain when it is falling or hold it when the clutch is being disengaged.

Ground stopper

The ground stopper is often designed with the anchor windlass, and is there to secure the chain to the structure of the ship when the anchor is set. The brake on the winch is not strong enough to hold the whole ship pulling on the chain.

Chain

Anchor chain isn't like a normal chain, but it has a 'stud' inside the link. Making the links not look like an 0 but like an 8. This is so that the chain can not kink.

Chain locker

The chain locker is the place where the chain is stored. Situated right under the winch, but with the bottom above the waterline. It is shaped in such a way that the chain naturally coils in there by gravity in such a way that it doesn't knot itself. Normally the walls are lined with a sacrifical layer of wood so that the chain doesn't rub trough the locker.

Bitter end

The bitter end is the last link of the anchor chain. It is connected inside the chain locker to the hull of the ship via a quick release that is able to be opened (usually by sledge hammer) from outside of the chain locker. This set up is for two reasons. First, so that the anchor and chain isn't lost, when at sea the securing comes loose and the anchor is payed out all the way. And two that in case of emergency you can safely let go of the chain to get rid of it.

Length

The length of an anchor chain is measured in shackles. A shackle being fifteen fathoms long.

Coding

Every shackle length is marked on the chain. Normally all links are protected from the elements by a black paint, but the link marking the length is painted red. With one or more white links besides it. The number of white links you see is the total amount of shackles in the water.

Often, but not always, the red link is also a link that is openable so that if worn out, a piece of anchor chain can be removed and replaced. That way you don't have to buy a whole length of chain, but you can just order a shackle.

Signals

Anchor ball

The anchor ball is a day mark a black ball that is hoisted up in the foremast to signal to other ships that you're at anchor.

Lights

At night, the ball cannot be seen. And a light is used. Small ships use a single white light that can be seen all around and place that on the foremast or hoist it at the same place as the anchor ball. Sailboats sometimes use a single white light on the top of their mast, but this is technically not the right place. Bigger ships have to use two lights. One forward and one aft, the aft one lower than the forward one.

Anchorage

An anchorage is a place where a ship can anchor, often near harbours. Sometimes these places are also called 'roads'. If there is a difference, I do not know.

Anchor Tattoo

If you ever see a sailor with a single anchor as a tattoo, you know that he has crossed the Atlantic Ocean. If you see two crossed anchors, they are or have been a Boatswain.

Item type

Miscellaneous

Related Technologies

• Capstan

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