One of man's oldest, simplest and most perfect instruments--the anchor.
Like all early inventions, it obtained its present form by a slow
process of evolution, and, as is the case with nearly all implements
of the same nature, it is to-day to be found in use in every step-form
which during the gradual process of development it assumed. The
primal anchor of stone is still universally employed, its immediate
successors, the stone-weighted net and log, are yet in use in the East,
and iron forms that might have found their shape under the hammer blows
of the sinewy Sidonian smiths still swing from the bows of vessels
plying the Indian seas.
As to who first forged anchors of iron there is some doubt, the
ancient historians disagreeing on this point with amiable unanimity
that characterizes all their statements in regard to the origin of
things, both animate and inanimate. The balance of evidence appears
to favor the Phrygians, a people of Asia Minor, whose most celebrated
king, Midas, is well remembered as the avaricious monarch who had the
unfortunate experience with gold, as related in a yarn which probably
originated in the imaginative brain of some ancient free-silver orator.
But whether these people or their contemporaries, the ingenious, rich
and daring Phoenicians, first forged it, there is no question but what
iron anchors were originally used by the maritime nations inhabiting
the shore of the great tideless sea. The anchors were, as I have said,
of stone and of wood weighted with stone and metal, such as are still
used by the Chinese and Malays. It is easy to see how from the latter
came the shape of the anchor of to-day. From the use of a straight balk
of timber to one with a crook is a natural step. It is much easier to
lash a stone to a crook of wood by placing it between the trunk and
branch than it is to lash it to a straight stick.
Evidence favors this as the step of progression; the first iron
anchors having but one arm and no stock; being simply the wooden crook
reproduced in metal. The next step was to add the bill or point, which
very readily took its shape from the spear of that day or the spade,
both of which implements were arrow-shaped. The next step forward
was the adding of the second arm. The arms of ancient anchors were
straight, not curved, as are the anchors of to-day. The curved arm
being very modern. With the stock added, when and by whom it is not
known, the anchor of the ancients continued to do its duty until early
in the last century, when an Englishman named Pering greatly improved
it by curving the arms and strengthening the crown and shank. At the
same time the trip-hammer came into use for forging, allowing of a far
more perfect welding of material than could be secured with hand-swung
sledges.
In order to understand the action of the anchor, which is perfect,
it is only necessary to take the common pick, such as is employed by
laborers in breaking up earth, and drive it into solid ground. Drive
the arm of your pick right to the helve; now pull on it at right angles
to the arm. You cannot move it; nor could the strongest man; simply
lift the handle up and the arm will come out of the ground easily. Such
is the action of the anchor. Is anything more simple or perfect?
When out ahead this small arm will hold a great ship against wind and
tide; when brought under foot it is broken from its hold by half a
dozen men. An anchor weighing 2,000 pounds will hold a ship weighing
5,000 tons, yet when brought to such a position as will permit of its
being tilted up it can be broken-out by an engine of five horse-power.
Since Pering's day many improved anchors have been patented; of these
only two, the Rodgers and Trotman, are of any account. Of what are
called "patent anchors," that is, anchors of peculiar shapes, there is
this to say, they are inferior to the original form. The only argument
in their favor is that they stow easier, and it is for this reason that
the stockless variety is employed on steam vessels. This form can be
hauled directly into the hawse pipe, thus doing away with the labor
of catting and fishing, but they will not hold with the old form, and
need a much longer scope of hawse. I have experimented with several of
those built for yachts and have in every case found them inferior to
the common anchor. They are useful sometimes as stern-holds, and for
dropping on ragged bottom, where a common hook is liable to foul.
For use where a vessel is anchored in a current, and is apt to be
tide-rode, the Trotman is excellent. The peculiarity of this anchor
is, that the arms are pivoted so that the fluke of the upper arm when
the hook is biting is down on the shank; this prevents the hawser from
fouling and upsetting the anchor if the yacht happens to ride over it.
The average yacht anchor that is found on sale is an instrument that
could be largely improved without adding to its cost or weight. A
better distribution of the metal would add much to its value, but its
worst feature is the method in which the stock is secured in the head.
These pins are always a nuisance, frequently working out and more
frequently being lost. There are anchors made in which the stock screws
in, and others in which the stock passes through a slot with a lug,
which, on being turned, engages with the side of the head, preventing
its slipping back. Both these are better than the pin. Every yachtsman
knows what it is to find the pin missing just when it is wanted and
wanted in a hurry, and to have to substitute a nail or a penknife
blade. There is a small fortune for the man who will bring out an
anchor with a stock that can be shipped and unshipped quickly, and yet
stay fast when down on the bottom.
The strain on anchors when holding a vessel is nothing like what it
is commonly supposed to be. If it was how could a vessel be drawn
up to her anchor? It has to blow very hard when a man cannot draw a
small yacht up to her hook. The reason of this is, that the windage
of an anchored vessel is a comparatively small surface, so long as
she lies head-on. It is the sum of the area of the widest section of
the above-water hull, and the area of the rigging and spars, found by
multiplying their diameters by their lengths. This is, as I have said,
a comparatively small surface.
In a strong blow, such as yachtsmen generally describe as a gale, the
wind pressure is only about five pounds to the square foot, while in an
ordinary breeze, such as usually blows in summer, the pressure is scant
of a pound. So that a boat with a hundred square feet of windage would,
in a yachtsman's gale, only be forced back by a pressure of 500 pounds.
Some day, just for your own enlightenment, take a spring scale and put
it on your hawse when the yacht is riding to a wind with no sea on.
One day my boat was lying in a tide running at a rate of one mile.
The bottom was a medium hard gravel and the water perfectly clear. In
turning tides she had capsized the anchor and it was lying stock up and
flukes flat. This anchor, weighing thirty pounds, by its weight and
friction of the stock end on the bottom kept the boat stationary. Her
displacement was just over four tons. The anchor was simply resisting
the friction of the tide on the immersed hull. Reverse this and it
shows how small is the power necessary to drive a vessel one mile an
hour.
The direct strain on anchors is of no consequence except in very high
winds; it is the sea that causes them to leave their hold. Go back to
our pick for an explanation. When given sufficient scope the anchor,
like the pick, is resisting a pull at right angles, and stands fast,
but the minute the sea begins to move the vessel up and down the handle
of the anchor is worked up and down; the shorter the scope the more
surely is this motion transmitted, and the more effective is it in
breaking-out the arm. To prevent this in a heavy sea we resort to a
practice called backing.
The object of backing an anchor is to prevent this up and down motion
from passing from the vessel to the anchor. In order to do this it
is necessary to weight the cable, so as to prevent its lifting from
the bottom, some distance inside of the anchor. This is done either
by leading the cable through another anchor or by weighting the cable
with ballast. The last is the better method, as it can be done from the
vessel without disturbing the hawse.
I find that few yachtsmen make a study of anchoring; mostly because
they anchor in places where there is little to be feared either from
wind or sea. It is only when they get into harbors where both are to be
dreaded that they learn this part of the trade. To show how universally
careless we are in this respect it is only necessary to recall the
disastrous effects an unexpected summer gale has upon a fleet of our
yachts. In August, 1893, a storm of this character swept the Eastern
seaboard, and some eighty yachts were driven ashore and many of them
totally wrecked. In the summer of 1897 a moderate gale came on the
coast, and out of a fleet of some thirty yachts anchored and moored
about the boat I was in, twelve went adrift. The same day, in and
around Boston, the storm played havoc with the pleasure fleet.
Another time we were caught off the Thimbles in Long Island Sound in
company with a small fleet. Everything dragged and several were only
saved by a lucky shift of wind from going on the rocks. Many of these
boats had no spare anchors; some had the anchors and not sufficient
cable; others had ground tackle much too light for their bulk. Few
of the crews knew how to properly use what they did have. I was in a
30-foot sloop of the old flat type, an exceedingly bad sea boat. We
rode it out with two anchors and 300 pounds of ballast down ahead,
but it was only by judicious management, and the addition of a new
mainsheet to our scanty length of cable.
Every boat should carry two anchors, and every boat that cannot readily
make fast to a dock, three. The weight of anchors to be carried can
only be approximated, as it depends largely upon the build of the
vessel, the extent and prevailing conditions of her sailing waters and
the service engaged in. A boat that is only used for day-sailing that
finds shelter at night in a safe harbor and moors or makes fast, needs
but light ground tackle. She can get along with an anchor weighing a
half-pound to each foot of over-all length, and need never to resort
to her spare hook except on extraordinary occasions.
Narrow deep boats with sharp entrances are very light on their ground
tackle and do not need nearly as heavy anchors as do broad shoal boats.
Our modern full-bowed boats are very hard on all kinds of gear, and
need especially heavy anchors and cables. Flat-bottomed craft, like
sharpies and scow houseboats, are the hardest of all, and your hooks
and hawsers can't be too heavy to make sure of holding them. High-sided
and high-housed yachts are also hard riders, the windage having a
tendency to keep them worrying at their hawse. All these things must
be taken into consideration when selecting a weight of anchor and a
size of cable or chain, but, as it is always best to err on the safe
side, be less afraid of getting too heavy gear than of getting too
light. A 20-foot boat will hold to a ten-pound anchor, if the hook is
well proportioned and takes a good hold in good ground, but I should
not feel comfortable in turning in on a rough night with only that
weight of iron out ahead of me. An old fellow, who is a bit of a crank
on the subject, once took me to task for carrying such heavy anchors
and cables. To his mind they were totally unnecessary; ones half the
weight and size would do as well. He used a twelve-thread line and an
anchor about vest-pocket size on his boat.
His argument was good from his side of the deck, but things had a
different aspect from mine. In the first place, he always anchored
where he wanted to, but I, being a roving bird, had frequently to
anchor where I did not want to. In the second, if I turned in to sleep
I had to do so feeling sure that my boat would be in the same place the
next morning, or else I could not sleep peacefully. Again, a small line
is awkward to handle and is easily chafed through; these are things to
be considered as well as strength. The breaking strain of a cable used
should always be at least four times the weight you expect to put on
it. It is to the extra factor of safety that you must frequently trust
for the odd trick and the game.
A heavily-built cabin craft, or a yacht loaded with lead on the keel,
needs an anchor at least a pound weight for each foot of her deck
length. This is for a regular stand-by, something to be used whenever
she comes to a halt. Such weight will, under all ordinary conditions,
give sufficient hold, admitting that the bottom is suitable for
anchoring. I have seen a 25-foot cabin sloop hang to a twenty-pound
anchor in a gale of wind, in a place where there was no sea to bother
her. But the sea is what troubles the anchor, not the direct strain.
A yacht of 40 feet, used for cruising to distant ports and anchoring
here, there, and everywhere, should carry four anchors. Of course you
can get along with less, perhaps, for many seasons, but to have peace
of mind and absolute security, you need four. Two of these anchors
are for constant use and the other two for special work and dangerous
emergencies.
The two first are what are called on large vessels bowers, being the
anchors hung at the bows, but we will sometimes speak of them as
stand-bys, they being the instruments always ready for use. The third
is a light fellow, exceedingly useful when needed, called a kedge.
The fourth is the big-weight, whose services are only called upon as
the last resource, and who passes the bulk of his days in idleness
below--he is called the spare.
The stand-bys for a 40-footer should weigh together twice the boat's
length in pounds--80 pounds. This can either be evenly divided or
unevenly, as you see fit. I prefer to divide the weight unevenly,
having, say, one thirty-five and one forty-five-pound, or one thirty
and one fifty-pound. These anchors should be galvanized and be
uniformly strong throughout, the large one being of heavy shank and
broad palm; the smaller, lighter in build, with narrow palm and sharp
bill. This lighter anchor should always be ready for service under the
bowsprit or at the cathead.
On a cruiser the heavier stand-by should also be kept ready to shackle
to the chain or bend to the hawser. It need not be kept hanging under
the bowsprit or at the cathead, but can be lashed on the fore deck,
so as to be available for instant use. I remember once going ashore
because the owner insisted upon having the second anchor unshackled
and stowed below; his reason being that it made the boat look untidy
forward. When we rounded-to and let go the small one, the chain parted;
and before the other could be brought on deck and bent on we were blown
on the beach.
The spare anchor is kept below, but not, as in most boats, in a place
where you cannot get at it without hauling over a mass of dunnage. One
time, when anchored in an open bight, we were joined at sunset by a
large sloop; she letting go outside and to windward of us. During the
night it came on to blow very hard, and at daylight we were riding to
both anchors with a full hawse ahead. The big sloop was dragging badly,
and, in response to their calls for help, I took my crew and went
aboard her. She was in charge of her owner and three other amateurs.
They had let go both her bowers and all the chain, but they failed to
hold the yacht and she was slowly going for the beach.
As soon as I got on board I asked if they had a spare anchor. The
owner, who had just bought the boat and was taking her home, after a
little thinking, said he thought it was mentioned in the inventory,
but he had never looked to see. Taking my two hands I went below to
the usual place and began a search. We pulled out sails in bags and
sails out of bags, awnings and stanchions, old mops, holystones, rope,
brooms, deck cushions and the devil knows what, before finally the
spare hook was brought to light. Into a cabin, that looked like a South
street junk shop, we at last lugged it and its cable, and from the
looks of both, decided it was their first call to action. That as may
be, when once overboard they did yeoman service and held the sloop in
safety. I did not fail to read the owner a lesson on how not to keep
his reserve ground tackle, and I guess the job of putting the dunnage
back helped to impress it on his mind.
[Illustration]
The spare anchor occupies but little room if properly stowed, takes
up the work of the same weight of ballast, and is a harmless but
exceedingly useful creature. It inspires a feeling of safety that
more than pays for its keep. This anchor should always be used with a
hawser, and a long and stout one, and to make assurance doubly sure,
should be fitted with three fathoms of chain and a stout ring to which
to bend the rope. You can either have the chain permanently attached
to anchor or hawser as you prefer, but keep both where the ends can be
readily laid hands upon. The best place to stow it is aft under the
cockpit floor, placing it in such a way as it will lie snug and not get
adrift, no matter how the boat pitches or heels. If your compass is
over it, you had better see that the placing of it does not affect that
instrument, and if so, how much. Frequently compasses are thrown into
error by the keeping of anchors and awning stanchions under the cockpit
floor.
The fourth anchor--the kedge--is a most useful piece of furniture.
Being light and easy to handle it can be kept on the bows when racing
or cruising. If it falls calm it is there to let go and hold you;
if you go ashore it can be at once run out with a line to haul off,
and if you miss a mooring it will enable you to hang on until a line
can be carried to the buoy. It is useful when coming-to at a dock or
when finding a berth in a basin or slip; light enough to be thrown
over anywhere you can anchor by the stern or head with equal facility.
Having it allows you in racing on tender trimming craft to keep the
stand-by anchor below out of the way and where it will interfere least
with the trim of the boat. Heavy weights hung on a boat's nose do not
improve either its speed or its bad weather qualities. To a cruising
man a kedge is invaluable; I would as soon be without my compass as my
little hook. In boats under 35 feet the kedge takes the place of the
smaller bower and performs its duties.
To give good service a kedge must be a properly designed kedge,
not simply a small anchor. The proper kedge is what is known as
spider-built--long arms, long shank, long stock and narrow, sharp
flukes. It is difficult to get these ready-made, but the shipsmith will
make you one. The best substitute for a genuine kedge is the seine
anchor.
Now what is the best to use with these anchors--chain or rope? With an
anchor like the stand-by, chain is best for all boats that have a place
to stow it. Chain is more lasting, less dirty, and takes but little
room in comparison with the same length of rope. Hawsers are always in
the way, no matter how neatly they are coiled down. Besides they are
expensive, owing to their short lives. In bad weather you cannot well
keep them on deck, and they are wet and disagreeable cabinmates.
For the kedge a long light line should be used, something that one man
can readily handle. It is best to have it in two parts; one part being
kept stowed away and the other always bent. Then you have less of a
coil on deck or in the bow locker, but have, by bending on the second
piece, a length that will enable you to kedge off or on to advantage.
For the spare I prefer, and so will any man who has experience, a
hawser. In heavy weather a boat will ride much easier to hemp than
she will to chain; no matter how much of the latter you may pay out,
she has the weight to lift every time she takes up the slack, and
consequently rises slower and falls quicker. Hemp, until it gets well
soaked, puts little of its weight on a riding vessel, and besides the
give of the slack it stretches in itself.
But whichever you use, be sure and have plenty of it. Remember this:
that the first and all-important thing in anchoring is SCOPE.
One night, not long ago, we wanted to anchor a yawl, as it was calm
and the tide setting us away from our port. My companions let the
anchor go without first sounding; it ran to the bitter end of the
chain with no bottom. As the chart only gave 15 fathoms I was rather
surprised and supposed I had miscalculated the yacht's position, but,
as my bearings seemed to be correct, I overhauled the chain. How much
chain do you think was on that anchor? The boat being an old-fashioned
plumb-stemmer, 32 feet on top. Just 10 fathoms. Gaze on that--10
fathoms of chain to anchor a boat of that size. Why, to make it hold in
a breeze of wind you would have to be in eight feet of water.
The former owner, who was responsible for this, was a man who never
went ten miles from his home port, and I should judge knew very little
about vessel handling. There are hundreds of other boats in just the
same fix. And still we wonder why yachts blow ashore.
Now, as we are through with the anchors, let us bear-off for a bit
and tackle the subject of anchoring, which is the art of using them.
Let me here remark that in all my experience I never had anchors fail
to do their duty, when properly used and attended to, and that every
scrape in this line that ever I got my boat into, was due to my own
carelessness or laziness or somebody else's. I have had hawsers part
and chains break, and I have broken arms of anchors and have lost them
altogether, but in every case the accident was avoidable if proper
forethought and precaution had been used.
If you are rather new at the business, or have hands forward that you
cannot rely upon, when making port have the hook cleared away early in
the game. Then go forward and see that all is in order. When she comes
to let it be at sufficient distance to leeward to kill all way before
she reaches the selected berth. When stopped dead give your order to
let go. Then comes in the judgment as to how much scope she needs.
Whatever the decision, always lean to the side of more than less.
Before anchoring in a strange place consult the chart, and know the
bottom, depth, and fall of the tide, also its present height; this is
of especial importance in places where there is a big rise. In light
weather, for a short stay, six times the depth is sufficient; that is,
in six feet of water give her six fathoms of cable.
If it is blowing hard and a sea running, before letting go, if you are
using a hawser, range a good length of it on deck clear for running
out. Get a good turn round the bitts and after the hook has taken hold
slack away handsomely, but at the same time keep full control. Let her
take it out; don't give it to her. When the hawser has a lead that
enters the water well ahead, make fast, and watch how she rides to it.
You can tell by feeling the cable whether the anchor is biting or not.
If it continues to drag and drags rapidly it is probably foul; if it
drags slowly it is most likely bad bottom; your chart will tell you
what kind.
Never drop without first taking a range, either on shore or on a nearby
vessel, for not only will it tell you if you are dragging, but it is
the only sure way of locating an anchor if you lose it. The way to tell
if you are dragging at night or when you cannot get a range is to drop
the lead overside with a slack line; if she drags the line will trend
out ahead.
If your hook drags badly and you have sail on, get it up, and do the
act over again. If you cannot, why then heave in rapidly on the first
and when under foot let go your second. Do not, if you possibly can
help it, let go the second while the foul anchor is out ahead, for
if it should stick it will put you in the predicament of having an
unreliable hold at the end of your longest cable.
If the first anchor drags because the bottom is bad holding, then
shorten up, let go your second, and pay out on both. If she still
continues to drag get up the spare, and if you can, heave in on both
to half-hawse, and then let the spare go. If she goes on dragging you
have two hopes and one alternative. One hope is, that the weather will
let up; the other, that as she drags she will get into better holding
ground; the alternative I will attend to in another chapter.
Many accidents are the result of haste and carelessness, when letting
the hook go. A mate of mine once let the anchor drop without fitting
the pin in the stock; it came on to blow in the night and we dragged
down on another yacht. Dropping the hook while a vessel has headway
on is another cause of anchors being foul. Frequently in small yachts
carrying the hook under the bowsprit, the fluke will catch on the
bobstay; instead of hauling it up and clearing it, a lubber will let
the stock drop down and then lift the fluke up and let all go. What
is the consequence? the arm falls across the cable and you have a foul
anchor. Twice in my life I have had men anchor the boat on the bobstay.
This happened at night and through my not going forward and looking to
things myself. Instead of, like the unfortunate Wentworth, exclaiming:
"Put not your trust in princes," let me cry, "Put not your trust in
amateurs," especially coming to anchor at night. But the most frequent
cause of mishap is in giving either too little or too much scope.
Laziness stands impeached of the first, and over-caution of the second.
Before turning in, if the weather looks at all dubious, but not
threatening enough to warrant your going to the trouble of sending off
another anchor, you can secure yourself from a sudden attack by these
means. We will suppose you are riding to your heaviest bower. Down the
second bower under the fore-foot, being careful to see that it falls
clear, then take the end of your hawser from underneath the coil,
and take a round-turn round the mast, securing the end with two half
hitches over the standing part. See that it renders freely from the top
of the coil. Pass it through either the chock on the bowsprit or the
chock on the rail. If the yacht drags she will carry out the hawser
and fetch-up when the end is reached. If you are using chain see that
it is clear for running out. By employing your second anchor in this
way, you will prevent fouling hawse if the yacht swings with the tide
or wind.
[Illustration: HOW TO ANCHOR WITH TWO HOOKS DOWN
A is the right way; B the wrong way.
C shows anchor backed with ballast.]
Backing an anchor is done in several ways, but as it is only done in
extreme cases you are generally obliged to do it the best way you
can, using such materials as are at hand. Take two or four pigs of
ballast, wrap them securely with a strong small line, and put on a
shawl-strap handle over the chain and let them slide down with a small
line attached to prevent their working right out to the anchor. A small
piece of chain is better than rope to use on a chain hawse. If you can
heave in you can lash the ballast to the chain, and then pay out again.
Backing is usually done at the last call, and as it is wet and
dangerous work on a small boat's head when she is pitching with a sea,
the job is a hurry one and is frequently bungled. By putting a line on
the ballast you can recover it if the lashing parts or frets through.
A trip-line is made fast to an anchor with a clove hitch round the
crown, and either buoyed or led on board. If led on board, it should be
stopped down to the heel of the shank with a rotten stop and belayed
with plenty of slack.
Now I am going to give you ten rules for anchoring, but be pleased to
remember that these rules are not fixed laws, and as such do not bind
you to do anything against what judgment, experience, or a present
difficulty may suggest.