Anchor

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For other uses, see Anchor (disambiguation).

"Boat anchor" redirects here. For the metaphor, see Boat anchor (metaphor).

Stockless ship's anchor and chain on display

Anchor of Amoco Cadiz in Portsall, north-west Brittany, France

Memorial anchor in Kirjurinluoto, Pori, Finland


An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed
of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The
word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα (ankȳra).
[1][2]

Anchors can either be temporary or permanent. Permanent anchors are used in the
creation of a mooring, and are rarely moved; a specialist service is normally
needed to move or maintain them. Vessels carry one or more temporary anchors, which
may be of different designs and weights.

A sea anchor is a drag device, not in contact with the seabed, used to minimise
drift of a vessel relative to the water. A drogue is a drag device used to slow or
help steer a vessel running before a storm in a following or overtaking sea, or
when crossing a bar in a breaking sea.

Overview

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A stockless anchor being broken out

Holding ground in Akaroa Harbour


Anchors achieve holding power either by "hooking" into the seabed, or weight, or a
combination of the two. Permanent moorings use large masses (commonly a block or
slab of concrete) resting on the seabed. Semi-permanent mooring anchors (such as
mushroom anchors) and large ship's anchors derive a significant portion of their
holding power from their weight, while also hooking or embedding in the bottom.
Modern anchors for smaller vessels have metal flukes that hook on to rocks on the
bottom or bury themselves in soft seabed.

The vessel is attached to the anchor by the rode (also called a cable or a warp).
It can be made of rope, chain or a combination of rope and chain. The ratio of the
length of rode to the water depth is known as the scope (see below).

Holding ground
Holding ground is the area of sea floor that holds an anchor, and thus the attached
ship or boat.[3] Different types of anchor are designed to hold in different types
of holding ground.[4] Some bottom materials hold better than others; for instance,
hard sand holds well, shell holds poorly.[5] Holding ground may be fouled with
obstacles.[5] An anchorage location may be chosen for its holding ground.[6] In
poor holding ground, only the weight of an anchor matters; in good holding ground,
it is able to dig in, and the holding power can be significantly higher.

History
Evolution of the anchor
Main article: History of the anchor
Anchors come in a wide variety of shapes, types, and sizes for different
conditions, functions and vessels.
The earliest anchors were probably rocks, and many rock anchors have been found
dating from at least the Bronze Age.[7] Pre-European Maori waka (canoes) used one
or more hollowed stones, tied with flax ropes, as anchors. Many modern moorings
still rely on a large rock as the primary element of their design. However, using
pure weight to resist the forces of a storm works well only as a permanent mooring;
a large enough rock would be nearly impossible to move to a new location.

The ancient Greeks used baskets of stones, large sacks filled with sand, and wooden
logs filled with lead. According to Apollonius Rhodius and Stephen of Byzantium,
anchors were formed of stone, and Athenaeus states that they were also sometimes
made of wood. Such anchors held the vessel merely by their weight and by their
friction along the bottom.[citation needed][clarification needed]

Fluked anchors

Anchor of the Ladby Ship


Iron was afterwards introduced for the construction of anchors, and an improvement
was made by forming them with teeth, or "flukes", to fasten themselves into the
bottom. This is the iconic anchor shape most familiar to non-sailors.

This form has been used since antiquity. The Roman Nemi ships of the 1st century AD
used this form. The Viking Ladby ship (probably 10th century) used a fluked anchor
of this type, made of iron, which would have had a wooden stock mounted
perpendicular to the shank and flukes to make the flukes contact the bottom at a
suitable angle to hook or penetrate.[8]

Admiralty anchor

An Admiralty Pattern anchor; when deployed on the seafloor the stock forces one of
its flukes into the bottom.
The Admiralty Pattern anchor, or simply "Admiralty", also known as a "Fisherman",
consists of a central shank with a ring or shackle for attaching the rode (the
rope, chain, or cable connecting the ship and the anchor). At the other end of the
shank there are two arms, carrying the flukes, while the stock is mounted to the
shackle end, at ninety degrees to the arms. When the anchor lands on the bottom, it
generally falls over with the arms parallel to the seabed. As a strain comes onto
the rope, the stock digs into the bottom, canting the anchor until one of the
flukes catches and digs into the bottom.

The Admiralty Anchor is an entirely independent reinvention of a classical design,


as seen in one of the Nemi ship anchors. This basic design remained unchanged for
centuries, with the most significant changes being to the overall proportions, and
a move from stocks made of wood to iron stocks in the late 1830s and early 1840s.
[citation needed]

Since one fluke always protrudes up from the set anchor, there is a great tendency
of the rode to foul the anchor as the vessel swings due to wind or current shifts.
When this happens, the anchor may be pulled out of the bottom, and in some cases
may need to be hauled up to be re-set. In the mid-19th century, numerous
modifications were attempted to alleviate these problems, as well as improve
holding power, including one-armed mooring anchors. The most successful of these
patent anchors, the Trotman Anchor, introduced a pivot at the centre of the crown
where the arms join the shank, allowing the "idle" upper arm to fold against the
shank. When deployed the lower arm may fold against the shank tilting the tip of
the fluke upwards, so each fluke has a tripping palm at its base, to hook on the
bottom as the folded arm drags along the seabed, which unfolds the downward
oriented arm until the tip of the fluke can engage the bottom.[9]
Handling and storage of these anchors requires special equipment and procedures.
Once the anchor is hauled up to the hawsepipe, the ring end is hoisted up to the
end of a timber projecting from the bow known as the cathead. The crown of the
anchor is then hauled up with a heavy tackle until one fluke can be hooked over the
rail. This is known as "catting and fishing" the anchor. Before dropping the
anchor, the fishing process is reversed, and the anchor is dropped from the end of
the cathead.

Stockless anchor
Main article: Stockless anchor

The action of a stockless anchor being set


The stockless anchor, patented in England in 1821,[10] represented the first
significant departure in anchor design in centuries. Although their holding-power-
to-weight ratio is significantly lower than admiralty pattern anchors, their ease
of handling and stowage aboard large ships led to almost universal adoption. In
contrast to the elaborate stowage procedures for earlier anchors, stockless anchors
are simply hauled up until they rest with the shank inside the hawsepipes, and the
flukes against the hull (or inside a recess in the hull).

While there are numerous variations, stockless anchors consist of a set of heavy
flukes connected by a pivot or ball and socket joint to a shank. Cast into the
crown of the anchor is a set of tripping palms, projections that drag on the
bottom, forcing the main flukes to dig in.

Small boat anchors


Until the mid-20th century, anchors for smaller vessels were either scaled-down
versions of admiralty anchors, or simple grapnels. As new designs with greater
holding-power-to-weight ratios were sought, a great variety of anchor designs has
emerged. Many of these designs are still under patent, and other types are best
known by their original trademarked names.

Grapnel anchor
A traditional design, the grapnel is merely a shank with four or more tines. It has
a benefit in that, no matter how it reaches the bottom, one or more tines are aimed
to set. In coral, or rock, it is often able to set quickly by hooking into the
structure, but may be more difficult to retrieve. A grapnel is often quite light,
and may have additional uses as a tool to recover gear lost overboard. Its weight
also makes it relatively easy to move and carry, however its shape is generally not
compact and it may be awkward to stow unless a collapsing model is used.

Grapnels rarely have enough fluke area to develop much hold in sand, clay, or mud.
It is not unknown for the anchor to foul on its own rode, or to foul the tines with
refuse from the bottom, preventing it from digging in. On the other hand, it is
quite possible for this anchor to find such a good hook that, without a trip line
from the crown, it is impossible to retrieve.[11][12]

Herreshoff anchor
Designed by yacht designer L. Francis Herreshoff, this is essentially the same
pattern as an admiralty anchor, albeit with small diamond-shaped flukes or palms.
The novelty of the design lay in the means by which it could be broken down into
three pieces for stowage. In use, it still presents all the issues of the admiralty
pattern anchor.

Northill anchor
Originally designed as a lightweight anchor for seaplanes, this design consists of
two plough-like blades mounted to a shank, with a folding stock crossing through
the crown of the anchor.
CQR plough anchor

A CQR plough anchor.


Many manufacturers produce a plough-type anchor, so-named after its resemblance to
an agricultural plough. All such anchors are copied from the original CQR (Coastal
Quick Release, or Clyde Quick Release, later rebranded as 'secure' by Lewmar), a
1933 design patented in the UK by mathematician Geoffrey Ingram Taylor.[13][14]

Plough anchors stow conveniently in a roller at the bow, and have been popular with
cruising sailors and private boaters. Ploughs can be moderately good in all types
of seafloor, though not exceptional in any. Contrary to popular belief, the CQR's
hinged shank is not to allow the anchor to turn with direction changes rather than
breaking out, but actually to prevent the shank's weight from disrupting the
fluke's orientation while setting.[15] The hinge can wear out and may trap a
sailor's fingers. Some later plough anchors have a rigid shank, such as the
Lewmar's "Delta".[16]

A plough anchor has a fundamental flaw: like its namesake, the agricultural plough,
it digs in but then tends to break out back to the surface. Plough anchors
sometimes have difficulty setting at all, and instead skip across the seafloor. By
contrast, modern efficient anchors tend to be "scoop" types that dig ever deeper.

Delta anchor
The Delta anchor was derived from the CQR. It was patented by Philip McCarron,
James Stewart, and Gordon Lyall of British marine manufacturer Simpson-Lawrence Ltd
in 1992. It was designed as an advance over the anchors used for floating systems
such as oil rigs. It retains the weighted tip of the CQR but has a much higher
fluke area to weight ratio than its predecessor. The designers also eliminated the
sometimes troublesome hinge. It is a plough anchor with a rigid, arched shank. It
is described as self-launching because it can be dropped from a bow roller simply
by paying out the rode, without manual assistance. This is an oft copied design
with the European Brake and Australian Sarca Excel being two of the more notable
ones. Although it is a plough type anchor, it sets and holds reasonably well in
hard bottoms.

Danforth anchor

The Danforth is a light, versatile, highly popular fluke-style anchor.


American Richard Danforth invented the Danforth Anchor in the 1940s for use aboard
landing craft. It uses a stock at the crown to which two large flat triangular
flukes are attached. The stock is hinged so the flukes can orient toward the bottom
(and on some designs may be adjusted for an optimal angle depending on the bottom
type). Tripping palms at the crown act to tip the flukes into the seabed. The
design is a burying variety, and once well set can develop high resistance. Its
lightweight and compact flat design make it easy to retrieve and relatively easy to
store; some anchor rollers and hawsepipes can accommodate a fluke-style anchor.

A Danforth does not usually penetrate or hold in gravel or weeds. In boulders and
coral it may hold by acting as a hook. If there is much current, or if the vessel
is moving while dropping the anchor, it may "kite" or "skate" over the bottom due
to the large fluke area acting as a sail or wing.[17]

The FOB HP anchor designed in Brittany in the 1970s is a Danforth variant designed
to give increased holding through its use of rounded flukes setting at a 30° angle.
[18]

The Fortress is an American aluminum alloy Danforth variant that can be


disassembled for storage and it features an adjustable 32° and 45° shank/fluke
angle to improve holding capability in common sea bottoms such as hard sand and
soft mud.[19] This anchor performed well in a 1989 US Naval Sea Systems Command
(NAVSEA) test[20] and in an August 2014 holding power test that was conducted in
the soft mud bottoms of the Chesapeake Bay.[21]

Bruce or claw anchor

The Bruce anchor was an evolutionary improvement in its day. It is most effective
in larger sizes.
This claw-shaped anchor was designed by Peter Bruce from Scotland in the 1970s.[22]
Bruce gained his early reputation from the production of large-scale commercial
anchors for ships and fixed installations such as oil rigs. It was later scaled
down for small boats, and copies of this popular design abound. The Bruce and its
copies, known generically as "claw type anchors", have been adopted on smaller
boats (partly because they stow easily on a bow roller) but they are most effective
in larger sizes. Claw anchors are quite popular on charter fleets as they have a
high chance to set on the first try in many bottoms. They have the reputation of
not breaking out with tide or wind changes, instead slowly turning in the bottom to
align with the force.

Bruce anchors can have difficulty penetrating weedy bottoms and grass. They offer a
fairly low holding-power-to-weight ratio and generally have to be oversized to
compete with newer types.[23]

Scoop type anchors


Three time circumnavigator German Rolf Kaczirek invented the Bügel Anker in the
1980s. Kaczirek wanted an anchor that was self-righting without necessitating a
ballasted tip. Instead, he added a roll bar and switched out the plough share for a
flat blade design. As none of the innovations of this anchor were patented, copies
of it abound.

Alain Poiraud of France introduced the scoop type anchor in 1996. Similar in design
to the Bügel anchor, Poiraud's design features a concave fluke shaped like the
blade of a shovel, with a shank attached parallel to the fluke, and the load
applied toward the digging end. It is designed to dig into the bottom like a
shovel, and dig deeper as more pressure is applied. The common challenge with all
the scoop type anchors is that they set so well, they can be difficult to weigh.

Bügelanker, or Wasi: This German-designed bow anchor has a sharp tip for
penetrating weed, and features a roll-bar that allows the correct setting attitude
to be achieved without the need for extra weight to be inserted into the tip.[24]

Spade anchor
Spade: This is a French design that has proven successful since 1996. It features a
demountable shank (hollow in some instances) and the choice of galvanized steel,
stainless steel, or aluminium construction, which means a lighter and more easily
stowable anchor.[25] The geometry also makes this anchor self stowing on a single
roller.

A galvanised Rocna Anchor [26]


Rocna: This New Zealand spade design, available in galvanised or stainless steel,
has been produced since 2004. It has a roll-bar (similar to that of the Bügel), a
large spade-like fluke area, and a sharp toe for penetrating weed and grass. The
Rocna sets quickly and holds well.[27]

Mantus anchor
Mantus: This is claimed to be a fast setting anchor with high holding power. It is
designed as an all round anchor capable of setting even in challenging bottoms such
as hard sand/clay bottoms and grass. The shank is made out of a high tensile steel
capable of withstanding high loads. It is similar in design to the Rocna but has a
larger and wider roll-bar that reduces the risk of fouling and increases the angle
of the fluke that results in improved penetration in some bottoms.[28]
Ultra: This is an innovative spade design that dispenses with a roll-bar. Made
primarily of stainless steel, its main arm is hollow, while the fluke tip has lead
within it.[29] It is similar in appearance to the Spade anchor.

A Vulcan anchor, by Rocna Anchors


Vulcan: A recent sibling to the Rocna, this anchor performs similarly but does not
have a roll-bar. Instead the Vulcan has patented design features such as the "V-
bulb" and the "Roll Palm" that allow it to dig in deeply. The Vulcan was designed
primarily for sailors who had difficulties accommodating the roll-bar Rocna on
their bow.[30] Peter Smith (originator of the Rocna) designed it specifically for
larger powerboats. Both Vulcans and Rocnas are available in galvanised steel, or in
stainless steel. The Vulcan is similar in appearance to the Spade anchor.

Knox Anchor
Knox Anchor: This is produced in Scotland and was invented by Professor John Knox.
It has a divided concave large area fluke arrangement and a shank in high tensile
steel. A roll bar similar to the Rocna gives fast setting and a holding power of
about 40 times anchor weight.[31][clarification needed]
Other temporary anchors
Mud weight: Consists of a blunt heavy weight, usually cast iron or cast lead, that
sinks into the mud and resist lateral movement. It is suitable only for soft silt
bottoms and in mild conditions. Sizes range between 5 and 20 kg for small craft.
Various designs exist and many are home produced from lead or improvised with heavy
objects. This is a commonly used method on the Norfolk Broads in England.
Bulwagga: This is a unique design featuring three flukes instead of the usual two.
It has performed well in tests by independent sources such as American boating
magazine Practical Sailor.[32]
Permanent anchors
These are used where the vessel is permanently or semi-permanently sited, for
example in the case of lightvessels or channel marker buoys. The anchor needs to
hold the vessel in all weathers, including the most severe storm, but needs to be
lifted only occasionally, at most – for example, only if the vessel is to be towed
into port for maintenance. An alternative to using an anchor under these
circumstances, especially if the anchor need never be lifted at all, may be to use
a pile that is driven into the seabed.

Permanent anchors come in a wide range of types and have no standard form. A slab
of rock with an iron staple in it to attach a chain to would serve the purpose, as
would any dense object of appropriate weight (for instance, an engine block).
Modern moorings may be anchored by augers, which look and act like oversized screws
drilled into the seabed, or by barbed metal beams pounded in (or even driven in
with explosives) like pilings, or by a variety of other non-mass means of getting a
grip on the bottom. One method of building a mooring is to use three or more
conventional anchors laid out with short lengths of chain attached to a swivel, so
no matter which direction the vessel moves, one or more anchors are aligned to
resist the force.

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