"Let's forge a goodly anchor—a bower thick and broad;
For a heart of oak is hanging on every blow I bode;
And I see a good ship riding all in a perilous road—
The low reef roaring on her lee; the roll of ocean poured
From stem to stern, sea after sea; the mainmast by the board;"
The bulwarks down; the rudder gone; the boats stove at the chains;
But courage still, brave mariners—the bower yet remains!
And not an inch to flinch he deigns—save when ye pitch sky high;
Then moves his head, as though he said, "Fear nothing—here am I."
—Ferguson

ON ANCHORS AND ANCHORING

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.

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.

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.

1. Never drop an anchor until you have first examined it.

2. Never drop an anchor stock down.

3. Never drop an anchor from the bows while the boat has headway, except for the purpose of preventing her going ashore or into something.

4. With the wind and sea ahead give any amount of scope.

5. In a tide-way give just sufficient to hold, no more, unless the conditions of wind and sea oblige a long lead; then watch your hawse when she shifts tides.

6. When getting underway in a strong wind, do not shorten too much before everything is ready aloft; same when surrounded by other vessels.

7. Be sure when you make fast, that you make fast. Always weather-bit your hawser before turning in. Don't make fast over an old set of turns when you shorten hawse. Always keep your riding-bits clear of everything but the hawser.

8. Always examine the gear before leaving the yacht or turning in. If she is riding hard, feel if she is fast or dragging.

9. Keep your hawsers or chains leading free of the bowsprit rigging. Look out for chafing and freshen the hawse frequently.

10. Never anchor on rocky bottom without a trip line.

WEIGHT OF ANCHORS

These weights should be (excepting kedge) increased 25 per cent. when anchors are for use on a broad shoal model, and can be decreased if model is very sharp and the hull light. There is no advantage to be had by decreasing the weight of the spare in any case. Anchors are seldom forged to weigh exactly the above weights, but the matter of a few pounds either way will not effect the service.

SIZE AND STRENGTH OF CHAIN

From Catalogue of A. S. Morss, Boston, Mass.

SIZE AND STRENGTH OF HAWSERS

From Catalogue of A. S. Morss, Boston, Mass.