ANCHORS

Before anything else, it is important to know that in naval lingo, the entity attached to either of the bow anchors is called  a cable rather than a chain. A chain is much smaller and  can  be  man-handled . A chain locker is in a boat while a  cable locker is in a ship.

Primary anchor. (1 of 2) Sometimes these were referred to as "bowers".  The anchors each weigh 36 cwt (1 cwt = 112 lbs) or 2 tons each but it is the anchor cable  and not the anchor that holds the ship in place. Each link of the cable weighs about 4.2 lbs and the whole cable of 9 shackles (before 1949, a shackle was 12 ½ fathoms versus 15 fathoms today)  was 675 feet long and weighs almost 5 tons.  (Photo  by Jerry Proc) A "single anchor” was the most common way to use the anchor , but mooring using two anchors was regularly practiced, particularly where space was limited and the anchor swinging circle had to be reduced.  This necessitated the use of a mooring swivel between the two cables to prevent a “foul hawse” where the cable wrapped around each other at the bow.   In calm conditions, one would deploy the anchor to three times the water depth. If the seas were heavy, the anchor would be deployed to five times the water depth. The image above, of the bower anchor in the hawsepipe shows a ring on the shank.  That is the “balance band” used when it's necessary to hoist the anchor on deck. There are gratings above each of the two anchors. These are called Anchor Guards and they  permit someone to step over the bow see if the anchor is properly housed.

The anchor capstan was  used to raise an anchor .On the Foc'sle,  is a machine called  the Capstan. It  is actually two machines  combined. HAIDA's Capstan is  steam powered versus being electric powered in more modern ships.  The bottom part is called the Cable Holder which holds and  moves  the Cable.  It cannot  be  manually  operated or  'over-ridden'.  The upper drums are  actually the Capstan. They winch  lines, such as berthing lines, towing lines, refueling  lines or berthing hawsers.  The Capstan and the Cable Holder  work independently or  together.

The red wheels are the brakes for  the anchor cable portion.  This device  was controlled by three valves located n the forward upper mess deck. The access to  these valves is under the caged screen section between the red wheels. There was a "T" shaped bar that is connected to the control valves. A Stoker operated the device. The striped drums atop the capstans were used to tighten up the hawser lines.

Once either anchor was hoisted,  the  cable  was stored in its respective cable locker located in the bow of the ship.

In this photo, the arrows are pointing to the clutch controls for the lower drums. The capstan only ran in one direction so when dropping the anchor you disconnected the clutch and controlled the speed with the brake. There was also a bar with a socket on the end that slid over one of the teeth on the clutch control.  Turning the bar in one direction engaged the cable drum. Turning the bar in the opposite direction disengaged the drum.

The red shackle is a safety device to ensure that the anchors are not deployed accidentally. Once the anchor had been housed, the red shackle or "bottle slip" was attached and then the bottle screw turned to bring the anchor as close as possible.  When dropping anchor, the bottle slip would be removed and the anchor is said to be riding on “brake and Blake”.   The brake would be removed and when the order “slip” was given, the Blake would be knocked off with a mallet and the anchor would be allowed to run out under its own weight.  The bottle slip could also be used to hold the anchor when it was necessary to break the cable to pay out through the hawse pipe to use it for towing or coming to a buoy.

All photos in this table by Jerry Proc

This cutaway shows the components of the anchor system. Click on image to enlarge.

HAIDA spent  her  WW 2 service  either at  anchor in  Scapa flow with the Home Fleet, or  on a buoy in  Plymouth, England. Here, she is moored  to  the Canada House buoy and  in company with HMCS HURON.  A cable connects the bullring to the buoy. Click on image to enlarge.  (RCN photo)

A " buoy jumper" is a  sailor  who is  transported  to the buoy by the motor cutter.  He then  receives a line called "the Picking Up  Rope" which is attached to  the cable on the ship. He then  passes the  Picking Up Rope  through the eye of the buoy and  then  using  a heaving line, passes the end of the P.U.R. back up to the ship.  There is a bracket on the bull ring through which line then goes to the drum on the  capstan where it  is hauled in. The  cable  is  eased  out  from the cable holder as it is being pulled  along  to and through the  bull ring  to the "buoy jumper" (RCN photo)

A young Neil Bell is carrying out his duties as a buoy jumper (Photo provided by Neil Bell)

Andy Barber served in HAIDA when she went to Korea. He recalls this about the anchors "Another feature associated with the anchors was a high pressure hose that washed the anchor and cable as they were coming up and before the cables  were stored in the cable locker.  This removed the sediment and any other undesirable objects that may be attached to the cables or anchors. Sometimes they had to be stopped to ensure proper cleaning. However, that didn't happen very often as the anchors were retrieved fairly slowly until the anchor reached the surface allowing for a proper cleaning.

This was very important when we were anchored off of Paen Yang Do in Korea, as the Koreans used human feces as fertilizers to cultivate their crops and a lot of it was washed into the sea during rainstorms and typhoons. We could smell that island about 10 kilometers away when we were approaching it, but we anchored about 3 kms away as that was very close to North Korea and the 38th parallel. We eventually got used to the odour."
 

The secondary anchor, in close proximity to the Torpedo Davit and Hoist, is known as the Kedge anchor and was much smaller than the primary anchor. It weighed  560 pounds. (Photo  by Jerry Proc)

There were at least two ways of using the Kedge anchor. Jim Brewer describes one of the methods. "This anchor,  was used to provide a second anchoring point in cases where it was necessary to prevent the ship from swaying should a gust of wind arise.   First, the ship would drop the secondary anchor using the Torpedo Davit and Torpedo Winch.  Next, the ship would steam a short distance  to the primary anchoring point then drop the primary anchor. The Kedge anchor was secured to the ship  by wire rope".

Neil Bell describes the other method. "The kedge would be lowered to the waterline where a whaler, fitted with strongbacks athwartships, would sling the anchor underneath it.  The whaler would then take the anchor to the desired position and drop it.  The cable could be shackled to a length of line which could be taken forward to the windlass or handled by the torpedo winch or manually lifted  from the quarterdeck".
 
 

Contributors:

1) Peter Dixon
2) Jim Brewer
3) Neil Bell
4) Andy Barber
 

Jun 1421