Patent anchors ditt'er in details of design,
but in all of them the arms are pivoted to
the shank, usually by a very heavy bolt.
The flukes are enlarged, and lie in the same
plane with the arms and shank when the former
are in mid-position. When the anchor is on
the bottom, the arms turn, the flukes droop,
and. ])ointed downward, are forced into the
ground. To assist in preventing the anchor from
being capsized by a side pull on the chain, some
patent anchors are fitted with short stocks, which
lie in the same plane as the arms when the latter
are in mid-position. When an anchor of ordinary
type is let go, it strikes on the crown and then
falls over and rests on one end of the stock.
The first pull of the chain cants it (i.e., tilts it
over), laying the stock flat on the bottom and
pointing one of the bills fair for entering the
ground. Additional pulls serve to drive the bill
and fluke into the ground to a depth which de-
pends upon the strain upon the chain and the
softness of the bottom. The principal points of
e.cellenee in an anchor are: Holding-power
under various conditions, strength, quick-holding,
quick-tripping, exemption from fouling, facility
of stowing, facilit}' of sweeping, canting, facility
of fishing in a heavy sea, and facility of trans-
port in, or by, boats. Slight differences of design
make considerable difference in the holding-
power of anchors. For an ordinary anchor the
most favorable angle for the palm is thought to
be a little less than 45 degrees from the middle
line of the shank, but in most patent anchors
the flukes are permitted to droop not more than
35 degrees. The shank of all anchors projects
a short distance beyond the stock, where it is
fitted with a heavy ring or shackle called the
ring; the ring in turn is secured to the chain
by a heavy shackle called the jewsharp, the jaws
of which embrace the club, or body, of a club-
link; beyond this there is sometimes an open
link, and then follows the chain. The latter dif-
fers from ordinary chain in having a cross-piece
in each link called a stay pin. the purpose of
which is to ])revent the chain from kinking, to
which ordinary chain is liable, and which would
be a most serious matter in aij anchor chain, be-
cause it not only might cause the chain to part
under the pull of the ship, but in letting go the
anchor a kink formed in the chain-locker (the
box or compartment in which the chain is
stowed) might jam in a chainpipe in the deck, or
in the hawsepipe, with disastrous consequences.
In the navy and in most vessels of the mer- chant service the anchor chain was formerly di- vided into lengths of 15 fathoms (or 121/2 fathoms in England), called shots, each shot being joined to the succeeding one with a shackle. At 7% fathoms from the anchor, and again at 37% fathoms, were placed swivels, to prevent the chain from getting kinks by twisting. In the I'nited States Navy the present practice is to place a swivel at 5 fathoms, and neither shackle nor swivel between that and 45 fathoms. This is to facilitate getting up the anchor., Neither swivels nor shackles fit the wildcat closely, and, if the pull is heavy, they are apt to slip and cause delay. Merchant ships anchor less frequently and in less exposed places than those which men- of-war are frequently compelled to accept for anchorage-ground, consequently less attention is paid to the details of tlic gronndtarkle (i.e., anchors, chains, etc.) of merchantiuen. Wlien e?ipecting to remain in port for more than a few days, especially if the harbor or anchorage ground is contracted, or if there is a strong tidal or river current, mooring is frequently resorted to. The length of chain varies with the depth of water and other considerations, but a moor at forty-five fathoms is common practice. After dropping one anchor the ship veers (i.e., lets run out) chain until about ninety fathoms are laid out; then the other anchor is let go; now, by heaving in on the first chain to forty-five fathoms and paying out, or veering on the second to forty-five fathoms, the ship is brought to a middle position between her anchors, and in swinging to the tide or wind will cover very much less ground than if riding to a single anchor, and her chain cannot sweep over an anchor and trip it (i.e., cause it to let go its hold ) .
When the ship swings, however, she may not merely move back and forth, but may turn all the way around (e.g., heading north, she may swing until she heads east, then south, and then — in- stead of going back to east and then north — con- tinue the circle by heading west and then north) ; this will cause the chains to cross, or if the operation continues, to wind themselves around each other, and give what is called a foul hawse. This nuist be cleared by unshackling and unwind- ing one of the chains, the operation being called clearing hawse. To avoid the labor of this, and it is a very laborious task with heavy chain, a mooring swivel is frequently used. This is a swivel having two shackles at top and two at the bottom ; the chains leading to both anchors are opened at the forty-five fatliom shackles, and the parts leading from the anchors tient (i.e., joined) to the lower shackles of the mooring swivel while the inboard ends (i.e., those extending from the ship) are bent to the upper sljackles of the swivel. The ship is now free to swing without fouling her chains, as the swivel turns with her.
Patent anchors are much used, as they are convenient in more ways than one. When on the bottom, there is no arm sticking up in which the chain can catch as the ship swings, or on which she might strike if the water is shallow. When hoisted, the absence of a stock at right angles to tlip arms facilitates storage; and in some ships the anchor is pulled up, without catting or fishing, into a recess for it in the bow. Anchors are hoisted by means of a capstan or windlass. The former is shaped somewhat like a huge hourglass, but is stouter in the middle, and carries about its lower edge a recess, with ridges on the upper and lower flanges; this arrangement, in which the chain fits, is called the icildcat. " Windlasses are like capstans, but are turned on the side, and usually have two or more wildcats. On vessels in which steam gear is not fitted to the capstan, the latter is turned by hand : long wooden bars, called capstan hars, are fitted into recesses in the head of the capstan and held in place by a small rope called the swifter, which passes through a score, or gi'oove, in their outer ends. Small windlasses are operated by levers like pump brakes, which turn the windlass barrel by means of racks and pawls. In the older ships, the fir.st operation of getting up the anchor consists in bringing-to the chain (i.e., in pulling up .slack chain from the locker and putting it in the wildcat of the capstan); large ships are now usually fitted with steam windlasses, on which the chain is always in place. The next process is to release the chain from the bitt
