ANCHOR, an implement for retaining a ship in a particular spot, by temporarily chaining it to the bed of a sea or river. Many forms of A. were made by the ancients; some were merely large stones; others, crooked pieces of wood, weighted to make them sink in water, the earlier ones acting mainly as weights, and holding the vessel by their own inertia instead of hooking into the ground. The first iron anchors are supposed to have been used by the Greeks, As originally made, the A. had only one fluke or arm for penetrating the ground, but a second was afterwards added; it had no stock (pres ently to be described), and was, on that account, ill suited for insuring a firm gripe into the ground when lowered. The Greek vessels had several anchors, one of which, called the " sacred A.," was never let go until the ship was in dire distress. Of whatever form and material the ancient anchors were made, they were lowered from the ships' sides by ropes—chain cables being a modern invention.
The maritime nations of Europe, and the United States of America, employ anchors hearing a good deal of general resemblance one to another. A large-sized modern A., regarded irrespectively of improvements recently introduced, comprises the following parts: The vertical or supporting beam of the A. is the shank, B; at the upper end of it is a ring, r, or a shackle, and just below the ring is a transverse piece called the stock, Ps; the other extremity is the crown, c, from which branch out two arms or blades. g, in directions nearly at right angles to that of the stock; each arm spreads out into a broad palm or fluke, It, the sharp extremity of which is the peak or bill, k. All these parts bear special relation to the fast-holding of the A. in the ground. When the A. is let go from the ship's side, the crown first strikes the ground; it then falls over in such a manner that one end of the stock rests upon the ground; and the subsequent movements of the ship and the cable cause one or other of the flukes (it matters not which) to dig verti tally into the ground, and maintain a firm hold. On the firmness of this gripe depends
the safe anchoring of the ship; and the sizes of all the different parts of the A., as well as the curve of the arms and flukes, are calculated with direct reference to this condi tion. The most favorable angle between the face of the flukes near their extremities and the shank has been found to be about 45°—that is; the planes of the two flukes should lie approximately at right angles to each other.
The number of anchors in British ships-of-war is in general four— oTIP" the "best the "small bower," the "sheet," and the "spare." 8 For particular and special services, there are also the " stream" and the " kedge," which are usually carried " in-board." Smaller ves sets have fewer and smaller anchors; and the "stream" A. of a large ship may conveniently serve as the "bower " for a smaller, the differ ence between bower, sheet, and spare anchors being rather in size h than in design. Lloyd's rules prescribe the number and weight of anchors which must be carried by ships of different sizes registered cin their list, as well as the. size and length of their cables, hawsers, and warps. A 200-ton vessel must have 3 "bowers," 1 "stream," and 1 "kedge" A.; vessels from 250 to 1800 tons carry an additional " kedge," and those above 2000 an additional " bower" also. Steamers are only required to carry the anchors and cables which belong to a sailing vessel of two thirds their total tonnage.
Many important improvements in the shape and construction of anchors have been introduced within the last forty years. Lt. Rodgers, to increase the strength, with out increasing the weight, took out a patent for hollow-dianked anchors; these are not strictly hollow, however, for there is a wooden core, which is bound to the iron of the shank by iron hoops. Mr. Pering introduced iron shanks made of layers of flat bars, instead of solid iron. The same inventor increased the strength of the arms, by making them in great part a curved continuation of the same pieces of iron which form the shank.