Anchor

Anchor, an instrument for preventing a ship or any other vessel from drifting, by mooring it to the bottom of the sea or river. It was invented in very early times, and consisted at first of large stones, or bags of sand, or heavily-weighted logs of wood. Later on the fluke or tooth was introduced, and ultimately the number was increased to two. The anchor in use at the present day consists of a long shank or bar of iron, which at its lower extremity branches out into two arms, at the end of which are the flukes mentioned above. At the upper extremity of the shank is the stock of wood fixed crosswise, and above that is an iron ring to which the chain or rope is attached. The action of the anchor is somewhat as follows: - The lower extremity of the shank is the first to strike ground, and this falls over so that one end of the stock or cross-beam rests also on the ground, thus, with the motion of the vessel, causing one or other of the flukes to enter the ground. The fluke itself is divided into the blade, the palm, and the bill. Large vessels have more than one anchor, the number varying with the size and service of the vessel. The men-of-war of the largest size carry no less than eight anchors, the best and small bowers, the two sheets, the two kedges, the stream, and the stern. Various improvements in the details of construction have been made from time to time by Rodgers, Lennox, Trotman, Porter, and Martin.