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- For the anchors used in web pages, see HTML element. For their usage on Wikipedia, see Help:Anchors.
- See full article: History of the Anchor.
An anchor is an object, often made out of metal, that is used to attach a ship to the bottom of a body of water at a specific point. There are two primary classes of anchors—temporary and permanent. A permanent anchor is often called a mooring, and is rarely moved; it is quite possible the vessel cannot hoist it aboard but must hire a service to move or maintain it. Vessels carry one or more temporary anchors which may be of different designs and weights. A sea anchor is a related device used when the water depth makes using a mooring or temporary anchor impractical.
The vessel is attached to the anchor by the rode which is made with chain, cable or line or a combination of these. The hole in the hull through which the anchor rode passes is called "hawsepipe" because thick mooring lines are called "hawsers".
An anchor works by resisting the movement force of the vessel which is attached to it. There are two primary ways to do this—via sheer mass, and by "hooking" into the seabed. While permanent moorings can use large masses resting on this seabed this is not practical for temporary anchors which need to be stowed onboard so almost all temporary anchors are of the type which have metal flukes which hook on to rocks in the bottom or bury themselves in soft bottoms.
An interesting element of anchor jargon is the term aweigh, which describes the anchor when it is hanging on the rope, not resting on the bottom; this is linked to the term to weigh anchor, meaning to lift the anchor from the sea bed, allowing the ship or boat to move. An anchor is described as aweigh when it has been broken out of the bottom and is being hauled up to be stowed. Aweigh should not be confused with under way, which describes a vessel which is not moored to a dock or anchored, whether or not it is moving through the water. Thus, a vessel can be under way (or underway) with no way on (i.e., not moving).
Development
The earliest anchors were probably rocks and many rock anchors have been found dating from at least the Bronze AgeFact: date=November 2007. Many modern moorings still rely on a large rock as the primary element of their design. However, using pure mass to resist the forces of a storm only works well as a permanent mooring; trying to move a large enough rock to another bay is nearly impossible.
Designs of temporary anchors
A modern temporary anchor usually consists of a central bar called the shank, and an armature with some form of flat surface (fluke or palm) to grip the bottom and a point to assist penetration of the bottom; the position at which the armature is attached to the shank is called the crown, and the shank is usually fitted with a ring or shackle to attach it to the cable. There are many variations and additions to these basic elements—for example, the whole class of anchors which include a stock such as the fisherman and fluke anchors.
