ANCHOR

ANCHOR, an Instrument used at Sea, and in Rivers; to retain and fasten a Vessel by. See SHIP. An Anchor is a large strong piece of Iron, crooked at one End, and formed into two Barbs, resembling a Hook; fastened at the other end by a Cable. See CABLE, etc. The Goodness of the Anchor is a Point of great Importance; the Safety and Conservation of the Vessel depending principally thereon.—Great Care is to be taken, that the Metal it is made of, be neither too soft, nor too brittle; the latter rendering it liable to break, and the former to straighten. See IRON. Travellers tell us of People in the Indies who make use of wooden Anchors in their Navigation—The Inhabitants of the Island of Ceylon, in lieu of Anchors, use huge round Stones; and in some Places,in some Places, the Anchors are a kind of Machines of Wood, loaded with Stones. The Word comes from the Latin Ancora, of the Greek ἄγκυρα, which comes from ἀγκύρα, meaning curved or crooked.
The Parts of an Anchor are: 1°, The Ring, into which the Cable is fastened; 2°, The Beam, or Shank, which is the longest Part of the Anchor; 3°, The Arm, which is that which runs down into the Ground; at the End of which is, 4°, The Fluke, or Fluke, by some called the Palm; being that broad and pointed Part with its Barbs like an Arrow-head, which fastens into the Ground; 5°, The Stock, a piece of Wood fastened unto the Beam, near the Ring, serving to guide the Fluke, so that it may fall right, and fix in the Ground. There are three Kinds of Anchors commonly used: the Kedger, the Grapnel, and the Stream-Anchor; which see under their respective Articles.



Aubin, in his Dictionary of Sea-Affairs, printed at Amsterdam in 1702, observes, that the Anchor of a large heavy Vessel is smaller, in proportion, than that of a lesser and lighter one. The Reason he gives, is that though the Sea employs an equal Force against a small Vessel as against a great one, supposing the Extent of Wood upon which the Water acts, to be equal, in both; yet the little Vessel, by reason of its superior Lightness, does not make so much resistance as the greater; the Defect whereof must be supplied by the Weight of the Anchor.

Anchor, in Architecture and Sculpture, an Ornament in the form of an Anchor, or Arrow’s-head; frequently carved on the Echinus, or Quarter-round, in the Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, &c, Capitals. See CARVING, etc.

ANCHOR