Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/611

ANCHOR. iiml s?o/j/)r/'.s. The foinier is a heavy, eylindrieal iron castiiif; seeurely bolted to the deck; the chain usually has one turn around it, but when the ship is pulling heavily at licr anchor, owing to a strong current or heavy sea, the chain i.H double-bitted (i.e., has two turns) . The stoppers arc short lengths of heavy wire rope hooked to rings in the deck at one end and lashed with rope to the chain at the other; there are usually several stoppers on the chain, and if there is no controller (an iron contrivance to hold the chain from running) forward of the bitts, a stopper must now be put on the chain there. The chain is then unbitted (i.e., thrown off the bitt) ; the slack is taken in until the strain is on the wind- lass, or capstan, and all stoppers taken olT. The heaving hi then begins; when the chain has been hove in until any further pull is liable to cause the anchor to trip, or the ship to drag, it is said to be hove short or at a short stay (the terms astay and at a long stay are not much used), and its direction, making an angle of about 45 degrees with the surface of the water, is about parallel to the fore stay of a rigged ship. If everything is ready for leaving the anchor- age, the heaving continues until the chain is vertical, or, in nautical terms, up and doirn (the anchor is then said to be apeak), the anchor is broken out and hoisted to a convenient position at the haw.sepipe, when it is said to be up. In old-type ships, a tackle called the cat was next used; a hook on the lower block of the cat-fall was inserted in the ring of the anchor, and the latter was catted by being pulled up to the cathead, which projected slightly from the ship's side; the fish tackle was then hooked to the crown, and the other end of the anchor pulled up until the shank was about horizontal and the inboard arm Vested on an inclined iron plate called the bill-hoard, the latter operation con- stituting fishing. The anchor was now secured by small chains, one in the ring calleil the ring- sloppcr: and the other, around the shank close to the outboard arm, called the shank painter. One end of each of these chains led to a trigger, by striking which the anchor was let go with ease and certainty. Under some circmustances it is desirable to cockbill the anchor before letting it go. This is done by easing away the shank painter until the anchor hangs at the cathead by the ring- stopper: it is then said to be a-cockbill. In most modern ships there is secured on the shank of the anchor, at the balancing point, a link called the balance-link. When the anchor is hove up to the hawsepipe (i.e., the cast- iron pipe in the ship's bow through which the chain passes), the cat is hooked to tlio balance- link, and the anchor is lifted in a horizontal position and put in place on the bill-board. Instead of a cathead, this form of cat requires a heavy cat davit, or derrick, standing eight or ten feet above the deck, and mounted upon a swivel stand. In letting go the anchor, it is necessary to control the speed of the chain as it goes out. For this purpose it is bitted (single bitted, with one turn around the bitt) ; this prevents the velocity of the chain from becoming too great. When a sufficient quantity of chain has run out, the brake is put on the windlass, and the compressor (a curved arm which grips and holds the chain) hauled to. The stoppers are then put on and the chain is secure. A sea-anchor is variously constructed; it usual- ly floats, and is then made up of spars and can- vas, or something that will not sink and will offer resistance to the water ; but it is sometimes made of materials too heavy to float, and is then held up more or less by the pull on the anchor rope. Its object is to keep a boat or ship with her bow up to the seas, and so enable her to ride them better and roll and wallow about less; and it accomplishes this by being in or below the sur- face of the water, so that it tends to drift more slowly than the boat or ship which is exposed to the force of the wind and of the waves. Mooring anchors are of various types and ai;e designed for permanent moorings ; they are used for holding in place large mooring buoys to which ships may secure in lieu of anch- oring, or as anchors for buoys marking a channel or shoal. As has already been stated, a moor- ing anchor may consist merely of a heavy stone, but others are of the mushroom, or screw, form. Mushroom anchors of one type have a saucer-shaped head, from the concave side of which extends the shank, which has a shackle in the end for the chain ; the other type consists merely of the iron saucer, with the shackle on the convex side ; in this second type, the anchor holds largely by suc- tion. Screw anchors, as their name implies, are shaped like

screws with very broad flanges, and are screwed down into the mud by means of a long bar called the key.

AN'CHORAGE, or ANCHORAGE GROUND. That portion of a harbor or roadstead best suited for anchoring vessels ; or, in harbors where there is much commerce or traffic, that portion in which vessels are permitted to anchor. A good anchor- age is one in which the water is of sufficient but not excessive depth; in which the bottom is of such a character as to enable the anchor (q.v. ) to enter in and hold (i.e., the holding-ground is good), and which is protected from the open sea. The practice of indicating upon charts by means of an anchor the best anchorage in any particular locality still obtains, but is falling somewhat into disuse, owing to the more definite information now given by charts and sailing directions. AN'CHOR CHAIN. See.

ANCHOR DAVIT. See.

ANCHOR ICE. See.

AN'CHORITE, or AN'CHORET (Gk. avd-XuprjTij^, anachoretes, a recluse, retired man, from ai'd, ana, back -f- x"P':'''t ehOrein, to give way, retire). Literally, a person who withdraws from society; a hermit. The name was applied to those hermits who began to appear in the Christian Church in the third century, living in solitude, and not, like the monks or cenobites, in communities. During the first two centuries, Christians generally thought it enough to withdraw from the world by refusing to participate in heathen festivals and amusements; but extreme views became gradually prevalent, and were connected with a belief in the merit of celibacy, of abstinence from particular kinds of food, of self-inflicted tortures, etc. The persecutions to which Christians were subjected