Old Anchor at Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, Oregon. 97103
Posted by: 
greysman
N 46° 11.383 W 123° 49.442
10T E 436411 N 5115457
This Old Anchor is just outside the Columbia River Maritime Museum main entrance.
Waymark Code: WMJR5P
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 12/22/2013
Views: 15
This old anchor is of the type refered to as 'A.P.', Admiralty Pattern, or simply 'Admiralty'. Up until c.1813 anchors had straight arms and would break at the crown, the join between arms and shank, when weighing from good holding-ground. This was mainly due to imperfect manufacture and poor iron. Then a clerk in Plymouth Yard named Pering introduced curved arms for anchors which reduced the risk of breakage and then in 1852 the British admiralty pattern anchor was supplied to H.M. ships.
Admiralty Pattern anchors consist of a shank attached to two arms. At each end of the arms is a fluke made up of a palm with a pee or point at the end. At the top of the shank are two holes at 90 degrees to the arms, the top one carries a ring or shackle to which is attached the rode. The lower hole carries the stock fixed at its centre point. When deployed the arms usually lie on the seabed with the stock tipping the shank up at an angle. When strain is applied to the rode the stock digs in and the anchor rotates allowing one or other of the flukes to dig into the bottom.
This basic design was modified in several ways. One, the Rodger's, had the arms cast in a piece separate from the shank and bolted to the fork-ended shank. The pees were blunt and more spade-like and this anchor was well favoured amongst sailors of the time. Another, the Trotman, had a pivot where the arms join the shank allowing the unused arm to lie flat against the shank eliminating the possibility of the rode fouling the unused arm.
The biggest problem was these anchors were only able to secure relatively small vessels and as steam power took hold and tonnages increased larger and better designs of anchor were brought into use. One such large anchor, weighing about 20tons, can be seen at the other side of the plaza.
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