Nelson & His World

I was just musing this morning about anchors.

Here's an interesting link showing a variety of designs:

http://tinyurl.com/6z656jr

Were there well-known companies/foundries that made anchors for the Admiralty?

Anchors were made in the dockyards, and the smiths were the elite of the workforce - perhaps as much because of their strength as their skill. They received a special daily allowance of twelve pints of table beer and three of strong beer!

Interesting!

Was there a standard Admiralty pattern for each type of anchor? Was there anything to indicate who had made it, such as the maker's mark on silver and gold? Indeed, is an anchor made by one individual or does it require teamwork?

Definitely teamwork - we are talking 4 or 5 tons of metal for a best bower anchor for a ship of the line. And maintaining the rythm in the team beating the metal was vital - otherwise someone would end up with a hammer on their head! Later, of course, steam hammers came into play. Does anyone have a date for that?

Mr Tycho (mechanical engineer) says steam hammers were in use in shipyards by the 1830s.

He also adds that because of the noise, the man in charge of the steam hammer would use only eyes and hand signals, no words, to communicate with his team who were manipulating the workpiece on the anvil.

He also informs me that this method was used in the Royal Arsenal in Kongsberg, Norway (where he worked many years ago) for making crankshafts for marine diesel engines. Apparently, the beech chopping board still in use in my kitchen is a piece of a drop hammer from Kongsberg. (First I knew!)

Anna, you inadvertently hit the nail on the head – or should I say the hammer on the anchor? – since the main anchors that warships used for about 200 years (roughly from 1650 - 1850) were known as the Admiralty Pattern type.

They were quite distinct from other anchors, such as those used by the merchant service, as the two straight 'arms' came to an angled point at the 'crown,' most likely for improved strength, since the arms of other types frequently broke, and the Admiralty anchors were considered superior. Other anchors were more rounded in shape. As you can see, like other ship fittings, the parts of an anchor all had a name and, moreover, their lengths were made to strict measurements. (Hence as Tony said, the work of the anchorsmith was very exacting.) Thus, for example, the 'stock' (the wooden crosspiece at right angles to the anchor itself) was the same length as the 'shank' (or the main length), and that the 'shank' was two fifths of the vessel's extreme breadth (and that's only for starters!)

Besides the Admiralty Pattern however, a ship also carried other types. The Victory, for example, had seven different anchors on board. The four main anchors at her bow were all Admiralty Pattern and consisted of the two 'bower' anchors, which were connected to the anchor cables, and two 'sheet' anchors (the ones lashed to the fore channels.) The latter were in case the bower anchors became lost and were often the last resort. All four anchors were roughly the same weight of approximately four tons. The other anchors were a stream anchor, for mooring the ship in light tidal currents or shallow water, which was just over a ton, and two kedge anchors, for moving the ship using the boats. These weighed just under half a ton. I believe the last three anchors all had folding stocks for stowage, whereas the four Admiralty Pattern anchors had fixed stocks.

Innovations in anchor design seemed to happen rather more with the merchant service, where they were prompted by such considerations as crew shortages. The RN of course were rather more plentifully supplied in that department!