Kedge anchor

“ For they neither heard nor saw a musquet fired, unless at birds.
Just as we were going to weigh the anchor, to proceed farther up the bay, it began to blow and to rain as hard as before; so that we were obliged to veer away the cable again, and lay fast. Toward the evening, finding that the gale did not moderate, and that it might be some time before an opportunity offered to get higher up, I came to a resolution to heel the ship where we were; and, with this view, moored her with a kedge-anchor and hawser. ”

“ To give good service a kedge must be a properly designed kedge, not simply a small anchor. The proper kedge is what is known as spider-built—long arms, long shank, long stock and narrow, sharp flukes. It is difficult to get these ready-made, but the shipsmith will make you one. The best substitute for a genuine kedge is the seine anchor. ”

“ As far as memory serves me, I think we were justified in regarding it as more instructive than the American work assigned to us by the course, The Kedge Anchor, by a master in our navy named Brady. A kedge, the unprofessional must know, is a light anchor, dropped for a momentary stop, or to haul a ship ahead, the title being in so far very consonant to the object of instruction; whereas the sheet-anchor is the great and last stand-by of a vessel, let go as a final resource after thePage 79 two big "bowers," which constitute the usual reliance. ”

“ Pay that warp out while I run out the kedge.”
Like lightning he had cast off the dinghy’s painter, tumbled the kedge-anchor and himself into the dinghy, pulled out fifty yards into the deeper water, and heaved out the anchor.
“Now haul,” he shouted.
I hauled, beginning to see what kedging-off meant.
“Steady on! Don’t sweat yourself,” said Davies, jumping aboard again.
“It’s coming,” I spluttered, triumphantly.
“The warp is, the yacht isn’t; you’re dragging the anchor home. Never mind, she’ll lie well here. Let’s have lunch.” ”

“ Now, the chief object of interest in the gear of the Will Arding was a new kedge anchor. To men accustomed to anchor near the shore and in very narrow swatchways nothing is more important than their ground tackle. They spend more anxious thought on that than on anything else. My new anchor was lying on the quay, and I could hear the comments of every passer by. ”

“ The rareness with which the sheet anchor touched ground (the bottom) gave rise to the proverb, "To go ashore with the sheet anchor," as the ultimate expression of attention to duty; and the story ran of a British captain, a devoted ship-keeper, who, to a lieutenant remonstrating on the little privilege of leave enjoyed by the junior officers, replied: "Sir, when I and the sheet anchor go ashore, you may go with us." By the prescription of our seniors we had to tie to The Kedge Anchor, let us hope in the cause of progress, to haul us ahead ”

“ Before the men aloft had left the yards, a sudden flaw of wind drove the ship’s head off the bank, when her anchor was let go, and she swung head to wind. Her heel, however, was still on the shoal, and the rudder immovable. To get her off, the launch was hoisted out, and the kedge anchor with a hawser, was put into her. While we were engaged in hauling the frigate off the shoal, a boat appeared coming down the harbour, and being hailed some one in her answered ‘Ay, ay.’ She quickly came alongside, and the crew, among whom were two persons apparently officers, hurried on deck ”

“ I found a light kedge anchor in the fore hold, where such things were kept, and with a deal of exertion got it on deck and into the boat. With a long running-line coiled down in the stern, I rowed well out into our little cove and dropped the anchor into the water. There was no wind, the tide was high, and the schooner floated. Casting off the shore lines, I kedged her out by main strength, (the windlass being broken) , till she rode nearly up and down to the small anchor -- too small to hold her in any breeze. So I lowered the big starboard anchor, giving plenty of slack ”

“ If you have the misfortune to get stuck fast in the mud or on a sand bank, you must act quickly. If you ground while running before the wind, lower your sails at once. If you have a dinghy, run out your kedge anchor, with a line fast to it, astern into deep water and try to haul off. Work the helm to and fro. Run from side to side so as to loosen the boat from her 36muddy bed. If the tide is rising and your kedge does not drag, you will be sure to get off. ”

“ It is useful when coming-to at a dock or when finding a berth in a basin or slip; light enough to be thrown over anywhere you can anchor by the stern or head with equal facility. Having it allows you in racing on tender trimming craft to keep the stand-by anchor below out of the way and where it will interfere least with the trim of the boat. Heavy weights hung on a boat's nose do not improve either its speed or its bad weather qualities. To a cruising man a kedge is invaluable ”

“ Frequently compasses are thrown into error by the keeping of anchors and awning stanchions under the cockpit floor.
The fourth anchor—the kedge—is a most useful piece of furniture. Being light and easy to handle it can be kept on the bows when racing or cruising. If it falls [145] calm it is there to let go and hold you; if you go ashore it can be at once run out with a line to haul off, and if you miss a mooring it will enable you to hang on until a line can be carried to the buoy. ”

“ At sunset I bade farewell to dear little Ellen, who was indeed as pale as death, and in an hour afterward was on board the ship, where I found every thing in readiness for a hasty departure, the top-sails, jib and spanker were loosed, the anchor at the bows, and its place supplied by a small kedge, attached to the ship by a hawser, easily cut in case of need; the awnings were struck, and the decks covered with rigging and sails. ”

“ When the tide ebbed it carried the wreck inch by inch towards the anchor, for with the aid of the windlass Dennis was able to keep the cable constantly taut, while at the same time he paid out the rope connecting the vessel with the shore. A couple of tides brought him in this way up to the anchor; then, transferring the shore cable to a stout tree some distance up the gully, he slacked off the kedge line when the tide was running up, and allowed the wreck to be carried shorewards. ”

“ A result which will accord with sound practice may be obtained by calculating the resistance of a given ship at a speed or twelve knots, and taking this tor the working load of the anchor. The working load should be half the testing strain, and consequently 1/6th of the breaking strength.
A large ironclad carries 8 anchors,—2 bower, 2 sheet, 1 stream, 1 stern, end 2 kedge. The bower anchors (fig. 7) are stowed at the bow, and are for ordinary use in a roadstead; if there is any difference in weight, the heavier is stowed on the starboard side, and is termed the best bower. ”

“ Breakers to leeward!” and the seamen behold the long, black line of ragged rocks and the white surf that breaks upon them, where the strongest ship becomes in a few moments like the chips and bark that fell from her timbers in framing.
There is now but one resource. Canvas can do no more. The navigator’s expedients are exhausted. There is but one hope left to cling to. The anchor may bring her up. With the skill and energy of men working for their own lives and the lives of those dependent upon their exertions, the ship is brought to and the anchors are let go. ”

“ Those four lighters are going overboard, and we’ll moor them in a chain between here and the shore. We can splice the cables so as to allow a hundred fathoms between each one. That will make each lighter a sort of a bridle anchor for the others, and we ought to get the inshore lighter mighty nigh the wreck. You can stay on that lighter and have your meals brought if you hanker to.”
He snapped out that last remark while he was backing down the ladder from the bridge to the main deck. The sneer that went with it did not improve the state of Keedy’s feelings. ”

“ Having the anchors down seemed, somehow, to make things more shipshape. It appeared that no one of the adventurers was acquainted with an anchor song, and Cleggett, and, indeed, all on board, felt that these anchors should be hoisted to the accompaniment of some rousing chantey. ”

“ Sometimes the bottom is of smooth rock, or of some other hard formation, which the flukes of the anchor cannot penetrate, and then the ship drifts on toward the land, dragging the anchor with her."
"And what do they do in that case?" asked Rollo.
"Very often there is nothing that they can do," said the captain, "except to let out more cable, cautiously, so as to give the anchor a better chance to catch in some cleft or crevice in the bottom. Sometimes it does catch in this manner, and then the ship is stopped, and, for a time, the people on board think they are safe." ”

“ The anchor may have caught at a place where the cable passes over the edge of a sharp rock, which soon cuts [Pg 202] it off, in consequence of the motion. Then the ship must go on shore.
"At other times," continued the captain, "the ground for the anchor is too soft, instead of being too hard; and the flukes, therefore, do not take a firm hold of it. Then the anchor will drag. Every sea that strikes the ship drives her a little in toward the shore, and she is, of course, in great danger." ”

“ At half past one o'clock we hauled up towards the south end of Good's Island, intending to anchor there for the night, that we might have the whole of the next day to leave the Strait. About half a mile from the shore the anchor was let go in seven fathoms gravelly bottom, but in checking the cable the arm of the anchor broke. The strain in bringing up was not so violent as to have caused the accident, had the anchor been properly made; but to its ill shape, and being badly wrought, our misfortune is to be attributed. It was made at Port Jackson. ”

“ When, indeed, your boat is at one end of the cable, you will scarcely fear that the anchor should be stolen from the other end. But when necessity or convenience causes you to slip anchor and sail away, you must recollect that though the anchor is the emblem of hope, it does not warrant any expectation that on returning you will find the anchor acknowledged to be yours. ”

“ When the Cable is Perpendicular between the Hawse and the Anchor, it is then said to be a Peek; when hangs right up and down by the Ship's Side, it is said to be a Cock Bill, upon the Ship's coming to an Anchor; when a Ship drives by the Violence of Wind or Tide, and the Anchor cannot hold her, then it's said to come Home. Those which have lost one of their Flooks, are made use of for Moarings. ”

“ The sea was little encumbered with ice, it being now late in June, so that our progress was not at all impeded by the few soft, brashy floes that we encountered, none of them hard enough to do a ship's hull any damage. In most places the sea was sufficiently shallow to permit of our anchoring. For this purpose we used a large kedge, with stout hawser for cable, never furling all the sails in case of a strong breeze suddenly springing up, which would cause us to drag. ”

“ We counted on a strong flood tide to carry us up the inlet, but push with poles all we could we couldn’t get her anywhere, and finally dropped big anchor in only 6 ft. water [Pg 41C] and just inside of breakers. Not a quiet or particularly safe anchorage, but mighty sight better than pounding in the surf. Sounded pumps and they sucked. What a noble piece of boat building it is. It was 11 o’clock, pitch dark and raining, with wind still soaking drearily from southward. We were soaking, too, but not dreary, you bet. Went to work and made a new anchor stock for little anchor. ”

“ As they slowly entered the harbor, the sound of hammers, axes, and calking mallets was heard from the northern cove. With eager curiosity the boys strove to make out the form of Peterson among some negroes driving oakum into the gar-board seams of a droger that lay aground upon the beach.
"There is no man there large enough for him," said Walter.
The schooner dropped her anchor in the cove, and the ship's company had the rest of the day—it being two hours before night—at their own disposal, as nothing could be done towards discharging till the negroes moved some sugar that occupied the wharf. ”

“ Many a good ship has been lost, not because her anchors were insufficient and her ground tackle poor, not because they were not thrown clear and the ship properly secured to them, but because the holding ground was bad,—a smooth ledge, a soft mud, or loose sand,—insomuch that the anchors either slip over or cut through, and the seaman must perish without any fault of his own. In other places is found a soft mud or gravel upon the surface and beneath a strong clay, into which the anchor beds itself so sure and steadfast that no wind or sea will bring it home—the best of holding ground. ”

“ If the vessel rides at anchor with a short cable, her motion, as she rises and falls with the sea, raises up the shaft of the anchor, which has a tendency to detach the flukes, or points from the bottom. But Paul had been careful the night before to give the Fawn all the cable he could spare; and it was evident, therefore, that the anchor was not heavy enough, or that there was no holding-ground at the bottom.
"There is only one thing we can do, John," said Paul, desperately, after he had fully examined the situation of the boat. ”