This was a major development in anchor
technology. In fact, when a Captain Hawke
requested one for his command in 1804, he
was met with scorn. By 1807, however, the
new anchor was accepted. It was cast iron
with curved arms (as in Figure 22-1) and later
had an iron rather than a wooden stock.
Though extremely heavy by modern stan-
dards, it worked reliably and was standard
issue from the British Admiralty throughout
the first half of the nineteenth century.
These anchors are hard to stow, but the
Admiralty-pattern anchor’s biggest drawback
is that when set with one fluke and arm fully
buried, the opposite fluke stuck straight up.
As a boat swung around the anchor, the rode
could wrap around the upper arm and catch
under the upper palm. This could then yank
the anchor out—not good!
TROTMAN’SANCHOR To correct the fouling
problem, John Trotman in the mid-1800s in-
vented an anchor in which the arms and
attached flukes pivoted at the crown, as you
can see in Figure 22-3.
The Trotman anchor did work and did
solve the Admiralty-pattern anchor’s prob-
lem, but it had a nasty tendency to mash
fingers, hands, and arms in the pivot mecha-
nism during retrieval and storage.
YACHTSMAN OR FISHERMAN ANCHORS:
HERRESHOFF-, NICHOLSON-,ANDLUKE-PATTERN
ANCHORS Captains Nat Herreshoff and Charles
Nicholson each worked out improved versionsChapter 22:Anchoring Systems, Anchor Types, and Anchor Selection
Figure 22-1. Parts
of a standard
anchorFigure 22-2.
Fisherman
anchor