Martin's Self Canting Anchor (1862-1890).
In front of the Trinity House Museum, Penzance Harbour.
Martin's Self Canting Anchor (1862-1890).
In front of the Trinity House Museum, Penzance Harbour.
In 1821, anchor design changed from the standard system,
which incidentally, is always drawn wrongly, as the stock is always at right angles to the flukes (base points);
R F Hawkins devised a system whereby the flukes would drop into the sea-bed, on a pivot,
rather than relying on the stock to force the flukes into the sea-bed.
Unfortunately, in use it often fell on its side and a short stock was found to be necessary.
The whole principal was that long stocks were no longer necessary, and the anchor could simply be drawn through the hawse holes,
instead of having to be stowed and rigged.
A later improvement came with Francois Martin's Self Canting Anchor, designed in 1862.
The design was the next step from Admiralty patterns and had a short stock;
the anchors were stored on anchor beds on deck.
By 1906, after revisions in the design,
the stock became relegated to the past and now anchors are fully hauled into the hawse pipes.
Raymond Forward
