Heart-Anchor-Love

An anchor or boat anchor is a device used to moor a watercraft to the bottom so that it does not drift away due to wind, current, waves or other influences. The process is called anchoring. Anchors hold because of their weight and shape. As a symbol, the anchor stands for faithfulness, in Christian symbolism for hope and is often used in coats of arms. In some ports, where neither dolphins nor mooring lines or buoys are laid out, the anchor is needed for mooring.

Especially in the Mediterranean, the maneuver colloquially known as Roman Catholic mooring is common: The skipper drops the bow anchor a few boat lengths from the quay and then slowly backs up to the jetty, where the boat is additionally covered with stern lines. The anchor chain or hawser must be set (extended) long enough so that the anchor still lies flat on the bottom even when pulled over the anchor chain, otherwise it will be pulled out of the bottom and will not hold. If this is not the case, the ship will be short-stayed.

This should only be the case immediately prior to lifting (breaking out of the bottom) and heaving (pulling up), as the anchor's holding force is then only slight. The length of the anchor chain of seagoing vessels is usually between 10 and 12 Italian shackles. This corresponds to between 275 m and 330 m. Newer cruise ships are equipped with up to 14 shackles of chain per anchor, which corresponds to a length of 384 m. Anchoring is only possible if the anchor chain is sufficiently long in relation to the water depth.

The angle between the stretched anchor chain and the bottom of the anchor is crucial: the shallower the better. Therefore, the entire chain must be at least five times as long as the water depth. If a line is used instead of a chain, the line length must be at least ten times the water depth. One way to reduce the chain or line length (while maintaining a shallow angle on the anchor) is to use a riding weight that is slidably attached to the anchor line (for example, with a shackle). Anchoring in tidal waters poses an additional challenge, because sufficient chain must be attached to ensure that at high tide there is still at least five times the water depth in chain, or that the swell circle is not too large when the water is falling.

On seagoing vessels, it occasionally happens that anchoring is carried out at too great a water depth and the anchor cannot later be hoisted again because the force of the anchor capstan is insufficient for the combined weight of anchor and chain. The classification societies prescribe a pulling force that ensures that the anchor and chain can be hauled in at 50 meters. One should therefore avoid anchoring at greater depths.