The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1898-07-01
PRIMITIVE ANCHORS.
STONES AND WOODEN TUBES FILLED
WITH LEAD FIRST USED.

Devices That Are Still Used In Different
Parts of the World.
There appear 20 be two ideas which
have led up TO the invention of the
modern anchor: % the idea of attach
ing the vessel by means of a rope or
chain to weight sufficiently heavy TO
keep the vessel from moving when the
weight has sunk TO the bottom of the
sea, and (2) the idea of using a hook
instead of Tor in addition to) the weight,
so as to catch in the bottom. The Eng
lish word anchor is practically the same
as the Latin ancOra and the Greek ang-
kura, meaning THAT which has an an
gle, from the root ank, bent.
The earliest anchors made on the
hook principle probably only had one
fuke instead of two. In the Sussex
Archail. Coll. there is an illustration
Of what has been surmised TO be an
anchor made out of the natural forked
branch of tree. 1t was found with an
ancient British canoe at Burpham, Sus-
sex. There is in the British museum an
interesting leaden anchor with two
fiukes bearing Greek inscription. Its
date is about 90 B. Q. and it was found
off the coast of Cyrene.
The invention Of the anchor with two
fukes is attributed by Pausanius to
Midas, by Pliny to Eupalamas, and by
StrabO to Anacharsis. DiOdOrus Siculus
states that the first anchors We're wood
EN- tubes filled with lead, while another
classical writer says that before the in
PRODUCTION Of metal anchors Jumps of
stone with a hole through the middle
for the attachment Of the cable were
used
The form Of the anchors used by the
Greeks and Romans is we'll known from
representations on Trajan's column and
III the catacombs at Rome as an early
Christian symbol. This form does not
seem to have changed materially for
quite thousand years. as is shown by
the BayeuX tapestry.
Some very primitive kinds of anchors
are in use at the present day in different
parts Of tie world, and study of their
construction may throw some light on
the evolution of the modern anchor.
An anchor which came from Japan
consists of natural fOrked branch of a
tree, slightly Improved artifcialIy, so
as to make hook. Two round bars are
fixed at right angles to the shank, and
TO these two ordinary beach pebbles are
tied. The length Of the anchor is ? feet
inches, the width across the hook s
inches, and across the transverse bars l
foot inches. The stones are from tO
6 inches III diameter and inches thick.
Another anchor was in use quite re-
Gently i'll the Arran islands, off the west
coast of Galway. 1t is constructed Of
slOping bar at each side and three cross
bars, forming a figure not unlike the
isOscelos triangle in Euclid's pOns ash
norum. The lowest of the three cross
bars is of square section and Is fixed by
iron spikes at each side to the slOping
pieces so as to prevent them spreading
outward. The stone, which acts as a
weight, is clipped by means Of the two
side pieces, being held tightly by two
spliced rings of rope passing under the
upper crossbars.
These crOsSbars are of round section
and project at each side, thus keeping
the rope rings from slipping upward
The cable is fixed to the middle Of the
lowest transverse bar and is carried up
on one side Of the stone, then between
the two sloping boards, and finally
through a loop fixed to a hole at the top
of the anchor. The boards at each side
are l foot 104 inches long and the
stone 1 foot inches long.
l.
tive looking cOntrivances should con-
tinue to be used by fishermen who have
a full knowledge Of every modern APP
pliance connected with navigation and
vessels, yet there are good reasons why
they should have survived. Where the
sea or river bed is rocky anchors are
easily lost. This is a serious matter
when the anchor is of iron and of some
value, but if it is constructed like those
described there is not much difficulty
or expense in replacing it. a beach
stone and a few bits of wood are always
at hand, and the skilled workmanship
required to fashion them into a very
serviceable anchor is but small.
Thus it is that under certain condi-
tlOuS pA1Ln4tINS app4ldHCSo muSG always
hold their own against modern inven-
tions. When, as often happens, newly
introduced contrivance gets out of or
der, it generally involves much greater
loss of time and more expense to re-
place it than if it were Of simpler con-
struction and capable of being made by
an ordinary workman out of materials
lu hlo ON tho cY1Ot
Highly civilized man has much to
learn from his prehistoric ancestors and
from uncultured races still existing as
to how he should act in an emergency
when deprived or MS QSuai -appnancs.s