Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-11-15

The Earliest Anchors Made on the Hook
Principle Had Only One Fluke-crude
Devices That Are Still Used In Different
Parts of the World.
There appear to be two ideas which
have led up TO the invention of tho
modern anchor: % the idea of attach
ing the vessel by means of a rope or
chain TO a weight sufficiently heavy to
keep the vessel from moving when the
weight has sunk 70 the bottom of the
sea, and 90 the idea of using q hook
instead Of Cor in addition TOY 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
huc!- 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 4 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
fiulles bearing Greek inscription. Its
date is about 30 B. G. and it was found
off the coast of Cyrene.
The invention of the anchor with two
fiukes 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 Z hole through the middle
for the attachment of the cable We're
used.
The form OF the anchors used by the
Greeks and Romans is well known from
representations on Trajan's column and
i'll the catacombs at Rome as an early
Christian symbol. This form does not
seem TO have changed materially for
quite a 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 the world, and a study of their
construction may throw some light on
the evolution of the modern anchor.
An anchor which came from Japan
consists of a natural forked branch of
tree, slightly improved artificially, so
as to make IL 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
3 inches, the width across the hook s
inches, and across the transverse bars l
foot inches. The stones are from to
q inches in diameter and inches thick.
Another anchor was i'll use quite re-
Gently i'll the Arran islands, off the west
coast of Galway. 1t is constructed of II
sloping bar mt each side and three cross
bars, forming Il figure not unlike the
isosceles triangle i'll Euclid's pons ash
norum. The lowest of the three cross
bars Is of square section and is fixed by
iron spikes ut each side to the sloping
pieces so as to prevent them spreading
outward. The stone, which acts as
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 Il hole at the top
of the anchor. The boards at each side
are l foot 1919 inches long and the
stone foot . inches long
1t may seem strange that such primi-
tive looking contrivances should con-
tinue 10 be used by fishermen who have
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 q serious matter
when the anchor Is Of iron and of some
value, but if il is constructed like those
described there Is not much difficulty
or expense i'll replacing it. y beach ,
stone and few bits of wood are always !
at hand, and the skilled workmanship |
required to fashion them into 4 very |
serviceable anchor is but small.
Thus it is that under certain condi- !
tons primitive appliances must always
hold their own against modern inven- |
tions. When, as often happens, newly |
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 :
easily procurable ON the spot.
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 Of his usual appliances. /
.Reliquary and Illustrated Arch9oIo-
gist.
Trials of Translation.