Boatnerd Discussion Forum

Lakercapt wrote:Many many years ago I was on a small coaster running across the North Sea, before all the oil rigs were there.
On one passage in very bad weather we were going much slower than I though even accounting to the weather. Spoke to the C/E and he was concerned about the high exhaust temperatures and assured me the engine was running at full speed. Hove too and had the mate check up for'd and he came back and told me the port anchor was not in its pocket and the cable had run out. Stopped and went to see for myself.
The power was put on the windlass and we heaved the cable in. It was polished like a nickle as was the anchor. All that dragging along a sandy bottom had done a wonderful job. We were fortunate it had not caught on anything as there is all sorts littering the bottom in the North Sea and cables as well.

guest wrote:I have a question regarding the lines. My mind leads me to believe that after so many years on the bottom that the currents would make it settle in the bed of the straits or they would have a build up of sand, silt, sediment that would be covering them. If so wouldn't that mound covering them help protect them? At least a little? Thanks for any info.

while the anchor does not actually do the holding, its the weight of the anchor and chain together that does it,

guest wrote:Being a sailor myself for several years on the lakes, this theory of a ship dragging anchor much less anchoring in an area that every ship master on the great lakes knows is a restricted area just sounds fishy. The type of anchors used on lakers including the Clyde/Barge are of the navy standard stockless anchor. The flukes dig into the bottom and catch helping to hold the ship in place, while the anchor does not actually do the holding, its the weight of the anchor and chain together that does it, but if a ship was dragging a stockless anchor through the area there will be deep gouges and a trail. Plus, the flukes being buried in the sediment/sand/bottom would not cause light dents and scratching of the pipeline and transmission cables, they would hook the cables and pipeline like a grappling hook and tear them right off the bottom, the cables especially. Not just scrape it up and dent it, it would cause major damage, not just breach the shielding and casing of the transmission cables releasing a small amount of oil. As I stated they would almost certainly be torn from the bottom and the cables broken and severed. As there are ALWAYS exceptions to common sense and sometimes in very rare situations things can behave differently. But I personally believe with my experience in sailing for a long time that with captains knowing you don't anchor in the straights unless an extreme emergency, knowing how anchors work especially when being dragged, and hearing what the damage is, I think they are looking for some one to blame and they actually have no clue what caused the damage. The Clyde I think was just in the wrong place at the right time. in my experienced opinion there is no way an anchor was down in that area without the ship knowing it was down, or that an anchor dragging on the bottom could cause such minimal damage without tearing the pipeline and cables apart and not causing severe damage to both..

Cleveland guest wrote:The tug “Clyde S. Vanenkevort” doesn’t have an anchor, except for one bolted to th after deck!

Bookworm wrote:Someone with knowledge, please enlighten me. Why would a vessel drag their anchor as they pass through miles of ice-choked water? I'm not making sense of the scenario as reported.