Fall Storms & Ships Anchoring

[Captain JW]

Oh, I don't know 'bout that. I counted [15] boats one night anchored in both Sleeping Bear Bay and tucked in close to South Manitou. It was in November, 1953 or '54; can't remember exactly now. Quite a sight I'll never forget though.

[Brent]

Seems that ships anchor more then they used to. Back in the 50's to 70's the only ones that anchored were the Huron Cement boats and the older boats that were built back in the early 1900's. I think a lot of this was due to the inferior grade of steel used in construction and the low horse power. I knew captains that unless water was going over the top of the pilot house you didn't anchor. Ships today are better built, from better steel. They are larger and better equipped

[Guest]

If you go to a marine dictionary online you will find
Shacke :"Equivalent to one length of anchor chain i.e. 15 fathoms" You will also find. Kenter Shackle :"a detachable shacle which is used to join 2 forged anchor chain links together.
The term Shot just is common use but is not related to marine terminology at all.

[Guest]

Shackles is a very common term;in fact joining shackle.Every 15 fathoms of chain the is 1 of these joining shackle that can be dismantled if need be.You mark them with paint.First shacle is painted white and 1 link before and 1 link after.Second shacle painted and 2 links before and 2 after and so on for the 3rd one and fourth etc. On some ship there is a colour code first white second blue,third green and so on.That way you know how many you have down on the windlass on top of that the first shacle will have a turn of bale wire on the first link before and after,the second one 2 turns etc. Shacles come from the old days when you had "D" shackles every 15 fathoms,nowadays it is a different type of joining shacle.

[VTS Mark]

This fall is no different than any other, just about average. Last time river was paked full was in the spring. The beginning of shipping season this year we had a couple of good blows that stopped everyone.

[hayhugh2]

Shot or shackle either way 15 Fathom - different ship different long splice.

[Brent]

A shot of chain is 90 feet. Never heard of a shackle as a unit of measure.

[Guest]

More or less 10 shackles;1 shackle is 15 fathoms or 90 feet

[Guest]

Speaking of anchoring, how long are the anchor chains on one of these ships? I know they all don't carry the exact same lengths on each ship, but about how long are they.
TIA.

[upper boat nerd]

there have been several storms where boats have been at anchor on northern lake michigan the past few years off of manistique and the bay of green bay the 1000 footers are getting on 30 years old

[guest 3]

there are two ships the anderson and block in little bay de noc today
and two weeks ago the gott was at anchor off of sac bay on the garden peninsula

[Guest II]

If you want to go back to the fifties, there would have been times when Whitefish Bay looked like a city at night with literally dozenz at anchor waiting for things to improve. Of course, there were a lot more boats sailing in those days.

[Guest]

For starters, the end of last week. There were boats at anchor around Lake Superior and in the twin ports due to high winds. The Kaye E Barker sat in Marquette for about 3 days. The Gott I believe it was sat by Bayfield and then behind the Keewenaw peninsula. This is not unusual come spring and fall and high winds. It gales of November just a little bit early this year.

[Denny]

With all of the latest weather that Mother Nature seems to be dishing out at us this week with the wind and the heavy rains, does anyone know or remember the last time that this type of weather had such an impact on shipping? Also, when and how long ago was the last time that ships anchored for more than one day or two due to the weather? The most recent event that comes to mind would be the night that the Fitz was lost as there were at least 7 ships or more anchored in Whitefish Bay. If you have any recollections or information I would appreciated it.