Blackbeard's anchor recovered

[genglandoh]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/05/27/blackbeard-anchor.html

[MiddleAgesMan]

I'm wondering about the article's implication that anchors were used to stop the vessel. That's not what we do today but maybe in the days of sail they sometimes had to drop anchor to keep from crashing ashore or into a quay.

[ILikeRust]

I'm wondering about the article's implication that anchors were used to stop the vessel. That's not what we do today...

Speak for yourself. I was out in the Susquehanna River in Havre de Grace, Maryland on Wednesday on a sailboat that an acquaintance of mine had very recently acquired, sight unseen, no survey, via eBay. It had been sitting on the hard for who knows how long and has suffered some neglect. I managed to get the Atomic 4 engine running, after two hours of being on my knees, hunched over the engine in a hot and stinky cabin, dripping sweat. But I couldn't get it running very well, evidently, as it kept crapping out on us as we limped out of the slip and into the river. Every time I tried to nudge it into gear, the engine would sputter and die. So there we were, drifting powerless very near a major channel in which barges full of stone and ore travel up and down the river, and there was no wind, so putting up the sails wouldn't have done much.

I managed to get the engine to run long enough to limp a little closer to shore and point the bow upstream before it died for about the 10th time. Then I ran forward and tossed the anchor over to stop us from drifting further down the river.

We called the marina we had just left a few minutes before and they sent a guy out who towed us back in.

I'm sure I exhibited nothing resembling what anyone might call good seamanship - although my language was quite salty, I can assure you.

[RichKrough]

Click "more photos " on lower left

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110527/ARTICLES/110529703?Title=-Queen-Anne-s-Revenge-anchor-hauled-aboard-more-photos

[varadero]

It was probably the kedging anchor.

[Bill Huson]

It was probably the kedging anchor.

Woof! Kedging anchor? Kedging to me means hurling the anchor in the direction you wish to go and then hauling in the line, and hurling again. That Queen Annes Revenge anchor was rather large. I imagine they could have loaded it on a boat and rowed it out, but the boat would have to be a good size vessel to cart all that tonnage of anchor and chain.

[Tom Lathrop]

Woof! Kedging anchor? Kedging to me means hurling the anchor in the direction you wish to go and then hauling in the line, and hurling again. That Queen Annes Revenge anchor was rather large. I imagine they could have loaded it on a boat and rowed it out, but the boat would have to be a good size vessel to cart all that tonnage of anchor and chain.

The anchor weighs at least 3000#, plus chain. You would also need a crane on the boat hauling out the "kedge" to handle it. No, that is the primary anchor.

[landlocked sailor]

Best Bower. Rick

[Eddiebou]

There's a great book, "Ribbon of Sand",by John Alexander and James Lazell, with a chapter about Blackbeard. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the outer banks. It discusses the topography, currents, wildlife, storms, and the Wright Bros., too.