Anchor

Massive anchor chain for large ships. The weight of the chain is vital for proper holding of the anchor.^[1]

An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα (ankȳra).^[2]^[3]

Anchors can either be temporary or permanent. Permanent anchors are used in the creation of a mooring, and are rarely moved; a specialist service is normally needed to move or maintain them. Vessels carry one or more temporary anchors, which may be of different designs and weights.

A sea anchor is a drag device, not in contact with the seabed, used to minimise drift of a vessel relative to the water. A drogue is a drag device used to slow or help steer a vessel running before a storm in a following or overtaking sea, or when crossing a bar in a breaking sea.

^ Noel, J V (1989), Knights Modern Seamanship (18th ed.), Wiley, p. 271, ISBN 978-0-471-28948-7, retrieved 15 February 2024
^ anchor, Oxford Dictionaries
^ ἄγκυρα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

[1] Noel, J V (1989), Knights Modern Seamanship (18th ed.), Wiley, p. 271, ISBN 978-0-471-28948-7, retrieved 15 February 2024

[2] r, Oxford Dictionaries

[3] ἄγκυρα, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus

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