Windlass and anchor cable

[Louie da fly]

I'm rather uncertain about the arrangement for the anchor cables on my dromon. 

 

I'm working on putting the anchors in place. Here's a test placement (disregard the way I've tied the rope that fishes the anchor - it's just to keep it in place for the time being).

 

 

I'm not sure what I need to do with the anchors and windlass - are the anchor cables supposed to be attached to the windlass when the ship is sailing, or is that only for when she's raising the anchors? And if the cable isn't attached to the windlass when under way, what should it be attached to? Should it be tied to (say) the peribolos (pseudo-cathead) and then coiled on the deck? Or what?

 

I suspect this isn't the way anchors were dealt with in later ships and that may introduce uncertainty, but any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[Jim Lad]

In later times, it was common for ships to have their cables around the windlass when in coastal waters as it meant the anchor was ready for (more or less) instant use.  The logic of that would hold for ancient times, but was not necessarily the case, of course.

 

john

[Louie da fly]

But (and I'm really showing my ignorance here) it would only be one anchor, right? You only raise one anchor at a time?

 

So perhaps one anchor cable is wound round the windlass from the anchor, and down a hole in the deck (in the photo below it would be aft of the windlass) to the cable locker below the deck. And the other anchor cable goes directly to the cable locker through the same hole?

 

 

So to put the anchor cable on the windlass, the cable would first have to be untied from the anchor, wound around the windlass and then re-tied to the anchor? (having trouble getting my head around all this).

[Roger Pellett]

Unlike a deepwatet sailing vessel that could stow anchor cableuntil the ship reached soundings, I suspect that these galleys anchored often.  The anchor and cable would be available throughout the voyage- the cable wrapped around the windlass.

 

Roger

[Louie da fly]

Well it's pretty much accepted that they put in to land every evening if possible - if only to replenish their water supplies (which they used up rather fast - rowing will do that to you).

 

But I have an anchor on each side of the bow - I doubt that both cables would be attached to the windlass. Perhaps if I do it with one cable and have the other one coiled up ready to attach when needed? (In fact I'd probably have it run under the forecastle and pretend there was a coiled up cable there). 

 

Which would mean I wouldn't need a hole in the deck leading belowdecks?

 

Maybe I never needed the windlass at all, but I'm committed now . . .

[BANYAN]

Hi Steven, better minds might have more to contribute, or refute this as I am basing it on my limited understanding of 'coasting' practices of the time.

 

As you say they usually anchored, or beached, each night.  It is my understanding, but perhaps overly influenced by movies, that it was more common for them to beach whereby the bow was put up on a suitable beach.  To stop the vessel broaching, and to allow them to get off the beach, the stern would be 'anchored'  by dropping a 'kedge' anchor as they approached the beach.  This allowed the cable to be taken to the windlass to haul the bow off the beach if required.  These were not that big an anchor and, once pulled off the beach with the cable 'up-and-down' could if required even be lifted by hand.  If the sea was quartering, or the sea direction might change overnight, it was sometimes good 'insurance' to drop a second anchor such that the stern was 'moored'. 

 

In these days I would have thought the cables would simply be bent to a bollard/timber and only taken to the windlass as required.  If they were using them frequently, it might not have been practical to stow the cables below and may even have been coiled down on the upper deck (aft) out of the way.  Then again, they probably had sufficient manpower to stow and raise these cables from below.

 

Just pure observation based on my practical experience with smaller vessels,  and not based on any evidence. of ground tackle or anchoring evolutions of the time.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, Pat. My understanding is that they were beached stern-first, rather than bow, but the principle is the same - in fact it would make it easier to use the windlass to haul the vessel off the beach. But they were so light the stern could apparently be hauled well up onto the beach, which would help protect against changes in the sea direction. And of course the Mediterranean is all but tideless. There were apparently a lot of islands across the Mediterranean with adequate supplies of water and a good beach, and they would have been part of any good skipper's local knowledge. If they were too far away from the next one they could spend the night at sea, but preferred not to. Apart from anything else, it only took a very few days for the on-board water supply to run out.

 

If they were beached stern-first and the anchor was over the bow, the cable would have been stored in the bow rather than the stern. Which is how I've been thinking of all this. However, it seems that there would have been at least one anchor somewhere in the stern - when anchors are so light you can't have too many. The Serce Limani glass wreck had nine of them - six of which were stored one on top of each other in two piles somewhere near the bow. Apparently the ship was caught by a storm near the coast, they dropped the stern anchor to give them a chance to get the rest of the anchors and make sure of her - but the anchor itself snapped before they could, and she was driven ashore. I haven't made that many anchors - only 5 - two catted and fished (one each side) and the rest stored in the bow (even though I should probably put at least one at the stern). 

 

Anyway, perhaps I'll have one anchor cable connected to the windlass and the other just vanishing under the forecastle.

[Roger Pellett]

And of course they had 50 crewmen that could heave on an anchor cable.

[Louie da fly]

Yes indeed