Anchor Knot

[DennisL]

Hi,

My current build is a scratch build of a Cruizer Class English brig from 1806.

My question is, what is the proper knot to secure the anchor cable to the anchor ring?

Petrejus's book on the Irene shows it one way (see illustration called Anchor Clinch), and yet I've seen a number of ship models rigged with what is called an anchor bend (see second illustration).

Is there a right/wrong way to do this for 1806?

 

[Beef Wellington]

The former (Anchor Clinch) is undoubtable the period correct solution, it is also referenced in James Lee's Masting and Rigging English Ships of War.

[Kenchington]

For the heavy hemp cable of a naval brig of 1806, some form of anchor clinch would be used. I've seen various alternatives illustrated but you could use the one you show. I think that is the one that Steele illustrated (though I haven't checked).

 

What you are calling an "anchor bend", I know as a "fishermen's bend" -- a more-secure alternative to a round-turn-and-two-half-hitches. That's great for fastening a light hawser to an anchor ring (and is widely used in modern small craft) but not much of an option with a warship's cable. 

 

Trevor

[popeye2sea]

Trevor has the right take.  It is almost physically impossible to tie an anchor bend or fisherman's bend in the size of cable used for a large anchor.

If you look closely at the construction of the anchor clinch there is no actual knot. The cable is "clinched" to itself at several points to make a sort of loop to pass the bight through.

 

Regards,

Henry

[DennisL]

Henry,

What brought this question up was when Richard brought his model of the Confederacy in to our last Guild meeting.  His model shows the anchors tied with an anchor bend, not the clinch method. The confederate is a larger ship than a brig so I assumed its anchors would have been tied with a clinch knot.

Dennis