Malaysian Maritime Academy/Seamanship/May 2003
ANCHOR AND CABLES trip when the anchor is dislodged. The
The principal parts of both stocked
anchor and stockless anchor are shown
in Fig. 3. Merchant vessels are generally
required to carry 2 bower anchors and a
spare bower, which are invariably of
stockless anchor type for easy stowage.
The Stocked or Common anchor
For this type of anchor, the stock must
weigh one quarter of the weight of the
remainder of the anchor.
This is to assist the arm and fluke to bite
into the ground. Should the anchor fall
with its flat the stock will be upright and
when stress is applied through the cable
the stock being heavier and longer than
the arms will turn the anchor. There are
no moving parts.
The upper fluke does not contribute to
the holding power and may be caught in
the bight of the cable when the ship
swings with tide.
The Stockless Anchor
For this type, the head must weight at
least 60% of the total weight of the
anchor. The disadvantages of the anchor
are that there are moving parts, which
may become choked, the anchor is
relatively unstable and its liable to rotate
when dragged under severe loading
conditions, and the fluke may fail to re-
Page 1 of 2
holding power is about 4 times the
weight of the anchor in good holding
ground.
The typical dimensions of a 5 tonnes
anchor would be 3.5 m overall length;
2.1 m extreme length of head; 1 m
measured in side elevation across
tripping palms of one fluke and 1.7 m
from fluke tip to crown.
CABLES
Chain cable is measured by the diameter
of the bar from which the link is made.
Studs are fitted in the links to keep the
chain from kinking. Cable is usually
made of mild steel, electrically welded.
Anchor cable is made in lengths of
27.5 m (15 fathoms), so called " 1
shackle”.
The shackles, which connect these
lengths, are placed in a cable with the
bow, or round end of the shackle,
forward so that the lugs will not foul any
projection when the cable runs out.
SHACKLES
The shackles which join the lengths of
the cable together differ slightly from
those used for shackling in to the anchor.
In the joining shackles the pin does not
project beyond the width of the shackles,
and is secured by a hard wood plug
Malaysian Maritime Academy/Seamanship/May 2003 Page 2 of 2

passing through the pin and one lug of

the shackle. The anchor shackle is larger
than the joining shackles and the usual
method of attaching the cable to the
anchor is by a " D " type shackle.
Another method is to use a permanent
attachment of two or more links on the
bower anchor and a patent lugless
shackle then attaches the cable.
MARKING OF ANCHORS, CABLES
AND THE CERTIFICATE
After gone through the Anchor and
Cable test , the Certifying Authority
must issued a certificate giving the serial
number, names and marks of the
Certifying Authority and testing
establishment and the name of the
Supervisor of the Tests.
The Anchor Certificate must show the
type of anchor, weight in kilogram’s,
length of shank and arm and diameter of
trend in millimeters and the proof load in
tonnes.
The Chain Cable Certificate must
show the type and grade of cable, length,
diameter, total weight, length and
breadth of the link, breaking and proof
loads applied and number and type of
accessories.