HOW TO KNOW IF THE SHIP IS DRAGGING HER

ANCHOR
 1. Activating the MOB on the GPS

 The first thing that we need to know for keeping a good anchor watch is the position of the anchor. And there is
only one way to know this position. By noting down the position of the ship when the anchor is dropped.
 In the case of anchoring in deeper waters where anchor will be lowered with gear, it is the position of the ship
when the anchor touches the sea bed.
 It is the duty of the officer on watch during anchoring to note down this position.
 It is a good practice to note down this position along with the time of “let go anchor” in the movement book.
 Another thing that we need to do is press the MOB button on the GPS when the anchor is dropped.
 This will automatically save the position at the time of pressing the MOB button (anchored time). Usually,
this position is saved as WP 999.
 2. SWINGING CIRCLE OF THE SHIP

 Once we have the anchor position, we need to know the swinging circle of the ship while the ship will be at
anchor.
 This is important because no matter in which direction the ship swings, it will never go out of the swinging circle if
the anchor is holding.
 If the ship goes out of the swinging circle, this means the ship’s anchor is dragging.
 the ship’s swinging circle at anchor is approximately equal to: distance from ship’s wheelhouse to forecastle +
length of the anchor chain paid
 So now let us take an example to calculate swinging circle of the ship.
 Let us say the distance from bridge wing to the forecastle is 150 meters. The ship is anchored with 5 shackles on
deck.
So the swinging circle, in this case, would be
Swinging circle = 150 meters + (5 x 27.5) meters
This gives us swinging circle of 287.5 meters.
Now we want this to be in nautical miles. So divide
this value by 1852 (1 Nautical mile = 1852 meters).
This gives us the swinging circle of 0.155 NM.
 This is how the
swinging circle
appears in an
ECDIS.
3. IMPORTANCE OF SETTING ANCHOR ALARM

 How would you know if the anchor is dragging?

 We often hear this answer, if the bearings (and range) of the fixed object changes, this would mean that
vessel is dragging anchor.
 While there is no doubt that this is one of the ways but this is not the best answer .
 Why? Duty officer would usually check the bearings once every hour.
 So if anchor starts to drag at 2010 Hrs LT, the duty officer would only know about the dragging anchor
at 2100 hrs LT when he would check the bearings.
 We all want something to nudge us just when anchor starts to drag. An alarm is the best way to get
nudged. So when I ask the duty officer, “How would you know if the anchor is dragging?”, We expect
from our Duty Watch Officers to hear this.
 I will be warned by the anchor alarm that I have set and then I will confirm with the bearing of the
fixed objects if the anchor is really dragging.
 By setting the anchor alarm we are making good use of available electronic aids.
 But if possible, the visual bearing of two objects (or two points on the coast) is the best
way to check the anchor position.
 The two objects or points on the coast must not be on the same (or close to same) bearing
lines. The bearings of these two objects must be separated by a significant angle.
 4. USE OF RADAR FOR ANCHOR WATCH

We have discussed so far how to use GPS and Gyro (Visual bearings) to determine if the anchor is dragging.
Apart from that, the Radar is very useful equipment for monitoring anchor positions.
For using the radar for anchor watch requires radar conspicuous fixed objects. The presence of racon in
the vicinity makes it even easier. Straight coast with no edges is not useful for radar bearing.
If the radar conspicuous objects (or coast line) is available, bearing and range from this can be measured
every hour.
Another way that I see navigators make use of is with the EBL and VRM on the radar.
We can set the EBL and VRM on the radar and point it to the fixed object that we want to take bearing and
range from.
 If the EBL and VRM stay right there on the fixed object, the ship has not moved and the anchor is holding.
 The good thing in this is that each time you have your eyes on the radar screen, you can easily make out in a flash if the ship
is maintaining its position or not.
5. Ship’s speed as an indicator
CONCLUSION

 Dragging anchor is not something a watch keeper desires but it is something that may
not be in control of the ship staff.
 The anchor may sometimes drag.
 Dragging anchor can lead to contact with other ship or grounding of the ship.
 But all this can be avoided if the watch keeper is alert and knows about the
indications of the dragging anchor situation.
 Early identification is the key to avoid accident related to the dragging anchor
situations.
 Anchor dragging is totally acceptable situation provided it does not lead to an
accident.