castle by lines and tackles to take the weight of the bight. A davit which can be shipped above the hawse-pipe, plumbing the anchor as it hangs outside, is very helpful here.

If it becomes necessary to unshackle the cable, ample precautions must of course be taken to secure the anchor.

Under conditions such that the anchor may be expected to foul, it is a good rule to "sight" it frequently; and indeed this is advisable under any conditions when a ship remains at single anchor for a long time. It is especially important if, after lying for some time under circumstances which makes it probable that the anchor may be foul, bad weather is found to be approaching. For sighting, the anchor may be lifted just far enough to be seen, or, what is usually more convenient, it may be weighed completely and another anchor let go when the cable of the first one is "up and down"; that is to say, just before the first anchor is broken out from the bottom.

ANCHORING BY THE STERN.

It is often convenient and sometimes necessary for a small vessel to anchor by the stern. For this an anchor of moderate size is usually sufficient, and it is an excellent plan to carry such an anchor at the stern ready for letting go in a hurry. If a shackle is kept at hand, and if a thinible is turned into the end of the best wire hawser, this hawser can be shackled up to the anchor and all made ready for letting go in a very short time. The ability to anchor in this way is so valuable under many circumstances, that it is surprising how rarely it is thought of or prepared for. In coming to, in a narrow or crowded anchorage with a fair tide-where perhaps difficulties are found which had not been anticipated—it might be of the greatest possible value. So, too, in going alongside a dock or into a slip, with a fair wind or tide, as it is sometimes necessary to do, a stern anchor such as has been described (not a mere kedge) might make a perfectly simple situation out of one which would otherwise be very difficult. A stern anchor of about one fourth the weight of the bowers is issued to men-of-war.

A 6000 pound anchor at the stern would not be of much value to a Lexington (874 feet long). And yet a ship of this length is more likely than a short one to need a stern anchor,-not only for manoeuvring in restricted waters but for lying at anchor where the space for swinging is restricted; as, for example, in the

North River (New York Harbor). The latest ships designed exceed 900 feet in length. Such a ship, moored in the North River, or in almost any other harbor that could be named, would sweep practically the whole width of the navigable channel if allowed to swing. And she could be kept from swinging only if moored head and stern.

In some harbors permanent buoys are planted to which ships. can tie up, head and stern, but such buoys are themselves a serious obstacle to navigation and they are rarely used except in harbors controlled by naval authorities. In commercial harbors docks and slips are provided for merchant vessels, but men-of-war must usually lie at anchor in whatever berths may be considered available by the authorities of the port.

If we imagine a division of Lexingtons seeking an anchorage in New York Harbor, it is easy to understand how enormously the problem would be simplified if each ship could lay out anchors from bow and stern and hold herself practically parallel with the axis of the River.

This would call for the equivalent of a bower anchor at the stern (and the bowers of the latest ships may weigh as much as 30,000 pounds), with all facilities for handling it, including a cable standard as to weight and length, a hawse-pipe, windlass, and chain locker.

It is clear that there are very serious objections to this, not the least of these being the proximity of the propellers. But it is not clear that something of this sort is not an inevitable development of the future. The problems of construction involved, although embarrassing, are not difficult. The problems of seamanship, such as those connected with a gale on the beam, making it necessary, perhaps, to bend a wire line to the stern cable and veer away, do not differ in principle from those connected with other emergencies which seamen are necessarily prepared to meet.

The matter is at least deserving of consideration.

In the event of stranding, such an anchor can be laid out very quickly, and while it probably would not serve to heave the ship off, it might very well hold her from driving farther on with a rising tide and at the same time prevent her from swinging around, broadside on, to the beach.

If it becomes necessary to use a bower anchor over the stern, the simplest way to deal with the situation is to ease the anchor

down until it hangs outside the hawse-pipe with its ring just clear, at the same time making preparations for unshackling at the 5-fathom shackle, and holding the chain-outside of this shackle-by a good slip-stopper. Pass the end of the best wire line out through the stern chock, take it forward and shackle securely to the ring of the anchor. In this as in all other cases where the anchor is to be used without its own cable, it is very important to use a "weighing-line" and buoy-rope on the crown of the anchor. (Chapter XII, Sec. 2.)

Let go when ready by knocking off the link of the slip-stopper. If it is desired to ride by the bower cable rather than by the wire-line, pass the line forward from the stern-chock as before and stand by to shackle it to the chain when ready. Run in at slow speed to the point where the anchor is to be placed, keeping the ship under control; let go, and veer to 60 or 90 fathoms as desired, bringing-to with the shackle well inside. Pass the end of the wire line inside the hawse-pipe. Stopper the chain well, and bend on an easing-out line just forward of the shackle. Take the easing-out line to the capstan and take the strain on it. Shackle the wire line to the shackle of the chain. Unshackle the chain. Take the after end of the wire line to the after windlass. Ease out forward, heave in aft. Let the easing-out line go with the chain, standing clear of the end. Heave the line and cable in aft, and secure.

In many harbors, a swell sets in on the beam of vessels riding to the wind, causing them to roll incessantly. In such cases, a stream anchor planted off the bow, with a line from the quarter, admits of springing around, head to the swell. In the tropics, a similar plan adds much to the coolness of the ship by bringing the wind abeam.

When anchoring in a narrow river or harbor where there is little room for turning and where occasion may arise for leaving hurriedly, it is well to keep a hawser triced up along the outside from the warping chock on the quarter to the hawse, ready for clapping on the chain. If an emergency arises while the ship is heading in, the spring is bent to the cable, and the cable unshackled. The ship then swings, the line is buoyed and cast off and all is clear for standing out.

§ IV. RIDING AT SINGLE ANCHOR.

Modern ships usually ride by one or more slip-stoppers on the chain, and with the wildcat of the windlass unlocked and the brake set up. If it becomes necessary to veer, the stoppers are cast off and the chain veered by slacking the brake. It is well to give plenty of chain in the beginning rather than to take a chance of dragging.

The advantages of a long scope of chain are universally recognized, but probably few seamen realize in just what ways such a scope contributes to the safety of the ship and the ease with which she rides.

Perhaps the most obvious gain is in the angle at which the pull of the cable comes upon the anchor. The longer the scope, the more nearly parallel to the bottom this pull will be; and the smaller, therefore, will be the tendency to break the anchor out. If the length and weight of the chain are such that any part of it rests upon the bottom, then the weight of that part is added to the weight of the anchor, and helps in this way to hold the ship. It has been found, however, that in the case of a ship riding to a moderate gale in ten fathoms of water and with 100 fathoms of chain, not a single link of the chain rests undisturbed upon the bottom. It is therefore clear that this point is not of as great importance as is commonly supposed. It is only in the two ways above described that a long scope is of value to a ship which is pulling steadily at her cable; but the moment she begins to sheer about, or to rise and fall in a seaway-alternately ranging up toward her anchor, then driving heavily back upon her cable-the value of a long scope makes itself felt in the elasticity of the bight, which prevents the rapidly varying tensions from being thrown upon the cable and the anchor in a succession of violent shocks. The cable never leads in a straight line from the hawse-pipe to the anchor, but dips downward in a curve, the degree of curvature depending upon the depth of water, the length and weight of the cable, and the tension to which it is subjected. With a long scope of chain, under a moderate tension, the curvature is very marked. If, now, a ship riding in this way begins to drive astern before a heavy squall, she must lift the bight of her cable as she moves; and the longer and heavier the bight, the more work will be involved in lifting it, the more slowly the ship will move astern, and the more gradually the ten