Dec 18, 2020
Anchor Cable
Shown here are sections of the anchor cable of HMS Victory and one of her largest anchor alone weigh 4 tons and the cable 4,5 tons. It was 600 feet long and was 62 cm in circumference. The weight of the cable itself plus the strain of the ship against the seabed took a tremendous human effort to break the anchor free to get it aboard. Over 140 men at one time straining at the wooden bars inserted into the capstan for hours might succeed in bringing a few yards of the cable aboard.
The darker parts above shows where it has been wormed. A rope of much smaller circumferences has been spiraled along the larger one. This would keep muck and marine growth from becoming embedded in the deep grooves and make handling a bit easier.
