ANC 



AND 



r.ng to which the cable is fastened: 2. 



the beam, or shrink, which is the longest 

 port of the anchor : 3. the arm, which is 

 that which runs into the ground: 4. the 

 flouke. or fluke, by sonic culled the palm, 

 the broad ;nul p akcd j)art, with its barbs, 

 like tin head of an arrow, which fastens 

 into the ground .- 5. the stock, a piece of 

 wood fastened to the beam near the ring, 

 serving- to guide the fluke, so that it may 

 fall right, and fix in the ground. 



The. following are the dimensions of the 

 several parts of an anchor, as given by M. 

 Hougier. The two arms generally form 

 tin- arch of a circle, the centre of which 

 is 3-8ths of the shank from the vertex, or 

 point where it is fixed to the shank ; 

 each arm is equal to the same length or 

 radius, so that the two arms together 

 make an arch of 120 degrees : the flukes 

 an half the length of the arms, and their 

 br .tdths two fifths of the said length. 

 U ii respect to the thickness, the cir- 

 cumference of the throat or vertex of the 

 shank is generally made about l-5th part 

 of its length, and the small end two thirds 

 of tiie throat : the small end of the arms 

 of tin- (hikes throe fourths of the circum- 



ii'ihc shank of the throat. 

 Cast iron anchors have been proposed, 

 and indeed, from the improvements in 

 this metal, it is probable they would be 

 cheap and scniceable But when we 

 rounder the great importance of anchors 

 to the lives and property intrusted in 

 shipping, it would not be an act of pru- 

 dence to make an anchor of any material 

 but the very best. It appears reasonable, 

 that a cast iron anchor, made broad in the 

 flukes, and strong in the shank, and forti- 

 fied with a kind of edge-bar, knee, or 

 bracket, in each angle, between the arm 

 and the shank, might prove as trust-wor- 

 thy as a forged anchor, and be more- than 

 t (jiial to the strain of any cable which is 

 made. 



There arc several kinds of anchors : 1. 

 the sheet anchor, which is the largest, 

 and is never used but in violent storms, 

 to hinder the ship from being driven 

 ashore: 2. the two bowers, which are 

 used for ships to ride in a harbour: 4 the 

 stream anchor : 5. the grapnel. The iron 

 of which anchors are made ought ne.tlur 

 to be too soft nor too brittle ; for, if tin- 

 iron be brittle, the- anchor is apt to break, 

 and if it be too soft, the anchor will 

 bend. In order to give them a proper 

 temper, it is the practice to join brittle 

 with soft iron, and for this reason the 

 Spanish and Swedish iron ought to be 

 preferred. 



The shank of an anchor is to be three 

 times the length of one of its flukes. ;uid 

 VOL. I. 



a ship of 500 tons hath her sheet anchor 

 of 2000 weight; and so propOrtionably 

 for others smaller or greater, although 

 Aubin observes, that the anchors of a 

 large veasel are made smaller in propor- 

 tion than those df a small one. 



The anchor is said to be a-peak, when 

 the cable is perpendicular between the 

 hawse and the anchor. 



An anchor is said to come home, when 

 it cannot hold the ship. An anchor is 

 foul, when, by the turning of the ship, the 

 cable is hitched about the fluke. To 

 shoe an anchor, is to fit boards \ipon the 

 flukes, that it may hold the better in soft 

 ground. When the anchor hangs right 

 up and down by the ship's side, it is said 

 to be a cock bell, upon the ship's coming 

 to an anchor. 



The inhabitants of Ceylon use large 

 stones instead of anchors; and in some 

 other places of the Indies, the anchors 

 are a kind of wooden machines loaded 

 with stones. 



ANC1IOUAGK, in law, is a duty taken 

 of ships for the use of the port or harbour 

 where they cast anchor : for the ground 

 there belonging to the king, no man can 

 let fall anchor thereon, without paying 

 the king's officers for so doing. 



ANCHUSA, in botany, the alkanet, a 

 genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class 

 of plants, the calyx of which is an oblong, 

 cylindric, acute perianthium, divided 

 into five segments, and permanent ; the 

 corolla consists of a single petal ; the tube 

 is cylindric, and of the length of the cup ; 

 the limb is lightly divided into five seg- 

 ments, erecto-patent and obtuse ; the 

 opening is closed by five oblong, convex, 

 prominent, and connivcnt squumulx: 

 there i* no pericarpium : the cup becomes 

 larger, and serves as a fruit, containing in 

 its cavity four oblong, obtuse, and gib- 

 bous seeds. There are thirteen species: 

 though according to Martyn only ten. 

 They are mostly hie.mial, -\cept when 

 they grow in rubbish, or out of a wall. 

 They may all be easily propagated by 

 seeds, sown in the autumn. 



AMTSTRUM, in botany, a genus of 

 the Uiandria Monogynia class and order: 

 calyx tour leaved: no corolla: stigma 

 many-parted : drupe dry, hispid, one cell- 

 ed. There are three species. A. de- 

 cumbens resembles burnet in the herb 

 and mau icr of flowering : it is remarka- 

 ble for the yellow awns to the cah 

 semb'.ing fox's nails. A native i : 



i. A. lucidumis a native of the Falk- 

 land islands, introduced here in 1777 by 

 in Ma\ and June. 



AN UAH. SI I 'K.,or/i<;n/., / Vr,'in minera- 

 h<- r< Ispnr family, dis- 



