Thousands of "orphan" Danforth anchors.

[Kettlewell]

I thought this news story was interesting concerning something like 3500 "orphan" Danforth anchors that were used during the big oil spill clean up, and now the Coast Guard has to retrieve them. I wonder what they'll do with them all? I could use a few cheapies for various things, couldn't you?

[rebel heart]

There are *lots* of anchors on the sea floor. When I scuba dive near any popular reef spots I usually end up seeing at least one every other dive. A maritime instructor of mine has a front yard full of anchors including a monster 400lb+ kedge. Was a real feat getting that one back to the house I was told. Super old, super crusty looking.

Cheapo danforths and those ones that commercial fish boats weld together are everywhere.

[S/V Alchemy]

But not a single Rocna or Manson, amirite?

Hehehhehe..

[craigsmith]

I like how they talk about generic Danforths and automatically assume they're actually genuine. What's the odds on them all actually being Danforths?

[Kettlewell]

I have no idea if they are real Danforths or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if our government has stockpiled thousands of them someplace. They tend to do that. I used to keep my boat in a marina near an enormous field that was covered with a neatly coiled up submarine net from WWII that was used to close off the mouth of Narragansett Bay. It was all covered with some sort of preservative, ready for the next submarine war I guess. I believe it has since gone to the scrap pile, but I was impressed that they took the trouble at the end of the war to preserve the enormous thing.

[delmarrey]

Eoconomically, wouldn't it just be better to leave them be. Whats a few more pieces of steel rusting away on the bottom of the ocean. There are whole ships out there and they don't bother with those. It's just another way to help jack up the oil prices, because the oil company has to pay for the retrieval, most likely.

[markpierce]

I expect it would cost many thousands of dollars for the recovery of each anchor. What a waste.

[rowingdude]

Doesn't the decay of the anchors lead to more coral formations?

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by rowingdude

Doesn't the decay of the anchors lead to more coral formations?

The anchors themselves do. Anything that isn't sand (or poisonous, like old tires) creates a lot of life on the sea floor. And metal doesn't really rust underwater. Not enough oxygen.

[Fortress]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

I thought this news story was interesting concerning something like 3500 "orphan" Danforth anchors that were used during the big oil spill clean up, and now the Coast Guard has to retrieve them. I wonder what they'll do with them all? I could use a few cheapies for various things, couldn't you?

I am well familiar with this situation. After the Gulf oil spill there was a mad panic for oil containment equipment (anchors, boom, buoys, chain, rope). Within just a few weeks, the inexpensive steel fluke anchors that were used with the containment booms were completely sold out throughout the USA. I know of two manufacturers of this type of anchor in the USA, Tie Down Engineering and Dutton-Lainson, and I heard from contractors that these manufacturers went to running 24 hour shifts to meet the enormous demand.

One of our distributors sourced a container of steel fluke anchors in China, and after they arrived, the distributor was shocked when they opened up the container and found that the Chinese had simply stuffed it full of anchors....no pallets, no wrapping, nothing. The distributor estimated that 10% of the anchors were destroyed in transit and were useless, but they didn't care because the price they paid for them was so incredibly cheap!

In mid-July or so, a tropical storm threatened the gulf, and the order was given to pull up ALL containment boom. My contact at BP told me that they were given a matter of hours to remove what had taken them weeks to install, and it was quite obvious that this would not be impossible if they took the time to pull out the anchors.......so they just cut them loose.

I think 3,500 is a LOW estimate for the number of these anchors that are still on the sea bottom.....and there are more than a few of our anchors among them. The whole thing was just a horrific and mindless tragedy.

Brian

[barnakiel]

Interesting.

The way to get a new anchor here is ... go and dive one out from the local anchorage. Dozens of boats come and go here and every year people retrieve a couple of brand new anchors each year.

Always wondering why the careless skippers will not ???

b.

[Kettlewell]

Here on the East Coast we mostly anchor in mud and finding a lost anchor is usually not easy because it is several feet under if there has been any pull on it. I've had trouble finding my own anchor still attached to the chain because the chain goes into the mud so far from the actual location of the anchor. In a lot of anchorages when you go to pull the darn thing up you get right over it and your boat comes to a grinding halt, then you winch the bow down a few inches with the chain absolutely vertical and retreat aft to have a cup of coffee. Then you go forward and winch the bow back down a couple of inches. Repeat a few times and the anchor eventually comes up. It's a good problem to have.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Don't know why skippers don't have retrieval lines attachrd to the anchor so that when it gets buried, they just pull it out backwards. Comes out a whole lot easier.

Had a 10' line on an anchor once and after a severe storm that lasted for 3 days, the anchor buoy was just 2' above the bottom. Figured the anchor was buried at least 5'. Added additional line the the anchor and pulled it out backwards.

[Kettlewell]

The problem with a retrieval or "tripping line" is that in a crowded anchorage someone will likely run over it with their boat and wind it up on their prop, or some knucklehead will pick up the float thinking it's a mooring buoy.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Didn't say anything about an anchor buoy, talked about a retrieval line buoy under the surface so you can grab it with a boat hook. Coil the line with slip knot a little tug and up it pops. Been used by local fishermen for over 100 yrs according to grandfather.