Odd Anchor experience

[strakeryrius]

Had a slightly weird thing happen on Sunday.

On retrieving the anchor at Chapman's Pool the winch really struggled to bring it up clear of the water. Looking forward I could see that there was a boulder, about as big as a football and almost as spherical, caught in the anchor. Its a Bruce and the tangs had acted like the scoop on a JCB and brought it up stuck fast.

With the anchor hanging straight down there was no way I could dislodge it - its stayed put under its own weight.

With the wind rapidly blowing me ashore I had to motor out of the bay slowly so as not to damage the bows, then stop and reach right out to lift the anchor out of the bowroller and invert it. Only then did the rock free itself and disappear back into the briny with a splash that soaked me as I hung over the bow. Boy was I glad to see that gone.

Anyone else had any weird experiences like that?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Yes. We were once anchored in Alum Bay and had great difficulty raising the anchor (also a Bruce), which was unusual because we had anchored in the same spot many times before. I thought the anchor had fouled a rock or something so I moved the boat to a different position to try to pull the chain from a different direction. Much to my surprise, the boat and the chain moved quite easily; it dawned on me that the anchor wasn't stuck to the bottom but something was stuck to the anchor. Little by little, SWMBO and I managed to raise the anchor chain by hand. Eventually, we got the anchor close to the surface and, to our surprise, the anchor had hooked a cylindrical shaped object about 4 ft long. At first I thought it was a piece of timber but when I tried poking it with a boat hook, it didn't feel like timber, more like metal.
Of course, at this stage, the thought did cross our minds that we had hooked an unexploded bomb because it sure as hell looked like what you might imagine a corroded UXB would look like. We then discussed calling the Coastguard but it was late in the day and we knew doing so would create a huge fuss and to be honest, we didnt want the embarassment of raising an alarm for what might turn out to be nothing more than a lump of metal. So we hatched a plan to unhook the object from the anchor; we managed to get a loop of rope around one end of the object and by dropping the anchor and pulling on the loop, we got the object off the anchor and it sank quickly to the seabed.
I still wonder what it was now and whether we should have called the Coastguard

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

I'm sure there is a wreck mentioned in Solent Hazards around there, but not Varvassi ofc! Would you expect to have lifted a 4 foot long metal thingy (mental picture is of an oxygen bottle or similar) by hand if it was stuffed with Amatol?

I'm intruiged, and doubly so with the news of the drugs bust in the area relating to lobby pots.

 

[Dabhand]

I once impaled a dragonet on a small fisherman anchor, the anchor fluke passed right through its body before digging into the seabed.
For those not aware, a dragonet is a small, rather spiky fish found in inshore waters, it vaguely resembles a very skinny gurnard. The male fish can be spectacularly coloured.

Dabhand

 

[tinkicker0]

Only thing I ever picked up with the anchor is sunken tree branches and several pounds of very smelly mud.

Mind you, With my luck, if I picked up a cylindrical metal object, SWMBO would say its very heavy and it just started ticking.

Deleted User if your object was about 4 foot long, about 18" in diameter, had one round end and one truncated conical end, it was likely a 500lb bomb.

Only other ordnance of smaller diameter I could think of ;which 4 foot long, but may be 6" diameter would be an intact antiaircraft shell.


Might have been a bit of fuel pipeline from the war or that contraption designed to set fire to the sea if Jerry invaded.

Did you not hit it with a hammer to dislodge the crud and aid identification?

 

[duncan]

fairly common to catch a boulder with a bruce, or (worse) a clean scoop of clay

obviously the former is more common in Chapmans Pool - with getting the anchor rode snagged on the huge rocks and ledges even more common. The only good element of anchoring there is that there's a common current rather than a tide so you don't move around as much as you might elsewhere.

to release the rock, a warp to the anchor trip point then release the anchor rode - will flip over and drop it out.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Looking in Solent Hazards you may have snagged part of the old Alum Bay pier. There are also parts of a Fairmile launch in the bay.

 

[Firefly625]

quite a long time ago snagged a rather thick cable..... I assume power.... only did it once.....& strangely wouldn't do it again in a hurry

 

[strakeryrius]

fairly common to catch a boulder with a bruce, or (worse) a clean scoop of clay

obviously the former is more common in Chapmans Pool - with getting the anchor rode snagged on the huge rocks and ledges even more common. The only good element of anchoring there is that there's a common current rather than a tide so you don't move around as much as you might elsewhere.

to release the rock, a warp to the anchor trip point then release the anchor rode - will flip over and drop it out.

Never bothered with a tripping line before - I've always anchored there in about 4m so that if necessary I can go down easily with a snorkel and mask and free it up by hand. Given that the water is so cold still this year a tripping line starts to look like a more attractive option though.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Only thing I ever picked up with the anchor is sunken tree branches and several pounds of very smelly mud.

Mind you, With my luck, if I picked up a cylindrical metal object, SWMBO would say its very heavy and it just started ticking.

Deleted User if your object was about 4 foot long, about 18" in diameter, had one round end and one truncated conical end, it was likely a 500lb bomb.

Only other ordnance of smaller diameter I could think of ;which 4 foot long, but may be 6" diameter would be an intact antiaircraft shell.


Might have been a bit of fuel pipeline from the war or that contraption designed to set fire to the sea if Jerry invaded.

Did you not hit it with a hammer to dislodge the crud and aid identification?

It certainly was very crudded up with rust and fouling. I did instruct SWMBO to keep poking it hard with a boat hook whilst I, ahem, went to check the engines

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Looking in Solent Hazards you may have snagged part of the old Alum Bay pier. .

I looked into it afterwards and it seems that the old pier did have some iron columns supporting it but they were a lot longer than 4ft but, as far as I could make out, most of the pier was constructed of timber. I think it is likely that what we did snag was indeed part of the old pier but it sure as hell looked bomb shaped and it makes for a better story

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

I looked into it afterwards and it seems that the old pier did have some iron columns supporting it but they were a lot longer than 4ft but, as far as I could make out, most of the pier was constructed of timber. I think it is likely that what we did snag was indeed part of the old pier but it sure as hell looked bomb shaped and it makes for a better story

Further investigation shows that there was for a while an ordnance target in the bay, who knows what the Blue Streak testers may have left behind and when the coastal batteries on the IOW removed their old Rifled Muzzle Loaders at the start of C20th many were just tipped into the sea.

From a naval museum POV I expect SWMBO would like you to go back and pull it up for closer inspection

 

[michael_w]

Anchor dragged and after lifting it I found it had impaled the remains of a telly.

 

[duncan]

Never bothered with a tripping line before - I've always anchored there in about 4m so that if necessary I can go down easily with a snorkel and mask and free it up by hand. Given that the water is so cold still this year a tripping line starts to look like a more attractive option though.

I meant the attachment of the tripping line as an easy aid to reversing the anchor to remove the boulder once you have lifted it!

Tripping line isn't going to help the sort of caught up rode etc you can get in Chapmans Pool - I too expect to have to resort to the occasional swim from there!

 

[Scubadoo]

I think it is likely that what we did snag was indeed part of the old pier but it sure as hell looked bomb shaped and it makes for a better story

You joke, but I have dived both the Alum bay and the Needles and I did come across live ammunition where one broke a part in my hand (thought it was part of a rock) and a load of yellow puss started coming out. At the time I didn't know it was ammunition until I checked up later and discovered a WW2 ammunition ship sank there. I also heard of another diver who put a ammunition shell in her pocket and on the surface it burned a hole through her BCD (buoyancy jacket).

So it could have been bomb, prehaps it might have been wise to make the coast guard aware, but easy to say in hindsight.

 

[blueglass]

we brought up the telephone cable for the island of Othoni in the Ionan last year. (also on a Bruce - do they specialize in this?)It came half way up very reluctantly we and could see it clearly enough so dropped it back down and dived down to free it off.

 

[Searush]

we brought up the telephone cable for the island of Othoni in the Ionan last year. (also on a Bruce - do they specialize in this?)It came half way up very reluctantly we and could see it clearly enough so dropped it back down and dived down to free it off.

As already pointed out, the shape is very like JCB bucket. It IS designed to dig in to a big scoop of mud after all. It's the 3 prongs that make it so susceptible I think. My CQR has never picked anything up, but the Danforth on my previous boat used to bring up pebbles & similar jammed between the flukes & the shank.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

You joke, but I have dived both the Alum bay and the Needles and I did come across live ammunition where one broke a part in my hand (thought it was part of a rock) and a load of yellow puss started coming out. At the time I didn't know it was ammunition until I checked up later and discovered a WW2 ammunition ship sank there. I also heard of another diver who put a ammunition shell in her pocket and on the surface it burned a hole through her BCD (buoyancy jacket).

So it could have been bomb, prehaps it might have been wise to make the coast guard aware, but easy to say in hindsight.

Sounds like Lyddite/picric acid.

Yuk, even if it doesnt go pop.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

You joke, but I have dived both the Alum bay and the Needles and I did come across live ammunition where one broke a part in my hand (thought it was part of a rock) and a load of yellow puss started coming out. At the time I didn't know it was ammunition until I checked up later and discovered a WW2 ammunition ship sank there. I also heard of another diver who put a ammunition shell in her pocket and on the surface it burned a hole through her BCD (buoyancy jacket).

So it could have been bomb, prehaps it might have been wise to make the coast guard aware, but easy to say in hindsight.

It wasnt a joke at the time and, in retrospect, we should have at least called the Coastguard but we were younger and more stupid then