Anchor Treasure

I hope this turns out to be a fun thread. What sort of treasure have you brought up with your anchor? The brand of anchor does not matter. Here's my contribution, brought up after anchoring for the night in Melbourne, Florida. Sorry I can't get it right side up so tilt your head a bit.

Howard

No photo, but our Bruce once brought up a short length of massive chain. I mean truly huge chain. About a three foot section which was maybe three or four links. It was in a bay that had once hosted logging activities but it was larger than any chain I've seen used in logging around here. The puzzle was why such a short piece?

This incident is what inspired us to fabricate our first trip line and float and start using it.?

I know a guy who hauled up a 20' center console boat.

We brought up a shopping cart (Safeway) from Angel Island (East Garrison), San Francisco Bay in 2009. Dropped it with help from the boat hook at the water line.

My wife and I were anchored in San Diego harbor with a group of Wounded Warriors to watch the Red Bull air races. When trying to lift anchor, we found it was hooked on to a 5/8" steel cable with three deadeyes attached. I could not lift the cable off of the anchor until a Navy Security boat came by and one of their crewman got us free. If not for the Navy we might still be there.

If you brought this anchor up, you would bring up the whole reef with it. Took this about a month ago off Lady Musgrove island, southern tip of the Great Barrier reef.

Once I brought up a rode with some rusty chain and danforth anchor in good condition. Twice I have brought up anchor rodes, both over 100' in very good condition. Nothing good for my anchoring needs but good for fenders, the outboard fishing boat, and dinghy

C couple of weeks ago I brought up a tarpaulin wrapped with yellow rope and some cinder blocks. We couldn't get it aboard before whatever was in it slipped out. There was a lot of blood in the water. We managed to save the tarp. I called the state troopers. They tested the stains on the tarp. Turned out to be nonhuman. You can imagine what we first thought.

Sd

Thing brought up by our anchors....

A bicycle in Mexico...

A huge coral head that had to be chiseled loose in Tonga...

A big blue tarp in Fiji....

A massive log in B.C

Ironically all these were brought up by Bruce's...the anchor that doesn't appear to even be able to grab sand.

Sorry no plcs..at the time it didn't feel like photo opportunities.
Hollywood

The worst I've pulled up is a big log back when my boat was new to me and I had a Danforth on the bow. It was strangely hung up in the limbs.

Last month after the San Francisco Fleet Week air show, a guy comes on the radio to report to the USCG that he had a corpse hanging from his anchor. We were located about 2 1/2 miles east of the Golden Gate Bridge so it could have been a jumper. Never learned the identity though.

The only thing I've brought up was a loooong length of 1.5" wire rope. I have no idea why it would have been in the water in that particular location. It took about 20 minutes to get it off my Danforth and dropped back into the water.

I took this picture of a fellow boater in Squirrel Cove in Desolation Sound trying to get his anchor up. Notice how well balanced the log was.

Squirrel Cove is somewhat notorious for a foul bottom. Lot of logging activity there back in the day. We always use our trip line there.

I pulled up a Northhill anchor with our 45 lb CQR in Lake Simcoe doing the Trent Severn Canal trip, still have it, the folding stock makes for a easy stowing and use as a back up storm anchor. The Northhill was added to the 45 CQR, knockoff CQR and a Fortress anchors, can't have to many anchors!!

There is a lot of debris and natural hazards on the bottom that can interfere with an anchor setting. It is one reason why I am keen on anchors that set quickly and if the wind picks up, burry deeper in a short distance. This is rarely mentioned in the anchor tests, but some anchor designs will routinely set much quicker than other models.

The best set in only a shank length. Others take 5-10 x this distance. The chance of encountering obstructions is obviously much higher with the greater distance traveled along the seabed.

Often the debris will be left on the bottom, or fall from the anchor as it is raised. So the owners has no idea why the anchor failed to set, or subsequently dragged.

While not raised to the surface this was the best bit of debris that was dug up by my Mantus anchor. It is an amphora. This island has a rich history with acres of Hellenistic/Roman ruins. Amphorae were used by ancient Greeks and Romans, with usage stopping around the 7th century AD.








This is a museum photo of a similar amphora with dual bands on the handle:

In Cape May NJ I brought up a huge section of heavy cable , that was begining to fray 5/8 nylon from the load.

Before dropping it I called the Coasties 1/4 mile away,and asked if they wanted me to buoy it , so they could remove it.

NOPE!

In my commercial diving days in college the company I worked for did a lot of shallow cable work, like inspections for breaks or damage, or re-burying cables that had been pulled out of their trenches (if they were trenched at all rather than just laid on the bottom). There are some areas of coastal Connecticut where the forest of cables (active and abandoned) are so thick we had a really hard time keeping them straight. It was a real challenge to stay on the right cable, rather than spend a day underwater with a fire hose accidentally re-burying a telegraph cable from 1905. It's a bowl of cable spaghetti down there in some places.

We pulled this one up in Puerto Rico. When I took the picture, we were trying to get everything untangled. Our chain wrapped around this as the on/off shore breeze changed daily for the week we were there. It made us appreciate the power of our windlass.

my danforths liked to collect stones andsticks but the best was a very large clam. Tossed it back because one was not enough and I could not find any others

This log: