Anchor from Chesapeake Bay in Maryland

[Terrib]

My husband and his buddies go fishing on a charter boat in the Chesapeake Bay off Southern Maryland every year and 'caught' this anchor this past fall. It looks unique due to the number of 'hooks' and we know little about anchors or dating them so thought I would show it here and get opinions. I searched the web looking at anchors and could not find one that looked like this. There have been tons of shipwrecks in the bay going waaay back. We are going to display it out by our pool and it has mussel and barnacle remains on it and we find it very interesting. Would appreciate any insight and thanks. Its about 3 feet tall. The one picture was not 'on its side' when I selected and uploaded it?




Terrib

 

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[Boatlode]

Doesn't look heavy enough to be an anchor. That looks more like a grappling hook used to drag for shipwrecks. That's how they found them in the old days before sonar and magnetometers.

 

[vpnavy]

I searched Google and found a few that are similar. One was on EBay and another ID'd that type of anchor as a Grapnel?

EBAY: Vintage Boat Anchor - 10 Pound 5 Hook 20" Long



Grapnel Anchor

​

 

[agflit]

Terri-

Great find!! Unfortunately, while no expert on anchors...I'd suggest to you that is a modern boat grapnel. Nothing special about it... EXCEPT...the story. Enjoy it as a conversation piece and make sure you conserve it if it is ferrous metal.

Regards,

ag

 

[A2coins]

Cool find could be a small anchor Im thinking grappling hook also

 

[A2coins]

Welcome to tnet also Tommy

 

[Megalodon]

Its not a boat anchor. These were used to anchor submerged "anchor gill nets". Other types of gill nets were staked or drifted on the surface and did not use anchors. They were used when sinking gill nets were legal in Chesapeake Bay (before 1992) and since then by poachers. The gill nets were used to catch striped bass. Anchor gill nets are the favorite gear of poachers who fish them at night. There would be an anchor at either end and the nets could stretch for many hundreds of yards.

Two lines were attached to the eye of the grapnel. One went to a float and the other went to the float line of the gill net. There is a picture of this same type of hook on page 68 Figure 21 of Paula Johnson's 1988 book "Working the Water. The Commercial Fisheries of Maryland's Patuxent River."

 

[Terrib]

Thanks to all for the answers. I did not get emails notifying me of replies.... I checked my settings and it says I should be getting them. Nothing in my junk folder either. Oh well!

I thought it was too light to be an anchor since I could easily lift it and I am over 65 and it sure didn't look like any anchor I have ever seen ! I deferred to the 3 guys who were all raised around water like we were and they fish all the time and my husband was part owner of a dive boat. Can't wait to tell them....lol. I am surprised that the captain or mates on the charter boat when they 'caught' this grappling hook did tell them what it was. They will see him again in June.

Funny story.........we have yard full of hickory trees and dozens of squirrels and gazillions of buried nuts but they got so lazy they took the old dried up barnacles and mussel shells off the hook thinking there was 'meat' in side. I was furious. Found two sides of mussel shell up near the garage door . When we decide where to keep the hook I will glue them back on for decoration but I bet they take them off again. Nothing is sacred to a squirrel.

Thanks again!

 

[stevemc]

That is also called a reef anchor. Mild steel and it can be bent back to normal shape. Just for anchoring at a reef or oyster bar, usually to fish. If it gets hung up, and normal driving forward doesn’t get it loose, it can be pulled loose and straightened back with out breaking. Unlike a normal forged steel anchor. Or cast iron anchor.

 

[huntsman53]

The squirrels likely removed the barnacles and mussel shells more for the salt that they had absorbed and still contained than any possibility of getting any meat out of them. If you have not done so, you need to bathe the anchor in fresh water to leach the salt out of the metal and out of anything still attached to it, making sure to change the fresh water every three to five days and continue for at least a month. Otherwise, the metal will continue to rust and literally rust away in a few years. Besides, leaching out the salt will help with keeping the squirrels from taking off any more barnacles and mussel shells.

 

[Megalodon]

I live here where that anchor was found and I'm certain that it is an anchor gill net anchor - and either used legally before 1992, or illegally by poachers since then. Locally they are called gill net anchors. Typically, when the natural resources police closed in on poachers at night, they would cut the float line and there would be no evidence of an illegal net in their possession. Unfortunately, the gill nets would continue to kill fish, mostly striped bass, until the nets balled up in storms. The hooks are common in the area. I have also seen them used to retrieve lost crab pots.

 

[xaos]

I am grappling with all of the answers

 

[ARC]

Late on the bandwagon here...

What you have is a grappling hook... or just "grapnel"...

I have collected and owned dozens of these in all shapes and sizes...

This is NOT an anchor... OF ANY kind... never have been used as an anchor... NOR designed in any way as such.

IT IS... and always has been considered a "TOOL".

These are mainly used in recovery.

The "bending metal" post is um... ?

Anyway... these are used with 2 lines... the throw / pull... and a release line...

The throw line attaches to top... the recover / release line attaches to bottom... this is in case the recovery must be aborted and grapnel must be "reset" or recovered itself... you slack the top line and angle pull bottom line to retrieve.

PS... anyone planning on boating OR own a boat already and acquire one of these and intend to try ad use it for an anchor...
my advice would be to use a cinder block instead...

for you would get better anchoring results.

OH and PSS...

NEVER anchor ON a reef. EVER... not only is it dangerous... AND BAD for reefs... In Florida... its illegal... and punishments are severe.

 

[ARC]

And furthermore...

I must correct myself... There ARE grappling anchors... BUT they are small for small crafts LIKE a kayak OR a "dingy" style... BUT they have flared prongs that hold... the are not just round pronged... and they fold for easy storage... own a couple of these as well.

 

[ARC]

Sold all my large grapnels long ago... but still prolly own five or six in storage now... and I always run with at least a 12 and a small custom stainless six inch... beings I recover trash and debris whenever I am on the water.

 

[Salvor6]

I use one of those on my jet ski.

 

[ARC]

I use one of those on my jet ski.

Do a lot of grappling whilst skiing aye ?

:P