Identification of anchor

[divemachine]

Hello everyone,

I recently found this anchor on a reef in a sand pocket. Does anyone of you have any idea about the age or where it may come from etc? It is about 6 feet high and 4 feet wide. It seems to cast as one piece. All help is very much appreciated.
Thanks

 

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[wwwtimmcp]

if it is british the weight and place of manufacture will be cast into the stock. any idea of the weight ?

 

[rgecy]

Please get it in some water. If it dries out it will start to come apart quickly. It will then need to go through electrolosis for about 6-9 months to get rid of the salts.

Great find! Maybe a small kedge anchor. The flukes look to be triangular.

Robert

 

[Salvor6]

I was thinking the same thing Robert, kedge anchor. Except there is no cross bar. looks like 1850's vintage. GET THAT THING IN WATER!

 

[divemachine]

Thank you very much for all the information so far. I will try to put it into water asap!!!!!!
The tip with the kedge anchor makes sense. I found the anchor very close to a reef wall that comes up all the way to the surface. Behind the reef [between beach and reef] I discovered now a very big pile of ballast stones. Most of the stones are shaped as diamonds, tringulars or just as small flat cobblestones.
wwwtimmcp... Is there a standard spot on British anchor stocks for the manufacturer stamp? Unfortunately I have no chance to weigh the anchor but we needed three guys to lift it up...I guess around 350 to 400 pounds.
Robert...the fluke is triangular.
scubasalvor ...Do you have any idea until when these anchors were common on ships? The reason I am asking is...close by I found a medicine bottle that was produced from the 1860s on but was told that the type of cover on the bottle actually was not produced before 1950. Maybe it is just coincidence.

Thank you very much for helping me with this find.

 

[stevemc]

Without the metal cross bar or stock, it is made most likely prior of 1800. Most anchors made after that had a metal crossbar or stock perpendicular to the flukes. The flukes do look Spanish-kind of heart shaped/triangular. It is hard to tell exactly with all the encrustation. Is anything else in the area? It is small for a big ship. What part of the world is it from? Nice find! Put it on a trailer, and put it in a fresh water lake for a while, before it falls apart.

 

[stevemc]

Also on the bottle subject, if you could post a picture of the bottle, I could ID and date it for you. With rock ballast, it most likely is an older ship. British ships had a Broadhead arrow head stamped into every metal object. It would not really be able to be found on an anchor, but any bronze or copper part, including sheathing nails. If it was lead sheathing, or no sheathing, that would be older, pointing more to Spanish. But Spanish did use copper for a little while, but more recent. British used lead sheathing until about 1810, but used iron pigs, bars like a long loaf of bread, at that time. Snoop around the wreck area and see if you can find any fittings etc. Steve.

 

[divemachine]

Hi Steve,

thank you so much for the information. Tomorrow I'll try to post a few pictures of the bottle and some other things that I found around the site.
Thanks for the interest...

 

[divemachine]

Hello again,

here are some pictures of the bottle that i found nearby. It says on the bottle:" Lydia E. Pinkham´s Medicine, 14 1\2 oz, and on the bottom:"Made in USA".
Moreover I stumbled over this piece of china. These two items might have been polluting the wreck site
I also attached a picture of two of the ballast stones. There were some very interesting metal parts but even days of electrolytic reduction did not give a clearer picture. In case that I will succeed in cleaning these parts, I will post them.
Thanks...

 

[CaribbeanDiver]

Thank you very much for all the information so far. I will try to put it into water asap!!!!!!

Don't try, do it now or it will be ruined. Used Salt Away and change it every 3 months until you can get it into electrylosis, or get someone to do it for you.

 

[Thenativediver]

Hey! What ever happened with your anchor? Did you find anything out about it or the wreck?

 

[Red_desert]

Thanks for bringing up this thread.

 

[ivan salis]

well, the flukes on it help in dating it
the sottery shard shows it was carrying cargo from the orient or Britan ( brits commonly made knock offs of Chinese pottery )
the screw cap type bottle with made in US marking if native to the wreck also can be used in dating said wreck
looking at what i see i would say early 1900's --since screw cap bottle useage was not common until 1920 or so
hope this info helps