Winsome Anchors (but not Siouan)

[Alan H. Hartley]

Koontz John E wrote:

> I may be confused.  Doesn't winning the anchor mean using the capstan to
> draw the ship to a position above the anchor?  As opposed to using it to
> haul the anchor up to the cathead, which is the next step?

In the few (modern yachting) examples I've found, to win the anchor
apparently means to succeed in breaking it out of the bottom and
weighing it. (As far as I can tell, it wasn't in general use historically.)

On a large sailing vessel, after the anchor was weighed and was hanging
under the bow ("under foot"), the cat-tackle was hooked to the
anchor-ring and used to hoist the top of the anchor to the cathead where
it was secured with the cat-stopper. That completed, the fish-tackle was
used to fish the anchor, i.e., draw the anchor-shank (and flukes) up to
the gunwale. That (bottom) end of the anchor was then secured to the
ship's side with the shank-painter. The anchor thus ended up horizontal
along the ship's side,, extending aft from the cathead.

Alan