An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα (ankura ).
Anchors can either be temporary or permanent. A permanent anchor is used in the creation of a mooring, and is rarely moved; a specialist service is normally needed to move or maintain it. Vessels carry one or more temporary anchors, which may be of different designs and weights.
A sea anchor is a drogue, not in contact with the seabed, used to control a drifting vessel.
Read more about Anchor: Overview, Evolution of The Anchor, Small Boat Anchors, Permanent Anchors, Anchoring Gear, Anchoring Techniques, In Heraldry
Famous quotes containing the word anchor:
“It is a far, far better thing to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“A man’s real faith is never contained in his creed, nor is his creed an article of his faith. The last is never adopted. This it is that permits him to smile ever, and to live even as bravely as he does. And yet he clings anxiously to his creed, as to a straw, thinking that that does him good service because his sheet anchor does not drag.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The daughter of debate, that eke discord doth sow,
Shall reap no gain where former rule hath taught still peace to
grow.
No foreign banished wight shall anchor in this port;
Our realm it brooks no stranger’s force, let them elsewhere resort.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)