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Center anchor - The center anchors
were the largest in the world at the time, and Olympic’s was put on display
at the Engineering and Machinery Exhibition at Olympia, London before being delivered to
Harland & Wolff. Recently, a rare interview with one of the men who helped create the
mammoth anchors for Olympic and Titanic was uncovered in the archives of
the Black Country Bugle. The interview, conducted in 1976, was the personal account of Mr.
W. G. Edwards, a former Hingley’s worker, and in this interview he described the
process of testing and shipping Olympic’s center anchor:
“The parts were then transported to ‘Lloyds Proving House’ to be
assembled under the supervision of Mr. Norman (the head fitter). I (the writer) took part
in this operation. The anchor now had to be lifted onto the Test Bed and a stronger chain
had to be fitted to the crane which had to be ballasted with pig iron to counterbalance
the weight of the anchor. Steam was raised to a critical point for the operation . . . (continued) |
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Image above, Napier Windlass Equipment on Oceanic -
Details of Oceanic’s windlass equipment. A view of the brake mechanism
complete with control wheel can be seen in the center of this illustration. Titanic’s
control wheels were of the same design, but were located further aft so the crewmen
releasing the windlass brakes would be well clear of the cable wheels when the anchors
were let go. Engineering / Author’s
collection
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Windlasses - There is frequently
confusion between the terms “windlass” and “capstan.” A windlass is a
device powered and designed to handle a chain cable, but was generally mounted
horizontally on iron and steel ships. A capstan, which is generally mounted vertically, is
an appliance which winds a rope around a barrel. With this said, Titanic's
windlasses were more properly termed “cable capstans,” although
“windlass” is used here in deference to the original Harland & Wolff
terminology. The windlasses were steam-driven, each powered by its own engine located on
the Shelter Deck (C) below.
The windlass equipment on Titanic was manufactured by Napier
Brothers, Ltd., of Glasgow. The windlasses consisted of two cast-steel drums called
“cable wheels” around which the cables passed; each cable wheel had a deep
groove in which projecting “whelps” engaged with the links of the cable. The use
of stud-link chain ensured that the cable would properly feed around the cable wheel and
ensured that each whelp would properly engage its corresponding link . . . (continued) |
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Mooring
bitts - A large number of mooring bits were provided on the ship for securing
hawsers and warps. These were made of heavy cast steel and, in some cases, were designed
to use their internal shafts for ventilation purposes to the deck space below. All bitts,
whether or not they functioned as ventilating bitts, were hollow internally and molded on
a rectangular base in order to raise the bitt castings above the level of the wood
decking. This footing rested directly on the steel deck plates and was bolted rather then
riveted in place. (The same type of footing was used for the capstan drums.) The diameters
of the bitts were generally 18 or 21 inches at the tops of the posts below the stop cap.
Two 21-inch bitts were placed between the capstans on the Forecastle Deck and were
specifically intended for towing . . . (continued) |
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Other topics in this chapter:
Stockless anchors - Anchor cables - Anchor hawse pipes - deployment equipment -
Capstans - Fairlead rollers - Warps and hawsers -Berthing - Mooring pipes - Mooring cleats
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