With again wind still weather the good ship Statendam sailed along the South Coast of Panama towards the Panama Canal Zone. Until 10 am we were on a 90o easterly course and we met several ships going in the opposite direction, coming from the Panama Canal. Guessing at their time of passing us where we were, they either had had a night crossing or came from the anchorage and had been loading fuel. We got our confirmation for the schedule and we were allowed to pick up the pilot at 16.45 near the Canal Seabuoy. Although the area is monitored by Flamingo Signal Station which is the Traffic Control for everything on the Pacific side of the canal; the anchorage area of Amador itself does not fall under it’s jurisdiction and thus we have to sail all the way around all the ships at anchor towards this anchorage. I prefer to cut through as it is great sightseeing for the guests but the authorities do not like it. So we go around.
Our official arrival time is 1800 hrs but I try to have the whole show on the road by 17.30 with the first tender ashore. That worked quite well today and by 1800 hrs we had already most of the tours off the ship. Guests not on tour normally prefer to have dinner first and then take a nice ride to Amado for a look around. Very few go for a evening out to Panama City. This evening we had perfect weather for our call. The wind and swell that had marred our last call a little bit was nowhere to be seen. Panama City was brightly lit up against a pitch black horizon and the ships tenders plied their regular shuttle service as graceful swans with twinkling lights of red and green and white. For those staying on board the Panorama of the anchorage was also worthwhile to have a look at it. I was almost tempted to go to the crowsnest, order a glass of wine and let the ambiance soak in. Unfortunately the day will start early as we have to be under way by 0500 to go to the Panama Canal Pilot boarding ground and that means that by 04.30 I will start heaving up the anchor.
I always like to start early with picking up the anchor, as you never know what is going to happen. Here at Amador the ground/soil is heavy grey clay. An excellent holding ground, but the clay also holds very well around the chain when we are getting the anchor up. That means that I use six nozzles with a 6 bar water spray to get the clay off. What comes out of the water is just one grey cocoon around the chain; you do not even see the chain. As we do not want to have all that mud in the chain locker, we go slow. More problematic is if we cannot get the anchor itself out of the bottom. That can happen if you anchor on a rocky bottom. The anchor will still hold although it cannot dig in, as in principle it is the weight of the chain that keeps the ship in position. When the chain gets taut with increasing wind or strong current, then the anchor might slide over the rocky bottom until it finds a crevasse and tilts the flukes in, then when you pull up the anchor it cannot angle away and you are stuck. Option 1, is then to move the bow a bit to and fro so that with veering you might dislodge it. Option 2, is to sail the anchor “over the top” e.g. sail forward with the ship and break it out. That has the danger that the flukes will break off and you need a new anchor, so you have to do that very gently.
The last resort is to slip the anchor chain. Let it completely go, mark the location and then have divers dislodge the anchor and if you are on a regular run and pick it up the next time. If you are not coming back to the port, then it becomes an expensive affair, as a salvage company has to retrieve the anchor and chain and deliver it to the most convenient port. Still that is most of the time cheaper than buying a new one. Anchors are always specified for the sort of ship size and expected usage, and the exact anchor that will fit in the haws pipe is not always in store.
Chains are easier to get as they are standard in production and are also used for other work such as off shore and so they can be produced in large quantities and that makes them cheaper. Anchors for ships like ours are one off. Made to measure for the size of the ship. Replacement cost is easily a million dollars to start with.
Thusfar I never had to leave an anchor behind. I have had problems with an anchor that had wrapped itself around coral, so the winch had problems getting the weight up. An anchor stuck in the rocks but I could sail over the top to get it free, and also once where the chain had got stuck in a crevasse and that meant that I had to move the ship side ways along the crevasse and pull the chain out in the same way as opening an difficult zipper. Slowly and staying straight.
Here in Amador we only have the mud. No problem it just takes time. The Panama Transit looks very good as of this moment; wind and rain are moving away, although a local downpoor can always occur.
December 6, 2011 at 1:57 am
So if I understand correctly, the Veendam anchor on display outside HAL headquarters in Seattle is a Very Expensive piece of ‘public art’?
I realize I asked a little about the anchor before and after your reply, noticed the bent fluke. But now, the idea that ‘a million dollars’ is sitting outside in the rain…..(Although it is painted a nice shade of dark blue…)
December 7, 2011 at 12:15 am
Hello C in Ballard,
That one was caused by running the anchor over the top. It was not caused by my “creativity” that the flukes got bent and it ended up there, but I was on the Veendam in 2008 when we exchanged it for a new one. Lowered the old one on the barge and hooked the new one in . Then it went by truck to Seattle. It weighs 6250 kg. so in scrap value not unconsiderable. But to cast a new one, made to measure, is a lot dearer.
Thank you for still reading my blog.
Capt. Albert
December 6, 2011 at 5:40 am
On a much smaller scale, I once installed a anchor wench on the front of my bass boat. I had one of those flat blade anchors that had a frame around the duel point blade and the cable attached to the frame. I was fishing near the dam in this lake and wanted to try the wench and anchor for the first time. The dam had hugh bolders lining the sides and the anchor fell in between some rocks and I didn’t know it. After a while I could see a storm building over the lake and thought it would be good to pull up anchor and head to shore. I tried to run the electric wench in to pull the anchor up and noticed the front of the boat being pulled lower into the water. I tried to release the wench but there was too much pressure against the release and it would not move. I had put cable on the wench for strengeth and now with the winds picking up and the waves building I could not even cut the line, or release it, so I staretd the motor and tried backing it up and that just pulled the front of the boat down fruther. Going forward did the same. The waves were getting bigger and the wind stronger with every minuet that passed. All at once a large wave hit the front of the boat and water rushed over the top and onto the floor, and as the boat pitched up the anchor dislodged from the rocks below and I was able to make it to shore and wait out the storm. In a effort to never have that happin again I secured a second line to the very bottom of the anchor so that when it got snagged on something again I would let the wench cable out and pull on the line attached to the bottom of the anchor and it would release its hold and than could be wenched in with no problem. Maybe the same set up could work with a large boat like the Statendam using a moring line hooked to the bottom of the anchor in case it got stuck you would have a way to wiggle the anchor loose. I am sure ship builders have thought of this before and maybe it won’t work on a ship like it did on my boat, but incase they have not thought of it, maybe it could work.
Thom
December 7, 2011 at 12:19 am
Hello Thom,
The anchor weigh 6250 kg. so you need an extra winch with the same strenght of the anchor winch to do it. The real problem is to get the right angle on that wire that goes down and then start heaving. Each ship would need a special bow construction for that. In reality only off shore vessels can do it (over the stern) and telephone cable layers might be able to use the cable guide on the bow. but as it is not an every day occurence, installing extra hardware for that is not cost effective.
Thank you for reading my blog
Best regards
Capt. Albert
December 9, 2011 at 11:40 pm
Thank you, Captain, for explaining how much can happen to the anchor once it has been dropped … Some of your readers still remember how you not only lifted up your own anchor, but also some hitchhikers in the form of “mushroom” anchors. Not once, but at two consecutive departures, increasing in number as well! The things that sneakily happen around a ship’s anchor doing its job!
(Anyone who wants to know about the mushroom anchors the Captain picked up from a river bottom, see 1&2 September 2009.)