Anchor Chain
All plans and models that show the
anchor chains, other than the [SF Maritime] model, have the anchor chain storage
as being aft of the fore mast and just in front of the main cabin with the
anchor chain being fed through chain pipes through the deck. Most of them show the chain pipes located
about the diameter of the chain pipe in front of the cabin and about the same
distance in from the outer edge of the cabin. [White] also shows "chafeing plates", actually more of a chafeing plank, under the anchor chain extending from the
windlass to the chain pipes. None of the
other sources shows chafeing plates. [Boucher 1916] and [Boucher 1930] show caps
on the chain pipe, presumably to reduce the amount of seawater entering the
pipe in rough seas. In the mid 1800s the
chain would have been "stud chain". [Leavitt 9]
stud
chain
Anchor
Chain Size
I have not found any definitive source
that says what size the anchor chain on the Flying Cloud herself would
have been. But there is some information about ships of similar size and age.
Tosti says that the anchor chain on the Young
America was 10 links per fathom. A
fathom is about 6 feet so that would mean 13 links per 8 feet – which
translates to 13 links per inch for a 1:96 model.
Ben Lankford drew the anchor chain for the Flying Fish
as being 12.5 links per inch in the detail drawing of the chain stopper on
sheet 4 of his plan set.
Campbell provides a table showing chain wire sizes for
different sized ships and a diagram showing how to calculate link size from the
chain wire size in the chart on page 137 of China Tea Clippers. Using his numbers the anchor chain for a ship
of the size of the Flying Cloud would be a bit larger that the Tosi and
Lankford numbers at 10.24 links per 8 feet (10.24 links per inch in 1:96
scale).
I was not able to find any 10 links per inch bar chain but I
did find some 8 links per inch brass bar chain from China on eBay that looks
quite good.
6/1/2024
© Scott Bradner