What yarn is in an object?
Where as it come from?
Why was it made?
It sits on the shelf, almost forgotten.
A wooden plinth of many steps
Topped by a carved wooden anchor
The brass chain hanging loose.
Aplaque proclaims
“ Lost anchor 1967”.
What is the tale behind this?
What memories does it bring forth?
To most people just a thing.
To me a day when the anchor fell
The chain came loose
And the ship ploughed on.
They laughed the engineers
And made this memorial to that day.
In Helsinki we had to moor at the Ford berth. It was difficult to approach. The method used was to approach the berth and drop the port anchor using this to help the ship move sideways. and prevent the bow overshooting the berth area.
That day we approached the berth in exactly the way we had on many times. I was on the forecastle in charge of the anchor party and the forward mooring party.
The Captain ordered the anchor dropped. I gave the order, the carpenter banged off the brake. The anchor fell into the water but the end of chain flew up into the air unattached to the anchor.
For a moment there was confusion but we dropped the other anchor and used this round the bow of the ship to get us to the berth.
The dock authority did dredge up our anchor and we were able to lift it back in place with one of our cranes.
The engineers on the ship presented me with this trophy that night over drinks before dinner.
