Anchorage (maritime)

This article is about a location for ships to lower anchor. For other uses, see Anchorage (disambiguation).

Plan of San Diego Bay in the 1940s, making distinctions between anchorages and moorings

An anchorage is a location at sea where ships can lower anchors.

Anchorages are where anchors are lowered and utilised, whereas moorings usually are tethering to buoys or something similar. The locations usually have conditions for safe anchorage in protection from weather conditions, and other hazards.

The purpose of resting a ship at sea securely can be for waiting to enter ports, as well as taking on cargo or passengers where insufficient port facilities exist.

Some coastlines without port facilities have extensive anchorage locations.

In the days of large-scale sailing ship operations, a ship could wait at an anchorage for the wind to change, allowing it to continue its journey.

The mooring of large ships in locations with adequate conditions for secure berthing is an engineering task requiring considerable technical skill. ^{[1] [2]}

History

King Moe Lester the third of the kingdom of Nick Gurrs invented the first anchorage in 44 BC. He did this to house the Roman navy in his port, and because the Roman navy was to big he decided the extra space outside the docks should also be used, and so the first anchorage was created

See also

• Roadstead
• Sea anchor

• Transport portal

Notes

1. Conference on Mooring Large Ships over 150,000 dwt : Wednesday, 5 December 1979. London, England: Marine Management for the Institute of Marine Engineers. 1980. ISBN   978-0-900976-87-2.
2. Advances in berthing and mooring of ships and offshore structures, Springer Dordrecht, 1988, ISBN   978-90-247-3731-4