The handling of anchor cable on merchant ships was the subject of much innovation in the early nineteenth century。 In warships anchor cable was handled by capstans operated by large crews。 On merchant ships, with restricted space and manpower, a windlass was preferred。 This article examines the development of the hand-powered windlass from the traditional form to the use of ratchets, gears and sprockets to improve its handling capabilities。 The operation of windlasses was a concern of the Académie des Sciences and the large number of patents taken out in Britain and America demonstrate the ways in which science and practical innovation influenced the development of technology for handling anchor cables prior to the application of steam。82155

Key words: capstan, windlass, anchor cable, chain, merchant ship, maritime technology, naval architecture, Académie des Sciences

n warships, with their large crews, the anchor cable was handled with a capstan, but in small merchantmen, a windlass was preferred。 The main difference was that the axis of a capstan was vertical and that of a windlass horizontal, but both functioned as traction-winches, that is to say frictional grip was maintained by wrapping of the cable round the barrel and keeping tension on the inboard end。 For centuries, these devices remained essentially unaltered, but starting at the end of the eighteenth century, efforts were made to improve and modify the traditional capstan。1 Our focus here is on the analogous improvements made to the windlass,

over the same period。

The traditional windlass

Figure 1 shows a classic old-fashioned windlass, with the barrel (A); standards or carrick-bitts (B); pawls (C), supported by the pawl-bitts (D)。 The cable is shown at

(E) seized to a pin thrust into a mortise, and looped over hooks to hold it clear of the barrel at (F)。2 The barrel was octagonal, each face pierced by square mortises, and was turned a quarter turn at a time, by two or more men inserting square-ended handspikes into mortises in the uppermost face, and pulling downwards and aft and as shown in figure 2。 William Falconer comments:

It requires, however, some dexterity and address to manage the handspike to greatest advantage, and to perform this the sailors must all rise at once upon the windlass, and, fixing their bars therein, give a sudden jerk at the same instant, in which movement they are regulated by a sort of song or howl, pronounced by one of their number。3

1Harland, Capstans and Windlasses, chs 5, 6 and 8; Harland, ‘Design of winches’; Harland, ‘Eckhardt’。

2Röding, Allgemeines Wörterbuch, fig。 44, plate V。

3Falconer, Dictionary of the Marine, 324。

Figure 1A classic windlass

Manning the capstan demanded a strong back and legs, but no particular skill, whereas working a windlass required co-ordination and training, with the sailors moving rhythmically, inserting and withdrawing their handspikes together, and hauling down at precisely the same moment。 Windlasses with long barrels had space enough for two pairs of men to work together。 As one pair finished the down-stroke, two others would insert their handspikes in the topmost face, and repeat the movement, keeping the windlass barrel moving almost continuously。 In bigger vessels the handspikes could be double manned。 Falconer noted that:

The most dexterous managers of the handspike in heaving in are generally supposed the colliers of Northumberland; and of all European mariners, the Dutch are certainly the most awkward and sluggish in this manoeuvre。

Since time was lost inserting and withdrawing the handspikes, ‘fleeting’ them, as Gladstone refers to the process,4 and because failure of one man to plant his handspike with precision, could throw everybody off cadence, one can see why obviating