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Thanks for your feedback. In this case I know the captain was the last person working on the anchor winch and securing it.
I said 'obviously not secured' because if it had been secured properly, there would have been no way that chain could have made it to the bottom of the pond.
The anchor winch was equipped with a rusty break and 'stopper', a kind of hook that would encage in te chain should the break not hold.
Since the break tighening device was not very well maintained (1989 fishing trawler and trawlers don't typically anchor) it was hard to ascertain how effective the break would be under adverse conditions. So if that hook would have been properly engaged and secured to the chain the chain could not have gone down even with the break failing.
We had 5 crew members. 2 experienced people (captain and 1st mate (who only joined a day before departure) a somewhat experienced deckhand/mate, an engineer (back on ships after a 20 year absence) and a cook.
I - the engineer - was aware the hook was not properly secured - but didn't pay notice, not realizing how bad the weather would become and once it has so bad, I thought about other things than the chain.
The 'fun' thing was, after the storm, the 1st mate asked me about exact path of the chain (the winch was below deck; the chain went from below, over deck and then down into the anchor 'box'. I said, just look, it goes up there and there and then down again. He was 'mm, well I didnt see it. I didn't realized at that time that he actually meant he didn't see the chain until later that day when I was in the winch room and had the surprise of the month!
Well, I'll definitely check the anchor myself each time we may expect heavy weather!
What kind of annoyed me was the captains reaction 'well, it was a second hand chain and you'd have to replace it anyway'. Yes, it was used (as old as the ship) but in great shape, checked during a docking 2 weeks before.
Thorwald
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