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"To me it sounds like equipment failure!!!"
That "hook" is what seamen call a "devil's claw" and it is designed to hold the anchor in a stowed position underway rather than put a strain on the windlass. A pelican hook and turnbuckle is a better way to do it but that option was not mentioned.
By the sound of it, the equipment did not fail. The devil's claw was still there, the anchor simply had not been properly secured with the strain taken by a turnbuckle. If the "hook" was not taking a strain with the anchor fully home and all load released from the windlass (with its brake set) it was simply not secured. If there was no means fitted to tension the devil's claw they did not have a chain stopper.
Expecting the devil's claw to leap into position by itself as the chain slips is an example of the failure of faith based seamanship.
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