Who invented the anchor?

Nobody that we know of; the assumed development of the anchor began with a rock tied to a string in prehistoric times. Ancient civilizations developed their anchors into more sophisticated designs reminiscent of the Admiralty and stockless types commonly viewed as a "traditional" anchor. Greek and Roman anchors made extensive use of wood, with stone ballast and only limited use of expensive iron.

During the middle ages, as metal working skills developed, these designs progressed naturally into full iron and then steel patterns. The designs were also strongly influenced by the practicalities involved in handling a heavy anchor on what were relatively large ships - for example, the symmetrical nature of Admiralty, Fisherman, and stockless designs (the better to fit into hawsepipes).

Small boat anchors have developed a bit separately from the first half of the 20th century, with the advent of the "CQR", developed by Geoffrey Taylor of Scotland in the early 1930s. This design was not symmetrical, and required the use of a bow-roller design to effectively stow it. This is practical for small boats and yachts, but does not scale in a practical manner for large shipping. The CQR is now manufactured by Lewmar.

American Richard Danforth invented and developed the "Danforth" pattern in the 1940s, a return to the symmetrical concept but with very large flat plate flukes. This anchor offers very good holding power for its weight (high efficiency) but does not perform well in other respects, meaning that it is not a good general purpose anchor. The original Danforth is still manufactured and sold by Tie Down Engineering in the USA.

Peter Bruce of the Isle of Man in the UK developed the claw-type "Bruce" anchor in the 1970s. Bruce Anchor Co has its primary role in the very large anchor business, producing mooring anchors and permanent installation types for heavy industry, such as oilrigs. On the back of this reputation, the Bruce small boat anchor type was initially very successful, and represented some significant improvements over the CQR. It is no longer produced.

New generation anchors have come into force over the last decade or so. Frenchman Alain Poiraud developed the "Spade" anchor in the 1990s, a huge leap in performance over any types which preceeded it. The Spade was the first anchor to successfully make use of a concave fluke, which provides the greatest efficiency (as opposed to the convex "plow" type of the CQR, or the flat "plate" type of the Danforth).

New Zealander Peter Smith in the early 2000s took elements of the Spade and other types, and developed unique solutions of his own, in order to design the "Rocna" anchor, a general purpose type which uses a concave fluke, a self-righting roll-bar, and setting skids. Independent testing shows the Rocna to be the best general purpose anchor currently available.

Once more these assymmetrical anchors are restricted to "small boats"; the Rocna for example is not produced in sizes above 275 kg (606 lb). Anchor design and production for large ships has not changed significantly in the last 100 years.

First answer by Badmonkey. Last edit by Badmonkey. Contributor trust: 1 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 2 [recommend question].