The call anchor's aweigh was made by seamen to indicate that the weight of the anchor was being borne by the chains or warp: it did not indicate that the anchor was away, ie: not here. Seamen were inclined to prefix words with a letter a: for instance, ashore, astern, atop.
Secondly my research into Black Country anchor making led me to a detailed description of the process by which the main anchor for Titanic was made in the Black Country Bugle. I will reproduce it below. It interested me because I had heard claims that Walter Somers of Halesowen had made this anchor. Reading this article shows that it was not that simple: Although Hingley were the main contractor for the work they actually outsourced some processes and indeed Somers did contribute. It could not be said that Somers made the whole anchor.
19 August 2010
SUNDAY saw a replica of the Titanic’s great anchor make the return
trip from Dudley to Netherton (see page 15) , filmed for a Channel 4
television series, but what of the original anchor? Titanic’s centre
anchor was, at the time and for some time to follow, the world’s largest
anchor ever forged by hand. In its overall size, the anchor measured an
impressive 18ft 6in in length, the cast steel head of the anchor was
10ft 9in in width and the anchor weighed an incredible 15ton 16cwts.
The
order for the anchors, both side and centre, was received from Harland
and Wolff in late 1910 by the Black Country’s historic forging company,
Noah Hingley and Sons Ltd in Netherton.
However, not every part of the anchors was to be produced by Hingleys.
The head of the anchor was cast by John Rogerson and Co. in
Newcastleupon- Tyne, upon the request of Hingleys, and manufactured to
the 1906 Hall’s Patent. The steel hand and drop forged anchor shank went
to Walter Somers Ltd. in Halesowen. The job was given to Somers by
Hingleys due to Somers having the techniques to produce large scale
ingots and housing much more powerful hydraulic drop hammers compared to
the one in use at the Hingleys works in 1910/11.
The Noah Hingley works, however, went on to manufacture themselves
the anchor shackle and pin, anchor head locking pins and retaining
blocks, anchor attachment links, anchor chains (for the side anchors),
mooring swivel chains and anchor chains deck stoppers for the
“unsinkable” liner.
The head of the anchor was to be cast in a bed of sand. The process
was typical of late Victorian and early Edwardian casting, but on a much
larger scale. The bed had the shape of the anchor cut into the sand
from large wooden moulds made of the anchor head sections.
The bed, which sat close to the furnaces, had molten metal poured
into the mould. Cooled down the whole cast head was lifted from the
mould and cleaned up. If the head of the anchor was incorrect in weight,
pig-iron was blasted onto the head when it was received by Noah
Hingleys.
The anchor shank was a much more daunting process. After pig-iron
bars were created by channelling liquid metal into beds set in sand, the
bars were sent to the drop forge shops, melted down and formed into
large ingots of steel. The drop forge hammers would be used to form the
anchor shank’s principal shape.
The end result was an object over fifteen feet in length and weighing
almost 8 tons. For the eyelets at both ends of the shank, for the
securing pins to be passed through to secure both head and shackle, the
eyes were forged into the shank during construction. Once the shape was
achieved, the eyelets were cleaned.
The anchor parts were then passed onto the Lloyds Proving House which
was situated alongside the Noah Hingley works on the opposite side of
the Cradley Road.
The anchor was put through a series of tests, as set by Lloyds
Register of Shipping. Some of the tests included the drop test which
would see the assembled anchor lifted to a height of 12ft and dropped
onto a solid concrete and steel topped base. This was to establish the
drop load of the anchor when at sea.
Next there was the hammer test in which the anchor was lifted and a
Lloyds worker would hit the head and shank of the Titanic: The Hingley
Anchors anchor. If the steel had a “ring” sound, the anchor had no
imperfections and was passed. It was then stamp-marked with certificates
from the Proving House registration, date, Proving House
Superintendants initials, weight, drop test and materials used.
Each link for the anchor chains of the Titanic were of an impressive
scale and made from steel which Hingleys proudly claimed “Hingleys
Best”.
The largest link was situated within the anchor attachment and measured 36in, the others were forged at 33in.
Each link was forged from pig-iron bars, heated up and run through a machine known as a mandrel.
The mandrel gave the link its distinctive shape, but both ends of the link did not meet.
The link would then be heated while a centre stud was hammered into
place. The link, still open, was then hooped into its neighbouring
closed-up link. The “chain gang” would then close the link and fuse the
ends together.
Before this process, sections of chain were made for testing purposes.
Lengths of the chain were tested at the Hingley works in hydraulic pulling beds.
One end of the length of chain was secured to a stationary clamp. The
other was fitted into the jaws of the anchor and chain testing machine.
The machine would then apply pressure upon the chains to a set tonnage recommended by Lloyds.
Like the anchors, the section of chains forged had to be proved and
both Hingley and Lloyds Proving House workmen had the lengthy task of
checking the links. Almost 1,200 feet of chain were forged for the
Titanic.
All three of the Olympic-Class liners had their centre anchors
painted matt white while at the Hingley works. But Titanic was the only
one of the three that had the name “Hingley Netherton” painted upon the
shank.
Both side anchors of the Olympic were painted matt white and sent that way to Belfast.
Both Titanic’s side anchors were painted matt black and Britannic’s centre anchor was painted matt white.
Transportation for the Titanic anchors came from the Great Bridge (West Midlands) haulage company W.A.
Ree, who were sub-contracted to LNWR (London and North Western
Railways). The company sent a large heavy duty haulage cart, more
commonly known as a dray, and eight of their Clydesdale horses to help
pull the cart. These huge horses had the pulling strength of up to two
tonnes each and were a common sight on inland waterways, canals and
roads of the Midlands. The horses were then connected to the cart after
the huge anchor had been lowered upon it while at the Lloyds Proving
House. With hills challenging the procession, such as that on Blowers
Green, Hingley works decided to attach six of their own horses to the
group of Ree horses to help take the extra strain as the horses and dray
made their way up hills and cobbled streets. From the LNWR terminal,
another six horses were sent down to assist, if needed. Placed at the
head of the team, and now being returned to where they came from, the
sight was that of a horse procession of twenty beasts.
With hundreds of townsfolk lining dirt tracks and streets, the
procession left the Hingley works and started its two-mile journey to
Dudley. Heading through Netherton High Street, then through Cinder Bank
and on to Blowers Green, coming out at the top of Dudley High Street,
and through the Market Place and into Castle Hill, the huge anchor
finally arrived at the LNWR goods yard next to the Guest Hospital on the
Tipton Road. The next leg of the journey would see the anchors and
chains sent via rail to Fleetwood in Lancashire.
From Fleetwood, the anchor was to be put onboard the passenger/ cargo
steamer Duke of Albany and sent across the Irish Sea to Donegal Quay in
Belfast. From there it went on to the Belfast shipyards of Harland and
Wolff via Harland’s own horses and cart, painted black then fitted
aboard the Titanic.
One of the spectators that day was the Cradley Heath freelance
photographer Edwin Beech; little did Beech know how iconic his images
would be.
The sinking of the Titanic was a night to remember. The journey from
the Hingley works to Dudley Railway Station was, for the people of
Dudley and Netherton, a day to remember.
(Jonathan Smith comes from Willenhall and has studied the Titanic
since the age of seven. Over the years he has supplied images and
information to a number of Titanic books, magazines, researchers,
historians, websites and DVDs. For the Channel 4 series, he has supplied
technical information, photographs, plans, drawings and the information
on not only anchors for the Titanic, but also the company of Noah
Hingley and Sons, the methods of how they manufactured such large-scale
anchors, and the historic journey they undertook in May 19
Walter Somers Ltd occupied the site of this large works alongside Hawne Basin where we are currently moored.
They came to the public's notice again around 1990 when they contributed to another project to produce very large castings: they forged parts for the supergun that Sheffield Forgemasters were manufacturing for Iraq.
Why did Ree uses horses for heavy transport? Surely most haulage companies would have used steam powered traction engines at that time?
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