Capstans & Winches

steam-powered winch
A steam-powered winch on a schooner barge. Note the various drums for drawing up anchor chain, towing hawsers, etc, and the anchor chains themselves going down through the deck into the chain locker below.

Prior to steam power, the only force available on a sailing ship to perform all the necessary work was the men on board. For some tasks, such as raising the anchor, it might be necessary to yoke the entire crew to a multi-deck manual capstan. On the largest vessels, even with every available man, this might take several hours to complete. With the advent of steam power, a "donkey engine" and a single engineer could do the work of many men, in less time, and these were soon installed in almost all vessels.

In layman's terms, the difference between a capstan or windlass and a winch is that a capstan or windlass has a vertical axis of rotation, while a winch has a horizontal axis of rotation.

capstan
Modern sailors turn the capstan on the preserved sailing frigate USS Constitution. The capstan bars are removable when not in use. The vertical shaft runs down to the keel of the ship, with similar hubs on decks below.

2 decks x 8 arms per deck x 4 men per arm = 64 men, and the Constitution was not a very big vessel, even for her day.

steam-powered winch
A remarkably similar winch in the bow of the Sea Girt wreck. The anchor, chain pile, a small boiler, and a large towing bit are nearby.
One of several enormous winches on the Oregon
One of several enormous winches on the Oregon.
A more modern winch near the bow of the Mohawk
A more modern winch near the bow of the Mohawk.
A winch on the Macedonia
A winch on the Macedonia.

dive flag

All divers are required to show a flag when in the water. When boat diving, the boat will fly the flag for you, but when shore diving you must take care of this yourself. All dive shops sell flag/floats and lines. The simple fiberglass pole type is inexpensive and works fine; there is no need to buy anything extravagant - it will only get beat-up. If you plan to stay in one place, you can tether the flag to an extra weight on the bottom, or even just prop it up at the shore. If you plan to move around, then you should drag it behind you.

dive flag line

Use only polypropylene for a flag line, never nylon. Polypropylene floats, so when it goes slack it will float up away from you, instead of sinking down in coils around you, like nylon. The big yellow spools that dive shops sell work very well. Although they look clumsy, their size makes them easier to handle in the water. With experience, you will learn to gauge the amount of line necessary to keep the flag from being pulled under, without letting out a huge excess to get tangled up in. Add a brass snap to clip it off for hands-free use. Once you get used to it, dragging a flag is really no trouble at all.