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.

Ghost Crab
Ghost Crab
Ocypode quadrata
Fiddler Crab
Fiddler Crab
Uca spp

These small crabs are largely terrestrial. Female Fiddler Crabs lack the huge claw of the male, which is very strong but is used only in dance-like territorial displays. Several species in the area differ mainly by habitat. Fiddlers prefer marshes and stream banks, where huge colonies riddle the peat with tunnels near the waterline. Almost entirely terrestrial, you will find Ghost Crabs skittering across the beaches at night. Placed in the water, they may even drown! Both grow to a body size of approximately 1 inch.

Printed from njscuba.net