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.

Type:
shipwreck, barge
Sunk:
March 2004
foundered under tow
Depth:
60 ft

This medium-sized crane barge sank under tow in March 2004. The barge is upside-down, but propped up at a 30-degree angle by the crane, rising 30 feet off the bottom at the highest point. The crane is a large rotating affair that is permanently mounted on the barge. It is not the crumpled arm of the crane that supports the hull, but the central cab, so the wreck is stable, and it is safe to explore the cavernous dark space below. The bottom is coarse sand and pea gravel. Eventually, the wreck will crush flat, but that will probably take several years, and until then this is a fun and interesting site. Big eels, Sea Bass, and even one or two lobsters can be found here.