CAPSTAN FIRST WATCH
LOAD ON THE PAWLS0 kN
RATED 0SHEARS AT 0
SNATCH0 kN
TAUT IN—
HANDSFRESH
TURNS 5.4PURCHASE 0:1
HOLDING0 kN
GROUND DRAGGED 0.0 mSAND
WEATHERHOLDING
MIDNIGHTCHAIN
SET THE ANCHOR let the chain come taut and the flukes will dig
9.4 m 16.9 m out

the bight is slack — nothing is on the gear

the glass is holding and the ground is soft

A NIGHT AT ANCHOR · THREE WATCHES · ONE CAPSTAN

CAPSTAN

The anchor is down. Everything from here is a fight with weight.

The sea surges her along the chain and the chain snatches. Your job is to take the load onto the capstan in your hands, hold it there while the flukes dig, and then walk the ground back up the chain before the weather has her.

HEAVE
Turn the capstan and take in chain. This is the work, and it tires the hands.
EASE
Turn back and pay out. Letting go is slower than heaving, and it is how you keep the bight of chain in hand for the next surge.
TAUT IN
Seconds before the bight runs out. When it does, the gear gets whatever the ship is carrying.

Hold SPACE or W to heave, S to ease, H to hove the turns home, N for the snub chain. ESC to hold off. M for sound.

FIRST WATCH · MIDNIGHT UNTIL THREE

CHOOSE THE RODE

THE RODE GOING OVER THE END

WHERE SHE LETS GO

THE WATCH IS HELD

ALL HANDS STAND EASY

Nothing settles while you are off the barrel. The sea is still running and so is the foul weather.

DAWN

THE WATCH IS MADE

THE LAW OF THE ANCHOR WATCH

WHAT THE GEAR IS TELLING YOU

THE BIGHT
Chain has length, and length hangs. While there is more of it than the distance between the hawse and the iron, the rode is slack and the gear feels nothing at all.
TAUT IN
Seconds of slack left in the bight. When it reaches zero the chain stops hanging and starts pulling, and the load the gear takes is whatever the ship was already carrying.
SNATCH
The load the gear will be handed if the bight runs out at this instant. Watch it, and ease before it gets above what the pawls will take.
HOLDING
What the ground will give. It grows as the flukes bury, and it falls as the vertical pull tries to lift them out. Scope is most of it: chain lying spare on the mud in front of the flukes.
THE WEAR
Every time the load is taken off the pawls after being pushed past their rating, the capstan dogs are a little worse. A steady pull costs nothing. A snatch costs.
THE SNUB CHAIN
It caps the capstan so the turns cannot run back, and lets you drag the iron home deliberately. It is the weakest thing you own and it parts at a fifth of the gear's rating.