Salvaging Anchors?

[pointdiver]

I have a question on salvaging anchors, over the years I have found a few small boat anchors and kept a couple for my own use. My question is when it comes to large mooring anchor (150 mushrooms) are there laws supporting divers recovering these?
I have come across many that have rotten chains and buried so it was apparent they had been abandoned for some time. Does anyone know if it OK for me to salvage these? Thanks for any info.

 

[Cheekymonkey]

I've definently heard of people doing it but not sure of the legality of it, that may change state by state.

 

[Bob3]

Some mooring areas are run by local marinas, municipalities, etc. & the anchors would then still belong to them. Same with ground tackle right in front of someone's house.
If the anchors are just in an "out of the way area" they may be fair game, providing someone isn't still using them.
The best source of info is going to be your local DNR, DFG, or whatever the wardens in your area call themselves. Call a couple, at different locations so you'll have a better chance of getting the straight scoop.
They would be the ones writing you a ticket for running off with the things, so hopefully they know from whence they speak.
Don't get too eager to run off with them; I found some really nice antique kedges & after following the old rusty chain, they were still hooked to a nice fresh buoy line which I'm sure the owner unhooks every season.
This isn't "boat mooring season" so you may be getting into some gray areas; many boat owners are divers too.

 

[CAPT HOOK]

Question seems to be HOW are you going to recover a 150lb. mushroom that is buried?

 

[Packhorse]

400lb lift bag?

 

[Cheekymonkey]

No, a 150lb recovery is certainly not out of the question if he has proir experience recovering objects.

 

[CAPT HOOK]

It's not a question of just recovering a 150 lb. anchor. A buried mushroom anchor will hold a 10,000 lb. + boat in place against 40+ MPH winds. Getting that anchor released from the bottom??

If the anchor has a 3 1/2 foot shank it's going to take more thae a 400 lb. lift bag to free it.

 

[victor]

Most anchors have a tripping connection. If you can your lift bag connected to that it should help in breaking the anchor out of the mud.
If it has been buried for any length of time in mud then it is going to be very difficult to unstick it.

Mushroom anchors are designed for permenant moorings. As such there is, normally, no way to recover them without digging them out of the mud. Personally I would just leave it down there.

 

[Gilldiver]

I have pulled a few mushroom anchors in the past. After doing 10 or 12, lets just say going out and buying your own gets to be attractive.

First, most mushrooms will be between 150 and 500 lbs. This will depend on the boat size and bottom type – sand, rock, mud, ect.

In mooring fields the local harbor master or yacht club should be contacted. They know there are a lot of lost gear out there and they just may make a deal, you go and mark 5 or 6 anchors for them, and you get to keep one of them If they are really nice, they might pull it for you with a mooring scow. What these are, are flat floats with about 2,000 lbs of floatation, the ones I have used have a hole in the center with a tripod and chain fall on it. At low tide they center over the mushroom to be pulled, hook up as far down as they can, and take as much tension as they can. Then go back to the dock and let the rising tide do the work of pulling for them over the next 6 hours.

Many newer mushrooms will have a trip chain or cable. This trip should go from an eye at the edge of the disk up to the shackle. When it is time to pull the mushroom, a line is attached to the trip and tension is put on the side of the disk to pull it out sideways. Much easier then a straight upward pull lifting all the mud and a lot of bottom suction.

But if there is now trip or if you want to do it the hard way, The worst case is mud, here is how I’v done it: put 3-4 times the weight you think the mushroom is. Now slowly start to dig the mud off the top of the mushroom. The shank of the mushroom is almost always tilted, start on the up side of the tilt so that as the mud is removed the shank should move straight up and down. Now comes the interesting part, there is a lot of suction holding the anchor down, and a lot of lift trying to pull it up; Put one hand on the edge of the mushroom disk in front of your face. This is so that when the suction breaks, the disk doesn’t break your jaw as it passes by on the way up. Now, use you other hand to dig under the disk and work it quickly back and forth to gell the mud and let water under it. This should break the suction and the anchor should go quickly to the surface.

Again, when it starts to go, you have to be out of the way, it will go very fast.

 

[MSilvia]

I'f you're trying to recover an anchor (or other object) that's buried to any significant extent, you might also find it helpful to remove as much of the silt/sand/etc as possible with an airlift (aka underwater vaccuum cleaner) before trying to muscle the object out with buoyancy.

If anyone's interested, I can point you to the largest mushroom I've ever seen... I'd guess it's disc diameter is about 8 feet. It's near the City of Salisbury wreck, and was likely either the ship's anchor, or from a vessel involved in the salvage operation. It has 200+ feet of chain attached to it too. I think I'll leave the recovery to someone else.