Mr. Editor,
It is well known to many of your readers, that whenever, either from the weakness of the messenger, or the insufficiency of the capstan's power, any considerable difficulty arises in the weighting of an anchor, that it is customary to have recourse to some additional purchase lashed to the cable, by which means anchors in almost every situation may be lifted from the ground. But unfortunately, in such cases it generally happens, that at the very moment when every excertion should be made at the capstan, a most vexatious delay in removing the lashing occurs, by which delay the safety of the ship itself is often endangered. On this account, it has been long anxiously desired, that some other mode of securing the purchase might be devised, which, besides producing the required effect, should also possess the advantage of being more quickly removed and applied. The desideration is now (through the medium of your CHRONICLE) presented to the officers of the navy, than whom, no men are better able to ascertain its merits, or better disposed to afford that liberal aid, without which every spirit of improvement must ultimately subside. It now only remains to be stated, that the friendly zeal of Captain Briggs, induced him, while in the Agincourt, to give it a trial, and that a very warm report on its utility ensued; but from some particular circumstances, an idea has since arisen, that the manner of applying it in the Agincourt was not the same as that which is here described.
In order to apply or pass this nipper right (suppose on the cable alone), the wooden part must be held nearly vertical, with the hollowed or concave side downwards, the eye bolt at the head resting on the cable, and pointing aft. The two parts of the middled nipper are then to be led, on contrary sides, round the cable, and crossed beneath; afterwards (including forwards) to be led upwards, and crossed above, then downward, and so on, for the length of the three feet; see again figure A. This being done, the thin end or tail of the wood is then to be pressed down, so as to bear upon the upper crosses of the nipper, the two ends of which being led up on opposite abaft the iron bolts, are to be crossed over the wood at the tail, led down again before the bolts, and under the cable, there crossed, &c. as before, till expended. The tail before mentioned is then to be slackly wormed over all in the lay of the cable, when a strong salvage, after having been twice passed round the body of the wood and of the cable, is to be secured by its bights to the purchase; see figure B. The use of the head bolts is to keep on the salvage, and of those at the tail to perform the same service to the nipper. A mat should line the concavity throughout, for the purpose of increasing the friction. It should now, from the preceding description, be evident, that the more violent is the strain on the salvage, the more violently the wood is made to nip on the crosses it covers, and consequently, to a certain degree, the more steadfastly it resists every effort in that direction to remove it, while nothing can be more clear, than that it is nearly incapable of doing mischief by jamming, and that the instant the purchase is slackened, the whole may be removed with facility.
Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius
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Copyright © 1996 Lars Bruzelius.