Last week, an anchor accidentally deployed on the BC Ferry Spirit of British Columbia at it exited the east end of Active Pass into the Strait of Georgia. The ship apparently did a complete donut as the crew put the vessel in full reverse to slow it down. The ferry was delayed for 80 minutes as the crew worked in rough waters to secure the anchor.

It's not clear at this point why the anchor dropped--a BC Ferries spokesperson said the crew did not deploy it. According to a comment posted to the CBC story linked above, the anchors normally are locked on deck. But in close quarters or when approaching a dock, the lock is removed and a clutch is used to hold the anchor in place. On exiting Active Pass, the anchor should have been locked back in place. Perhaps the lock failed or was not engaged properly, or the clutch failed before the anchor lock was in place.

They're lucky the anchor didn't let loose inside Active Pass, particularly while passing another ferry. The channel is narrow, with swift current, and has blind entries at both ends. BC Ferries has already had two major accidents in Active Pass. Three people were killed with the BC Ferry Queen of Victoria collided with the Soviet freighter Sergey Yesenin in 1970. And in 1979, the BC Ferry Queen of Alberni went aground there, incurring extensive damage but fortunately with no lives lost.

The picture below shows the two 550-foot Spirit-class ferries, the largest in the fleet, just inside the west entrance. The waterway barely has sufficient passing room. Donuts are out of the question.



We see plenty of pleasure craft where a windlass clutch is all that keeps the anchor properly stowed when underway. Securing the anchor is as important for pleasure craft as it is for larger ships. An anchor can come loose in rough water and deploy, or bash about on deck or into a windshield. We’ve heard stories of pleasure craft where anchors deployed accidentally and the rode fouled the propellers. This resulted in thousands of dollars in damage, in addition to putting the vessel and crew at risk.

We secure our anchor with a short length of half-inch line with a carabiner permanently tied on one end. Once the anchor is stowed, we clip the carabiner to the anchor's trip line eye, and tie the other end to a nearby cleat. This is a simple and efficient system, and we can easily tell at a glance from a distance if the anchor is secured.