Anchors and their story(s) that give cause for reflection
- Written by Portal Editor
A ship's anchor has just been the focus of the news again, but once again and unfortunately in a negative connection with sabotage and political calculation, if you listen to the news so far.
Of course, ships have always lost anchors since ancient times, but never in such a way that damage was caused to power or communication lines. Even if these did not exist in ancient times. Anyone who thinks evil of this is a rogue, based on the founder of the order, King Edward III of England (1312-1377)
Ancient anchors on the coast of the Dead Sea
But first back to the anchors, because two ship anchors from Roman and Babylonian times have just been discovered on the coast of the Dead Sea. Due to the high salt content of the water, the archaeological finds here are often very well preserved.
As the archaeologist David Mevorach told Israeli radio, one of the two anchors is around 2,500 years old. This makes it the oldest anchor ever found. The second was in use around 2,000 years ago. Both anchors were made of extremely strong and durable acacia wood for Roman ships. "The salt and the lack of oxygen in the water preserved them in a special way - including the ropes that were tied to the ship." We keep asking ourselves how an advanced civilization like the Romans could actually go down so loudly that after them, plague and cholera actually dominated people's lives.
At this point, we only want to mention the functioning irrigation and drainage system of every Roman city. Pierced stones as weight anchors In recent years, the water level of the Dead Sea has been constantly falling. Archaeological finds are constantly being made on the newly emerging coastal strips - like the two anchors from Roman times. The most original form of anchor is a stone attached to a rope. The oldest images can be found in Egyptian graves from around 3300 BC. Finds from northern Europe are also known. To attach the anchor rope, stones with natural holes were used if available, otherwise the stones were drilled through.
As weight and friction only offered a limited holding power, branches tied crosswise were soon attached in front of the stone, which could dig into the ground and thus enable higher tensile forces.
Stock anchors, patent anchors and lightweight anchors
Even if they are provided with so-called flukes, anchors that hold primarily due to their weight are referred to as weight anchors. This mainly includes older anchor types such as the classic stock anchor.
On the other hand, there are patent anchors or lightweight anchors, which dig into the ground with one or more flukes when tensile load is applied via the anchor chain, primarily due to their shape, and can have sufficient holding power despite the lower weight.
Not all anchor types are equally suitable for every type of ground.
Patent anchors include the ploughshare anchor, plough anchor or CQR anchor, the Danforth anchor or plate anchor, the Heuss anchor, the bow anchor, the d'Hone anchor or HKG clip anchor, the Bruce anchor without moving parts and many others. The mushroom anchor plays a special role, with which lightships or navigation marks are moored for longer periods.
The four- or six-armed dragging anchor is used primarily in the Mediterranean by fishermen and as folding dragging anchors on small pleasure boats. In addition to the shapes used for anchoring, there are also dragging anchors with very narrow flukes that are used for fishing lines lying on the bottom.
Finally, there are sand anchors, which have a spiral tip and must be screwed into sandy seabed or into the sand on the shore in order to hold.
Were the power and data cables deliberately destroyed?
But now back to the destroyed data and power cables caused by the so-called shadow fleet? It is hardly understandable that a cable could be severed simply by an anchor falling, especially since the water would dampen the speed of the fall and it would have to be a huge coincidence if the cable was hit exactly at the point of impact on the ground.
Of course, it could also be an accident if an anchor suddenly breaks free, slides overboard and is dragged across the ground, pulling a cable with it until it breaks. Could the ship's captain not have noticed something like this due to the reduced speed, quickly loosened the anchor chain on the ship and wanted to quietly make a run for it?
It is clear that as "self-loving" and "world-leading" Europeans (at least that is what many still think) we initially reject perfidious ideas and only allow such thoughts to return to the fore later. Basically, it is also a world of thought that was once viewed positively as a completely humanistic good, "our values". Unfortunately, this world is no longer as the world's real financial powers show us every day. But are we learning from this?
Instead of thinking ahead, there are forces, especially on the far right, that are becoming stronger and are working against precisely these steps. So are we Europeans facing the downfall of our culture like the Romans once did? And what will happen after that?
It is always the same pattern of thinking as so often: for hundreds of years it was always the Jews, in our times it is the foreigners who are blamed.
Aren't we ourselves responsible for ensuring that possible technological progress is used to preserve our culture?
Aren't we destroying ourselves if we rely on yesterday's technologies, the disposal of which is unclear and is enough in itself to destroy our world?
Over 40 years ago, there were the first successful attempts at an ecologically sensible energy transition, there were decentralized wind turbines, photovoltaics and solar technology, an electricity meter that ran forwards and simply ran backwards when fed in. A remuneration for the electricity that made private use sensible. Then came the belief that the financial powers of this country would sort it out. What a fatal misconception that it is about the well-being of the citizen when share packages come into play.
Where is the anchor for our culture and society?
We await the results of the investigations with great interest.
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