Crane's Self-Acting Chain Stoppers.

A few days ago we were on board of a new ship when she was having her anchor hove up, and paid particular attention to the opreation. She had not the chain stopped; but in their place a "Devil's Claw" and a tackle upon the chain abaft the windlass manned by 18 men, to aid in purchasing the anchor; but though the ship has a steamer alongside, to work her up to her anchor, for every five linbks that were hove in, one, at least, ran out. Every time the chain surged upon the windlass no less thah three links ran out, in spite of the 18 men, who held on by the tackle. Now, if she had had the chain-stoppers, every link as it was hove in would have been nippered inside of the hwasehole, and instead of having 18 men to hold on abaft the windlass, four only would have been necessary. A whip upon the chain, brought to the capstan, with two men to heave round, another to hold on, and a fourth to fleet the whip, would have done much better than the whole 18 with the tackle. The new clipper ship Challenger, which has the stopper, had a greater scope of chain out then the ship alluded to above, yet able purchased her anchor during half a gale of wind in 45 minutes, whereas the other vessel, in almost a calm, was an hour and a half. How any shipowner, who has seen these stoppers, can fit out a new vessel without them, seems strange to me, especially as their cost is a more trifle. Every shipmaster who has tried them speaks of them in unqualified terms of praise. To show that they are extensively used, we have compiled the names of a few of the vessels which have them:

Amazon,	Morning Light,
Alexander,	Morning Star,
Amphitrite,	Margaret,
Alice Counce,	Milwauke,
Abby Brown,	Northern Light,
A.B. Thompson,	National Eagle,
Brittania,	Nonpareil,
Bernard,	Orient,
Break O'Day,	Ostervald,
Bay State, steamer,	Ohio,
Crusader,	Orizba, steamer,
Costella,	Phaeton,
Climax,	Pride of America,
Challenger,	Pantheon,
Chas Morgan, steamer,	Pride of the Sea,
Calhoun,	Pequot,
Copin,	Premier,
Clara Brookman,	Portland,
Cicero,	Queen of the Seas,
Charles,	Queen of the Pacific,
Charles Buck,	Queen of Clippers,
Cornelis,	Ringleader,
Coriolanus,	Resolute,
Cumberland,	Red Gauntlet,
David Crocket,	Rosseau,
Eagle Wing,	Redwood,
Empire State, steamer,	Robert L. Lane,
Ericsson, Caloric,	Star of the Union,
E.C. Seranton,	Strelna,
Empire,	Spitfire,
Edwin Forrest,	Sparkling Wave,
Evening Star,	San Francisco, stmr,
Flying Fish,	Stag Hound,
Flying Arrow,	State of Maine, stmr,
Flying Childers,	Simon,
Flying Dragon,	Saratoga,
Fleet Wing,	Seine,
Florida,	Saint Bernard,
Great Republic,	Silver Cloud,
Gov. Morton,	Sunrise,
Gauntlet,	Shooting Star,
Germanicus,	Sultan,
Hoogly,	Tornado,
Henry Reed,	Thallatta,
Herald_of_the_Morning,	Uncle Toby,
Invincible,	Undaunted,
Illinois,	Volga,
John Bright,	Westward Ho,
John M. Wood,	Whirlwind,
John L. Dimmock,	Winged Racer,
Juventau,	West Wind,
King Fisher,	White Swallow,
Lotus,	Wizard,
Light Foot,	Western Continent,
Linda,	Wild Wave,
Lewis,	Webster,
Lorenzo,	Windward,
Mystery,	Wm. Thompson.

Boston Daily Atlas, 1854, March 3.

Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius

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