Ships Anchor

[pntalbot]

If a Cruise  Ship breaks down in mid Ocean with depths of say 1-2 miles and the sea is very choppy, how does this Ship Anchor, without moving, surely it doesn`t  have 1-2 miles of Anchor cable. This question came up, on phone in radio program last night, with No Replies--- Any Sailors out there, know the answer please ? ? ?

[pntalbot]

[Gillysdad]

The vessel would drift with the wind/current I'm afraid.  :o

[Barnowl]

I think the larger ships carry about half a mile of chain - not enough to reach teh bottom. They could let out what they have and it would partly act as a 'sea anchor', slowing the rate of wind drift.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Surely she would heave to? Turn towards the wind and sit there with the engines turning over gently just to keep steering control. If the engines on a ship go, that's major trouble since they lose all control, and can't anchor unless they're lucky with the weather and the water's shallow. If it was a cruise ship in the open ocean, it wouldn't matter too much though, since they're almost impossible to sink, and there wouldn't be any danger of hitting anything before a tug could get to them.