“The bitter end of the chain is tied to a fitting in the chain locker with some sort of “weak link”; a shackle that is sawed halfway through or sometimes only a strong piece of rope.”
Thanks for the info. I just did a search, and on the USS Abe Lincoln carrier the length of anchor chain is 1,082 feet. Another search said “most of the Caribbean is over 6,000 feet deep”.
So - good news on not dragging bottom and pulling the innards out of the ship. Not so good news on ever finding the anchor.
Most ships are delivered from the builder’s yard with an extra anchor, and chain and fittings are available worldwide. The container ships I manage have an extra one stored on the deck just forward of hatch #1.
In one case last year we had to just cut one loose from the ship while off of Singapore because the hydraulic motor driving the windlass broke and couldn’t be replaced quickly.
In the end it was a business decision as the cost of an anchor was less than the loss of two or three days charter time waiting on a replacement hydraulic motor.
Unlikely a cruise ship will have a spare anchor aboard but the ship’s management company will likely have one available.