The waterfronts of most maritime nations are littered with the remains of various anchors that were lost by ships of earlier generations. These anchors have two items in common. First, they had significant weight, and second, they had cross arms or stocks to help them lie flat on the seabed and dig in. Because of the stocks, anchors were notoriously difficult objects to stow. Stowing anchors on cat heads in the forepart of the ship was the traditional solution to this problem.

Stockless anchors, on the other hand, offered much less difficulty when being lifted aboard. However, the older stockless anchors still had significant weight. Weight only ceased to be a factor with the invention of lightweight anchors, such as the Wishbone and the Swinging Arm anchors, which relied upon their power to dig into the bottom mud. Weight played a crucial role in early anchors. For instance, an anchor for a frigate in 1805 might weigh a thousand pounds. Some of the later clipper ships often carried three or four anchors each weighing about a ton (2,240 pounds), plus bower anchors and sea anchors and their associated chain and cables.

The first step toward a stockless anchor that could be stowed in a hawsehole was the close stowing anchor invented by Martin, followed closely by the Stockless or Patent anchor, patented in 1820 by Hawkinsin England. Like many early experiments, this led to a flurry of development resulting in the Wishbone patent being granted in 1822 and the Swinging arm patent in about 1823. Both the Wishbone and Swinging Arm anchors had flukes that rotated around a central bottom pin to give them improved holding power.

It wasn't until 1933 that Sir Geoffrey Taylor patented his Plough or CQR that a new style of anchor using digging-in power became available. Due to its ploughing action, this anchor has become one of the most efficient for use in mud or sandy bottoms. CQR or plow anchors are now available in a number of styles and materials. Just six years after the CQR was introduced, another lightweight type was developed by R.D. Oggand R.S. Danforth. The Danforth anchor has been used worldwide and has won a reputation for providing high holding power and ease of digging in. The development of this style of anchor continues today as Rule Industries, which bought the Danforth Company, has recently introduced a "Deepset VSB." This anchor is intended for areas with consistently soft-bottom mud. This anchor has a relatively short stock, and extra wide flukes to give it plenty of digging power. A similar anchor to the Danforth VSB is the Crosby Signature. This is a stainless-steel Danforth style lightweight anchor (Crosby formerly made all Danforth anchors). It looks so neat and shiny on the bow that I'd hate to get it scratched up by dragging it along the bottom.

Paralleling the Danforth developments is the Bruce anchor available in America from Imtra Corp. on the east coast and Mooring, Inc. on the West Coast. Developed originally for fishing craft, and later scaled up to be used on semi-submersible oil rigs, this one-piece anchor has gained an enviable reputation. When its value was proven aboard the giant rigs, it was scaled down for use aboard smaller craft where its lack of moving parts and stockless design makes it easy to stow in a bow hawsehole.

Now there's an even newer development in anchors. It used to be that if you wanted to lay out an anchor you had to launch the dinghy, row it around to the bow of your boat and carefully (repeat, carefully) lower the anchor into the dinghy. Then you rowed the dinghy to where you wanted to set the anchor and rolled the hook out of the dinghy. If all went well (and you didn't capsize), the anchor was where you wanted it. But with the design of newer and lighter anchors, we now have the Flook Flying anchor available from Down Under Marine. It is supposed to glide to where you want to set it. I have not tried it, nor have seen it, so I do not know if it lives up to its hype.