Bellerophon -10 Raising the Anchor

The main anchors on a 3rd rate 74 gun ship like HMS Bellerophon weighed about 4 tons each. And the wet 7″ diameter cable would have significantly added to that weight.

The anchor was “weighed” (raised) by manpower alone. Look at the following picture

And did you know that the anchor cable itself did not wind around the capstan. A rather smaller rope called the “traveller” wound around the capstan, and it was tied to the main anchor cable by a team of boys called “nippers” with multiple ties. The traveller was an endless loop. As the main cable was pulled in the nippers untied the ropes which were securing the cable and the traveller together and ran with the tie to the outermost end to apply the tie again. This exhausting work was often accompanied by a fiddler who sat on top of the capstan.

This drawing shows 3 decks of activity to raise the anchor. How many men on the capstan bars? I count 72! And more on the middle deck keeping the traveller taut on the capstan. Only one nipper visible although there would have been a team of them. That nipper is untying the ties. And look at the number of men feeding the main cable onto a coil on the lowermost deck. No wonder a large ship of the era required 600-800 crewmen. And the difference in diameter of the traveller and the main cable is clearly shown.
Same process, slightly later period than Bellerophon. Note the French and British crewmen on the bars, with bare feet using the regulation method of pushing on the bars. (French AND British crewmen. Definitely a later period!) The rope around the capstan is traveller size, or possibly a rope raising a spar weighing only(!) a ton or 2.
There are 2 capstans on my model Bellerophon. This one is made but not yet finished. I will decide later whether to add capstan bars.