Officer Notes tidbits:

When at Anchor:

The clock system is literally think of the anchor chain like a hour hand and N (bow of ship), E (starboard),
S (stern of ship) and W (port) as the 12, 3, 6, 9 hours. Now if you are lowering the starboard anchor you
are ideally looking for the chain to rest between 12 and 2 o'clock. This tells you the anchor is in a good
position relative.

The anchor chain on the seabed should be forward of the ship and as close to horizontal on the floor as
possible to ensure maximum hold (rather than in a big pile on top of each other). If the chain is at 6
o'clock the captain would need to go astern to pull it to a more 12 o' clock position. If the anchor was at
9 o' clock the anchor chain would be running from starboard to port side under your hull. Again this is
not what you want so the captain would have to re-adjust to bring it to a more 12 o'clock position. The
opposite would be true if you were lowering you're port anchor.

On top of this you tell the bridge if the anchor chain is loose or tight by visual inspection, you want it
fairly tight as this indicates a good hold. You also tell the bridge if the anchor is dragging, this can usually
be seen by the chain vibrating or visually the ship moving with the current. Hope this helps! I've not
been at sea for a while so hope I've not omitted too many procedures.

--

OK I think we have covered it, but can summarise again to be sure.

Clock System
From the Hawse Pipe right ahead in the same fore & aft line of the vessel is 12 o'clock. From the hawse
pipe at 90 degrees to the f&a line of the vessel is is 3 O'clock/9 O'clock depending. Fill in the blanks from
there.
Other systems can be used to indicate direction. Points, Red/Green + degrees. Use whatever you're
comfortable with, clock system is easy and crosses cultural barriers most easily, imo.
The clock system relates to direction only.

Cable Stay
The weight on the cable is usually communicated as 'stay'. If there is no weight/pull on the cable, the
cable will be going directly down into the water from the hawse pipe, and so will be communicated as
'up and down'. As the Weight/pull on the cable increases, the anchor will start to lead in a direction (use
the clock system) and the anchor will start to develop and angle at which it enters the water. For small
angles it is a short stay, a bit bigger it becomes medium stay, and if the angle has developed quite a
large angle with the waterline, so that it enters the water quite some distance from the hawse pipe, that
is a long stay.

In terms of what to report - imagine being the old man on the bridge, what would you want to know? I
tend to report each shackle (if I see them :P) , the lead (direction & weight), as well as passing on if a
lead starts to develop from the up and down position, if the cable starts to lead astern (between 3 and 9
o'clock), if the cable is leading over/under the bulbous bow. If in doubt, tell the bridge exactly what you
can see, you are unlikely to come awry doing that, and as experience grows, you will know what is
important and what isn't.