Find Spot MPM2076 - Byers stockless anchor, Portsmouth Harbour

Byers stockless anchor retrieved by grab from a crane barge in Portsmouth Harbour in 2015 during the Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project.

Small cast iron stockless anchor with inclined tripping fins, pointed spoon shaped flukes and a surviving length of studded chain. The right fluke had the cast name W L Byers & Co Ltd and Sunderland on either side of a circular boss. The anchor appeared to be identical to a design approved in 1923 and described as a ‘Byers Improved Stockless Anchor’.

This type of anchor was used by both the Royal Navy and merchant ships but was probably naval due its location. 100m of copper cable was recovered with the anchor and small fragments of welding rod had adhered to the concretion suggesting that it may have been dumped in the harbour with unwanted material rather than being lost. It was thought to probably date to between 1923 and c1939.

The location for this find was recorded in the report as 463677 E 99494 N but this location is not within the harbour. The NGR has been adjusted and recorded on the HER as SZ 62677 99494, as this appears to represent the location as shown on the plan on the object report form.

UID: BWL1_0027 in Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project report.

Wessex Archaeology, 2018, Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project Her Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth: Archaeological Assessment Report (Unpublished document). SPM646.