_At_ ANCHOR, _à l’ ancre_, the situation of a ship which rides by her anchor in a road or haven, &c. Plate I. fig. 6. represents the fore-part of a ship, as riding in this situation. _The_ ANCHOR _is a peek_. See the article APEEK. _The_ ANCHOR _is a-trip_, or _a-weigh_. See those articles. _To back the_ ANCHOR. See BACK. _To cat the_ ANCHOR, _caponner l’ancre_, is to hook a tackle called the _cat_ to its ring, and thereby pull it up close to the cat-head, which see. _To fish the_ ANCHOR, to draw up the flukes upon the ship’s side after it is catted. See the articles DAVIT and FISH. _To sheer the ship to her_ ANCHOR, _gouverner sur l’ancre_, is to steer the ship’s head towards the place where the anchor lies when they are heaving the cable into the ship; that the cable may thereby enter the hause with less resistance, and the ship advance towards the anchor with greater facility. _To shoe the_ ANCHOR. See the article SHOE. _To weigh the_ ANCHOR, _lever l’ancre_, to heave the anchor out of the ground by its cable. See CAPSTERN and WINDLASS. _To weigh the_ ANCHOR _with the long-boat_, _lever l’ancre avec la chaloupe_, is to draw it up by applying mechanical powers to the buoy-rope, and thereby pull it up to the boat’s stem or stern. _To weigh the_ ANCHOR _by the hair_, is to weigh it by the cable in a boat, when the ship cannot approach it, or when the buoy rope is broke. See the French term _Ancre_, and the phrases which succeed in order. ANCHOR-_ground_, _fond de bonne tenue_, is a bottom which is neither too deep, too shallow, nor rocky; as in the first the cable bears too nearly perpendicular, and is thereby apt to jerk the anchor out of the ground: in the second, the ship’s bottom is apt to strike at low water, or when the sea runs high, by which she is exposed to the danger of sinking: and in the third, the anchor is liable to hook the broken and pointed ends of rocks, and tear away its flukes; whilst the cable, from the same cause, is constantly in danger of being cut through as it rubs on their edges. APEEK, (_à pique_, Fr.) perpendicular to the anchor; a ship is said to be in this situation, when the cable is drawn so tight into the bow as to, bring her directly over the anchor, so that the cable bears right down from the ship’s stem. APRON, (from _a_ and _foran_, Sax.) a platform, or flooring of plank, raised at the entrance of a dock, a little higher than the bottom, against which the dock gates are shut. See the article DOCK. APRON, _contre etrave_, in ship-building, a piece of curved timber fixed behind the lower part of the stem, immediately above the foremost end of the keel. See plate I. fig. H. in the PIECES _of the_ HULL. The APRON conforms exactly to the shape of the stem, so that when the convexity of the former is applied to the concavity of the latter, it forms one solid piece, which serves to fortify the stem, and give it a firmer connexion with the keel.