Zuytdorp's Anchor - Welding in the 1600s

You may not be surprised to find that the staff of the Shipwreck Museum are occasionally asked if the Zuytdorp's anchor, on display in the Entrance Gallery, is made of wood! This is because of the texture of the metal - a result of impurities leaching out underwater leaving only the laminated structure of the harder, pure iron. The other thing to note is that the anchor was not cast in one piece, as the makers did not have the facilities to produce that much iron in one batch in those days. It was actually made up of five separately cast pieces being welded together. Welding by fusing metals together with either gas torches or electric arc is a comparatively new innovation. In the old days you welded metal together like this-

1. Heat the ends of the pieces to be welded in a furnace until white hot.
2. With your ‘strikers’ ready, quickly drag the pieces onto a hard, stone surface and set them in the position in which they are to be joined.
3. The strikers then have to begin hammering the white-hot pieces with their hammers as hard and quickly as possible, in a rotating sequence, until the pieces are fused together, and the metal has cooled.

In the case of the anchor on display here, the flukes, on the ends of the arms, would have had to be welded on after the arms and shank were joined. Overall, a pretty tough job.