Scale: Unknown. A model of a spring shank anchor as proposed by Thomas W. Meriton (1852). The model is made almost entirely of brass, but has steel for the spring and stock. The main body of the anchor consists of a shank which is circular in section which then flattens out towards the crescent-shaped arms and crown. The arms are triangular in section with a pair of flat triangular palms mounted on the upper surfaces. Running up the shank is a steel spring mechanism housed in a long parallel bracket with an eye at the very top. Just below the eye and at the top of the shank is a thin stock which is parallel and circular in section. The idea behind this anchor is that the spring acts to reduce the sudden pull on the anchor chain when the ship is moored or is at anchor in heavy weather. On either side of the shank, just above the crown it has been stamped with: 'T.MERITON'.