ANCHOR-Ground, 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 hood 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.