in a ship, a long beam of timber, represented by a, Plate LXXXVII. fig. 2, and used as a crane whereby to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship as it ascends; an operation which, by mariners, is called raising the anchor. The anchors being situated on both the bows, the davit may be occasionally shifted, so as to project over either side of the ship, according to the position of that anchor on which it is employed.

The inner end of the davit is secured by being thrust into a square ring of iron b, which is bolted to the deck, and forelocked under the beams. This ring, which is called the span-shackle, exhibited at large by fig. 9, is fixed exactly in the middle of the deck, and close behind the foremast. Upon the outer end of the davit is hung a large block c, through which a strong rope traverses, called the fish-pendant, d; to whose foremost end is fitted a large iron hook e, and to its after-end a tackle or complication of pulleys f; the former of which is called the fish-hook, and the latter the fish-tackle.

The davit, therefore, according to the sea-phrase, is employed to fish the anchor; which being previously cast, the fish-hook is fastened upon its flukes; and the effort of the tackle being transmitted to the hook, by means of the fish-pendant, draws up that part of the anchor sufficiently high upon the bow to fasten it, which is done by the shank painter. See that article.

—There is also a davit of a smaller kind occasionally fixed in the long-boat, and employed to weigh the anchor therein.