Wreck-Diving.org

Sometimes. If the flukes get stuck under a ledge or something they try to dislodge it by maneuvering this way and that, but sometimes it cannot be done.
I was on a natural gas tanker once where the captain had a major attitude problem. The whole crew were being replaced, yet he thought if he was a total @#$$ to everyone and kept expenses down to nothing he would be able to keep his job. Someone went up to the bow at night off the Philippines and dropped the anchor while we were moving along at 20 knots. I was on the bridge luckily and felt the ship shaking, then saw a cloud of dust (smoke?) and sparks flying everywhere. We woke the chief mate up to check to make sure there wasn’t any fire up by the manifolds – 700 feet in front of us and behind a few tanks. He reported back that there was no fire, but there was no anchor either. It, along with 1800 feet of chain was heading 20,000 feet straight down. It cost the company 5 million just to get a barge out that could lift our spare anchor off deck to attach to the new chain (100 pounds per foot) and attach it back to the ship. Capt. lost his job 3 weeks earlier than the rest of us did.

sometimes maneuvering can dislodge them, sometimes a diver has to go down and sometimes they just cut it lose all depends on the situation

If the winch on the boat can’t pull it up, i’m sure that a person wouldn’t be able to free it!

I wouldn’t imagine that it would happen too often, but if it did, most boats have one anchor on either side, so they would just leave the one that is stuck behind.

If you think about the design of an anchor, you’ll see that they are designed to hold a ship from horizontal movement. Anchors resist being dragged, not being lifted.

Most anchors, in fact, incorporate a long bar which acts like a lever to help pry the anchor free when it is lifted from directly above.

If the anchor is totally fouled and can’t be raised a light line (rope or cable) will be attached to the chain with a marker buoy. Salvage companies, with barges, divers, heavy cranes, etc. will then have to raise the anchor.

With the cost of ships anchors in the thousands it is not usual to abandon unless the ships safety is at stake.

A marker float could be fastened to the chain so a retrieval vessel/team can get the anchor later when conditions allow.