Objects Database

Homemade 'dead man'

Accession Number

839.2010.1

Object Name

Homemade 'dead man'

Created

13/05/2010

Creator

Hermione Cooper

Accession Date

13/05/2010

Brief Description

Hexagaonal metal plate bent at each side. 2 holes with wire rope threaded through.

Materials

metal

Dimensions

21.5(l) x 22(w) cms

Number Of Objects

1

Colour

silver

Provenance

Dead Man anchors have been used for centuries to hold things in place, or for attaching some kind of pulley system to move things around. Although the name would seem to imply that some helpless corpse was used at some point in history, we haven't found any documentary evidence of that, the more likely system would be to bury logs or stones in soil, sand or snow with a rope or cable wrapped around it for attachment. It's thought that the first dead man anchors for mountaineering derived from dog sled drivers who used sheets of wood to anchor their dog teams in the snow. Scottish climber, John Cunningham worked for the British Antarctic Survey in the 1950's and we know that he experimented with metal and aluminium anchors in the Cairngorms on his return, though tradition has it that Denny Moorehouse of Clog Equipment was one of the first to produce a commercially available dead man back in the 1970's.
The dead man we have here is another example of home made technology from the 1970's. It's been well used and we love the copper swages that weld the cable together. This is another one of the many little gems that Mick Tighe collected from 'somewhere' back in the early days.

Acquisition Date

13/05/2010

Condition Check Date

13/05/2010

Rules

Spectrum : UK Museum documentation standard, V.3.1 2007

Modified

13/05/2010

Go Back

Click to see larger view

Click image for enlarged view

Click to see larger view

Click image for enlarged view

Click to see larger view

Click image for enlarged view

Back to top