An anchor believed by the recovery crew Anchor Ventures LLC to be from the HMS Chatham – part of the Captain George Vancouver expedition into the Pacific Northwest – was successfully raised from Puget Sound west of Central Whidbey Island today.

Anchor Ventures brought the raw iron anchor to the surface at about 6 p.m. after an hour slowly raising it from the depths. Divers spent most of the afternoon Monday trying different methods of freeing it from the seafloor with some barnacles attached and some pebbles rusted into it. Once loose, it was raised in a cradle in one piece, which brought peace of mind to one of the anchor’s discoverers.

“I’m pretty overcome,” said Scott Grimm, a member of Anchor Ventures who researched the anchor on antiquity. “It’s been a long time.”

The anchor was taken to the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, where it will spend a few weeks in a saltwater tank before being transported to Texas A&M University for further study.