A capstan mounted on the foredeck of a ship was used to raise anchors and handle other heavy loads, and this one was operated by hand with bars inserted in holes at the top; its damage suggests it failed under load. Crushed ice was essential to preserving and shipping fish from local fishing communities to markets in Detroit and other southern ports in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with ice harvested from lakes and rivers in winter and stored in insulated ice houses for summer use.