I have watched ships dock with the anchor in places where there weren’t any harbor tugs. They always kept the chain short. Probably, one shot on deck, or 1 in the water, with a fairly vertical lead.
I’ve never seen a horizontal lead on the chain as shown in the posted video.
Yes, that would be typical I think for dredging an anchor That was the consensus on this thread: Anchors - Poor Man's Tugboat In that case the anchor is kept on a short stay.
Basically dredging an anchor the bow lets out the appropriate amount of chain and then puts the brake on and leaves it.
What the ships were doing in the Med was dropping an anchor offshore and then paying out the chain as the ship comes in. The crew pays out chain at the appropriate rate needed to adjust the the ship’s head during the turn and subsequent mooring.
I’m no expert in this so take it with a grain of salt. If I was planning on doing it I’d take another look at the books.
As far as the video in the OP given that it was an emergency they might have just been dragging anchor with no heading control from the anchor.
“We just had to leave it and use the engines for everything they were worth.”
If that’s an accurate report, he used engine power to accommodate the effect of the dragging anchor on the bow. The prop wash is hard to see in the video but it looks like 2 shots of chain out at the end.
Here’s one in Lemnos GR. Multiple tries under interesting conditions (poster says Beaufort 7-8) compressed about 1:10. Stbd anchor is fouled with another anchor chain from a previous attempt. Decent angle on the chain as they round up to get the stern headed the right way.
If I’m reading the poster’s note correctly they never did get alongside that day even after retreating for a time to a more sheltered place nearby.
Lemnos Harbor looks like this. I’ve drawn a line the length of MS Theofilos at the end of the quay:
Camera is looking in general southerly direction from a viewpoint west of the quay.
Yeah, what would happen with wind on the stbd beam, stbd anchor down and with a strain, throttles full twist to port (stbd ahead / port back)?
Increase throttles heading slowly changes to port, back off on both a tad heading changes to stbd. No?
I think that would work as long as the anchor is providing enough resistance on the bow. With the anchor just skimming on the bottom, the opposite might be needed. The anchor appears to be holding strong at the end, when most needed to help control the final few feet. The bow thrusters don’t appear to be doing any work at any part of the evolution.
When the ship is being blown downwind with the wind on the beam, dropping the anchor, just under foot or with a couple shackles (shots) the bow will swing upwind. I’ve done it many times.
The thread Anchoring Downwind and variations is here:
I wouldn’t expect the bow thruster to be of much use in this situation. It’s the stern that needs control.
Different angle video
Special Participation 
for the focsle heaving line thrower who managed to not hit the dock—at least that’s how it looks with the last frames showing the figure looking over the bulwark searching for the tangled mass falling short.
Not speaking from duplicate experience with this maneuver with the wind strength displayed in the video, but to keep the ship at 90 degrees to the rode I’m thinking the anchor would have to be out more than just underfoot to provide sufficient resistance. Agreed that the bow thrusters in those conditions would have no meaningful effect.
Yes, just under foot wouldn’t do much in this case.
This is what I’ve experienced.
Say the wind is East (090) at 50 kts.
Ship drifting, no power settles into a heading of due north (000) speed 4.0 kts (sideways)
Stbd anchor is dropped under foot. Ship will turn a bit upwind say 015 T and the speed will drop a bit under 4.0 kts… three point something maybe.
The more chain that is run out the more the ship will turn upwind , the heading will change clockwise, 015 to 020 etc and the speed will decrease.
The issue here was they wanted to maintain a heading of 000 to land flat but lose the speed. The more chain they run out the slower the speed but the more power is needed aft to hold the stern into the wind.
The captain did say he used the engines for everything they were worth.
Yeah, imagine dragging anchor, 50 kts of wind on the eye with two shots out, chain leading dead ahead (12 o’clock). To twist around to put the wind on the beam is going to take a lot of power.
Be pushing the ass up into the wind and she don’t want to go, so to speak.
Fun times. Military power and the black gang miscreants staying away from the ER in case something blows up and shrapnel starts flying.
