every boat had "Passerells". Not quite sure of the spelling but that's kind of close. You would pull into some harbor built by Hadrian or Alexander and if there was an open space you would drop your anchor and set it on the way backing up to the sea wall. Drop the plank and someone would take the lines ashore and fix them to big rings. Then you would pull up on the anchor to keep the boat off the wall. The next group of boats in would drop their stern anchor, back down and tie off to the bow cleats of the first boats in and end up bow to bow. The last people in would do likewise but tie off stern to stern. With three rows of boats in the harbor, if you were the first boat in, you not only had a bunch of people walking down your side deck and off your Passerell all night but you had to wait until the rest of the crowd left in the morning before you could leave. The people passing off our boat and through the cockpit were all very nice about it and we would shuffle out of the way trying not to spill our drinks. It was all very civilized but just pointed out how congested the small harbors were. Crossed anchor chains were common and you just learn to deal with it. You would pull up your anchor and it would have an other boats chain caught in it. You would take a dock line that was short cleated off with about 8 feet of tail and pass the tail under the other guys chain and back up and tie it off to your bow pulpit with a quick release knot. Then you would drop your anchor down far enough to clear his chain and then pull it up past it to it's retrieved position. Then you would let the other guys chain go by slipping your quick release knot and then head off. That's why you would always try to leave someone on the boat doing anchor watch to keep the boat off the wall if someone pulled up your anchor in the process of leaving.