Apelican hookis a piece of nauticalrigginghardware composed of a hinged link held closed by a circumferential link capable of being released under load. Small examples are held closed by hand while the retaining link is displaced while larger examples are hit with a hammer or sledge hammerto release. The asymmetric appearance of the two hinged pieces is similar in appearance to apelican's beak. It is frequently used to secure ships' anchors and life raft canisters but has many other applications
