Mr. Creuze on the Condition of the Royal George. 231 



tions on the surface of the coal were occasioned by the action of the 

 water when the lake was discharged ; and that the Horse occupies 

 the bed of the stream by which the complete drainage of the lake 

 was effected. The sandstone of the roof, and that which fills the 

 lows, he conceives, on account of the fineness of the grain, were tran- 

 quilly deposited. 



A paper was then read, entitled, " Remarks on the Structure of 

 the Royal George, and on the Condition of the Timber, Iron, Cop- 

 per, &c., recovei-ed during the operations of Col. Pasley, in the Sum- 

 mer of 1839 ;" by Mr. Creuze, of Her Majesty's Dock Yard, Ports- 

 mouth, and communicated by Captain Basil Hall, R.N., F.G.S. 



The Royal George was accidentally sunk at Spithead on the 29th 

 of August, 1782, and as the specimens described in the paper were 

 recovered during the summer of 1839, they had consequently been 

 immersed in a tide-way of salt water fifty-seven years. She was 

 the first ship of war built on the principles recommended by the 

 committee appointed to inquire into the superiority of the vessels 

 in the Spanish and French navies ; and was commenced at Wool- 

 wich in 1746, and launched the 1st of February, 1756. The Royal 

 George M'as consequently, when sunk (1782), twenty-six years old. 



The great agent in the work of destruction of the timbers had 

 been " the worm." This insect had gradually, by its innumerable 

 perforations on every exposed portion of the wreck, destroyed the 

 fibrous tenacity of the wood, and reduced it to such a state as to 

 permit the wash of the tide to remove the surface layer by layer. 

 The quantity which had been thus destroyed, Mr. Creuze considers, 

 from the parts recovered, to have been almost the whole of the upper 

 portion of the ship, including the topsides above the line of the mid- 

 dle deck ports ; and he is of opinion, that in another half century the 

 same agents might have destroyed every part of the hull above the 

 surface of the mud, if Col. Pasley's operations had not been under- 

 taken. 



The timbers which had been protected by the mud, were found 

 to be solid and firm ; but the only exposed wood which has escaped 

 the ravages of " the worm " is the ash of which' the dead-eyes were 

 made. A portion of one of these timbers, which accompanied the 

 paper, and had formed a part of the exterior surface covered with 

 mud, bore no marks of " the worm." The copper sheathing ap- 

 pears to have suffered very slightly, several whole sheets having been 

 found to be of the average weight per square foot of that now used. 

 This state of preservation Mr. Creuze assigns to galvanic action. The 

 copper nails are also nearly perfect. The cast-iron guns which have 

 been recovered, were so soft when first brought to the surface, that 

 they were easily abraded by the finger nail to the depth of at least 

 f^th, and in some parts of ^th of an inch ; but they have gradually 

 hardened on exposure to the atmosphere. The brass guns were appa- 

 rently as sharp in their ornamental castings, and as sound, as at the 

 period of tiieir immersion. A fragment of tarred rope-yarn exhi- 

 bited a remarkable instance of durability. It is supposed to have 



