148 FIEST BOOK OF FOKESTKY 



peeled, and their ends painted to avoid undue checking; 

 and in many districts they are " rough hewn," i.e., hewn 

 so that part of the original round surface is left on the 

 timber. This hewing makes it easier to store them in 

 the holds of the ships that carry them abroad. 



Ship Timbers. In former years many men along our 

 north Atlantic coast were engaged in getting out timber 

 for the numerous shipyards. The hull of the wooden ship 

 of those days had almost solid walls of heavy timbers, 

 covered inside and out with thick planks, fastened with 

 locust-tree nails ; and the decks rested on beams supported 

 at each side by short, heavy, bracket-shaped pieces of 

 timber called ships' knees. 



Though white oak was preferred, nearly all kinds of 

 timber were used in these ships. Since the larger timbers, 

 ribs, etc., had to be shaped according to the plan of the 

 particular ship, they could not be bought in lumber yards ; 

 so, as soon as the size and plans of the ship were decided 

 upon, crews of men would go to the woods and hew out 

 the many pieces. Knees and spars (masts and other 

 long poles) were usually kept in yards, and many men 

 made it a business to hew out knees or scour the coast 

 and the river valleys for fine, straight spar timber. Some 

 fine white-pine masts brought as much as two hundred 

 dollars apiece. To-day the ship carpenter has largely 

 been displaced by the boiler maker, and ships are built 

 of steel, shaped in rolling mills. Nevertheless, much 



