178 THE TIMBERS OF THE WORLD 



allowed a single specimen of sessiliflora, many of which have come under 

 my notice, to pass by unexamined. I believe it would be impossible to 

 prove that there is any difference. 



There is no oak in the world comparable to British oak. Pre-eminent 

 among British timbers it stands unchallenged for its strength and 

 durability, which have become proverbial, and emblematic indeed of the 

 nation which owes the foundations of its greatness to the " wooden 

 walls " of oak which in past centuries compassed the waters of the globe, 

 and gave this land the title of " Mistress of the Seas." 



The unsurpassed strength of British oak is universally admitted, 

 although to provide statistics of comparison is impossible, since the 

 experiments made have not been sufficiently numerous, nor have those 

 which have been made taken into account various factors, such as the 

 amount of moisture in the wood. Evidence of its great durability has 

 been provided in the report on European oak {q.v.), but interesting 

 additional examples are cited by Laslett in connection with his discussion 

 on the relative merits of winter-felled and spring-felled oak. Among 

 these cases are those of certain ships built for the Royal Navy, the wood 

 used being winter-felled oak. The Sovereign of the Seas, built 1635, was 

 pulled to pieces forty-seven years later and rebuilt, " and the greater 

 part of the materials were found to be in sufficiently good condition 

 for re-employment." The Royal William, built in 1715-19, was finally 

 taken to pieces after a service of ninety-four years. The Montague, 

 launched in 1779, was in active service and good condition in 1815. 

 Opposed to these examples is that of the Hawke sloop, of whose oak 

 timber one-half was winter-felled and the other half spring-felled. " She 

 was built in 1793, and ten years later was in such a general condition of 

 decay that she was taken to pieces, no difference being then observable 

 in the condition of her several timbers." This does not imply that 

 winter-felled and spring-felled timber are equally liable to decay. In 

 this case the winter-felled timber " was barked standing in the spring 

 of 1787, and not felled until the autumn of 1790." In considering the 

 meaning of these facts relating to the Hawke it is important to remember 

 that wood-destroying fungi often require a starting-point opposing slight 

 resistance to them, but after that stage is passed, having acquired full 

 vigour, they can attack timber that would have successfully resisted their 

 opening onslaught. In any case, the general consensus of opinion among 

 Government authorities in England, France, and other countries, is that 

 winter-felled oak is the more durable. 



Ordinary British oak timber is procurable in two extreme and various 

 transitional forms. The general characters of the two extremes were 

 well described by Laslett as follows : " The English oak tree, if grown 

 in sheltered situations or in forests, frequently reaches a height of 70 to 



