Lambot's principles have been used by many boat builders. An early 
application is the small concrete scow which has been in continual use 
at the Amsterdam Zoo since 1887. 
As accepted at present, ferro-cement construction was developed 
by the Italian structural engineer P. L. Nervi who in 1943 began build- 
ing a series of surface craft constructed of ferro-cement (Nervi, 1956). 
Nervi's smallest boat, the 38 foot ketch Nennele, was built in 1948; 
she was still in sound condition in 1968 although the hull is only 1/2 
inch thick and reinforced by seven layers of wire fabric and one layer 
of 1/4 inch round longitudinal reinforcing bars spaced 2 inches apart. 
After 5 years of extensive use in seawater, there was no evidence of 
leakage and no maintenance was required; information concerning sub- 
sequent performance is unavailable. 
In 1946 Nervi built his largest ferrc-cement vessel, the Irene, 
which displaced 165 tons. Her hull was nearly 1-1/2 inches thick and 
reinforcement consisted of three layers of 1/4 inches round steel bars 
at 4 inch centers and eight layers of wire fabric (four layers on each 
side of the bars) weighing 1/4 pound square feet. After 8 years of sea 
service the vessel required no maintenance. Unfortunately she was 
wrecked on the rocky coast of Sardinia during a storm in 1959. 
Since about 1960, ferro-cement surface craft have been produced in 
Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, China, and South Africa. 
In America the emphasis so far has been on ferro-cement floating marinas; 
this trend may expand to include small boats in view of the popularity 
of the 18 foot ferro-cement outboard speedboats currently being produced 
and some of which were exhibited at the recent Western National Boat 
and Marine Show held at Anaheim, California.” The People's Republic of 
China probably uses more ferro-cement boats than do all other nations 
combined; thousands are used as sampans, and are usually 30 feet long 
(Jackson and Sutherland, 1969). 
It is unlikely that ferro-cement construction will ever be practical 
for floating vessels longer than 100 feet, but there is no doubt that 
such construction will prove beneficial in the area of fishing boats 
and pleasure craft. 
Gabellini built numerous reinforced concrete vessels and pontoons 
in Italy during the last decade of the 19th century. Included among 
these were a flat-bottom barge (90 gross tons) used by the Italian 
Navy and the Liguria (150 gross tons) which plied between Rome and 
Geona (Freeman, 1918). 
A concrete vessel, known as the Gretchen, was built in America 
during 1892, but details are unavailable. About the beginning of the 
20th centruy two German firms began building reinforced concrete barges 
for commercial use; several of these vessels were of 200 gross tons each. 
During the period 1914 to 1918 many ocean-going concrete barges 
were produced in Great Britain. These vessesl were used for transport- 
ing armament to France; some were of 1000-gross ton size. By 1919 the 
Britons were using a 2500 ton concrete ship, the Armistice, which was 
* 
Anon. (1970). "Cement Boat Display," Los Angeles Times, Section D, 
pew llO Glass March): 
2-9 
