SHIPBUILDING TIMBERS 77 



is far more used than the Oaks, whether European or American, 

 of former d.ays,i valuable as these are, however, especially for 

 exposed and compass timbers. The Indian Jarul {Lagerstrcemia 

 Flos-regince) and Thingan {Hopea odor did), the Greenheart of 

 Demerara (Nectdndra Bodim), the AngeKque {Dicorynia guianen- 

 sis), African Oak or Teak (OldfiUdia africdna) from West Africa, 

 Stinkwood {Ocotea hulldta) and Sneezewood (Pferoxylon utile) from 

 the south of the same continent, the Eata or Ironwood of New Zea- 

 land [Metrosidiros rob'^ta and M, lucida), and probably the BilHan 

 {Eusideroxylon Zwdgeri) of Borneo, are but little inferior. 



Lloyd's Register, classifying shipbuilding timbers in 17 lines, 

 places Teak alone in the first ; in the second, Enghsh Oak {Quercus 

 Robur), African Oak {Oldfteldia africdna)^ Live Oak {Quercus virens), 

 Adriatic, ItaHan, Spanish, Portuguese, and French Oak {Q. Cerris, 

 JSsculus, pyrendica, Ilex, Suher, and Robur), Morung Saul {SMrea 

 robusta), Greenheart {Nectdndra Bodicei), Morra {Mora excelsa), 

 Iron-bark {Eucalyptus sideropMoia, and probably E. leucoxylon, and 

 E. sideroxylon), and White Ironbark (apparently E, crebra, amyg- 

 dalina, and paniculdta) ; in the third, Cuba Sabicu {Lysiloma Sdbicu), 

 Pencil Cedar {Juniperus Bermudidna, or perhaps Dysoxylon Muelleri, 

 and D. Fraseridnum), Angelly {Artocdrpus Mrsuta), Vanatica {Pithe- 

 colobiumsp ?), Jarrah, {Eucalyptus mar gindta), Karri {E. diver sicolor), 



1 «£ 



Shipbuilding in 1800. 



"The oak was very costly, for the service required the very best wood. It could 

 not be, or should not have been, used for a year after cutting, for it needed to be 

 seasoned before being handled by the shipwrights. On coming to the yards it was 

 stacked for some months in sheds, in various positions, according to its future use, to 

 allow it to season. In times of stress much of it was used green — ^not properly 

 seasoned. 



'* The ships were built in the open air, and it was the custom to allow the frame 

 or skeleton of every ship to stand exposed * for a twelvemonth or a little more ' 

 before any timbers were placed across her ribs. It was thought that this exposure 

 seasoned the Oak of the frame. As a matter of fact, the constant wettings and 

 warpings from rain and sun set up decay in the exposed wood, so that many ships 

 had begun to rot 'before a plank was put on.* Some, indeed, were as green as grass 

 with mildew and fungus before the timbers were fitted. The general life of a ship of 

 those days built under these conditions was only eight or nine years. Few lasted so 

 long ' without great repairs equal almost to their first cost.' Many rotted to pieces 

 after a few months at sea. In 1812 a fine three-decker, which had seen no hard sea 

 service, was condemned as rotten a year after she was launched. 



" In those ships in which American Oak had been used, the decay set in more 

 quickly than in other cases. These ships used to strain their seams or timbers 

 open, ever so slightly, in heavy weather, admitting water to the cracks. The wood 

 so wetted began to develop dry rot or fungus from the moment the water penetrated 

 its fibres. Both fungus and dry rot spread with strange rapidity when once it had 

 established itself, and a ship so attacked had either to be pulled to pieces, so that the 

 rotting oak could be removed, or broken up as useless." — ^Macefield, Sea-Ufe m 

 Nelson's Time, 



