Protecting the Copper-Sheathing of Ships. 331 
defended in the same manner as that of the Tickler, the Hus- 
kisson, and the Elizabeth. The proportion of iron was about 
7 tjth to the surface of the copper. When afloat, the Dorothy 
appeared a dean ship, and the captain had only remarked, when 
looking from the cabin window, a few adhering substances near 
the keel, which he supposed to be weeds ; but when I went to 
view her bottom in the graving dock, I was surprised, no less 
than Mr Horsfall, to find the whole fat of her bottom, from 
stem to stern, thickly studded with large specimens of Lepas 
anatifera , and enormous ones of Balanus Tintinnabulum. The 
shells of the latter adhered so closely to the copper, by their 
broad calcareous bases, about Jth of an inch in thickness, that, in 
detaching them with the carpenter’s scraper, the sides of the 
shells were generally broken from the base ; which last was with 
such difficulty removed, so that, when consulted by Mr Horsfall, 
I recommended the employment of sulphuric acid to loosen 
them. We remarked also, that the specimens of Lepas anati- 
fera were considerably larger on the starboard than on the lar- 
board side of the ship. On noticing this to the captain, he in- 
formed us, that the larboard had been the lee side of the vessel 
almost constantly during the passage to Europe, and conse- 
quently most deeply immersed in the water; a circumstance in 
the economy of this animal not unworthy of notice.” 
The following particulars of the Dorothy’s outfit and return, 
were added by my intelligent friend Mr Horsfall, in the begin- 
ning of May. 
“ The Dorothy had been coppered about one year, and had 
made a voyage to Bombay, and back to this port, when, in 1824, 
it was determined to place bars of iron, 4 inches broad and 1 
inch thick, along her keel, covering 7 J ^th part of her copper, in 
the expectation that the iron would at least so far preserve the 
copper from corrosion, that it might be permitted to run a se- 
cond voyage to India, without being renewed ; which can seldom 
be done with perfect safety, in undefended ships. The iron ex- 
tended from one end of the keel to the other ; and was fastened 
on with copper nails, with large heads. The Dorothy, thus de- 
fended, sailed again for Bombay in J une, and returned to Livery- 
pool about one month ago, (May 4.) She was put into the? 
graving-dock yesterday, and an examination of her bottom took 
