The Sun.
London, England, 1825-08-27 00:00:00

SIR HUMPHREY DAVT`'S• PROTECTORS FOR
COPPER SHEATHING.

[From the Plymouth Joni-nal.]
The application of copper to ships bottoms was ortginalW
introduced to ward the .loiver timbers from the Weeds and
worms which continually imbedded thethselVes in ltmg voy,
ages, thereby occasioning great impediments to sailing and..
evets endangering the lives of file seamen. In the action of
Sir Edward Hughei with the French fleet, under Suffrein, in
the East Indies, in the year 1782, the latter obtained advan-
tages over the British, having arrived from Europe with,copper-bottomed ships, which enabled them to maintain the
weather-gage of Admiral Hughes, whose fleet was composed of
wood-sheathed bottoms, overgrown with Weeds and barnacles.
In fact, the value of . clean lytomed ships enabled the French
to force the fleet of this country into five general actions. They.
took Cuddalore, and retook Trincomalee, and enabled Ryder.
Ally to withstand, with various success, all the efforts of Sir
Eyre Cottle and his troops, Sir Richard 13ickerton was after-
words dispatched to. the &it Indies with copper-sheathing
for all the ships whose bottoffis were not lined with that
material.-
.The first vessel knoWn to have been coppered
in England was the Alarm frigate, in 1761. During 'the
war, when the price of copper rose from Ilid, to 22d. per lb.,
various substitutes were introduced. A gentleman of Dei.on
port made an eXperfaieni oti a ship named the Adventure..—.
He causes one side of her bottom to be coated in the usual way
with pitch and tar, and the other with what is familiarly called
burning-house stuff (poisonous particlei taken froM the dint:
nies of tin manufactories), mixed With pitch and tar. On the
return of the Adventure into port, one side, to use the owner's
expression, " was like a hay field," whilst the part On which
the poi Son had been laid was as clean as when she it:ailed.
Mr. Locker, of this town, also used a small barrel of burn:
ing house-stuff. mixed with the usual materials, on a large
ship of 1,000 tons, which was repaired by permission of the
Navy Board at this Doek-yard, and it was' found to preVent the
accumulation of weeds and barnacles. So strong is the poi;
ionhus quality of this " stuff," that Dr. Edwards, .of Corn:
wall, took out a patent for the manufacture of arsenic front it,
tozA Of which are yearly exported to France, *here they use it
to lay the colours in their silk manufactories.
But though copper was found to preserve the &glom of a
ship clean, the eXidation of thiS metal is so great, that it has
frequently happened after it few years' service, when the arti-
tans have been ordered to strip the bottom to :-epair the vessel,
that the copper, from its reduced thickness:, could not be taken
oft' otherwise than by dubbing it down With the wood, 'thereby
reducing the planks. This waste, hoWet'er, does not always'
happen itt the same proportion.. The copper of the Vile de
Paris, now stripping in this Dock-yard, which has been. on:
thirteen years, is found not to haie lost an ouhce in the Pound:
The quality of the Metal Inia an undoubted influence on its.
tendency to oxide; and the Wirer the copper, the less, of
course, will it incline to rust. _

It was to prevent this waste from ox'i'dation and its attendant
inconveniences,. that Sir H. Dory, *hose Mind is ever on the
alert to further the interests of science, recommended the op.:.
plication of pietes of cast irons Which, by a galvanic influence,
should protect the whole body of the copper. The Pandora
Was one of the vessels fitted out under hiS dire6tion about twelve
months since Ot Portsmouth i The is now undergoing repair in
this dock-yard, and particular attention has been paid to the
experiment. It appears, as we stated last week, th/t:the pre-
sence of the iron has completely prevented the oxytlation ot the
copper, but the bottom is so foul with weeds and animalcule;'
that no one would have imagined that she had been coppered ;
for although barnacles and muscles are found by thousands
attached to the lead of the cutwater and bows of ships, yet they,
have rarely been diseaered on the corder, the oxide operating'
to prevent their adhesion. The Nightingale, Druid, and Har-
lequin, which '*ere also fitted on Sir H. Davy's principle, have
been found in a similar state, with the addition of barnacles,
on the non-appearance of which species of worm on the Pan."
dora, the Telegraph lays so much stress. The chymical action
of the metals and salt water has produced a total change on
the iron protectors : so greedy is iron of (Aide in sea Water, that
it operates to its own destruction, and the iron used as•protec-.
tots for the copper of the Pandora has been found in a state of
decomposition, reduced in weight about one third, with all the
appearance, when broken, of plumfrago or black lead.
In short, although the experiment of Sir Humphrey, Davy
has proved one thing,—the power of iron to prevent the olkida-.
tion of copper-4f has failed to cure that the fargreater
the accumulation of foul bottoms, to Provide against, which
copper was first introduced. The application of copper sheath.'
ing under this plan is therefore complete ;y neutralized, and
either the practice of coppering ships mitt be abandoned
together as useless and unnecessary expence, or some other
method must be devised, which at the mite time it shall-qua,
lify the exidotion of the copper, will prevent the adhesion of
weeds and batnacles. This is the difficulty which is to be over--
come, and should, the genius of Sir linmphry Davy remove
tWs, he would then set the questidn at rest for ever. Meng
while, we repeat, that his Majesty's Government have decided
on discontinuing the practice of iron, protectors, and orderii hive
been received to that effect in the yard. Various experimente.
are to be tried on ships in the harbour kit when such ships are
brought forward tot service, the protectors are to be removed.

.•
"MATRirflaN Y.—A young coup!6 were Married
at the parish church; Huddersfield, last week, but the honey-'
moon had hardly corirmenced, when his partner forsook him,
and.returning to her friends, averred her attachment to a life
of single hlessedneti, to his infinite Mortification and disap,'
pointment.

.. ‘.
On 'Fdesday, tfie l'lth instant, there .was
fished up in the River Cree, opposite to the farm of Orange,
the skeleton of an ot's I.ad •of gigantic . size. From it&
very decayed state it is not,possible,.by specifying the dimen-
sions of the skeleton, to convey the same idea that 'imme-
diately occurs to .beholders, of the immense bulk of the
animal to which it enlist have belonged ;. „but some nation
of it may be concei*ed from the size of .the .horns„. /which.
though evidently mach wasted, measure in circumference lit
Indies at the thickest part, and extend a yaid asunder. The width
of the forehead betwixt- the roots of the horns is lli inches-. Of
the length of the forehead; there only remains 111 inches, mec-
suring from the top of the head, but in
_that apace the eye sockets
and the horns 13 inches in
do not appear. A few months ago there -,was:diacoverfa in
cYe6° c
Antiquarian / kt e; is s understood 3d
'es', si:etcjoh:teiilse
Societies
thatin
the this
Metropolis;on e has
th
the
en
other t o
the parish of Whithorn anothef skeleton of the same desaription.
likewise of very large dimensions, and much more entire.: The
whole length of the part meagured 27 inches; the breadth•be-
possession of the iloa..Air. Stewart, at Crosbie..--;
istsoW miiXnetottfhl'theee circumference.
Dun tf I ic s Courier.) •