A CERTAIN IMPORTANT METHOD, BY THE APPLICATION OF WHICH HIS MAJESTY'S NAVY, AND ALL TRADING VESSELS APPERTAINING TO THAT PART OF GREAT BRITAIN CALLED ENGLAND, MAY DERIVE DURABILITY AND SOUNDNESS TO A MUCH GREATER LENGTH OF TIME THAN THEY NOW DO, AND ALSO A SWEETNESS, STAUNCHNESS, AND PERHAPS A TOTAL EXEMP- TION FROM BILGE WATER, SMALL LEAKAGE, AND FOUL AIR, WHEREBY THE HEALTH OPHIS MAJESTY'S SEAMEN MAY BE MATERIALLY 'PRESERVED AND MUCH LABOUR AT THE PUMPS AVOIDED, BESIDES AN EXEMPTION FROM RATS, AND WHEREBY THE EXPENCE AND NECESSITY OF CAULKING WILL BE MATERIALLY OBVIATED,
Year: 1798

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, .I, .ABRAHAM
BOSQUET, of Stangate, in the Parish of Lambeth, and County of Surry,
Esquire, and formerly of Sandymount, in the County of the City of
Dublin, and lately one of His Majestie's Commissaries of the Musters,.send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of June, in the thirty-eighth year of His
reign, give and grant me, the said Abraham Bosquet, His especial licence
that I, the said Abraham Bosquet, during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England and Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A CERTAIN
IMPORTANT METHOD, BY THE APPLICATION OF WHICH HIS MAJESTY'S NAVY, AND ALL
TRADING VESSELS APPERTAINING TO THAT PART OF GREAT BRITAIN CALLED ENGLAND,
MAY DERIVE DURABILITY AND SOUNDNESS TO A MUCH GREATER LENGTH OF TIME THAN
THEY NOW DO, AND ALSO A SWEETNESS, STAUNCHNESS, AND PERHAPS A TOTAL EXEMP-
TION FROM BILGE WATER, SMALL LEAKAGE, AND FOUL AIR, WHEREBY THE HEALTH
OPHIS MAJESTY'S SEAMEN MAY BE MATERIALLY 'PRESERVED AND MUCH LABOUR AT
THE PUMPS AVOIDED, BESIDES AN EXEMPTION FROM RATS, AND WHEREBY THE EXPENCE
AND NECESSITY OF CAULKING WILL BE MATERIALLY OBVIATED, 'IP 'NOT RENDERED
ALTOGETHER UNNECESSARY; AND ALSO THE EXPENDITURE AND WASTE OF AN IMMENSE

page_text: QUANTITY OF TIMBER SAVED TO THIS COUNTRY BOTH IN BUILDING AND REPAIRING
SHIPS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Abraham Bosquet, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month after the date
of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being
thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Abraham Bosquet, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in the Schedule or Particular hereunder written.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Bosquet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and in the thirty-eighth year
of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of
God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the
Taith and co forth
A Measure for effectually Avoiding the Intolerable Nuisance and Destructive
Effects of Rats on Board Ships, and for the Prevention of Leakage or
making Bilge Water, and also the better Preservation of His Majesty's
Ships, and all Trading Vessels, from Decay.
The above evils and inconvenience having long existed, and are attended
with the most destructive consequences to ships, their provisions and mer-
chandizes, and the health of seamen, the following simple and salutary-measure
is not attended with any comparatively material expence, and will, I trust,
appear at first view to be adequate in the fullest extent to the desired end.
The rapid decay of ships, and their perpetual repairs, are attended with
an enormous expence both to the nation and individuals, and claim the most
serious attention, particularly as the oak of this country, which is the best of
all other, cannot much longer supply the increasing occasion for it. The
waste in provisions, and other destructive effects occasioned by rats on board
ships, are of inconceievable magnitude, and for which no remedy has heretofore
occurred. The perpetual danger and labor attendant upon leakage in ships
I cannot be prevented by caulking or any other precaution hitherto used,
though frequently the loss of the ship is the consequence, and much injury to

page_text: the cargo always ensues; nor is the foul, damp, and stagnated air in ships.
unworthy every consideration which can afford redress. To apply at once a
sovereign remedy to all these evils, unattended with a single inconvenience, the
mode I have adopted is the occupying or filling up the void spaces between
the planks, lining and timbers of the ship to which the planks are bound with
hot or melted pitch, tempered, as far as found necessary, with a due yet small
proportion of tar, common glue, bees' wax, and tragacanth, to render the pitch
less brittle, more tenacious, and durable. These being blended together in
the kettle there is to be mixed therewith a certain portion of cork shavings
and small bits of waste cork wood, but in case enough of those cannot be
procured, cut straw, bullrushes, flocks, old junk, and the like, may be sub-
stituted; but in those parts where the timbers are remote from each other,
pieces of cork, wood, or slips of deal may be introduced which will render the
less pitch, &c., necessary in those spaces, and at the same time diminish its
weight. The manner of applying the composition is simple and expeditious
(and as follows)
The ship being on the stocks, and ready for the laying and application of
her floor and lining, the floor being first laid, and a few planks of the lining
well jointed laid on and bound to the timbers to the height of about three feet.
all round, the composition is to be poured in between the timbers, planks, and
lining as hot as possible; this by its weight and fluidity will introduce itself
under the floor from either side to the keel, insinuating and saturating every.
space and crevice however minute. Thus much being done, four or five feet.
more of the lining may be put up all round, and the composition poured in as
before, and so on till all is complete to the necessary height. Ships already
built may be saturated with very little additional trouble or expence, the ship
being brought into a dry dock, and a little of her floor taken up that she may
dry thoroughly; the floor being again laid down, a plank of the lining all round
at two or three feet above the level of the floor is to be ripped off, and the
composition poured in as before mentioned; the planks being replaced, another
plank five or six feet higher all round to be removed, and so to proceed till all
is finished. This measure will effectually prevent rats from finding an habitation
on board ships, as those spaces between the timbers are their strongholds,
where they cannot be come at or annoyed, and where they carry their plunder,
breed, die, and rot, the bad effects of which are too often sensibly felt. To
pitch and trogacanth rats have an aversion, and never touch the one or
approach the other in any manner if they can avoid it. How far these spaces
being so filled up might stiffen the ship I know not, but I think that the
interior parts in which the nails, pins, bolts, and trunnels are inserted, as well

page_text: as those themselves: being much longer preserved. from decay; they must: not
only preserve their strength and soundness, but retain their holds and remain
firm and unshaken in the timbers to a much greater extent of time; and of
course the ship maintain her stiffness in consequence thereof, but to a. certainty.
it will have the important: effect of wholly preventing bilge water and small
leaks, which result from straining, want of' caulking; &c.,. &c., and perhaps
render caulking altogether unnecessary: This composisition will have the effect
of so much ballast in the best position in which ballast could be placed as it
will nearly occupy the center of motion, and in case of the ship filling by any
accident would operate as a buoyant body in the ship, and occupy the recep
tacle of several tons of water which would otherwise find place between the
timbers. This measure will most: essentially conduce to keep slips: sweet: and
dry; and effectually preserve the planks;. timbers, &c. from that rapid. decay to
which they are at present subject by the injurious effects of the water;, which
is at all times, disposed to: insinuate itself, rotting the pins, iron bolts;.
trunnels, &c., ouzing through the lining to the injury of the cargo in contact:
therewith, leaving a damp and slimy matter behind;, and rendering the air in
those spaces; already foul,. of the most noxious:quality; and which no ventilation.
can even for the moment sufficiently purify. It: will. also; I. believe; be
obvious. that. foundering can rarely happen to ships so fortified;,. not only
because their sides will be nearly as staunch as if there was not a joint or
seam throughout; but even in case of a bad leak at any time finding its way into
the ship it would be at once discovered, and it could not dripple: down between!
the planks and lining,, and of course would' shew. itself at the part admitting
the water; but I am. of opinion: that ships in general would not make a quart:
of water: where they at present make a ton. This. composition being light;
firm, elastic; and adhesive, and' still rendered more light and tenacious. by
the admixture above mentioned, will comply with the planks, timbers; &c: in
all dispositions to warp or strain, and! thereby prevent the ship making water.
at her seams. when she might otherwise fill..

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of July, in the year
of our Lord 1798, the aforesaid Abraham Bosquet came before our said Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein, contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
seven hundred and ninety-eight.