The Elements and Practice of Rigging And Seamanship, 1794, by David Steel
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Extract of a Letter from [a Liverpool Shipwright] to the . . . Royal Navy Board.
Liverpool, September 7th, 1771
Honourable Sirs,
IT is with the greatest pleasure I humbly communicate a diſcovery I was not furniſhed with when I had the honour to wait on you in April last, though I did give some imperfect hints to the Honorable Committee. I am now lengthening a ship called the Fair American, belonging to Charles Goodwin, Esq. and Co. of Chester, built at South Carolina, in 1761,
all her frame live oak;
her skin, outside and inside, pitch pine ;
her kelson, ditto ;
her beams and wale pieces, their best white oak;
her scantlings as large as our small frigates;
her floor 16 feet long, sided upwards, of 12 inches;
her midship futtocks [futtocks - pieces of timber that make up a large transverse frame]14 feet long, 3 feet sweep, the reſt in proportion;
the finest square knees [Connects two parts roughly at right angles, e.g. deck beams to frames] 10 inches sided without chock [a wedge or block placed against a wheel or rounded object, to prevent it from moving]. . . .
But what is moſt extraordinary, though ten years old, and constantly trading from Chester, Liverpool, South Carolina, and Liſbon, there is no decay at all either in timber or plank, except in the wales; and beams, which, as obſerved, were white oak, and fome of them are rotten.
The timber is so hard and tough it is difficult to dub or bore, and the bolts and nails hold to fuch a degree, it is with the greateſt labour we can separate the work. She is now in our graving dock.
She was ſtranded at Parkgate about five or fix years ago, and beat up from low water to high water, on a clay beach mixt with small ſtones, in so high a sea the people were obliged to quit the deck i over board, and the last year was ſtranded at Pluckington's Bank in a heavy gale of wind, in my presence, and full loaded ;
and on s her to lengthen her 12 feet, not one futtock broke or ſprung only her kelson ſprung and her midſhip floors started from the futtocks about half an inch, chiefly owing to the thinneſs of her fcieling, though near three hundred tons burthen, is no more than one and half inch plank, except at the floor heads two and half inch, and outfide ſkin only two and half inch of the beſt pitch pine each;
But what I would communicate to our Honours, that may be of the greatest utility to reat Britain's n Captain Minihall tells me that many of the live oak trees are of a very large fize, and extend in a chain of islands from North Carolina, through South Carolina, Georgia, to Cape Florida. along shore, and on. of the continent on a the trees grow large, the, lengths from 15, 20, 24, and 30 feet in length, ini general pretty ſtraight, fome bending by the weſterly: winds, as Minshal suppoſes, with very large tops. spreading, and evergreen ; the boughs in general very crooked, they seldom meddle of the body of the tree, being too large; all her futtocks are natural, none ain cut; her stem is of one piece from her bowsprit to the keel, except a slice at the upper end to answer the molds; and would certainly have made a fourth futtock of 25 feet long for a first rate.
He paid no more for all the timber used in the ship, except the plank, than 12 £ sterling, though he thinks it is now dearer. I asked him particularly with respect to the quantity, size, and number of trees that might be got; he says, it is immense, without end; as to the size, he says he has not seen any so large in - England.
I shewed him some of my best copy or wood timber, such as would make clamps or half beams for a sixty gun ſhip, he said that many of the live oak trees were much larger; as to its duration, he had seen several quantities lie on the ground squared, that had lain there time immemorial, as the old . inhabitants told him they thought near 100 years; that he turned them and chipped them, and found them as hard as those he cut down;
He gave me the names of several islands, Long Island, between North and South Carolina, about six leagues long ; ' Coffin Island, at the entrance of Charles-Town Bar, on which the timber grew that his ship was built from, eleven miles long; St. Catherine, lies between South Carolina and Georgia, feven leagues long 3’ Cumberland Island, between Georgia and Cape Florida, seven leagues long; and more islands he did not know their names.
. . . The pitch pine is excellent stuff, about the weight of E oak, of the greatest lengths, and I am well assured would be equal, if not superior, for plank and thick stuff and beams, than German oak, and superior to Britiſh oak, for all plank in ships that are to go to Africa, East or Weſt Indies; it never shrinks by the weather; this is of my own knowledge by the ships we have in the African trade for seven years paſt; the treenails of pitch pine, all found that we have backed out.
The pitch pine will make kelfons for our firſt rates He think equal to the beſt Britiſh oak, and I suppose more durable. There is a ship in Bristol near thirty years old, built of live oak and pitch pine, I am told, both by Capt. Minshall and several others, without defect. It is a truth that a piece of live oak of twelve inches square is stronger than a piece of the best Britiſh oak of fifteen inches, the weight is about the same proportion.
Liverpool, September 7th, 1771
Honourable Sirs,
IT is with the greatest pleasure I humbly communicate a diſcovery I was not furniſhed with when I had the honour to wait on you in April last, though I did give some imperfect hints to the Honorable Committee. I am now lengthening a ship called the Fair American, belonging to Charles Goodwin, Esq. and Co. of Chester, built at South Carolina, in 1761,
all her frame live oak;
her skin, outside and inside, pitch pine ;
her kelson, ditto ;
her beams and wale pieces, their best white oak;
her scantlings as large as our small frigates;
her floor 16 feet long, sided upwards, of 12 inches;
her midship futtocks [futtocks - pieces of timber that make up a large transverse frame]14 feet long, 3 feet sweep, the reſt in proportion;
the finest square knees [Connects two parts roughly at right angles, e.g. deck beams to frames] 10 inches sided without chock [a wedge or block placed against a wheel or rounded object, to prevent it from moving]. . . .
But what is moſt extraordinary, though ten years old, and constantly trading from Chester, Liverpool, South Carolina, and Liſbon, there is no decay at all either in timber or plank, except in the wales; and beams, which, as obſerved, were white oak, and fome of them are rotten.
The timber is so hard and tough it is difficult to dub or bore, and the bolts and nails hold to fuch a degree, it is with the greateſt labour we can separate the work. She is now in our graving dock.
She was ſtranded at Parkgate about five or fix years ago, and beat up from low water to high water, on a clay beach mixt with small ſtones, in so high a sea the people were obliged to quit the deck i over board, and the last year was ſtranded at Pluckington's Bank in a heavy gale of wind, in my presence, and full loaded ;
and on s her to lengthen her 12 feet, not one futtock broke or ſprung only her kelson ſprung and her midſhip floors started from the futtocks about half an inch, chiefly owing to the thinneſs of her fcieling, though near three hundred tons burthen, is no more than one and half inch plank, except at the floor heads two and half inch, and outfide ſkin only two and half inch of the beſt pitch pine each;
But what I would communicate to our Honours, that may be of the greatest utility to reat Britain's n Captain Minihall tells me that many of the live oak trees are of a very large fize, and extend in a chain of islands from North Carolina, through South Carolina, Georgia, to Cape Florida. along shore, and on. of the continent on a the trees grow large, the, lengths from 15, 20, 24, and 30 feet in length, ini general pretty ſtraight, fome bending by the weſterly: winds, as Minshal suppoſes, with very large tops. spreading, and evergreen ; the boughs in general very crooked, they seldom meddle of the body of the tree, being too large; all her futtocks are natural, none ain cut; her stem is of one piece from her bowsprit to the keel, except a slice at the upper end to answer the molds; and would certainly have made a fourth futtock of 25 feet long for a first rate.
He paid no more for all the timber used in the ship, except the plank, than 12 £ sterling, though he thinks it is now dearer. I asked him particularly with respect to the quantity, size, and number of trees that might be got; he says, it is immense, without end; as to the size, he says he has not seen any so large in - England.
I shewed him some of my best copy or wood timber, such as would make clamps or half beams for a sixty gun ſhip, he said that many of the live oak trees were much larger; as to its duration, he had seen several quantities lie on the ground squared, that had lain there time immemorial, as the old . inhabitants told him they thought near 100 years; that he turned them and chipped them, and found them as hard as those he cut down;
He gave me the names of several islands, Long Island, between North and South Carolina, about six leagues long ; ' Coffin Island, at the entrance of Charles-Town Bar, on which the timber grew that his ship was built from, eleven miles long; St. Catherine, lies between South Carolina and Georgia, feven leagues long 3’ Cumberland Island, between Georgia and Cape Florida, seven leagues long; and more islands he did not know their names.
. . . The pitch pine is excellent stuff, about the weight of E oak, of the greatest lengths, and I am well assured would be equal, if not superior, for plank and thick stuff and beams, than German oak, and superior to Britiſh oak, for all plank in ships that are to go to Africa, East or Weſt Indies; it never shrinks by the weather; this is of my own knowledge by the ships we have in the African trade for seven years paſt; the treenails of pitch pine, all found that we have backed out.
The pitch pine will make kelfons for our firſt rates He think equal to the beſt Britiſh oak, and I suppose more durable. There is a ship in Bristol near thirty years old, built of live oak and pitch pine, I am told, both by Capt. Minshall and several others, without defect. It is a truth that a piece of live oak of twelve inches square is stronger than a piece of the best Britiſh oak of fifteen inches, the weight is about the same proportion.
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