On Naval Timber and Arboriculture. Patrick Matthew
the Seas1.
In the still hour which has followed the cannon roar of our victories, we seem disposed to sleep secure, almost in forgetfulness, that we possess this superiority, that we stand forth the Champion of the World, and must give battle to every aspirant to the possession of the trident sceptre.
As soon as the recent principles of naval motion and new projectiles, conjoined to shot-proof vessels, shall have been brought to use in naval warfare, marine will have acquired a great comparative preponderance over land batteries, and every shore be still more at the mercy of the Lords of Ocean.
When we consider the tendency of luxurious peace, the effeminacy thence flowing in upon many of our wealthier population—when we view, on the {3} one hand, an entailed aristocracy2, whose founders had been gradually thrown uppermost in more stirring times, the boldest and the wisest, but whose progeny, “in a calm world” entailed to listless satiety, have little left of hope or fear to awaken in them the dormant energies of their ancestors, or even to preserve these energies from entirely sinking; and, on the other hand, an overflowing population, chained, from the state of society, to incessant toil, the scope of their mental energies narrowed to a few objects from the division of labour, all tending to that mechanical order and tameness incompatible with liberty; thus, perhaps, equally in danger of deteriorating and sinking into caste, both classes yielding to the natural law of restricted adaptation to condition:—when we reflect on this, the conclusion is irresistibly forced upon us, that the periodical return of war is indispensable to the heroic chivalrous character and love of freedom which we have so long maintained, and which (Britain being the first in name and power in the family of nations) must be so influential on the morale of the civilized world. It is by the jar and struggle of the conflict that the baser alloy and rust of our manners and institutions must be removed and rubbed away: it is by the {4} ennobling excitement of danger and of hardship that our generous passions must be cherished, and our youth led to emulate the Roman in patriotic thirst for glory—the Spartan in devotion—their own ancestor, the more daring Scandinavian sea-king or rover3, in adventurous valour. Without, however, seeking the fight, yet in preparation for the perhaps not distant time, when we shall face another foe, it behoves us, without any sickly sentimentality, to cherish our warlike virtues—above all things to attend to what must constitute “the field of our fame,” Our MARINE, and the material of its construction, Naval Timber.
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION.
1. See App. A.
2. See App. B.
3. See App. C.
PART I. STRUCTURE OF VESSELS.
VESSELS are constructed of wood under two forms, Plank and Timbers; Plank, the out and inside skin of the vessel—Timbers, the ribs or frame which support the plank.
SECTION I. PLANK.
Trees intended for plank ought to be reared in close forest, or protected situation, drawn tall and straight, or what is preferable for a part, with a gentle regular bend, technically sny, Figs. v and x, (next page). It requires to be of clean solid texture, from 12 to 40 feet in length, and at least 8 inches in diameter at small end, or any greater thickness. For the conveniency of transport, oak plank timber is generally squared or planked where grown, and is cut out from 2 1⁄2 to 7 inches in thickness, and from 6 to 18 inches in breadth. Plank is needed of such various dimensions, that any oak tree of clean timber, nearly straight one way, and straight, or with a gentle regular bending, the other, may safely be cut into plank, the section to be in the plane of the {6} curve. Figs. v, x, y, z, represent the most advantageous forms of logs for cutting into plank. The dotted lines shew the section of the saw in planking: the straighter the log is in the plane of the saw, it is the more suitable, as the planks bend sufficiently side-way by steaming; Fig. v, of considerable bend and taper, where the planks, when cut, have a bend edge-way, is the most valuable: this form requires to be very free of knots. In straight planks, Fig. z, cleanness from knots is not such a desideratum.
Figs. z, y, of any length—best long; x, from 25 to 35 feet; v, v, from 12 to 24 feet.
In the above cut, for distinctness, the saw is drawn entering the butt. In practice it enters the top.
When planks are cut out where grown, they are sawn from the round log immediately after it is {7} felled and barked, which not only prevents injury from drought-cracks, but produces also a considerable saving of timber and labour, as the wood is softer when green; and the centre planks can thus be had much broader than after squaring the log. The outer part of the matured or red wood, which is partly cut away in squaring, is also the cleanest for bending. The sap or not sufficiently matured wood, when left on the side of the plank in the vessel, wherever it is not always soaking in water, is only useful to the shipwright, as it decays in two or three years, and demands an expensive repair. When plank timber is squared, it is for the conveniency of carriage and stowage, and where timber is of little value.
Of British trees suited for plank, the most valuable are oak, Spanish chesnut, larch, red wood pine, and sometimes beech4, elm, plane (Acer pseudo-platanus) under water. As no timber decays under water for a considerable length of time, when put in fresh, unless it be devoured by the sea-worm, beech or any other hard tough wood is nearly equally good as oak for outside plank under light water-mark, provided the timber be hastened out of the bush into the vessel, or be kept in pools, either in log or {8} plank, till used, or be planked, and the plank kept dry under cover. One summer on the ground will generally render a beech log in the bark useless.
DIRECTIONS5 FOR TRAINING PLANK TIMBER.
Divide all branches into leaders and feeders; leaders, the main or superior shoots which tend to become stems, A, a, a; feeders, the inferior branches, B, b, b, b.
Should more than one leader appear from the time of planting the tree till it attain the required height for the plank, shorten all but the most promising one down to the condition of feeders, making the section immediately above a twig, preferring one which takes a lateral or horizontal direction. Vide dotted line crossing a, a.
Should any feeder, below the required height, become enlarged beyond its compeers, such as B, reduce it to equality (vide dotted line), or prune it close off, if this should be necessary to the symmetry of the tree.
Cut off, close by the trunk, all shoots which rise at a very acute angle with the main stem, such as C. There is a triple reason for this: they rise up and interfere with the more regular horizontal feeders, tending