Lead sheathing in the 1760's

[druxey]

Came across this interesting record of lead sheathing on the RMG site. Unlike copper, the vertical joints were not offset:

 

https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-80442

 

The top appears to have a protective wood batten at least 1' 0" wide. The plates appear to be 5' 0" x 1' 6".

[trippwj]

Wonder how thick those plates were. At 0.25" each plate would weigh over 110# - that would certainly serve to lower the CG! Vertical edges probably not offset since lead was so malleable and could be "joined" with a mallet.

[Harvey Golden]

Thank you Druxey-- That is an interesting historical record, especially with regards to the non-staggered joints.  I can't for the life of me imagine though why such a drawing was made-- seems like a half-paragraph of text would provide all the information needed for the proper sheathing of a ship. Quantity of lead, weight & balance, lining, etc. could all easily be derived by other means. No doubt I'm missing something. 

Best, 

Harvey

[BANYAN]

That's a very interesting find Druxey, thanks.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[druxey]

Odd, indeed, Harvey; but fortunately we now have an accurate picture of how it was done!

[bruce d]

This might fit in the conversation:

The_Use_of_Copper_and_Lead_Sheathi.pdf

[druxey]

Thanks, Bruce. We have a lot of evidence of copper sheathing, but I don't recall seeing a visual of lead sheathing before.

[BANYAN]

Great info Bruce, thanks.  It helps to clarify some of the issues.  Seems this Uni has a decent Maritime/Naval Archeology department as Mark Staniforth is a Professor here and he had produced a couple of papers on this subject also.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[mgdawson]

On 2/24/2023 at 6:14 AM, Harvey Golden said:

seems like a half-paragraph of text would provide all the information needed for the proper sheathing of a ship.

I found a paper on literacy in England with a couple of interesting points,
"In 1800 around 40 percent of males and 60 percent of females in England and Wales were illiterate",

"As all Sunday schools taught reading (so that children could read the Scriptures)...clip...In 1800 there were 2,000, with enrolment covering about 10 percent of children between the ages of five and eighteen".

(Sorry, I don't have time to read that paper fully but I don't believe I'm taking these quotes out of context.)

 

I gather that literacy was accelerating at a considerable rate at this time so literacy in the mid-late 1700's would have been considerably worse.

 

I also wonder what the level of literacy would have been achieved, if it was being taught simply with the purpose of reading the bible.

 

But then again, perhaps they just liked a beautiful drawing rather than interpreting a couple of paragraphs and I'm not sure how you would clearly describe the flow of plates around the bow and stern.

 

On a similar vein, I believe that all those lovely English pub signs were also addressing the literacy problem, you didn't need to be literate to know the pub was the 'Kings Head', the 'Swan' or the 'Rose & Crown'.

[mgdawson]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:39 AM, trippwj said:

each plate would weigh over 110# - that would certainly serve to lower the CG!

And potentially make her very stiff, I wonder if that's why they re-sheathed her with wood only 2 years later.

[Harvey Golden]

5 hours ago, mgdawson said:

I found a paper on literacy in England ......

 

Ah-- that makes so much sense!   The social aspects of a technical illustration are easy to overlook.  Thank you.