this I will assert, that I consider Captain Layman as a most able, active, brave, and zealous officer; and that the sentence of the Court has neither altered my public or private opinion of his great merits; the loss of the services of men of such rare abilities is to be lamented by the country. My wish at present is, to place Captain Layman well with Lord Barham, and that his lordship may possess my opinion of him.”
During Nelson’s short stay in England, after pursuing the combined fleets of France and Spain to and from the West Indies, he was desired by the Admiralty to submit his ideas of the best description of naval force to be employed at Gibraltar; strong representations having been made to Government of the depredations committed by French and Spanish cruisers in the Gut. His plan was, the formation of a naval brigade; and he warmly recommended that it should be placed under the direction of Commander Layman, who thus concludes his memorandum of services, dated Aug. 29th, 1817:
“Although I was taken by Lord Nelson to the Admiralty, and a promise given to send me. out to the Mediterranean, yet the next month terminating his lordship’s glorious career, the promise was forgot, and my offer of service rejected. As, however, the premature decay of our ships of war was making rapid strides, and I had succeeded in a discovery of preparing forest trees for immediate use, as well as increasing the strength and duration of timber and ships, I expressed a willingness to disclose the discovery, on condition, that as much depended on the performance of the measure, if the principle was adopted, I should have the direction of the execution; which met with so mortifying a reception, that if guided by my feelings, I should not have renewed the subject: but considering the matter to be of the greatest national importance, I conceived it would be supine in me to give it up from a sneer, and unfounded assertion, which might proceed from the assumption of an individual only; or if opposed by a body, from prejudice, which was the case for years against the coppering of ships, it might be ultimately removed by the evidence of facts. I trust it cannot be considered improper, when an officer is desired to state his services, to shew what he is farther able and willing to do. Therefore, in a public point of view, on so important a subject as the means of supporting our navy, I beg to submit to inspection two pieces of the Scotch larch, with which a ship is about to be built at Woolwich. The specimens were originally in one piece, till separated by the saw; the one in its natural state, with the cause of decomposition remaining, weighed 496 oz. per cubic foot, broke with 466 lbs.; the other, after having 22 oz. per cubic foot of corruptive matter removed, and the cohesion of the wood increased, as may be seen by its durity, sustained 728 lbs.; the advantages require no com-
