will submit the circumstances to the determination of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty; as, should their lordships think proper, ships may not only he built of increased strength and duration, but I am ready to prove, that other English timber, as well as oak, may be rendered superior to what is precariously obtained at great expence from foreign countries. I am Sir, &c.
(Signed)“W. Layman.”
“J. W. Croker, Esq.”
“Admiralty Office, 22d August, 1812.
“Sir,– Having laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, a report from the Navy Beard of yesterday’s date, upon your letter of the 14th inst. relative to your plan for the preservation of timber, I am commanded to acquaint you, that their lordships do not think it necessary that you should give yourself any farther trouble on the subject.
(Signed)“J. Barrow.”
“To Captain Layman, R.N.”
Shortly after this. Commander Layman addressed the Navy Board as follows:–
“Gentlemen, – The evils which arise from the rapid decay of our ships of war, cannot but occasion me to regret, that my endeavours to verify the facts upon a more enlarged scale – of the practicability of preparing forest trees for immediate conversion, as well as increasing the strength and durability of all timber, by the building of a ship as a test of duration, should not have been considered as a proper object for the officers in that department to recommend, when the subject was referred from the Admiralty to the Navy Board; particularly, as exclusive of the premature decay that I observed to have commenced on the outer side of thr timbers of the Queen Charlotte, next to the boiled plank, which being excluded from light and air, accelerated fermentation and putrefaction, thereby promoting decomposition, I was forcibly struck with the pernicious effect which the gallic acid contained in the oak, and acting upon an iron bolt, had produced on the timber in not more than two years, This corrosion, although different in its action, and not so rapid in its progress as the rot, is equally destructive to the timber, and a great cause of the frequent and large repairs our fleet requires; as iron, from its strength, is in many parts of a ship indispensable.
“I exerted myself to discover a mode by which this evil consequence might be prevented, by preserving iron from corrosion, and was proceeding with every prospect of success, as two of my experiments had not contracted any rust whatever, although one had been immersed in a liquid much more acrimonious than is contained even in the timber of Brazil, which it appears is about to be introduced: but great was my disappointment; and I cannot but lament that all my labours and expence for twenty years, to acquire the means of increasing the duration of our navy, so obvi-