Effects of Dry Rot in Ships

Abstract

THE presidential address of Dr. John Ramsbottom to the Essex Field Club dealt with dry rot in ships. Its text appears in the Essex Naturalist (25, 231 ; 1937), and provides an interesting account of the struggle of naval builders with wood-rotting fungi. A historical survey from the sixteenth century onwards traces the use of various kinds and qualities of timber, and shows how prone they were to rotting within the vessel, and above the water-line. The diarist Pepys made some contributions towards an understanding of the problem, but it was largely the work of James Sowerby, the author of "English Fungi", which first directed attention to the real cause. He figured twenty-three species of "Fungi found in the Dockyards and,Ships of Great Britain from Deptford to Plymouth 1812". Merulius lachrymans was included in the list, and there can be little doubt that it was one of the chief agents of decay. Many substances were used to impregnate timber in an effort to control the rot ; but it was not until the appearance of ironclad ships that dry rot ceased to trouble the Royal Navy.