DRY ROT IN SHIPS.
249
to 178810, about eight years during the Napoleonic period, dwind-
ling to "no duration" immediately after Trafalgar.
It should be noted, however, that although a ship was often
broken up when she reached the condition where repairs would
cost as much as new construction, this was not invariable. The
portion of the frame which contained the great and compass
timbers was usually the last to decay, and when there was difficulty
in procuring these it served as an inducement to build round
them. Sometimes, moreover, it was desirable to maintain the
"personality of a famous ship. The most famous of all, the
Victory, well illustrates this. She was begun at Chatham in 1759,
and launched in 1765, having cost £63,174, her hull, masts and
yards requiring £54,748. Before she went to sea as Keppel's flag-
ship in 1778 her repairs had cost £13,297. She was forty years
old at Trafalgar and her total cost had been £251,981. Ten years
later, after her service as flagship in the Baltic, the total had
risen to £371,922. She had undergone three great repairs, 1787,
1800 and 1814, in addition to the customary small repairs and
trimmings. Since then the Victory has been overhauled several
times, and a few years ago was found to be in an unsafe condition.
and after repair was put in dry dock. I had the privilege of
examining her three or four years ago and found signs of a former
extensive attack of Coniophora puteana.
After Trafalgar the results of St. Vincent's economies and
Melville's and Barham's activities soon became only too obvious.
Melville, on taking office, had suggested the appointment of a
Commission of Naval Revision, "under a deep impression that
"the state of Naval Timber and other matters of essential
"importance to the Naval Service of the country, required an
"immediate and radical investigation." There were thirteen
reports published, but one on Naval timber (1808) and one on a
projected naval base were suppressed on the advice of the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. "It is to be remarked
"that the inquiries and investigations which have since taken
"place upon the subjects, are not of a nature to be laid before
"Parliament, without detriment, until the proceedings may be
"further advanced." Melville brought the subject forward in the
House of Lords in 1810 without getting satisfaction, and therefore
10 In 1759 several Thames shipbuilders unanimously stated that English river-built ships
would last serviceable about sixteen years and the French only seven.