DRY ROT IN SHIPS. 265
for the decay which has consumed the Navy" and was awarded
a gold medal by the Royal Society of Arts.
However, in December, 1819 the Portsmouth Telegraph said
"The dry rot continues to destroy the British Navy. Several
"instances have occurred of ships which have never been to sea
"having received a thorough repair and this not long after their
"being launched. The expense thus incurred is enormous : and we
"are sorry to say, that among the many methods tried to stop the
"dreadful ravages of the dry rot, not one has proved effectual ;
"the rot continues to be the destructor and the reproach of our
"Navy."
The Times in January 1825 said:
"A disease but little known to our ancestors, and not more
"familiar to foreign nations, appears to have made, within 30 years,18
"the most unparalleled and frightful ravages among the King's
"vessels of war. Ships not serving for more than a fourth of the
"period for which they had been estimated to endure, have been
"brought in to dock, to receive, at an enormous expense, what is
"described as a ' thorough repair ' ; and even before the process of
"repair was completed, have, from the virulence of the distemper
"which afflicted them, decayed almost under the carpenters' hands,
"and been pronounced incurable. New ships of the first order,
"magnificent as models, costly in their materials, elaborate in work-
"manship, and of proud and encouraging promise, have, on the
"earliest inspection after being launched, turned out unserviceable
"from the dry rot ! At this moment not a few of the finest-looking
"vessels in the British Navy have actually perished in their respective
"harbours, and the hundreds of thousands of pounds which have
"been expended on them might as well have been cast into the ocean.
"The fact has not been denied. It is terrifying."
Various chemical methods for preserving timber were put
forward. Wade in 1815 suggested the use of salts of copper, iron
and zinc ; a patent was taken out for copper sulphate and copper
acetate by Margery in 1837, and a more noteworthy one for
zinc chloride by Burnett in 1838 ; Burnettizing was practised
for some time in the navy but failed because of the solubility
of zinc chloride. The most widely advertised method was
the use of corrosive sublimate for which a patent was granted
to Kyan in 1832. Kyanizing was accepted with enthusiasm
by many prominent chemists and Faraday "thought it of such
consequence as to justify him in adverting to it on his first
appearance as their Fullerian Professor of Chemistry" in his
18 There was often misunderstanding because the term dry rot was not used in early days.
The introduction of the term apparently dates from 1775—"Some observations on the Distemper
in Timber called the Dry Rot."