Copper sheathing

Copper sheathing is the practice of protecting the under-water hull of a ship or boat from the corrosive effects of salt water and biofouling through the use of copper plates affixed to the outside of the hull. It was pioneered and developed by the Royal Navy during the 18th century.

Deterioration of the hull of a wooden ship was a significant problem during the Age of Sail. Ships' hulls were under continuous attack by shipworm and various marine weeds, all of which had some adverse effect on the ship, be it structurally, in the case of the worm, or affecting speed and handling in the case of the weeds. The most common methods of dealing with these problems were through the use of wood, and sometimes lead, sheathing. Expendable wood sheathing effectively provided a non-structural skin to the hull for the worm to attack, and could be easily replaced in dry dock at regular intervals. Weed, however, grew rapidly and slowed ships. Lead sheathing, while more effective than wood in mitigating these problems, was too heavy and reacted badly with the iron bolts of the ships.

Even older than the sheathing methods were the various graving and paying techniques. There were three main substances used: White stuff, which was a mixture of whale oil, rosin and brimstone; Black stuff, a mixture of tar and pitch; and Brown stuff, which was simply brimstone added to Black stuff. It was common practice to coat the hull with the selected substance, then cover that with a thin outer layer of wooden planking.

The use of copper sheathing was first suggested by Charles Perry in 1708, though it was rejected by the Navy Board on grounds of high cost and perceived maintenance difficulties. The first experiments with copper sheathing were made in the late 1750s: the bottoms and sides of several ships' keels and false keels were sheathed with copper plates.

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