# Ship Maintenance



## GraMar89 (May 30, 2015)

Hi,

Has there ever been a practice of scuttling a tall ship (pre-engine) for the purpose of tightening up its wooden structure, or for putting out a fire. This with every intention of refloating it again soon after, please?

There was a do***entary I saw some time back and I'm wondering if I heard it correctly, please?

Thank your for any insights, especially if you can remember the name of any ship that had this done to it.

G.


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## ninabaker (May 4, 2012)

Hi G,
I cannot answer your specific question, but I am sure someone here will! But you may be interested to know that the opposite was done in classical times. 

The Greeks had a routine practice of running their warships (triremes and the like) ashore overnight, especially before a battle. The reasoning for this was twofold: to allow the wood to dry out, so that it would be lighter in weight, and to reduce the effects of the wood-boring Teredo worm, which as well as making holes in the wood would also cause considerable frictional drag as they hung off the ship. Also it meant that their men could rest ashore.

It is said that this practice of the Athenian Greeks was instrumental in their fleet winning the Battle of Salamis against the Persian fleet which was 10 times as numerous. The Persians stayed at sea all night, so their vessels were waterlogged and heavy and their men tired from want of sleep. This double disadvantage was enough for the Greeks to beat them in the narrow confines of Salamis.

nina


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

It is still a common practice with small craft, clinker built dinghies and the like, to submerge the hull after too much time on the hard in order to swell the planking and tighten the joints. 
I guess that there is no real limit to wooden ship size for this treatment but it would be a big task pumping the hull out in the days before electricity, never mind the cleanup required below deck.
I recall reading about the clipper ships in the trade winds sailing on the one tack for days on end with the lee topside planks whetted while windward planks soaked up the sunshine. In cases like this the crew were required to bucket and pour sea water on the seams to safeguard against an unexpected wind change that might put the dry side under and allow the ship to take on unexpected ballast.
A similar precaution was followed when a wooden ship was becalmed for a long period and when both the port and starboard waterline planking dried out.
Never a dull moment.

Bob


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## rickles23 (Oct 13, 2006)

Hi,

We do it all the time with the wooden boats.

Attached a photo of one.

Regards


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## YM-Mundrabilla (Mar 29, 2008)

It's not always entirely successful, however. (Jester)


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## rickles23 (Oct 13, 2006)

Definitely a lack of maintenance on that one! 

Regards


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## roymuir (Feb 24, 2006)

It was common practice with Australian pearl luggers. It not only tightened them up but also got rid of rats and roaches.


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## GraMar89 (May 30, 2015)

I asked my question a long time ago, and then I lost these forums. I didn't bookmark this site and forgot what it was called. All the other places I looked for an answer to my question were fruitless. Tonight, after these many moons, I resumed my search. I don't even remember the search term I used but here we are. I'm thrilled to see such skilled and helpful answers to my question. Thank you for your help and kind explanations.


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## GraMar89 (May 30, 2015)

rickles23 said:


> Hi,
> 
> We do it all the time with the wooden boats.
> 
> ...


Is there any possibility you could post this image again, please? I didn't get to see the image because I lost these forums.

Many thanks for considering this.


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## John Rogers (May 11, 2004)

Just right clip on the image and download it to your PC, click on the save picture option.


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## GraMar89 (May 30, 2015)

John Rogers said:


> Just right clip on the image and download it to your PC, click on the save picture option.


Thanks for this advice, but unfortunately there's a message telling me "Permission Denied". It's not even displaying a thumbnail for me to view. All I can see is a paperclip symbol indicating an attachment and that message. I wonder if the location the user is sharing the image from allows it to be reposted in this setting?


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## Duncan112 (Dec 28, 2006)

I get permission denied when using the "enhanced " mobile view on all attachments but ok on the PC


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## Bill.B (Oct 19, 2013)

Letting a sailing barges boat fill with water would help make it take up. With a barge itself most had a bung In the bottom but have only heard it being taken out when aground on hard sand and pounding if in distress or when on the blocks. The most common source was "Blackwall caulking". Find a nice sticky mud berth and lay her in it for a couple of tides and seal up the bottom. It seemed to do the trick for a while. It worked on the Lord Roberts quite often.


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## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

ninabaker said:


> Hi G,
> I cannot answer your specific question, but I am sure someone here will! But you may be interested to know that the opposite was done in classical times.
> 
> The Greeks had a routine practice of running their warships (triremes and the like) ashore overnight, especially before a battle. The reasoning for this was twofold: to allow the wood to dry out, so that it would be lighter in weight, and to reduce the effects of the wood-boring Teredo worm, which as well as making holes in the wood would also cause considerable frictional drag as they hung off the ship. Also it meant that their men could rest ashore.
> ...


When the RAF had Fast Rescue Launches which in the main had wooden hulls it was a regular proceedure to take the launches out of the water to clean and let them dry out in order to keep their high speed element.
We took our wooden hulled Motor Yacht out every year to clean and dry her out, that was before Cascover Sheathing became available.


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