The Royal Research Ship 'Discovery' Part 12.

The 2007 - 2009 Restoration and Conservation Project - The Start

It was a dull, damp and cold morning in March 2007 when the Main Contractor and his men assembled at the dock-side at Discovery Point to begin the Project. The mood was buoyant, it was if  Discovery felt that at long last she would have all her ills cured, although she was yet to give up her secrets of how bad things had become. I have already referred to the difficulty of cleaning the dry-dock to allow work to begin in earnest but that was accomplished and all was ready to start on the physical work.

Discovery settled on blocks ready for the start; April 2007.

The first task was to remove as much of the old paint coating as possible without harming the original timbers. High pressure water jets were to be used but here the first obstacle was encountered. If ordinary high pressure water jets were used, the shape of the jet itself could do damage to the timbers, especially at pressures beyond 8,000 psi. At such pressures a concentrated water jet would tend to cut through the timbers like a knife. Not a good idea! A specialist North Sea Oil support company, in consultation with the Main Contractor, came up with a novel idea, probably a first. Why not design the jet head so that it rotated at high speed thereby avoiding concentrating its energy on one spot for an instant? Trials proved successful and stripping began.

Stripping starboard side

The water-jet in skilled hands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the timbers were cleaned it soon became evident that some of the findings reported in the Survey Report were wrong, especially that of the presence of Teredo Worm. Now the Teredo Worm is the scourge of wooden ships. These creatures begin as a microscopic larvae, entering the timber of a wooden ship where surface damage may have occurred. They gorge on the timber, burrowing into the plank, growing all the time. Soon they lay their own eggs in a bunch; these hatch and start burrowing in a different direction to that taken by the parent. All this takes place within the timber, out of sight of human eyes. They can grow up to a metre in length and have a girth up to two centimetres. That makes for a big hole!! The underwater timbers of a wooden ship can become cris-crossed with these invisible tunnels, so much so that they lose their strength and break up to cause misery to sailors and owners alike. During the centuries up  to the 19th many, many wooden ships were lost at sea; initially this was put down to storms and tempests, rocks r reefs. However there were many unexplained losses even in the calmest of conditions; there can be little doubt that the Teredo Worm was the culprit for many maritime disasters. Think about a large wooden merchantman, sailing somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean on a clear, near calm night. Only the Officer of the Watch, lookout and helmsman are awake; the crew are below sleeping. Suddenly, the ship breaks her back, water floods into the hull; the bow and stern rise to meet each other, then slowly slide down into the deep. It may have been all over in less than a minute! No warning given, no chance of escape! How many seamen perished in such a fashion is difficult to say but the number would have been thousands rather than hundreds over the years.

 

So the report that Teredo Worm might be present in Discovery's hull was worrying and an immediate investigation was necessary. I selected a plank that showed some signs of worm activity and had a section cut out.

 

 

Cutting out a section of Elm Plank on the starboard forward side for examination.

Careful examination revealed that the worm signs were confined to a depth of less than one centimetre into the plank. It was not Teredo; it was not active and it was as if a great burden had been lifted from all of our minds. Such a condition could be dealt with and deal with it we would. In removing this small piece of plank, other things came to light that I'll tell you about in the next part.