The Royal Research Ship 'Discovery'. Part 16.

Restoration and Conservation Continues

It is an exciting occupation restoring historic wooden ships, you never know what will turn up next when working on one. The Discovery continued to amaze even the experienced Main Contractor who had worked on a number of such ships over the years. What is satisfying to the extreme is when a space that had been in decay and ignored for many years is transformed into something that provides a new and better visitor educational experience. The Engine-room of the Discovery is an outstanding example of this as the following pictures testify:

The Engine-room space before restoration.

And after.

Over the past number of years many new products have been brought on to the market that claim to preserve timber. They, generally, are produced as a result of research and development, either at universities or manufacturers. Such products are welcome but, and his is very much a personal opinion, lack long-term credibility. In order to continue to preserve the timber these products have been applied to they, generally, have to be reapplied at fairly frequent intervals to remain effective. A very good example of this is wooden garden furniture and garden decking. Most are supplied already treated, many do not say with what, those that do advise that you should refer to the manufacturer's instructions for that product. So the timber these garden items are made of may look pristine for the first year, weathered and vulnerable the second, then fresh water soaks into the wood and it starts to rot during the third year. It these items last beyond the fifth year without further treatment then you will have been one of the lucky ones.

In the good old days - hey! Those who built wooden ships, built them to last. The timber they were constructed with was well chosen. Pitch Pine, nearly decay resistant and contains a large amount of resin; English Elm, strong and durable and resistant to water; Teak, presence of Silica in the wood, contains natural oils and resists parasites; Oak, strong, weather resistant and the backbone and ribs of all early sailing ships. What about preservation then? Well, Pitch Pine with its natural preservative, resin, when given a proper protective coating such as bitumen or tar, didn't need any. English Elm, naturally resists water and given a similar protective coating, did not need any preservatives. Teak. Ah Teak!! A great mistake made by many is the failure to recognise the properties of Teak and apply modern preservatives. In doing so the life of Teak is reduced rather than increased. Why should this be so? Well, Teak is blessed with its own natural oils that provide more than adequate protection from decay and parasites and should a modern preservative be applied, the chemical balance of the content of those oils would be compromised and lead to an earlier breakdown of the structure of the timber. Oak, provided it is given an adequate protective, not preservative, coating and that coating is maintained, this strong, weather resistant and beautiful timber will remain in service for a long, long time.

In more recent times the chemical element Boron has been used effectively in  timber preservation and appears to be at its most effective when wooden structures that had shown signs of damp decay are steam heated to a temperature of about 73 degree centigrade, kept at this temperature for about 36 hours, allowed to dry before a solution of Boron is sprayed directly on to the dry timbers. The Boron solution penetrates the timbers and acts as an all-round preservative. The timbers in the forecastle of Discovery were subjected to such treatment 15 or 16 years ago and, so far, confirm the success of this treatment.
Rain, fresh water penetration spells the death-knell of all timber and must be prevented at whatever cost. Where softer woods, such as Pine, that have suffered surface decay are concerned, if the decay is removed and the timber dried, a liberal coating to near saturation by the age-old Raw Linseed Oil provides a cost-effective and historically used preservative. This ancient oil has been used as a preservative for centuries and produces a fantastic effect on new timber. Try this! Find a small piece of wood of whatever kind and sand it smooth. Wipe the dust off and then put two or three drops of Raw Linseed Oil on a small, clean cloth, then wipe the oiled cloth along the wood with the grain and see what happens. Do not put too much oil on the cloth and be astounded when you see your piece of wood come alive, revealing its grain as it soaks up the oil. Mahogany is the best wood to use in this experiment but any wood will do.

Back to the Discovery. The Coal Bunker was immediately forward of the Boiler-room and forward of this space everything had been enclosed along the starboard (right) side. Coal had been moulded from fibreglass and set up to make as if the Bunker was near full. An Electrical Control Room came next before ends of packing cases with the contents stencilled on them were ranged from floor to ceiling (deck-head in nautical terms) to form a solid wall forward of the Bunker. The cases were two dimensional but gave the illusion of being solid. The port side coal bunker had been successfully converted into a classroom earlier in the 1990s. A Store-Room then a Pump Room followed by another enclosed space, used as an office, made up the port side of the hold area.

Fiberglas mock coal and briquettes in Coal Bunker

Another view of the same.

We set about opening the compartments along the starboard side and the result was immediately obvious. Fresh air could once again circulate and the visitor could form a very real impression of the size of the ship's hold spaces.

The false packing cases.

False coal gone. The ship can breathe again!



In an earlier part I told of the magnetic free surroundings where delicate observations were carried out, charting the Magnetic Variation of the ship's compass in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and adding to the accuracy of the general survey works undertaken. In the next part I'll explain further the extraordinary lengths the designer went to achieve this.

Meantime, try the little experiment I suggested using Raw Linseed Oil - its great!!