to keep the ships at sea for longer intervals ptotecting sea routes etc
wooden hulls below the waterline had coppering added as barnacles & such like would attach themselves to the hull causing xtra weight thus effecting speed & manouverability & if left too long damage to wooden hull (going in to drydock every 6-12 months for scraping)

in order to keep slugs/snails climbing up your garden pots and eating your plant wrap a copper band round it

Both Doremi and Budgie are correct. The Teredo Worm is in fact not a worm but a mollusc with a very small shell which burrows into the wooden hull and weakens the basic structure of the ship, more prevalent in hot climates such as the Caribbean.

Marine growth seriously slowed down sailing ships and as Budgie says it was a big job to scrap the hull involving a dry dock or 'careening'.

Before coppering, various attempts were made to protect the hull of ships including painting a mixture of tar and pitch or other resin type substances over the lower hull.

Coppering in the Royal Navy was first suggested in 1708 but rejected on the grounds of the high cost of copper (where does that sound familiar??) It wasn't until the mid-18th century that experiments were carried out and initially proved unsuccessful due to the electrolysis between the iron fixing bolts and the copper sheath. The iron bolts were eaten away by the electro-chemical action. Eventually copper alloy bolts were used for fixing ships' hulls and prevented the problem.

Victory was one of 46 major warships to be coppered in 1780 although it wasn't until 1786 that ships were required to use the copper alloy bolts near areas of coppering.

It then became common practice until metal hulled warships such as HMS Warrior were introduced in the mid-nineteenth century.

Mike T

Hi Mike.
Do you eat history books for breakfast

Well done Mike. I do not know a lot about the Georgian Navy but i do know a fair bit about Victory (not so much the history, but the ship herself) so it's great that we are able to call on your expertise. Thanks.