Posted: Apr 08, 2016 12:22 am
jamest wrote:Macdoc wrote:Ideas are cheap...execution very difficult. Wooden vessels...are "alive" by design. They flex and shift ....metal does not want to do that.
The biggest use was copper plating to prevent hulls becoming swiss cheese from boring ship worms. Copper has some give as well.
If you're in a desperate situation you'll try anything, even if it's not been tried before.
Something tells me that people who are desperate aren't the sort who would have supplies for smelting. In the period of 1700-1930 in a well settled area of North America, what would be so desperate about their situation that they would need to smelt iron?