ENAMEL FOR THE BOTTOMS OF SHIPS.
[To TH1 EDITOR OP TH1 SPECTATOR:'] SID,—No doubt a sheathing of aluminium could he made ; but will you allow me to point out the probable result P I will suppose that such a sheathing—say, of one-fifth or one-sixth of an inch—is fitted with the utmost care and nicety to the bottom of a racing-yacht. What would happen ? Why, the first time she chanced to bring up against any heavy piece of wreckage in the lump of the Channel, or carried away a jibboom in a stiffish gale, off would come several fathoms of the pretty sheathing,— to be replaced, how, and where ? The black-leading, on the contrary, could be laid on in any dry-dock in the world, the day
before the race.—I am, Sir, Am, Ex-RN.
P.S.—Of course, the thickness of the sheathing could be increased ; but to increase it to the thickness and toughness of an ordinary sheet of Muntz metal would require something more than an ordinary purse, plus the risk.
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