Why the Navy Ripped This Off Its Ships

A piece of zinc the size of a pea could save the Royal Navy’s copper, and that was exactly the problem. In the 1820s, the copper sheathing that kept wooden warships free of weed and shipworm was slowly dissolving in seawater. Sir Humphry Davy, helped by Michael Faraday, found that a little zinc or iron touching the copper makes the sea eat that metal instead. The Navy fitted his protectors and the copper stopped wasting away. Then the protected ships started sailing badly. Dramatised and compressed for length; Davy and Faraday are CG characters, not portraits. Sources: J. A. Paris, The Life of Sir Humphry Davy, vol. II, ch. XIII (1831); H. Davy, “On the Corrosion of Copper Sheeting by Sea Water,” Philosophical Transactions 114 (1824) #shorts #history #science #navy