XII. Additional experiments and observations on the application of electrical combinations to the preservation of the copper sheathing of ships, and to other purposes

Abstract

I have already had the honour of communicating to the Royal Society the results of my first researches on the modes of preventing the chemical action of fluid menstrua, such as saline solutions, or sea water containing air, on copper, by the contact of more oxidable metals. For some months I have been engaged in a series of new experiments on this subject, so important to the navigation and commerce of the country: and through the liberal and enlightened views of Lord Melville, and the Lords of the Admiralty, who desired the Commissioners of the Navy Board and of the Dock Yards to give me every assistance in their power, and all the facilities which our magnificent Naval establishments at Chatham and Portsmouth furnish, I have been enabled to conduct my operations upon a very large scale. At this advanced period of the session, it will be impossible for me to give more than a very short notice of experiments which have been tried under a great variety of circumstances, and the details of which would occupy some hours in reading; but I cannot deprive myself of the pleasure of stating the satisfactory and conclusive nature of the results, many of which have even surpassed my expec­tations.