The following question was recently posted on the Napoleon Series forum: “British line of battle ships seemed to have a life of anywhere from 30 to 70 years before they were scrapped.
Given their expense & the potential longevity of a wooden vessel this seems quite short. What were the various reasons for scrapping them? Some figures that were paid for the privelage of breaking up decommissioned ships seem very high. Does anyone know to what purposes the timber was put to?”
From discussions I have read here I surmise that phenomenom such as ‘hogging’ could be a contributing factor (as well as using unseasoned timber due to the pace of ship building during the Napoleonic Wars) in terms of why the ships would be scrapped. High prices for the scrapper? All I can think of is that some timber would be salvagable, as well as the hull copper-and maybe some of the rigging? Any other factors?
Bob Fuhrman
Dear Fuhrman: Many ships were scrapped becaused they outlived their usefulness, or it was too much of an expense to maintain idle warships after the conclusion of a war. After the Napoleonic conflict in 1815, numerous vessels, such as the 74 gun Bellona, met this fate. The salvageable timbers were used in the construction of new vessels, while useless wood was sold as firewood, or given to dockworkers to take home to warm their hearths.
I suppose it’s like after the end of the steam era in railroading- everything gets scrapped and the manufacturers insist that their customers cannot live without the latest thing.
Given that naval ships of the Napoleonic era led very harsh lives it is a testament to the builders that in many cases they lasted as long as they did, although it should be remembered that many of the famous old ships such as the Bellona, previously mentioned , during their life- times had what were virtual rebuilds, the Victory is another case in point.
Politicians then, as now had little sentiment to retain vessels they no longer considered necessary and they were broken up or sold. No doubt any items considered of use were appropriated and re-used by the Navy .
Victory was given the masts of HMS Shah (an unarmoured iron frigate) in about 1880. That ship dating from 1870 was sold as a coal hulk and scrapped in 1919.
I would recommend the two volume books by Rif Winfield ‘British Warships in the age of sail 1714 - 1817’ which lists the history of all known ships that served in the British Navy during that period recording their details and ultimate fates. It is a very interesting reference work.
Well, its important to remember that ‘scrapping’ (as in everything was simply thrown away) never happened, and almost everything was reused in some way or another! Many capital ships were ‘rebuilt’ a number of times, occasionally having name changes in the process, or timbers, frames, and other main structural components transferred to other ‘new’ ships in build (large timbers of well-seasoned oak fetched a very high premium). Thus, major elements of a particular ship of the line might actually be in service much longer than you might suppose (check out the history of the first rate ‘Royal William’ sometime!). All that said, everything comes to an end sometime, wood rots, iron rusts and copper and bronze corrodes, and of course, designs change, improve, enlarge, etc. The idea of a major warship remaining in its original function for 70 years is actually quite incredible by modern standards. How many WW2 aircraft carriers are still in service today? How many dreadnoughts from WW1? Yet this was not particularly unusual in the age of sail. Even with the coming of steam-powered navies, many of the old wooden walls served as training ships, receiving ships, and prison hulks. And at the very end, the last of the great ships of the line were taken to true scrapping yards, where the hulls were burnt, and the iron, copper and bronze fastenings recovered and sold for recasting. ‘Hogging’ was not much of a problem for ships of the line, except for unseasoned, or ‘fir-built’ ships, though some French ships were too lightly built for British usage, and were thus sold to ship-builders for dismantlling and re-usage of the parts.
Also, consider that at the end of the Napoleonic wars, the British government percieved no credible naval threat, nor that any of the remaining great powers (Prussia? Russia? Spain?) would be in any position to become one in the forseeable future. As. indeed, it turned out, with Britain ruling the waves unchallenged for almost 100 years. Not to mention the fact that the wooden-hulled sail-powered ship of the line would soon become obsolete.
Keeping ships in commission, and even in reserve, costs money, which peacetime govenments are usually loathe to afford. Also consider that the lead time for building wooden-hulled frigates and ships of the line was much less than it is for building a modern frigate or destroyer. Better to only spend the money when you absolutely have to.
Cheers,
Chris.
Post Napoleonic wars a lot of ships were built that went straight into reserve or ‘Ordinary’ for basically their whole careers. They had their decks roofed over and were never fitted out with spars, weaponry etc. One, the HMS Unicorn, survives to this day. It cannot be a coincidence that ships never used in intense warfare such as the Unicorn and HMS Warrior survived for a very long time- as the previous post says, with a century of naval dominance, they inevitably led sheltered lives.
In Barton upon Humber, a small town that relied in river eustary trade a lot of the buildings show timber from ships in them even today. The use of deck beams as lintels is particularly noticeable as they are curved. Just now and again you can identify a decorative wooden door frame or something that almost certainly came from a ship. Fascinating place to walk around!