Lead sheathing of hulls against shipworm
Forro de plomo del casco contra la broma
- Date
- c. century IV a.C. · confidence low
- Place
- Kyrenia shipwreck, Kyrenia (Girne), Cyprus
- Credited to
- Greek shipwrights
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
Lead sheets fixed with copper nails over the hull below the waterline to protect it from the boring mollusc (shipworm, Teredo navalis). The Kyrenia wreck, sunk around 300 BC, preserves one of the earliest examples.
Lead sheathing is attested on wrecks from the 5th-4th centuries BC and was common in Roman times; the date of first use is uncertain.
What it led to
- merchant hulls that lasted decades in warm waters
- the basis of the copper sheathing of 18th-century navies
- lower upkeep on long routes