JB/538/385/001

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5They have connections respecting Ships hired here for
Transports &c. &c This is the man who is consulted
with respect to all Mechanical Engines erected at the public
expence such as Mills steam Engines &c. but he never
gets a farthing by anything of this kind. He has stolen
all my new Mechanical ideas from me behaps 20
years before I was born. He will look at a Machine
tell you of it will answer without making use of of
one x+y: Yet if he pleases he can wrap it up
in the most sublime expressions. He and his father
together have made experiments for these and observations
for these 50 years past relating to the preservation of
Timber in ships. It is now upwards of 20 years ago
that they had experienced the efficacy of a method they
had discovered of preparing the Timber at the expence of
a very few pounds. His father being then Master Builder
of the public yard here applyied his method to several
Ships of war he buildt about that time. These Ships
have had the most trifling repairs immaginable and
the timbers remain now as sound as at first. whereas
before that a Ship had been so much decayed in the
space of 3 years as to broken up entirely unfit for
service. These Ships then have already lasted out 7
such as that one.

The dutch wished to keep this
secret to themselves but as nothing can escape the
notice of Sr Jesh Yorke Our Admiralty were informed
of it at least in part and it was ordered to be put
in practise. However it shared the fate of all other proposals
it was at first badly conducted and by a
change in the Admiralty entirely neglected. Our Ships
are left to rot ad libitum and the dutch hug themselves
and laugh at us. I know a good deal
of the manner in which this was communicated and
of the reception it met with, but what is much more
to the purpose I know pretty nearly at least the whole
of the method itself. However I shall say nothing
more about it in a letter.

The other I have told you is a Captain of a dutch
man of war, and is the first in his profession also.
The Prince of Orange has got him to superintend the
education of his Son. Ten or a dozen years ago he
commanded a fifty Gunship which was sent first to the
Coast of Guinea where it staid 3 months then to
Surinam and all the duch settlements in the West
Indias. He has This Ship's Company were sickly when
they sailed. They touched at in England at Plymouth
and there he talked with Dr Huxom about the health
of the men. IIn consequence of this consultation a method
of treating them occurred to him which he immediately
put in practise and so well did it succede that though it was the most unhealthy of all voyages, he did
6not lose a single man in the 2 years he was out.
Sometime after that another Ship was sent out the
same voyage and had orders to observe the same method
and after since that a third has been sent with
still the same orders and the success has been in
each voyage the same. This method of his was
communicated also to our Admiralty but what notice
they have taken of it I know not. It is not published
nor is any thing else which these men do. It seems
as if had determined to profit by nothing but their
particular business either in the way of reputation
or fortune. The simple fact rather appears to be that
they give so much attention each to the execution of
his particular business that they have not time to
publish any thing. You may well imagine that I
wish to spend as much time with these men as possible
John told me he should be at home all day today and so
I told him I would spend the afternoon with him, and I
will take care to make it as long as possible. Had
it not been that I have waited several days in expectation
of getting admittance in the Public Yard I
should have gone away without scarce seeing this man
as he was ill. He had been confined to the house
with this illness for about a fortnight which is the
first time he has been confined for an hour by
illness for these 40 years past. The father of
these men who was succeded our name sake and
was Builder here to his death I believe, died but
in January last. He was between 80 & 90 therefore
one may have hopes that the sons have yet
many years to live, though I believe the youngest
is not much short of 60.

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Identifier: | JB/538/385/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 538.
Date_1	1779-10-06	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	538	Main Headings
Folio number	385	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	Correspondence	Number of Pages
Recto/Verso		Page Numbering
Penner	Samuel Bentham	Watermarks
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number
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