Sourcing timber from faraway forests has a lengthy history. More than 4,000 years ago, Lebanon exported cedar (Cedrus libani) to Egypt, nearly extirpating the tree that still adorns the Lebanese national flag. The Roman Empire transported silver fir (Abies alba) from Central Europe across the Alps to Rome, and beginning in the 13th century the Hanseatic League shipped Baltic timber to Central European ports.
Transatlantic trade in timber ramped up in the 1600s and 1700s as British forests became ravaged by years of wars. Great Britain then targeted the woods of its far-flung colonies, including white pine (Pinus strobus) in North America and mahoganies in West Africa (Khaya) and the Caribbean (Swietenia species). By the 19th century, Norway’s shipping fleet added the East Indies to the international timber trade, targeting teak (Tectona grandis) forests.
But a truly global timber trade that included multitudes of tree species began in earnest just after World War II and continues to expand. Boatbuilders are now faced with a bewildering list of imported woods to choose from.
Recently, Scott Gifford, the director of the Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut, wrote to ask about some issues he was encountering while working on the replica ship SUSAN CONSTANT from the Jamestown Settlement historic site in Virginia. “The vessel,” he reported, “was built in 1991 and the bottom was framed with purpleheart, planked with Hymenaea courbaril, and fastened with HD [hot-dipped] galvanized square spikes. We are finding rot directly behind the fastening heads and inboard of the traditional cotton and oakum seam caulking, along the plank edges. Rot is also prevalent at the end-grain of the butt joints, inboard of the seam caulking and below the heads of the fastenings. The fastenings, for the most part, are still holding the galvanizing. The degradation around the fastenings looks a lot like iron sickness...but is very localized. These findings imply that the rot is potentially initiating from inside the vessel. After mapping out the affected areas, it is apparent that the planking is mostly compromised from the waterline down to the turn of the bilge. At this point, the planking below the turn of the bilge shows little to no signs of decay. The vessel is docked far enough up the James River that she sits in fresh water that can get quite warm in the summertime. The hold of the vessel is treated regularly with a borate-salt solution. Individually, these findings do not seem out of normal, given the age of the vessel. But I am just curious if the warm, fresh water should be a consideration in deciding what species of wood to replace the bottom planking with. I don’t have a lot of experience with vessels this size that live year-round in fresh water. I would like to use white oak, with durability, availability, and bending capabilities being the driving variables.”