UNDERSEAS STOWAWAYS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 January 1941, Page 6

UNDERSEAS STOWAWAYS

BARNACLES ON SHIP BOTTOMS. HOW THEY ARE REMOVED. The barnacle (of which there are-? several varieties! 'has been aptly! characterised as "an animal which I stands on its head and kicks ns food into its mouth." These little crus-j tacea are underwater stowaways that; have plagued mariners ever since the! first Phoenician. Egyptian. Chinese H and Roman sailors undenoek to ven-p lure out io sen. And they cost thep modern American mercanlile marine’t siime niO.OuAOOO dollars annually furp their removal. When young, the balTi-tele is free, < •wimming and dm s not do any harm p Reaching adulthood, the barnacle at-p tachos itself to a ship’s bottom, sub-, merged piling, or the like, and sticks p there. Many would be very glad io j I lemo the secret of how u> make up glue strong ::s the mihmm thud ’ secreted by the barnadv, one ihiilp hardens under water and sticks sop light that th>; burmicle caimoi be. re-= 1 moved without, taking the paint land.’ -nmctimi'i. snudl pieces of •ramdip With. it. ! • Collecting in enurmnus numbers <»n the ship’s bottom, the totc-l weighi

of the barnacle burden a sargc. :hip may be a- much, as 3(MI tmts Their presence so increases the trie-’ iioiKil resistance of the hull as to, require from une-lifth to one-third i more fuel to operate the vt'mels W Ui-iiis nicthihitvc tried for combating tins marine pest The’ neienl Romans plated ‘.heir hulls: with lead shealhmg aituehed with’ copper nails Sixteenth cen’isr; mariners tried a queer combination of: hair tm<i pitch More ■-: c,, special barnacle-resisting pc mt.' have been [ tried, w'ith ingredients ranging from; PiiTis gre<-n to ur.salU’d water, but; h. . . rkecl f»r any length of timo j .letual lir , <.'n r M. ho .i:ii:<il n clt - ; ;; ■ *. . .: .i | ' I ‘ ■ I 11 ' V it ’ ' 1 1 1 ". - , .ir. ,1 paints, bec- oise his tests show 'hi: :-a i). p:a-i«-i i dai'k ’ on: I'-'ii'oiTimati-ly. howi'ver light-col'. ju red paints ■ • hav<‘ scetr.- i , . i!'. ' < 'ir ■’: ■ ::. i’ harbours v.’iuilii soon darken <-v<-n a; > > mp ov, . .<■!. i ■ n’.mue uiy- •. . ’’ I' ■ >■ ■: to