Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 141, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1918 — SALT WOODEN SHIPS [ARTICLE]

SALT WOODEN SHIPS

Method Used to Lengthen Life of Vessels. \ Turns Seepage Into Brine, Which Acts as a Preservative of the Wood. Seattle, Wash.—C. O. Morrow, president of the Elliottray Shipbuilding company, suffered something of a shock the other morning, but at that it was nothing to the shock suffered by several prominent citizens whp were 'taking a stroll through the company’s big wooden shipbuilding plant. The citizens were shocked when they discovered that 20 tons of rock salt is used in building each of the big wooden ships now under construction in Seattle. Mr. Morrow was shocked because his callers didn’t know that rock salt is a shipbuilding material. Everybody on the water front knows that, but it seems that there are a lot of prominent business men who didn’t. There is now a Suspicion that only-a very few residents east .of Railroad avenue know that a wooden ship has to be salted. In showing the prominent citizens about his plant Mr. Morrow came to the building in which he stores this rock salt. A railroad car was unloading another shipment. “This is where we keep the salt for the ships,” said Morrow. “Haw, haw 1” said one caller, who is something of a humorist. “I suppose you’re afraid the ships will get too fresh?” • “That’s the exact truth,” said Mr. Morrow. But the citizens wouldn’t believe him until they ha<Texamined the salt. Some of them tasted it. The storehouses contained 120 tons. Mr. Morrow explained that the salt is poured between the frames of a wooden ship above the water line and is tamped down solid. Then if any water seeps into the spaces between the frames it is turned to brine and does not damage the wood. Instead, it acts asa preservative.