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The technique ofcomposite ship construction (wooden planking over awrought iron frame) emerged in the mid-19th century as the final stage in the evolution of fast commercialsailing ships.
Construction ofwrought iron hulled vessels had begun in the 1820s and was amature technology by the time of the launch of theSSGreat Britain in 1843. However, iron hulls could not be sheathed withcopper alloy (due tobimetallic corrosion) and so would become festooned with drag-inducing weed during long voyages in the tropics.
The wooden planking of a composite ship allowed thecopper sheathing essential for fast ocean crossings under sail while the iron frame made the ship relatively immune fromhogging and sagging, and took up less interior space than wooden framing.
The brief reign of compositeclippers as the fastest mode of transport betweenEurope andAsia was brought to a close by the opening of theSuez Canal in 1869 and ongoing improvement in the performance ofsteam ships.
Composite construction was also used for some steamships. An idea of the proportion of composite ships built can be gained from the statistics for vessels constructed on the Clyde (and tributaries thereof) in 1869. Of the 206 ships launched there in the year, 22 were of composite construction, compared to 168 of iron and 16 of wood. Of the 22 composite vessels, 16 were sailing ships and 6 steamers.[1]
Today only five ships of this type survive, in various states of preservation or decay.
