Faraday to W. Rees   6 October 18371

R Institution | 6 Octr. 1837

Sir

I am not acquainted with the embankment at Lowestoff or the mode of preserving Iron there[.] At Liverpool where Iron is used in the Mersey it has been found to be greatly protected by associating with it small portions of brass & Mr Hartley2 practices the introduction of pieces of brass there to preserve it there3[.]

Again Messrs Laird4 build iron steam boats & they protect the metal excellently by putting on two or three coats, the first & second of drying oil & red lead the third of what they call varnish which I believe is a thinned tar[.]

I am Sir | Your Obedient Servant | M. Faraday

W. Rees Esq | &c &c &c

1
Unidentified.
2
John Bernard Hartley (d.1871, Ritchie-Noakes (1984), 95, 99). Engineer in Liverpool Docks.
3
Hartley (1837).
4
John Laird (1805-1874, DNB). Birkenhead ship builder.

Bibliography

HARTLEY, John Bernard (1837): “On Preventing the Corrosion of Cast and Wrought Iron immersed in Salt Water”, Rep. Brit. Ass., 56-7.

RITCHIE-NOAKES, Nancy (1984): Liverpool's Historic Waterfront: The World's First Mercantile Dock System, London.

Please cite as “Faraday1039,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1039