Working Westray #4
It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for my series on Working Westray.
I’m at the harbour and Willie is repairing the hull of the Noup Head. He’s hammering fresh copper plates onto the hull with large-headed copper nails. Sea-life won’t grow on copper, so it keeps the hull smooth and relatively free of fouling.
He’s cutting boiler-grade copper with a guillotine into right-size pieces
After he’s finished, I’m fascinated by the copper plates and their arrangement of nails.
These’ll make it ship-shape for a few more years.
It’s a fascinating patchwork of the history of its use.
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