NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Lightning at sea - James Cook - Chain
From: William Sellar
Date: 2004 Oct 16, 09:03 -0500
From: William Sellar
Date: 2004 Oct 16, 09:03 -0500
I cant remember where, but I once read about the history of chain and lightning in the British Navy. The admiralty experimented with chain from the mast head to the water for many years. They used chain only because that is what they had. It created a lot of problems, even while it helped channel lightning. The chain would get corroded and oxidized, so that the electrical connection between each link was poor and of high resistance. When lightning did come down a chain it would spark between the links and set the masts and sails on fire. They eventually figured it out and replaced the chain with some type of solid conductor. Bill Sellar