There are so many more types of wood in today’s world. Once it was a question of choosing between oak and pine or mahogany and fir. Then came sapele, with balsa all on its own for boys dabbling in flight. Then there were hard and extremely hard woods like ebony.
The Mosquito was a winner. As a wooden aircraft with furniture-makers roped in to turn out multiples day after day it was a one-off. It had a parallel of course in the Morgan with its frame of ash.
Earlier still there had been ships’ clocks made of wood.
The name here is John Harrison. He was a self-taught carpenter who designed and made a clock that was accurate to a second a month. The Royal Navy needed such a piece of workmanship to allow its captains to work out their longitude. Harrison won a prize of £10,000 for his entry in a competition prescribing the Admiralty’s requirements.
An achievement like this surprises the world. They were no slouches, the men who worked with the prevailing technology of sheets, ropes, yard-arms, tar and sextants. They worked within the limits of the technology they knew and the raw material that was available. But there came a time when the prevailing technology (maybe steam) was replaced by another driving force (electricity?) and greater achievements came within reach.
The Church is struggling to come to terms with online opportunities. Is there a John Harrison lurking in the wings?
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