out by the gimlet; it is powdery if the wood is unsound.
Examine her nails and bolts to see whether she be 'nail-sick,' as the sailors call it—that is, if they have worked loose by the straining of the vessel, or are corroded. Remember that to renail a vessel is an expensive business.
The exterior of the vessel and the keel must be examined when she is high and dry. If she is coppered, her sheathing will reveal whether she has been strained, or has suffered injury by running aground with violence. Horizontal or diagonal wrinkles on the copper show that the vessel has been strained. Vertical wrinkles, unless extending over a large surface, may, as a rule, be disregarded; they merely show that the side has been rubbed against some hard surface. If the horizontal wrinkles are regular, and extend along a great part of the vessel's length, she should be condemned; for these show that her frame has been so loosened by age or severe straining that her shape undergoes a considerable change when she is taken out of the water: she settles down, not being able to support her own weight. The fact that doors and lockers that open and shut readily when she is afloat will not do so when she is high and dry indicates the same condition.
See whether the vessel be copper or iron fastened. Iron fastening is far the least expensive, and is the stronger so long as it lasts; for a copper bolt, being
