Oak trees in Colbert’s forest
We recently posted about Constitution Grove, a 50,000-acre private forest maintained by the US Navy, in part to provide white oak trees used in maintaining the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat. The forest is part of the Naval Support Activity Crane, 35 miles southwest of Bloomington, Indiana.
The United States is by no means the only country to set aside forests for ship construction and repair. Indeed, Constitution Grove is relatively new and largely ceremonial. The grove was only dedicated on May 8, 1976. By contrast, French Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert ordered the planting of oak groves to supply the needs of the future French navy way back in 1607. Planting continued up and through the Napoleonic era.
The dedication of Constitution Grove was apparently inspired by difficulties in procuring seasoned white oak in a 1973 restoration of the USS Constitution. While seasoned white oak of the right dimension for planking may not be easy to find, the good news is that there is no shortage of white oak trees in the United States.
One source notes that white oak trees are grown in 18 states. They estimate there are 5.2 billion white oak trees in the U.S. in forests covering a total of about 235,000 square miles. France today has 34,000 square miles of oak forests compared to 4,000 in the UK and less than 2,000 in Ireland. (Admiral Collingwood would not be pleased.)
If the navies of the world have only a limited need for white oak, what is it being used for? The answer is barrels. And not just any barrels, but vintners barrels used to age wine, cognac, sherry, and whiskey. Winespector.com notes that most of the French oak for barrels comes from one of five forests, some of which were originally planted during Napoleonic times for shipbuilding.
Most of the oak barrels used for aging come from the United States or France. Which is better? Winespector.com opines that speaking in broad generalities, French oak barrels are typically more subtle and spicy, offering textures of satin or silk. American barrels tend to be stronger in flavor, often described as cream soda, vanilla, or coconut, resulting in wines with a more creamy texture.
Trees meant to build ships are now are being used for barrels for all sorts of fine spirits. Not quite swords to plowshares, but certainly men-of-war to wine and whiskey. The next time you enjoy a particularly good bottle of French wine, you might consider raising a toast to Colbert and the French Navy.
The New Forrest in Hampshire, England was established to grow wood for the British Navy, parts of it are preserved to do so to this day.
Ribs were made from oak sections fastened together which required a lot more man hours and wood. Grown oak was made by tying the tree top to the ground and as it grew, moving the tie down further away from the roots to form greater radii.These allowed very efficient and strong builds although preplanning could take 60 years.
Pilgrim story challenged
400 years on, the Pilgrims get a reality check
From the signing of the Mayflower Compact to the landing at Plymouth Rock, the grade-school story of the Pilgrims doesn’t quite square with the facts
https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/history/2020/11/400-years-on-pilgrims-get-reality-check
Spare a thought for the wild-life losing their habitat because many of the cork tree forests in Portugal are being destroyed because they are not needed due to the prevalence of screw cap bottles for wine bottles nowadays. Owls in particular which nest in holes in the cork oaks.
Maintain biodiversity – drink more wine supplied in cork stoppered bottles!
Jean,
Now they use fake cork that actually floats.
Also, years ago they switched from cork trees to something similar.
Even Cinnamon isn’t really Cinnamon now, it’s a similar tree.
Nutmeg and others have added wood fillings (fine sawdust).
A Portugese colleauge’s family own one of the worlds largest cork farms says they have not been impacted by the problem as they found other markets and uses. Their cork is also used on the nosecone of every rocket that goes into space to dissipate heat that would otherwise destroy the craft.
ps: If you have a corked bottle of wine,put some polythene into the bottle or pour it into a polythene bottle and let it sit for 15 minutes, the offending chemical and odour is absorbed by the polythene leaving the wine perfectly drinkable.
Thanks for the tip about corked wine Peter. You can tell if it is corked by smelling the bottom of the cork.