V

[Mark Wright AIA]

> Howdy
> 
> The Scaffold (as gibbet, gallows?) is in dry dock, though no one is
> telling the sailors much about what's going on.  Speculation about
> sandblasting barnacles, a nasty job; tars feelin' like ducks sitting
> there, what with the British and the Egyptians going to war and all.
> About that screw-eating fish:  see "Cavitation"  -- a) the formation
> of
> partial vacuums in a liquid by a swiftly moving solid body (as a
> propeller) and b) the pitting and wearing away of such surfaces as a
> result of the collapse of these vacuums in surrounding liquid.  The
> shapes of propellers are optimized for certain speeds.  At other
> speeds
> cavitation effects occur, decreasing efficiency, increasing noise,
> and
> causing pitting of the bronze surface of the propeller and further
> degrading performance.  Screws on military vessels are therefore, and
> I've no earthly idea how I know this, replaced on a regular basis.
> 
> Do I have this right?  Can anyone elaborate?
> 
> Mark
> 
> --- Eric Zumbach <ehzumbac at prodigy.net> wrote:
> > Towards the end of V. the ship is under repair (?) in Valetta to
> > reverse the acts of a "propeller-eating fish."  Incidentally the
> > first scene, Sailor's Grave, has Ploy sinking his well-sharpened
> > dentures into the buttocks of one (of many) Beatrice. She has
> tattoos
> > of propellers in her ass cheeks.  Can make nothing of it but
> thought
> > perhaps it could be interesting.
> > 
> > Anyone?
> > 
> > Eric Zumbach                                                       

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