“I’ll put the kettle on” This domestic, cozy expression means it’s time to don the gas mask. Today, the Swedish spring weather is nice and dry, giving us a chance to pitch the newly caulked seams. This is the second layer. We heat our pitch in a large tea kettle. As it turns out, the issue of how to shape a vessel for easy pouring of a very hot liquid (first layer 300 degrees Celsius, second only 150) has already been solved. The pitch goes in the seams, on top of the oakum. The gap on top is supposed to be as deep as it is wide – the hardened pitch, if it could be pulled out whole, should be square in cross-section. It would look like the world’s longest piece of liquorice. Pitch is indeed pitch black. It is the end result of the slow burning and distillation of organic materials. Historically, it was made by boiling off all the water in pine tar, but these days it’s impossible to get anything but petroleum pitch. It smells like boiling asphalt (when hot and liquid) and looks like black shiny volcano glass (when room temperature and solid). The dark colour is so striking that the deepest possible black is named for pitch in Swedish too.
Writen by Karl a crewmember of the Götheborg of Sweden
Caulking is used to seal the joints and make them watertight.
