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History is curiously quiet on what "minor repairs" the Royal George required in 1782, but I'd cautiously venture the toolbox talk was inadequate.
I mean, killing up to 800 people and leaving the ship 20m deep at the bottom of the Royal Navy's most important anchorage doesn't *imply* a safe system of work...
After 60 years the wreck was removed - along with windows 6 miles away - by the traditional application of [checks notes] a shit-ton of explosives. Top work all round, lads.
@DreadShips Bear with me as I go off on a tangent. What was used for underwater explosives before the 1850s?
@BashStKid Black powder has its own oxidiser in the saltpetre, so the only real problem is how to set it off yet keep it dry. In the Royal George demolition both chemical and (surprisingly) electrical fuses were used, apparently.
@DreadShips I was intrigued, and found a friction-generated electric spark to ignite black powder goes back to 1745!
William Watson, botanist, doctor, FRS, fiddler with Leyden jars, transmitting electricity over two miles of wire, and invention of the push-bang.
@BashStKid that's pretty cool - thanks for letting me know
Gus Posey @DreadShips It's cool they had droids, at least.
@DreadShips Amazing. It's bewildering how a military type service will _always_ have in its top-five proposed solutions to a problem: "what if, if I may, we shoot it with something or blow it up?"
@cda What's even more bewildering is how often it works...