Historical Materials: Maritime & Other Industries & Facilities

It was usual practice to prime all ship’s ironwork with red lead, which has a dark brownish red color. This was usually all that was done for anchors, but other ironwork, like chain plates. hawse pipe liners, chocks, cleats, and the iron on deck machinery was given a finish color, such as black, white, and sometimes bright red or other color. Ironwork in spars was also red-leaded, then painted to match the spar color—white, black, or brown if oiled or varnished bright. Lane’s work pre-dates galvanized hardware.