The Ship-VVorm of Jamaica. This inſect is extremely deſtructive to all the ſhips that anchor for any time in the harbours of Jamaica, or in any other part vvithin the tropics: They cut vvith great facility through the planks, and burrovv a conſiderable vvay in the ſubſtance of them, incruſtating the ſides of all their holes vvith a ſmooth teſtaceous ſubſtance[…].

[W]e have suffered seriously in our dock yards and harbors by the operations of the shipworm, to which the soundest and hardest oak offers no impediment.

Old spars and water-soaked timbers cast on the beach are full of the workings of the shipworm—long cylindrical tunnels penetrating all parts of the wood. Usually nothing remains of the creatures themselves except occasional fragments of their small calcaerous shells; these proclaim that the shipworm is a true mollusk, despite its long, slender, and wormlike body.

The shipworms, wood boring bivalves of the family Teredinidae, belong to the oldest invaders. […] Even though mankind has tried to develop counter measures for thousands of years, still there is no easy solution to the shipworm problem in sight.

Once inside edible wood, the shipworm begins eating and growing, and some species, such as those in the Caribbean, can attain a length of over 3 feet. In our waters, however, the shipworm seldom attains a length of over a foot-and-a-half long.

In 1980, divers discovered that Teredo navalis, a shipworm, had infested the timber support. Such was the damage, it left the viaduct at risk of being closed permanently – and with it, the entire line.

Shipworm

Meaning

Noun

Synonyms