I was watching the great historical film Master & Commander from 2003 the other day, and seeing that the boats are not only almost entirely made of wood, but that some parts are literally always wet, it got me wondering just how they fought off rotting wood all throughout the ship, both inside and out. From this, I of course realized that this would always have been an issue throughout the ages up until metal ships became more popular, and of course even then they surely must’ve had to deal with tons of rust.

Were there any known methods? Was the wood treated somehow, and if so, with what?