The Naval Chronicle says the first ship of the Royal Navy to be sheathed with copper was the Alarm frigate in 1758; and it is also said that the Dolphin, the ship in which Captain Wallis sailed round the world, was the only coppered ship in the service at this time, and she remained the only one for some years.

The wind still holding to the west, we made but little progress, the Dolphin being only a good sailer in smooth water, or running before the wind.

The Dolphin was a tight, new, barque-rigged vessel of about three hundred tons burden, built expressly for the northern whale-fishery, and carried a crew of forty-five men.

I found that a Dolphin on land, although kept in a small square pond, was indeed quite a curiosity, both to young Folks and older ones.