In recent years, concrete and metal have been widely substituted for wood in contact with sea water, but wood products have not lost their usefulness under such conditions. In many cases, wood if sound and durable, may prove to be the most practical and economical of materials used in sea water exposure. Timber when immersed in the sea may be attacked by micro-organisms (bacteria and fungi) and marine borers (members of the molluscan genera: Teredo, Psiloteredo, Lyrodus, Bankia, Pholas, Martesia and others, also members of the crustacean genera: Limnoria, Paralimnoria, Sphaeaeroma and Chelura). Although marine borer damage is the more dramatic, damage by marine micro-organisms can contribute to cause soft rot of wood (Jones and Byrne, 1976), and they are also believed to be implicated in the 'preconditioning' of a wood surface prior to settlement of marine borer larvae (Eltringham, 1971). Ten tropical timbers (Mukulungu = Autranella congolensis, Moabi = Baillonella toxisperme, Angelique = Dicorynia guianensis, Jarrah = Eucalyptus marginata, Congotali = Letestua durissima, Azobe or Ekke = Lophira alata, Bilinga or Opepe = Sarcocephalus diderrichii, Douka = Tieghemella africana, Makore or Baku = Tieghemella heckelii, Wacapou or Acapu = Vouacapoua americana) were choosen to examine their natural durability in sea water in Italy, France, Ghana and Canada.

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