Interpreting HMS Pickle's one-day coppering record

Could HMS Pickle really have been docked, fully recoppered, and launched again on the same day in 1803?

Probably not: an assessment or limited repair fits the reported time better, while comparable complete coppering jobs took at least a week.

Pickle's reported maintenance entry gives the same docking and launching date, 22 March 1803, despite describing recoppering. Comparisons with similarly sized vessels suggest that complete coppering took at least a week, with the shortest example recalled involving urgent royal-dockyard work. A more plausible explanation is an assessment and measurement visit before the materials were ready. Limited repairs to existing copper, possibly including cleaning or burnishing, offer another possibility. The precise operation remains uncertain because the comparison uses other jobs without inspecting Pickle's original record.