It is not re- 

 quired to fuf- 

 pend the fliip in 

 all cafes. Eor 

 the repairs may 

 bk done by fuc- 

 ceffive removal 

 ef blocks* 



The lifting of 

 fliips was a fre- 

 quent operation 

 in the navy. 



This invention 

 js of value in 

 other under- 

 takings. 



Fid of a top 

 gallant maft, 



applied by 

 Capt. Wells, 



Marceuvre of 

 fti iking the 

 mall) Sec, 



METHOD OF OB V FATING .THE 



on about fifty blocks. Vii'ious are the cawl'es for which a 

 fhip may be required to be cleared from b^r blocks, viz. tQ 

 fliift the main keel ; to add additional falfe keel j to repair 

 defeds ; to caulk the garbo^rd Teams, fcarples of the keel, 

 Sec. Imperfections ij; the falfe keel, which are foyery in- 

 jurious to the pables, can in thp largeft fliip be remedied in t^ 

 few hours by this invention, without adding an additional 

 (bore, by taking away blocks forward, amid-fliips, and abaft, 

 at the fame time; and when the keel is repaired in the wake 

 pf thofe blocks, by returning them into their places, and then 

 by taking out the next, and fo on in fucceHJon. The blocks 

 can be replaced in their original fituations, by the application 

 of the wheel battering-rams to the wedges, the power of: 

 which is fo yery great, that the weight of the (l^ip can be 

 taken ffom the ihores that were placed to fufiain her. There 

 were one hundred and fix flilps of different clafles, lifted at 

 Plympqlh dock-yard, from the |ft of January, 1798, to the 

 3} ft of December, JSOQ; and, had the operation of lifting 

 taken lefs time, the number would have been very confiderr 

 ably increafed ; for the faving of a day is very frequently the 

 caufe of faving the fpring tide, which makes the difference 

 of a fortnight. The importance of this expedition, in time of 

 war, cannot be fufficientiy eftimated. 



This invention may be applied with great advantage, 

 whenever it is necelTary to ere^ (bores, to fupport any great 

 weights, as, for. inftance, to prop up a building during the 

 ^Qpair of its foundation, Sic. Captain Wells, pf his Ma- 

 jeily's Oi'P Glory, of 98 guns, ufed wedges of Mr. Seppings's 

 invention for a fid of a top-gallant maft of that ihip. In 1 803, 

 the top-gallant mails of the Defence, of 74 guns, were fitted 

 on this principle by Mr. Seppings : and, from repeated trials, 

 fiance flie has been cruizing in the North Sea, the vyedge fids 

 have been found in every refpefl to anfwer. 



;put it is Mr. Seppings*s wifh that it Ibould be underftood, 

 that the idea of applying this invention to the fid of a top- 

 gallant mafl originated with Capt. Wells, who well under- 

 llood the principle, and had received from him a model of the 

 invention. 



W^hen it is required to ftrike a top-gallant mafl, the topi 

 ropes are hove tight, and the pin which keeps the horizontal 

 wedges in their place, is taken out, by one man going aloft 

 for that purpofe ; the other horizontal vv-edge is worked in tb<s, 



fid 



