'90 Naval Architecture and 



States possess a far superior character to our own . HoW 

 many expensive alterations have been rendered expedient in 

 our ships, that a precedency in the theory of naval archi- 

 tecture would have rendered unnecessary ! Of what pur- 

 pose is it to copy models in the present" day, which were 

 taken from foreign nations thirty years ago, and are of a 

 still earlier date in point of design ? It is thus that we have 

 been always a step behind them ; improved models, we 

 know, replace, in the French navy, those of ancient con- 

 struction. 



It is true that we have some names among us that are 

 cited as those of good ship-builders ; but it must be ob- 

 served, that as tapers shine in the dark, which are dimmed 

 by the approach of day, so it is impossible to determine the 

 relative merits of our naval artists till open competition 

 shall duly distinguish them. That time is now approaching : 

 nay, from the enlightened and judicious measures of our naval 

 administration, is now ushered in. Our public experimental 

 squadrons, in which direct contrast and impartial trial alone 

 decide on merit, are as fair and beneficial modes of ad- 

 vancing our attainments in the arts as probably could have 

 been devised. Again, we have a corps of naval engineers, who 

 are admitted into the service, solely on their general capa- 

 cities and mathematical abihties. At the School of Naval 

 Architecture they pass public examinations every year, the 

 accounts of which are communicated to the Lords Com- 

 missioners of the Admiralty ; and it is in the order in which 

 they stand at their final examination, under the Professor, 

 that they have hitherto been promoted. Although nothing 

 can be conceived more impartial than this plan at the pre- 

 sent period, yet it must be allowed that it does not give the 

 desired excitement to perseverance in science, subsequent to 

 their departure from the institution ; and we have no doubt, 

 for this reason, that some distinction will be made for 

 remedying this deficiency : already the theorems and prin- 

 ciples for ship-building have been explored to an extent far 

 surpassing what was known seven years since at the School 

 of Naval Architecture. 



It must be remarked that superior genius, where it does 

 not meet with protection and reward, is always productive 

 of much real injury to the possessor : as an instance of 

 this, we cite the contempt and obscurity in which Mungo 

 Murray, our only native writer on the theory of sliip-build- 

 ing, lived and died, which is related by Mr. J. Knowles, 

 the present Secretary to the Committee of Surveyors of 



