222 On the Force, Construction, fyc. 



fettering the efforts of the constructors, by a restriction which, 

 of all others, is perhaps the rhost calculated to neutralize 

 attempts at improvement. The present absurd method of 

 estimating the tonnage of a vessel can only be tolerated on 

 the plea of being a kind of standard by which ships may be 

 bought and sold, and which, from long usage, being understood 

 as such, it would perhaps be productive of some inconvenience 

 to abolish ; but that it should ever form a datum for the con- 

 struction of a ship of war, cannot be too strongly condemned ; 

 because, from the manner in which it is obtained, there can 

 be no permanent relation between it and the real tonnage ; that 

 is, the difference between the weight of the hull and the total 

 weight of the ship when fully equipped and ready for service. 

 To attempt the construction of a ship intended for the purposes 

 of war, without referring the design to the quantity and calibre 

 of artillery it is to bear, is a method of proceeding which, 

 abandoning data at the very outset, involves the whole problem 

 in distracting confusion, and inevitably concludes by leaving 

 the solution to chance. 



When we attempt the construction of a ship of the line, it 

 should be remembered that there are three ways of distributing 

 the quantity of ordnance it is to be armed with ; — 



1st. The length of the ship being given, we may vary the num- 

 ber of decks on which guns are to be mounted. 

 2dly. The number of decks being restricted, we may augment or 



diminish the number of cannon carried on each. 

 3dly. The combination of the two foregoing methods also fur- 

 nishes means, by which the force of a ship of the line 

 may be adjusted, so as to suit the views of the con- 

 structor in other respects. 

 By adopting the first mentioned of these methods, we increase 

 or diminish the height of the hull above water ; and by resorting 

 to the second, the length of the ship will be similarly affected. 

 The third method we have noticed, will combine the effects of 

 the two first, viz. an increase or decrease, both in the number of 

 decks, and in the number of guns carried in each^ separate tier. 

 As the first method of adjustment can never be used without 

 deteriorating all the most desirable properties of a ship, consi- 

 dered as a marine loco-motive machine, it is never resorted to : 

 the same objections, however, do not exist against the second, 

 nor to the third expedients when judiciously employed j and 



