NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. SI 



of Mr IVIorton's apparatus would afford the means 

 of repairing every ordinary damage in almost any 

 country. The contrivance consists of a simple frame 

 of wood, adapted for supporting a vessel in an up- 

 right position, traversing on a kind of rail-way, 

 fixed on an inclined plane at the margin of a river 

 or the sea, and extending from above the reach of 

 the tide down to the low-water mark. This frame 

 being launched into the sea, as far as the lower end 

 of the rail-way, receives the vessel upon it at high- 

 water, when, by the use of blocks or chocks of wood 

 placed on the sides of the frame, moveable by means 

 of ropes towards the centre, the vessel is supported in 

 an upright position, and then, by the application of 

 a mechanical purchase, consisting of a combination 

 of wheels and axles, constituting a powerful winch, 

 the frame and the contained vessel are draAMi up 

 together on dry land. AVith this apparatus, a ves- 

 sel of 200 to 300 tons burden, might be taken, by 

 12 or 18 men, entirely beyond the reach of the 

 tide in the course of about an hour *. The advan- 

 tage of such an apparatus in a vessel bound to the 



* The intention of Mr Morton's invention is to supersede 

 the necessity of dry docksj over which it possesses several ad- 

 vantages. An apparatus calculated for taking up a vessel of 

 300 tons burden, can be built for the sum of 500/. or 600/. ; 

 and, when once fixed, vessels can be taken up for an expence 

 of 25*. to SOs. ; whereas the common charge for putting a ship 

 into a graving-dock, is, in some places, as high as 10/- 



