mugford's TEMPORARY RUDDER. 207 



secured by eye bolts serving as braces, and crow-bars or other 

 substitutes as pintles, on which it works with as much ease and 

 effect as the original rudder. The false post is also firmly se- 

 cured to the main post by the guys, and the old rudder braces 

 which are tenoned into it. 



Captain Pakenham's rudder depends entirely upon the very 

 slight hold which the cap has on the post, and does not appear 

 to be sufficiently secured to resist a sudden lateral shock; it is 

 however very simple in its construction, and requires, perhaps, 

 less labor and fewer materials (particularly of iron) than Capt. 

 Mugford's, and has the advantage of steering upon deck with 

 a common tiller in the usual way. 



Capt. Mugford's rudder must work with much less friction, 

 and consequently will require less power, as the axis on which 

 it moves is only an inch and a half in diameter, whereas that 

 of Capt. Pakenham's is the diameter of the top-mast; say 10 

 or 12 inches. 



Upon the whole, as the construction of Capt. Mugford's 

 rudder requires only the skill and materials which are usually 

 to be found on ship board, and as it appears to be better secur- 

 ed, and works with more ease than Capt. Pakenham's, it may 

 (without derogating from the merit of the latter) be justly con- 

 sidered as a valuable and useful invention. 



Capt. Mugford's rudder is susceptible of a very simple and 

 important improvement, viz. If the archboard of the stern V 

 was cut off, and the after part of the rudder case taken down, 

 the stock of the rudder might be continued to the upper deck, 

 and steer with the tiller in the usual way. Capt. Mugford's 

 mode of steering is exceptionable, as the yoke is at the surface 

 of the water, and the wheel ropes leading from the yoke to 

 the spar, broad upon the quarter; the angle which the rope 

 makes with the yoke when the rudder is hard over, is so ob- 

 tuse as greatly to diminish the effort of the power ; and more- 

 over the rudder is necessarily so broad at the surface of the wa- 

 ter, as to expose a dangerous resistance to the action of the sea. 



It is also to be observed, that few merchant ships under 350 

 ton's burthen have either wheel or iron tiller. If the rudder 

 was continued to the deck, the breadth might be diminished 



c 



