MARITIME OBSERVATIONS, — 303 
‘them not feamen, who being upon deck when a fhip heels 
‘fuddenly are huddled down to leeward, and increafe by their 
weight the effect of the wind. This therefore fhould be 
more attended to and guarded againft, efpecially as the 
advantage of lofty mafts is problematical. For the upper 
fails have greater power to lay a veflel more on her fide, 
which is not the moft advantageous pofition for going 
fwiftly through the water. And hence it is that veflels 
which have loft their lofty mafts, and been able to make 
little more fail afterwards than permitted the fhip to {fail 
upon an even keel, have made fo much way, even under 
jury mafts, as to furprize the mariners themfelves. — But 
there is befides, fomething in the modern form of our 
fhips that feems as if calculated exprefsly to allow their 
overfetting more eafily. The fides of a fhip inftead of 
fpreading out as they formerly did in the upper works, 
are of late years turned in, fo as to make the body nearly 
round, and more refembling a cafk. Ido not know what 
the advantages of this conftruction are, except that fuch 
fhips are not fo eafily boarded. To me it feems a contri- 
wance to have lefs room in a fhip at nearly the fame ex- 
pence. For it is evident that the fame timber and plank 
confumed in raifing the fides from a to b, and from d toc, 
would have raifed them from a to e, and from d to f, fig. g. 
In this form all the fpaces between e, a, b, and c, d, f, would 
have been gained, the deck would have been larger, the 
men would have had more room to ad, and not have 
ftood fo thick in the way of the enemy’s fhot; and the 
veffel the more fhe was laid down on her fide, the more 
bearing fhe would meet with, and more effetual to fup- 
port her, as being farther from the center. Whereas in 
the prefent form, her ballaft makes the chief part of her 
bearing, without which fhe would turn in the fea almoft 
as eafily as abarrel. More ballaft by this means becomes» 
neceflary, and that finking a veflel deeper in the water 
occafions more refiftance to her going through it. The 
Qq2 Bermudian 
