220 Mr. Harvey on Square mid 



devotedness to the national honour and glory forms so decided 

 and pre-eminent a characteristic, that during the varied and trying 

 services of a war like the last, no one conceived the square stern 

 to be imperfect, or that advantages would not result from its alter- 

 ation. We have, in the first place, the case of the Prince, in 1798, 

 to prove that more than one of the officers entertained the idea 

 that a change of form would be advantageous. Thus, Lieutenant, 

 now Captain Crawford, remarks, that " many here complain of 

 the want of strength in the construction of our ships' sterns, and 

 also of their improper form for defence; for instance, we cannot 

 fire a gun from our lower deck out at the stern-ports, without ma- 

 terially injuring the lower counter, it is so flat, and overhangs so 

 much ; — from the middle deck we cannot fire without cutting away 

 a transom that is placed so high that the guns cannot be pointed 

 over it." And with the same conviction of the improper form of 

 the stern, Captain Larcom, who commanded the Prince at the same 

 time, gave it as his opinion, " that the stern of a man of war 

 should be constructed like that of a Dutch fly-boat ; that there 

 should be ports all round, to enable you to fire in every direction, 

 and from all the decks." 



The alteration, however, which in the case of Captain Larcom 

 was only'advanced as an opinion, in that of the captain of the 

 Phoenix frigate was actually carried into practice ; — at least as 

 far as the very imperfect form of her square stern would admit. 

 In the account of the action of this frigate with the Didon, her 

 gallant commander observes, " I believe it has long been under- 

 stood that the quarters of ships are worse defended than any other 

 part of them; and as this idea struck me forcibly whilst in com- 

 mand of the Phoenix, / ventured to make an alteration, to which I 

 attribute a good deal of the success obtained over the Didon. It 

 was the clearing away the timber-heads in the way of the windows 

 NEXT THE QUARTERS, in the Same manner as most of the fri- 

 gates had done with those next the rudder-head, thereby ob- 

 taining a port which acted almost in a bow and quarter direction. 

 The effect of our first fire from that gun (quarter-gun) was such as 

 almost to insure the success of the battle. I was told," continues 



