1874.| Loss of Life at Sea. 489 
Tourville, Solferino, Achilles, and Magenta.” ‘The inferiority 
cannot arise from her metacentric height, for it is equal to 
that of the Napoleon, but less than that of all the other 
French ships. Why should she be inferior to the Napoleon 
and Tourville ?”” Because being 3 feet wider, she is subject to 
greater disturbance. The other ships are all so much larger, 
especially the Achilles, that no comparison can be made; 
the Achilles is 140 feet longer, and 4000 greater displace- 
ment. 
We take the metacentric height of Black Prince to be the 
same as that of her sister ship Achilles, that of Hector 
i540, and Black Prince is a. sister ship to Achilles, 
and ought not, as far as we are informed, to be different 
from her. 
The Defence is said to be better than the Hector and 
Prince Consort. With the equal length the Defence has 
2 feet less breadth than the Hector, and with 7 feet greater 
length she has 4 feet less breadth than the Prince Consort, | 
therefore we should expect the latter to have greater motion 
than either of the others. 
Then the Black Prince, with her smaller metacentric 
height, 3°r feet, is admitted to be inferior to the Solferino 
and Magenta with their considerable height of metacentre, 
one 4°5 the other 5 feet. 
We have before examined the facts offered in support of 
the theory as drawn from the comparison of the rolling of a 
number of English ironclads, and have shown they range 
themselves as respects their rolling exactly in the order of 
the proportion of breadth to length, the vessel with least 
proportionate breadth rolling least. The Minotaur, the 
largest and best ship, with a metacentric height of 3°8 feet, 
superior to the Bellerophon with only 3°2 feet of metacentric 
height. The Pallas,a ship of Mr. E.]. Reed’s, the worst roller, 
her smaller metacentric height not checking the rolling so 
much as the great metacentric height of the Prince Consort, 
Gur feet. 
It was natural for Pallas to roll; she had such a great pro- 
portionate breadth of plane of flotation. 
Raising weight did not cure, but the contrary ; it made her 
rolling worse. 
Obviously the theory that induced these gentlemen to 
damage a fleet of ships by reducing their stabilities has no 
foundation in experience, in reason, or in science. 
And as this system might have been effectually tested in 
the course of an afternoon, not one of these unsafe ships 
should have been built. 
