- of the Sterns of Ships. 329 
ternal and external planking that. constitute their strength, and 
establish the principle; the different methods that may be de- 
vised of placing the decorations or accommodations, have little 
to do with the system, as long as these methods are preserved. 
The safety which the present method. of constructing the 
sterns affords to the seamen, over that of the old plan, is best 
shewn by some instances cf the danger arising from the im- 
perfections of the latter method, which, above the wing tran- 
som presented little else than glazed windows. The Dictator, 
of 64 guns, in her passage from the West Indies in the year 
1797, was struck by the sea on the:stern, which, stove in. the 
dead lights and window frames, washed away every thing on 
the main deck, and the crew were under the necessity of throw- 
ing six of the guns overboard to. lighten the ship abaft. The 
Revolutionaire, of 46:guns, on her passage also from the West 
Indies, in the year 1804, met with a similar accident, which 
also stove in the dead lights, and carried away the bulkhead of 
the great cabin; and had not the hatchways been barred down, 
which prevented the water from getting into the hold, the ship 
must have foundered. 
In the sterns formed according to the old plan the men on 
all the decks, except those on the lower gundeck in ships of 
the line, are exposed to the most destructive raking fire, their 
sterns being pervious even to a musket ball. 
The strength given to the circular. sterns by carrying up. the 
timbers, prevents all the danger to be apprehended from a sea 
striking the ship abaft, or from the ingress of small shot, as 
well as from large-ones which have not force to pass through 
the timbers and planking. And from their curved form;, the 
shocks of the sea abaft will be much lessened, and those shot 
fired at an angle of, and at more than 45°, will glance off with- 
out doing much injury to the ships. _ 
When we consider that according to the present method of 
constructing the sterns, the guns can be run out in that part, 
pointed, elevated, or depressed, with as much facility, and in 
the same manner, that those are in the sides of the ships; and 
that the fire can be varied in all directions from the semicir- 
