1826.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



185 



bers will, wo trust, remedy what appears to 

 us an omission, not arising from want of 

 ability, but from tlie cause we have assign- 

 ed. To trace the structure of the ships 

 of England, from the earliest period of 

 which any knowledge exists, to the present 

 day, would form a curious paper. We will, 

 en passant, quote from Sir Walter Raleigh's 

 letter to ' Prince Henry touching tiie 

 model of a ship,' the opinion of that ex- 

 traordinary man. " A ship of six hundred 

 tons will carry as good ordnance as a ship 

 of twelve hundred tons ; and where the 

 greater hath double her ordnance, the less 

 will turn her broadside twice before the 

 great ship can wind once, and so no advan- 

 tage in that overplus of guns" — This theory 

 would we think be found wretchedly defec- 

 tive in practice. Tlie Hyacinth would liave 

 , but a poor chance of success against the 

 ' Brandywyn. Our limits will not permit us 

 / to quote more of this curious letter, which 

 contiiins some sensible observations, and 

 some embryo ideas which time has moulded 

 into forms. 



JMere naval men have done very little 

 towards advancing the science of their pro- 

 fession, whether as relates to the construc- 

 tion of the hull, or the causes on which the 

 tactique depends. It is ciurious, " that (as 

 Messrs. Morgan and Creuze remark) the 

 knowledge of the theory of naval architec- 

 ture has been less in England than in many 

 other parts of Europe," when she is, witli- 

 out doubt, the greatest maritime power that 

 has ever existed. The names of the prin- 

 cipal writers on the structure of ships are 

 given in the " Introductory Remarks." We 

 must obsen-e that the science of scaman- 

 slti)) owes many obligations to Churchmen. 

 Paul Iloste a Jesuit, wrote a thick folio, 

 illustrated with plates, in ^^•llich he treats 

 largely on " Breaking the Line." Clarke, a 

 Scotch clergyman, followed and copied him 

 in the science of naval architecture : Dr. 

 Inman is pre-eminent. 



Many instances of lamentable ignorance 

 among men in situations of consequence, 

 could be enumerated. We must indulge 

 ourselves in relating one which happened 

 some years since, in the Medway. A 

 two-decker, the Vigo (unless our memory 

 deceives us), was to be launched. A sand 

 bank, either previously existed, or had 

 formed during the time she was on the 

 stocks in the river on a line with her stem. 

 The officer who had the direction of launch- 

 ing this seventyrfour gun ship, took it into 

 his pericranium, that she possessed the 

 singular faculty of hopping like a frog, and 

 would certainly hop over this sand bank, if 

 her ways were cut so short as to let her 

 stem fall rapidly into the water, which 

 1 would be followed with a corresponding 

 plunge of her bow when it fell from the 

 ■frays, while the impetus she had attained 

 Would carry her stern, raised by the plung- 

 ing of the bow, over the sand ! There were 

 Biany present, some mere youngsters, who 

 M.M. New Series.— Vol. 1. No. 2-. 



did not think that se\'cnty-four gim ships 

 were bom with the frog-like faculty of leap- 

 ing, and suspected that the new ship 

 would repose exactly on the middle of the 

 bank. We need hardly remark, that the 

 se\'enty-four had no such ))ropensity, and 

 was impelled by this profound manceuvre on 

 to the middle of the sand, and so broke her 

 back, or was r.itherwhat is termed liigged, 

 her symmetry destroyed, her value dimi- 

 nished a third, and her solidity greatly im- 

 paired. 



There never was a period wlien the naral 

 men of England were more roused to 

 study the theory of their profession than at 

 this moment : and there never was a time 

 when our ministers were more imperiously 

 called on to improve the structure of every 

 class of ships. We say this, bectiuse the 

 charm is destroyed — the spell is broken — 

 and we have met with a naval power, our 

 equal in skill, and gallant, as far as tliey 

 have been tried in battle at a certain dis- 

 tance. Wliat they will prove muzzle to 

 muzzle, and man to man, is more tlian any 

 one can dare to prognosticate. 



The Americans have a finer diameter of 

 vessel in every class, from the schooner to the 

 two-decker, than \\e have. We are bound 

 at least to keep pace with them. — The con- 

 sequence has been woeful to England. 

 They, from this superiority, captureil with 

 few exceptions every vessel of a corres- 

 ponding cla>;s which they fought with, from 

 the Dominica, so desperately defended by 

 the gallant Baratti, to the Java, so well 

 fought by Lambert and his able and valiant 

 lieutenant. The combatants in these oases 

 were of the same classes. The Dominica 

 was one hundred tons less than her enemy, 

 and with a much smaller complement of 

 men — but she was rated as mounting four- 

 teen guns — the American not so many — 

 but the vessel was larger, better constructed, 

 and with artillery of a more useful and 

 heavier calibre, though not so many in 

 number, the skill being equal the superio- 

 rity of the American in stmeture, size, and 

 quality of armament, cost us the life of as 

 gallant a yomig seamen as ever lived, and 

 a sad sacrifice of men. We say nothing of 

 the vessel, for if all such disgracefiU tools 

 were heaped together and bumr, we would 

 hasten to enjoy the spectacle. The same 

 remark will apply to all the other vessels 

 captured, we might not have lost honour — 

 but we have told the world that we are 

 not invincible. The action during the 

 night between our sloop of war the Little 

 Belt and the President, an enormous fri- 

 gate, in which the latter was roughly hand- 

 led, led our seamen to despise the enemy ; 

 a weak and destructive practice, since it 

 leads to relaxation of discipline, and other 

 evils. When this action was mentioned, it 

 ought to have been accompanied mth the 

 narration of a night action which took 

 place some years ago in the North Seas, 



between H.M.S. A 1, of thirty- 



2 B 



