480 EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 



moving the pin to one of the other holes, when the rudder may be placed on the 

 quarter on either side if at any time it may be required to lay the ship to, to shift 

 the tiller, or to reeve new ropes to the wheel. The heel of the mainmast is fitted 

 in an iron crutch with a strong pillar, in order to bring the mast nearer its proper 

 position for sailing, which otherwise would be prevented by the boilers. 



In corroboration of the foregoing facts we shall here state a most extraordinary 

 circumstance. Her Majesty's frigate, the Pique, of thirty-six guns, built with Mr. 

 Lang's safety keels, had the misfortune to run on the rocks near the strait of Belle 

 Isle, on the 22d of September, 1835, and tore off her false, and likewise her outer 

 main keel all the way fore and aft, and ground away, in four different places, the 

 inner or solid keel, and the longitudinal pieces at those parts forming the garboard 

 connected thereto, which being so firmly attached to the ship bore the violent fric- 

 tion of such ponderous weight, the frigate with her guns, stores, &c., in contact 

 with the rocks without being displaced, and the vessel was got off, preserved from 

 shipwreck, and brought to England in safety, although encountering very severe 

 gales of wind on her passage. Several instances have occurred of other ships fitted 

 with the safety keels getting off the rocks without admitting any water. We shall 

 now mention two cases, not only to prove the safety of vessels fitted with the keels in 

 question, but to shew the strength of the fabric of ships built like the Medea ; those 

 alluded to are the Lightning and Flamer steamers, constructed by Mr. Lang, and 

 built under his superintendence. The former vessel, the Lightning, on her first pro- 

 ceeding to sea, ran ashore a little below Sheerness, on the Spaniard shoal, fell over 

 on her side where she lay dry at low water ; she floated again at high water, and it 

 was found she had sustained no damage. As she was entering Dover harbour, soon 

 after, she ran full speed against the pier and struck her fore-foot or gripe, knocking it 

 over on one side, but made no water ; on being docked at Portsmouth after this, her 

 gripe was replaced and no other injury appeared. The next important occurrence 

 happened when at Jersey : being aground alongside the pier, and a rope made fast to 

 her mast-head, secured to the shore to keep her upright, the water having left her 

 dry above one hundred and fifty feet, the rope broke and she fell violently down on 

 her side ; this shock was severely felt in the engine-room, but she sustained no injury 

 in the hull nor machinery by the fall ; at high water she righted again and sailed 

 across the Channel to the Downs, where she was run into, just abaft the starboard 

 paddle-box, by a loaded collier, which did the Lightning but little harm in her top- 

 side and sponcing, but the collier, by the concussion, stove in her bows, ran on shore 

 to save her from sinking, and became a wreck. 



In the heavy gale of wind in February, 1833, the Lightning was in the Irish 

 Channel on her way to Dublin, with the Erin, a large steam vessel, when the latter 



