462 A, D. 179S. 



The fame ingenious officer alfo invented a gun-carriage with an in* 

 clined plane, whereby the weight of the gun itfelf is employed to coun- 

 teradl the ftrain and fhock of the recoil ; and alfo a method of fixing 

 the gun carriages upon Aides, fo as to fight them upon either fide ; 

 whereby a merchant vefTel carrying eight guns may be rendered equal 

 to another of fixteen in capacity to defend herfelf and the property on- 

 board. Indeed the very appearance of eight guns on a fide may in 

 many cafes deterr a cruifer, who would eagerly fly to take pofTellion of 

 a vefTel fhowing only four. 



His plans for floating batteries conftrudled upon cafks, which may 

 alfo ferve for temporary wharfs ; his exertions for the defence of the 

 harbours and the coafls, his hints for the improvement of the fiiheries; 

 and, above all, his plan for manning the navy without the expenfe, the 

 enormities, the difeafes, and mortality, of prefling, and confinement 

 in tenders, which would be a prodigious rehef to the commerce and 

 navigation of the country, and would difpatch the outfit of the fleets 

 with promptitude and alacrity, entitle Captain Schank to the lafting 

 gratitude of a nation who defire to unite warlike with commercial pre- 

 eminence. 



Mr. Gearfon of York in Pennfylvania received from the American 

 government a patent for an invention of great importance to all peribns 

 concerned with fhipping, by means of which a veflel, with her bottom 

 fo broken that the ordinar)' pumps would be incapable to preferve her 

 one hour from going down, can be kept perfectly buoyant for any length 

 of time, and cannot be overfet by any gale of wind, though under a 

 prefs of fail. 



December i y"* — An afl, for continuing the duties on penfions, offices, 

 and perfonal eftates, contains a fedtion for continuing the duties impofed 

 on fugar by the adrs of 27, 34, and 37 Geo. Ill, the excife duties on 

 malt by an adf 27 Geo. Ill, and the excife duties on tobacco and fnuff 

 by an ad 29 Geo. Ill, till the 25"" of March 1800. [39 Geo. Ill, c. 3] 



December 22'' — Three millions were raifed for the public lervice by 

 a loan, the fubfcnbers to which received /^loo in the three-per-cent 

 confolidated fund, and ^^87 : 9 : 6 in the three-per-cent reduced fund, 

 for every /^ 1 00 paid in. \c 7J The capital of the debt thus created 

 amounted to ^^3, 000, coo m the confolidated, and ^2, 624, 250 in the re- 

 duced fund. 



In the courfe of this year the following vefTels palled the Sound, 



British 3,313 Hamburgh 44 Paissian 13 Totals. 



Swedish 2,120 Oldenburg 35 American 120 



Danish 1,825 Bremen 96 Portuguese 12 j^ 



Prussian 1,021 Rostock 103 Dutch, French, and 



Papenberg .... 147 Lubeck 39 Spanish, none. 



tj,025 337 145 0,508 



It has already been obferved, that Hamburgh was getting the afcendant 

 over Amflerdam, which had for a long time been the fiift commercial 



