398 OF THE STABILITY OF STEAM SHIPS. 



sidered in its full extent is unavoidably tedious and prolix, we have 

 merely pointed out the method of conducting the calculations ; but 

 when it is necessary to determine the stability of a ship in actual 

 practice, every individual process must be separately performed, and 

 the result obtained as above, will approximate very nearly to the 

 truth. 



484. Those who have ever witnessed the spectacle of a ship tossed in 

 a tempest, or have read any of the brilliant accounts which maritime 

 tales afford, will appreciate the subject we have just investigated. 

 They may have seen, moreover, the vast bulwark slide from her cradle 

 into the calm water, on which she first swung round and heeled till 

 she regained her stability of equilibrium ; giving the imagination a 

 contrast of the stormy element on which she was soon to ride in awful 

 grandeur. But seamen will best appreciate our labours, especially 

 those who in the days of battle and the nights of danger have had to 

 manage the noblest work of art and skill ; and who in their country's 

 cause have encountered all weathers and every clime, traversing the 

 wide expanse of ocean's bosom, visiting all the ends of the earth, and 

 identifying themselves as part of the stupendous ship which figuratively 

 has to do and to suffer for her country, and which in peace or in war, in 

 sunshine or in storm, carries with her the benediction of mankind 

 pronounced as on a living being, when she was first launched in pre- 

 sence often thousand enthusiastic spectators, one and all sympathizing 

 in the national solemnity. 



4. PRINCIPLES OF THE STABILITY OF STEAM SHIPS. 



485. When a ship is set afloat upon the surface of the waters, and 

 impelled by some power acting in the direction of its length, as is the 

 case with steam vessels, now so extensively employed, the subject of 

 stability becomes of very great importance. This remark does not 

 strictly apply to vesels navigating still waters, or rivers where the 

 tides produce but small effects ; but it is well known that the natural 

 motion of the sea, even in its calmest state, causes a considerable 

 lateral motion in a vessel placed upon its surface, and in consequence 

 of this motion, the paddles are made to dip unequally in the water, 

 by which means some part of the impelling power is lost. 



It is with the view of avoiding this waste of power, that the subject 

 of stability acquires such vast importance when referred to steam 

 vessels ; and it is easy to perceive, that the best method of attaining 

 this object, is to adapt the form and capacity of the vessel to the 



