98 [Assembly 



first, the government or the officer assumes that a commission in 

 the navy necessarily implies an enlargement in the amount of 

 knowledge in mechanical science^ and second, influence takes the 

 place of wisdom. It is, perhaps, to a very great extent conse- 

 quent upon experimental ship building that the United States is 

 indebted for her enviable position as the first nation on the globe 

 in the utility and symmetry of its vessels, and yet, the best in- 

 formed ship builders in this country will not hesitate to say that 

 ship building is but in its infancy. 



Whatever may have been the prevailing opinion relative to the 

 wants of commerce, nature's law of utility is the best yet disco- 

 vered for the construction of ships. We may. however, be al- 

 lowed to suggest that utility may not be found in the principal 

 dimensions of a vessel, or in the amount of cargo she may be able 

 to carry above her nominal tonnage, nor yet in mouldiugs and 

 ornamental externals, as is too often assumed. The great and 

 most important quality in ships has been almost entirely over- 

 looked. If we are asked in what utility in ship building con- 

 sists, we might safely answer, fitness for the purpose and propor- 

 tion to effect the object designed; and still, what have we learned 

 from this definition of utility? What do we know of all that 

 pertains to the perfect ship? We see her as a thing of life, laud 

 her design, and yet are unable to examine the index of her qua- 

 lities. Where is the index of perfection 1 Who can tell"? Are 

 ships only built to enrich the owner at the expense of human 

 life. It would seem so when we consider the long list of disas- 

 ters which make up a large proportion of the news of the daily 

 press. We seem to regard it as a matter of necessity that both 

 calm and storm should furnish victims for a watery grave, and 

 yet we hear perfection spoken of in the art of building ships. 

 So little is known of tlie science of ship building that the best 

 and most appropriate locality for any single point in the long ca- 

 talogue of geometrical focals, has never yet been discovered. It 

 is a truism that those who know tlie most of the science of ship- 

 building have only learned that they know but very little, and 

 yet they never could have arrived where they now are without 

 the aid of practical knowledge, How often have individuals 



