TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 185 
anchor, or becoming suddenly unmanageable through loss of masts, damage to her 
machinery, &e. 
This object is attained by a revolution in the tactics of sailing, as well as ina 
change of form. When close-hauled, or steaming head to wind, the vessel goes— 
to use the parlance applicable to the present form of ships—head foremost; when 
sailing or steaming off the wind, she goes, so to speak, stern foremost. In still 
water the vessel proceeds always on the latter plan. The terms stem, bow, and 
stern being obviously unsuited to vessels of the proposed form, the inventor sub- 
stitutes for them the “weather end” and “lee end ” respectively. 
Novel as the general idea pervading this invention may appear, the deviation in 
point of form of a Vestical Wave-Tinc vessel from the type of ships at present 
existing is very slight. Taking as a standard a fast clipper schooner of the latest 
build with a “tumble home” bow, fine entry lines, beam carried right aft to the 
taffrail, and a flat counter, something very like the proposed form will be obtained 
by cutting away the entire after-keel almost from the fore-foot ; the “weather end” 
thus becoming (approximately) a vertical wedge, and the “lee end” (approximately 
alsc) a horizontal wedge. Provided these forms are preserved, the intermediate 
work is of little consequence, and may be constructed simply with regard to the 
ordinary rules of carpentering—a point of economy which those practically ac- 
quainted with ship-building will not fail to appreciate. “It seems,” is the obser- 
vation of M. Vial de Clairbois in his ‘ Architecture Navale’ (p. 22), “that naval 
architects have hitherto affected to avoid straight lines, although geometrically they 
have the advantage of simplicity over all others.’ By a coincidence which may 
appear almost accidental, it will be found that at two points of the vessel con 
structed on the new principle (and in these, in the larger class of vessels, it is pro- 
posed to bulk-head them), sections made by planes slightly out of the perpendi- 
cular approach very nearly the catenary—a self-supporting curve. The inventor 
proposes to construct his vessels of laminated iron up to the water-line, and to make 
the works above, for the convenience of rough repairs, of wood. By making the 
iron planks taper towards the ends, and decrease in number as they are placed 
higher on the ship’s side, the greatest strength of the vessel may be placed with 
almost mathematical accuracy at the point exposed to the greatest strain. 
The advantages of this system, besides economy and strength, may be shortly 
stated thus :—Safety. If disabled, instead of rolling in the trough of the sea like 
the ‘Great Eastern’ on a recent occasion, a Vertical-Wave-Line ship flies head to 
wind at once, and remains so as long as she can hold together. In boats of this 
construction ‘‘ broaching-to” (the fertile source of disaster in passing through 
surfs or being beached) is entirely avoided, the boat being always kept by the 
action of the water in the only position compatible with safety. The same pecu- 
larity of form, offering a maximum deflection to an impinging body, renders Ver- 
tical-Wave-Line ships admirably adapted for the purposes of naval warlare. A 
model of a Shield Ship on this principle was exhibited at the International Exhi- 
bition during the present year. 
Stability.—V ertical-Wave-Line ships will never accumulate rolling motion. 
From the form of the immersed body, if lateral disturbance take pine the axis of 
rotation changes with such rapidity as to render it all but impossible that any sub- 
sequent impact of wind or sea can have the effect of increasing, and almost certain 
that each such impact will actually neutralize, the existing momentum. It is 
this peculiarity, coupled with its safety in exposed situations, that has induced the 
inventor to suggest this form as suitable for the establishment of a system of Fair- 
way Lighting in the English and Irish Channels, plans and models of which were 
recently exhibited at the International Exhibition of 1862. 
In respect of Speed, a very remarkable phenomenon presents itself, in the case 
of Vertical-Wave-Line ships sailing off the wind or steaming free, working con- 
sequently “lee end” foremost. Jor every increase of speed there is a decrease of 
draught. That there is a limit to the truth of this is of course evident; but as a 
totally new problem, the inventor anticipates from iis investigation very extra- 
ordinary results. From the absence of keel at the lee end, the vessel steers of 
course with great handiness, and with the Guide-Propeller can be made to turn in 
her own length. 
