48 NAVAL SCIENCES. 



fastening the beams to the stern-post by transoms, and in the part Q,: 

 the new system with curved timbers, which do away with the need of 

 transoms. 



B. Outfit of the Ship. 



The outjit of a ship includes all those parts not immediately belonging to 

 the ship's body, but which are necessary to the service and action of the 

 ship. Among them we reckon the spars, the rigging and tackles,. and the 

 sails. By spars we understand masts, yards, booms, gaffs, and all the small 

 pieces used to support the rigging and sails. The rigging comprises all the 

 ropes employed for the support of the masts, the management of the sails, 

 and other uses on ship-board, with the exception of the largest and most 

 important, namely the cables, which are reckoned with the equipment, 

 as they always go with the anchors. The tackles include all the blocks 

 (rollers or pulleys) through which the running rigging passes, to add to the 

 purchase. 



In describing these various subjects, we will take as the model the French 

 ship of the Hne (pi. II, fig. 1), carrying 120 guns, and 205 feet in length and 

 54^ in breadth, the large ships of war being the most complete in this 

 respect, and containing everything which in smaller vessels is either not 

 found at all or only to a limited extent. We would premise, in general, that 

 all the fixtures which have the same object, or nearly the same arrange- 

 ment, are called by the same name, and are distinguished from one another 

 only by the special name of that part to which they are chiefly appro- 

 priated. 



1. The Spars. The frame to which the rigging is attached, and by 

 which the sails are secured and held firm, consists of what are called spars. 

 These are in proportion to the breadth of beam or to some other part of 

 the ship, so that a practised eye can determine the size of a large ship from 

 a single piece. Of the spars, the masts are the most important, and of these 

 the main-mast takes the lead, as it gives the scale for the rest. The masts, 

 like all the spars, in general, are made of pine or fir. As no single tree is 

 often found sufficient for the length and thickness required in the masts of 

 men-of-war, they are composed of different pieces. A method of construct- 

 ing masts has recently been introduced by Seppings, which has the advan- 

 tage of great simplicity and of using shorter and weaker timber than was 

 required by the old plan. According to this arrangement, the largest piece 

 for a main-mast is only 40 feet long and 10 inches thick, whereas formerly 

 timbers were used 84 feet long and 22^ inches thick, a mast costing $6,500 

 for an 84 gun-ship, while the cost now is not much over $1,600. The new 

 method, moreover, on account of its extreme simplicity, admits of repair with 

 far greater facility. PL 7, figs. 10-17, show the construction of the masts 

 on Seppings's system ; Jig. 10 is the side view; Jig. 11, the front view of a 

 main mast. Fig. 12 is a horizontal section between A and B in fig. 10, 

 showing the equal and parallel arrangement of the different parts which 

 compose the mast. The section (Jig. 13) shows the application of the 

 wooden bolts in the centre-piece, and Jig. 14, the same in the end pieces. 

 700 



