78 NAVAL SCIENCES. 



Portugal, and the coast guard of Sweden consists of a kind of small half 

 galleys. The galleys alluded to in the public journals are properly nothing but 

 ships of war which have become unfit for sea service, and being unrigged 

 are used for prison-ships {pi. 14^. jig. 6). Similar to the galleys, but smaller, 

 are the feluccas, used in the Mediterranean Sea {pi. 4:, jig. 11, is a felucca 

 drawn up on the land), which are usually 52 feet long and 12 feet broad. 

 They are used both with sails and oars. They serve for the most part as 

 coasters, and are furnished only wdth some very light guns or with several 

 swivels. Usually they have 12 rowers on each side. The feluccas have 

 two masts, projecting forward from 3° to 5° and carrying lateen sails. 

 There are twelve openings on the deck for the rowers, who do not sit on 

 benches but on the inclosures around these openings, and resting their feet 

 on blocks inside the gunwale. The planks which form the sides project at 

 the stern, and are connected by a board bearing the name of the craft. The 

 helmsman sits at the end of this extension, as the tiller turns on the out- 

 side, on account of the captain's tent which occupies the stern. 



Xebecs {pi. 15, jig. 5), used in the Mediterranean, are long, narrow, 

 and sharp-built vessels, serving principally as cruisers. The smallest 

 xebecs have 12 guns, and the largest 40. They carry three masts ; the 

 fore-mast inclines forward, and the mizen-mast has a small yard, to which 

 a square sail can be attached. The masts have no topmasts, but only 

 shrouds, and carry lateen sails. The gaff is composed of two pieces and 

 is longer than the mast tree. The rigging for the sails is very simple, 

 yet these vessels sail with great rapidity. The prow forms a projecting 

 beak, which takes the place of the bowsprit. The stern also projects and 

 has a tent for the captain. 



Gunboats are built in a different fashion in almost every country. They 

 have all, however, strong, flat bottoms, as they must keep close to the land, 

 in order to attack fortified places, to convoy coasters, or to land troops. 

 Although they can present no resistance to large ships of war on the open 

 sea, they can give them great annoyance near the shore, as they can run 

 in and out of places which the ship cannot enter, on account of the greater 

 draught. The small boats almost always hit the ship, while she usually fires 

 over them. They seldom carry more than 4 or 6 guns, which fire from the 

 bow and the stern; they have only one mast, with a boom sail or gaff sail and a 

 stay-sail; pi. 17, jig. 1, shows a Spanish balancella converted into a gun- 

 boat. 



Bomb ketches are vessels of medium size, carrying two mortars on the bow 

 in order to bombard cities and harbors. They must often operate near the 

 shore, and are consequently built with broad and rather flat bottoms and 

 with great strength {pi. 4, jig. 10), in order to bear the recoil of the mortars. 

 They carry a main-mast and a mizen-mast, with yard-sails and stay-sails. 

 The fore-stay-sails are very large in proportion to the others, as the main- 

 mast to which they are attached stands aft of midships in order to give 

 room to the battery on the bow. When the mortars are to be discharged, 

 all the rigging is taken down from the mast, and only the fore-stay remains 

 in its place, and it is, therefore, made of iron. Besides the mortars, the 

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