294 On the Distribution of Weight and Support in Ships. [Feb. 9, 



maximum shearing-force occupies very different positions in different types 

 of ship. Sections of zero shearing- force coincide with "sections of water- 

 borne division," on either side of which the weight balances the buoyancy ; 

 and their number is usually odd. He afterwards shows that maximum and 

 minimum bending-moments are experienced by sections of water-borne 

 division, and that between two sections of maximum " hogging "-moment 

 there must fall either a section of miuimum hogging-moment or a section 

 of maximum " sagging "-moment, and that it is an error to suppose (as 

 all former writers on the subject have done) that the absolute maximum 

 bending-moment falls amidships. In the ' Victoria and Albert ' the last- 

 named moment is in the forebody ; in the 1 Bellerophon ' and ■ Audacious ' 

 it is in the afterbody. The effect of the horizontal fluid pressure in the 

 longitudinal bending-moments is also discovered, and shown to be important. 



The dynamical aspect of the question — showing the strains brought upon 

 ships at sea — is admitted to be both the more difficult and the more im- 

 portant. In discussing the strains, the author calculates them approxi- 

 mately under the following assumptions : — (1) That for the moment the 

 effect of the ship's vertical motion may be neglected. (2) That for the 

 moment the ship may be regarded as occupying a position of hydrostatical 

 equilibrium. (3) That the methods of calculating bending- and shearing- 

 strains previously used for still water may be employed here also, in order 

 to approximate to the momentary strains. The following particulars of the 

 • Minotaur ' and 1 Bellerophon ' floating on the crests and in the hollows of 

 waves of their own length respectively and of proportionate heights, illus- 

 trate the results to which the calculations before named have led for those 

 ships. 



On Wave -crest. 





' Minotaur.' 



1 Bellerophon.' 



Excess of weight forward .... 



1,275 tons. 

 1,365 „ 

 2,640 „ 

 1,365 „ 

 140,300 foot-tons. 



445 tons. 



555 „ 

 1,000 '„ 

 555 ,, 

 4 3,600 foot-tons. 



buoyancy amidships. 

 Maximum shearing-strain 



,, bending-moment . . 



In Wave-hollow. 



Excess of buoyancy forward . . 

 „ » aft 



685 tons. 

 695 „ 

 1,380 „ 

 695 „ 

 74,800 foot-tons. 



640 tons. 

 600 „ 

 1,240 „ 

 610 „ 

 48,800 foot-tons. 



„ weight amidships . . 

 Maximum shearing-strain .... 

 ,, bending-moment . . 



The strains of ships supported on shore, first at the extremities and then 

 at the middle, are next investigated. The following Table gives the ap- 



