INTRODUCTION. 



iii 



The mode of doubling and fortifying the ships differed in no material 

 circumstance from that before employed, which was found to have 

 afforded the greatest degree of strength, consistently with the requisite 

 attention to the stowage and sailing qualities, of which perhaps any 

 ship is capable. In the exterior equipment of the hulls, the only alte- 

 rations worthy of notice consisted in increasing the thickness of the 

 doubling to six inches, to give the ships some additional stability ; and 

 in making the rudder-cases much larger, in order to allow the rudders 

 more room for shipping and unshipping, whereby that operation is 

 much facilitated. The ships were barque-rigged as before ; but in 

 order to increase our resources in stores of every kind, it was suggested 

 by my friend, Captain George Cheyne, that it would be advantageous to 

 adopt the plan of « equalized" fore-masts and main-masts, which had 

 of late been partially introduced into our naval service, at the recom- 

 mendation of Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Byam Martin, Comptroller 

 of His Majesty's Navy. An advantage somewhat less obvious than 

 that just mentioned, was the appointment of two ships of exactly 

 the same size in every respect. The idea usually entertained of 

 the necessity of having one of the two vessels thus employed, a 

 small one for the purpose of going into shoaler water, is in my 

 opinion an erroneous one. The examination of shoal and uncertain 

 passages is best conducted in boats, which may be equipped and 

 despatched at five minutes' warning, while a small vessel intended 

 more expressly for this purpose will, after all, draw as much water 

 as the larger one within two or three feet, which difference is in reality 

 but a trifling one. Allowing, however, that some benefit may be 

 derived in this way from the services of a smaller vessel, it is by no 

 means to be put into competition with the inevitable disadvantages 



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