332 Dr. Young*s Remarks on the 
commonly placed upon it, on the contrary, are very favour- 
ably situated for assisting in this' action ; but Mr. Seppings's 
riders are so much more numerous, as to possess, notwith- 
standing their obliquity, a still greater force. The fastenings 
of the beams to the sides are also concerned in resisting a 
strain of this kind, as well as in counteracting the tendency to 
V 
an extension aloft, which is the more immediate consequence 
of the unequal pressure of the water against the ship's sides* 
Mr. Seppings's fastenings, so far as they depend on the shelf 
pieces, have probably some advantage over the more common 
ones; but the iron knees, which he employs (fig. 8 .) do 
not appear to be quite so economically arranged as the straps 
of a simpler form, which other builders have used; they afford 
indeed a very direct connexion with the timbers, and they 
save some valuable wood in the chocks which support them: 
but still there appears to be some waste of strength when they 
act as ties, from the great obliquity of the shoulders, with 
respect to the direction of the force ; to say nothing of the 
expense of the workmanship: and if, as Captain Campbell 
seems to have suspected, there is any slight deficiency in the 
transverse strength of the Tremendous at the waterways, the 
circumstance may afford a further reason for doubting of the 
utility of these fastenings. 
11. Decks. 
The least obvious advantage attributable to the obliquity 
introduced by Mr. Seppings appears to be in his mode of lay- 
ing the planks of the decks ; parts which seem to be princi- 
pally required to cooperate with the sides of the ship as ties 
in a longitudinal direction : for the slight curvature, whicii is 
