SHIP-BUILDING. 
The hull being thus fabricated, they pro- 
ceed to separate the apartments by bulk- 
heads, or partitions ; to frame the port lids ; 
to fix. the cat-heads and chess-trees ; to form 
the hatchways and scuttles, and fit them with 
proper covers or gratings. They next fix 
the ladders whereby to mount or descend 
the different hatchways ; and build the man- 
ger on the lower deck, to carry off the water 
that runs in at the hawse-holes when the ship 
rides at anchor in a sea. The bread-room 
and magazines are then lined ; and the gun- 
nel, rails, and gangways, fixed on the upper 
part of the ship. The cleats, kevels, and 
rand ranges, by which the ropes are fastened, 
are afterwards bolted or nailed to the sides in 
different places. 
The rudder, being fitted with its irons, is 
next hung to the stern-post; and the filler, 
or bar, by which it is managed, let into a 
mortoise at its upper-end. The scuppers, or 
leaden tubes, that carry the water off from 
the decks, are then placed in holes cut 
through the ship’s sides ; and the standards 
bolted to the beams and sides above the decks 
to which they belong. 1 he poop-ianthorns 
are last fixed upon their cranes over the 
stern ; and the bilge-ways, or cradles, placed 
under the bottom, to conduct the ship steadily 
into the water whilst launching. 
Stowing and trimming of ships, the method 
of disposing of the cargo in a proper and ju- 
dicious manner in the hold of a ship. A 
ship’s sailing, steering, and wearing, and being 
lively and comparatively easy at sea in a 
storm, depend greatly on the cargo, ballast, 
or other materials, being properly stowed, 
according to their weight and bulk, and the 
proportional dimensions of the built of the 
ship, which maybe made too crank or too 
stiff to pass on the ocean with safety. '1 hese 
things render this branch of knowledge of 
such consequence, that rules for it ought to 
be endeavoured after, if but to prevent, as 
much as possible, the danger of a ship over- 
setting at sea, or being so laboursome as to 
roll away her masts, &c. by being improper- 
ly stowed, which is often the case. 
When a ship is new, it is prudent to con- 
sult the builder, who may be supposed best 
acquainted with a ship of his own planning, 
and most likely to judge wlvat her properties 
will be, to judge how the cargo of materials, 
according to the nature of them, ought to be 
disposed of to advantage, so as to put her in 
the best sailing trim ; and at every favourable 
opportunity afterwards it will be proper to 
endeavour to find out her best trim by ex- 
periment. 
Ships must differ in their form and pro- 
portional dimensions ; and to make them an 
swer their different purposes, they will re- 
quire different management in the stowage, 
which ought not to be left to mere chance, 
or done at random, as goods or materials 
happen to come to hand, which is too often 
the cause that such improper stowage makes 
ships unfit for sea: therefore the stowage 
should be considered, planned, and contrived 
according to the built and properties of the 
ship, which if they are not known should be 
inquired after. If she is narrow and high- 
built in proportion, so that she will not shift 
herself without a great weight in the hold, it 
- is a certain sign such a ship will require a 
great part of heavy goods, ballast, or materi- 
-- ids, laid low in the hold, to make her stiff 
2 
enough lo bear sufficient sail without being 
in danger of oversetting. But if a ship is 
built broad and low in proportion, so that she 
is stiff and will support herselt without any 
weight in the hold, such a ship will require 
heavy goods, ballast, or materials, stowed 
higher up, to prevent her from being too stjSl 
and laboursome at sea, so as lo endanger her 
masts being rolled away, and the hull worked 
loose and made leaky. 
In order 'to help a ship’s sailing, that she 
should be lively and easy in her pitching and 
ascending motions, it should be contrived by 
the stowage, that the principal and weightiest 
part of the cargo or materials should lie as 
near the main body of the ship, and as tar 
from the extreme ends, fore and aft, as things 
will admit of. For it should be considered, 
that the roomy part of our ships lengthwise, 
forms a sweep or ‘curve near four times as 
long as they are broad 
6')l 
trestle-tree*. Perpendicularly above this is 
the foremost hole in the cap, whose after- 
hole is solidly fixed on the head of the lower- 
mast. The top-mast is erected by a tackle, 
whose effort is communicated from the head 
of the lower-mast to the foot of the top-mast ; 
and the upper end of the latter is accordingly 
guided into and conveyed up through the 
holes between the trestle-trees and the cap. 
Besides tiie parts already mentioned in the 
construction of masts, with respect to their 
length, the lower-masts of the largest ships 
are composed of several pieces united into 
one body. As these are generally the most 
substantial parts of various trees, a mast form- 
ed by this assemblage, is justly esteemed 
much stronger than one consisting of any 
single trunk, whose internal solidity may be 
very uncertain. 
The whole is secured by several strong 
luu „ Lllw wlv . therefore those 1 lioops of iron, driven on the oTrtskk of the 
roomy parts at and above the water’s edge, mast, where they remain at proper distances, 
which are made bv a full harping and a broad | I’ *S S - E an< ^ iate ^ ah,s ’ , txC * re " 
transom to support the ship steady and keep > present one ot Mr. George Smarts pateim 
her from plunging into the sea, and also by I hollow masts. t is principally composed 
the entrance and run of the ship having little 
or no bearing body under lor the pressure of | 
the water to support them, of course should 
not be stowed with heavy goods or materials, 
but all the necessary vacancies, broken stow- 
age, or light goods, should be at these ex- 
treme ends fore and aft ; and in proportion as 
they are kept lighter by the stowage, the 
ship will be more lively to tall and rise easy 
in great seas ; and this will contribute greatly 
to her working and sailing, and to prevent 
her from straining and hogging ; for which 
reason it is a wrong practice to leave such a 
large vacancy in the main hatchway as is 
usual, to coil and work the cables, which 
ought to be in the fore or aft hatchway, that 
the principal weight may he more easily 
stowed in the main body of the ship, above 
the flattest and lowest floorings, where the 
pressure of the water acts the more to support 
it. See Navigation. 
Ships, mast- y of. The mast of a ship is a 
long round piece of timber, elevated perpen- 
dicularly upon the keel of a ship, to which 
are attached the yards, the sails, and the rig- 
ging. A mast, with regard to its length, is 
either formed of one single piece, winch is 
called a pole-mast, or composed ot several 
pieces joined together, each of which retains 
the name of mast separately. The lowest 
of these is accordingly named the lower- 
mast ; the next in height is the top-mast, 
which is erected at the head of the for- 
mer ; and the highest is the top-gallant 
mast, which is prolonged from the upper end 
of the top-mast. Thus the two last are no 
other than a continuation of the first up- 
wards. 
The lower-mast is fixed in the ship ; the 
foot, or heel of it, rests on a block of timber 
called the step, which is fixed upon the kel- 
son, and the top-mast is attached to the head 
of it by the cap and the trestle-trees. I lie lat- 
ter of these are two strong bars of timber, 
supported by two prominences, which are as 
shoulders on the opposite sides of the mast, a 
little under its upper end : athwart these bars 
are fixed the cross-trees, upon which the 
frame of the top is supported. Between the 
lower-mast-head, and the foremost of the 
cross-trees, a square space remains vacant, 
the sides of which are bounded- by the tw.es 
of four small beams ABIDE, figs, f and 
2, which are each quarters of one small 
tree ; these are held at the proper dis- 
tance apart by cross bars FF mortised 
into them. The spaces between these four 
beams are filled up by thick planks GG, 
which have grooves cut across them to re- 
ceive one-half of the bars FF as shewn in 
fig. 3, and the whole is bound together by 
hoops HII. By this means a truss is formed 
in every direction ; for in every strain, be- 
fore the mast can give way, the beams and 
planks on the side nearest the strain must 
compress, and those on the opposite side 
must be torn asunder lengthwise. 
-There are several other methods of con- 
structing these masts, as eight planks doweled 
together at the edges, or four plunks tabled 
into each other with oak wedges at the end 
of the tables, to prevent the end wood from 
cutting into each other. 
Masts on these -principles can be made at 
one half the expence of Hie common ones, 
and of the same strength without any increase 
of the weight. 
Figs. 4 and 5, represent a contrivance 
included in Mr. Smart’s patent for masts, 
by which temporary yards for ships can be 
made when at sea, and of such spars as can 
conveniently be carried on board a ship. 
They are formed of two small spars, each 
half the length of the yard, which are sawn 
down lengthwise in two directions, so as to 
cut them into four branches, but left joined 
together at one end, A tig. 4 : that end is 
then hooped so as to prevent splitting; die 
four pieces DEF, &c. are opened out as in 
the figure, and blocks of wood put in between 
them at GHIK to keep them apart; the two 
spars thus opened are joined together to make 
one yard at the block K formed of four 
pieces, one of which is shewn in tig. 5. It has 
a groove in it to receive the ends of one of 
the bars DEF in each spar and connect 
them ; it has some small pieces put across in 
the angle of the groove, which are let into 
the ends of the pieces DEF, so that when 
they are kept in their places, by a broad 
hoop L, they cannot be drawn apart end- 
ways ; the four pieces composing die block 
K are laid together, and put in between the 
bars, leaving a space between them to put iu 
