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the Necessity of lifting Ships. 
1801, the Canopus, a large French 80-gun ship, was ta- 
ken in, and rested upon the blocks ; and the complete 
success of the experiment was such, that other docks 
were ordered to be fitted at Sheerness and Portsmouth 
dock-yards, under Mr. Sepping ? s directions. At the for- 
mer place a frigate, and at the latter a three-decked 
ship, were suspended in like manner. This happened 
in December, 180£, and January, 1803 ; and the reports 
were so favourable, as to cause directions to he given for 
the general adoption of these blocks in his majesty ? s 
yards. This invention being thought of national conse- 
quence, with respect to ships, but particularly those of 
the navy, government has been pleased to notice and re- 
ward Mr. Seppings for it. 
The time required to disengage each block is from one 
to three minutes after the shores are placed : and a first- 
rate sits on about fifty blocks. Various are the causes 
for which a ship may he required to be cleared from her 
blocks, viz. to shift the main keel ; to add additional false 
keel ; to repair defects ; to caulk the garboard seams, 
scarples of the keel, &c. Imperfections in the false keel, 
which are so very injurious to the cables, can, in the 
largest ship, be remedied in a few hours by this inven- 
tion, without adding an additional shore, by taking away 
blocks forward, amid-ships, and abaft, at the same time ; 
and, when the keel is repaired in the wake of those 
blocks, by returning them into their places, and then by 
taking out the next, and so on in succession. The blocks 
can be replaced in their original situations, by the appli- 
cation of the wheel battering-rams to the wedges, the 
power of which is so very great, that the weight of the 
ship can be taken from the shores that were placed to 
sustain her. There were one hundred and six ships of 
different classes, lifted at Plymouth dock-yard, from the 
1st of January, 1798. to the 31st of December, 1800 £ 
