of floating Bodies, and the Stability of Ships. 1 19 
thickness, extending throughout the whole length of the water 
line, and 10 feet beneath it. 
This account shews that the theory of stability, restrained 
to cases in which the angles of inclination, or heeling, are 
very small, cannot be relied on for ascertaining the requi- 
site stability of ships in the practice of navigation. It must 
be supposed that the weight a.nd dimensions of every part 
of this ship were exactly known to the engineers, yet we 
observe that the instability was not certainly ascertained, but 
suspected only to exist when the ship- was first set afloat in 
deep water ; and after this defect had been discovered by the 
experiment which has been related, the cause was sought for 
in vain, and the remedy at length was stumbled upon by ac- 
cident, rather than adopted from any knowledge of the prin- 
ciples by which the application of it might have been directed. 
It seems allowable to suppose, that if rules for ascertaining 
stability correspondent to any different angles of heeling, 
similar to those which are demonstrated in page 60, and exem- 
plified in page 115 of this tract, had been applied to the case 
in question, they would have discovered that an error in the 
form* given to the sides of the vessel' was the principal cause 
of the defective stability, and would have suggested the re- 
medy accordingly ; or rather would have prevented the neces- 
sity of having recourse to it, by previously shewing the ori- 
ginal defects in the plan of the ship. 
The force of stability by which ships, when inclined round 
* Mr. Romme observes, page 108, that the defect of stability in the Scipio was not 
occasioned by any want of breadth in the principal section of the vessel; for other 
ships of the same force, i. e. Le Magnifique, Le Sceptre, Le Minotaur, L’Intrepide, 
the breadths of which were the same, or rather less, than that of the Scipio, carried 
their sail perfectly well. 
