SHIP BUILDING. 
above, and draw a line parallel to the top- 
timber line ; and from 12 to 24, in the after- 
body, 4 feet 6 inches ; and from 24, quite 
aft, 6 feet 6 inches ; these risings ^bove the 
gunwale, or the midships, are called drifts. 
Tranfer those heights from tire sheer plan to 
intersect their corresponding timbers in the 
body plan, as they are then limited by 
curves parallel to the top-timber line, then 
transfer their several half breadths to their 
corresponding timbers in the half breadth 
plan, and if curves drawn through those 
breadths should prove fair, the top-side is 
rightly constructed; if otherwise, each must 
be altered until they agree. 
What remains to be described relates 
equally to both the fore and after bodies ; 
for their being thus far completed, we 
have an opportunity of shifting the seve- 
ral timbers to the various lengths that com- 
pose them from the. keel upwards, such as 
the floors, futtocks, and top-timbers. First 
tlie lengtlr of the floors for a ship of this 
magnitude is 26 feet long at 0, or midships, 
and the lengths of those forward and aft 
may be determined by a diagonal line thus 
drawn in the body plan ; set up the middle 
line above the upper edge of the keel 14 feet 
6 inches, and on the base-line 14 feet on each 
side tlie middle line, draw lines to those 
spots, and the length of each floor is limit- 
ed between those lines. Then to deter- 
mine the heads or lengths of the lower or 
first futtocks, set up the middle as before 
22 feet 10 inches, and along the base line 
on each side 24 feet, drawing diagonal lines 
as for the floors, and the length of the lower 
futtocks are limited from the side of the 
keel to the diagonal line at their heads. 
Then for lengths of the second futtocks, set 
up the middle line 28 feet 8 inches, and 
up each side line from the base 10 feet, 
and draw the diagonals and the lengths of the 
second futtocks as limited from their junc- 
tion at the floor-head called the heel, to 
the diagonal last drawn or head. Then for 
the lengths of the third futtocks, set up 
the middle line 34 feet 8 inches, and up 
each side 18 feet 5 inches, then diagonals, 
when drawn to these spots, will limit the 
length of the third futtocks from its heel at 
the first head. The fourth futtocks, when 
they can be gotten, are in one length from 
the second futtock head to the top of the 
side, and the top-timbers from the third 
futtock head to the top of the side. 
The heads of the timbers being shown in 
the body plan, direct the stations for the 
ribbands thus ; place the floor ribband about 
20 inches below the floor head, and parallef 
thereto ; then tlie next or first futtock rib- 
band about rhidvvay between the floor and 
first futtock heads, and so with the others, 
keeping their heights forward and aft, the 
most convenient for supporting the heads 
and heels of the timbers before they need 
be disturbed by working the planlu out- 
side. 
Now these are called the ribband lines, 
and only appear as diagonal lines in the 
body plan, but they take their names from 
the ribbands, which are pieces of oak or fir 
timber, about 6 inches square, the longer 
the better ; but those close forward and aft 
are called harplns, and are trimmed by 
moulds and bevellings to the form of the 
ship at those places. Ribband lines form 
curves on a ship’s bottom by the intersec- 
tion of a plane inclined, or canted, as ship- 
wrights term it, to the plane of elevation, 
and their curves on the half breadth plan 
are denominated by them canted, or level, 
according as their several half breadths are 
taken off from the body plan, whether dia- 
gonally, or in a direction square from the 
middle line, which is a level, or perpendi- 
cular to the plan of elevation, and although 
they agree in oiie and the same line on the 
ship’s bottom, they represent very different 
curves in the half breadth plan. 
Draw the ribband line at the floor head, 
in the half breadth plan, by taking these 
several half breadths from the middle line 
of the body plan, in the direction of the 
ribband line ; thus, we shall find 0; 16 feet; 
F, 15 feet 1 inch ; K, 13 feet 11 inches ; O, 
10 feet 4 inches ; and S, 8 feet 6 inches ; in 
the fore body ; and 6, 15 feet 9 inches ; 12, 
15 feet 1 inch; 18, 14 feet; 24, 11 feet 7' 
inches ; 30, 7 feet 6 inches; and 36, 1 foot lit 
inches. Then set up these several half 
breadths on tlieir corresponding timbers 
from the middle line in the half breadth 
plan; but what their endings differ from 
the water lines we will next explain. Take 
the height where the diagonal line, or rib- 
band, cuts the half thickness of the stem in 
'the body plan, and transfer that height 
to intersect the fore side of the rabbit of the 
stem in tlie sheer plan, from whence square 
down the fore side of the rabbit to the mid- 
dle line in tlie half breadth plan, and then 
square up a line, then take the half thick- 
ness of the stem' from the middle line in the 
body plan in the direction of the ribband 
line, and set it np from the middle line in 
the half breadth plan on the line last drawn, 
then with compasses take the breadth of 
