Ships of War by the application of Diagonal Braces. 7 
of Algiers, I requested the Navy Board to call upon Captain 
Coode, of His Majesty's ship the Albion, to report on the 
state of that ship, she being built on the new principle ; and 
the following is an extract of his letter to them : 
“ I beg to inform you, that it is the opinion of myself and 
“ the officers of the Albion, that it was impossible any ship 
« could have stood the concussion from firing, and the recoil 
“ of the guns, better than she did ; and on a very minute 
“ inspection of the ship after the action, there was not the 
“ least difference to be observed, except what had been made 
“ by the enemy, between the side of the ship that all the 
" firing was from, and the side that not a single gun was 
“ fired from during the action ; and every bolt and knee was 
“ as perfect and secure as before the action commenced, 
“ which was also the case of the lower and main gun decks, 
“ but the quarterdeck was staved in several places ; which in 
“ my opinion would not have been the case, had it been on 
“ the same construction as the decks that stood so well." 
The Albion's decks, so well spoken of by Captain Coode, 
are laid diagonally; the quarter deck as usual, fore and aft. 
To submit the diagonal decks to the test of experiment, I 
caused the decks of the Northumberland, of 80 guns, to be 
laid on one side fore and aft, as is usual, and on the other side 
diagonally, conformably with my principle; the materials on 
each side were of the same description, and the beams attached 
to both sides of the ship by the same mode. 
This ship was ordered to convey General Bonaparte to St. 
Helena, and Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn was, by the 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, directed to report on 
the comparative merits of the decks. The following is an 
