454 
ME. E. J. EEED ON THE UNEQUAL DISTEIEUTION OF 
In Wave-hollow. 
Minotaur. 
Bellerophon. 
Excess of buoyancy forward 
Excess of buoyancy aft 
Excess of weight amidships 
Maximum shearing-strain 
Maximum bending-moment 
685 tons. 
695 „ 
1,380 „ 
695 „ 
74,800 foot-tons. 
640 tons. 
600 „ 
1,240 „ 
640 „ 
48,800 foot-tons. 
The only matter to which attention requires to be specially drawn is the comparative 
amounts of the bending-strains, because against shearing-strains even the ‘ Minotaur ’ 
may be expected to have a large reserve of strength. On the wave-crest, then, we find 
the ‘ Minotaur’s’ bending-moment more than three times as great as the £ Bellerophon’s 
and in the wave-hollow it is about half as much again as the ‘ Bellerophon’s.’ But we 
must not stop here. In the ‘ Bellerophon’ the material at the midship section available 
against bending-strains is, to say the least, equal in efficiency to that of the ‘ Minotaur 
and consequently I shall be within the truth in saying that, in proportion to the strains 
previously calculated, the ‘ Bellerophon’ is about three times as strong as the ‘ Minotaur’ 
is against hogging, and about once and a half as strong against sagging. 
From the preceding investigations it appears that the statical strains resulting from 
extreme positions of support of a ship floating among waves may, under the assumed con- 
ditions, reach amounts varying between three and six times the still-water bending-strains. 
(These results, of course, do not in any way represent the dynamical strains due to pitching 
and heaving motions.) This being so, it appears that some idea of the relative strengths 
of ships may be obtained by using the approximate values of the maximum bending-mo- 
ments found above for the different types under different circumstances. Experience alone 
can enable us to judge whether the absolute strength of a ship is likely to prove sufficient 
against both dynamical and statical strains ; and in order to do so we should have to take 
some ship which had answered and compare her construction with the proposed design. 
At the same time the investigations to which I have just drawn attention serve to indi- 
cate two features in which the strains of ships at sea differ from still-water strains, — the 
first, and most obvious, being their much greater severity, and the second then 1 great 
and rapid variation in both intensity and character. On the latter feature a few addi- 
tional remarks may be made. 
Between the two extreme positions of support we have considered, others may be ima- 
gined, and undoubtedly occur, in which a ship is so circumstanced as to be subject to 
hogging-strains at some portions of her length and to sagging-strains at other por- 
tions. For instance, when the crest of a wave is intermediate between the bow and the 
