135 
SHIP-BUILDING. 
it was also built higher than the prow, and was the place 
where the pilot sat to steer; the outer-bending part of it was 
called etria-eiav, answering to our term quarter. 
They had various ornaments of sculpture on the prow ; as 
helmets, animals, triumphal wreaths, &c.—The stern was 
more particularly adorned with wings, shields, &c. Some¬ 
times a little mast was erected whereon to hang ribbands of 
divers colours, which served instead of a flag to distinguish 
the ship; and a weather-cock, to signify the part from 
whence the wind blew. 
On the extremity of the prow was placed a round piece 
of wood, called the from its bending; and some¬ 
times otpOakyoi;, the “ eye” of the ship, because fixed in the 
fore-deck; on this was inscribed the name of the ship, 
which was usually taken from the figure painted on the flag. 
Hence comes the frequent mention of ships called Pegasi, 
Scyllcs, bulls, rams, tigers, &c., which the poets took the 
libjrty to represent as living creatures that transported their 
riders from one country to another. 
The whole fabric being completed, it was fortified with 
pitch, and sometimes a mixture of rosin, to secure the wood 
from the waters; whence it comes that Homer’s ships are 
everywhere mentioned with the epithet of g-ekaivai, or 
“ black.” Pitch was first used by the inhabitants of 
Phoeacia, since called Corsica; sometimes wax was em¬ 
ployed for the same purpose, whence Ovid, 
Ccerulea ceratos accipit unda rates. 
The azure waves receive the waxed ships. 
After all, the ship being bedecked with garlands and 
flowers, the mariners also adorned with crowns, she was 
launched into the sea with loud acclamations and other 
expressions of joy; and being purified by a priest with a 
lighted torch, an egg and bnmstone, or after some other 
manner, was consecrated to the god whose image she bore. 
The ships of war of the ancients, were distinguished from 
other kinds of vessels by various turrets and accessions of 
building, some to defend their own soldiers, and others to 
annoy the enemy; and from one another, in latter ages, by 
several degrees or ranks of oars, the most usual number of 
which was four or five, which appear not to have been 
arranged, as some imagine, on the same level in different 
parts of the ship ; nor yet, as others have supposed, directly 
above one another’s heads; but their seats being placed one 
behind another, ascended gradually, like stairs. Ptolemy 
Philopater, urged by a vain-glorious desire of exceeding all 
the world besides in naval architecture, is said to have far¬ 
ther enlarged the number of banks to 40; and the ship 
being otherwise in equal proportion, this raised her to such 
an enormous bulk, that she appeared at a distance like a 
floating mountain or island ; and, upon a nearer view, like 
a prodigious castle on the ocean. She was 280 cubits long, 
38 broad, and 48 high (each cubit being 1 English foot 
inches), and carried 400 rowers, 400 sailors, and 3000 
soldiers. Another, which the same prince made to sail on 
the Nile, we are told, was half a stadium long. Yet these 
were nothing in comparison of Hiero’s ship, built under the 
direction of Archimedes; on the structure of which, Mos- 
chion wrote a whole volume. There was wood enough em¬ 
ployed in it to make 50 galleys; it had all the variety of 
apartments of a palace; such as banqueting-rooms, galle¬ 
ries, gardens, fish-ponds, stables, mills, baths, and a temple 
to Venus. The floors of the middle apartment were all in¬ 
laid, and represented in various colours the stories of Homer’s 
Iliad. The ceilings, windows, and all other parts, were 
finished with wonderful art, and embellished with all kinds 
of ornaments. In the uppermost apartment, there was a spa¬ 
cious gymnasium, or place for exercise, and water was con¬ 
veyed to the garden by pipes, some of hardened clay, and 
others of lead. The floors of the temple of Venus were in¬ 
laid with agates and other precious stones ; the inside lined 
with cypress wood ; the windows adorned with ivory paint¬ 
ings and small statues. There was likewise a library. This 
vessel was adorned on all sides with fine paintings. It had 
20 benches of oars, and was encompassed with an iron 
rampart, eight towers, with walls and bulwarks, furnished 
with machines of war, particularly one which threw a stone 
of 300 pouuds, or a dart 12 cubits long, the space of half a 
a mile; with many other particulars related by Atheneeus. 
Caligula likewise built a vessel adorned with jewels in the 
poop, with sails of many colours, and furnished with large 
porticoes, bagnios, and banqueting-rooms, besides rows of 
vines, and fruit-trees of various kinds. But these, and all 
such monstrous fabrics, served only for show and ostenta¬ 
tion, being rendered by their vast bulk unwieldy and unfit 
for service. Athenseus informs us, the common names they 
were known by, were Cyclades, or JEtna, i. e. “ islands, 
or mountains,” to which they seemed nearly equal in big¬ 
ness; consisting, as some report, of as many materials as 
would have composed 50 triremes, or ships of three banks. 
The vessels employed by the northern nations, appear to 
have been still more imperfect than those of the Romans; 
for a law was enacted in the reign of the emperor Honorius, 
24th September, A. D. 418, inflicting capital punishment on 
any who should instruct the barbarians in the art of ship¬ 
building ; a proof at once of the great estimation in which 
this science was then held, and of the ignorance of the bar¬ 
barians with regard to it. 
The object to be gained in ship-building is to unite the 
form most admirable tor quickly passing through the water, 
with the structure best capable of resisting shocks and strains, 
and with the form best calculated to elude the effects of 
storms. In merchant-ships we must endeavour to render 
these objects compatible with dimensions fitted for carrying 
the greatest cargoes. In men-of-war, we have to consider 
what disposition is the best fitted for carrying, securing, and 
rendering rapidly available the artillery. 
In order to smooth the way in this difficult science, 
thought so incomprehensible, our readers must be made fa¬ 
miliar with the several draughts and plans whence the form 
and dimensions of the several timbers, and every particular 
part that enters into the construction, are to be obtained. 
As a ship has length, breadth and depth, three different 
plans at least are necessary to represent the form of the se¬ 
veral parts of her; these are the sheer-plan, the lady-plan, 
and the half-breadth plan. 
The sheer-plan (PI. I.), or, as it is called in civil archi¬ 
tecture, the plan of elevation, is a vertical section, passing 
through the vessel in its whole length, or fore and aft. Upon 
this plan the length and depth of the keel are represented, 
also the height and rake of the stem and stern-post; the si¬ 
tuation and height of the midship and other frames; the 
water-lines; heights of the decks, gun-ports, and wales; the 
centres of the masts; the situation of the channels; length 
and depth of the head and rails, quarter-galleries, rudder. 
The body-plan, or plan of projection (PI. II. fig. 1.), is 
a transverse section of the ship at the midship-frame, or 
broadest place perpendicular to the keel. The several 
breadths, and the particular form of every frame-timber, are 
described on this plan. Now as the two sides of the ship 
are, or should be, exactly similar to each other, it is there¬ 
fore unnecessary to represent both: hencethe frames contained 
in the fore-body, between the midship-frame and the stem, 
are described on the right-hand side of the middle line, and 
the aftermost frames on the lett of the said middle line. 
The half-breadth ox floor-plan (PI. II. fig. 2.), or, as it 
is frequently called, the horizontal-plan, contains the se¬ 
veral half-breadths at every frame-timber, at the different 
heights of the water-lines, main-breadth, top-side, ribband¬ 
lines, &c. 
We proceed to the consideration of the 74-gun ship, 
which is preferred as the medium between the first-rate and 
the frigate, and is esteemed the most useful of all others. 
Now, the first thing to be determined, is the length on 
the gun-deck; and here sufficient distance must be allowed 
for the ports, which are fifteen in number, three feet five 
inches wide, or fore and aft, each, so as to have a sufficient 
distance between each port for working the guns, which is 
about seven feet eight inches; likewise room forward, be¬ 
tween the foremost-port and the stem, for the manger; and 
