THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
487 
so applied to a ship as not to entail any of the disadvantages apper¬ 
taining to iron-plated vessels, at the same time allowing her to he a 
comfortable sea-going ship, fairly capable of holding her own with any 
iron-clad on an emergency, and almost if not quite unsinkable. 
Figs. 1 and 2 represent roughly the transverse midship and longi¬ 
tudinal sections respectively of a ship of about 3000 tons. Trace a line 
(a, a , a) round the hull of the ship at such a distance below water-line 
that it will never be exposed above water during the roll of the ship in 
any weather that a ship can fight her guns in, and from a parallel trace 
to this on the inside of the hull spring an arch of iron plating (b, b, b), 
the top surface of the arch being above water-line. The advantages of 
this system would be somewhat as under:— 
1. The plating would be all inboard, free from the action of salt 
water, and the hull would be wooden, coppered, and capable of repair 
on foreign stations. The plating, owing to its position, even should it 
be fractured, could quickly be repaired by bolting plate-iron over it, 
and be just as strong as ever. 
2. The plating would be placed in its most advantageous position 
for resistance; every shot striking it must glance off. 
3. The plating would be most advantageously placed for the load 
of the ship, making her by its position a good sea boat, and in place 
of straining her by hanging on to her sides, actually give additional 
strength. 
4. The ship would be well protected from vertical fire. 
5. No fire could get into the lower part of the ship, and all above 
the plated iron arch, on occasion of the ship clearing for action, would 
be divided into fire-proof compartments by light iron shutters, and 
each compartment supplied with water laid on through the arch. 
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