almost every encounter attended by a rough sea, or a wind fresher than common. In the form of the lower body of their ships, the French greatly surpassed the English; but, in point of materials and workmanship, the advantage was, and perhaps is to this day, on the side of the latter. To the British, however, is certainly due the merit of having been the first to introduce the curved form to that part of the stern against which the sea beats: on the other hand, they were among the last to abandon the immoderate contraction of the upper decks of their ships, and the consequent low position of their chain plates.

The Spaniards appear to have taken the lead, even of the French, in the proportion between the size and the numerical force of their ships. As a sense of pride had induced Spain to build her ships higher, a sense of safety had impelled her to build them broader, than those of any other nation. When, therefore, the example of other states permitted her to ease her ships of a part of their cumbrous superstructure, Spain continued, for a while at least, to give them their former breadth. They undoubtedly possessed the advantages of greater stability, and of sides less penetrable by an enemy's shot. If the increased thickness of the sides added to the intrinsic weight of the ship, a counterbalancing property was found in the superior buoyancy derived from her increased width. One example will suffice, to show the difference that prevailed between the builders of Spain and of England. The following are the dimensions of a Spanish, and an English ship, of the same class, or denomination; the one built, the other captured, in 1740.

We may now resume our inquiries relative to the various frigate-classes that followed the three of 1727. * Two new classes were added in 1740: the one a 44-gun ship, averaging about 710 tons, and established with 40 guns on her two decks, similar to No. 7 in the short abstract at p. 10, but with 18 and 9, instead of 12 and 6 pounders ; also with four 6-pounders on the quarterdeck. The other class was a 24-gun ship, averaging about 440 tons, and established with two 9-pounders only on the first deck, and twenty of the same caliber on the second deck, with two 3-pounders on the quarterdeck. Before nine years had elapsed, 38 individuals of the 44-gun class, several of them of increased dimensions, had been built, and such of the old

* See p. 25.