When it is considered that, proportionable to the size of the gun and its carriage, must be the port to which it is fitted, the space between that and the next port, and, as a necessary consequence, the whole range and extent of the deck, an increase in the principal dimensions and tonnage of the ship follows of course. Hence, one class of ship mounts twenty-six 12-pounders upon a deck 126 feet in length ; another class mounts twenty-six 18-pounders upon a deck 145 feet in length ; a third mounts twenty-six 24-pounders upon a deck 160 feet in length; and the tonnage of the several classes, estimated, upon an average, at 680, 1000, and 1370 tons, accords, very nearly, with the difference in the nature of the guns mounted by each.

When, therefore, two fighting ships, numerically equal in guns and decks, but differing greatly in tonnage, meet at sea, the inference is, that the larger ship mounts the heavier metal. Moreover, as the more massive the gun and its carriage, the greater is the strength required to work it; so does the enlargement of the masts, yards, sails, rigging, anchors, and cables, require additional hands to manage and control them : hence, the larger ship is more numerously manned, and, on coming to close quarters, can present the most formidable show of boarders. Several other advantages attend the larger ship; among which may be reckoned, her less liability, owing to her increased stoutness, to suffer from an enemy's guns, and the greater precision with which, owing to her increased stability, she can point her own.

The French and Spanish builders have certainly proceeded upon a more enlarged scale of dimensions than the builders of England ; and the ports of their ships are, therefore, both wider and farther apart than the ports of those English ships which mount the same, or nearly the same, nature of guns. This, besides conferring many of the advantages already noticed, affords a greater space between and behind the guns, and so raises their line of fire, that they can act without risk from a troubled sea; an advantage, the want of which has often been felt by the old English two and three deckers.

A comparison of that class in the two rival navies, out of which, from the number of its individuals, the line of battle is chiefly composed, will show the different ideas that prevailed in England and in France respecting the proportion that ought to exist between the armament and the size of a ship. The following is the result of a careful examination, and refers, in point of time, to the latter end of the year 1792, or just as the war with England was about to commence.