1817- 1820	British and American 74s	417

beating heavily, 48 hours. When got afloat, the ship was found with her main keel rubbed off nearly its whole length (at one part the dead-wood was crushed up to the keelson), and yet it was not until 11 hours afterwards that the Esk began to be, and that only in a slight degree, leaky. The Vigilant revenue-cutter, driven, and apparently wrecked, upon a bed of shingles in Douglas bay, Isle of Man, and yet got off and brought in safety to Plymouth, is another remarkable instance. As a still more recent case, the 10-gun brig-sloop Frolic, employed in the packet-service, after lying eight hours on her beam-ends, upon the rocks off Sable-Island, beating violently, got safe into Halifax harbour.

The system of diagonal timbering, for which the British navy is indebted to Sir Robert Seppings, one of the surveyors on the establishment, was first commenced in the year 1800, upon the Glenmore 32. In 1805 it was further applied, at Chatham, to the Kent 74, to give auxiliary strength to that ship after her return from the Mediterranean. It was then introduced, to a certain extent, in the building of the Warspite 74 ; and, after the principle had been examined at the admiralty by a committee appointed for the purpose, directions were given to rebuild the Tremendous 74 to the full extent of the diagonal principle. This was done, and the principle was extended even to the decks. The Tremendous was found so completely to answer, that the diagonal system, * both in building and in repairing ships, has since become general in the British navy. The Howe, launched March 28, 1815, was the first ship laid down and built upon the principle. A rumour for a short time prevailed, that this fine first-rate, just as she had entered one of the new docks at Sheerness, was infected with the dry-rot. So far from it, there is not at the moment we are writing this, from the best inquiries we can make on the subject, a sounder ship in the British navy.

Sir Robert's important improvement in giving to line-of-battle ships a circular bow, we have already slightly touched upon � his ingenuity has since produced a more surprising, and an equally important, change at the opposite extremity of the ship, a circular instead of a square stern. To convey an idea of the advantages of this plan we shall make a quotation from a work that treats professionally on the subject : " The sterns are also formed circular, and to add to their strength, as many timbers as possible are run up : this presents a very formidable stern-battery, enables the guns to be run out so far as to prevent accidents to the stern by their explosion ; the danger arising from

* See a very valuable work recently published, with " Elements of Naval Architecture," entitled " An Appendix, containing the principles and practice of constructing ships, as invented and introduced by Sir Robert Seppings, surveyor of his majesty's navy, by John Knowles, F.R.S., secretary to the committee of surveyors of his majesty's navy."

� See vol., iii., p. 375.

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