not surpass, the preceding sum: however, this enormous mass of not less than 772,000 pounds may be moved with a very gentle wind. A ship sinks till the volume of water which it displaces be equal to it in weight. Thus the river is not more loaded with the ship and her cargo, than it was with the water which the ship removes from the place which she occupies.

§ 1. Ship-building, and different sorts of Ships and Vessels.

1. The first attempt at navigation, or at ship-building, was undoubtedly made by Noah. After him, the Egyptians may be accounted the first inventors of the art; the first ship (probably a galley) being brought from Egypt to Greece by Danaus, 1485 B. C. The first ship of the burthen of 800 tons was built in England in 1597.. The first double-decked one, built în England, was of 1000 tons burthen, by order of Henry VII. 1509; it was called the Great Harry, and cost 14,0007. in building. Before this period, 24 gun ships were the largest in our navy, and these had no port-holes, the guns being on the upper decks only. Port-holes and other improvements were invented by Decharges, a French builder at Brest, in the reign of Louis XII. A. D. 1500. There were not above four merchant ships of 120 tons burthen before 1551.

2. The British naval force on the 1st of January 1813, was, as follows:-At sea 79 ships of the line; nine from 50 to 44 guns; 122 frigates; 77 sloops and yachts; four bombs &c.; 161 brigs; 54 cutters; 52 schooners &c. In port and fitting-39 of the line; 11 from 50 to 44 guns; 29 frigates, hospital-ships, prison-ships, etc; 28 of the. line; 2 from 50 to 44; two frigates: one yacht. Ordinary and repairing for service-77 of the line; 10 from 50 to 44 guns; 70 frigates; 37 sloops; three bombs; 11 brigs; one cutter; two schooners. Building-29 of the line; four from 50 to 44 guns; 15 frigates; five sloops etc; three brigs.

Total at sea,

In commission,

Building, repairing, and in ordinary,, 267'

3. A very great improvement in ship-building has been made, within a few years, by introducing Glass Illuminators or lenses into the decks and port-holes of ships, which convey light so as to enable the men to work, or do any repairs, in tempestuous weather, when the hatches are closed. A patent for these illuminators has been granted to PELLATT and GREEN of St. Paul's Church-yard.

The illuminator is a piece of solid glass, of a circular or elliptical form at the base; but the circular form is the most productive of light, and the strongest against accident: it is convex on the side to be presented outwards, to receive and condense the rays of light, and has a flat or plane surface on the inside of the room or apartment which it is intended to light. It is, or approaches to a segment of a sphere, or spheroid; it is, in fact a leus; both sides may, in general, be left polished; but when the illuminator is to be placed in a situation where any danger may be apprehended of its being acted upon as a burning glass, one side, at least, should be ground or roughed. Its size is various according to the purpose, or situation, for which it is designed, and its convexity is increased or diminished, according to the size required. The ordinary dimensions are a base, of about five inches in diameter, to one halfinch in height, from the centre of the base; the illuminator is fixed in a square or circular frame, made of wood or of metal, with glaziers' putty, or other cement.*

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BARGE, a state or pleasure boat, or for the purpose merchandize, used chiefly in the navigation of rivers. Barges have various names, according to their particular uses; as a company's barge, a royal barge; a Severn trow; a ware barge; a west-country bargé.

BOMB-KETCH is for the use of mortars at sea; it is a small vessel strengthened with large beams. Bomb-vessels have sometimes three masts and square sails, but are often made like a ketch, with one mast and mizen.

* The patent illuminators have been introduced, with complete success, into private dwellings, instead of sky-lights; and, particularly, in the cielings of cellars and under-ground offices.. Carriages have passed over these illuminators daily, without breaking them, or producing any bad effect.

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BRIGANTINE, a small, flat, open vessel, having sails and oars; and is either for fighting or giving chase. Brigantines are principally used by the Corsairs, all the hands on board being soldiers, and each having his musket ready under his oar. There are usually 12 or 15 benches" on a side for the rowers, a man and an oar to each bench. The Corsairs are pirates, particularly in the Mediterranean, who plunder merchants' vessels without commission from any prince. Among British seamen this vessel is distinguished by having her main sails set nearly in the plane of her keel; whereas the main sails of larger ships are hung athwart, &c.

CANOE, a vessel or boat used among the Indians, made of the trunk of a tree hollowed, or several peices of the bark put together. The small canoes are very narrow, have room for one person only in breadth, and seven or eight in length. The largest are made of a short silk grass or rushes. The canoes are now generally rowed with paddles. The rowers, who are generally American savages, are very expert in managing and balancing their canoes. When they come near a waterfall, or when they want to cross over land from one river to another, they cary their canoes on their heads. The inhabitants of Greenland, Otaheite, and Hudson's Bay have canoes larger and very different from these.

CARTEL is a vessel commissioned in time of war to exchange the prisoners of any two hostile powers, to bring overtures of peace, &c. The officer who commands her carries no cargo, ammunition, nor implements of war, except a single gun for firing signals.

CONVOY signifies one or more vessels of war, appointed to conduct a fleet of merchants' ships, serving as a watch and shelter from enemies; though sometimes by a convoy is implied the fleet of merchant ships bound to any particular part or place of rendezvous.

CUTTER, a small vessel, commonly navigated on the English channel, furnished with one mast, and rigged as a sloop.

FIRE-SHIPS are filled with shells, bombs, and other combustible materials, which being sent in among the enemy's ships, explode at a given time, and cause great damage and confusion.

FRIGATE. This is a light-built ship and a good sailer. A frigate has commonly two decks, whence that called a light frigate is a frigate with only one deck. These vessels mount from 20 to 44 guns, and make excellent cruizers. Merchantmen are said to be frigate-built, when the disposition of the decks has a descent of four or five steps from the quarter-deck, and forecastle, into the waist; in contradistinction to those whose decks are on a continued line, for the whole length of the ship, which are called galleybuilt.

GALLEY is a low-built vessel, having oars and sails, chiefly used by the states bordering on the Mediterranean. Galleys have usually twenty-five or thirty benches of oars on each side, and four or five galley-slaves on each bench. The galley carries a large gun, two bastard pieces, and two small pieces. It is usually from 20 to 22 fathoms long, three broad, and one deep, and has two masts, viz. a main mast, and a fore mast, which may be struck or lowered at pleasure.

Hoy; a small vessel or bark, whose yards are not across, nor the sails square, like those of ships, but the sails like a mizen, so that she can sail nearer the wind, than a vessel with cross sails can do.

HULKS are large vessels, having their gun-decks from 113 to 150 feet long, and from 30 to 40 feet broad; they will carry from 400 to 500 tons. A hulk is an old ship cut down to the gun-deck. and fitted with a large wheel for careening. Hulks are also employed at Woolwich, Portsmouth, Sheerness, &c. to receive convicts under sentence of transportation; the vessels are moored at such a distance from shore, as precludes the possibility of the men's escape; and the convicts are taken daily to shore to work, under a strong guard, at pile-driving, harbour cleansing, and other employments in the several public departments.

LIFE-BOAT. Mariners are indebted for this admirable invention to MR. GREATHEAD, an eminent boat-builder of South Shields. This boat measures thirty feet by ten and resembles in form a common Greenland boat, but is more flat in the bottom. The quantity of cork employed in the construction is about seven hundred weight, with which the boat is lined on the inside as well as outside of

the gunwales, two feet in breadth; the seats being also filled with the same material. It is rowed by ten men, double banked, and steered by one at each end with oars, being alike in its form at both ends, and contrived so as not to sink in the sand. This boat draws very little water, and can carry twenty persons, even when full of water. Being water-proof, and rendered buoyant by cork, it always keeps afloat, preserving its equilibrium without any danger of oversetting. It is able to contend against the most tremendous sea, having never failed, in a single instance, of conveying a ship's crew to shore in safety. The vessel, when complete and copper nailed, costs about £150. This boat has exceeded every expectation. During the last eighteen years, not fewer than between two and three hundred lives have been saved at the entrance of the lyne alone, which otherwise must have been lost, and in no instance has it ever failed. The first trial of this boat was in the year 1790; and in 1802, the Society of Arts rewarded the inventor with their gold medal, and fifty guineas for the invention.

MAN OF WAR, a first rate, has its gun-deck from 159 to 174 feet in length, and from 44 to 50 feet broad; contains from 1313 to 1882 tons; has from 706 to 800 men; and carries from 96 to 110 guns. This ship requires about 60,000 cubic feet of timber, and uses 180,000lb. of rough hemp in the cordage and sails for it. The ground on which the timber for a 74 gun ship would require to grow, would be 14 acres. It requires 3000 loads of timber, each load containing 50 cubic feet: 1500 well grown trees, of two loads each, will cover 14 acres, at 20 feet asunder; 3000 loads of rough oak, at 2s. per foot, or 51. per load, will cost £1,500.

MERCHANT SHIPS are estimated by their burthen, that is, by the number of tons they bear, each ton being reckoned 20 cwt. The estimate is made by gauging the hold, which is the proper place of loading. A vessel is said to draw ten or fifteen feet of water, when it sinks so deep under water, being loaded. A vessel is said to be of three or four hundred tons, when it will carry that weight, or when immerged in water it passes the space of three or four hundred tons of water.

PRIVATEERS. The persons concerned in privateers,