DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0148
320 THE GKEAT EXHIBITION
rigged models of schooners and cutters, introduced rather as specimens of the skilled neat-
handedness of their builders, than as exemplifying any principles of naval architecture,
we came upon a vast variety of plans and inventions for life-boats. On the other side
of the stall on which the life-boats, of which we shall treat hereafter, made so con-
spicuous a figure, was arranged a great variety of models of ship machinery, particularly
that connected with anchorage, such as capstans, windlases, chains, and anchors them-
selves. We had then a number of compasses and graceful designs for binnacles; and,
lastly, after inspecting an omnium gatherum of naval odds and ends, such as the gun-
harpoons for striking whales, and almost equally formidable weapons for shooting ducks
from punts, models of oddly-shaped ships with sliding keels, catamarans constructed out
of spars of wood, and air-tight bags acting as buoys, we came to an infinity of diving
apparatus, illustrative of the entire process of adventuring, remaining, and working below
water.
We will first briefly remark upon the bas-relief models of men-of-war. Had the set
been complete, or had specimens of different ages been copiously given, the observation
of the gradually shifting forms adopted in our dockyards would have been specially in-
teresting. As it was, however, we could gather from the collection hints not without
significance. The first thing which strikes one in modern ship-building is the cutting
down of the hulk, which our ancestors were fond of rearing above the water. The castles,
quarter-decks and poops, with, which they delighted to encumber their vessels, began first
to give way at the bows; and the forecastle has long been a mere name, the thing having
vanished more than a century ago. It was not, however, until a much more recent period
that the mountains of timber piled up astern began to be reduced; and the naval battles
in the latter third of the last century were fought by ships of the line with taflVails rising
forty and sixty feet above the water. The tendency of improved ship-building is now to
lay the whole expanse of deck as nearly as possible upon the same level. A few smaller
vessels, we believe, have been actually built flush from stem to stern; but, at all events,,
the modest height of the quarter-decks now constructed contrasts strangely with the old
notion of the symmetry and propriety of a towering poop, ornamented with all the art or
the carver, and furnished with range over range of quarter galleries.! Beneath the water-
mark the tendency of advancing ship-building has been to adapt the curve of the swel-
ling side and the concave portions of the ship, which, in nautical phrase, "take most
hold of the water;" so as to prevent, as much as possible, the heavy and injurious
rolling motion, which is increased by the quantity of weight a man-of-war must carry
above the water to cause the ship to sit as stiffly as may be, and heel over as little as pos-
sible—thespecial desideratum in a fighting vessel—and to arrange the lines of flotation
so that the lowest tier of guns shall be carried at least three or four feet above the water
line. To these divers qualities the naval architect has, of course, to add the consider-
ations of that of speed, and the delicacy of the ship in answering the slightest touch of
her helm. The peculiarities of modern improvement in all these respects are easily
observable, upon comparison of an old-fashioned with a newly-built hull. The bows of
modern men- of-war are sharper and far finer than the old style; and there is more of the
concave shape about them—-a form which flings the seas sideways and backwards instead
of abroad, as the old bluff bows used to do: the belly of the ship is by no means so
round as it used to be, the sides or walls being far flatter, an improvement which dimin-
ishes the tendency to roll; and the dimensions of the part of the ship immediately before
the rudder, called «the run," and in which the convex form changes into a pure and
finely modelled concave, diminish so as to allow the body of water displaced to close
quickly and easily, flinging its full force upon the helm. The spectator will observe that
in modern ships this run is of larger dimensions than in the olden craft. An exception
rigged models of schooners and cutters, introduced rather as specimens of the skilled neat-
handedness of their builders, than as exemplifying any principles of naval architecture,
we came upon a vast variety of plans and inventions for life-boats. On the other side
of the stall on which the life-boats, of which we shall treat hereafter, made so con-
spicuous a figure, was arranged a great variety of models of ship machinery, particularly
that connected with anchorage, such as capstans, windlases, chains, and anchors them-
selves. We had then a number of compasses and graceful designs for binnacles; and,
lastly, after inspecting an omnium gatherum of naval odds and ends, such as the gun-
harpoons for striking whales, and almost equally formidable weapons for shooting ducks
from punts, models of oddly-shaped ships with sliding keels, catamarans constructed out
of spars of wood, and air-tight bags acting as buoys, we came to an infinity of diving
apparatus, illustrative of the entire process of adventuring, remaining, and working below
water.
We will first briefly remark upon the bas-relief models of men-of-war. Had the set
been complete, or had specimens of different ages been copiously given, the observation
of the gradually shifting forms adopted in our dockyards would have been specially in-
teresting. As it was, however, we could gather from the collection hints not without
significance. The first thing which strikes one in modern ship-building is the cutting
down of the hulk, which our ancestors were fond of rearing above the water. The castles,
quarter-decks and poops, with, which they delighted to encumber their vessels, began first
to give way at the bows; and the forecastle has long been a mere name, the thing having
vanished more than a century ago. It was not, however, until a much more recent period
that the mountains of timber piled up astern began to be reduced; and the naval battles
in the latter third of the last century were fought by ships of the line with taflVails rising
forty and sixty feet above the water. The tendency of improved ship-building is now to
lay the whole expanse of deck as nearly as possible upon the same level. A few smaller
vessels, we believe, have been actually built flush from stem to stern; but, at all events,,
the modest height of the quarter-decks now constructed contrasts strangely with the old
notion of the symmetry and propriety of a towering poop, ornamented with all the art or
the carver, and furnished with range over range of quarter galleries.! Beneath the water-
mark the tendency of advancing ship-building has been to adapt the curve of the swel-
ling side and the concave portions of the ship, which, in nautical phrase, "take most
hold of the water;" so as to prevent, as much as possible, the heavy and injurious
rolling motion, which is increased by the quantity of weight a man-of-war must carry
above the water to cause the ship to sit as stiffly as may be, and heel over as little as pos-
sible—thespecial desideratum in a fighting vessel—and to arrange the lines of flotation
so that the lowest tier of guns shall be carried at least three or four feet above the water
line. To these divers qualities the naval architect has, of course, to add the consider-
ations of that of speed, and the delicacy of the ship in answering the slightest touch of
her helm. The peculiarities of modern improvement in all these respects are easily
observable, upon comparison of an old-fashioned with a newly-built hull. The bows of
modern men- of-war are sharper and far finer than the old style; and there is more of the
concave shape about them—-a form which flings the seas sideways and backwards instead
of abroad, as the old bluff bows used to do: the belly of the ship is by no means so
round as it used to be, the sides or walls being far flatter, an improvement which dimin-
ishes the tendency to roll; and the dimensions of the part of the ship immediately before
the rudder, called «the run," and in which the convex form changes into a pure and
finely modelled concave, diminish so as to allow the body of water displaced to close
quickly and easily, flinging its full force upon the helm. The spectator will observe that
in modern ships this run is of larger dimensions than in the olden craft. An exception