PLATE IV.
EXPLANATIONS.
Ship.—A ship is square-rigged throughout; that is, she has tops, and carries square sails on all three of her masts.
Bark.—A bark is square-rigged at her fore and main masts, and differs from a ship in having no top, and carrying only fore-and-aft sails at her mizzenmast.
Brig.—A full-rigged brig is square-rigged at both her masts.
Hermaphrodite Brig.—An hermaphrodite brig is square-rigged at her foremast; but has no top, and only fore-and-aft sails at her main mast.
Topsail Schooner.—A topsail schooner has no tops at her foremast, and is fore-and-aft rigged at her mainmast. She differs from an hermaphrodite brig in that she is not properly square-rigged at her foremast, having no top, and carrying a fore-and-aft foresail, in stead of a square foresail and a spencer.
Fore-and-aft Schooner.—A fore-and-aft schooner is fore-and-aft rigged throughout, differing from a topsail schooner in that the latter carries small square sails aloft at the fore.
Sloop.—A sloop has one mast, fore-and-aft rigged.
Hermaphrodite Brigs sometimes carry small square sails aloft at the main; in which case they are called Brigantines, and differ from a Full-rigged Brig in that they have no top at the mainmast, and carry a fore-and-aft mainsail instead of a square mainsail and trysail. Some Topsail Schooners carry small square sails aloft at the main as well as the fore; being in other respects fore-and-aft rigged. They are then called Main Topsail Schooners.
| Ship | Bark |
| Full-rigged Brig | Hermaphrodite Brig |
| Top-sail Schooner | Fore & aft Schooner |
| Sloop | |
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
GENERAL RULES AND OBSERVATIONS.
Construction of vessels. Tonnage and carriage of merchant vessels. Proportions of the spars. Placing the masts. Size of anchors and cables. Lead-lines. Log-line. Ballast and lading.
Construction of Vessels.—As merchant vessels of the larger class are now built in the United States, the extreme length of deck, from the after part of the stern-post to the fore part of the stem, is from four and a half to four and three fourths that of the beam, at its widest part. The Damascus, of 700 tons' measurement, built at Boston in 1839, and considered a fair specimen of our best freighting vessels, had 150 feet from stem to stern-post, and 32 feet 6 inches extreme breadth. The Rajah, of 530 tons, built at Boston in 1837, had 140 feet length, and 30 feet beam;—being each in length about four and six tenths their beam.
A great contrast to this proportion is exhibited in the most recent statistics (1841) of vessels of the same tonnage in the English navy; as the following table will show.
| Tons. | Deck. | Beam. | Proportion. | |||||||
| { | Dido | 734 | 120 | ft. | 37 | ft. | 6 | in. | 3.20 | |
| English Navy. | { | Pilot | 492 | 105 | 33 | |||||