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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

The circumstance is commemorated by various authors, but they have been con-tent with simply recording it, not affording to the present times the slightestclue by which the thirst after mechanical knowlege or science can be satisfied.It is certain, however, from various relative points, that it must have beenmaterially different in its form from the galley, which, with so ponderous acargo, considering the breadth, according to the accustomed proportion oflength, practised even at that time, would have drawn too much water to havepermitted it to pass over the shallows of the Tyber, or the Nile. Even hadthat obstacle not existed, a still more serious difficulty, if possible, presentsitself, the safety of the vessel itself, with its crew, during its passage, evenadmitting the most favourable season to have been chosen, from the shores ofEgypt to Italy. When fourteen centuries shall have elapsed from the presenttime, an enquiry into the form and construction of the vessel which transportedthe rock forming the base to the equestrian statue of the czar Peter to thecapital of Russia, might have proved a subject of more critical and interestingenquiry than the present, if the engineer had not possessed the prudence tohave taken such measures as will transmit to posterity the whole of his artand contrivance, and, in all human probability, prove sufficient to preserve thememory of it at least, unless the art of printing and literature itself shall ceaseto exist. >

It appears highly probable, that if no contrivance, in some degree resemblingthat made use of on the modern occasion alluded to, was actually adopted in theformer instance, the immense transport must have borne some resemblanceto the lighter of the present day, which appears best calculated to float immenseweights with the least submersion in the water. It is, at the same time, themost artless, and consequently the easiest, in point of construction, as the prac-tice of various countries, in the less improved ages of science, sufficientlyproves. The critical investigator is informed of fleets consisting of ships orvessels sc denominated, and, far as numbers extend, almost too powerful formodern credibility : the supposed simplicity of their form, however, serves, ina very considerable degree, to solve this otherwise almost inexplicable historicalenigma; and while the recollection of that fact elucidates a point which mightotherwise prove a matter of doubt or dispute, it marks out, at the same time,the general principle then adopted in the construction of vessels, by those whoconsidered themselves as marine architects.

With