HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

The representation of the Henry Grace a Dieu , preserved and transmittedto us by an original drawing in the Pepysian library, at Magdalen college,Cambridge, is completely of the description just stated. The slightest inspec-tion will be sufficient to convince even persons who are totally unacquaintedwith maritime affairs, that a vessel, so constructed, could never have beenserviceable at sea, as a ship of war, or even safe to the navigators, were the wea-ther otherwise than perfectly calm : but though no small allowance ought tobe male for the unskilfulness of the painter in some part of his performance,there is very sufficient collateral evidence to convince us, that several of the'most striking peculiarities are far from incorrect. ’

The vessel we are now speaking of may, without impropriety, be termed theparent of the British navy ; and there are many reasons which, withouti muchstretch, or force of imagination, lead us, contrary to the opinion of many verylearned and ingenious antiquaries, to suppose the drawing represents the originalship, bearing the name of Henry Grace a Dieu *, built by king Henry the Seventh,and not that of later construction. This celebrated floating structure, the existenceof which is recorded in many of the ancient chronicles, cost the King, by report,nearly fourteen thousand pounds : this will be found a very considerable sum, when’we recollect the very high value money bore in those days. Very little descriptionof its particular form is necessary, the singularity of it being sufficiently appa->rent in the annexed representation. From that we may learn the derivation ofmany terms preserved even to the present hour, though the parts consonant to<those on which the names were first bestowed, have long since become so ma-terially altered in their form, that without this, or some similar clue, we mightbe at a loss to trace the true cause of its first application. Among these we maynumber the round-top, the yard-arm, and rude as its form is in the paintedrecord, and also perhaps in the original itself, the forecastle.

The invention of port-holes for cannon of the largest size -f-, then mounted'on board ships, was, as already observed, extremely recent; and the first use!made of the contrivance was the introduction of a double tier. The same kind

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* Called, in Stowe’s Annals, the Great Harry. This ship certainly belongs to the reign of Henrythe Seventh, though not launched till a short time after his death. Its name appears to have beenafterwards changed to the Sovereign, as it is called by Grafton, but, by other chronicle writers, theRegent.

f These were whole culverins, carrying an eighteen pound ball, and demi eulverins, of nearly thesame calibre with the modern nine pounders.