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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

the latter were consequently left to as full an enjoyment of that superiority inparticular points, as the ships captured from themselves, and afterwards re-ceived into the British service, with the addition of such as were built in imita-tion of them, would allow. But though the improvement of the British marinedid not advance so rapidly as though it had been effected by magic, yet the stepswhich it gained, particularly during the war, were both consequential and nu-merous. The abolition of certain classes, the substitution of others bettercalculated to meet those opposed to them, a variety of improvements in-troduced into the form of ships of war independent of the augmentation oftheir dimensions, which rendered them not only infinitely more able to endurethe combined attacks of the wind and sea, but improved their quality in sailing,were benefits of the highest concern. To these may also be superadded the supe-rior care and caution used in the mere mechanical branches of marine achitec-ture, to what had been the practice in times past. The neglect had proved of themost injurious and destructive kind, having caused, on a variety of occasions, re-peated shipw reck and loss, not only in regard to the vessels themselves, but of thelives of the unfortunate persons who navigated them. In the latter respect,indeed, the ships of Britain had long begun to acquire an ascendency overthose of every country in Europe, a superiority which they have ever sincecontinued to maintain, not merely in public and popular opinion, but inreality. Though it may be, in some degree, an anachronism, yet it may bewarrantable nevertheless to state, that the condition of the different shipscaptured from France *, as well those belonging to the navy, as to privatepersons, and the short duration even of the greater part of those whichwere almost newly launched, so as to be in a proper condition for service,though all possible care was taken of them, undeniably prove the carelesshaste and inattention with which the practical part of ship-building 'was car-ried on in that country, and the inferiority of the materials, particularly tim-ber, speaking comparatively with that which is in general used by Britain, andconsidered applicable to that purpose.

The commercial marine was by no means behind that of the state, in respectto the improvements introduced into it. The rapidity of their adoption in the lat-

* Many of the ships captured in the course of the war from France were, though in high esti-mation among the enemy, considered in such bad condition by the British, that they were never fittedout, or sent to sea. Among these was the Formidable of SO guns, a ship almost new, and chosen onaccount of its supposed excellence to bear the flag of Monsieur de St. Andre du Verger, rear ad-miral of the fleet placed in 1709 under the orders of die Marquis de Conflans.

ter.