HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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posing, however,” adds the inventor, ** the worst case that can possibly happenin a vessel of the new construction, and that it is neither possible to stop or reducethe leak, it only remains to take out of the division, where the leak has commenced,all such parts of the cargo, or stores, as are most subject to injury from being wet,and to replace them with such as are not so liable to damage. This measure will,from the natural capacity of the different articles with which the division is filled,so far lessen the quantity of water, which it is capable of containing,, that the shipwill sustain no inconvenience whatever from the fluctuation and weight of thewater admitted through the leak; but the vessel will be enabled to pursue itsvoyage in the same safety she would have done, had no accident whatever takenplace.” Vessels divided according to the foregoing plan, and furnished with four,five, or six divisions in the hold, according to its length, are also supposed to beconsiderably less liable to total destruction, in case of any accident from fire, thanvessels constructed in the ordinary .way. Should the fire, as is frequently the case,take place in the hold, that particular division in which the accident has happenedmay be immediately filled with water, and the danger speedily averted ; themagazine also, as well as any other division of it, containing combustiblematerials, may in like manner be rendered incapable of occasioning the speedyand certain destruction of the ship and her crew. This recollection is, of allothers, the most animating to people in so distressed a situation, and en-courages them to persevere in their efforts with vigour, when they would other-wise, perhaps, in despair take to the boats, or commit themselves to the waves onany floating substances their haste might provide them with, resigning the vesselto its fate. The knowledge of such means, and such precautions being taken,would also encourage the crews of any vessels that might chance to be in com-pany, to approach that in distress as near as possible ; while, on the other hand,all persons stand aghast and keep aloof from a vessel on fire, particularly if it isa ship of war, in dread of that destruction, which the explosion of the powderwill not fail to cause to every object, that is sufficiently within the vortex or in-fluence, the moment the fire reaches it. This actually proved the case, in theinstance of the Prince George, a second rate, of ninety guns, bearing the flagof Admiral Broderick, which was burnt on its passage to Gibraltar, in 1758.Although surrounded by vessels, their mariners were deterred, by the constantapprehension of the blast, from approaching sufficiently near to save the crew,many hundreds of whom perished most miserably in the flames.

Captain Schank next proceeds to point out the peculiar advantages which

attend