The sR,htest comparison, indeed, will prove that weakness has given way to strength; and forms ill adapted to resist strains, have been replaced by me chanical arrangements of the soundest kind. lime wa ter ways and shelf pieces, which in the square form were uptly cut off, in the circular stern are bound into one perfect whole, by the introduction of the eke ing. ingenious arrangement may be seen in Figs. 2. and 4. Where II, represent the water ways, I. I the shelf pieces, and G, G the timbers denomi nated the ekeings, the whole being bound by the solid timbering. of the stern, into one compact and perfect form. The stern, it will also he perceived by a refer ence to Fig. 4. possesses the same kind of timbering, planking, Sec. as the sides; the ekeings are united by the strongest bolts, and the archlike fabric of the whole is just that which is best adapted to resist strains and pressures of every kind. If we compare Fig. 2. with Fig. 1. we shall find the timber work of the former, raised regularly from the lowest part, resting on no ill-contrived transom; with no stern timbers raising their upri';ht forms, unchecked by brace or' truss; but the whole system of framing, adapted to approved rules of mechanical strength, bound tog-ether by internal and external planleiug like the sides. and capable, like the bow, of resisting all those terrible shocks, to which a vessel exposed to the uncontrolled energies of a storm must be subject.
In the second place, the safety which the present method of constructing the sterns affords to the sea men over that of the old plan, is best shown by some instances of the danger arising front the imperfections of the latter method, which, above the wing transom presented little else than a surface of glazed windows. The Dictator of 6-4 guns, in her passage from the West Indies in 1797, was struck by the sea on the stern, which stove in the dead-lights and window frames, washed away every thing on the main deck, and the crew were under the necessity of throwing, six ()I' the wins overboard to lighten the ship abaft. The Revo lutionaire, of 46 guns, on her passage also from the \Vest Indies in the year 1801. met with a similar ac cident, which stove in the dead-lights, and carried away the bulk-head of the great cabin, and had not the hatchways been barred down, which prevented the water from getting into the hold, the ship must have foundered.
In the sterns formed according to the old plan, the men on all the decks. except those on the lower gun deck in ships of the line, are exposed to the most de structive raking fire, their sterns being pervious even to a musket ball.
'I he strength also given to the circular sterns by carrying up the timbers, prevents all the clanger to be apprehended from a sea striking the ship abaft, or from the ingress of small shot, as well as from large ones which hase not force to pass through the tim bers and planking. And from their curved form, the of the sea abaft will be much lessened; and those shot fired at an angle of more than forty-five de grees, Will glance off without doing much injury to the ship.
Aluch has been said with respect to the injury which our men-of-war will undergo in their sailing qualities by the introduction of the circular stern; but we ap prehend, that an impartial examination of the ques tion will produce some advantages in its favour. The ships constructed With the new stern have the same form below. and for some feet above the plane of the water's surface, and must therefore enjoy the same buoyancy abaft, as those constructed according to the strictest letter of the old plan. Their seagoing pro perties are no doubt improved by the omission of the quarter galleries, which doubtless acted as a back sail, when the ships were going on a wind.
Ott the important question of the additional means of attack and defence afforded by the curvilineal stern, we cannot do better than follow Mr. Haney in his elaborate Results of Experiments relating to the comparative means of defence afforded by ships of war having square and curvilineal sterns," published in the 35th Number of Mr. Brandc's Journal of Science.
For the purpose of ascertaining, by rigorous and decisive experiments, in what degree the new form of the stern is calculated to improve a ship. Mr. Har vey was permitted by Sir Byam Alartin, the comp troller of the navy, to select two frigates of the same class, one having a curvilineal stern, and the other one of the old or square form. In the prosecution of the experiments, moreover, 1\11-. Harvey was assisted by many distinguished naval officers, among whom he particularly mentions Captains Wise. Richards, and Arthur. Guns were placed on board the Boadicea and Hamadryad frigates, the former having a square stern, and the latter a round stern; and he remarks, that every position and bearing determined, was made the subject of a candid and liberal discussion. In de termining also the different bearings of the guns, par ticular care was taken in every instance to prevent their being wooded; an important consideration in a course of comparative experiments of this nature; and also ample room was permitted for recoil. The moment also the position of a gun was finally deter mined, its bearing was carefully laid down on the deck, and referred to a longitudinal line passing through the middle section of the ship. And, in order to give every possible advantage to the square stern, the port of the Boadicea were entirely stripped of their so as to present only the naked timbers; whereas in the ship wills the curvilineal stern. the linings were in every ease preserved, and which, therefore, gave to the squat c form, a very considerable advantage during the com parison; but even with this advantage, fulr. Ifarvey found that the means of defence it afforded, were de cidedly inferior to those presented by the curvilineal form.