I shall endeavour in this chapter to conclude the narrative of the large sailing ship, all of whose sails, excepting her triangular headsails and the staysails and the new shape which we have seen the mizzen take, are square, and carried athwart the mast. Neither the fore-and-aft rig, nor those hybrid developments of squaresail and fore-and-aft rig, will be considered until the following chapter, in order that our attention may not now be distracted from the older form, and also that we may be able presently to consider, without break of continuity, the story of that newer rig which had its origin during the sixteenth century.
In 1801 the Union Jack was modified by the introduction of a saltire for the Union of Ireland with Great Britain. The white, red and blue admirals, with their corresponding ensigns, continued. Thus the Red Ensign had not become yet the exclusive use of the Merchant Service nor the White Ensign of the Navy, but all three colours were in use to indicate the rank and place of flag-officers. At Trafalgar we fought under the White Ensign solely. After the practice had grown up of the whole fleet, for the sake of convenience, flying one colour, the three were in 1850 abolished, and the White Ensign became the colour of the Royal Navy.
One of the first war vessels to be laid down in the new century was the Caledonia, 205 feet long and of 2616 tons. This was in the year 1802, but she was not launched until six years later. Carrying 120 guns she was a first-rate, and was based on the design of the Commerce de Marseilles, which we mentioned in the last chapter. There is a model both of the Commerce de Marseilles and of the Caledonia in the Royal Naval College Museum, Greenwich. The latter was broken up only as recently as 1907. Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century ships of the Royal Navy were painted with blue upperworks, bright yellow sides, and broad black strakes at the waterline. The interior was generally painted red.[107] But Nelson had the hulls of his ships painted black with a yellow strake along each tier of ports, but with black port-lids, and this chequer painting distinguished all men-of-war, both at Trafalgar and after. White was soon introduced as a substitute for the yellow. This white band has survived to this day on many of our biggest sailing ships, and is well seen in Mr. Charles Dixon’s sketch of the four-masted barque reproduced in Fig. 78.
Among the innovations which came into use during the early years of the nineteenth century were the lifeboat and the prototype of the modern rocket life-saving apparatus. In 1774 Captain (afterwards Admiral) Schank, while stationed at Boston, built the first craft that ever possessed a sliding keel. This invention was put into actual use by the English fleet during the wars in which our country was engaged at the beginning of the century. By its means those ships thus fitted were able to sail closer to the wind without making so much lee-way. They were made better on the helm, and they could take the ground with less possibility of damage. There is in the Greenwich Museum an excellent model of the 50-gun frigate Cynthia, fitted with these sliding keels in 1795.
The strenuous years that formed the beginning of the new century in which England was constantly at war, gradually increased the size of her Navy to the enormous total of 644 ships which was reached in 1813. When we mention that at the beginning of the present year, 1909, the British Navy, including certain ships not yet completed, did not exceed 517 warships of all kinds, one can readily realise how great had been the extension of the fleet, and, in consequence, how great an incentive to shipbuilding and the seafaring life had been given. But this number had as quickly diminished to 114 four years later, when the outlook of peace seemed bright and hopeful. In 1812 the unfortunate war broke out between the United States and Great Britain, and for another two years naval activity was renewed. What the immediate result of the American war had on the development of the sailing ship is not difficult to estimate. As regards English shipbuilding, owing to the great success of the American frigates and their superiority to our own vessels, a sudden wave of enthusiasm swept over the British naval authorities for frigates. In the panic, this was pushed to foolish extremes, and bigger ships were cut down and converted into frigate-shape. In America, the building of frigates of such unusual size first called the attention of naval architects to the advantages and possibilities of large vessels. It was thus that the way was paved for the coming of the early clippers in 1851.[108]
It is time now to refer to the powerful influence exercised over our naval architecture by Sir Robert Seppings. It was he who in 1804 introduced the round bow in place of the straight wall-like structure which had been inherited from the previous centuries. Similarly, instead of the square stern, he gave his ships a circular one. But more important still was the diagonal method of placing the timbers of a ship which he introduced in 1800. The advantage of this was increased strength and ability to resist the hogging strains, which the Egyptians also had to overcome.[109] A large model showing Seppings’ method of construction will be found in the Greenwich Museum. The system, while no doubt being efficacious in preventing the “working” of a ship’s component parts, must necessarily have added very considerably to her weight. It was about this time, too, that teak was used occasionally for the construction of ships. During the first quarter of the century whatever improvements were made in British naval architecture owed their origin almost entirely to the knowledge gained from the numerous prizes captured from the French. One of the finest ships ever built in France was the Sans Pareil, which we had taken from the enemy in 1794. She was of 2242 tons and carried 80 guns. (The reader will find a block-model of this ship in the Greenwich Museum). The influence which this vessel exercised over our naval architecture was not inconsiderable. So much admiration did she receive that as late as 1845 there was designed on similar lines and laid down at Devonport a British ship. She was never launched, however, as another Sans Pareil, but while on the stocks was altered, her length was increased, and she was eventually given the addition of a screw propeller, and thus launched in 1851.
Photo. Hughes & Son, Ltd.