The progress made in naval architecture under the reign of Louis XIV is noted as follows in the work: Le Musée de Marine du Louvre. “The rake of the bow is less exaggerated, the after castle is lowered, the artillery is well distributed; the masts are better proportioned and the spread of canvas is much greater, as well as more handy, making the motion more rapid and the manœuvres more easy. The profusion and elegance of the ornaments have reached their highest point; they had the kind of poetry of the old chivalry. Everything in this navy already caused the perfection, which the ship reached quickly under the next two reigns, to be anticipated.”
Naval architecture took a great start. Many works were published, of which those of Bernouilli (1738) and of Euler (1749), treating of the stability of ships, are the best known.
The dimensions of vessels continue steadily to increase. Ships mounting 70 guns which, in 1715, were rated in the first class were passed to the sixth class in 1765.
The French fleet in 1750, according to the Musée de Marine du Louvre, was composed as follows:
| NUMBER | Length | Beam | Moulded | BATTERIES | Crew | Calibres | ||||||
| THREE DECKERS | ||||||||||||
| M. | M. | M. | Men | 30 | pdrs in | lower | tier | |||||
| 120 | 56.84 to 60.42 | 14.61 to 16.24 | 7.47 to 8.12 |  | 3 covered batteries with forecastles and poops. | | 1000 to 1200 | 18 | ” | middle | ” | |
| 110(1) | 54.57 to 57.82 | 14.94 to 15.59 | 7.31 to 7.80 | 1000 to 1100 | 12 | ” | upper | ” | ||||
| 100 | 53.27 to 57.49 | 14.61 to 15.26 | 7.47 to 7.63 | 900 to 1000 | 6 | ” | on forecastle | |||||
| 90 | 51.97 to 55.22 | 14.29 to 14.91 | 6.81 to 7.46 | 850 to 900 | 4 | ” | on poop deck | |||||
| DOUBLE DECKERS | ||||||||||||
| 80 | 50.67 to 54.57 | 13.96 to 14.61 | 6.66 to 6.98 | 2 covered batteries with forecastle and poop | 750 to 800 | 36 | pdrs in | lower | tier | |||
| 18 | ” | upper | ” | |||||||||
| 8 | ” | on forecastle | ||||||||||
| 4 | ” | on poop | ||||||||||
| 74 | 48.72 to 53.27 | 13.64 to 13.96 | 6.50 to 6.98 | 2 covered batteries with forecastle and poop | 650 to 700 | 36 or 24 pdrs in lower tier | ||||||
| 8 pdrs in upper tier | ||||||||||||
| 8 or 6 pdrs on forecastle | ||||||||||||
| 4 pdrs on poop | ||||||||||||
| 64(2) | 46.04 to 48.72 | 12.66 to 12.99 | 6.00 to 6.50 | 2 batteries and forecastle | 450 to 500 | 18 or 12 pdrs in lower tier | ||||||
| 24 or 18 pdrs in upper tier | ||||||||||||
| 6 pdrs on forecastle | ||||||||||||
| 50 | 43.84 to 45.17 | 11.36 to 12.01 | 5.50 to 5.85 | 2 batteries and forecastle | 300 to 660 | 12 or 8 pdrs in lower tier | ||||||
| 18 or 12 pdrs in upper tier | ||||||||||||
| 6 or 4 pdrs on forecastle | ||||||||||||
| FRIGATES | ||||||||||||
| 40 | 38.98 to 42.22 | 10.71 to 11.04 | 5.19 to 5.53 | Single battery with forecastle | 280 to 300 | | 12 pdrs in battery | |||||
| 30 | 35.07 to 38.98 | 9.74 to 10.39 | 4.55 to 5.20 | do. | 200 to 230 | |||||||
| 10 | 33.13 to 35.73 | 8.77 to 9.10 | 4.22 to 4.55 | do. | 130 to 150 | |||||||
| CORVETTES | ||||||||||||
| 12 | 19.49 to 22.74 | 7.85 to 8.30 | 2.92 to 3.23 | Single battery without forecastle. | 70 to 80 | 4 pdrs in barbette battery. | ||||||
(1) There were a few intermediate types classified with those of this list which they approached nearest.
(2) This ship was the smallest of those which could enter the line of battle.
France also exercised a great influence on the design of ships. (HOLMES, p. 114, ab initio.) The most beautiful vessel of this time was the Sans Pareil.
The work mentioned above, Le Musée de Marine du Louvre, contains a passage relating to the time of Louis XVI (1744-1793) which is well worthy of our attention (Chapter VII): “It was the moment when the science of shipbuilding, born in Holland, really passed into France”. This does not alter the fact that, even at the end of the XVIIIth century, people still went to Holland to study this art, in spite of the high degree of perfection which it had reached in France. Here indeed is what the above mentioned work says: “People went at the end of the last (XVIIIth) century to take lessons in Holland and, on this subject, the library at Brest has a manuscript of one of the celebrated engineers, Olivier, who had been sent there, about 1780, to study construction.”