[18] Charnock.
[19] Colomb: Sea Warfare.
[20] Creuze: Papers on Naval Architecture.
[21] Even the scientific Sir William Petty cast a veil of mystery over his processes. “I only affirm,” he writes, “that the perfection of sailing lies in my principle, finde it out who can!” (See Pepys’ Diary for 31st July, 1663.)
[22] Creuze: Shipbuilding, Encycl. Brit., 7th Edition, 1841. It should be mentioned that the work of Dr. Colin McLaurin, of Edinburgh, in giving a mathematical solution for the angles at which a ship’s sails should be set, had received considerable attention on the Continent.
[23] See a paper by Mr. Johns, R.C.N.C., in Trans. I.N.A. 1910.
[24] Willett: Memoirs on Naval Architecture.
[25] At the beginning of the eighteenth century the English first rates carried 100 guns. The second rate comprised two classes: (1) a three-decker of 90; (2) a two-decker of 80. Ships of these rates were few in number and very expensive. The bulk of our fleets consisted of third rates: two-deckers of 70 guns in war and 62 in peace time and on foreign stations (Charnock).
[26] Sir C. Knowles: Observations on Shipbuilding.
[27] Letters of Sir Byam Martin: N.R. Soc.