Fig. 51.—The Hollandia. 1683.
The chief difference between the British and foreign builds of warship of the latter half of the seventeenth century was that the English vessels were always constructed with the rounded tuck before mentioned, as introduced by Pett, while the Continental ships all had the old-fashioned square tuck, which is well illustrated in Fig. [51]. The Dutch ships in one respect excelled all others, in that they were the first in which the absurd practice of an exaggerated "tumble home," or contraction of the upper deck, was abandoned. This fashion was still carried out to a very great extent by the English, and to a less extent by the French and Spaniards. The chain-plates in the English vessels were also fixed extremely low, while the Dutch fixed them as high as the sills of the upper-deck ports would allow. In consequence of the shallowness of the Dutch harbours, the draught of their ships was also considerably less than that of the English vessels of corresponding force.
Most of the ships in a seventeenth-century fleet deemed fit to take their station in the line of battle were third-rates. The first and second rates were exceptional vessels, and were only employed in particular services. A comparative table of the dimensions and armament of the various rates, or classes in the year 1688, is annexed:—
| Designation. | Length of keel. | Breadth. | Depth of hold. | Draught of water. | Tons. | Guns on war service at home. | Crew. |
| Feet. | Feet. | Feet. | Feet. | ||||
| 1st Rate | 128 to 146 | 40 to 48 | 17.9 to 19.8 | 20 to 23.6 | 1100 to 1740 | 90 to 100 | 600 to 815 |
| 2nd Rate | 121 to 143 | 37 to 45 | 17 to 19.8 | 16 to 21 | 1000 to 1500 | 82 to 90 | 540 to 660 |
| 3rd Rate | 115 to 140 | 34 to 40 | 14.2 to 18.3 | 16 to 18.8 | 750 to 1174 | 60 to 74 | 350 to 470 |
| 4th Rate | 88 to 108 | 27 to 34 | 11.2 to 15.6 | 12.8 to 17.8 | 342 to 680 | 32 to 50 | 180 to 230 |
| 5th Rate | 72 to 81 | 23.6 to 27 | 9.9 to 11 | 11.6 to 13.2 | 211 to 333 | 26 to 30 | 125 to 135 |
The first so-called frigate was designed by Peter Pett, and built at Chatham in 1646. She was named the Constant Warwick. Her dimensions were: length of keel, 85 ft.; breadth, 26 ft. 5 in.; depth, 13 ft. 2 in.; tonnage, 315; guns, 32; crew, 140. She worked havoc amongst the privateers of the time.
The bomb-ketch was originally introduced by a famous French naval architect named Bernard Renan, about 1679. This class of warship was first employed by Louis XIV. in the bombardment of Algiers, where it produced an enormous effect. Bomb-ketches were of about 200 tons burthen, very broad in proportion to their length, and built with great regard to strength, on account of the decks having to bear the downward recoil of the mortars. The latter were placed in the fore-part of the vessel, which was purposely left unencumbered with rigging. The hold between the mortars and keel was closely packed with old cables, cut into lengths. The yielding elastic qualities of the packing assisted in taking up the force of the recoil. The bombs weighed about 200 pounds, and the consternation and terror produced by them may readily be realized when it is remembered that, up to that time, the most dangerous projectile which a warship could discharge at a land fortification was a thirty-two pound shot. These vessels were fitted with two masts, one in the middle and the other in the stern.
While referring to this invention of Bernard Renan, it should be mentioned that France rose to the rank of a great naval power in the reign of Louis XIV., under the famous minister Colbert, in the latter half of the seventeenth century. When Louis succeeded to the throne the French Navy was practically non-existent, as it consisted only of four, or five, frigates. In 1672 he had raised the strength of the fleet to fifty line-of-battle ships and a corresponding number of frigates and smaller vessels. Nine years afterwards, the French marine numbered 179 vessels of all classes, exclusive of galleys. In 1690 the French fleet in the Channel alone numbered sixty-eight ships, while the combined British and Dutch squadrons consisted only of fifty-six, and suffered a defeat at Beachy Head, in which the English lost one vessel and their allies six. This defeat was, however, amply revenged two years afterwards, when the allies succeeded in opposing the enormous number of ninety-nine ships of the line, besides thirty-eight frigates and fireships, to Tourville's fleet of forty-four ships of the line and thirteen smaller vessels, and defeated it off Cape La Hogue, inflicting on it a loss of fifteen line-of-battle ships, including the famous Soleil Royal, of 108 guns, illustrated in Fig. [50]. From the time of Louis XIV. down to the present date French naval architects have always exercised a most important influence on the design of warships, a circumstance which was largely due to the manner in which Colbert encouraged the application of science to this branch of construction. It may be truly said that, during the whole of the eighteenth century, the majority of the improvements introduced in the forms and proportions of vessels of the Royal Navy were copied from French prizes.