The British Admirals Author:Robert Southey Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: dimensions of so huge a vessel might by the exact rules of geometrical observations be truly taken, both for present knowledge and derivation also of the same un... more »to posterity, one M. Robert Adams, a man, in his faculty, of excellent skill, omitted nothing in the description which either his art could demonstrate, or any man's judgement think worthy the memory. After an exquisite survey of the whole frame, he found the length from the beak head to the stern (whereupon was erected a lantern) to contain 165 foot. The breadth in the second close deck (whereof she had three), this being the place where there was most extension of breadth was forty-six foot ten inches. She drew in water thirty- one foot at her departure from Cochim in India, but not above twenty-six at her arrival in Dartmouth, being lightened in her voyage by divers means some five foot. She carried in height seven several stories, one main orlop, three close decks, one fore-castle, and a spar- deck of two floors apiece. The length of the keel was 100 foot, of the main mast 121, and the circuit about at the partners ten foot seven ; the main yard was 106 foot long. By which perfect commensuration of the parts appeareth the hugeness of the whole, far beyond the mould of the biggest shipping used among us either for war or receit." —" Being so huge and unwieldy a ship," says another writer, " she was never removed from Dartmouth, but there laid up her bones." t The success of this last voyage encouraged the earl to more adventures ; and he imputed his former failures more to the negligence or unfaithfulness of those whom he had employed to lay in his stores, than to any other cause. His objection to the queen's ships seems to have been removed by the bravery with which the A.D. Foresight had run aboard the great Mad...« less