The Sun.
London, England, 1812-04-13 00:00:00

OBSERVATIONS AND A PLAN FCR BAtSIYG A Flail'

RATE MAN OF %VAR or 120 GUNS, SUNK IN ANY
HARBOUR Of ROADST/D.—EY ADMIRAL aiIR•C. H.

KNdWLES.

If a ship laclon is sunk at the depth of ten or
twelve failionliwater, she may be reckoned to weigh
double.her tonnage ; whence it follows, that two
,ships of the same class, in a light state, are suffi-
Cent to rai,e her by the rise of the tide. This ex-
periment, on small vet,sels, has been tried, and veri-
fies the above assertion. Suppoie a man of war,

complete, to sink in twelve fathoms water ; there
are many L.ings on board her which arc specifically
lig!.ter than water, and which Would float upon its
surface; therefore-a ship, though full of water, 'has
many things on board, which may ')e coosidered
as a deduction from her tonnage. This, therefore,
is in favour of the experiment. A white rope yarn
made of good hemp, ought to support 90113. .with-
out breaking, and a white thirteen inch cable ought
to bear easily t 2 ton,, according to the improved mode
of making cables, whete every yarn bears an equal
strain. Suppose the weight of a first rate man of
. war, with guns and (our mouths stores and provi-
sions on board, to 'be two thousand tons, and this
ship is sunk in t welve fathoms Water ;--allow the
adhesiOn of the mud, &c. to be two thousand tons
more, the aggregate four thousand tOns ; divide-four
thousand by tWelve, the strain a thirteea inch cable
is capable of bearing, and it gives 333, die number
of cables requisite to weigh a first rate man of var.
The following is'again.t the experiment. It will be
difficult to swift a ship sunk with such a number
of cables, and twenty-seven more are are at least re-
qui.ite, in case any should break. Suppose,.fur the
sake of round numbers, each cable to be four inches
in diameter, and As tour inches is oat-third of a lont,
divide 360 the number of cables by 3, and one
hundred and twenty feet is ilfe,beight three hundred
and sixty cables would be, if placed. one upon an-
other.

In swifting.the sunk ship, the cables will there-
fore ride one upon the other,; nor is this pos-
sible lobe avoided, as it will regitlre three hundr,d
and thirty-three cables of thirteen inches to raise a
first rate man of war of 120 guns, at twelve fathoms
under water. There is not any iron work suffici-
ently st.ong insecure bits, &c. to. belay the cables,
which would not break if the cibleS held, and by
the jet k of so doing carry away perhaps the sides of
the weiOnng ships froth the prodigious strain of so
enormous a weig-ht. It thi-retore follows that the

cables must not be belayed. ,Thirteen•inch 'Cables *
of white•yirn should be used in preference to firger,
as being lighter and more pliable, and the more so
he better; but for thiS purpose alone. Suppose a
first rate man of wat, with guns, stores, on
board, to sink in ten or twelve fathoms water ; -let
two ships of the same class in a light- state (a fort-
bight's provisious and wxer for the crews excepted)
,with. lower masts and jury topmasts rigged, be
mcored head and stern alongside and above the ship
sunk : let ,their lowy-deck ports be taken off their
hinges, to prevent their being broken or spoiled.-
- The loWer sills of all the ports must 'hare semicir-
cular wooden bolsters fixed on them, to prevent any
injury io the cables. Let the tombings of the batos-
Ways on the lower decks of botles!tips r,tis -(1 four.
feet, to prevent any- water going down the hatch-
ways, though it is not piribab:e the weighing ships
will be-depressed•so farts to permit the.water to en-
ter 'the lower deck ports, and the. scupper there
should be plugged ,up-6!sfote the experiment is made.
Lit three-hundred and sixty thirteen. inch c,bles be
made each eighty-five fathoms- long, and have an
eye'spliced in one end of each cable. Let the hot-,
ton: of t Ire ship sunk be-milted with each cable se:.
parately, and the end taken through the eye,, and
then hove taught in a lighter, and so on. There
will then be three' hundred and sixty cables— tso
for each weighing ship. Let ninety cables be taken
into the ports on one side,•and 90 on the other, the
off side, first.beginning forward or aft. There will
then be two cables to each of the lower deck ports,
which are fifteen of a side. The same number of
cables to the ports of the middle deck, and. a like
number for the ports on the main deck. The men
requisite for fighting the 'guns of. each ship will be
sufficient, though to be more equally divided. Let
there be ninety- double seven inch double-headed
stoppers on board of each ship, thirty on each deck,
and nearly as long as the decks are wide ; also 90
very strong six-fold' tackles to each ship; thirty on
each deck:. The cables on the opposite ports must
each hare a tackle on them, and all the cables be
bowsed taught together, after 'which the stopper
must be applied, and the tackles fleeted.- When all
is ready at low water spring tides, all the cables must
be bowsed taught .at the same instant, the tackle
falls t hitched after the stoppers made fast to the
cables bear the strain. The rise of the tide will lift
the ship sunk. There will then only be only a per-
pendicular strain on the lower sills of- the pits, and -
a pressure on the sides of the ships, whose convexi-.
lies are able to resist the girting of the. cables, which
is not partial but general.
When the ship sunk is raised, she must, With the
weighing ships, be warped into shoaler water, until
at the tap of high tvotet she again takrs the ground,
The•slack of the cables, as the tide ebbs, bowsed in,
and at low wafer again bowsed taught, the sunk ship
weighed and warped into shoaler water, and so on
until she is suffi-liently raised to be cleared of all
her guns and stores, and then floated into dock.
The above is published, because it. may eventu-
ally not only be useful to the King's service, en a
smaller scale, but also benefit the merchants, should
any of their ships unfortunately be sunk in situations
where they may be raised, and this at the leastposii-
ble expence.
* The cables being made of white yarns can be again made
into good rope, and will reduce the expence chiefly to the
price of labour.

They will be the more ready, should any of the cables
slack on the ship sunk being weighed, and can therefore at
the moment be iaowsed

JOHN HALL, E•q. of Woodford, has been ap-
pointed a M.igistrate for the County of Essex.
On Thursday night, at ten o'clock, a fire was
discovered in the two pair of stairs of a Rouse in
Mile-end New Town, which, by the exertions of
the oei;libours, was got under, without doing any
usher injury than damaging the inierior of the loom
where it bruke out.