A MACHINE FOR RAISING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS, OF WHATEVER BURTHEN OR DIMENSIONS, WHICH ARE SUNK IN EVER 80 GREAT A DEPTH, AND EVEN AFTER THE SAME HAVE SUSTAINED DAMAGE OR BECOME PERFECT WRECKS BY LAYING UNDER WATER A CONSIDERABLE TIME, IN A MUCH MORE CHEAP, CERTAIN, AND EXPEDITIOUS MANNER THAN ANY HITHERTO ATTEMPTED
Year: 1784

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
I, JOSEPH ROYLANCE, of Lambeth, in the County of Surry, Gentleman, send
.greeting:
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the
Nineteenth day of June, in the twenty-fourth year of His reign, give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Roylance, His especial licence that I, the
said Joseph Roylance, during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A MACHINE FOR RAISING SHIPS AND
OTHER VESSELS, OF WHATEVER BURTHEN OR DIMENSIONS, WHICH ARE SUNK IN EVER
80 GREAT A DEPTH, AND EVEN AFTER THE SAME HAVE SUSTAINED DAMAGE OR
BECOME PERFECT WRECKS BY LAYING UNDER WATER A CONSIDERABLE TIME, IN A MUCH
MORE CHEAP, CERTAIN, AND EXPEDITIOUS MANNER THAN ANY HITHERTO ATTEMPTED;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said

page_text: Joseph Roylance, by writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and how the same is to
be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within four calender months after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more
fully and at large appear..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Roylance, do hereby declare that my said Invention of a Machine for
Raising Ships and other Vessels, of whatever Burthen or Dimensions, which
are Sunk in ever so Great a Depth, and even after the same have sustained
Damage or become perfect Wrecks by. laying under Water a considerable
Time, in a much more Cheap, Certain, and Expeditious Manner than any
hitherto attempted, is described in the Plan thereof hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Roylance, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, One thousand seven
hundred and eighty-four.
No. 1, a frame of timber, near
engu
the
suitable dimensions, connected and rendered steady and secure by No. 2, a
raft of timber on each side, scarved, bolted, hooped, and moulded together at
the distance of a few feet from the frame. Each side of the frame is supported
by and furnished with No. 3, an arrangement of shores, assisted both with
iron and wooden braces, extending from the frame to the rafts, which the
shores are made to compress, so as to answer their respective purposes in the
most effectual manner. To the sides of the frame and the ends will be reefed
through the frame No. 4 cables sufficient for the main purchase No. 5, one
.end or side of the frame which opens and shuts at pleasure by No. 6, ropes
.that guide it to its proper place; the frame to be placed either under the head
or stern of the wreck, as the tide may serve, with the moveable end unfixed;
and if the weight of the hammers is not sufficient, then to be sunk by ballast
admitted into certain receptacles prepared for that purpose. When the frame
.is sunk sufficiently below the lower wale of the wreck, the moveable end is
hauled into its place, and by No. 7, ropes commanding hook palls which
.secure it therein, it becomes as firm as the other end. The fixed end of the
frame, which will be generally applied to the stern of the wreck, is fashioned
according to the form of the ship's stern at her lower wale, and fortified with

page_text: knees and braces of iron and wood, also with a chain with blocks and sheeves
at each end, thro' which the cables from the frame for the main purchase will
be reefed to the unfixed ends of the frame No. 8. A breasthook, in the form
of a ship's bow under the cheeks of her head, will be sent down with No. 9.
a chain and No. 10 cables laying thereon, the ends of which chain, having
blocks and sheeves for the admittance of the cables for the main purchase, the
breasthook will thereby be brought under the cheeks of the head, and when
there, being crossed and brought upon the oposite side, and reeved thro' booms
which correspond with the side of the frame, will greatly strengthen the
component parts of the frame, and assist the grand operation. In the upper
edge of the frame a number of very strong spikes or jaggs (No. 11), in
perpendicular directions, are fixed; and to the sides of the frame and the end
are annexed several score of (No. 12) iron bolts, pointed so as to excuse
the necessity of boring with No. 13, iron hammers, in the direction
of the bolts, in the form of a long square contained in wooden tubes of
the same shape, which hammers work separately by No. 14 and 15, two
ropes, one of which pulls the hammer back, the other forces it forward against
the bolt until it is drove home, and the tube in which the hammer is inclosed
directs the stroke to the bolt with unerring certainty. On the upper edges of
the frame is also placed (No. 16) a ribbond of elm, corresponding to the
timber of the frame thro' which the bolts will be drove into the wreck. To
the above perpendicular jaggs and horizontal bolts, certain spikes or jaggs
(No. 17), in a diagonal direction, are also to be used as occasion may serve, to
run thro' the frame, with a ring in the upper edge to reefe a purchase thro
which diagonal jaggs, when the purchase is made, but into the sides of the
wreck, and co-opperate most essentially to the confinement of the frame thereto
and the efficacy of the main purchase.
In addition to the preceding cables for the main purchase, a number of
wooden uprights, several inches square, but tapering upwards, are provided,
which upright timbers are confined and fastned by a hinge with a loose pin
to the lower edge of the frame. These uprights may be made to assist the
main purchase, but their chief use is to regulate the stowage of casks' when
the wreck is meant to be weighed by casks instead of ships or other
contrivances.
'
In using the upright timbers for the stowage of casks, a raft of timber is
first provided, to which as many casks will be affixed as the circumstances of the
case may require, arranged in tiers, the upper tier with the bungs out for. the
admission of water, by the weight of which upper tier, when filled, the lower

page_text: tier or tiers will sink; and that this may be properly confined when sunk, the
raft above-mentioned catches under certain palls placed for the purpose in the
uprights. When the casks are properly stationed the upper tier will be
pumped dry and bunged up, to be ready against the tyde rises, the operation
of laying down the casks being performed at low water. For raising of ships
at all times of the tyde, No. 18, wooden machines, will be used with No. 19,
plugs in the centre, to fill and sink the same to the depth required, and No. 20,
pumps extending to the surface of the water; to discharge the contents when
necessary. With the preceding accompanyments the frame is sunk as before
mentioned below the lower wale of the wreck, and the moveable end being
put into its proper place and secured, the first purchase commences, which is
of the frame to its proper bearing. The frame, exclusive of the raft or external
appendage, being somewhat less in breadth than the extreme breadth of
the wreck, and capable by its length of great elasticity and expansion in its
rise, by virtue of the first purchase will infallibly meet and embrace the wreck
.at her lower wale, when, by the force and power of the purchase, the perpen-
dicular and diagonal spikes or jaggs will enter the wale and confine the frame.
The horizontal bolts are now drove in on each side, and the ends which
compleat the adjustment of the machine for the grand effort. So soon as the
bolts are drove in, the hammers will be separated and brought up, in order to
lighten the purchase.
All things thus prepared, if ships of a suitable burthen to the tonnage of
.the wreck are proposed to be used, place half on each side with their bows
towards the wreck, and a few feet asunder, and some small craft ahead and
astern across the bows of the ships so situated or disposed. No. 21, booms or
bridges, will pass, composed of masts or timber equally substantial, on which
the main purchase is to be made, the operation of which cannot be effected by
the tyde or the agitation of the water, the booms or bridges being confined
to each ship's decks by No. 22, a swivel contrivance upon a socket principle,
which admits the ships to swing and rowl clear of the said booms or bridges,
and so as to preserve the perpendicular power of the purchase. To accomplish
this necessary purpose more effectually, No. 23, other booms or bridges of less
magnitude, fixed in like manner as the former, will be thrown over the
quarter decks of the ships to ease their motion and give them a parrellel
movement. The cables destined for the main purchase being drawn tort at
low water on the front booms or bridges, supported by the ships on each side,
and the craft ahead and astern, at high water the wreck will assuredly be
brought up, &c. In small ships only part of the machine may be made use of

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBRED, that on the Eighteenth day of October, in
the year above mentioned, the said Joseph Roylance came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
mentioned. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statute made in the sixth year of the reign of their Majesties
King William and Queen Mary of England, and so forth.
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of October, in the year above written.