A SYSTEM OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE AND RIGGING OF VESSELS, UPON A NEW AND IMPROVED PLAN
Year: 1799

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME UNTO OR
CONCERN, I RICHARD HALL GOWER, of Leadenball Street, in the City of
London, Mariner, in the service of the Honourable East India Company, 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 Fourth day of November, in the fortieth year of His reign, give
and grant unto me, the said Richard Hall Gower, His special licence
that I, the said Richard Hall Gower, during the term of fourteen years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within Englaud, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all
His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A SYSTEM
OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE AND RIGGING OF VESSELS, UPON A NEW AND IMPROVED
PLAN;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Richard Hall Gower, under my hand and seal, to cause a par-
ticular of the nature of my said Invention, and how the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in

page_text: 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
Richard Hall Gower, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention of a System of Naval Architecture and Rigging of Vessels, upon
a New and Improved Plan, and the manner in which the same is per-
formed, is described and specified in the Drawing or Plan thereof hereunto
annexed, and by the following particulars thereof herein-after mentioned,
that is to say:
First, respecting the Hull of the Vessel.-It appears that water nearer the
surface is more readily displaced than water deeper situated, and that the
broader the front of a body moving in water be the greater resistance will it
meet; therefore, for a given capacity to move with less resistance, it must be of
such a shape as to swim at a less draught of water with a narrower front, and
this can only be performed by spreading the capacity lengthwise. On the
above basis or principles I construct the hull of my vessel. I spread the
capacity lengthwise, giving it a midship form, resembling Fig. 1, which form
continues the same along the greater part of the length of the vessel. Such
a shape will have the good quality of being weatherly, and particularly stiff to
sail, without the disadvantage of violently rolling, like a stiff ship of the
present construction. It will prove weatherly from the lankness of the under-
water form C.. It will prove stiff from having the ballast contained in the
space C, which is beneath its principal floating capacity, and it cannot roll
like a cylindrical body, from its having to remove a considerable volume of
water in its vibrations. The manner of uniting the timbers is peculiar to
myself, represented by the midships bend, and explained by references on
the annexed Drawing.
Secondly, respecting the Sails. If a certain area of canvass, set obliquely
to the wind, be separated into detached narrow slips perpendicular to the
horizon, and the slips be set each of them to the same, obliquely with the
wind, as when united in one piece, it appears then, both from theory and
experiment, that the collected efforts of the wind upon the slips will materially
exceed the effort of the wind upon the whole piece. My sails admit this
principle, with the additional advantage of having a flatter surface of canvass
than has hitherto been produced. Moreover, the construction of the masts
and sails is more simple and uniform, so as to blend the following very
material objects, viz-The sailing nearer to the wind; the great facility of
maneuvering the exceeding snugness both at sea and at anchor; the expe-
;

page_text: ditious mode of taking in the sails, for the most part immediately from the
deck; the reduction of top hamper, height, and size of masts; the greater
ceconomy of every kind of store; the less partial straining of the hull'; and,
lastly, the masts not depending upon each other or upon the bowsprit for
support. All the above objects will be evident by attending to the Figures
1321
and their explanations..
Figure 2 represents the plane of the vessel's deck, with the sections of the
masts and sails 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the sails being trimmed to a position for
receiving the wind from the larboard side. The sails on the foremast; num-
bered 1, are square, and with some exceptions, which will be hereafter
specified, resemble the sails of a ship; but the sails on the four aftermasts,
numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, are fore-and-aft sails, constructed and set in a manner
peculiar to myself: In the present Figure five masts are represented; but
this is, by no means intended to limit their number, as more or less of them
may be placed in proportion to the length of the vessel. On particular occa-
sions; the foremast will have sails similar to those set one the after masts.
The head-sails are confined to their position by braces and bowlines, as in a
ship, and the after-sails are confined by ropes leading from a-midships, repre-
sented by the dotted lines. By an attentive consideration of the Figure, it
will appear, that the wind coming from the side A, in the direction of the
arrow, cannot pass to leward of the vessel without infringing on the sails,
after which it presently escapes, and does not dwell upon it as it would do were
the canvass broader. To put such a vessel about, we have only the helm and
the head-sails to attend to, for the after-sails will of themselves swing over to
their position' for the other tack.
Figure 3d represents the foremast and its sails viewed from aft, the
mechanism of which differs from a ship's in the following particulars :-First,
the top or crosstrees A, A, are placed nearer the head of the lower mast, and
small vessels may have a single crosstree playing round a pivot fixed in the
centre of the lower mast. head, as in the Figure before us. Secondly, the
foreyard is above the forestay, which permits the stay to fasten to the stem;
thus the foremast has no dependance on the bowsprit. Thirdly, the foresail
hoists up to the foreyard, having a gore cut out. of it.a-midships (represented
by the dotted lines) to receive the forestay, and it is bent or sheeted home to
a yard below.
Fourthly, to the foot of the topsail are aflixed crow-feet
legs B, B, leading abaft the foreyard, which confines the foot of the topsail
to it, thus preventing the escape of the wind, and causing the sail to-stand
more flat. The aftermasts, with their sails and rigging, are like each other
in every respect.

page_text: Figure 4 is a side view of one of them, with the sails extended; their
mechanism differs from the masts of ships in the following particulars:-First
they have no dependance upon each other, but are supported by shrouds
leading before and abaft the masts; and secondly, the topmasts are made to
fit on one side of the lower masts, which admit their being struck (wen at sea)
without impediment to the working of the course sails.
The Manner of Setting Sails.-The course is first extended by hoisting
upon a throat halliard leading to the lower masthead, which brings the sail
and its sprits to the position represented. A lower tack, fixed to the corner
of the sail B, is now boused upon, to taughten the fore leach of the sail flat
up and down the mast. This done, bouse upon the tackle C, B, which is
attached to the deck and to the throat of the lower sprit. Thus the sail, by
the action of the sprits against each other, will thereby be strained to a flat
surface, having resemblance, in its shape and action, to a door moving upon it's
hinges, for it can neither rise nor fall, but only swing from side to side. The
upper sprit is fixed to the sail in the position represented, but the lower sprit
is at liberty to be moved up and down the mast, as may be required. The
sail is prevented from bagging to leeward, when the sprit is to windward of
it, by ribs of canvass, which are represented in the Figure. The topsail,
which is laced up and down the topmast, is next extended, first, by sheeting
it home to the peak of the course E; and secondly, by hoisting upon a hal-
liard, which passes from the throat of the sprit to the topmast head, the
peak F is forced out, and the sail is thereby extended to a surface equally flat
with the course. The top-gallant sail follows. It has a sprit laced in it
from corner to corner, that is, from tack to peak, and is extended by a halliard
through the mast at G, a tack at H, and a sheet to the peak of the top-
sail F.
The Manner of Reducing the Sails.-The top-gallant sail is reduced by
brailing up the sail and sprit, and then hauling it down upon deck. The top-
sail is reduced by letting fly the sheet, lowering the sprit-halliard, and hauling
upon the brails and down-hauls. When furled, it has the appearance repre-
sented by Figure 5. The course is reduced by lowering it down, and, at the
same time, gathering in upon the peak down-haul.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hall Gower, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred.
RICHARD HALL GOWER. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-fourth day of
March, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Richard Hall Gower came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year above
written.

page_text: B.&c Frames composing the Midships bend these frames are made by botting one complete Timber
from head to heel Scaffed according to the lined Scaffs to another complete Timber Scaffed
as the dolled Scaffs.
a floor lumber across the dead wood and bolted on Fach side by fore and aft bolts throug
the heels of the Frames which fay against the Dead wood.
bolts passing from side to side through the Plank and frame heels.
a beam united to the sides by bolts through and through This beam together with the
Floor Timber C,C, and the Bolts DD, are the ties which Correct the frames together from side
to side otherwise than here and there Crutches or floor riders may be introduced in the
most convenient situations.
Iron ballast Cast purposely to place on the dead wood A.A. between the floors.C.C.
the Kelson placed over the floors and ballast and connected to the dead wood and Keel by Bolts.