A CERTAIN METHOD OR METHODS OF RENDERING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS (WHETHER SAILING OR PROPELLED BY STEAM, MORE SAFE IN CASES OF DANGER BY LEAKAGE, BILGING, OR LETTING IN WATER THAN AS AT PRESENT CONSTRUCTED
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUGH
EVANS, Harbour Master of the Port of Holyhead, in the Island and County
of Anglesea, North Wales, send giceting.
WHEREAS II is present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by Ilis Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Seventh day of February, in the seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Hugh Evans, Iis especial licence that I, the said Hugh Evans,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hugh
Evans, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A CERTAIN
METHOD OR METHODS OF RENDERING SHIPS AND OTHER VESSELS (WHETHER SAILING
OR PROPELLED BY STEAM, MORE SAFE IN CASES OF DANGER BY LEAKAGE, BILGING, OR
LETTING IN WATER THAN AS AT PRESENT CONSTRUCTED;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Iugh Evans, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High

page_text: Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Hugh Evans, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
My said Invention of a certain method or methods of rendering ships and
other vessels, whether sailing or propelled by steam, more safe in cases of
danger by leakage, bilging, or letting in water than as at present constructed,
consists in the introduction of a safety hold, and which said safety hold extends
the whole length of a ship or vessel along her bottom, from the stem piece
forward to the stein post aft, and may (or may not) be formed into several
compartments by substantial bulkheads or partitions across the hold, and
finally secured by a strong and complete orlop deck frame, planked above,
well secured and sheathed under between the beams, the whole being caulked
tight, and made in every respect fit to resist or bear the pressure of water that
may come on either side of such bulkheads and oilop deck. The orlop or
lower deck frame is to be constructed of strong beams and carlins secured
with wood or iron knees well bolted, to fasten them to the sides of the vessel
in the usual manner. Under the fastenings of the beams, as well as above
them, stronger planks are generally fitted, called stringers; under and over
such stringers a filling piece or pieces must be also fitted in as covering boards
to stop every vacant space that may be left between the side timbers from the
ceiling to the outer planks, and be well caulked from below as well as above,
so as to prevent any water fiom getting upwards or downwards; or the orlop
deck beams may be formed with an inverted curve below, of about one inch
in four feet, as well as above, and be planked under fore and aft the ship in
the most substantial manner, and caulked, which may be called the under
deck or a second bottom; in such case the upper face of the said frame being
also planked and caulked in the most perfect manner, called the orlop deck,
with no openings to the hold, but the usual hatchways, which must be secured
by double hatches fixed under as well as over the deck.
deck, being thus completed, may be further secured by
fastened under each beam, or to several beams, and
centre of the ship, thus connecting the under deck with the bottom, fore and
aft the ship. To prevent the loss of stowage, chocks should be fitted between
the under deck and the orlop deck with bolts and sciews to connect and
The oilop and under
strong iron stancheons
to the keelson in the

page_text: straigthen both, and scuttles be opened in the oilop deck above to fill up the
space between them, viz. the depth of the beams The hold may be divided
into as many distinct rooms as the stowage of cargo or ballast and stores
will admit of, but should have two partitions forming three compartments
On board of His Majesty's ships and others of a large class, a centre partition
should be constructed fore and aft the hold, equally strong and tight to bear
the weight of water on either side. In smaller vessels without such centie
partitions, the bulkheads may be secured by fore and aft cailins to the masts
or otherwise, as shown in the Drawings, Numbers 1 and 3
The partitions
or bulkheads across the hold should be formed with as many timber pieces or
uprights as may be considered necessary to forin a strong frame, the upper
end of each being tenanted or let in the thickness of the under deck planks
under the beams, with dovetail chocks between them, and their lower ends
secured to the ceiling or bottom of the ship, and if it be considered necessary
that the ends of the bulkhead planks should bear upon several of the ship's
fiame timbers, the ceiling may be doubled by other planks in the line of the
bulkheads from the bilge upwards. The frame thus prepared must be planked
on both sides across the hold, and be caulked perfectly tight with a strong
batten fastened along the bottom and sides of the vessel for its security, and
in case of friction to prevent leakage, as shewn in Drawing No. 2, Section 2.
The common leakage of a ship is prepared for in the usual manner, viz. by
limber holes in the floor timbers to admit of the water running to the pump
well, but at each partition a sluice with its rod reaching up to the deck must
be fixed, so that in case of necessity the limber holes of either room may be
stopped; also from each room two pipes must be placed, one on each side of
the keelson, to convey the water to the pump well; at the mouth or opening
of such pipes a sluice or stop-water must also be placed, with its 10d reaching
up to the deck along the bulkhead, so as to be shut or opened as well as those
of the limber holes when required, and as shewn in Diawing No. 2, Section 2.
By such arrangement any particular room or compartment may be pumped
out, while the other 100ms are left filled with water, such sluice rods leading
up the bulkheads, and being boxed in; an aperture must also be left for a
sounding rod to be let down to ascertain the depth of water in each room.
Ships or vessels of a smaller class may be partially prepared on the plan of a
safety hold, as shewn in Drawing No. 3, viz. by a complete orlop deck, with
or without an under deck, as before described, reaching from the fore and after
part of the vessel and extending to the hold, viz. from forward to the after
pait of the fore hatchway, and from aft to the fore part of the after hatchway,
with bulkheads at the extremity of each such orlop deck, to be about four

page_text: feet six inches under the main deck, and at the stern end the cabin deck must
be raised two feet above the main deck for cabin height, greater stowage in the
hold, and the stronger binding of a vessel at both ends. In vessels fitted out
with engines and propelled by steam as well as sails, partitions or bulkheads,
as before described, must be constructed at both ends of the engine room, from
the bottom of the vessel to the deck, making that place distinctly apart from
the fore and after part of the vessel; such bulkheads must be covered in the
engine room with fire tiles or other proper substances made in size and shape
for the purpose, and be secured to the bulkheads, so that with a sufficient
number of cocks to let in water in case of fire, the engine room might be
immediately filled to the height of the water line, and thus prevent the fire
from reaching to any fatal extent; and being also fitted with an orlop deck, and
with or without an under deck at both ends, viz. from the fore part of the
engine 100m to the stern piece forward, and from the after part of the engine
room to the stern post aft, secured in the manner already described, they would
prove effectually safe against leakage or bilging at any part of the vessel, as
HU. EVANS. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1826, the aforesaid Hugh Evans came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-six.