A VESSEL WHICH, WITH- OUT ANY DANGER OF OVERSETTING, CAN SAIL FASTER AND KEEP A TRUER COURSE IN EVERY DIRECTION OF THE WIND THAN OTHER VESSELS NOW USED AT SEA CAN DO; , A SHORTER COMP
Year: 1789

page_text: WHEREAS
present most EXCE
majest
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of December, in the thirtieth year of His reign,
did give and grant unto me, John Lewis Delolme, Doctor of Civil Law, of
the Parish of Saint Andrew, Holborn, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said John Lewis Delolme, my executors,
administrators,and assigns, and every of us, during the term of fourteen years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, my
new invented vessel, expressed as follows, to wit, ("A VESSEL WHICH, WITH-
OUT ANY DANGER OF OVERSETTING, CAN SAIL FASTER AND KEEP A TRUER COURSE IN
EVERY DIRECTION OF THE WIND THAN OTHER VESSELS NOW USED AT SEA CAN DO;
SECONDLY, THE VESSEL CAN BE VEERED ABOUT AND BROUGHT TO OPPOSITE TACKS
WITH MORE SPEED, AND THROUGH A SHORTER COMPASS, THAN OTHER VESSELS ARE
ABLE TO BE; THIRDLY, THE SAIL IS HUNG IN SUCH A MANNER, AND THE UPPER
PARTS OF THE VESSEL ARE MADE OF SUCH A SHAPE, AS FARTHER ASSIST THE
VESSEL IN FAST SAILING IN DIFFICULT DIRECTIONS OF THE WIND; FOURTHLY,
THE RUDDER IS MADE TO SINK DEEPLY INTO THE WATER, BY WHICH THE
MANAGEABLENESS OF THE VESSEL. IS FARTHER INCREASED, AND AT THE SAME TIME
THE RUDDER IS VERY SOLIDLY FIXED; FIFTHLY, BY HAVING ITS BODY DIMINISHED
UNDER THE WATER THE VESSEL APPORDS AN EASIER LANDING THAN CAN BE
EFFECTED WITH THE BOATS OR VESSELS IN USE ON THE SEA COASTS,") within that
part of the Kingdom of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales,
and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, my executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, or any of us, should in our discretion seem meet;
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I, the said John
Lewis Delolme, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's Court of Chancery with a calendar month next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters
Patent, and all the liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should
utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the said Letters Patent
more at large does appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Lewis Delolme, in pursuance of
and compliance with the said proviso, and the purport and true intent and
meaning of the said Letters Patent, and of His Majesty's said most gracious
intentions, do, by this instrument in writing under my hand and seal, duly
executed, declare that my abovesaid new invented vessel is described to be
made, performed, exercised, and used in manner following (that is to say):--
First, in order to prevent the vessel from oversetting when under sail, the ballast
should be placed out of the body of the vessel at a considerable distance below
the bottom. This distant ballance should be fixed to the body of the vessel
by means of a long and stiff lever, made of iron or other strong substance, which
lever I hereafter describe. By thus removing the ballasting weight to a dis-
tance below the body of the vessel, the three following advantages are obtained;
which are, that the office of keeping the vessel steady is effectually performed
by a weight which is but small in comparison with the enormous weight and
mass of ballast which used to be inclosed within the bottoms of common sailing
vessels; moreover the power of this distant weight or ballast keeps continually
increasing as the same rises and operates; to which add, that this distant weight
rightens the vessel in a milder manner, and with less violent jerking, than can
be done by the massy ballast inclosed within the bottoms of common sailing
vessels at but a short distance from their centre of motion or of rolling. The
outward ballast here mentioned, operating by the long stiff lever to which it is
fixed, is in fact a pendulum. Now the times of the oscillations of pendulums are
proportional to the lengths of these pendulums, that is to say, to the square
roots of their lengths; by fixing a sheet of metal or a flat piece of wood of some
few square feet to the farthest end of the lever, the vibrations of the ballasting
weight through the resisting medium will be still farther protracted. The
above-mentioned outward ballasting weight and long lever fitted together, I
call the rightener of the vessel. This weight should be of lead or other sub-
stance of great specific gravity, and its shape should be globular or cylindric or

page_text: other shape, allowing it to move easily through the water. The lever of this
rightener should be divided into two branches, in order that it may be fixed
with the greater power to the sides and body of the vessel, and these two
branches should be fitted with hinges; such a rightener, with two branches
fitted with hinges, is expressed in the Figure 1 of the Drawing hereunto
annexed. I even divide the whole length of the lever into two distinct
branches, thereby giving it the shape of an open frame, in the manner of
Figure 2 of the same Drawing, which Figure represents the section of the body
of a common sailing vessel, with such a rightener divided into an open frame
fixed to it. By thus forming the whole length of the lever of the rightener into
an open frame, the stiffness of this lever is increased, and moreover a free
action is allowed within this frame to the moveable cutwater hereafter de-
scribed. In order still farther to increase the stiffness of the lever, and also
fix-it the more powerfully to the sides and body of the vessel, each side or
branch of this frame should be again divided into distinct branches, and the bar
or the pivots upon which this double frame turns should be lengthened out of the
body of 'the vessel, especially if the same be but narrow; such double branches
or strengthened rightener is expressed in Figure 16, as being fixed to the
section of the body of a vessel built in the improved shape hereafter described;
and the Figure 17 expresses upon a larger scale the particular manner in
which such double-branched rightener is fixed to the side and body of the
vessel, and also the lengthening of this bar or pivot out of the body of the
vessel. The rightener is to be let down by ropes falling from the stern (or
the sides) of the vessel, as expressed in Figure 3, and the rightener is pulled
and brought up for coming into harbour by the rope or ropes being wound up
round a roller and handle, to which roller and handle a wheel and pinion, or
more wheels and pinions, should be fixed together with a stopper or catch.
Secondly, in order to expedite the sailing of the vessel, the stem of it, or
fore part of its body or hull, should not only be narrow and even angular, but
this fore part should moreover be made perpendicular to the surface of the
water or water edge, at this water edge, as expressed in Fig. 4, instead of
forming an acute angle with the surface of the water, as all common sailing
vessels have hitherto used to be built. Or the fore part of the hull of the
vessel should even slant from the water edge, inwardly converging with the
upper parts of the mast or masts of the vessel; or this fore part should par-
take of the two just mentioned shapes, that is to say, it should be perpen-
dicular to the water edge at this water edge, and it should somewhat above
slant, and converge with the upper part of the mast or masts. The steadiness
procured to the vessel by the rightener above described admits of the shapes

page_text: just mentioned being given to the stem (and of course the sides) of the vessel;
these perpendicular or inwardly slanting shapes of the fore-part of the hull of
a sailing vessel are very useful for enabling the same to cut easily through the
water, and also through the air. The easy cutting through the air is a circum-
stance of great moment when a vessel is sailing with a side wind, with fewer
than eight or seven points..
Thirdly, as the vessel is effectually kept steady by the long rightener above
described, the large mast of ballast contained in the deep and broad bottoms of
common sailing vessels become here needless. Advantage should be taken
of this circumstance for expediting the sailing of the vessel, by building
the same accordingly; that is to say, in the building of the vessel, this useless
mass of ballast should be set aside, together with the deep and broad bottom
usually containing such ballast; out of this deep and broad bottom, only the
cutwater should be allowed to remain, along with that extensive piece of flat
wood or of flat timbers usually fixed to the sterns of common sailing vessels,
and resting upon the keel, which is called by seamen the dead wood, (very
likely because it contains nothing, having no vacuity). This cutwater and
dead wood being thus lightened and disengaged from the heavy ballast and
deep broad bottom of the vessel, become continued together in the manner
expressed in Fig. 15, and besides so continuing them together in building the
vessel, they should moreover be fitted with hinges. This disengaged cutwater,
by being thus lightened and freed from the heavy, massy, deep, and broad
bottom of the vessel, is enabled to run through the water with very great
nimbleness, much more so than can be effected by the cutwaters of common
sailing vessels, which are encumbered with the heavy, broad, and deep bottoms
of such vessels. Moreover this lightened and disengaged cutwater being
fitted with hinges as above said, may be brought by ropes towards the lee side of
the lightened vessel, so as to incline and be secured on this lee side, at a right
angle with the surface of the water (or at any more favorable angle), however
much the vessel may in sailing lean on this lee side, as expressed in Fig. 20,
by which management a true course is insured to the vessel in a much better
degree than can be effected by the deep but rounded and immoveable bottoms
of common sailing vessels, and by the immoveable though deep cutwaters and
dead wood usually fixed to the stems and the sterns of these bottoms, which all
form an obtuse angle with the surface of the water on the lee side; this obtuse-
ness or openness of the angle continually increased; as the vessel in sailing with
a side wind rolls and leans more and more on her Ice side. Farther, in order
to veer the vessel speedily, and bring it quickly to opposite tacks, the dis-
engaged and moveable cutwater should be pulled up close to the lightened and

page_text: diminished body of the vessel, by doing which the rudder, which I keep deeply
sunk in the water below the diminished body of the vessel, as hereafter recited,
becomes at once freed from the reaction of this long and continued cutwater,
and is of course perfectly free from that powerful opposition which the rudders
of common sailing vessels suffer from the long and deep bodies and dead woods
of such vessels, behind which they are in a manner hidden, thereby having
their action both counteracted and lessened; as a consequence of which counter-
action suffered by the rudders of common sailing vessels, these vessels can never
veer but slowly, and by fetching extensive compasses, the long and disengaged
cutwater being pulled up close to the lightened body of the vessel as above-
said, the vessel veers suddenly and shortly. Such disengaged cutwaters should
be built separately from any other parts of vessels, and made with strong flat
boards, or planks, or timbers, and should be fitted with hinges for linking them
by to the lightened and disencumbered body of the vessel, and also with ropes,
and proper holes, rings, or pegs, or fixing these ropes by. Such a cutwater,
seperately built and fitted with ropes and hinges, is expressed in Fig. 7. I
give it the name of the disengaged and moveable cutwater, or the moveable
dead wood, or the disengaged and moveable wood; such moveable cutwater
is represented in Fig. 8, as being fitted to a vessel built on the improved model
above described, the stern only of which is in view in this Figure; and in Fig.9,
this moveable cutwater is represented sideways, and whole length fixed to the
lightened and diminished bottom of a like vessel. For the purpose of dis-
patchfully shifting the moveable cutwater, when the vessel is passing to an
opposite tack, sliding bolts should be placed along each side of the vessel
inwardly, together with cleets or small iron horns; these sliding bolts should
be fitted to iron plates (Fig. 18) with a horn at each end of the plate. These
sliding bolts and plates, as expressed in Fig 18, will quickly catch and also
release the thimbles fitted to those ropes, by which the moveable cutwater is
is both shifted and secured. On the lee side, where strength is requisite, the
rope should be secured by the bolt and thimble; and on the windward side, the
small horn and rope will effectually keep the cutwater tight, and prevent its
jerking. Rollers and handles, with wheels and catches fitted to them, should
be used when the cutwater is of great weight, and will be more particularly
useful in stormy weather.
Fourthly, in order to enable the rudder to sink into the water as low as the
keel or stern post of common sailing vessels usually do, and of course much
below the lightened and diminished body of the vessel, and yet at the same
time to be very solidly fixt and founded, the following method should be used.
The rudder should be fastened to an iron shank or metal shank instead of a

page_text: stern post; about this shank the rudder should turn by means of rings, in the
manner of hinges, as expressed in Fig. 12. The lower end of this shank should
be met by an iron or metal brace, or rather double brace, projecting from the
body and sides of the lightened and diminished vessel, as is expressed in the
same Fig. 12, and also in Fig. 10, 11, and 13; this brace should be fixed to
the lightened bottom and sides of the vessel, at such a distance from the stern
as to form some considerable angle, about forty-five degrees, with the shank to
which the rudder is fastened. In the top of this shank a hole should be made
in the shape of a ring, through which ring a sliding bolt runs in (and out),
which thus catches the top of the shank, and fixes it to the stern of the vessel.
In order that the rudder may be raised up so as to have its lowest end brought
to a level with the lightened and diminished body of the vessel for coming into
harbour, the double brace here mentioned should be fixed to the lightened
and diminished bottom and sides of the vessel by means of pivots or hinges, in
the like manner to that in which the branches of the rightener are fixed;
moreover this double brace should be made to pass through a hole or some
sort of a hinge at the lower end of the shank, as expressed in Fig. 12 and 13.
Within this hole or hinge the brace should turn between two stops, so that by
the bolt at the top being pulled back, the shank and rudder become at once
released, and may be raised up so as to have their lower ends brought to a
level with the lightened and diminished body of the vessel, below which this
rudder is kept sunk to some considerable depth as abovesaid. The above-
described double brace, I call the holder or foundation of the rudder. By
means of this holder and of the shank, though both moveable by hinges, together
with the aforesaid catching bolt at top, the deeply sunk rudder is as firmly
founded as if the whole length of it was fastened to the deep stern post of a
common sailing vessel. The rudder may be brought up to a level with the
lightened bottom of the vessel by being gathered up by the rightener, as this
latter rises up when bringing up to board for coming into harbour, or the
rudder may be raised up by a separate rope belonging to it. In order that the
rudder may rise up and also be lowered with the greater ease, I fix a long spindle
upright on the stern of the vessel, as expressed in Fig. 12 and 14; this spindle
passes through a hole bored in the hook at the top of the shank, so that when
the rudder and shank rise up together, the shank, by means of this hole, which
links it to the spindle, glides up along this spindle, and also glides down the
same when the rudder and shank are lowered into the water, being thus
supported and guided by this spindle, both in their rising up and coming down;
and when come down they are additionally sustained and secured by the same,
independently of the above-mentioned sliding bolt. This spindle, which I call

page_text: the guiding or rising spindle of the rudder, will be found convenient in small
vessels, and necessary in such vessels as have rudders of considerable weight,
in which latter case the top of the rising spindle should be supported by braces,
or firmly secured to some timbers aloft. The branches of the holder of the
rudder may be strengthened and made double like those of the rightener; or
also, for the sake of greatest simplicity, in very small vessels or boats the same
brace or holder that holds the rudder might also be made to hold the ballast-
ing weight, and in such manner also serve as a rightener to the vessel. In all
cases it should be observed that the holder of the rudder must be made into a
widely open frame like the rightener, in order that the moveable cutwater may
be allowed as free an action within this frame as it has within the branches of
the rightener.
Fifthly, as the vessel is disencumbered from that mass of ballast carried by
common sailing vessels, it, of course draws less water, and can come more
easily into harbour than those common sailing vessels are able to do.. In
order to increase this advantage still farther, and still more lessen the draught
of water, the lowermost floor of the vessel, or that floor which immediately
rests upon the water, should be made as wide as possible, and even quite flat,
as wide (or nearly) as the widest floor of the vessel. By the width thus given
to this lowermost floor, the hull of the vessel becomes bouyed still higher up
in the water than barely by its being lightened. The steadiness procured to
the vessel by its long rightener farther admits of this widened flat shape and
additional degree of bouyancy being given to the bottom of the vessel.. By
means of such additional bouyancy the vessel will be able to come into harbour
with additional ease, much more so than can be effected by common sailing
vessels, which are both made heavy by their massy ballast, and sink deeply in
the water by means of their deep and sharp bottoms. When the vessel is
come into harbour, bouyed up by its lightened and widened bottom, the
rightener is first brought up, then the rudder, then the cutwater. In
Fig. 14 a vessel is represented as coming into harbour with its rightener,
rudder, and cutwater thus brought up to the light body of the vessel. More-
over, the above-mentioned flatness and width of the lowermost floor of the vessel
will enable the vessel to lie safer upon shallow ground with less danger of
injury and of oversetting upon the ground than can possibly be done by common
sailing vessels with their sharp bottoms. The two defects termed by seamen
crank in the water, and crank by the ground, are, in fact, remedied in the vessel
here described. The landing from sailing boats made upon the above-described
principles will also prove more easy than can be effected with the common

page_text: sailing boats or small craft now used at sea or along the sea coasts, or also in
navigable rivers. The long pivots or bar which the rightener turns upon and
is fastened by to the body of the vessel, as it projects one or two feet or more
out of this body of the vessel, as abovesaid, will give the boat an additional
security against being tossed upon the coast or sands by the surf.
Sixthly, besides making the bottom of the vessel flat, its sides also should be
made flat, that is to say, these sides should be made with flat rectilinear figures;
as a consequence of which rectilinear figures being given to the sides of the vessel
under the water, as well as to the bottom, the total shape of the vessel will
become more simple; the building of the same will also become an easier
task, and be attended with less waste of wood. The flat rectilinear planks for
lining such a flat-sided vessel will be inserted and joined into one another in a
more effectual manner than can be the case with those planks bent roundways
which are used for lining common sailing vessels, and which are, in fact, joined
or rather brought together in no better form than by open seams crammed
with oakum. By the above-mentioned complete joining of the planks and
lining of the vessel under the water leakage will be prevented. The superior
steadiness procured to the vessel by the long rightener admits of the above-
mentioned simple easy shape and additional advantages being given to the
vessel, by which its safety in the water, fastness of sailing, and expedition will
be farther increased.
Seventhly, the following is a summary description of the peculiar methods
and principles of construction which should be used for enabling the vessel here
meant to be described to be a fast sailor, to keep a true course, to be easily
managed by the rudder, and to afford an easy landing; by which peculiar prin-
ciples of construction it is made a different vessel from all sailing vessels
litherto built; its superior steadiness in the water admitting of its being built
upon such different easy improved principles. It is a ballasted and sailing
vessel, the fore part of the hull of which is perpendicular to the water edge, or
even slants inwardly from this water edge towards the upper parts of the mast.
It is also a vessel carrying sail, and made steady by ballast, that has its lower-
most floor flat. It is also a ballasted and sailing vessel which is universally
made with flat and rectilinear surfaces under the water. It is also a vessel
the cutwater and dead wood of which freely move to and fro above the ballast
and above the foundation of the rudder (Fig. 9, 12, 19). It is also a vessel the
lower part of the structure of which is an open work; this open work being
formed by the ballast, by the foundation and most effectual part of the rudder,
and by the cutwater and dead wood, only linked to the body of the vessel by

page_text: ropes and hinges. This lower and most important structure of the vessel,
besides being open and permeable to the water, has all its important parts
moveable in different directions, from whence the whole vessel might be termed
a vessel the lowermost structure of which is open, and has its parts moveable.
It is to be added, that in large vessels several righteners should be used, as
expressed in Fig. 9, which righteners should moreover be double branched,
and the moveable cutwaters and dead woods, when of great weight, should be
divided into distinct parts. Long and thick pieces of timber should be placed,
in the shape of sledges, under each side of the hull of such vessels as have more
than one rightener, and deep notches or cuts made in those thick pieces of
timber for the cylindrical weights of the rightener to lodge in those cuts when
the vessel rests upon shallow ground..
Eighthly, in order to enable the vessel to sail with few points of wind, the
sail should be fixed to two yards parallel to each other, by which the disadvan-
tageous hollow spherical figure or pouch exhibited by the sails of common
sailing vessels is avoided. The sail should be divided into two parts, in order
that the mast may make a free passage between them when the vessel is passing
to an opposite tack, by which the turning of the sail round the mast will be
needless. The lower yard should be fixed within two rings rivetted to each end
of an iron bar, as expressed in Fig. 23, and this bar should be fixed either by
rivets or by screws to a hollow tube fitted to and turning round the mast. One
or two hooks should be fixed to the end of this tube, which hooks should be
made to grasp exactly a circular plate immoveably fixed to the mast. Around
this immoveable plate the hooks will turn, together with the yards and sail
when necessary, without moving either upwards or downwards. A hole should
be made in the middle of the lower yard, and a stick should be fitted to this hole
in the shape of the handle of a vice, by which this lower yard will be \turned
round within the rings, and the sail thereby furled up. A sail so fitted and
divided may be either square or triangular, with the point or shorter yard
at top, Fig. 22.
Ninthly, in order to increase the solidity of the rudder, a circular plate of
iron or other metal should be placed in the manner of a girdle round the rudder,
as expressed in Fig. 21. Deep notches or holes should be made in this girdle,
one inch or less distant from one another, into which notches or holes a powerful
latch should be made to lodge, by means of which powerful latch the outward
edge of the rudder will be secured. For lifting up the latch a long iron-or
metal rod should be made to come down from the top of the rudder, and be
fitted to the latch by a pivot. The upper end of the rod should be fixed also

page_text: by a pivot to a lever at the top of the rudder, by which lever and by the rod
the latch will be raised, and will also be kept firmly down.
Tenthly, in order to enable the rudder to move with still greater ease and
solidity, a powerful iron wheel with teeth should be strongly fitted to the top
part of the rudder (Fig. 24.) This wheel should be moved by a pinion annexed
to another wheel, to which, by adding another pinion and wheel, and another
pinion and a handle about one foot long, the strength of the man managing
the rudder may be increased two hundred times or more. By lengthening the
horizontal and perpendicular shanks to which the pinions are fixed, and making
those shanks pass through the floors of the vessel and through the mizzen mast,
the handle may be made to operate from any distance. In order to enable the
man at the handle always to know with accuracy the particular angle and
situation the rudder happens to be in, a wheel with teeth should be placed
exactly on the same center of motion with the rudder, as expressed in Fig. 25.
This wheel should be made to move a rack, and this rack should move another
wheel fitted to a hollow shank or tube. This tube should be fitted around the
shank to which the abovesaid handle is fixed. A flat piece of wood about
fifteen inches in diameter should be fitted to the top of this tube, within which
the handle and shank is allowed to turn; and the figure of a hand of a clock
should be expressed on this round piece of wood. If the wheel around the
tube is exactly equal, and has the same number of teeth with the wheel placed
on the center of motion of the rudder, every motion of the rudder will be
expressed by the hand drawn upon the abovesaid piece of wood very accurately,
which piece of wood will be constantly under the eye of the man who is
managing the handle and rudder, and close under this handle.
And by the whole of the above the description of the Invention here mean
to be described is completely finished.
In witness whereof, I have set my hand and seal this day, the Ninth of
of January, in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of January, in the
year above written, the aforesaid John Lewis De Lolme came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of Tenues in the