find mention made of bombs, which were vessels carrying six
or eight light guns, and one or two heavy mortars for the purpose of
throwing shells into a town. It is said that they were invented by
Reynaud, a Frenchman, and that they were first employed at the
bombardment of Algiers in 1681.

In the year 1714 we find the navy divided into ten classes, ships
carrying 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, and 10 guns. The
first-rate descended no lower than to ships carrying 100 guns; the
second no lower than to those of 90 guns; the third admitted all classes
below and above 60; the fourth between 60 and 50; the fifth between 50
and 30; the sixth comprised all vessels below 50, except sloops, bombs,
etcetera.

By the end of the reign of George the First, ships no longer carried
guns on their poops.

The English style of naming the decks of a ship differs from that of
other nations, and though perfectly understood by her crew, is
calculated to puzzle a landsman. In a one-decked ship the deck on which
the guns are carried is called the main-deck, while the deck below it,
to which there are no ports, the lower or gun-deck. Hence the term
gun-room, occupied by lieutenants or gun-room officers; indeed, the
lowest deck of every ship is called the gun-deck. The quarter of a ship
is that part of the side which lies towards the stern, and hence that
part of the deck is called the quarter-deck, in reference to that
portion of the ship's length over which it originally extended. The
elevation above it is known as the poop, and the raised deck over the
fore-part of the ship is known as the top-gallant forecastle. In early
days, as we have seen in the case of the _Great Harry_ and other ships,
and even in later days, both at the fore and after-part of the ship
there were elevated structures, very properly called castles. In time
these were done away with, but short decks elevated above the main or
chief deck were still retained, as it was found inconvenient for the
seamen when working the ship to descend from one of these elevated decks
and then to be compelled to mount the other to get either fore or aft.
They were connected by a grating or gangway of sufficient width to allow
the crew to pass backwards and forwards. This gangway was still further
widened; it being strengthened by beams running across the ship, allowed
guns to be carried on it. The after-part had long been called the
quarter-deck, and the fore-part the fore