pendent observations and resulting theories.
Before Petty concluded his experiments, a number of double-hull craft
had been produced by others; however, some "double" craft, such as
"double shallops" may have been "double-enders," as shown by a
"double-moses boat" of the 18th century and later.[16]

The use of two canoes, joined by a platform or by poles was common in
colonial times; in Maryland and Virginia, dugouts so joined were used to
transport tobacco down the tidal creeks to vessels' loading. Such craft
were also used as ferries. M. V. Brewington's _Chesapeake Bay Log
Canoes_[17] and Paul Wilstack's _Potomac Landings_[18] illustrate canoes
used in this manner. A catamaran galley, two round-bottom hulls, flat on
the inboard side (a hull split along the centerline and the inboard
faces planked up), 113 feet long and each hull a 7-foot moulded beam,
6-foot 6 inches moulded depth, and placed 13 feet apart, was proposed by
Sir Sidney Smith, R.N., in the 1790's, and built by the British
Admiralty. Named _Taurus_, she is shown by the Admiralty draught to have
been a double-ender, with cabins amidships on the platform, an iron
rudder at each end (between the hulls) steered with tillers (to unship),
and with a ramp at one end. The plans are undated, signed by Captain Sir
Sidney Smith, and a field-carriage gun is shown at the ramp end of the
boat. This, and the heavy rocker in the keels, suggests the _Taurus_ was
intended for a landing boat. No sailing rig is indicated, but tholes for
12 oars or sweeps on each side are shown. The oarsmen apparently sat on
deck, or on low seats, with stretchers in hatches between each pair of
tholes (Admiralty Collection of Draughts, The National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich, England).

[Illustration: Figure 12.--GENERAL PLAN of the _Taurus_, a catamaran
galley gunboat proposed by Sir Sidney Smith, R.N., to the British
Admiralty in the early years of the French Revolution. From the
Admiralty Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.]

Another experimenter with the double-hull type of vessel was a wealthy
Scot named Patrick Miller who was particularly interested in manual
propulsion of vessels, employing geared capstans to operate paddle
wheels. In a letter dated June 9, 1790, Miller offered Gustav III of
Sweden a design for a double-hulled 144-gun ship-of-the-line (rating as
a 130-gun ship) propelled by manually operated capstans connected to a
paddle wheel between the hu