ation of the 'dead wood,' and by cutting a large hole
through it for the insertion of the Archimedean screw. The favourable
impression made on the mind of Sir George, and my own deliberate
conviction of the importance of these improvements, and of others then
briefly touched on, lead me, by reason of the lamented indisposition of
that talented officer, now personally, instead of through him, to offer
them to your lordship's attention.

"The French, as your lordship is well aware, are making great exertions
to advance their steam department, especially in the Mediterranean,
where calms are frequent and their coal is abundant--doubtless in the
hope of thereby preventing the future blockade of Toulon, and of keeping
open their intercourse with Algiers; which would be equivalent to
possessing the dominion of the Mediterranean Sea, where a British
blockading fleet of sailing ships must, under such circumstances,
themselves be protected. In saying this, my lord, I beg to be understood
as by no means depreciating the capabilities of our common ships of war,
whilst they possess the power of motion, but as holding them to be quite
unfit for blockades, and exposed to great peril where calms are of
frequent occurrence and long duration. Indeed, it may be worthy of your
lordship's serious consideration whether, in another point of view, it
might not be judicious to place steam-engines in some, at least, of our
line-of-battle ships, in order to divert the attention of foreign
nations from the exclusive employment of mechanical propelling power to
purposes of naval war, whereby British officers and seamen, deprived of
the means of displaying their superior skill, become reduced to a par
with the trained bands of Continental states.

"I have prepared a model in bronze of a steam-frigate possessing
peculiar properties, founded on the before-mentioned axiom, which, I do
not hesitate to submit to your lordship, would save vast sums wasted in
the construction of inferior ships and vessels, by enabling the
Admiralty, on unerring data, to stereotype--if I may use the
expression--every curve in every rate or class of ships, and so impose
on constructors the undeviating task of adhering to the lines and models
scientifically determined on by their lordships."[19]

[19] The following statement of Lord Dundonald's "axiom" accompanied the
model which was submitted to the Admiralty:--"It is universally admitted
that a sharp _bow_ and a cl