Pritchard, James; From Shipwright To Naval Constructor - Iowa State ...

2 James Pritchard
First, historians have not generally acknowledged the highly subjec-
tive nature of the notion of superiority, and, second, they have offered
unsatisfactory explanations for the development of excellence in
French-warship construction. Recently, Robert Gardiner attempted to
dispel "the myth of French design superiority in the age of sail," but he
concluded only "that different needs produce different designs."5 Gar-
diner reminds us that warship qualities-speed, stability, lightness,
durability, seaworthiness, and firepower-can be had only at the ex-
pense of one another and that the superiority of any of these qualities
lies in the eye of the beholder. While British seagoing naval officers
generally praised French prizes, dockyard officials and the Navy Board
usually criticized the ships for possessing different qualities.6
The admired characteristics of French ships were speed and fire-
power. A 1764 comparison of length-to-breadth and breadth-to-depth
ratios of French and British ships having twenty-six to eighty guns
reveals that, in every case, the former were larger and the latter smaller
in French warships.7 French warships were generally faster, at least in
light winds, and also probably less stable, particularly in heavy seas,
than their British counterparts. But they also deployed greater firepower.
Commodore Charles Knowles once complained that "our 70gun
ships are little superior to their ships of 52 guns."8 Another British
officer noted about 1745 that, whereas British sixty-, seventy-, and
eighty-gun ships fired general discharges weighing 918, 1,044, and
1,312 pounds, respectively, similar discharges from French sixty-fours
and seventy-fours weighed 1,103 and 1,705 pounds.9 Twenty years
later, a French comparison showed that the same British warships
yielded weights of 878, 1,312, and 1,438 livres, while the same French
warships fired discharges weighing 1,020 and 1,676 livres.10 Yet, even
bridge, 1965), p. 186; James Henderson, The Frigates: An Account of the Lesser Warships of
the Warsfrom 1793-1815 (London, 1970), p. 17. Henderson asserts that several classes of
late-18th-century British frigates followed from French originals; Robertson (n. 1
above), p. 44, claims that captured French battleships served as models for British
eighty-four- and seventy-four-gun ships and ended construction of any more sixty- and
seventy-gun ships.
5Robert Gardiner, "Frigate Design in the 18th Century," Warship: A QuarterlyJournal of
Warship History, no. 12 (1979): 275.
6Ibid., no. 10 (1979): 85.
7Archives Nationales, Archives de la Marine (hereinafter Marine), B5, 11, "Comparai-
son des vaisseaux francais avec les vaisseaux anglois en dimentions principales, en
artillerie et en equipage, en 1764."
8Lavery (n. 1 above), 1:90.
9Ibid.
'?Marine, B5, 11, "Comparaison des vaisseaux ...." In contrast to the English pound
weighing 454 grams the French livre weighs 489 grams.