The designs produced by the two naval officers differ widely in several respects, and more especially as regards the relation between the total length of the ship and the breadth of beam. In Captain B. da Silva’s ship the beam is equal to one-third of the length, whilst the proportion in Captain J. Braz d’Oliveira’s ship is as one to five. The former of these ships is broad-beamed, as befits the period, whilst the latter is almost as slim as a modern clipper. It must be remembered that, until comparatively recent times, it was held that the length of a sailing ship should not exceed four times the breadth of beam; and this maxim was undoubtedly acted upon by the shipbuilders of the fifteenth century. Captain Baldaque da Silva’s design of the _S. Gabriel_ has been embodied in a model, and from a photograph of this model Mr. Herbert Johnson has produced the illustration placed in front of this Appendix. The dimensions of the ship designed by Captain Baldaque da Silvia are as follows:—[407] Length over all 84.1 feet. Water-line (when laden) 64.0 ” Keel 56.7 ” Breadth of beam 27.9 ” Depth 17.1 ” Draught, abaft 7.5 ” ” forward 5.6 ” Metocentric height above the water-line (laden) 7.4 ” Displacement 178 tons. Tonnage 4,130 cubic feet, or 103 ” This, as I learn from a private letter of Captain B. da Silva, is supposed to be the gross under-deck tonnage, but on calculating the tonnage according to the Builders’ Old Measurement Rule, I find it to amount to 230 tons of 40 cubic feet each, whilst the “expeditive” method practised at Venice[408] during the fifteenth century yields 896 botte of 28 gallons, or about 250 toneladas. The ship was flat-bottomed, with a square stern and bluff bow, the latter ornamented with a figure of her patron saint. Wales were placed along the sides to reduce her rolling when going before the wind. Formidable “castles” rose fore and aft, having a deep waist between them. These “castles,” however, had not then grown to the portentous height attained at a subsequent period, when they rendered it difficult to govern the ship in a gale, and it often became necessary to cut down the foremast and dismantle the forecastle to enable them to keep her head to the wind. These “castles” were in reality citadels, and enabled the crew to make a last stand after the vessel had been boarded. A notable instance of this occurred in the course of the fight with the _Meri_ in 1502.[409]