Fig. 50 is an illustration after Vandevelde of a famous French first-rate of the same period, named the _Soleil Royal_, of 106 guns. She was destroyed in Cherbourg Bay the day after the battle of Cape La Hogue, in 1692. Fig. 51 is a Dutch first-rate, named the _Hollandia_, of 74 guns. She was built in 1683, and took part in the battle of Beachy Head as flagship of Admiral Cornelis Evertsen. [Illustration: FIG. 51.--The _Hollandia_. 1683.] The chief difference between the British and foreign builds of warship of the latter half of the seventeenth century was that the English vessels were always constructed with the rounded tuck before mentioned, as introduced by Pett, while the Continental ships all had the old-fashioned square tuck, which is well illustrated in Fig. 51. The Dutch ships in one respect excelled all others, in that they were the first in which the absurd practice of an exaggerated "tumble home," or contraction of the upper deck, was abandoned. This fashion was still carried out to a very great extent by the English, and to a less extent by the French and Spaniards. The chain-plates in the English vessels were also fixed extremely low, while the Dutch fixed them as high as the sills of the upper-deck ports would allow. In consequence of the shallowness of the Dutch harbours, the draught of their ships was also considerably less than that of the English vessels of corresponding force. Most of the ships in a seventeenth-century fleet deemed fit to take their station in the line of battle were third-rates. The first and second rates were exceptional vessels, and were only employed in particular services. A comparative table of the dimensions and armament of the various rates, or classes in the year 1688, is annexed:--