Again, in 1790, the force of new ships of the various rates was much increased. The largest line-of-battle ship then built was the _Hibernia_, of 110 guns. She was the first of her class introduced into the navy. Her dimensions were as follows:--Length on gun-deck, 201 ft. 2 in.; extreme breadth, 53 ft. 1 in.; depth of hold, 22 ft. 4 in.; burthen in tons, 2,508. The armament consisted of thirty 32-pounders on the lower deck, thirty 24-pounders on the middle, and thirty-two 18-pounders on the upper decks, while eighteen 12-pounders were mounted on the forecastle and quarter-deck. It is worthy of remark that, for some time previously, the large line-of-battle ships carried 42-pounders on the lower deck, but it was found that the 32-pounders could be loaded much more quickly, and that a great advantage arose in consequence. [Illustration: FIG. 56.--The _Commerce de Marseille_. Captured 1792.] In the year 1792 the first 40-gun frigate, the _Acasta_, was built. This type of vessel was intended to replace the old 44-gun two-decker. The _Acasta_ measured 150 ft. on deck; 40 ft. 9-1/2 in. extreme breadth; 14 ft. 3 in. depth of hold; with a burthen of 1,142 tons. Her armament consisted of thirty 18-pounders on the main deck, and ten 9-pounder long guns on quarter-deck and forecastle. [Illustration: FIG. 57.--British first-rate. 1794.] During the whole of our naval history down to comparatively recent times, improvements in the dimensions and forms of our ships were only carried out after they had been originally adopted by the French, or Spaniards, or more recently by the people of the United States of America. Thus, we find that, shortly after war had been declared against the French Revolutionary Government in 1792, Admiral Hood took possession at Toulon, amongst other vessels, of a French first-rate called the _Commerce de Marseille_, which was larger and mounted more guns than any vessel in the service of Great Britain. Fig. 56 is an illustration of this fine man-of-war, which was 208 ft. 4 in. long on the lower deck, 54 ft. 9-1/2 in. broad, of 25 ft. depth of hold, and of 2,747 tons burthen. As an instance of the progress in size, as related to armament, made during the century, we may compare the dimensions of this French first-rate with those of the _Royal Anne_, an English 100-gun ship built in 1706. The length of gun-deck of the latter ship was 171 ft. 9 in., and tonnage 1,809, the more recent vessel showing an increase of nearly fifty per cent. in tonnage for an increased armament of twenty guns. As further examples of the naval architecture of this period, in Figs. 57 and 58 are given views of an English first-rate of the year 1794, and in Figs. 59 and 60 corresponding views of a heavy French frigate of about the year 1780.