The average durability of ships of war in the British navy, has been variously stated at seven and eight years in time of war, and from ten to twelve and fourteen years in time of peace. Mr. Perring, in his "Brief Inquiry," published in 1812, estimates the average durability at about eight years. His calculations seem based upon authentic information. A distinguished English writer has more recently arrived at the same result, from estimates based upon the returns of the Board of Admiralty during the period of the wars of the French Revolution. The data in our own possession are less complete; the appropriations for _building_ and _repairing_ having been so expended as to render it impossible to draw any accurate line of distinction. But, in the returns now before us, there are generally separate and distinct amounts of the _timbers_ used for these two purposes; and consequently, so far as this (the main item of expense) is concerned, we may form pretty accurate comparisons. According to Edge, (pp. 20, 21,) the average cost of timber, for hulls, masts, and yards, in _building_ an English 74 gun ship, is L61,382. Let us now compare this cost of timber for _building_, with that of the same item for _repairs_, for the following fifteen ships, between 1800 and 1820. The list would have been still further enlarged, but the returns for other ships during some portion of the above period are imperfect: ============================================================ Name of Ship. |No. of| When | Repaired from | Cost. |Guns. |built.| | ------------------------------------------------------------ Vengeance,...........| 74 | -- | 1800 to 1807 | L84,720 Ildefonso,...........| 74 | -- | 1807 to 1808 | 85,195 Scipio,..............| 74 | -- | 1807 to 1809 | 60,785 Tremendous,..........| 74 | -- | 1807 to 1810 | 135,397 Elephant,............| 74 | -- | 1808 to 1811 | 67,007 Spencer,.............| 74 | 1800 | 1809 to 1813 | 124,186 Romulus,.............| 74 | -- | 1810 to 1812 | 73,141 Albion,..............| 74 | 1802 | 1810 to 1813 | 102,295 Donegal,.............| 74 | -- | 1812 to 1815 | 101,367 Implacable,..........| 74 | -- | 1813 to 1815 | 59,865 Illustrious,.........| 74 | 1803 | 1813 to 1816 | 74,184 Northumberland,......| 74 | -- | 1814 to 1815 | 59,795 Kent,................| 74 | -- | 1814 to 1818 | 88,357 Sultan,..............| 74 | 1807 | 1816 to 1818 | 61,518 Sterling Castle,.....| 74 | -- | 1816 to 1818 | 65,280 ------------------------------------------------------------