In this system the keel, keelsons, stern and stern posts, and floor-timbers are similar to the ordinary construction. The heavy frames, however, stop with the floor-timbers, and there is no diagonal iron framework. The outer and inner planking of the ship are the same as in the old construction except that the thick strakes of outer planking forming the wales are done away with, retaining only the heavy garboard-strakes. In place of the futtocks and top-timbers of the old construction a double course of diagonal planking is introduced. That part of the inner planking which covers the floor-timbers is of the ordinary thickness, whilst beyond the timber-heads the planking is increased in thickness to give a smooth turn to the bilge ceiling. These four or five strakes are rabbeted into each other and into the timber-heads. The clamps and water-ways are as in the old type. In order to give transverse strength to this system, the knees are constructed in a peculiar manner. The lower leg of the orlop-deck hanging knee is carried down beyond the head of the floor-timber. Every other knee is forked, giving a housing to the beam-end, the two legs following the curve of the clamps and water-ways and rising with a spread of half the height between decks and beyond the foot of the hanging knee over it. This system of construction has found great favor in England in the construction of yachts, and it has been very successfully applied to sailing merchant-ships and steamers. _Composite Construction._ [Illustration: Jordan’s Composite Construction.]