It was after the discovery of America and of the route to the East Indies, two events of the greatest importance for the evolution of the peoples of Europe, that the commerce of the world left the Mediterranean and moved toward the North Sea. Then it was that our country woke up and soon surpassed all others in shipbuilding. The Netherlands then carried naval construction back toward the Baltic. France also borrowed from us the elements of shipbuilding. The province of Holland was at the head of this branch of construction from 1500 to 1700; France then took Holland’s place and, from the middle of the XVIIIth century, had its own separate construction. It was the keen French mind which guided all countries in the systematic construction of ships. England, always practical, has ever done her best to keep up with the country which turned out the largest ships. ~Holmes~’s work shows this tendency clearly. After 1800, England outstripped her rivals and set the pace for naval architecture. Numerous improvements were carried out under the influence of that country. The continental blockade dealt our shipbuilding a mortal blow. It was only through the initiative and the energetic backing of King William I that the industry revived in the first half of the XIXth century and reached, in the second half, a new period of prosperity. Japan’s first modern war vessels were built in Holland. The coming of steel opened a new era for our naval architecture and our worthy shipbuilders have been able to do honor to the traditions of our race by proving themselves now, as formerly, economical architects with the ability to give a pleasing appearance and an irreproachable finish to a solid construction. The distribution of the groups of the various types of boats is shown on map 3, while map 4 gives the subdivision of these groups in the Netherlands. The Frisian types appear on both these maps in blue; the types of the Lower Rhine, which penetrated into the North-West of Brabant and into the heart of South Holland, are given in brown; the types of the Upper Rhine are in violet, those of the Lower Meuse in red and those of the Upper Meuse in green. The types with finer lines of Overijssel, surrounded by those from Friesland and the Lower Rhine, and which are also met with on the Ems, the Weser, the Elbe, the Havel and the Spree are shown with a paler shade. Chart No. 4 shows the zone of the fishing boats which frequent the North Sea. These last, except the “Lugger” and the “Sloop”, belong to the Friesland type. It is curious to bring the boundaries of charts 5, 6 and 7 together, containing, as they do, the results of the patient researches of the late Professor Dr. Gallée, so well known and esteemed for his vast learning as well as for his great kindness, when, some time ago, he was so good as to place copies of these charts at the author’s disposal.