[8] The various systems of calculating the tonnage of vessels which were in force in Great Britain prior to 1854, (see Appendix iv.,) gave the breadth measurement a preponderating influence upon the result, and as taxation, port, and light dues, etc., were based upon the registered tonnage of a vessel, there was economy in decreasing the breadth of a vessel at the expense of the other dimensions. Ship-builders and owners in England showed a much greater tendency to profit by this feature of the law than did those in the United States, where substantially the same system was in force. In this country some very narrow vessels were built for the New Orleans and West India trade, in the period 1820-1845, but it was found that the saving in taxation did not pay for using such an undesirable type of vessels, so they were given up. As a rule, American owners and builders preferred to build vessels of a type which they regarded as the best for speed and for the trade in which they were engaged, without regard for the tonnage laws. [9] The _Challenge_. [10] Forbes’s rig was invented by Captain R. B. Forbes, and was first put on the topsail schooner _Midas_ in 1841, afterwards on the auxiliaries _Edith_, _Massachusetts_, and _Meteor_; ships, _R. B. Forbes_, _Lintin_, _Flying Childers_, _Aurora_, _Cornelius Grinnell_, and probably others. In this rig the topmast was fidded abaft the lowermast head, and the lower topsail yard hoisted on the lowermast head from the eyes of the lower rigging to the cap. The lower topsail had two reefs with reef-tackles, buntlines, and clew-lines, as in the single topsail rig. The upper topsail hoisted on the topmast and had the same gear as the lower topsail. Sometimes the topmast was fidded before the lower masthead, and then the lower topsail yard hoisted on the doubling of the topmast. This rig was an improvement upon the single topsail rig, but was eventually superseded by Howes’s rig, which was invented by Captain Frederic Howes, of Brewster, Massachusetts, who in 1853 first put it on the ship _Climax_, of Boston, which he commanded. Captain Howes took out a United States patent for his rig in 1854. In this rig, the lower topsail yard is slung by a truss at the lower mast cap; indeed, Howes’s rig is the double topsail rig of the present day, though one does not often hear the name of Captain Howes in connection with it. [11] Mr. Everett is reported to have said “eighty-two,” but if he did so, it was a mistake, for forty-two is the true number. [12] These slabs were subsequently removed, one side being washed away.