“For purposes of comparison in pitching and lifting, etc., the _Sultan_ had the height of the _Devastation’s_ upper deck at side painted on her in a broad white stripe, so that the behaviour of the two ships might be quickly appreciated apart from the records of instruments. The lowness of the extremities of the _Devastation_ gives a great deal of interest to the pitching and lifting (really the longitudinal rolling) of the vessel. Two trials were made, one on the 9th and the other on the 15th of September. On the first of these occasions, she was accompanied by the _Sultan_ only, and on the second she was accompanied by the _Agincourt_ only. The seas met with on the 9th of September were lumpy and irregular, the wind having shifted somewhat suddenly during the previous night. Having got well out to sea, about forty miles off land, the wind was found to be blowing rather north of west with a force of a moderate gale, its speed varying from forty to forty-five miles per hour; and the largest of the waves were found to vary from 300 to 350 feet in length from crest to crest, occasionally reaching 400 feet--the greatest heights from hollow to crest being 15 and 16 feet. Going head to sea, at from six to seven knots, both vessels pitched considerably; the _Devastation_, however, had the best of it, pitching through smaller angles than the _Sultan_. The latter vessel was remarkably lively; at one moment she was to be seen with her fore-foot completely out of water, and the next with her bow dipped down to so great an extent that it was difficult to see from the flying deck of the _Devastation_--although the ships were pretty close together--whether the sea did not really break inboard; and this notwithstanding that the bow of the _Sultan_ rises forward some 30 feet above the surface of the water. On the other hand, the forecastle deck of the _Devastation_ was repeatedly swept by the seas, to each of which she rose with surprising readiness; indeed, it invariably happened that the seas broke upon her during the upward journey of the bow, and there is no doubt it is to this fact that her moderate pitching was mainly due, as the weight of the water on the forecastle-deck during the short period it remained there acted as a retarding force, preventing the bow from lifting as high as it otherwise would, and this, of course, limited the succeeding pitch, and so on. The maximum angle pitched through on this occasion, i.e. the angle between the extreme elevation and depression of the bow, was 7½ degrees. Each vessel behaved extremely well when placed broadside on to the sea, rolling very little. The trial of the ship on the 15th of September, in company with the _Agincourt_, was by far the most severe of any. Early in the morning the vessel got under weigh and steamed out to sea, accompanied by the _Agincourt_. The wind was blowing with considerable force from the north-west,