The _Sovereign of the Seas_ was the largest vessel yet built in England, and though she was intended as much for show as use, she became, when she was reduced a deck and a lot of this ornamental flummery was removed, one of the best fighting ships in the navy, and was in nearly all the chief engagements in the war with Holland, and proved herself a very serious opponent, as the navy records show. It was about this time that ships were first rated or classified according to their size and efficiency as fighting units. About this time also, a new type of vessel, the frigate, was introduced into the navy. The frigate is not a British invention, but, so far as this country is concerned, was copied from the French by Peter Pett, son of Phineas Pett, who saw one in the Thames. He built, in 1649, the _Constant Warwick_ to the order of the Earl of Warwick, who intended her for a privateer, but sold her. According to Pepys, the Dutch and French, in 1663 and 1664, built two-decked ships with sixty to seventy guns, and lower decks four feet above the water. The English frigates were narrower and sharper, and their lower gun ports were little more than three feet above the sea. It was therefore decided that the English ships should have their gun ports about four and a half feet from the water. The French and Dutch three-deckers were usually about 44 feet in the beam, as compared with the 41 feet of some of the English third rates, and the _Henry_, built in 1656, and the _Katherine_, in 1674, to mention only two of many, were useless until they were girdled, and after 1673 the three-decked second raters were ordered to be 45 feet in the beam. In the seventeenth century the _Royal Louis_ was built at Toulon, carrying 48-pounders on its lower deck, 24-pounders on the middle deck, and 12-pounders on the upper deck. The French, indeed, were taking the lead in naval construction at this period, and their superiority was recognised by the English who captured and imitated them whenever possible. Thus the _Leviathan_, built at Chatham, was a copy of the _Courageux_ of seventy-four guns, and the _Invincible_, captured by Lord Anson during the Seven Years War, served as model for many more. During a French visit to Spithead in 1673, the _Superbe_, seventy-four guns, attracted special attention. She was 40 feet broad and had her lowest tier of guns higher from the water than the English frigates. Accordingly the _Harwich_ was built by Sir Henry Deane as a copy, and gave such satisfaction that she was adopted as a pattern for second and third rates. Besides the six rates of fighting ships, other classes were included in the navy list, these being, in Charles II.’s reign, thirteen sloops, one dogger, three fireships, one galley, two ketches, five smacks, fourteen yachts, four hoys, and eight hulks.