The frigate itself underwent considerable development during its two centuries’ career. The earlier frigates carried twenty-four or twenty-eight 9-pounders, and a crew of about one hundred and sixty men; these vessels were about 500 tons burthen, or a little more, with a gundeck length of 113 feet and a length of 93 feet on the keel. Their rig marked a curious transition stage from the Mediterranean influence to that of the modern square rig, as, although they carried square sails on the fore and main masts, lateens were still carried on the mizen. The frigate of thirty-two 12-pounders appeared shortly afterwards, the first of this size being the _Adventure_, launched in 1741; and six years later the _Pallas_ and _Brilliant_, thirty-six-gun frigates, were added to the navy; but, while admittedly excellent fighting cruisers, they were inferior to the French thirty-six-gun frigates built about that time.[22] The frigates played a most important part in the world’s naval history of the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth century. [Illustration: THE “DREADNOUGHT,” 1748. _From a Model in the Museum of the Royal United Service Institution._] [Illustration: THE “JUNO,” 1757. _From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._] Tougher antagonists than the French frigates, however, were the seven frigates the Americans built when matters became strained between the United States and this country; they were the _United States_, _Constitution_, _President_, _Constellation_, _Congress_, _Chesapeake_, and _Essex_. The first-named was the largest, with a tonnage of 1,576, and the smallest the _Essex_, 860 tons. The American navy consisted only of about a dozen vessels altogether on which reliance could be placed, but these were among the best of their kind afloat; there were a few others of little or no fighting value. The frigates carried batteries of carronades supplemented by long guns, 12-pounders. It was the custom to give the American ships more guns than they rated. Thus the forty-four-gun frigate had thirty long 24-pounders on the main deck, two long bow chasers on the forecastle, and twenty or twenty-two 32-pounder carronades, as in the _Constitution_, while the carronades of the _President_ and _United States_ were 42-pounders. The armament of the _Constellation_, _Congress_, and _Chesapeake_ was twenty-eight long 18-pounders on the main deck, two similar guns on the forecastle, and eighteen 32-pounder carronades. The “ship-sloops,” of which the greater part of the rest of the American naval force consisted, carried 32-pounder carronades, and long 12-pounders for bow chasers. The “brig-sloops” were equipped with carronades. The Americans claim to have been the first to employ the heavy frigate effectively, notwithstanding that the cannon balls their guns fired were of less weight in some instances than the projectiles discharged from the corresponding weapons in the British or French navies, and the shot