would also appear to have been really lighter than they were supposed to be by as much as two to ten per cent. These frigates were remarkable for the series of duels they fought with British warships, winning six in succession, by superior seamanship and better sailing qualities, to some extent, but mostly by superior gunnery, until the final duel was won by the _Shannon_ in her memorable encounter with the _Chesapeake_. The series of American victories was inaugurated by the _Constitution_, otherwise “Old Ironsides,” the British victim being the _Guerrière_. In considering the development of the warships of other types, it is necessary to go back a few years. The British dockyards were unequal to the demands upon them for the wars of the latter part of the eighteenth century, and a greater number of warships than ever before was built by contract at privately owned yards. It is interesting to note that one firm of shipbuilders which built ships for the navy in those days and even a century earlier, on Thames side, is still in existence, and in spite of limited liability company laws and the introduction of new partners, is still known as Green’s yard, at Blackwall, and is still managed by bearers of the name. Twenty-six sail of the line and eighty-two smaller vessels were launched from private yards during the war ending in 1762, and twenty-four sail of the line and twelve smaller ships were launched at the King’s yards between the declaration of war in 1756 and the proclamation of peace seven years later. This is of importance as showing the resources of the country even at that time in warship building, and the assistance the government was glad to receive from the private builders at times of emergency. During this war it was decided that no more eighty-gun three-deckers or seventy-gun or sixty-gun ships should be built. In place of the first-named, ships of seventy-four and sixty-four guns were ordained, and fifty-gun ships with a roundhouse were ordered to replace the latter. The first seventy-fours and sixty-fours were too small for the weight of the guns they had to carry, and their successors of that class were larger. No eighty-gun ship with three decks was built after 1757, and no seventy-gun ship after 1759. The _Cæsar_ was the first English eighty-gun ship with two decks; she was built in 1793. Towards the end of 1778 many of the second rates were given eight additional guns on the quarter deck, which virtually raised them to ninety-eight-gun ships. An important constructional improvement in 1783 was the adoption of copper fastenings in all classes of ships below the water-line; iron bolts had been found to corrode under the influence of the salt water.