class. The ship, however, although armed much in the same way as the two-decked 44, was not considered as a frigate, but continued to be called, as formerly, 50-gun ship,

In 1744 some newly-discovered virtues in the British 44-gun ship caused 29 individuals to be added to a class, which would otherwise have been extinct in a third of the time. The ships, like the old ones, were complained of as crank, and as carrying their guns too near the water. Some attempts were made to render a few of the latter-built ships more stiff and buoyant; but all would not do, and the greater number being deprived of their lowerdeck guns and fitted with poops, were converted into store-ships. A few individuals remained to attend convoys; but, although a provoking durability, common to the class, continued them for years in the service, they lost the appellation of frigates, and took that of the "old two-decked 44-gun ship;" a name, the very mention of which raises a smile among modern men-of-war's-men.

In 1780 the 38-gun frigate appeared, for the first time, as a British-built class. Before 1782 five individuals were launched, averaging 946 tons. These were named, Arethusa, Latona, Minerva, Phaëton, and Thetis. The Minerva appears to have been the first afloat. She was built at Woolwich dock-yard, and launched June 3, 1780. The ships had ports for mounting, and were ordered to carry twenty-eight 18-pounders on the main deck. The first admiralty order for establishing them with guns is dated September 30, 1779. There the quarterdeck and forecastle armament stands at ten 6-pounders, eight 18-pound carronades, and 14 swivels, and the complement of men at 270. On the 25th of the succeeding April 9-pounders were ordered in lieu of the sixes, and the complement was increased to 280 men. Subsequently the, two forecastle 9-pounders were exchanged for twelves (afterwards again altered to nine), and the swivels ordered to be omitted. For these, carronades were substituted, a new kind of sea-service ordnance, of which we shall presently give an account. In 1780, also, the old 36-gun frigate was revived, but in a highly improved state, the average size of the ships being 880 tons, and the calibers of the guns changed from 12 and 6, to 18 and (first 6, then) 9 pounders. This increase of the maindeck calibers, from 12 to 18 pounders, was a very great improvement, and appears to have been adopted about the same time by the French; from whom were captured, in 1782, two 40-gun frigates, the Aigle and Hébé. The first measured 1003 tons, and mounted twenty-six, the second, 1063 tons, and mounted twenty-eight 18-pounders on the maindeck, with each of them 8-pounders on the quarterdeck and forecastle. The Spaniards, also, appear to have built, in 1781, one 40-gun 18-pounder frigate, the Santa-Sabina. Of 12-pounder 34s, they had built several, of very large dimensions. The Santa-Margarita, for instance, captured in 1779, measured 993 tons,

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