more destructive effects than the shot in its solid form ; one of the principal objections against which was, and still continues to be, its being so cumbrous to handle.

Before half the expiration of the year in which the first carronade had been cast, a scale was drawn up by the Navy Board, and sanctioned by the Lords of the Admiralty, for arming the different rates in the service with the 18 and 12 pounder calibers. In consequence of the first, second, and third rate ships having their quarterdecks as fully supplied with guns, as there was room for ports on each side, no additional pieces could be placed there ; but it was found that the forecastle would generally admit the opening of a pair of extra ports, and that the poop, which for nearly a century past had served chiefly as a roof to the captain's cabin, would, if timbered up on each side, afford space for three pairs of ports ; making, in the whole, eight additional ports for the reception of carronades. The 50-gun ship was found to have room for a pair of additional ports on her quarterdeck, besides a pair on her forecastle, and three pairs on her poop, when the latter was barricaded ; making altogether 10 ports. The 44-gun ship had no poop, and no armament on the quarterdeck : * by furnishing the latter with a barricade, and cutting through it four pairs of ports, besides an extra pair on the forecastle, this ship might mount the same additional number of pieces as the 50. The three remaining classes of the fifth, and the first two classes of the sixth rate, would also admit of additional ports being ; cut through the sides of their forecastles and quarterdecks. The third class of the sixth rate, and the quarter-decked ship-sloop class, being, in respect to their quarterdecks and forecastles, in a similar state to the 44, would require to be similarly built up, before they could mount the eight carronades assigned to them. †

Several captains complained of the carronade; some of its upsetting after being heated by successive discharges ; others, that, owing to its shortness, its fire scarcely passed clear of the ship's side, and that its range was too confined to be useful. The captains of some of the 32-gun frigates, in particular, represented that one pair of their quarterdeck carronades was so much in the way of the rigging, as to endanger the laniards of the shrouds, and begged to have their established number reduced from six to four. As the principal objection to carronades appeared to have arisen from defects in the manner of mounting them, some additional instructions on that head were prepared and forwarded by Mr. Gascoigne, the chief proprietor of the Carron-foundry. Some alterations were also made in the piece

* This refers to the latest establishment, or that of 1762 ; wherein two of the quarterdeck sixes are shifted to the forecastle, and the remaining two removed entirely, to admit two additional 9-pounders on the main deck.

† The following is a copy of the document in question, with an additional column, showing to what amount the total of the carriage-guns of the different classes became augmented.

[Note by transcriber: I've re-arranged the footnotes for pages 34 and 35 - where they previously carried over from page 34 to page 35, they are now all on page 34]

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