Body Plan of 74-gun Terrible The 74-gun Terrible was lately launched in Toulon dockyard. Built after a design by François Coulomb the Younger, aged 48, this ship seems to be the prototype of a new sort of mighty two-deckers. Coulomb streamlined and enlarged the hull of former 74s so as to reach superb qualities of seakeeping and of swiftness as well as to accommodate 28 guns at the main deck, 30 guns at the upper deck, 10 guns at the quarterdeck and 6 more at the forecast

92-gun three-decker Prins Willem Last year, Cornelis Evertsen, 42 years old, Lieutnant-Admiral of Zealand has replaced Tromp as Lieutnant-Admiral General. He is known as both gallant and skilful, and also considered as politically neutral, in contrast with Tromp, an active Orangist. Present time requires consensus behind Prince Willem for a war against France is considered as short-term unavoidable by every observer. ¤ Moreover, Tromp is certainly known as competent but a

Grønland   (1756) The Danish 50-gun Grønland , launched five years ago at Nyholm island near Copenhagen, departs for a scientific expedition in the Mediterranean sea. She got used to navigating these dangerous waters for she protected Danish trade ships against Barbary pirates lately. This expedition is named the Arabia mission. It has been mounted under the auspices of King Frederick V, who has wisely achieved not to get involved in the global war which begun five years ago

Cornelis Marteenszoon Tromp The Staten-Generaal, that is the assembly of senate and house of representatives, has decided to build thirty-six ships to replace the core of the fleet built in the 1660s. This decision results, first, from the French threat, on land as at sea, and, second, from the decay of the ships hastily built in the 1660s, many having already been broken up. ¤ As everybody knows, Duquesne defeated Ruyter in the Mediterranean sea in 1676, and D'Estrées defe

Aurore After having tackled the building of a marine watch in 1756, Pierre Le Roy, 50 years old, has reached a new step last year. It is said that the chronometer he presented to the Académie Royale des Sciences is as precise and reliable as famous Harrison's H4. ¤ Le Roy already invented the detent pivot escapement, or detached escapement, that he presented the Académie in 1748, the temperature-compensated balance by using bi-metallic components, and lately the isochronou

John Fitch, 43, originally a clockmaker then a gunsmith, successfully trials his steamboat Perseverance on the Delaware river. Fitch's first model (1785) Two years ago, Fitch achieved to convince the state legislative bodies of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia to award him a conditional 14-year monopoly for steam navigation on their waterways. He just missed Maryland and the district of Columbia to get a complete area of business in the core of the

Charlotte Dundas The duet composed of Thomas Laurence Dundas, Baron Dundas, 62, & William Symington, an engineer, 39, undeterred by the failure of a previous attempt in 1801, has renewed it with a stronger steamboat named Charlotte Dundas. ¤ The first steamboat built by Dundas & Symington steamed successfully on the Carron river in 1801 but was dismissed from navigating on the Forth & Clyde canal for fear of damaging the banks. She had a paddle on each side - a feature whi

James Cook James Cook, the famous explorer, 44 years old by now, departs for his second voyage around the world with a copy of famous Watchmaker John Harrison’s H4, that is the watch K1, and three other time-keepers made last year. ¤ Harrison's H4 was the prototype which achieved to meet the accuracy requirement set by the Board of Longitude when crossing the Atlantic ocean. It completed it twice, in 1761 and 1763 - results met with some initial scepticism by the Board of L

The Santisima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin, a 2,200-ton 60-gun Manila galleon, makes a bad journey from Manila to Acapulco. Having 435 persons aboard initially, she has lost 74 ones of typhus during her 221-day long journey. Three hundreds and ten or twenty more are lying, unable to move, near death. ¤ A standard journey takes five or six months. A seven-month one is long but not surprising. What is surprising is that a few men achieved to handle this quite big s

Claude d’Auxiron, ex-officer and polymath, a rightly renowned economist, 41, and Charles Monnin de Follenay, ex-officer, 38, formed last year a joint-venture company to promote steam navigation on river. Henri Léonard Bertin They achieved to convince the Secretary-of-State Henri Léonard Jean-Baptiste Bertin , aged 53, of the feasibility of a steamboat and of its economical interest. Since 1763 Bertin has been leading a ministry including agriculture, mines, river navigation

Edmund Halley, an astronomer and polymath aged 35, already famed for quite a few achievements in astronomy and meteorology, presents two inventions at the Royal Society : (1) a diving bell ; (2) a damped compass. Diving Bell Halley's Diving Bell & Diving Suit Halley has been thinking about a diving bell meant to working underwater for a while. Two years ago, he produced a paper describing a bell moving on its four wheels on sea bottom, fitted with an air intake so as to main

Anne-Hilarion de Costentin, comte de Tourville Many ship constructions have already been ordered since the opening of this war between...

Sumner's Manual Captain Thomas Hubbard Sumner publishes a New and Accurate Method of Finding a Ship’s Position at Sea . This is the fruit...

Captain Thomas Hubbard Sumner, 30 years old, commanding the sailing ship Cabot , travelling from Charleston, Virginia, to Greenock,...

Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 61 years old, Secretary-of-State for the Navy since 1669, has established three schools of naval architecture for...

Harrison's Chronometer H1 John Harrison, 46 years old, trials his first marine chronometer H1, built last year, on a round trip between...

John Hadley John Hadley, a mathematician aged 49, presents a new instrument of navigation, the octant, also known as the reflecting...

Le Neptune François, recueil de cartes marines publié en 1693 The French navy ministry establishes the ‘ Dépôt des cartes et plans,...

Brest Founded in 1631 as a military dockyard by Archbishop and Prime Minister Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (†1642), the port of...

Edmund Halley Edmund Halley, the famous astronomer whom we already acknowledged in previous chronicles, now aged 45, publishes the...