experimental vessel, both designed by General Samuel Bentham, Inspector-General of his Majesty’s naval works, says:
“They were in shape much sharper than vessels of war in general, and projected, or raked forward at each end, like a wherry. Their breadth increased from the water-line upwards; whereby it was considered that they would be stiffer, and less liable to overset than ordinary vessels. The decks were strait fore and aft, and the frames or ribs of less curvature than usual. They were constructed to carry twenty-four 32-pounders upon the main-deck, and were afterwards fitted to receive two more carronades of the same nature on each of their two short-decks, which we may call the quarter-deck and fore-castle. All these carronades were fitted upon the non-recoil principle. It is believed that both the Arrow and Dart[1] subsequently took on board, for their quarter-decks, two additional 32’s. They proved to be stiff vessels and swift sailers, but it was found necessary to add some dead wood to their bottoms, in order to make them stay better[2].”
Captain Vincent was re-appointed to the Arrow, Mar. 1, 1803; and every effort was immediately made by himself and his officers to complete her complement, but without effect. Finding that, from her novel appearance, she was not likely to attract volunteers, and as very few men were to be picked up along shore, or from the coasting traders and other small craft, Captain Vincent obtained permission from Lord Gardner, the Port-Admiral, to send a Custom House cutter into the offing, under the command of one of his Lieutenants, for the purpose of impressing from vessels passing up Channel. This being repeated several times, the Arrow was nearly completed with a choice crew of effective seamen, when the exigency of the service obliged his Lordship to cause the greatest part of them to be suddenly drafted into a troop-ship, under orders for the West Indies. In consequence of this mortifying event, the Arrow was obliged to sail for a foreign station nearly one-third short of complement, notwithstanding Captain Vincent had procured a few volunteer landsmen from his native town, at a considerable expense to himself.
From July 1803, till the end of that year, we find the Arrow escorting the trade to Portugal, Gibraltar, Malta, &c.; and in 1804, employed on various important services, affording Captain Vincent an opportunity of visiting the capitals of
- ↑ See note * at p. 291 of this volume.
- ↑ See James’s Nav. Hist. vol. i. note Q * at p. 439.
