7th. That any repairs to the head of the mast, can be executed with more facility.

8th. That the running rigging passing through "lubbers-hole," will less interfere with the shrouds.

9th. That the top-mast may be stepped and unstepped with facility, having previously eased off the carling C, Fig. 3, by hauling on the topmast stay, in the first case, and heaving on the back-stay; and slacking the top-mast stay to effect the second operation. When the top-mast is required to be struck, the first thing to be done is to ease off the carling C; then slack out the top-mast stay and haul on the back-stay, which will trip the heel of the top-mast forward out of the inclined shoe, and commit it at once to the top-ropes.*

10th. The space on the top before the mast-head will, by the proposed construction, be left entirely clear.

11th. Any mast already constructed on the old principle, can be converted into one, on the principle I have detailed, at a very moderate expense-requiring only fresh cheeks; and any mast whose head has been wrung, will afford a good opportunity to put my system to the test of actual trial because the injured part may be entirely removed, and a new framed head supplied by a pair of fresh cheeks.

12th. In point of beauty, the proposed system will possess great superiority over the present mode, for in the former, each set of masts will appear as one stick, when viewed broadside on, and in other positions will look very snug; whilst in the latter, they present a disjointed and clumsy appearance, excepting when viewed end on:

Such is an estimate of the principal advantages of a system of masting which has been submitted to several competent judges of first-rate eminence, in the naval service, and which has been allowed by them to want only actual practice to prove its excellency. In February 1826, this method of constructing masts was laid before the Commissioner of His Majesty's Dockyard at Chatham, illustrated by a large model. The Commissioner directed the two masters attendant, and the master shipwright and his two assistants, to report" fully, as to its utility or otherwise;" and accordingly they gave it as their unanimous opinion, that "it is a contrivance which merits a trial," and admitted that it possessed the “advantages” that have been stated in this paper.

With this recommendation, the project was transmitted to the Honourable Navy Board; but the Board did not think fit to grant a trial. Since that period the matter has remained dormant, and probably, had not the pages of the U. S. Journal offered a field where the inventor could challenge inquiry and meet objections, he would never more have troubled himself about the subject. But with this impression he has now sent the above description, and is content to let the project stand or fall by the fair discussion of its qualities. Judgment, however, can never be consistently awarded without an actual trial of the plan, which could be carried into effect with very moderate expense, as the first common-made mast that displays weakness, or wants repair may be appropriated for that purpose. December 2nd, 1831.

This easy operation will be still farther facilitated by the use of Rice's key fid.

BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE LATE
CAPTAIN SIR WILLIAM BOLTON, KNT. R.N.

"Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus
Tam cari capitis ?"-HORACE.

1

SEVERE has been, to his distinguished family and friends, and to none more than to the present writer, the loss occasioned by the death of Capt. Sir William Bolton, R.N. who departed this life on the afternoon of the 16th of December 1830, aged 52 years; having been born at Ipswich on the 26th of December 1777. Sir William was the eldest son of the Rev. William Bolton, and nephew of Thomas Bolton, Esq. of Burnham in Norfolk, who had married Lord Nelson's eldest sister; and was himself married by special licence, on the 19th of May 1803, to his first cousin, Catherine, daughter of the latter, niece of Nelson, and sister of Thomas Bolton of Brickworth and Landfort, in Wiltshire, Esq. the presumptive heir of Earl Nelson. Sir William has left three daughters,-an only son he had the misfortune to lose. He was knighted the day after his marriage, on the honourable occasion of being proxy for Lord Nelson on his being invested with the insignia of his last additional orders. Nelson had previously, on the 16th, received his appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the British fleet in the Mediterranean; and, in his anxiety to join his station off Toulon, sailed from Portsmouth the same day he was thus invested. It had been signified to him, that he could be installed by proxy, provided a relation so stood for him; and he deputed his nephew Sir William accordingly.

Sir William's parents are both still living, and now reside at Norwich. His father was many years rector of Brancaster in Norfolk, and of Hollesley, near Woodbridge, in Suffolk. Possessing himself a mind liberally endowed by nature, and cultivated by application, his son imbibed at an early age a decided taste for the classics and polite literature. He passed 1786 and 1787 in France with his parents, where he acquired a competent knowledge of the Frenchlanguage. He was full fifteen years of age before he went to sea. At that period he was a good classical scholar, but it was not until in after-life that he completely mastered Greek, and found in the works of the Greek writers a source of frequent and never-failing amusement, as well as in the writings of the Roman historians, satirists, and poets, with which he had been early acquainted. He likewise attained a competent knowledge of the German, Spanish, and Italian languages.

With all his attainments as a scholar, and accomplishments as a gentleman, Sir William Bolton was nevertheless a thorough seaman of the genuine school. He was exceedingly fond of his profession in stirring times and circumstances favourable to its pursuit; and there was no manœuvre in managing, or evolution in working a ship, in which he was not systematically practised.

It was in the eventful year of 1793, when the French revolutionary paroxysm was at its height, and almost immediately after the execution of Louis XVI. and the subsequent declaration of war against England and Holland, that Sir William Bolton commenced his naval career as midshipman on board the old Agamemnon, of 64 guns, at Chatham, soon after Nelson had been appointed to the command of her.* In the

Nelson was appointed to the command of the Agamemnon the 30th January 1793, and she was commissioned the 11th February.

Agamemnon he continued to serve under Nelson until August 1795, when he was placed by him with Capt. R. W. Miller, in the Captain of 74 guns, to which ship Nelson shifted his broad pendant, previously

to the battle of St. Vincent.

Thus Sir William Bolton commenced in sharing as a youth in the most trying, if not the most arduous of all Nelson's services, and was with him in all his responsible and memorable missions in the Mediterranean at this period. He had not been long in the Agamemnon before her first action with the enemy took place, off the island of Sardinia, on the 22nd of October, when detached from the squadron under Commodore Linzee; in which with only 340 men at quarters, in a running fight of three hours, she attacked one of their 44 gun frigates, with a corvette of 24 guns and a brig of 12. He served at the blockade of Toulon, where the Agamemnon was frequently engaged with the French batteries. He was with Nelson during the whole time of his blockade of Corsica, then in possession of the French, and during the memorable sieges of St. Fiorenza, Bastia, and Calvi, until the fall of one after the other in comparatively quick succession, and the entire expulsion of the French from that island. Soon after this, the French loudly threatened Corsica in return; and as their fleet in the Mediterranean was superior, sent it out accordingly, with express orders to attack the English. A partial action, instead of a general one, which had been expected, only took place; this occurred in March 1795, in which the Agamemnon alone attacked, in a running fight, the Ca Ira of 84 guns, in company with a frigate; and the day after again attacked her, and the Censeur, 74, when both at length struck to her-the former having lost nearly 300 men, in addition to her previous loss, the latter 350. Young Bolton acted as aide-de-camp to Nelson in this action. The services of the Agamemnon in the Mediterranean up to this period had been most severe, and Nelson was not the man to exempt a relation of his own from the risk of death when honour was at hand.

Sir William was with him in the Agamemnon, when his squadron, as it was proceeding from St. Fiorenza to Genoa, in order to co-operate with the Austrian and Sardinian armies, under Gen. De Vins, in expelling the French from the Riveira di Genoa, was chased twenty-four hours by the enemy's fleet back to his own; and in the partial engagement which took place five days afterwards between the two fleets. He was with him in the whole of his anxious and memorable services during his blockade in co-operation with De Vins, when Nelson's services, as is well known, were rendered ineffectual in consequence of that General's inactivity.

It has been stated that Sir William Bolton was, in August 1795, placed by Nelson with Capt. Miller, in the Captain, 74; in this ship, so renowned in naval history, both for Nelson's daring enterprise in boarding the San Nicholas and San Josef, and the part it sustained in the battle of the 14th of February 1797, off Cape St. Vincent. He served without intermission until May 1797.

After the battle of St. Vincent, we find him serving successively with Nelson in the Theseus, 74, under the command of Capt. Miller; and with the Earl St. Vincent in the Ville de Paris, 112, under the command of Capt. the Hon. George Grey. He was after the action particularly recommended by Nelson to Earl St. Vincent, who in a letter of his, dated June 19th, writes, "I have seen your friend Bolton,

who appears a steady young man; he shall soon be taken care off:" he was accordingly appointed the next day acting-lieutenant of the Colossus, 74, Capt. George Murray, an appointment which was very soon afterwards confirmed by the Admiralty.

Those were the iron times of the naval service-the days in which midshipmen, in common with every man and officer in it, had hard service to perform, privations to endure, and personal risk to incur; of all which Sir William Bolton had his full share.

He was at the bombardment of Cadiz ; and served as lieutenant in the Colossus, with the fleet in the Mediterranean until October 1798, when, at Naples, he rejoined Nelson in the Vanguard of 74 guns, Capt. Sir T. Hardy; and on the 7th of August 1799 he followed him into the Foudroyant, Captains Sir T. Hardy and Sir Edward Berry successively, in which he served until August 1800. He was consequently in the Foudroyant, when, on the 10th of February 1800, to the westward of Cape Passaro, in company with the Success and Northumberland, they captured Le Genereux, 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Perrée, having a number of troops on board from Toulon, bound for the relief of Malta; and when, on the 31st of March following, in company with the Lion, Capt. Dixon, and Pene lope, Sir H. Blackwood, they took, after a most obstinate and sanguinary engagement, Le Guillaume Tell, of 86 heavy guns and 1220 men, bearing the Flag Admiral Decrès, after her escape from Malta the night before. To the Foudroyant the termination of the battle has been attributed. The Guillaume Tell, it appeared, had but a short respite after her escape from the Nile.

With the exception of a short interval that he served in the Guillaume Tell with Capt. T. Elphinstone, we find him serving as lieutenant successively with Lord Nelson in the San Josef and St. George, both under the command of Capt. Sir T. Hardy, until after the battle of Copenhagen, on the 2nd of April 1801, when he was promoted to the rank, as it was then called, of master and commander, and appointed to the Dart sloop-of-war, which he commanded until October 1802, when she was paid off after the peace of Amiens. He was at the battle of Copenhagen; and served chiefly in the Dart with the fleet in the Baltic, after Lord Nelson had resigned the command. I

In July 1803 he was appointed to the Childers sloop-of-war, and followed Lord Nelson into the Mediterranean, where he served until the 5th of April 1805, when he was made Post into the Amphitrite frigate; and a few days after appointed to the command of the Guerriere frigate, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Knight. In the Guerriere he served at Gibraltar and in the Mediterranean until the 30th of September. He had not the good fortune to be present at the battle of Trafalgar-a circumstance which Nelson much regretted→→→ exclaiming, “Billy, Billy, out of luck!" He had been appointed, or at least nominated to the Melpomene frigate by Nelson, with express orders to join the fleet without delay-this was not to be, and further this nomination was cancelled after the battle of Trafalgar — in all probability, because Nelson was now no more!

In the middle of January 1806, he was appointed to the command of the Eurydice, a much smaller rate, and served in her until the same month in 1808, when he superseded Capt. Mackay in the command of

the Druid frigate, on the Irish station, and served in her until the beginning of August 1810, when he superseded the Hon. Capt. Capel in the Endymion, a fine large frigate, which he commanded on the same station until she was paid off at Plymouth in May 1812, in consequence of her requiring a thorough repair in dock.

In the Eurydice he served chiefly in the West Indies; and in the Druid and Endymion frigates, cruising in the Bay of Biscay, and off the south and west coast of Ireland, as far as Madeira and the Azores, and their meridians in high northern latitudes; both ships suffered much from the heavy gales and bad weather they repeatedly encountered on the Irish station. Speaking of the severe weather the Endymion had encountered on the Lough Swilly station, a midshipman, now a commander, once said, that she had been in a gale of wind for four months. The Endymion was also in the same gale in the winter of 1811, in which the Saldanha frigate was lost. Sir William Bolton stood out to sea in consequence of an indicating change which he had observed in the barometer.

In the winter of 1809, in the Bay of Biscay, the boats of the Druid attacked, at a considerable distance from the ship, in a calm, a large French national brig Le Basque, in company with another, but they were repulsed with loss. Both were lost sight of at night, owing to light winds having sprung up before dark; but he fortunately saw and chased the next day the one that had been attacked, and captured her in the night.

Immediately after the Endymion had been paid off, Capt. Sir William Bolton retired to Burnham in Norfolk, and enjoyed a short respite from service in domestic repose until June 1813, when he was appointed to the command of the Forth, a swift frigate of the largest class, which was destined to serve for a short time, first in the Baltic, and eventually on the coast of North America until the peace between England and the United States took place; after which, in March 1814, the Forth was ordered home from the Bermudas. During this service, Sir William captured Le Milan privateer, and the Regent American letter-of-marque.

Soon after the battle of Waterloo, he was selected to convey the Duchess d'Angoulême and suite to France, in which was also Mathieu the Count, afterwards the Duc de Montmorenci, ambassador on the part of France at the congress of Vienna. On the Forth being paid off in September 1815, Sir William Bolton again retired to Burnham in Norfolk, and was not afterwards employed in active service. In 1816, Sir William was induced to offer himself for the representation of Ipswich, but was unsuccessful.

ཎྞཱ

Sir William Bolton was tall, erect, and graceful in his person, fair in his complexion, and handsome in his features, with a classic forehead, a fine Roman nose, and a full blue eye, which was exceedingly quick and intelligent. To see him, was to see a gentleman in mind

In justice to Lord Melville, for whom Sir William had always a sincere re gard, it is proper to mention here, that this last appointment to the Forth was sent by his Lordship to Mrs. Bolton, the eldest sister of Nelson, Sir William's aunt and mother-in-law, implying a compliment to her, as well as deference to the memory of Nelson.