received an equal
number of 42-pounder carronades, besides two long 12-pounders as
chase-guns; making 58 guns on two flush-decks, with a net complement of
495 men and boys. They thus, though denominated frigates, possessed a
slightly increased weight of metal in broadsides to that which they
before carried. It was hoped that with the aid of black hammock-cloths
thrown over the waist of the barricade, they would be so disguised as to
tempt any large American frigates they might fall in with to come down
and engage. Such ships would have been more than a match for the
heaviest of the American 44-gun frigates. They were in reality
two-decked ships, but, as it turned out, they had no opportunity of
proving their powers with any of the vessels with which they were
intended to cope.

Several other fine 50-gun frigates were built; the _Endymion, Glasgow_,
and _Liverpool, Forth, Liffey_, and _Severn_ the three latter of fir,
and the two before-mentioned of pitch-pine; the chief complaint made of
them being that their quarters were rather confined. They had a
complement of 350 men and boys. Other smaller frigates were constructed
for economy's sake of yellow pine, most of them carrying medium
24-pounders, with a complement of 330 men and boys. To the British Navy
were also added two classes of sloops of war; the largest, of about 430
tons, mounted 18 32-pounder carronades on the main-deck, and 6, 12, or
18-pounder carronades on the quarter-deck and forecastle, with two long
sixes, making a total of 26 guns, with 121 men and boys. The
second-class was the 18-gun brig-sloop. Another class of ship-sloops or
corvettes were fitted out for sea while Sir Joseph Yorke was First Lord
of the Admiralty, having a flush-deck, and carrying 18 32-pounder
carronades and two long nines. They were fitted with stern chase-ports,
but from the narrowness of their sterns there was no room to work the
tiller, while the guns were pointed from the ports. They were defective
also in having their masts too slight, while they were in other respects
heavily rigged. The worst vessels, however, constructed at a later
period, were the 10-gun brigs of war, small, narrow craft, so low
between decks that the unfortunate commander, if a tall man, had to
stand up, with his head through the skylight, and his looking-glass on
deck, to shave himself. For many years commanders were appointed to
them with a crew of upwards of 100 men, two lieutenants, and o