y glad to hear our own judgment thus confirmed by a man, part
of whose business it was to form a correct opinion with respect to the
points upon which he had touched, and we said as much.

He took a great deal of interest in what must, after all, have been a
very trifling matter to him; and both Bob and I had reason often
afterwards to congratulate ourselves that we had confided the building
of our boat to such good hands.

He proposed that she should be _composite_ built; that is, that for the
sake of lightness and strength combined, her frame should be of steel,
with an inner skin of thin steel plate, and an outer planking of two
thicknesses of mahogany. The ribs were to be arranged _diagonally_
crossing the keel at an angle of forty-five degrees, and intersecting
each other at right angles, thus converting her entire frame into a sort
of lattice-work girder.

It was arranged that all the fastenings of the inner thickness of
planking should be of iron, whilst the outside planks should be secured
with copper fastenings. The utmost care was exercised (and, as
experience proved, with complete success) to prevent the slightest
approach to galvanic action, and one of the precautions taken was, I
remember well, the painting of the inner planking with melted india-
rubber, which was laid on coat after coat until there was about one-
sixteenth of an inch of the rubber between the outer and inner planks.

As we did not intend to sail until the following rummer, the builder had
about eight months in which to put our little ship together, a
circumstance at which he expressed great satisfaction, as he said it
would enable him to pick and choose his materials, and put careful work
into her.

We arranged, at the same time, for the construction of a boat to take
with us, as we felt that in the event of any untoward accident
happening, we ought to have something to take to for the saving of our
lives, and we knew also that there would be many occasions when we
should require something to answer the purposes which a boat answers
with regard to a ship.

The designing of this boat was beset by difficulties, all originating in
one, viz., want of space in which to stow her. To think of carrying her
on deck was out of the question, as the deck was not spacious enough, in
the first place, to receive such a boat as we wanted; and even had it
been, there was no chance of its remaining there; it would have been
carried away by the fi