The Transit

The Transit was designed by Mr. Gower, an officer in the East India Company's Service, and was launched at Itchenor, in Sussex, in the year 1800. She was a vessel of peculiar construction, and was intended for the packet service. In her first trials she showed superior qualities as a sailer and a sea-boat; and having attracted the attention of the royal squadron in July, 1801, and previously, that of earl Spencer, when he was first lord of the admiralty, and having subsequently established her character as a fast sailer, the earl St. Vincent, now first lord of the admiralty, ordered her to be tried against the Osprey, a fast sailing sloop of war, of 383 tons, commanded by commander Irwin, in July, 1801; and it appears by the official returns, that the Transit had great advantage, both close-hauled and large; that in blowing weather she was much easier and drier than the Osprey; and that when pressed under trial, her greatest angle of heeling was about ten degrees. Although this vessel had displayed great superiority in sailing, as well as in other essential properties, yet she was allowed to take on board a cargo, and to sail with a convoy of merchant vessels: in this service her good qualities as a sailer were still displayed and noticed, particularly by captain Paget, of the Hydra; and it appears that they were not less conspicuous in subsequent voyages which she made as a trading vessel. She was fitted with bulkheads at certain distances from the head and stern, with the view to give transverse strength, and also to keep the weights away from the extremities.

From the acknowledge good qualities, the late lord Vernon had a yacht built on the reduced lines of the Transit; and this vessel is said to have possessed weatherly qualities, and to have sailed well; but it is said she was not stiff under canvas.

The dimensions of the Transit were as given below, and her form was as that shown in Plate 22:

		Feet.	Ins.
Length on the deck		98	0
Breadth extreme		22	0
Breadth on the water line		19	0
Load draught of water	afore	11	6
Load draught of water	abaft	11	6

The rig of the Transit was not less peculiar than the form of her hull: she had four masts (as shown in plate 23), each receiving support from another, and her sails were so cut as to be well adapted to sail close-hauled. They were so formed as to present a great surface, whilst they could be reduced to a very small quantity. One of the greatest excellencies of this rig appears to have consisted in its simplicity, and in its being less encumbered with a multiplicity of ropes, &c.

John Fincham: A History of Naval Architecture, to which is prefixed, an Introductory Dissertation on the Application of Mathematical Science to the Art of Naval Construction, 1851. pp 180-181.

Transcribed by Lars Bruzelius

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