PORTS

The ports are formed of a sufficient extent to point and fire the cannon, without injuring the ship's side by the recoil; and as it serves no end to enlarge them beyond what is necessary for that purpose, the shipwrights have established certain dimensions, by which they are cut in proportion to the size of the cannon.

The ports are shut in at sea by a sort of hanging-doors, called the port-lids, mantelets; which are fastened by hinges to their upper-edges, so as to let down when the cannon are drawn into the ship. By this means the water is prevented from entering the lower-decks in a turbulent sea. The lower and upper edges of the ports are always parallel to the deck, so that the guns, when levelled in their carriages, are all equally high above the lower extremity of the ports which is called the port-cells. The ports are exhibited, throughout the ship's whole length, by H. in the ELEVATION., plate I. They are also represented upon a larger scale in plate IV. fig. 10. and plate VIII fig. 3. The gun-room-ports, in the ship's counter, are expressed by II. fig. 1. plate X. See also the articles. DECK and CANNON.

Plates I and IV

Plates VIII and X

Reference Works