eighteenth century, except a few varieties peculiar to different seas and coasts. As for the fire-ship of the first part of the century, no mention is made of it at the close; and if, since that time, certain infernal machines, more or less closely fashioned after the fire-ships, have made their appearance, they have only proved unfortunate attempts, and not answered the expectations of their contrivers. The Turks alone preserved these old warlike contrivances up to the present time; and Navarino offered us, for the last time, the spectacle of a ship—the Scipio—engaged with a fire-ship Like the fire-ship, the ancient galley disappeared with the eighteenth century. In the Mediterranean, the three-masted barque has become the xebeck; and we find, under the same appearance, all the embarkations spoken of in the preceding ages. The lateen vessels are those the least changed in appearance, because, from the simplicity of their rig, they sooner reached a stage bordering on perfection.
The ship Ocean, represented in engraving (17), is an excellent specimen of the science of the eighteenth century. Presented to Louis XIV, by the estates of Burgundy, nothing was spared to make the frigate worthy of its destiny. Built in 1760, it was modernized, and is still in existence.
EARLY MARITIME DISCOVERIES.
The Portuguese were among the first to signalize themselves in the
career of geographical discovery. At the beginning of the fifteenth century,
Prince Henry, son of John I, was at the head of the marine of Portugal.
Under his immediate direction, several voyages were undertaken
to the coast of Africa; in one of which the voyagers were driven by a
storm out of their usual course along shore, and for the first time the terrified
mariners found themselves in the boundless ocean. When the storm
abated, they were in sight of an island, to which, in their thankfulness to
Heaven for the succor it afforded, they gave the name of Puerto Sancto,
or the Holy Haven—the least of the Madeiras. The voyages of the
Portuguese now succeeded each other rapidly; and other navigators of
this nation, either grown bolder, or again driven off the coast, discovered
the Azores. In 1433, the Portuguese passed Cape Nun, hitherto the limit
of their courses, and arrived at a cape, which presenting a frightful barrier
to the still timid seamen, in the terrible surf that broke on the shoals
near it, they named Bojador, signifying its projection into the sea and the
consequent circuit it required to double it.
In succeeding expeditions, Cape Verd was reached, and the Senegal arrived at, and Lisbon saw with astonishment a different race from the Moors. Cape Mesurado was the limit of the Portuguese discoveries at the death of Prince Henry in 1463, which damping the ardor of discovery, it was not until 1471 that the Equator was crossed, and the islands in the gulf of Guinea were discovered.
The terrors of the burning zone, and the belief of the union of Africa and Asia being dissipated by these successive voyages, the passage to India round Africa was no longer deemed impossible, and a fleet was fitted out under Bartholomew Diaz for the express purpose of attempting it. The captain coasted Africa to within sight of its southern point, to which he gave the name of Cape of all Torments, from the violent storms he expe-
