Page:The history of yachting.djvu/205

 Rh town in Hampshire, in 1623. When quite young he was apprenticed to a sea captain; and he followed the sea until near-sightedness compelled him to give it up. He then studied medicine at Leyden and at Paris. In 1644 he returned to England, and continued his studies at Oxford, where he was graduated as Doctor of Physics. In 1652 he was appointed Physician-General of the Army in Ireland. Here he added greatly to his reputation and fortune. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society; and, furthermore, he had—the records show—at one time no less than sixty-three miscellaneous experiments to be prosecuted by the Society. One of them was "to fix an engine (machine) with propelling power in a ship." He also invented the "double writing," or copying machine. The double-bottomed ship, however, was his favorite invention. In 1684—as the records of the Royal Society show—he sent a challenge to Sir Anthony Deane—at that time the leading naval constructor in England—embracing some fifteen propositions "wherein are effected the virtues of the sluice-bottomed vessel beyond any vessel of common make." He closes his letter by saying that he intends "to spend his life in examining the greatest and noblest of all machines—a ship."

Sir William presented a model of one of his vessels to the Royal Society, and another to Gresham College, both being still preserved. In 1665 he communicated a discourse about the building of ships to the Royal Society, containing some curious secrets concerning the "art or mystery." This