David Steel’s The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship, published first in 1794, stands as a foundational text in maritime history and naval training. It was the first extensive English-language manual to systematically record the methods of rigging, seamanship, and naval operations, serving as a crucial guide for sailors, shipwrights, and officers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Written to educate future naval officers, the work blends theoretical principles with practical instruction. It also preserves a richly detailed portrait of British naval practice during the Napoleonic era, complete with illustrations, specialized terminology, and precise explanations of tools and techniques—material that remains invaluable to maritime and military historians. Steel’s publication helped formalize naval procedures throughout the “Age of Sail” (1550-1850) and shaped the development of later naval manuals well into the modern period, securing his status as one of the era’s most influential naval publishers.

Right: Diaagram of the square sails and driver of a twenty‑gun ship, with each sail labeled and proportioned, with an accompanying list of sails. Steel’s  The Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics included used these plates to teach the standardized layout of masts, yards, and sails for ships of different rates. The diagram served as a foundational teaching tool for consistent rigging, mast alignment, and naval tactical understanding. https://maritime.org/doc/steel/large/rigging7.php Pages 210-211.

Pre-modern classical and medieval era military manuals did, at times, delve into maritime military operations. Both Vegetius’ Epitome of Military Science and Leo VI’s Taktika devoted chapters to naval warfare, emphasizing the use of the primary Mediterranean warship, the late imperial Liburnian galley and the Byzantine dromon, in combat operations. New medieval ship designs from northern Europe emphasized sailing over rowing for propulsion, marrying the best attributes of Mediterranean galleys to the taller, flat-bottomed northern clinker-built ships (cogs and hulks) to produce new classes of capable ocean-going vessels like the caravel and larger carrack by the fifteenth century. After cannons were added, first in small numbers, but by the early seventeenth century with multiple “gundecks” below the main deck running the entire length of the vessel, a new kind of “ship-of-the-line” was created. In 1610, England commissioned the Prince Royal, the first sailing warship with two gun decks under the main deck, followed by the larger Sovereign of the Seas in 1637, with three gun decks and over eighty large cannons onboard. Naval tactics favored broadside attacks with increasingly large-caliber guns. Sixteenth century muzzle-loading cannons were typically eighteen pounders (5.3-inch bore), however, by the eighteenth century, larger twenty-four pounders (5.84-inch bore) and thirty-two pounders (6.4-inch bore) guns were commonly in use on larger vessels. Because of the lack of rifling on the ship’s cannons, the pitch and roll of the ship at sea, and the crude aiming devices available to gunnery crews, most naval battles were fought within 500 yards of the enemy in order to bring all gun calibers to bear. Moreover, the line-abreast formation favored by galleys in the classical and medieval eras did not suit the design of seventeenth and eighteenth century warships, so line-ahead formations were preferred in order to bring the full potential of a broadside bombardment into the fray.[1]

These new sailing ship designs ushered in a naval arms race across Europe, with states committed to making larger and heavier vessels eventually given “ratings” based on their number of guns. Formalized in the early seventeenth century, this rating system organized European fleets into three categories of ship-of-the-line warships. First Rate; the largest and most powerful ships, typically three-deckers with three continuous decks of guns, usually carried over 100 guns. These capital ships were expensive to build and operate, often serving as flagships for admirals. Great Britain’s HMS Victory, commissioned in 1778, is perhaps the best known example of this type of warship. Due to technological limitations, typical First Raters displaced about 3,500 tons, had a length of nearly two hundred feet, a beam of fifty feet, and were manned by up to 1,000 officers, sailors and marines, crew sizes and complements decreasing with smaller vessels.[2] Second Rate ships were generally smaller in size, usually carrying between eighty and ninety-eight guns on three decks. They were also three-deckers and were used in the line of battle. Third Rate ships, the smallest category of ships-of-the-line, typically were constructed with two decks containing fewer than eighty guns. Below ships-of-the line were smaller vessels, specifically the frigate and sloop-of-war, with the typical frigate outfitted with thirty-two guns and the sloop carrying around twenty guns on her main deck. However, some frigates could be larger. America’s USS Constitution, launched in 1797, was built as a forty-four gun frigate, but often carried more than fifty guns while in active service.[3] These ships were easier to construct and played crucial roles in escort, fleet reconnaissance, and “showing the flag” missions. They were built to be fast enough to evade heavier ships while being capable of successfully engaging smaller vessels.

Operating such complex warships in close quarters required a great deal of training, drill and discipline, facilitated by the introduction of handbooks to cover seamanship, rigging, and naval tactics. Taking the lead in maritime instruction was the prominent naval power of the age, Great Britain, with one of the finest manuals written by the British naval architect strategist, and publisher David Steel. His comprehensive multi-volume treatment, The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship, was first published in 1794 and reissued again during the Napoleonic War, becoming the best naval manual produced during the Age of Sail.

Left: “Order of Battle.” This illustration from Steel’s  The Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics presents the ordered movements of ships in formation, mapping prescribed evolutions used in fleet tactics. Each numbered position demonstrates how vessels should turn, advance, and maintain alignment, offering officers a clear visual guide to eighteenth‑century naval maneuvering principles. https://maritime.org/doc/steel/large/tactics02.php Page 353.

As the title suggests, David Steel’s The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship covers both the theoretic and practical aspects of rigging and seamanship, while also covering other essential elements of shipboard maintenance and general naval operations, including military operations. Initially presented in two volumes (later editions were expanded to four), the original volume one explains the technical terms relating to the making of masts, bowsprits, yards, blocks and oars, and describes the tools required and the methods used. It also describes the art of sailmaking, the technical terms relating to it, the tools required, the qualities of canvas used for different sails in military and merchant vessels, and how to calculate the quantities needed. Rope and anchor making is also covered. It continues with a detailed discussion on rigging, describing methods for rigging different types of ships. Volume two focuses on the art and science of seamanship, describing anchoring, mooring, getting under sails, tacking into the wind, as well as specialized naval skills such as chasing and boarding other vessels. Both original volumes are well illustrated with line drawings and mathematical explanations designed to assist the reader in the day-to-day operations of a sailing vessel, with Steel crediting French authors for their original research. “Upon the two subjects of SEAMANSHIP and NAVAL TACTICS we owe many obligations to the writers of France. It has been long admitted that M. Bouguer has given the true theory of working ships, and that M. Morogues is the most enlightened author on naval tactics.”[4] This acknowledgment reflects the admiration European naval architects and naval theorists had for one another, even when their countries were often politically and militarily at odds with one another. Of special interest to this study are the sections on military operations contained in volume two, focusing on fleet operations, ship-to-ship combat, and on how to board an enemy vessel in different wind and sea states. On the topic of organizing a British naval flotilla at sea, The Elements and Practice of Rigging states that:

“Fleets are generally divided into three squadrons; and, if numerous, these squadrons are subdivided into three divisions. The squadrons are denominated the van, the center, and the rear; and the divisions of each squadron bear the like denomination. In general, the center squadron is commanded by the admiral (who, indeed, directs the whole); the van by the vice-admiral; and the rear by the rear-admiral. The three squadrons of a fleet ought to be equal, in number and force, in order that one may be able as effectually to oppose the enemy as another.

The business of such fleets, denominated naval tactics, consists of evolutions, which are to preserve their own safety and produce injury to the enemy, in every possible situation. Nothing great can be effected without order; and therefore it is, that various dispositions for fleets have been devised, applicable to their different objects of either protecting commerce, crossing an ocean, or engaging an enemy. Tacticians have said that there are five orders of sailing, one order of battle, and one order of retreat; and, as this system seems most usually practiced.”[5]

The manual goes on to discuss in detail the five orders of sailing, critiquing the strengths and weaknesses of each, but generally preferring the fifth order because of the closer proximity of the ships. In the Fifth Order of Sailing:

“The fleet is divided into three columns, each of which is ranged on a line parallel with that close-hauled line upon which they are to form the order of battle. Regularly, the van guard forms the weather column, commanded by the vice-admiral; the center division, commanded by the admiral, forms the center column; and the rear-guard, commanded by the rear-admiral, is the lee column. But this disposition of the columns is sometimes changed, to answer particular purposes.

Two things are principally to be observed, to keep this order regular; the columns and the vessels should preserve their proper distances.

The commanders of each division, and each second, third, [etc.] ships are to keep themselves reciprocally a-breast of each other; each likewise observing, with regard to her immediate leader, the distance prescribed by the admiral.

The distance between the columns will be correct, if the first ship of one column and the last ship of the next column form an angle of 22° 30', or two points, with the line on which they are moving.

This order is more practiced, because it unites in itself the advantages of all the others, without their defects. The fleet, thus collected closer together, can better observe signals, and is more readily changed into order of battle.”[6]

Right: This illustration from David Steel’s Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship demonstrates practical methods for keeping ships in their assigned stations within the Fifth Order of Sailing. Using the “naval square,” it visualizes how coordinated positioning preserved formation, discipline, and tactical coherence in fleet operations, https://maritime.org/doc/steel/large/tactics03.php Page 356.

On the topic of the difficult task of keeping a fleet in a good Order of Battle:

“It has been found that there is no mode of preserving order in battles at sea, but by keeping upon a line not quite close-hauled, a-head of each other, and under very moderate sail. The distance between each ship varies, according to circumstances, from one-third of a cable's length to about 100 fathoms. The fire ships must be distributed, some a-breast of the van, center, and rear, at a convenient distance to windward, if the enemy be to leeward; or to leeward, if the enemy be to windward; and in a line with some frigates a-head and a-stern of them. Beyond these a third parallel line is formed of the hospital ships, transports, with frigates [etc.] a-head and a-stern.

The line upon a wind is chosen for the order of battle; because, if the fleet to windward were ranged on any other line, the enemy might gain the wind of it: and, if he should not even seek to obtain that advantage, he could nevertheless choose the time and distance for engaging. The fleet to leeward, being ranged parallel to the enemy, can more readily avail itself of any shift of wind and oversight of the enemy to gain the wind, which, if it should not accomplish, it must still keep on that line, extending itself the length of the enemy's, to prevent the being forereached, as well as to avoid engaging, if necessary. The van is regularly commanded by the vice-admiral, and forms the head of the line to windward; the center is commanded by the admiral; and the rear, which is commanded by the rear-admiral, closes the line to leeward. This disposition is sometimes altered, to suit the purposes of particular evolutions.”[7]

Much of the naval tactics section of volume two describes how to best maneuver the fleet for advantage using one of the five orders of sailing, depending on sea and wind states. Here, Steel provides ample illustrations for the reader. Concerning the one Order of Retreat, The Elements and Practice of Rigging recommends that

“This form (the inverse of the third order of sailing) is practiced only in the presence of an enemy by an inferior fleet to leeward, when, either beaten or obliged to avoid an action, it makes choice of this disposition, rather than either of the orders of sailing; because from this order it can more easily recover the line of battle; the frigates, fire ships, transports, [etc.] are more completely protected; and the whole is more connectedly under the command of the admiral.

The fleet is ranged on the two sides of the obtuse angle of 135 degrees, forming two lines upon a wind. The admiral forms the angular point to windward, and in the middle of his fleet: the fire ships, transports, frigates, [etc.] are placed between the two wings to leeward. The course of a retreat is generally before the wind; but the fleet may go more or less large, according to the exigency of the moment.”[8]

Left: Steel was very precise in his tactical directions based on wind conditions encountered by the fleet. This illustration describes how to change from the line of battle to the Fifth Order of Sailing on the opposite tack requires the van squadron to form to leeward and the rear squadron to take position to windward. https://maritime.org/doc/steel/large/tactics12.php Page 371. 

On the topics of chasing and boarding an adversary ship, Steel gives precise directions on how to quickly determine if a chase is possible, and then how close with a vessel which is windward or leeward to the pursuer and execute a boarding tactic at sea.

“A vessel that chases another ought to have the advantage of sailing. We shall therefore suppose this to be the case; because were the ship chased as good a sail-er as the chaser, she never could come up with her, if they maneuvered equally and at the same time. It is then useless to chase a ship over which you have not the superiority in sailing, unless it be found that she does not know how to take the benefit of her equality.

To know if your ship sails quicker than your adversary, you must get on the same tack, under the same sails, and keep the same course with the vessel you wish to chase, and set her exactly with a compass. If you sail best, the chase will soon be drawn a point more aft; but, if she has the advantage, you will in a short time bring her a point farther forward: if you sail equally, she will remain on the point you set her at first.

Boarding is the art of approaching the ship of an enemy so near, that you can easily, and in spite of him, throw on board the grappling [hooks], which are fixed on the lower yard-arms, at the forecastle, gangways, [etc.] for the purpose of being thrown into the enemy's ship, as soon as along-side, in order to confine the vessels together, and give the people an opportunity of getting on board, to carry the adverse ship sword in hand.”[9]

Steel continues with instructions on how to board a ship under leeward and windward conditions. He also discusses how to board a ship which is at anchor.

“It is always easy to board a ship at anchor, when the wind will allow you to approach her under sail; and the best way to proceed, is to run her along-side, or to bring-to to windward of the ship you wish to attack, keeping her exactly to leeward of you; then drift on board of her, by trimming your sails in such a manner, as to keep as near as possible, your broadside opposite to that of the adverse ship. Annoying her with your guns till you can close her, and your constant cannonading may prevent her fire being so well served as it might otherwise be.”[10]

Right: HMS Victory, a First Rate ship of the line carrying over 100 guns on three continuous gun decks. As British Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the battle of Trafalgar (1805), she represents the largest and most powerful warships of the period. This watercolor was painted by Robert Raymond in 1778, the year of her commissioning. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HMS_Victory_commanded_by_Sir_John_Lindsay_1778_(maritime_journal_of_Robert_Raymond)_092631.jpg 

David Steel’s The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship is a landmark work in maritime history and naval education. It was the first comprehensive English-language manual systematically documenting the practices of rigging, seamanship, and naval tactics, one designed as an essential reference for sailors, shipbuilders, and naval officers during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Steel’s work was intended to educate aspiring naval officers, providing both theoretical knowledge and practical instruction. Moreover, The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship offers a detailed snapshot of British naval practices during the Napoleonic Wars, one which includes illustrations, technical terminology, and detailed descriptions of tools and techniques, making it invaluable for maritime and military historians alike. Steel’s publication helped standardize naval practices and theory for the remainder of the Age of Sail, while influencing later naval manuals into the modern age. It also cemented his reputation as one of the most respected naval publishers of his time.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Steel, David. The Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics, Four Volumes. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Accessed May 29, 2025, https://maritime.org/doc/steel/index.php

Secondary Sources

Addington, Larry H. The Patterns of War Through the Eighteenth Century. Indiana University Press, 1990.

Jennings, John. Tattered Ensign The Story of America's Most Famous Fighting Frigate, U.S.S. Constitution. Thomas Y. Crowell, 1966.

[1]  Larry H. Addington, The Patterns of War Through the Eighteenth Century (Indiana University Press, 1990) 104, 106.

[2]  Ibid, 104.

[3]  John Jennings, Tattered Ensign The Story of America's Most Famous Fighting Frigate, U.S.S. Constitution (Thomas Y. Crowell, 1966), 7.

[4]  David Steel, The Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics, vol 1, (Cambridge University Press, 2011), vi, https://maritime.org/doc/steel/index.php, accessed May 29, 2025.

[5]  Steel, The Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics, vol 2, 348.

[6]  Ibid, 350.

[7]  Ibid, 352.

[8]  Ibid, 353.

[9]  Ibid, 337.

[10]  Ibid, 343.