For one thing this century will in after ages be considered to have done in a superb manner and one thing I think only. . . it will always be said of us, with unabated reverence,`They built ships of the Line.' Take it all in all, a ship of the Line is the most honorable thing that man as a gregarious animal has ever produced. By himself, unhelped, he can do better things than ships of the line; he can make poems and pictures, and other such concentrations of what is best in him. But as a being living in flocks, and hammering out, with alternate strokes and mutual agreement, what is necessary for him in those flocks to get or produce the ship of the line is his first work. Into that he has put as much of his human patience, common sense, forethought, experimental philosophy, self control, habits of order and obedience, thoroughly wrought handwork, defiance of brute elements, careless courage, careful patriotism, and calm expectation of the judgement of God, as can well be put into a space of 300 feet long by 80 broad. And I am thankful to have lived in an age when I could see this thing so done.

At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, England maintained a fleet of over a hundred ships of the line, plus vast fleets of frigates, sloops-of-war and supply and auxiliary ships needed to support them. The cost to build and maintain each of these massive vessels to the societies that had them was comparable to what we pay today for an aircraft carrier or missile submarine, except this was a pre-industrial world prior to steam, electricity, and mass production. These were the largest and most complex wooden sailing vessels ever built, indeed, they reached the architectural limit of wood and fiber and the musclepower required to operate them. And they were not designed for independent action, they were meant to fight in fleets, against other fleets, (the line of battle), hence their name.

Noble sentiments and stirring words, to be sure, and yet, the solitary purpose for existence of the ship of the line was solely to hammer into ruined hulks other nations' ships of the line. It is all the evidence we need of the creativity and ingenuity, as well as the savagery of human beings.

PS. Since these ships fought in line-ahead formation, alongside another line of opponents similarly deployed, gun crews were needed to man cannon only on the side of the ship facing the enemy. Guns on the other side were loaded and ready in the event a melee required firing a broadside on the other side. This happened very rarely, line on line engagements generated many casualties and much damage, but were usually not decisive.