Ships Miscellany A Guide to the Royal Navy of Jack Aubrey

Rating of Ships British naval ships were 'rated' as to the number of heavy cannon they carried. First rates carried 100 or more guns; second rates carried 90 to 98 guns; third rates, 64 to 89 guns; fourth rates, 50 to 60 guns; and frigates carrying between 20 and 48 guns were either fifth- or sixth-rated. The common English expressions 'first-rate' - meaning excellent - and 'second-rate' - meaning inferior (with variations down to 'tenth-rate') - derive from this system of rating, although a second-, or even a sixth-rate man-of-war of the Napoleonic era was by no means an inferior vessel.Buchan, Tony is the author of 'Ships Miscellany A Guide to the Royal Navy of Jack Aubrey', published 2004 under ISBN 9781843170778 and ISBN 1843170779.