the principal piece of timber in a ship, which is usually first laid on the blocks in building. If we compare the carcase of a ship to the skeleton of the human body, the keel may be considered as the back- bone, and the timbers as the ribs. It therefore sup- ports and unites the whole fabric, since the stem and stern-post, which are elevated on its ends, are in some measure a continuation of the keel, and serve to con- nect and inclose the extremities of the sides by trans- oms; as the keel forms and unites the bottom by tim- bers.
The keel is generally composed of several thick pieces placed lengthways, which, after being scarfed together, are bolted, and clenched upon the upper side. When these pieces cannot be procured large enough to afford a sufficient depth to the keel, there is a strong thick piece of timber bolted to the bottom thereof, called the false keel, which is also very useful in preserving the lower side of the main keel. In our largest ships of war, the false keel is generally composed of two pieces, which are called the upper and the lower false keels. See Midsip Frame.
The lowest plank in a ship's bottom, called the garboard-break, has its inner-edge let into a groove or channel cut longitudinally on the side of the keel: the depth of this channel is therefore regulated by the thick- ness of the garboard-break.
Keel is also a name given to a low flat-bottomed ves- sel, used in the river Tyne to bring the coals down from Newcastle and the adjacent parts, in order to load the colliers for transportation.
KELL Hauling, a punishment inflicted for various offences in the Dutch navy. It is performed by plunging the delinquent repeatedly under the ship's bottom on one side, and hoisting him up on the other, after having passed under the keel. The blocks or pulleys by which he is suspended are fastened to the opposite extremities of the main-yard, and a weight of lead or iron is hung upon his legs, to sink him to a competent depth. By this apparatus he is drawn close up to the yard-arm, and thence let fall suddenly into the sea, where, passing under the ship's bottom, he is hoisted up on the opposite side of the vessel. As this extraordinary sentence is executed with a serenity of temper peculiar to the Dutch, the culprit is allowed sufficient intervals to recover the sense of pain, of which indeed he is frequently deprived during the operation. In truth, a temporary insensibility to his sufferings ought by no means to be construed into a disrespect of his judges, when we consider that this punishment is supposed to have peculiar propriety in the depth of winter, whilst the flakes of ice are floating on the stream; and that it is continued till the culprit is almost suffocated for want of air, be- numbed with the cold of the water, or stunned with the blows his head receives by striking the ship's bottom.
KELSON, a piece of timber which may be pro- perly defined the interior or counter-part of the keel; as it is laid upon the middle of the floor-timbers, im- mediately over the keels, and like it composed of sev- eral veral pieces scarfed together. In order to fit with more security upon the floor-timbers and crotches, it is notched about an inch and a half deep, opposite to each of those pieces, and thereby firmly scored down upon them to that depth, where it is secured by spike-nails. The pieces of which it is formed are only half the breadth and thickness of those of the keel.
The keelson serves to bind and unite the floor-timbers to the keel. It is confined to the keel by long bolts, which, being driven from without through several of the timbers, are fore-locked or clenched upon rings on the upper-side of the keelson.