Navy ship model test basin, Lorient 1768	Experiments on ship maneuvering, Venice 1764

The publication of Traité du navire in 1746 ushered in a new age that demanded increasing use of science in ship design and construction.  Beginning in France and spreading throughout Europe, naval architects began an intensive system of education and training that brought them from being seen as “mere carpenters” to highly-regarded members of the engineering and scientific communities.  Scientific academies, sponsored by the governments, held contests with substantial prize awards to improve the design and construction of ships.  The tests and experiments they performed would not look out of place in a modern laboratory.  But after 1789, this would all come crashing down