The question of the effect of trim upon the speed of vessels is one that has been much debated by those that go down to the sea in ships for hundreds—perhaps thousands—of years. It is altogether probable that Noah's sons thought that the old man kept the ark at a bad trim for speed. Certainly in the days of sailing ships the question of trim was regarded as a very live one, but change of trim for sailing vessels affects other qualities besides speed; for instance, maneuvering power. Naval architects of the present generation, however, regard moderate variations of trim as having little effect upon resistance for vessels of ordinary types and to them it will be somewhat surprising to find in No. 133 of the PROCEEDINGS OF THE NAVAL INSTITUTE (March, 1910) a paper entitled, "Wasted Horsepower and Economical Trim" in which there is an apparently serious attempt to demonstrate that a comparatively small variation from a supposed "Economical Trim" will result in "enormous loss of wasted horsepower."
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