Removal of Victory‘s stern galleries 1800-3

[Malcolm Lewis]

I seem to recall Peter Goodwin saying that Victory and other vessels with stern galleries had them removed in the early part of the 19th century “to reduce weight beyond the hull profile”. This has puzzled me because looking at the before and after plans there seems to be little reduction beyond the hull profile.
Would the removal of the galleries and reglazing flush have had more to resolving the weakness in construction due to the galleries, resulting in a stiffer construction?
There were I believe many complaints from commanding officers of severe leaks due to weaknesses in the transoms etc.
The weight of the blown, stone ground window glass would of course have had an effect on the strength of the stern structure both before and after the galleries were removed.
Malcolm Lewis

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