GUEST, I think the Royal Navy's rating system went:

First Rate : Three decks, 100 guns + [e.g. HMS "Victory"]
Second Rate : Three decks, 90-100 guns
Third Rate : Two decks, 70-84 guns [would have included all 74's]
Fourth Rate : Two decks, ??-70 guns [would have included HMS "Agamemnon"]
Fifth Rate : Two decks, < 50 guns; there would have been precious few of these by 1800
             One deck, 30 guns+; this would have included almost all frigates, and several "razeed" ships-of-the-line, which had their main deck removed e.g. HMS "Majestic"
Sixth Rate : One deck, < 30 guns; sloops, corvettes, brigs-of-war etc.

However, I may well be wrong; and in any case the rating system underwent several incremental changes over the course of time and the steady advance in warship design.


Re-reading Forester's history of the War of 1812, gives a type of shot which used by the US Navy only, "Dismantling shot". This was six or seven iron bars, linked by a ring at one end, designed to cripple an enemy's rigging. When the USS "President" was trying to escape from New York in early 1815, this was used to break clear of HMS "Endymion", which, "had her sails stripped from her yards". (The "President" was shortly afterwards trapped by two other British warships; it had earlier been damaged by going aground).