Bodies

The figure of a ship, abstractedly considered, is supposed to be divided into different parts, or figures, to each of which is given the appellation of body. Hence, we have the terms fore body, after body, cant bodies, and square body. Thus the fore body is the figure, or imaginary figure, of that part of the ship afore the midships, or dead-flat, as seen from ahead. The after body, in like manner, is the figure of that part of the ship abaft the midships, or dead-flat, as seen from astern. The cant bodies are distinguished into fore and after, and signify the figure of that part of a ship's body, or timbers, as seen from either side, which form the shape forward and aft, and whose planes makes obtuse angles with the midship line of the ship; those in the fore cant-body being inclined to the stem, as those in the after one are to the stern-post. The square body comprehends all the timbers whose areas or planes are perpendicular to the keel, and square with the middle line of the ship; which is all that portion of a ship between the cant bodies.