By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, first rates were the largest ships and generally mounted at least one hundred guns, while earlier Jacobean first rates could begin around eighty guns across three decks. First and second rates usually shared the imposing appearance of three-deckers. Nominal gun figures describe the number of guns for which a ship was pierced, rather than the weapons carried in every circumstance. Commanders could add carronades, stow guns, or lighten a vessel, and troop transport duties could change the visible armament. That variability also made large East Indiamen harder to distinguish from warships at a distance.
Notable Point · 22:01-23:27
First and second rates: gun decks and gun counts
Three-deck first and second rates can look alike; the rating depends on their gun-deck arrangement and the number of gun ports rather than a simple visual impression.