Naval devices: a ram-ship, a counterweight machine, hull studies
A circular warship to stave in enemy hulls, with recipes for a battlefield stench
The sheet studies naval machines: a counterweight device in which the weight, and the water with it, moves farther from the center as it falls, and a circular ship with a central turret meant to stave in enemy hulls with a hidden instrument, its raised middle keeping off boarding lances. Around them are hull studies and a note on the 'motion of the void' (buoyancy) of boats. The long note also gives several recipes for a battlefield stench, from dung and urine to rotten eels and crabs fermented under manure, to be broken open among the enemy; later Spanish annotations on the sheet are not part of the transcription.
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A counterweight machine linked to water
Leonardo describes a machine in which, the more the counterweight falls, the farther from the center it hangs, and the water with it. The device is drawn as a tripod-mounted arm with a suspended weight and vessel of water.
The motion of the void of boats (buoyancy)
A caption on the drawn hull parts reads 'motion of the void of the boats', a study of how a boat's hollow carries it on the water. Two views of a hull are sketched at upper left and upper right.
A circular ram-ship and recipes for a battlefield stench
A round vessel with a central turret is designed to stave in enemy ships with a secret instrument, its raised middle warding off long boarding lances, with a reminder to send out and retrieve a hidden fitting before closing up. The same note supplies recipes for a stench: dung and urine with pottaia herb (or cabbage and beet) fermented a month under manure, rotten eels, and stoppered crabs, all to be smashed among the enemy.