This second volume on technology is mainly devoted to three prize-winning memoirs, answering questions related to ship-building which were proposed by the French Académie Royale des Sciences in the years 1737, 1755, and 1757. The volume hosts two further items: a popularizing text on astronomy from 1723, and the theory of the spiral pump, a technical item from 1772. In the introductory part of the volume every memoir is analysed and extensively summarized, so the reader should obtain a clear view of the content in modern terms.