From a wuter-colour by Charles Dixon, R.I. {Copyright of the Pubiisher%) THE " GREAT HARRY," 1520 THE SEA ITS HISTORY AND ROMANCE By FRANK C. BOWEN Juthor of " The Golden Age of Sal/," " Siifii for Alt," Etc. ; Editor of " Merchant Ships oj the World" VOL. I. ROBERT M. McBRIDE AND COMPANY NEW YORK 1927 \/K l^'JoS'iB Printed in Great Britain by Herbert Reiach, Ltd., Eyot Works, Eyot Gar- dens, London, W.6 CONTENTS Chapter I. — The Discovery of Britain PAGE I )) J.J.. ■■J^\^l.KJi.\^ l,i_Hw. V_^VJU.^U.t,v3l, ^ ,, III. — The Norman Conquerors and their Successors .... 14 IV. The French Wars .... 25 V. TheTudors . 46 ,, VI. — The Spanish Menace . 59 ,, VII.— The Navy and the Stuarts . lOI „ VIII. The Dutch War .... . 119 ,, IX. — The Navy of the Restoration 138 ,, X. — Ships and Seamen 166 ,, XI. — The Early Explorers . 192 „ XII. The Beginning of Trade 212 „ XIII. The Opening of the East . 231 „ XIV. Westward Ho! 245 ,, XV. — Sea Rovers 273 Index 297 The Sea, Vol. I. ZhKoS^G LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Colour plates are indicated by an asterisk) PAGE The Great Harry, 1520 . Frontispiece* Victory of the Romans over the Car- thaginians, B.C. 256 The Landing- of Cfesar in England King Alfred the Great The Moral .... A Fourteenth-Century Raid on the Kentish Coast Edward III . The Battle of Sluys, 1840 . L'Espanols sur Mer, 1350 [off Win- chelsea] .... The Invasion of France (Froissart) The Battle of La Rochelle, 1372 (Froissart) ..... Bourbon's Expedition to Tunis, 1390 (Froissart) ..... Lord Berkeley at Milford Haven, 1405 Warwick's Action with the French . The Action off Portsmouth, 1545 48, 49 Henry VIII's Departure fom Dover, 1520 The Capture of Brill, 1572 Queen Elizabeth (Contemporary por- trait) The Two Admirals, 1588 — Ark Royal (Lord Howard) ; San Martin (Duke of Medina Sidonia) The Spanish Armada Sailing from Ferrol, July 12, 1588 . The Spanish Armada at the Lizard The Armada off Fowey . The First Engagement with the Armada .... Capture of Don Pedro de Valdez by Drake ..... The Armada Treasure The Pursuit up Channel . The Action off the Wight . The Armada in the Straits The Armada at Calais The Rout .... Gravelines, July 30, 1588 . Wynter in the Vanguard . 3 4 9 16 23* 27 28 29 30 33* 37 38 47 50 57 58 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 The Defeat of the Armada 1588 : Wreck of an Armada Ship at Collieston, Aberdeenshire (McBey) Sir Francis Drake .... The Last Fight of the Revenge : The Azores, 1591 .... Sir Richard Grenville Armada Playing Cards Cadiz, 1596 ..... Action in the Straits of Dover, 1603 . Capture of a Portuguese Ship in the Straits of Malacca, 1602 The Straits of Dover, 1602 Spanish and Dutch at Gibraltar, 1607 The Expedition to Cadiz, 1625 : The Anne Royal, Lord Wimbledon's Flagship — Troops Landing to Attack Puntal Port Attack on Cadiz, 1625 La Rochelle, 1625 Model of the Sovereign of the Seas (Mr. Culver) English, Dutch, and Spanish Fleets off Deal, October, 1639 (Hollar) The Battle of the Downs, 1639 Ayscue and de Ruyter off Plymouth Action off Dover, 1652 The Three Days' Fight [1653] The Battle of Scheveningen, 1653 », )» t» ») >» Martin Harpentszoon Tromp . The Battle of Lowestoft, 1665 . The Four Days' Fight off the North Foreland, June, 1666 . The Four Days' Fight De Ruyter's Fleet Returning . The St. James's Day Fight, July 25 1666 Robert Blake (1599-1657) . Prince Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine ...... The Dutch in the Medway, June, 1667 )) )i » " Earl Sandwich at Sole Bay Tlie Battle of Sole Bay, May, 1672 . PAGE 80 81 82 83* 93 94 95 96-7 98 99 log'' 1 11 1 12 'J3 114 115 116 117 118 127* 129 130 '31 132 133 •34 135 136 141 142 143 144 145* LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Battle of Schooneveld, June 4, 1673 Battle of the Texel, AugTist 11, 1673 Michiel de Ruyter (1607-1676) . James II . The Prince of Orange (afterwards William III) Landing- at Torbay, November 5, 1688 (J. M. W. Turner, R.A.) .... Departure of William of Orange for England {erroneously entitled William of Orange at Brixham) . Battle of Beachy Head, June 30, 1690 The Battle of Barfleur, May, 1692 The Battle of La Hogue, May, 169 Bombardment of Diepjje, 1694 Duguay-Trouin Capturing the Non such, 1695 .... Model of a Roman Merchant Galley Model of Bireme The Oseberg Ship Model of a Viking Ship . Model of a XVth Century Carrack, made by R. Morton Nance, after an engraving by " W. A." . Model of a King's Ship of late 12th or early 13th Century . A 15th Century Trading Ship . Modern Model of the Santa Maria (Wyllie) .... The Ark (alias Ark, Royal and Anne Royal) .... The Great Harry, 15 14-1553 ■ The Griffin .... Typical Dutch Warship of the Early 17th Century The Golden Lion George Villiers, Marquis (afterward Duke) of Buckingham . Peter Pett, 1610-1670, Master Builde of the Navy .... Model of H.M.S. Prince . Oliver Cromwell Ships under repair (2 Etchings by Hollar) Model of the 90-gun Ship Coronation (by courtesy of R. C. Anderson, Esq.) The Speaker and Royal Charles The Soleil Royal . . . . Louis XIV The Embarkation of Marco Polo, Venice, 1338 . . . . • Expedition Against the Island of Chipangu or Sypangu (Japan) PAGE 147 148 149 150 '55' 157 158 ■59 160 161 162 163 163 i6^ 164 173 175 176 177 178 179* 181 182 ■83 184 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 205* 207 PAGE TTie Soldiers of the Great Khan un- able to land in Java . . . 207 Incidents in Sir John Mandeville's Travels : (above), Prester John's Country ; (below), ship with astrolabe ..... 208 {N.B. — rhe references to "upper" and "lower " in the note tn these two illustrations should be transposed) Gerardus Mercator .... 209 Ptolemy's Map of the World . .210 Sir Richard Whittington . . .219 Bergen (Hanseatic Centre) . . 220 An Early View of Constantinople . 221 Barentz in the .Arctic, 1596 . . 222 View of London in the Time of Henry VII ..... 227* Map of the West Coast of Africa by Linschoten ..... 233* Thomas Cavendish at the Ladrones, 1588 239 Action Between Dutch and Spanish Ships off Manila, about 1595 . . 240 The Dutch at Mauritius . . .241 The Capture of Bantam, 1684 . . 242 Columbus Landing at Watling Island, 1492 ..... 247 Christopher Columbus . . . 248 Amerigo Vespucci .... 248 Sebastian Cabot .... 248 Columbus and the Egg . . . 249 " Shooting the Sun "... 250 Drake's Fleet at San Domingo . 255 Medals Commemorating Drake's Voyages to the West, 1 570-1 588 . 255 Drake at the River Plate . . . 256 Sir Walter Raleigh at Trinidad . 256 Martin Frobisher .... 257 Sir John Hawkins .... 257 Sir Walter Raleigh .... 257 Captain John Smith .... 257 Map of Virginia, 1585 . . . 258 Map of Central America and the Caribbean ..... 259 Florida Discovered by French Huguenots ..... 260 Olando Building a Caravel . . 261 Capt. Waitborne at St. John's, New- foundland, 1618 .... 262 Captain Argall at King Powhatan's Stronghold in Virginia, ca. 1614 . 267 The Capture of the Spanish " Silver Fleet " off Havannah, 1628 . . 268 New York, ca. 1670 .... 269 Fort Caroline, ca. 1670 . . . 270 Siege of Malta, 1565 . . . 275 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Battle of Lepanto, 1571 Venetians v. Turks in the Dar- danelles, 1646 .... The Earl of Cumberland . Capture of a Spanish Treasure Galleon by three English V^essels off Peru, 1628 ..... The Siege of Algiers, 1662 Fight Against Seven Algerines, by Captain Kempthorn (after Van de Velde) Captain Kempthorn's Engagement in the Mary Rose with Seven Algerine Men-of-War (Hollar) . PAGE 276 277 278 283 284 285* 287 Panama, about 1690 .... Sir Henry Morgan .... Morgan Sacking Panama . Jean Bart Boarding a Dutch Ship off the Texel, 1694 .... Jean Bart ..... Captain William Dampier Captain Avery ..... Heaving the Lead ; the Norwegian Sea Serpent ; Alff and the Female Pirates Aluilda and Rusila (wood- cuts from Olaus Magnus) Woodcut from Book by Enrique Dias, 1565 PAGE 288 288 289 290 291 291 292 295 296 FOREWORD The most precious possession of the Anglo-Saxon race, and of the British people in particular, is the sea sense which always draws them to Blue Water. The Navy and the Merchant Service attract more men than they can hold, in spite of the obvious fact that there are better livings to be made ashore at infinitely less discomfort. Every expedi- tion that sails to the unknown, whether it be to the Poles or the Great Waters, is inundated with applications for places. It is the Sea, and that is all that matters. We are not the only people in the World to have this sense, but happily we have it developed to a greater extent than anybody else, for without it our Empire, and indeed our existence as a nation, would soon come to an end. The aim of this book is to trace the history of the Sea and of Ships through the ages, particularly the part played by the Anglo-Saxons. Our maritime history is not a matter of chance or of casual growth ; it is the logical outcome of circumstances and persistent effort. We have made our mistakes in plenty and have paid for them heavily enough. Time and again we have turned aside after false gods and have lost sight of the lessons that our fathers have taught us, but each time it has been the Seaman who has saved us. Britain and her cousins must always look to Blue Water for their salvation. It is our heritage, but it is a heritage that must be guarded jealously and studied carefully in all its phases. This can only be done through the history of our fathers, and it is this history that is laid before the reader. Comparatively few except practical seamen can visualise the old ships as they sailed and the old actions as they were fought. For this reason every effort has been made to illustrate the story in all its aspects, and this has been rendered possible only through the kindness and enthusiasm of Mr. A. G. H. Macpherson, who has put the whole of his famous collection of maritime prints at the disposal of the producers of this book. The descendant of some of the pioneers of our Indian Empire, which was one of the first results of Sea Power, he has been an enthusiastic student of all nautical affairs since boyhood, and has succeeded in getting together the finest collection of prints on the subject in the world. No public collection or gallery has achieved a tithe of what he has, and the author and publishers desire to make full acknowledgment of his courtesy in allowing them access to his unique accumulation of pictorial records to illustrate this work. CHAPTER I— THE DISCOVERY OF BRITAIN The Dawn of Sea History The earliest dawn of sea history is obvious and has often been pictured. The prehistoric savage on his log in a river — probably unwillingly — discovering that a fair wind will carry him along and trans- port him from one bank to the other ; the theory is so natural that it is impossible to doubt it. Whether that river was the Euphrates, or one of the great Indian streams, or any other waterway, is beyond anything more than the vaguest conjecture and can safely be left at that. This history proposes to deal with the history of the sea, principally as it has affected the Anglo-Saxon races and this country in particular ; and, therefore, although the East is certainly the cradle of navigation, and although it must be admitted that it is impossible to get a proper con- ception of sea power and all that it means without first making a close study of the history of the Mediterranean peoples on the water, it is only necessary to deal with them where they came into touch with Britain. This misses a portion of the World's Sea Story that is extra- ordinarily interesting, but which would require many volumes to itself. As far as it concerns us the dawn of sea history is the time of the Phoenicians, for it was almost certainly they that first brought shipping to us. They came in search of gold only, and like every other power that is founded with that idea alone they declined and fell. But their endeavours brought the beginning of many things which made for civilisation, and the world owes them a lot. Unfortunately the Phoenicians were not historians, possibly because they were always in terror of divulging the secrets of their trade, and we know far less about them than we do about many peoples who were far less deserving, but the scraps that we possess make fascinating reading. The Phoenicians and Britain. It is a generally accepted fact that the Phoenicians visited the British Isles at a very early period, just how early it is a little difficult to say as they were very cautious not to give their markets away to possible trade rivals and maintained the closest secrecy as to their doings. On the other hand there have been authorities, and of a calibre whose opinion cannot lightly be disregarded, who maintained that the Tin Islands mentioned in the records were not the Scillies but were off the coast of Spain, where it is known without the least shadow of doubt that the Phoenicians traded. Against this there are equally important authorities who have described as Phoenician certain tokens and ornaments found in Irish bogs and in Scotland, so that the British legend may well be allowed to stand. In any circumstances it has to be admitted that their influence was felt, even if it were only second- hand. Earliest Britain. Whether the Phoenician legend be true or not, it is certain that the British Isles were visited very early in the history of navigation. In the iifth century before Christ Herodotus does not appear to have heard BEFORE THE CONQUEST rumours of their existence, but later one of the Scipios visited Marseilles and Narbonne in order to investigate the possibilities of Roman trade with " the regions beyond South Gaul," the main idea being to injure Carthage. The merchants there were very discreet, however, and he had to go away without his information, but it would appear that his enquiries turned their attention to the possibilities of their meaning and it was not long before an expedition set out from Marseilles. Pytheas sailed with this expedition, by which we can date it as being about 330 B.C., and from him we learn that it went round Spain and reached Brittany and Kent. Ptolemy mentions Fairhaven Bay, which is generally identified with the once important town of Hornsea in York- shire, but by his day — the middle of the second century before Christ — Britain was tolerably well known and certainly had some sort of a trade with the neighbouring coasts of Gaul. Before his time there is a very interesting voyage recorded, although the evidence is open to some doubt. Himilco was a Carthaginian who is mentioned by Avienus, rather a third-rate Roman poet whose sense of history is somewhat poor. According to his story he was sent out to explore Britain, but after being away for four months he came back and reported that it was a region without wind, where the fog was perpetual and where the sea was encumbered with forests of weed. Such a report would be sufficient to deter most people from venturing in such waters, and this may well have been his deliberate object — if, indeed, he ever made the voyage at all. Pytheas. The Pytheas mentioned above was a celebrated Greek navigator and geographer, hailing from Marseilles. He lived in the time of Alexander the Great but was far in advance of his day in knowledge, for he appears to have been a first-class astronomer and also one of the first to make observations for the determination of latitude. He certainly fixed the latitude of Marseilles with remarkable accuracy, and also realised the connection of the moon and the tides and pointed out their characteristics. It is believed to have been in the year 325 B.C. that he made his famous voyage of discovery along the west coast of Europe, during which he visited England, Scotland, the Scottish Islands, and Thule. Many regard this as the north coast of Scotland, but it is far more likely to be northern Norway, for he undoubtedly approached the Arctic circle. He also explored the northern coast of Germany as far east as Jutland. CHAPTER II— BEFORE THE CONQUEST The Veneti. According to some authorities the real fathers of the British Navy were the Veneti rather than the Vikings — a war-like tribe who lived round about the modern Morbihan in Brittany, round the mouth of the Loire. They had long been in communication with the Britons, and when they opposed Ctesar it was with the assistance of a British fleet. "2 5 ■ 0^11 = - ^ o-s 5; 5«-s-~ I 5 ~ ° 5 "e E -sj w g .r: -»- o ^ o >- t: ^ ^ ^ C i-j "^ a — 1) ^ 'c ■ ■ 2 -c S* E ^ r^ O O =0 ^ r-H ~- *. ^, ^ THE LANDING OF C.l'SAR IN ENGLANi:) Ci£sar IS Jepicied as standing in a ram-bowed war galley, to be compared ivitlt the roughly-built sh alio iv-dr aft boats constructed for the transport of the expedition BEFORE THE CONQUEST The Veneti had copied their ships originally from those of the Cartha- ginians, but they had adapted them to their own requirements and Csesar was full of admiration for them. They were somewhat flatter in the floor than the Romans' in order to adapt them better for work in the shallows, and for taking the ground even on that inhospitable shore without sustaining any great damage. There was a very considerable sheer both forward and aft, and the hulls were very stoutly built of oak. They were iron fastened, had chains for their cables instead of hemp, and although they had oars they depended principally on their sails of tanned hide. Their decks were a foot thick, and so strongly were they constructed that they resisted all the efforts of the Romans to ram them, which more than compensated for the handicap that they had in their unhandiness. Even when the Romans built turrets they found that they could not reach their decks without difhculty, and finally the victory was gained by the Romans fitting hooked knives on poles and cutting their standing rigging. They appear, however, to have inspired in Cjesar a good deal of admiration for their ability. Caesar's First Expedition. Having conquered Gaul, Julius Caesar found time to consider his next operations and, unfortunately, the Britons had reminded him of their existence by the assistance they rendered the Veneti, with the result that he soon determined to punish them. Two legions were told off for the purpose in the year 55 B.C., and a reconnoitring expedition of light craft was sent ahead to find out good landing places. CfEsar followed with his troops as soon as he got the required information. The embarkation was done by night, and the point on the French coast is believed to be the modern Wyssant Bay. At ten o'clock next morning he found himself under high cliflFs which were held in force by the Britons with only a portion of his command at hand. From his descrip- tion it would appear that his first land-fall was between Dover and the South Foreland. He anchored until the whole of his fleet had arrived, and then made north-east with wind and tide. His actual landing-place was probably the present site of Walmer Castle, where the coast was ideal for his purpose but where the defenders had already arrived in force. He then discovered that in his ignorance of shipping matters his transports had far too great a draught. The heavily-armed legionaries had to jump into deep water, where many of them were drowned while the Britons harassed them with their cavalr^^ C^sar had with him, however, some light galleys, which attacked the British flank with slings and catapults until eventually they wavered and gave the Romans a chance of landing. While he was encamped near the shore a storm destroyed a number of the transports that he had anchored too close inshore. The Britons took advantage of this disaster to attack him, but they were beaten of?, and soon after Ctesar returned to Gaul. Cesar's Second Expedition. Although he had taken with him a number of British hostages Ccesar was not by any means satisfied with the punishment that he had meted 5 BEFORE THE CONQUEST out to the Islanders, and in the following year he collected his forces for another expedition. He learned from his mistakes, and designed a specially shallow draught transport which took his troops well inshore and could then be dragged up on the beach. In these he embarked two thousand cavalry and five legions, but choosing his time better on this occasion he sailed at sunset. His idea was to descend on the coast at dawn, but the breeze died down and the tide appears to have carried his fleet, which consisted of eight hundred sail in all, practically to the North Foreland, so that the rowers had hard work to get back to Walmer by noon. The Britons retired inland and were defeated at about the spot where Sandwich stands to-day, but while he was ashore another storm wrecked a number of his ships and Ctesar hauled the rest right up into his camp. At the end of his land operations, which do not enter into the sphere of this book, C^sar was lucky to get his overcrowded transports back to Gaul without mishap. It is significant to notice that in neither expedition did the Britons make any effort at sea. The Permanent Roman Occupation. The Roman invasion proper, which led to Britain being occupied by her legions for some four hundred years, was begun in the reign of the Emperor Claudius in A. D. 43. The transport arrangements were based on Ciesar's, but there is nothing in the invasion itself which calls for comment, except that under Agricola the Roman galleys sailed right round England and Scotland, and got a very tolerable idea of the features of the Islands. Count of the Saxon Shore. Although one would have thought that the Romans had gained sufficient experience to teach them the value of sea power, it was not until the Emperor Maximian that they really made an effort to have a proper patrol of the Narrow Seas. He understood something of sea power, and stationed Carausius, of whom more anon, with the title of Count of the Saxon Shore, at Boulogne with a flotilla to protect the coasts from the Prankish and Northern Pirates, who infested the Narrow Seas and Channel. Carausius. Although he has been claimed as being of Scottish birth, Marcus Aurelius Carausius, the first Count of the Saxon Shore, appears to have been really a Menapian from Belgic Gaul. He was a man of poor origin, who in his young days had been employed as a pilot and appears to have been a first-class seaman. Later he entered the Roman Army, and by his extraordinary energy and ability gained very rapid promotion. Before he had held the post very long it was discovered that in many cases he had been in active alliance with the raiders, and he was accordingly sentenced to death by assassination. He received early warning of this, however, and crossing to Britain in the year 286 he proclaimed himself an independent ruler. The legion that was garrisoning the island immediately joined him and a number of Pranks enlisted under his banner. True to his experience, the first BEFORE THE CONQUEST thing that he did was to build and equip a first-class fleet. The Emperor attempted to crush him, but his fleet was inferior in material and personnel, and after being damaged by a storm was routed by the seamanship of the usurper. He was then compelled to acknowledge his rule, but three years later Constantius Chlorus was not so com- placent, and in the year 292 recaptured his base and a large part of his fleet and stores. Preparations were being made for a big campaign to reconquer Britain when Carausius was murdered in 29.'^ by the Prefect of his Guards. There is no doubt that he was a tyrant and usurper, but he thoroughly understood sea power and made the most of it. The Romans at Sea. Throughout the whole of their history the Romans were inclined to be soldiers at sea far rather than sailors, just as the Spaniards and Germans were in later days. Their ships were fitted with slings and even heavy engines for throwing missiles, but they much preferred to get to grips and board, when they could get the utmost value out of their short swords, in the use of which they knew that they could not be approached. If they could not do this they relied very largely on throwing spears, and the whole routine of their fleet was entirely military. Perhaps this accounts for their eagerness to build a number of strongholds along the shores of all the countries in their possession. The Coastal Fortifications. Wherever the Romans went the coast is dotted with fortresses, and those along the shores of Britain are among the most interesting whose remains still exist. Archteologists believe that the two earliest castles are those at the Reculver and Brancaster, which would guard the two great commercial waterways of that time, the Thames and the Wash. Besides these, and of widely varying date, are the castles at Burgh near Yarmouth, Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, Richborough in Kent, Dover, Lymne at the edge of the Romney Marsh, Pevensey, and Porchester above Portsmouth Harbour. It has been suggested, and the idea is not at all improbable, that several of these fortresses were built when the Count of the Saxon Shore proved himself unable to keep out the pirates with his fleet, and that garrisons were therefore placed at his disposal in positions from which they could not be turned with the facilities likely to be at the disposal of the invaders. The Evacuation. How Roman Rule in Britain declined and finally finished, owing to the decadence of the Empire, is well known and need not be mentioned here, but before the end Lupicimus, one of Julian's lieutenants, took vigorous action at sea, and in his time repressed the piracy of the Picts and Scots. Maximus also used his Navy, but normally the Roman patrol flotillas, although they existed, made very poor use of their oppor- tunities, and towards the end of the occupation they only occasionally put to sea. As far as the Britons of and around the capital were con- cerned the land invasions of the Scots were a matter of very small weight, 7 BEFORE THE CONQUEST but the excursions of their pirates were a very different matter and it \yas against them that they constantly prayed the Romans for protec- tion. The fact that they could not be given it was the last straw, and when they were finally told to defend themselves they rose and evicted the last handful of officials that had been left in the country. They were free, but they were totally unfit to protect themselves against the vigorous Northmen, and they soon fell a prey to the pirates, firstly to those from Scotland and then to the Vikings who later came to rule the Kingdom. King Arthur. There are those who would destroy romance and maintain that King Arthur never existed, but even if one admits that they have con- siderable grounds for their belief one likes to read Hakluyt's description of how in the year 517 King Arthur, in the second year of his reign, after subduing all parts of Ireland, sailed with his fleet to Iceland and brought it under his subjection. There is a certain amount of internal support for this story. It is known that Iceland had been colonised from Ireland from earliest history, and if Arthur conquered the one it is not at all improbable that he heard reports of the other. The story goes on that he remained there all the winter, received the voluntary homage of the King of Gotland and the King of Orkney, and then returned to his country. Offa. We have it on one authority that Offa, King of Mercia, which was until his time an inland state, gradually extended his borders to the sea and built a fleet. Beyond the fact that legend has it that it was this fleet that enabled him to talk to the great Charlemagne on equal terms we know nothing of it, and in any circumstances it was not a national force but only that of a petty king who was making himself bigger than his fellows. According to the Saxon Chronicle, however, he was the originator of the slogan that should always be kept in mind by the rulers of the country — that " he who would be secure on land must be supreme at sea." There is no record of King Offa's fleet ever having been used in war. The Vikings. Originally the Vikings were the men of the Viks, or bays, but before very long the term came to mean a Norse sea-rover, which was then considered to be a very correct and aristocratic profession. Among the Norsemen manhood was everything, and the regular method by which a young man could prove his worth was by at least one piratical expedition. In Iceland it was the only profession for a gentleman, and there was no limiting the number of cruises to one or two. Their ancestors are believed originally to have come from Asia, probably from Bactria, near the Source of the River Oxus. When they migrated is not certain, but the Viking age which concerns the history of shipping begins about the year 789, when the first reported pirate expedition 8 ( Macpherson LullectL KING ALFRED THE GREAT King Alfred's greatest assets, as far as the naval side of nis reign was concerned, were his appreciation of the necessity of fostering the sea spirit and sea interest, and his ability to turn rather unpromising material to good use. lie used the pirate instincts of his Viking ancestors (o- '/;■ defence of the reahn against their descendants. BEFORE THE CONQUEST put to sea. These piratical expeditions were all on a similar plan. First of all there was a reconnaissance in some force (three ships when the Dorset coast was first raided in 789), followed by a bigger expedition which took possession of some convenient island preferably at the mouth of a river, which could be used as a base and arsenal. After that their operations were on land, and when they had fought and slaughtered their way to power they would settle down and assimilate with the people who remained in a manner that was remarkable in such cruel warriors. After the first raid on Britain and a few similar excursions in the following years they left England alone for a time and confined themselves to Ireland, the West of Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In 835 they captured and fortified the Isle of Sheppey, then Thanet, and in 838 began their first really serious invasion of Britain. The " Great Army " landed in 865, and it was thirteen years later that Alfred forced the greater part of them to accept his terms, the malcontents invading France, settling in Normandy, and in due course conquering Britain. Viking Customs. Although it is usual nowadays to remember only the Vikings' good qualities, in their day they were rightly regarded with terror by every other people. Drink and women were their aims in life, and their ways were unpleasant in both directions. Their cruelty to their prisoners was extraordinary, although in some degree it might well have been a matter of policy to make their future victims fly at the approach of the marauders and leave their goods unprotected just as the pirates of the Black Flag period flew their dread ensign in the hope that it would terrify seamen into striking their colours without a blow. Flay- ing alive was one of the customs of which they were most proud, or in extreme cases the death of the " Blood-Eagle." In this the ribs were split apart like those of an eagle, and the lungs then carefully drawn through the cavities, by which time death had probably granted a merci- ful release to the prisoner. The terror of their name is to be seen in the prayer : " From the Fury of the Norsemen Good Lord deliver us," in the old Litany. On the other hand it must be said for them that they were essentially masculine in everything and did not seem to know the meaning of fear in any way. Their burial customs, which are the ones that have most attracted modern readers, are the direct result of the inability of primitive man to grasp the possibility of the souls of the dead being separated from their bodies. So the dead chieftain was left with his ship and his arms to sail across to Valhalla when the time came, for what Norseman could imagine Valhalla to be anywhere but beyond the sea, the way of all his endeavours? At the same time they were eminently practical people and apparently did not spend more on the dead than was necessary, for the famous Gokstad ship which was found under the tumulus of a chief in 1880 was a comparatively small vessel of sixteen oars aside. When the chief was buried with his ship she carried a great stone as an anchor, all her gear was in place, and her owners' arms and greatest treasures for use in the next world were put 11 BEFORE THE CONQUEST into her. In the Gokstad ship these included twelve horses, six dogs, and a peacock. On the other hand a Viking warrior wounded to death would often be put still alive into his ship, with the bodies of his followers who had been killed round him, and the whole set on fire to drift like a huge torch before the wind. They were a people who had a sense of the picturesque and impressive which later permitted them to take civilisa- tion so well, and at the same time a lust and a contempt for death which accounts for at least some of their cruelties. The Saxon Navy. King Alfred the Great is generally regarded as being the founder of the Saxon Navy, but as a matter of fact his predecessor, King Athel- stan, did much before his time. Although the Norsemen gave Britain a very bad time with their piratical raids, it must not be forgotten that it was entirely due to them that we became a sea nation, and the Saxons, who followed their King in the preservation of law and order, were only pirates who had settled down to a rather more peaceful life. King Athelstan and Alderman Elchere deserve to be well remembered for having fought what appears to be the first purely English sea fight when they collected a fleet and descended on an invading force that were despoiling the town of Sandwich in Kent. A large army was destroyed on shore, nine of the ships were captured, and the remainder of what appears to have been a very considerable fleet were dispersed. It seems curious that, although the Saxons had been pirates themselves, this was the first occasion on which they used their ships for attacking, and it was not until King Alfred organised his fleet completely that they really tackled their enemies on the water. King Alfred's brother was Saint Neot, who, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, fought on shipboard in the year 851, very probably in this same action. It may very easily have been on Saint Neot's advice, for it is known that he had very considerable influence over his brother, that Alfred built his fleet in the first place, yet he is scarcely remembered in this country. King Alfred's Fleet. The British have many things for which they should be grateful to the memory of King Alfred, but for none more than his organisation of the fleet into a permanent fighting force. The Romans kept some sort of a patrol in the Channel for the purpose of maintaining com- munications with Gaul, but immediately they had gone this was stopped. Alfred was a stout fighter, and also a man of scientific attainments far in advance of his time. The Saxon Chronicle records that he himself devised new types of ships, making them fully twice as long as those that were generally used in his day. Some of them had sixty oars and some more, but according to other authorities the fleet also included ships of forty oars. Thev were fast and seaworthy — the historian makes particular note of the fact that they were steadier than their con- temporaries, which was no doubt a very gratifying feature to the lands- men who were pressed into the service. Details of their lines have not come down to us, but it appears that they were quite distinct from both 12 BEFORH THE CONQUEST the Frisian and the Danish types. The King is reported to have seasoned the materials of his ships, whereas before his time green timber was used on account of the difficulty of bending seasoned wood before the use of steam was thought of. He gave strict orders that the Norse- men were to be regarded as pirates and that no quarter was to be given them, which was only giving them a dose of their own medicine. Towards the end of his reign a handful of Danish Esks attempted to ravage the South Coast, but were soundly beaten by Alfred's long ships and the lesson was a salutary one. It did not, however, prevent Hastings attempting his invasion, which kept Alfred's forces busy for something like four years. Kin^ Edgar. Although Alfred's immediate successors are apt to be regarded by comparison as somewhat weak kings, they could not have been so as far as the naval side is concerned, for when King Edgar came to the throne in 959 he found the fleet in very good order, and immediately set about making it greatly superior to Alfred's. There is considerable doubt as to the authenticity of the Winchester Charter in which he describes himself as " King of England and of all the Kings of the Islands and of the Ocean lying around Britain," but within the limits of the times that title would not have been a very serious exaggeration. His famous action of having his barge rowed on the Dee by eight tributary princes is not the thing that could have been done in those days by a man who was unable to back his pretensions with force. Unfortunately his reign was all too short, and when he died at the age of thirty-two, in 975, things began to look black. So well had he and his predecessors builded, however, that the Danes had not the assurance to attack for thirteen years after his death, although they might easily have had their way with such a weak monarch as Aethelred. Danegeld. The first invasion was in the year 991 when, after several minor reconnaissances, the Danish Fleet appeared oflF the Essex coast, and apparently meeting with not the least opposition at sea. routed the defenders and ravaged the north side of the Thames. Had he been vigorous and understood sea power as Edgar had done, Aethelred might have defeated them without much difficulty, for these Danes were pure sea-rovers with not the least intention of settling down and were therefore very nervous of being cut of? from home. Instead, he levied the famous Danegeld tax to buy them oflE with ten thousand pounds of silver. This suited the Danes exactly, and they came again and again until no payment was sufficient to ensure more than a few months' peace, and finally after a long series of raids, the Danes conquered the whole country and the King fled to Normandy. Yet he had a large fleet at his disposal ; had he chosen to use it he could have saved his crown. Canute. King Sweyn of Denmark only survived his triumph by a matter of 13 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS weeks, when he was succeeded by his son Canute, who was then a boy of eighteen. This seemed to be Aethelred's opportunity, and he returned with some success. When he died he had a worthier successor in Edmund Ironside, but he was robbed of his chance by the defection of a number of the Saxon Nobles. Although most of the fighting was on land Canute owed the greater part of his success to his Danish seamen, and it was to reward them that the country was squeezed unmercifully in the early part of his reign. After that he settled down to be a thoroughly good King with a real understanding of sea power, and partly by his reputation and partly by the maintenance of a fleet he kept the country free from pirate raids. Norway had declared itself independent on the death of Sweyn, but as soon as he had England pacified Canute reconquered it, although on this occasion the fleet employed appears to have been more Saxon than British. The three Kingdoms and his numerous vassal states brought about a big increase in trade, and as England was the centre of the Empire she obtained the cream of it. Within a few years of his death this Empire had fallen to pieces and England had shrunk within her limits again, to fall still further under the weak rule of his successors. Finally, the Chief Power of the Kingdom fell into the hands of Harold, son of Earl Godwin, one of Canute's men. He was strong enough to make the regency respected, while King Edward the Confessor busied himself with his churches and his monks, and he maintained a considerable fleet on the militia principle. He intended to make himself the successor of his master, and in due course he was successful, although not in the way he had dreamed. CHAPTER III— THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS The Vikings and Normandy. In Britain it is usual to regard the Norman invasion as being essentially a French movement, whereas it was really almost civil war. The invaders spoke a French of sorts and had many French ways, but they were little more French than English. The beginnings of the Normans were in the days of King Alfred, when Norse invaders got short shrift and soon learned to leave England alone. For a time they ruled themselves in the north country in something like autonomy, but this soon palled, and as the English power gradually extended they decided to seek happier hunting grounds. Having embarked, their natural course was south, and so they came to land and finally to estab- lish themselves in Normandy, where they dispossessed the French rulers, but in true Norse fashion soon became identified with the soil and adopted its ways. This was only a century and a half before the invasion, after they had been kept out of Spain by the war-like Moors, so that it was really a Viking raid on a large scale rather than a French invasion, which helps us to understand many things. Canute and 14 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS William the Norman were alike in many particulars, and should be studied in parallel far more than they are as a general rule. The Beginning of the Norman Conquest. The records are rather vague as to how Earl Harold, being the obvious future King of England, came to fall into the hands of Duke William of Normandy, but it is more than likely that it was in the course of his thorough understanding of the value of a sea patrol. We know perfectly well that he maintained a considerable Navy and knew how to use it as a protection against the raids of his neighbours, and with a man of his energy and restless warrior spirit it is quite likely that it was his interest in sea power that brought him to shipwreck in the mouth of the Somme in or about the year 1064. In those days, as long after, ship- wreck was regarded as a gift of God, and the Duke William of Normandy had no exaggerated ideas of the duties of a host. By a very thinly veiled hint, Harold was given the alternative of death or swearing to help William to secure the crown of England on an alleged promise from Edward the Confessor. It is not surprising that he gave his word, and not surprising that he pleaded force afterwards. He was allowed to return home, and as soon as King Edward died he prepared for the invasion that he realised was inevitable. Harold's oath was only an excuse in any circumstances, for a Dukedom like Normandy that was vassal to the King of France was never likely to satisfy a man of William's spirit, but it sufficed, and Harold was quite capable of realising what he must expect. Hardrada's Invasion. The invasion by Harold's brother Tostig, who had been banished the previous year for his misbehaviour and who had persuaded Harold Hardrada to join him in his venture, was the direct cause of the Normans' success, but in a history of the sea it is only material in that it was the last of the Vikings' raids and showed how open England was to invasion if her fleet were decoyed elsewhere. Harold's fleet had a very good chance of success against William, but it was rotting in the south, and he was far too dangerous an enemy to leave uncovered while it went to meet the Norsemen. So they landed without opposition, and although they were defeated on land they gave William the opportunity which led to his triumph, while had Harold understood the modern two- power principle he would almost certainly have preserved his Kingdom. That would have been a bad thing for England, but it would have been a vindication of sea power that would have saved infinite trouble afterwards. Harold's Navy. King Harold appears to have had a few ships of his own, but con- trived to collect a very considerable fleet when things became serious. They were raised and manned in the old Saxon way, however, which was not fitted for a prolonged mobilisation. William in Normandy was too big to tackle, and the Saxons had to wait in patience under the lee 15 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS of the Isle of Wight and watch the progress of the fleet he was building for the invasion. The success of the expedition was by no means assured, and it is highly probable that a less remarkable man than the Duke William would have failed before he started out. His people did not take very kindly to the sea, in spite of their pirate ancestry ; his barons were many of them sitting on the fence until they got a better viev/ of the prospects of the venture ; the adventurers whom he was collecting from every part of France were coming in slowly and there were practically no ships on the coast suitable for the transport of his army. So the preparations were slow, and the business of cutting the timber and building the ships took an unconscionable time. Had the invaders followed close on the heels of the first warning of their inten- tions it is more than probable that Harold would have defeated them at sea, but after his flleet had been mobilised for months, watching for the attack that never seemed to materialise, its morale began to break up and before the invasion actually occurred the greater part of the ships which composed it were back again at their fishing. The King's own ships were left in London when their crews were demobilised — or rather when they appear to have demobilised themselves — and were taken across to Ireland by his fugitive relatives after his death at Senlac. (Macpherson Collection) THE " MORA. Allhough the accuracy in matters of detail of the Bayeux tapestry has been doubted as being the work of women with no technical knowledge, it is valuable as being contemporary. The Mora being the Queen's present to William, she would naturally know a good deal about that particular ship. 16 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS Duke William's Fleet. It is to be feared that all the wrongs that William suffered or imagined, and his stirring call to his subjects to avenge the national honour and to punish the perjured Harold, had very little effect until he made a special point of the spoil that would fall to the expedition. Then it was a different matter. It was an added spur to the adventurers that he was hiring from outside and it made his own people enthusiastic at once, for although they had been settled in Normandy for a century and had absorbed many French ways and ideas, they were not far removed from the Norse pirates who had sired them. The Bishop of Bayeux sent forty ships in exchange for a promise of high office in the government — a promise which was later to cost England dear — and his reverend brother of Le Mans another thirty. Some ships were hired, others seized, but the greater number had to be built, and these appear to have been light vessels which were designed to stand the crossing and little more. The flagship was the Mora, which was a present to William from his wife Matilda, and was a fine ship of her type. As a reward for her dutiful behaviour Matilda was given the County of Kent after the Conquest. The total number of ships in the invading fleet is very vague, but the generally accepted estimate is that there were nearly a thousand transports and four hundred men-of-war, and that the expedition consisted of some 60,000 troops. This is reasonable enough, for in such circumstances it would not be difficult to get forty men into a ship of the type which these presumably were. If one may judge by the Bayeux tapestry, woven by women who naturally had no technical know- ledge and have to receive allowances accordingly, these ships are an adaptation of the Viking type, just as one would expect them to be. The Norman Invasion. William collected his fleet and army at the mouth of the little river Dives, near Trouville, and there he was detained by a succession of contrary winds while the last of Harold's fleet dispersed. When finally an opportunity came to sail, a number of ships were lost on the passage up the French coast, until finally it was decided to put into Saint Valery en Caux, near Dieppe. Here there was more delay and the expedition was in really serious danger of going to pieces, when the conditions improved with a startling suddenness of which William took full advantage in playing on the superstitions of his followers. The fleet sailed at sundown, but by dawn William in the Mora found himself alone without a single one of the fleet in sight. He therefore anchored and awaited the arrival of the rest of the ships, the major portion of whom had joined him by noon. His army disembarked at Pevensey without opposition, but the portion that had not joined him got too far to the eastward and as soon as they landed they were cut to pieces by the inhabitants of Romney, who had their town burned for their gallantry when the Conqueror had time to attend to them. How the invaders were forced into action on Harold's terms at Senlac, behind Hastings, and how the battle was finally won and the country subjugated are matters of land rather than sea history. 17 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS Raids on England. It was not long before William needed a fleet somewhere, for the rem- nant of the Saxon Navy which had been taken across to Ireland was used by Harold's son for an attack on the Bristol Channel in 1067. It was just a piratical raid after the fashion of the Danes which accom- plished very little, and when it was tried again in the following year the raiders were so severely beaten by the people of Devonshire that only two ships escaped out of sixty-four. The attacks of the Danes on the north country were far more serious, ana resulted in their looting a considerable portion of Yorkshire. The Thames itself was entered by a small Danish fleet, but they departed without doing very much damage, and all this time William had to suffer them. He was collect- ing a fleet, however, and five years after his accession was able to use it, not only for protecting his coasts, but also for his Scottish and French wars. We have few details of this Navy, but in 1075 it was big enough to persuade a Danish fleet of two hundred sail, which had come out for the invasion of England, to think better of it and to return without risk- ing an action. When he died he left William Rufus quite an efficient fleet, which with the co-operation of the Cinque Ports was sufficient to beat the invading squadrons of Duke Robert time and again. The Origin of the Cinque Ports. Some people believe that the organisation of the Cinque Ports dates from some time before the Conquest, but it was certainly not until after this event that their services became of national importance. King William realised the necessity of maintaining the channels without hav- ing the means of doing it, and accordingly they were granted certain privileges in return for their undertaking to place fifty-seven ships at the service of the Crown for fifteen days free of all costs, at the end of which time the King continued the charter at the customary rates. The Cinque Ports originally consisted of Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich, but afterwards the ancient towns of Winchelsea and Rye were added to them, with precisely similar privileges and duties. After- wards there were a number of other places, both of corporate and non- corporate rank, which held a subordinate position, the most distant being Brightlingsea in Essex. Among other privileges was the exemption from taxes, the right to try criminal and civil cases within their liberties, the right to seize all flotsam and jetsam and lost property or cattle that was not claimed within a certain time, and also the right to impose taxes and make by-laws. In spite of the fact that they have always claimed to be exempt from the jurisdiction of the Admiral of England, this is open to a good deal of question. It will, of course, be seen that although the services of the Cinque Ports were of infinite use to the Sovereign they certainly hindered the growth of the Navy very seriously indeed, while on more than one occasion their barons and men used very threatening language to the King in demanding rights and privileges, and they were always inclined to a good deal of piracy at the expense, 18 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS not only of foreigners but of neighbouring English towns. Their real importance ended with the thirteenth century. The Brothers' War. With all his faults William Rufus appears to have been a King with quite a good appreciation of sea power, who made excellent use of his Navy. His brother Henry was not so lucky in the beginning of his reign, for no sooner had he seized the crown than his brother Robert, who certainly had a much better claim, returned from the Holy Land. Had he been as energetic as he was war-like he might have had the crown, for he slipped past Henry's hastily-collected fleet in the channel — only the agreement with the Cinque Ports permitted it to be collected at all — and landing at Portsmouth made very good progress before he was persuaded to stop and treat, and so lost all his chances. As he was never very much inclined to keep the agreement that he had made Henry was forced to maintain quite a big fleet in commission practically continuously, and the result was probably very good for the country. Finally, it was because Robert had taken no proper measures to secure the Channel that Henry was able to cross to Normandy without difficulty and keep him in prison for the rest of his life. The White Ship. The story of the wreck of the White Ship with the only legitimate son of Henry I on board in the year 1120 has been assailed in its details as fable, but there is nothing inherently improbable in the story and it is worth repeating in its entirety. It may or may not be the fact that she was built specially for Prince William, but there is little doubt that she was commanded by one Thomas FitzStephen, either the son or the grandson of the master of the Mora when William I invaded England. La Blanche Nef was one of the crack ships of her day apparently, pulling fifty oars, and FitzStephen begged the king, who was returning with his court from Barfleur to England, to travel in her. Prince Henry and a number of his natural relatives used her instead and started con- siderably after the King's ship, but appear to have made a sporting event of it and to have plied all hands with wine to urge them to race her. In cutting too close inshore and trusting to the moonlight her people failed to see the reef in the Ras de Catteville and stove in her port side as she scraped along it. The fact that she was crowded with three hundred people in all, most of them in a very fuddled state, added to the panic, but they kept their heads enough to launch their only boat and to put the Prince safely into it. At the age of eighteen he appears to have had all his family's gallantry, and insisted on putting back to rescue his half-sister. So many people attempted to clamber into the frail craft that she was speedily swamped, and the only c-urvivor was the butcher, who managed to float ashore on a spar more dead than alive. The Encjisli Invasion of Ireland. Ireland had long been the object of various invasions, principally by the Norsemen, who came in their flat-bottomed galleys that could 19 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS go far up the estuaries, and were then beached, drawn above high-water marlv, and so formed a mobile base for the invaders. The Norse Fjord " is still to be found in many Irish names, such as Carling- ford, Waterford and the like, but it was Henry II who really conquered Ireland, being brought in by the King of Leinster, who had been deposed for his tyranny. Henry was busy in France at the time, but he encouraged an expedition which was under the command of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, later to be known as Strong Bow. Robert FitzStephen was his right-hand man. These nobles collected a fleet in Wales and led two expeditions in 1169 and 1170, until finally they became so powerful that Henry himself crossed in 1172. King Stephen- Knowing that his claim to the throne was built on the shakiest foundations King Stephen endeavoured to buy popularity on his succes- sion by remitting the Danegeld tax which maintained the fleet, with the result that the Empress Matilda was able to cross the channel without opposition, and England was subjected to seven years of the most terrible Civil War in our early history, which reduced the whole country to a state of anarchy. It was another illustration of the vital need of sea power to the country, and is the only reason for mentioning this particularly futile monarch. King John. King John should be remembered with a certain amount of gratitude by all connected with shipping on account of his reign being the first in which there were signs of a real naval organisation. The King appointed William of Wrotham, a cleric, to be " Keeper of the King's Ships." This phrase passed through various changes and mutilations in the history of the fleet, but its direct descendant is now the Secretary of the Admiralty. Occasionally a merchant was appointed, and at other times a local official, who became a mere messenger, bargaining in various ports for stores or recovering deserters. John's French adventures, disastrous as they were, called for a certain amount of shipping for transport. In this reign the ships of the Cinque Ports were employed to cut off the French King's convoys in the Channel. It was in his reign also that Eustace the Monk, a French or Flemish rover, flourished. After a very short time in Holy Orders, he inherited a certain amount of property which he invested in shipping and set out as an adventurer with a choice company. He was for some time in King John's service, but his master was by no means satisfied with what happened to his prizes, and orders were given that he was to be arrested should he venture to show himself in an English port. This caused him to transfer his services to the French, and he was in charge of their sea forces in the following campaigns. The Battle of Damme. The first of a long series of naval actions between the English and the French occurred off Damme in the spring of 1213. England having 20 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS been given to the French by the Pope, King Philip of France did not feel inclined to relinquish his prize simply because King John and the Papacy had made up their quarrel. The Count of Flanders withdrew from his alliance with France, and King Philip promptly entered the port of Damme — now some miles inland, but then an important harbour near Bruges — with a huge fleet. John had collected a big navy and saw his opportunity to deal his enemy a serious blow. The Earl of Salisbury, a natural son of Henry II, was given the command of the fleet, and with five hundred sail he came on them at a time when the greater part of the French crews had landed and were plundering the Flemish mainland. He attacked instantly, first of all with his boats, and therefore the action is memorable also as being the first large scale cutting-out expedition. Three hundred vessels loaded with arms were captured, another hundred were burned, and King Philip destroyed the remainder. Salisbury was then rash enough to land in an attempt to pursue the fugitives from the fleet and was promptly routed. De Bove's Invasion. Within a few months of King John accepting the Magna Carta and promising to dismiss all his foreign mercenaries he hired Sir Hugh de Bove, a Norman adventurer, with a bribe of big tracts of land in Norfolk and Suffolk, to help him against his rebellious subjects. So sure was the invader that he brought with him all the women and children of his fighting men when he sailed from Calais with a force that was estimated by contemporary historians as forty thousand souls in all. Whether this was an exaggeration or not, it was a very serious danger to the realm, but a sudden gale destroyed the entire armada with practically every soul on board. The Campaign of 1216-17. Eustace the Monk, who has already been mentioned, had by this time complete control of the narrow seas, and when Louis of France decided on an invasion he collected six hundred ships at Calais, Gravelines, and the nearby ports for the transportation of his force. A storm scattered the invading ships, but King John had no fleet at sea to take advantage of their confusion and they were able to rendezvous in peace on the Thanet coast, and soon had the whole of the south-east coast at their mercy with the exception of Dover Castle, which was held by Hubert de Burgh. This commander enjoyed the trust of the Earl of Pembroke, appointed Regent of the Kingdom immediately on the death of John, who soon rallied the country against the foreign invader. As Justiciary and Governor of Dover Castle de Burgh had command of the narrow seas, and made up his mind that the reinforcement under Eustace the Monk must be cut oflf at sea. The character of the corsair commander helped him, for the people of Kent knew that they would get no mercy if he landed, and were bound to de Burgh by their interests of self-preserva- tion as much as by patriotism. The British Fleet, consisting of sixteen big ships and twenty smaller, sailed from Dover on August 24th, 1217, when the French had already left Calais on their way to the Thames.. 21 THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS It was the first example of naval tactics, for de Burgh at first gave the enemy the idea that he was sailing to attack Calais in their absence, and when he got the weather gage came up on their quarter. The English archers did good work while the seamen made fast the ships with grapnels, when the English, having the wind, threw unslaked powdered lime into the air and let it be carried down into the eyes of the French- men. Parties of our seamen then cut away the rigging and halyards, and in the confusion contrived to work immense slaughter on the enemy. In the end it was a complete victory for the English, and a large number of prizes were towed in triumph into Dover. For some time doubt existed as to the fate of Eustace the Monk, but he was finally discovered hiding in the hold of one of the ships, and in spite of his promise of large rewards for his safety, was beheaded on the spot. The British Fleet being only roughly half the strength of the French they had proceeded in their plans without taking trouble to cover it, and the result was another graphic example of the value of sea power. This action ofT the South Foreland was of far greater importance in the history of British sea power than the victory of Damme. Henry Ill's French War. The war which Henry III waged with Louis of France in consequence of that monarch's refusal to fulfil the terms of the peace treaty which followed the battle of the South Foreland has no place here, for it was fought entirely on land. No effort was made to impede the passage of the armies, and at sea the two nations appear to have been on quite tolerably good terms, although special convoy precautions were taken, and one or two French ports were blockaded in a somewhat haphazard fashion. After the struggle had been going on for some time, however, small French expeditions were fitted out to ravage our coast and to carry out piratical operations in the channel. Invasion of Scotland. When Edward I invaded Scotland in 1296 the naval side of his attack was a failure, for the ships grounded one after another and were burned as they lay helpless. The success of the army, however, more than compensated for this. His successors were just as futile on land as he was at sea, and although fifty ships were raised from the various ports in 1310 no proper use was made of them and the pirates did them more harm than the enemy. The Battle of the Channel, 1293. A seamen's brawl in Normandy in the year 1293 resulted in two English merchantmen being caught by the Normans and their crews hanged with every mark of disdain, dogs being suspended from the opposite yardarms. This led to a series of reprisals and counter- reprisals, until finally it was agreed to fight out a pitched battle in mid- channel with an anchored hulk to mark the lists. As far as numbers were concerned the odds were heavily with the French, for they had two hundred and forty miscellaneous vessels against our sixty, but we had the advantage of bad weather and ended by capturing practically 22 I'loni Li iK'ah' I -colour by Chailes Dixon, K.l [Copyrifilit of tlie Piiblislien) A FOURTEENTH-CENTURY RAID ON THE KENTISH COAST THE FRENCH WARS the entire French fleet with very considerable loot. It was as a result of this action that Edward I threw off his allegiance to the French. In the course of this dispute, and with the treacherous assistance of Sir Thomas de Turberville, King Philip of France collected some three hundred ships from all over Europe and attempted invasion. The treachery failed, but fifteen thousand men were landed at Dover and burned the greater part of it before they were driven out. As soon as Philip's fleet was out of the Channel men of the Cinque Ports captured a number of merchantmen bound to and from the French ports, most of them Spaniards. Queen Isabella's Invasion. The necessity of an adequate guard on the coast was shown in the last years of Edward II's reign, for Queen Isabella landed without difficulty, in spite of a very superior force gathered in the Orwell. The landing took place near Aldeburgh, and was absolutely unopposed, although three days were taken to land the entire force. This invasion resulted in the abdication of the King and the accession of Edward III, but it must be remembered that in those days the defending force was not particularly seaworthy and found it very difficult to maintain a patrol for any long spell at a time. The parallel to the difficulties of air patrol to-day is obvious. Armed Merchant Ships. All through the long period of the Norman and Angevin Kings and the struggle with France the greater part of the fighting at sea had been done by armed merchant ships, of which considerable mention has already been made. Their history is a fascinatingly interesting one, but their importance to sea history lies just as much in the handicap to peaceful shipping inflicted by their constant and often unnecessary requisitioning as it does in their feats of arms, and therefore they are dealt with more fully in another place. CHAPTER IV— THE FRENCH WARS The French Wars. The period covered by the great French Wars was an epoch of tremendous importance to the Royal Navy, for it marked its first real ability to carry out the functions of a Navy. To begin with, it was only used as a means of transport and of protecting the passage of an army. The ships lacked the sea-keeping qualities essential for a man-of-war. As the period progressed, however, all this was changed, a proper realisation of the functions of the fleet being forced upon the country by the circumstances of the time, and the improvement in naval archi- tecture and seamanship permitted them to be carried into eflect. Edward III at Sea. On account of his naval victory at Sluys and his claim to be " Lord of the English Sea," Edward III is generally very strongly identified 25 THE FRENCH WARS with the Navy, but as a matter of fact it would appear that essentially he was far more a soldier, and his interest in nautical matters was almost entirely centred on their uses for transport. He raised naval forces to convoy his troops, but after that he could not spare any more money for the Navy, and complaints were constantly received from Parlia- ment that the Narrow Seas were left absolutely unpatrolled and that our commerce was being preyed upon by various enemies, a destruction that had got to such a pitch that by the end of the reign it involved the reduction of most of the coastal towns. Pillage of Portsmouth, 1337. Early in 1337 Portsmouth was kept busy equipping a big fleet for service on the West Coast of Scotland, and the state of the King's Navy may be noted by the fact that a number of ships that had been brought in from the Continent were put under the command of a Genoese. At the same time another squadron was dispatched from Lynn to intercept a Flanders convoy taking arms to the Scots. The French were always friendly with the Scots, and they saw the opportunity of helping their friends and doing us an injury at the same time, so that while the British squadron was in the North Nicholas Behuchet slipped across with a flotilla of galleys and a body of troops and burned Portsmouth after sacking it thoroughly. He then crossed to Guernsey, burned St. Peter Port and ravaged the whole of the island. Coming so soon after Edward had claimed to be Sovereign of the Seas, this raid is illuminating, carried out with impunity as it was. I'he " Christopher " and the " Edward." One of the first of our fights against the big odds that is specifically mentioned in history occurred in the year 1338 when the King's ships Christopher and Edivard, with three smaller ships, were returning from Flanders with valuable cargo. While on passage they met the same French and Genoese Fleet that had sacked Portsmouth, carrying some forty thousand soldiers and having just completed a raid on Hastings and other towns on the South Coast. The French fleet consisted of over fifty vessels, and in men they outnumbered the English by a hundred to one, yet the latter fought through the day and night in most gallant fashion and inflicted very heavy casualties before they were over- come. The two big ships went to the French Navy, but they did not remain on their lists very long. The Battle of Sluys. In September, 1339, the French collected a huge naval force at Sluys to cut King Edward's communications, but putting to sea early in October they were caught on a lee shore and nearly half were lost. There remained, however, sufficient to form a very great menace to England, and every preparation was made to collect a naval force to counter it. Finally, the King found himself in command of two hundred ships and as many men-at-arms and archers as his armada could accom- modate. The King himself sailed in the cog Thomas and was joined of? 26 t'Macpherson Collection) EDWARD III King Edward, who reigned from 1327 to 1377, gained his reputa- tion as a sea-king more or less accidentally in his search for military glory, and against it must be set the fact that he neglected the merchant service shamefully. 27 THE BATTLE OF SLUYS, 134-U Sliiys 7V(is fssoitially a soldiers' battle fought in siiips. hut it lnui a very appreciable effect ou the history of the sea. (From an engraving lent by Mr. T. H. Parker) 28 § g ■- ^ O iS »- t 29 ( Mat ptictsoii ( oliet tionj THE INVASION OF FRANCE (Fkom Fuoissart's Chkonicles) Richard Il's invasion of France in 1379-80, hy arrangement with the Duke of Brittany, 'ailed chiefly because he neglected the precaution of securing the seas before he sailed. Meanwhile enemy corsairs sailed up the Thames and sacked Gravesend. 30 THE FRENCH WARS the coast of Flanders by a further fifty sail from the North, so that when the French were sighted at Sluys on June 23rd, 1340, there were some 250 sail under the King's command, which was rather a larger number than the French. The captured Christopher was in the middle of the enemy's line, and was, of course, a particular target of the English. The action began soon after noon on the 24th, when Edward entered the port with his big ships filled with archers, accompanied by smaller vessels packed with men-at-arms for boarding. The reserve consisted of less valuable vessels carrying archers apparently to be employed at longei range. The French ships were generally big, but being deceived by the English move to gain the weather gage they cast off to pursue what they imagined to be an enemy retreating before the action had well begun, with the result that there was very soon a general melee over a big area. The principle of the attack was to board and engage in hand- to-hand fighting on deck, for it must be remembered that in those days the seamen were only there to take the soldiers from place to place as desired, and that the commands of the ships were all in the hands of knights. This method of attack crushed the French van, where one of the first prizes to be taken was the much coveted Christopher, which was immediately manned to attack the Genoese division. Instead of supporting their leaders the French reserve divisions attempted to make off, but they were soon surrounded, and in abandoning their ships many boats were swamped and nearly two thousand are reported by con- temporary writers to have been drowned. A few big ships and a number of Genoese galleys and barges contrived to get away, but the bulk of the great fleet was completely annihilated, and it was some years before the French attempted to regain any command of the sea. Among the prisoners was Nicholas Behuchet, leader of the Portsmouth expedition, who was very rightly hanged at one of his own yard-arms. In spite of the appalling slaughter of the day, the English losses were comparatively light. The First Blackbeard. The division of Genoese galleys in the French fleet at the battle of Sluys was commanded by Edigo Boscanegra (Blackbeard), and it would rather appear that his heart was not as wholly in the fight as were those of his French employers. He escaped from the battle and contrived to hold off the English force that pursued him, but there is plenty of suggestion that he made away before the action was lost and that he was considering his own skin. He later took service with his fleet under the King of Castile, and while there offered his services to King Edward. In spite of the fact that he had been heavily concerned in the sacking of Portsmouth, the King was willing to treat with him, but the negotiations came to nothing. Operations on the French Coast. When Edward III was safely launched on his main invasion of France, the greater part of the fleet, being hired ships, was paid off, but the Earl of Huntingdon was left with a fleet to operate on the French 31 THE FRENCH WARS coast. The number is given as two hundred vessels, but as only four hundred archers and one hundred men-at-arms were allotted to him, either this number was incorrect, or else the greater part were used as store-ships and transports only, and not for fighting purposes. They devastated the whole coast from Caen to Rouen, burned Cherbourg and a number of other towns, and captured or destroyed many warships and merchantmen. Edzvard Ill's Fleet at the Siege of Calais. The fleet which Edward III collected for the siege of Calais in 1347 was regarded as the mightiest Armada of its time. The King himself contributed twenty-five ships and 419 men, the Southern Ports 468 ships and over 9,000 men, the Northern Ports 217 ships and 4,500 men, while chartered from abroad were thirty-eight ships and 805 seamen. The ships were of all sorts and sizes, as is shown by their manning list. For instance, London supplied twenty-five ships manned by 662 seamen, while the fifteen ships from Margate only required 160 men for their crews, by which their size may be judged. The relative importance of the different districts then and now is interesting. Dartmouth supplied the biggest contingent. Shoreham produced twenty sizeable ships, while Cardiff had only one ship with fifty-one seamen on board. Of the foreign contingents the biggest came from Bayonne, our old allies supplying fifteen ships. Flanders sent fourteen, but very much smaller vessels ; Spain seven, and Guelderland and Ireland one apiece. The total cost of keeping this fleet in commission for rather more than three years is given in the wardrobe accounts as £33,700 9s. 4d. Thos. Walsingham records the transport fleet from Sandwich as 1,100 well-furnished ships, but a number of these were probably paid off as soon as the Army was safe across. Don Carlos de la Cerda. Although perhaps his history would be better included among the pirates than the genuine fighting men, the action of this Spanish free- booter in December, 1349, had such important results that it is worth mentioning. On his way up to Sluys with a fleet of semi-cargo ships he captured several English wine vessels off Bordeaux in defiance of the truce, and savagely murdered their entire crews. When he had loaded his cargoes he learnt that King Edward intended to obstruct his passage home, and therefore collected together all the armed men that he could hire in the Flemish towns. Meanwhile, Edward had collected a fleet and determined to lead it himself, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and a large number of other knights and soldiers, the whole fleet con- sisting of about fifty ships under the leadership of the cog Thomas, which had been Edward's flagship at Sluys, while the Spaniards had forty. The action took place off Winchelsea, and soon developed into a fierce hand-to-hand fight. In laying her alongside a big Spaniard the Thomas's people damaged her so severely that she began to sink and the ■enemy was only taken in time to transfer her people before the disaster, the unfortunate Spaniards being thrown overboard to a man. Owing 32 {Macplierson Collection) THE BATTLE OF LA ROCHELLE, 1372 (from froissart's chronicles) THE FRENCH WARS to the superior build of the Spanish ships, and the fact that their piratical cruises had given them very good experience of this sort of fighting, things were not going any too well with the English, and it was only by taking an enemy ship that drowning was avoided on more than one occasion. According to Walsingham twenty-six Spanish ships were taken and others sunk, but the number varies in the different authorities. Edward III used the action many times when he wanted money from the merchants and claimed to be their special protector. This battle is known either as the Battle of Winchelsea or " I'Espagnols sur Mer." Winchelsea, 1360. It has already been pointed out that Edward III did not understand the real elements of sea power, and this was shown in 1360 when he indulged in a useless military parade in France and left the Channel open to any stray marauder. The result was that by constantly threatening a descent the French held up trade and did infinite harm, and then suddenly attacked Winchelsea, which they sacked in the most terrible circumstances. The Cinque Ports force took some of their ships, but the balance was very much in their favour. The result was panic legislation of a hurried and generally futile description, and a general fortification of the coasts. The Battle of La Rochelle. After his early triumphs and with intervals of panic, Edward III allowed the fleet to get in a very bad way and practically everything naval was neglected. La Rochelle was besieged by the French, and in April, 1372, the Earl of Pembroke led a hastily collected naval expedi- tion to the relief of the town. France had the aid of a big Spanish fleet, and it may be noted that this fleet is one of the first at sea to be mentioned as using cannon. Pembroke was quite ready to receive his superior enemy, but at the end of the first day's fighting he had been very hard put to it to avoid a disaster, while the inhabitants of La Rochelle refused to come out to his assistance although the action was fought within a short distance of the town. Next day the Spanish fleet contrived to surround the English entirely, and after a particularly bloody battle our fleet was entirely wiped out. The loss of Guienne was one of the results of the disaster. Evan's Fleet. The French at this time were not particular where they got their allies at sea — nor were the English for that matter — and gave employ- ment to a Welsh pirate named Evan, whom they supplied with three thousand men and fitted out with a fleet at Harfleur. He seems to have been a man of considerable ability, and would almost certainly have taken the Channel Islands had he not been recalled to assist in the blockade of La Rochelle, in whose reduction he assisted very materially. Jean de Vienne. In the year 1373 England had her first reason to dread the name of Jean de Vienne, a young French corsair, who had already made a con- 35 THE FRENCH WARS siderable name for himself. Born in 1341 of noble birth, he was forced by the circumstances of the times to be a fighting man from the earliest age, and as the country where he was brought up at was at that time being ravaged by free companies who were nominally English, it is little wonder that he grew up with bitter hatred for us. After distinguish- ing himself on shore he was one of the men selected to lead the Franco- Spanish fleet, which Charles V was raising to wrest the command of the sea from the English. The Battle of La Rochelle was the first triumph of this armada, but de Vienne does not appear to have been present at that action. He was appointed Admiral of France, and it was due to him that the French commenced the building of warships at Rouen in 1374, the first real dockyard in Europe. He took the utmost advantage of the weakness of King Edward, and by the spring of 1377 he had with him a magnificently built fleet of specially-designed men-of-war armed with efficient cannon and manned with just the men that he wanted. When he came to the throne King Richard II was certainly not the man to oppose this armada, and the measures that were taken were of a panic description that did more harm than good. De Vienne made the most of his opportunities, and burned a large number of towns along the South Coast from Winchelsea to Plymouth. It was not a particularly clean type of war- fare, but it was just what was needed to divert our attention from France, and was followed by a number of other raids. One may call him savage if one likes, but it is necessary to remember what he had seen in his own native country as a boy. In many of these adventures he was assisted by the Spanish, but his was the master-mind, and it is entirely due to him that England was reduced to such a state of panic. So serious had his ravages become that the defence and patrol of the Channel was put out to contract, with very little success at first but with improved prospects as the contractors found various more or less legal methods of making money, and as the Government became more and more nervous of enquiring into their doings. Such protection, however, mattered little to de Vienne, whose one idea was to give the English so much to do at home that they would leave France, and finally he contrived to persuade his King to collect a fleet of six hundred sail for the invasion of England. De Vienne entered the Forth with the idea of attracting King Richard to the North, but he was a far better fighter than diplomat, and the Scots were none too pleased to see him. Had his rulers backed him up accord- ing to his plan it is highly probable that it would have succeeded, but as soon as he had gone about the dummy attack they neglected their work and the project fell through for the time being, the dispersal of their fleet giving the English an opportunity of making many prizes. Unfortu- nately, our Navy was not in a fit condition to follow up its advantages. John of Gaunt and Spain. In the year 1386 England was saved by the ineptitude of the French, for John of Gaunt had drained the country of a large part of its naval resources to support his claim to the throne of Castile, while the French 36 (Macphersoti CoUectioiij BOURBON'S EXPEDITION TO TUNIS, 1390 (From Froissart) Largely to rid the Genoese of the threat of the Barbary corsairs, the Duke of Bourbon led a Franco-British expedition to Tunis. The Saraci'ii.s avoided action and let the climate defeat the invaders. After two mouths the remnants of the expedition retired, but it caused the formation of the pirate confederation which terrorised the Mediterranean for centuries. 37 ■a "H "^ ?^ »- r^ »^ o ^- fe-J^ ~ 'O t^, • tl H^^ !/; — ^ -"^ r- to g-^-^^ Q H_ ->- LO !j '":: >:: o ~ ? i 3 -n- '^ :: - *- '""" "- -C) Z ■- -^ -i s a ^ ~ ? s > ^ -.^ -^ - < — -i -a. c X c ct o tL< J S H < >> H 38 THE FRENCH WARS were making colossal preparations for an invasion of England. One thousand three hundred and eighty-seven ships were mentioned as collecting at Sluys, and all sorts of weird and wonderful devices were invented to carry across the French knighthood, but in the meantime the English people had regained their heads and had taken steady and sober measures to repel the invasion. From internal dissensions and a variety of reasons the French Fleet was dispersed, and once again the British corsairs contrived to take a number of prizes as they were on their way back to their native ports. After this failure the schemes for invasion were left to practical men like de Vienne. The Lord High Admiral. The entire British Fleet had several times been put under one com- mand, but always in a rather haphazard manner, and it was not until 1406 that the experiment was made of appointing a proper Lord High Admiral. This office has been maintained ever since, either by one person or by a commission, as is the case to-day with the Lords of the Admiralty. John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, was the man selected. He was the natural son of John of Gaunt, but he did little for the fleet, being succeeded in 1407 by Edward, Earl of Kent, who was far more promising, but who was killed in 1408. The Truce with France. Richard II latterly had contrived to effect a truce with France, which, while it was none too honourable to us, gave us a greater oppor- tunity of settling our own affairs. As far as sea warfare in the Channel was concerned Jean de Vienne's life-work was completed, and eventually he died at Nicopolis in 1390, heading a charge that he had made against his mature judgment but according to the orders of his senior in the campaign. In his time his was one of the best cursed names in England, but he has a very distinct place in naval history. Henry IV's Position. Henry IV was nominally at peace with France for the whole of his reign, but from the beginning relations were exceedingly strained — and when relations were strained in those days it was a constant case of raid and counter-raid ; in fact, everything but open warfare. King Charles of France naturally felt the murder of his son-in-law, King Richard, deeply, and as Henry's claim was far from perfect, it was only natural that he should vent his displeasure by encouraging all the many move- ments against him. Henry understood a good deal of sea power, and as the Commons refused to be taxed any further he persuaded the Lords to submit to a capital levy, while many of them also equipped and com- missioned ships of war. France was always talking of invasion, and in order to avoid this Henry ordered his ships to confine their depredations to the Scots. At this period the pirate menace grew immeasurably, and ships dared not even engage in coasting trade without an escort. The English, French, and Scots were equally to blame in this matter, and it is to be feared that even nominally naval ships went a-pirating, often because they could not get their pay in other ways. The Navy was 39 THE FRENCH WARS hopelessly disorganised and suffered several humiliating defeats, the principal one being at the hands of the Sieur de Penheurt in 1403. Prince Thomas of Lancaster. At the age of seventeen the King appointed Prince Thomas, his second son, to be Admiral of England and to cruise against the French, and at the same time he commissioned a number of privateers. There is nothing particular to mention about his period of command, except a few unimportant raids which led to nothing. The main object of the fleet was to intercept an invading force, but they contrived to slip through and to land in Wales, although they sustained considerable loss in doing so, while their Spanish allies under Don Pedro Nino inflicted consider- able damage on the British coast towns. Henry V. The accession of the war-like Prince Hal in 1413 meant a renewal of the struggle with France, and full credit must be given him for his appreciation of the sea and sea power. Under his rule the Royal Navy was increased to a size greater than it ever had been before, and he copied the wise example of de Vienne in building ships specially for naval purposes rather than for the escort and transport of troops, as had been the idea of Edward III. His ships were still generally smaller than the Italian, Spanish, or German vessels, but at the same time he encouraged a considerable increase in size both in merchant ships and men-of-war. He also encouraged the arming of his ships with cannon, although very few in number. In his fleet it appears that the most heavily armed vessel was the Holigost of 1414, a ship of 760 tons which mounted six pieces, although their bore is unknown. It was Henry's aim to put the Navy on a footing that would enable him to rely upon it for every purpose, except the transport of troops and stores in abnormal circumstances, but he was kept so busy with the war with France and died so young that he was unable to carry this aim fully into effect. Nevertheless, he did a lot in the right direction, although it is a little doubtful how pleased his contractors were with his plans, especially one, William Soper of Southampton, who supervised the construction of several men-of-war, and certainly had the greatest difficulty in getting back the money that he had advanced out of his own pocket. At the same time the King attempted to get ships built abroad, and in this he was hoist of his own petard, for he had to pay out biggish sums in advance and got very little back, our gallant allies at Bayonne especially being labelled as a crowd of thieves. The Patrol of the Narroip Seas. As soon as he came to the throne, Henry V ratified the truce with France and Spain, and with the latter country he gave it some force by including a clause that each country should insist that any armed ship which left its shores should give a cash security for its good behaviour. This was far more effective than the previous King's agreement with France that armed ships should be forbidden to sail without a special licence, an agreement that does not seem ever to have been acted upon 40 THE FRENCH WARS to any appreciable extent. Henry himself went one better, and certainly proved his good faith, by enacting that any breach of a truce by an armed British ship should be regarded as high treason and punished accord- ingly. By this means, and by the patrol which he improved at the first opportunity, a considerable check was put on piracy. The Invasion of France. The checking of piracy, however, did not mean peace, for Henry asserted his claim to the throne of France within a year of his accession, and that could only mean war. He did not make the mistake of Edward III, but made every preparation for a fleet in being to be maintained while he was away, while the French also commissioned a Navy of mercenaries. Fifteen hundred vessels in all were collected in Southampton Water for the transport of his Army, but a hundred of these were not utilised, and with the remainder Henry sailed on August 11th, 1415, and entered the Seine two days later. The harbour of Harfleur was defended by a chain between two piers, and in addition a number of tree trunks and stakes had been made into a boom heavy enough to impede the progress of any fleet. Behind these defences was the French squadron, but no attempt was made to force them, Harfleur being taken from the land side after a siege of little more than a month. The rest of the campaign is purely of a land nature, but while Henry was protecting the Narrow Seas from the French the Scots were doing very considerable damage to our northern commerce and destroyed a number of ships. At a little later period the French with Genoese auxiliaries made a gallant attempt to harry us as they had done in the days of Jean de Vienne, but the Navy was then in a very different condition and they appear to have sustained every bit as much damage as they inflicted on us. The Battle of Harfleur. This Franco-Genoese Fleet co-operated with the Army in investing Harfleur, and a large fleet was raised in England and placed under the command of Thomas, Lord Morley, with the Duke of Bedford in charge of the military on board to raise the siege. The two fleets met on August 15th, 1416, and to begin with, the French received great help from the high freeboard Genoese ships, whose men were comparatively safe from our people. After a protracted fight the English began gradually to gain ground, and the victory turned into a rout when a number of the enemy's vessels deserted their flag and sought safety. It was a crushing victory, but it must not be forgotten that in spite of the superiority of so many individual enemy ships, the British Fleet had considerably the better of the balance as far as numbers were concerned. After the action, and while we were trying to land stores and men to the besieged town, the galleys proved very troublesome but were eventually driven off by the boats of the fleet. The Norman Expedition, 1417. At the end of 1416 a truce was arranged with France, but as soon as it was over Henry began preparations for a new expedition to 41 THE FRENCH WARS Normandy. Once again Southampton was chosen as his port of depar- ture, where 1,500 vessels were collected to transport an army of nearly seventeen thousand men. The enemies allied against us had collected a big force at sea, and it was necessary to commission all the men-of-war possible to clear them from the Straits ; in fact, Henry himself wanted to lead the fleet in person, but was dissuaded. John, Earl of Huntingdon, therefore, was given the position of Admiral, and succeeded in inflicting a heavy defeat on the French and Genoese, which permitted Henry's expeditionary force to cross. The whole thing was managed exceedingly well, and quite apart from anything else gave Henry the right to be remembered in naval annals for his understanding of the importance of holding the narrow seas. In the succeeding years nothing of naval importance occurred, but the whole country was kept in a constant state of alarm by threatened invasions and raids, and commerce was very seriously handicapped by constant requisitioning and by the risks of passage. The " Grace Dieu." One of the most famous ships of her time was the Grace Dieu, which was built by Henry V in 1417. She was rigged with one great mast and one mizzen, but the inventory goes on to say that she had two bowsprits, which leaves us in some doubt as to her exact rig. The responsibility for her construction was divided between various officials in an extra- ordinary manner, and one can only suppose either that they were getting an unfair advantage out of the King, or that he was somehow contriving to get advantage out of them. The shipwright in charge of her con- struction was John Hoggskyns, who, although known as " Master Carpenter to the King's Ships," was in reality the first Master Ship- wright in the Navy. The end of this famous ship was tragic, for in Henry VI's reign they economised even to the extent of leaving laid-up ships without caretakers, with the result that she caught fire on January 7th, 1439, while lying on the mud at Bursledon, above Southampton, and was destroyed. The Genoese, 1422. Just before he sailed to France on the final expedition which caused his death. King Henry V concluded a peace with the Genoese, which was not only important as robbing France of the main source of her sea power, but also interesting as showing the state of affairs at that time. Genoa was like the rest of the Italian Republics, which founded their prosperity on hiring out their bands of cross-bowmen and chartering ships to any belligerent who was willing to pay for them. By this agree- ment she agreed not to furnish such help to any enemies of England, but there was the loophole left that if her ships were forcibly compelled to serve against us it was not to be regarded as breaking the agreement. It must have been realised perfectly that this gave a good opportunity of evading the spirit of the agreement, for the Genoese were generally absolutely unscrupulous and were quite capable of framing up the compulsion. 42 THE FRENCH WARS Henry VI and the Navy. The reign of the weakling son of the conqueror of France was a very sad period for the Navy, for he had absolutely no conception of its uses, and the faction fights which occurred during his minority had rendered England impotent at sea long before the Wars of the Roses completed the work. While the Duke of Bedford was operating in France the sea was used for transport purposes only, and the expedition that went to the relief of Calais in 1436 was not very much more. It is, however, interesting as marking the first recorded instance of blocking operations being employed, a system which comes down through Sebastopol to Port Arthur and Zeebrugge in our own times. The Duke of Burgundy was blockading and besieging Calais, and filled a number of hulks with stones with the idea of obstructing the mouth of the harbour. But the attempt was very gallantly frustrated by seamen who came out of the town in boats and burned the block ships before they could be put into position. Henry VI's Invasion of Aquitaine. The transport figures of this expedition which was carried out in 1439 are still preserved, and although they are slightly mutilated they are exceedingly interesting : — Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons, loo I20 140 160 200 240 LONDON ... HULL SALTASH ... PLYMOUTH EXETER ... FOWEY ... BIDEFORD BRISTOL ... PENZANCE BARNSTAPLE SOUTHAMPTON WINCHELSEA IPSWICH ... ASH LYNN BOSTON ... TEIGNMOUTH UNKNOWN PORTS — Tons. 260 I I I Tons. Tons. Ttl. 300 360 2 — 1 — 7 — 2 — 5 4 I I I 3 I 2 I 2 I I 2 2 2 I I 5 TOTALS Pierre de Breze. Whenever they were not in a position to meet us openly at sea the French returned to the strategy of de Vienne, and in 1457 Pierre de Breze, Seneschal of Normandy, collected a fleet and army and descended on the Kentish coast. Sandwich was pillaged and burned, together with a good deal of shipping, but the men of Kent rallied and inflicted heavy casualties on the French before they could get away. 43 THE FRENCH WARS It was not an important operation, but it had important effects because there was little doubt that Queen Margaret of Anjou was actively con- cerned in it, and her treachery was shown up in sharp contrast to the conduct of Henry V's Queen Katherine, whose loyalty to her adopted land had made her very popular with the people. Warwick the King-maker. The history books regard Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, principally as a soldier and a none too scrupulous politician, but he deserves a very big place in the history of the sea. His uncle was Richard, Duke of York, so that it is not altogether surprising that in 1455 Warwick was given the position of Captain of Calais, a position of infinite possibilities to a man of his ability and energy. When his uncle was displaced, Warwick, safe in a fortress that all the French armies could not capture, was far too big to touch, and accordingly he was left in his position and further honours heaped on him. The position of Admiral gave him a reason and power to collect a fleet which he used with great ability. A Spanish fleet was encountered in the Channel and annihilated, and a few weeks later the salt fleet of the Hanse towns on its way to Liibeck was taken, giving the captor prizes valued at £10,000, in addition to the number that were driven ashore. The Hanse towns were in a position to make themselves unpleasant in London, and as we were supposed to be at peace both with Spain and the Hanse, Warwick was called to London to explain himself. He came with his usual retinue, and it is not altogether surprising that a brawl occurred, of which he took full advantage to allege that an attempt had been made on his life. He returned to Calais, and when the Wars of the Roses were renewed he came back again with his Calais Army, but was deserted by the greater part of it at Ludlow and escaped with difificulty. A little party of six succeeded in reaching Barnstaple and in hiring a fishing vessel, but the master got nervous of what the results of his action might be, and pleaded that he did not know the Channel and could not go on. The fact that Warwick was able to take the helm and reach Calais proved that he was a practical sailor as well as a soldier at sea, as so many admirals were in those days. When Lord Rivers was ordered to take a fleet from Sandwich and forcibly eject him from Calais, Warwick had the audacity to send in his lieutenant, Sir John Denham, with a small squadron, seize Lord Rivers and his son in their beds at daybreak, and return to Calais with the whole fleet following him joyously. Warwick never lost his popularity with seamen, and it is probably this factor that had much to do with his success. In the next year when he was at sea he encountered a vastly superior Lancastrian fleet in the Channel, but the Duke of Exeter knew the temper of his men too well to risk attack- ing him, and to Warwick's honour it must be admitted that he refused to destroy British ships and seamen unless it was absolutely neces- sary. The latter part of his life until his death, sword in hand at the Battle of Barnet, was little concerned with the sea, but he had already made his mark on its history. 44 THE FRENCH WARS Thomas Neville. On the death of Warwick the majority of his ships were seized by Thomas Neville, a natural son of the Earl of Kent, who started out on a king-making venture of his own. He secured the support of a large part of the garrison at Calais, found many adherents in Kent, and landed at the mouth of the Thames with a huge army to restore the imprisoned Henr>^ VI. He was of infinitely smaller calibre than his kinsman, and soon had to beat a hasty retreat to Sandwich, where he surrendered on promise of pardon. He could not be trusted in any- thing, however, and being detected soon after conspiring once more he was deservedly beheaded. The Channel Patrol. During the first half of the fifteenth century the experiment of putting the work of keeping the seas out to contract was made more than once. The first occasion appears to have been by King Henry IV in the year 1406, when the work was undertaken by certain merchants, who were to have the right to keep all the prizes they made, with the proviso that important captives could be taken over by the King at a reasonable price. After a few months' trial the idea was given up as a failure, but the Cinque Ports were in no state to take up their old duties and it was soon revived. Tunnage and poundage, which had been instituted in 1347 for the protection of the Narrow Seas and the support of the Navy, was made over to these contractors, and on more than one occasion a loan was raised in the ports on the security of these dues. For many years they had been fixed at two shillings on every tun of wine brought into the country and sixpence in the pound on merchandise, but in 1425 these were raised to three shillings and a shilling. After several attempts to put the business on a sound footing the custody of the sea was handed over in 1454 to the Earl of Salisbury, who was given the added incentive of being allowed to make prize of any British and neutral goods found in enemy ships. The last case was in 1462, when the Earl of Warwick was appointed at a salary of £1,200 a year, but it would appear that after a few months he appointed the Earl of Worcester as his deputy. In the case of these two nobles, however, there is no doubt that the appoint- ments were political rather than a serious attempt to revive the old custom. The Burgundian Navy. According to contemporary authority the Burgundian Fleet was so powerful by the year 1470 that no man dare stir in the Narrow Seas for fear of it. At this time it was apparently composed principally of armed merchant ships with distinctly piratical instincts. Charles the Bold was Duke at that time, and pitted against such an unscrupulous enemy as the King of France, he could not afford to be particular as to the means that he used, w^hile a free hand as to prizes was in his eyes, and those of most of his contemporaries, the very best way of paying a navy. 45 THE TUDORS Edward IV's Invasion of France. Considering how they had assisted his enemies, Edward IV had little enough reason to love the French and had every ground for declar- ing war, but he hesitated to do so for a long time on account of his own position in England. In June, 1475, however, he collected some five hundred ships at Sandwich and crossed to Calais with an army. Louis XI at that time was at war with Charles of Burgundy, and Edward allied himself with the latter. Both his ally and his enemy proved too clever for him and he was persuaded to make an unsatisfactory peace with France. Tricked by Louis, who considered any means good enough as long as his end was the prosperity of France, Edward projected a second expedition, which was prevented by his death in 1483. Although Edward's reign was not rich in naval incident, he might easily have made a lot of difference to the Navy had he lived longer, for he had commenced to form a fleet. He was inspired partly from the lessons that he had been forced to learn from the successes of the Earl of Warwick, and partly because trade was always one of his primary considerations — as witness the treaty with Louis XI — and was in very urgent need of protection. The ships that he added to the fleet were mostly purchased merchantmen converted and strengthened. Richard III. Richard III also left practically no mark on naval history, although during his brief reign he did his best when opportunity offered to con- tinue the policy of his predecessor, even to the system of purchasing merchant ships. It was Richard's neglect to keep control of the sea, although at one time he had a strong force at his disposal, that enabled Henry of Richmond to collect a small squadron, a force which might easilv have been dispersed, and land at Milford Haven to become Henry VII. CHAPTER V— THE TUDORS The Ttidors' Policy. The Tudor sovereigns have been rightly given the greatest credit for their services to the British Navy, not all of which transpired just as they had been planned. Their principal interest was trade, and as trade grew so the necessity of protecting it grew in unison, and also the jealousy of foreign powers was aroused. It was the Tudor Traders that brought the Tudor Sea Kings into being, but the result was eminently satisfactory and led to all possible good. Another reason for the Tudors' interest in the Navy was that they realised that the Army of that day was a most inefficient protection. The Feudal System was on its last legs, and the armies that followed it had been made up of the sweepings of the gutter pressed into the service. On more than one occasion they had shown themselves to be quite useless against the profes- 46 (.Miupliersoii Collection) WARWICK'S ACTION WITH THE FRENCH Had he lived later. ^Varunck the Kingmaker uioiild have made an excellent Gentleman Adventurer, for he understood the sea, and as Captain of Calais kept the Straits tolerably free of French corsairs. The engraving reproduced is from a drawing by John Rous, c. 1485, noiv pieserved in the Department of Manuscripts, British Museum. 48 This action, in which English sea and land forces were only partially successful, against a French invading fleet, had con- siderable influence on British nai'al history. The wreck of the foundered Mary Rose is seen just over the tower in the centre. The above engraving, by James Basire, is from a coeval painting ■which was formerly at Cowdray, in Sussex, but is no longer in existence. (Lent by Mr. I. H. Parker) 111 o o ~ < K t- -= S i; O «r o « «; C *^. ).. 1) ^ 5 <" ?i ■Cl. ;^ a -=: - 2 5 " '^ >• >- O = 5 i » b. ^ -^ -^ --ir g.2 5 Cj to «- 1/5 '— . ! ~ i; S ^ H e »< -13 -=j ■ 60 THE TUDORS sional soldiery of the Continent, and their behaviour was the cause of many of our disasters abroad. Henry VII and the Navy. Because he established Portsmouth Dockyard and performed other good works, historians are very fond of regarding Henry VII as the founder of the modern Navy, but research suggests that he has no exclusive right to the title. Admittedly, he had a very pretty apprecia- tion of the value of the Navy for the protection of his beloved commerce, and this alone would give him the right to a very kindly regard ; but even in this aim he always kept one eye on his accounts, and being inordinately mean his efforts in this direction were constantly checked. From an oflFensive point of view his only naval action was the invasion of France in 1492, when he raised a large fleet and transported a big army from Dover to Calais to besiege Boulogne. It was little more than a gesture to obtain for Henry his political aims, but it did that, and in a very few weeks the King was back in London very well pleased with the results of his action. Raveristein. The only other real action in Henry VII's reign was his attack on Philip von Kleve Ravenstein, a mutinous German baron who was in revolt against his sovereign, the Archduke Maximilian, and in true German fashion had dug himself in at Sluys, which he attempted to transform into a pirate stronghold. The English merchants suffered severely from his depredations, and in addition he was known to be favoured by France, so that when Henry routed him out of his strong- hold he was both pleasing the merchants and offering an affront to his enemy. Sir Edward Poynings was sent against him with a dozen ships, but attack after attack was repulsed by the towers and bridge of boats that had been constructed across the fairway. Finally, the English con- trived to burn this bridge, and after that the rest was easy. A ndrew Barton. In his early days Henry VIII was far more inclined towards jousting and amusements than he was for naval expeditions, spending a very large part of the surplus that had been left to him by his father in reinforcing the land defences of the South Coast. Before he had been very long on the throne, however, a Scotsman named Andrew Barton proved to him that passive defence was not enough, for, sailing from Scotland with Scottish letters of marque against the Portuguese, he looted British ships wherever he came across them. His squadron consisted of the 36-gun Lion and the 30-gun Jennet Piirwyn. The Earl of Surrey was commis- sioned by Henry VIII to put an end to the pest, and accordingly his two sons sailed with two ships. Whether they were actuallv regular warships, or whether they were fitted out at the expense of the young lords is not quite certain from the records, but they fell in with Barton off the Goodwin Sands and contrived to kill him in the action in which they captured his two ships. Both these young lords were destined to supply honourable chapters to the history of the Royal Navy, although 51 THE TUDORii; one cannot help thinking how much better they would have done had they been bred as seamen. Although King Henry very sensibly main- tained that the punishment of pirates was the duty of every Christian country, the Scots refused to regard Barton in this light, and the ill- feeling that was engendered by the action really lasted until Flodden. The Scottish Navy. Few people realise that the Scottish Navy was once a very important force, especially when it was under the leadership of the semi-piratical but very efficient Sir Andrew Wood and Sir Andrew Barton. King James IV put in a lot of good work on it. Among his achievements was the Great Michael, which was constructed by one M. Jacques Tarret, who records that she took all the oak of Fife, besides much imported from Norway. She was supposed to be 240 feet long and 36 feet beam within the sides, but as these sides were 10 feet thick it gave her an external beam of 56 feet, which must have rendered her quite immune from damage by the cannon of the day. The King of Scotland is reported to have paid about £40,000 for her in all. She carried 300 seamen, 120 gunners, and 1,000 men-at-arms. Her armament ranged from serpen- tines and other " murdering pieces " to three great Basilisks firing a 200 lb. shot. Small wonder that such a ship was an embarrassment to the Scottish Navy rather than an asset in 1511, so that two years later she was transferred to King Louis of France for forty thousand francs to replace the destroyed Cordeliere, the famous Henri Grace a Dieii replac- ing the Regent which was destroyed with her. All the details of the Great Michael are given for what they are worth, but it must be remem- bered that they are most of them purely legendary. The Invasion of France. By his policy of assisting the Holy League, Henry VIII was forced in 1512 to fit out a fleet for the invasion of France, the army being trans- ported in ships chartered from the Spanish. Lord Edward Howard was Lord High Admiral, and when the troops were safely landed he was ordered to cruise along the Atlantic coast. Considering the French fleets, both in being in the Atlantic and coming up from the Mediterranean, Howard's fleet was grossly inadequate, and accordingly twenty-five ships were despatched to his assistance, including the famous Regent and Sovereign. The former was the finest ship in the British Fleet, while a similar position in the French Force was held by the Marie la Cordeliere, which Queen Anne of France had built from her own private purse and had presented to the King's Navy. Howard and his force met the superior French Fleet in Camaret Bay on August 10th, 1512, and an action was soon in progress. In attempting to lay alongside the Marie la Cordeliere the Sovereign appears to have been very clumsily handled, with the result that the Frenchmen had a great advantage for a time. Very heavy casualties were inflicted on both sides, until finallv while the ships were tight-locked together the Cordeliere was seen to be on fire. Just how this outbreak commenced has been a subject of much specula- tion, but the result was that both ships were soon in flames and blew up 52 THE TUDORS with heavy loss of life. This disaster appears to have daunted both fleets, who retired from an indecisive action. The captain of the French Cordelicre, who undoubtedly handled his ship in an extraordinarily gallant fashion, is variously described as Portzmoquer Piers Morgan and Primoguet, but it is as the last named that he is honoured by a cruiser in the modern French Navy. Lord Edward Howard. Lord Edward Howard, who had been appointed Lord High Admiral in spite of the fact that he was the younger of the two brothers, was at sea in the following year and blockaded the French in Brest, although he had positive information that a fleet of galleys was coming up from the Mediterranean. He did splendid work against the port and its land defence, but he was at the very end of his stores when reinforce- ments arrived. These reinforcements had sighted the French galleys under Pregent, but apparently had done nothing to counter them, with the result that, lacking nothing in dash, they were able to make a sudden descent on the blockading fleet and inflict a good deal of damage. At last Howard determined to dislodge them from their position, and made a very gallant cutting-out attack with such ships and boats as were suit- able for the work. But by bad management he was left on board the French flagship with only a handful of men who had followed him, while the two ships drifted rapidly apart. The boarding party of seventeen made a heroic stand on the deck of the Frenchman, but were forced overboard, the admiral standing on the bulwark and throwing into the sea his gold whistle of office in order that the enemy should not have the satisfaction of capturing it as a trophy. Then he himself was forced overboard and drowned. The attack was discontinued, and a few days gfterwards the blockade of Brest was raised. It was an example of the danger of putting soldiers pure and simple, however gallant, into the command of a fleet to do work of which they had no knowledge. Lord Thomas Howard. The death of Lord Edward Howard caused his elder brother Thomas to be appointed Lord High Admiral, and he carried on the campaign with vigour, but the French galley commander Pregent had in the meantime made the most of his successes by laying waste a large part of the South-East Coast. Howard retaliated by carrying out a similar campaign on the French coast, and a series of raids and counter- raids was commenced. Discipline in the Navy. The reports that we have of the Navy in the early days of King Henry VIII do not suggest that it was at all an efficient one, for after Lord Edward Howard's defeat it was declared that the discipline was very lax and many of the captains at sea were quite unworthy of their position, that the seamanship of the fleet was poor, and that many of the rowers had abandoned their posts in contact with the enemy and should have been chained to their benches. Even making allowance for the 53 THE TUDORS fact that this report was prepared while we were smarting under defeat, things appear to have been very wrong at that time. Operations against Scotland and France. In the year 1523 our attention was turned to Scottish affairs, for the Duke of Albany became Regent of Scotland after having had consider- able experience as Admiral of France. He had collected a force in France with which he intended to invade England from the north, and Sir William FitzWilliam, the Vice-Admiral, was sent to sea with a fleet to intercept him. He fought a partial action which resulted in two French prizes being taken and the rest driven into North French ports, after which he carried out the usual pillaging raid and returned to England. That was his mistake, for no sooner had he returned to his base than Albany, who had hurriedly recommissioned his fleet, slipped across to Scotland, where he gave us infinite trouble. After that there was peace on the sea for nearly twenty years, but in 1544 John Dudley, Lord Lyle, carried out combined naval and military operations against the Forth, plundering Edinburgh but being unable to take the Castle. In 1544 Henry VIII was dragged into a war with France on behalf of the Empire. The first success was the capture of Boulogne, which gave us a very useful base until we lost it again. Francis I felt the loss of this fortress keenly, and in 1545 fitted out an expedition to attack Ports- mouth, while preparations were made to besiege Boulogne. A colossal fleet was collected, while we had only some sixty sail. The expedition began unfortunately, for when Francis gave a grand banquet on board the flagship Caraquon at Havre the ship caught fire owing to the careless- ness of the cooks, and the Court had a narrow escape. Intending rescuers, however, were even worse off, for as the fire got to the shotted guns there were a number of casualties. The expedition was under Admiral Claude d'Annebaut, Baron de Retz, and among his distinguished lieutenants was Antoine Esclain, nicknamed Polain, who commanded a division of galleys. When they arrived at Portsmouth every measure was made to defend the town, but in moving out the Mary Rose, one of the finest ships in the British Fleet, heeled in turning and her lowest gun-ports being left open and only a few inches above the water, she filled and sank. In spite of this disaster the British made a very good fight against superior odds, althou,<5h they could not prevent the French landing in the Isle of Wight and plundering a number of villaj^es. They did enough, however, to force the fleet to withdraw and get about its original business of besieging Boulogne. The Salvage of the " Mary Rose." The Navy could ill afford the loss of such a valuable ship as the Marv Rose at this period, and efforts were immediately made to lift her. Certain Italians claimed to be experts and were engaged at what was then considered a very big figure, but all they did was to get some barges and make them fast to the masts of the wreck in the hope that they would lift her on the rising tide. Not unnaturallv they simply pulled out the masts, and one can well understand King Henry's annoyance when he 54 THE TUDORS dismissed them. Finally, her wreck was found while the engineers were searching for that of the Royal George at Spithead, and a number of relics were brought to the surface. A small book describing her wreck and the salvage was bound in oak from her sides, and in the Royal United Service Institution in Whitehall there is one of her breech-loading guns. The Strain of the Naval War. This naval war imposed a very big strain on the resources of the country, especially in the matter of men. The sick list of the fleet was appalling, which is easily understood when one considers their ideas of sanitation in those days. The fishing industry was denuded, and many boats put to sea with a crew of women and a single man or boy, often to be chased home by the French corsairs who infested British waters. Piracy Encouraged. When England and France made peace in 1550 the Emperor Charles saw all his cherished schemes destroyed, and was in very ill- humour with both parties. To vent his displeasure he actively encouraged piracy by his Flemish subjects, a short-sighted policy that was copied years afterwards by most of the European Powers and the Barbary corsairs. Retaliation naturally followed, and before long there was no security to be had in the Narrow Seas, although the Regency did a good deal by keeping a considerable squadron in commission. When they had proved beyond all doubt that they meant business, things were very much easier as far as our commerce was concerned. The Navy and Queen Mary. When Edward VI died the first action of the Duke of Northumber- land, on behalf of Lady Jane Grey, was to attempt to blockade Princess Mary in Yarmouth. This had just the opposite effect to what had been intended, for her partisans boarded the squadron and persuaded it to go over to her solidly, and it was very largely due to the support of the Navy that she was able to take possession of the throne. Respect to the Flag. The fact that the fleet had been instrumental in putting the Queen on the throne did not make them any the less anxious that their full rights and privileges should be recognised. When the unhappy marriage with Philip of Spain had been arranged, Lord Howard of Effingham, the Lord High Admiral, was sent out with twenty-eight sail to meet Philip, who was escorted by no less than 160 ships. The Spaniards came up Channel with all the pride of their people, the Spanish flag flying at the main. Instead of being greeted with subservient courtesy by the British Admiral, as he had expected, the Prince was astounded to be greeted with shotted guns as a reminder that England insisted on honour being paid to her flag in the Narrow Seas. The Spanish colours were immediately struck and topsails lowered, but once the marriage had been arranged beyond cancellation the admiral was made to sufiEer for his action. 55 THE TUDORS England a Catspaw. The Spanish marriage had considerable influence on the Navy, for it landed us in a useless and inglorious war with France and Scotland. The principal result of this war was that we lost Calais for good, which perhaps was a blessing in disguise, though it was a sad blow to the British. A big landing party from a British Fleet that had been sent out to convoy the fishermen home from the Icelandic grounds was cut up in the Orkneys, and the Vice-Admiral of England was drowned in attempt- ing to get off to his ship. A squadron of British ships, arriving off Grave- lines at a time when a fierce action was in progress between the English and French troops, was able to bombard the French flank so severely that it turned the fortunes of the day, just as the Navy was able to do in the Russian-Japanese War and in the recent struggle with Germany. The greater part of the fleet attempted a raid on the coast of Brittany which did no good. The Accession of Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth certainly deserves her place among Briton's Sea Kings, for one of her first cares within a few days of coming to the throne was to establish a Channel Patrol for the suppression of piracy and to prevent possible plotters entering the country — a precaution that was made very necessary by the circumstances of the time. The fleet had fallen into evil plight in the last two reigns, and the Queen immediately set about putting it right as far as she could, although to begin with an empty Treasury meant the purchase of merchantmen rather than the con- struction of specially built men-of-war, which was later her policy. These men-of-war helped the history of exploration and trade as well as of the Navy. Wynter and the Scots. The first trouble of the reign was with France, for although peace was concluded at the first opportunity, the fact that Elizabeth was the champion of the French Protestants, and the French Court the champion of the Catholics, prevented the agreement ever being respected. When Francis II came to both thrones as the husband of Mary Queen of Scots there was no hope of peace, and William Wynter, who had already shown considerable promise as a naval commander, was sent up to the North to co-operate with an army that was to expel the French from Scotland. Wynter destroyed the French squadron and blockaded Leith with conspicuous ability. The French were sending a fleet to raise the blockade, but it was damaged by a storm and returned home, after which an agreement was reached and, when Francis II died and Queen Mary returned home, France had no immediate concern with Scottish affairs. The Second Struggle with France. Peace was not of very long duration, for when the French Catholics and Huguenots began a regular Civil War both sides sent alleged priva- teers out to the Channel who were really nothing better than pirates, and preyed on British commerce much more than they did on one another. 66 : CQ *^ II -^ 7: ^ ^ '^ : -5 e i? ; *- ^ 5ii Si") ~ sss-is 57 prntiakt '-'^Ulxen, '''~L\ aamu-e/i Ijmji'~cjsc tlirjujli tic woridc arfilauleij, '^htt.' mi .cti-cs dt, CT^ :r (tqiJ'^mt 0~Vi'^t^tci litres T /JmitAtioTi. ■ Cannoncy ,i -tjndcr ^^owrxniC ~4n{tc[h^ wiiitV. 0^''-.'A' S^evtcri ndt utmcsUnvdP-vovcatnimtirtllwJetV, 'Xo ffrfmin^^mlTnr.ii.'f hvct-tt Science //«,« lMai.pnertun Loilectlunj QUEEN ELIZABETH It i.s to the imperishable fflory of others that Elisabeth owes her greatness. The mighty adventurers who carried her flag to distant lands and made her name a terror on the High Seas received but s:ant encouragement from her. Nevertheless, she must stand a great queen, and as the Navy ^vas never found vanl')ig. her policy appears to have an.-iwered its purpose. 58 THE SPANISH MENACE Elizabeth demanded that they should be put in some sort of control, and when she could get no satisfaction threw in her lot with the Huguenots, receiving the port of Le Havre. War was never actually declared, but it went on quite merrily all the same, both British and French ships being declared good prize. A crowd of British privateers were commis- sioned, but although they served Elizabeth's purpose in building and fitting out fighting ships that were very useful to the country, they soon began to develop strong piratical tendencies and had to be strictly curbed. The Huguenots made peace with their religious enemies, and then both turned on Britain together, so that eventually we were quite glad to conclude peace on a cash payment. CHAPTER VI— THE SPANISH MENACE The Beginning of the Spanish Trouble. From all the events mentioned in the foregoing chapter it is obvious that, Spain considering herself to be the power divinely chosen to protect the Catholic religion, the English were bound to find trouble in that direc- tion sooner or later, and Queen Elizabeth and her counsellors realised that it was coming quite early. It is certain that in 1580 they were reckoning on such a clash and took steps accordingly, although the game of diplomacy went on all the time. It was not only the question of religion, or the matter of sea power in Europe, but also the whole development of the New World from which the English were rigidly excluded by Spanish policy. For years past the Spanish had done their best to injure us wherever it was possible, especially by fermenting dis- content in Ireland. An expeditionary force of Spaniards and Italians who actually landed in Dingle Bay to assist the Munster rebels were treated with very short shrift, but those who accuse Elizabeth's govern- ment of savagery in this matter must remember that this was precisely the same fate that the Spaniards had promised Drake and his followers if only they could have got their hands on them during his voyage round the world. At the same time reports were coming in almost daily of impudent raids in the West Indies. The time was coming for Elizabeth to declare her hand boldly, but that was still a ver^'^ risky policy, as Spain virtually held the command of the sea. Philip realised this, and in 1585 he determined to deal with England once and for all by raising the whole of the Latin Powers against her. In the meantime he attacked British merchant ships wherever they could be seized in a manner which was often basely treacherous. The Earl of Cumberland. It is very difficult at this period to distinguish the operations of the Navy from the often much less reputable forms of adventuring which had obtained a firm hold on the imagination of the people. The gentlemen-adventurers make a gallant show as they ruffle across the pages of history, but it is to be feared that in real life they were not always as reputable as they might have been, although they were 59 THE SPANISH MENACE certainly the ideal method of countering the movements of Spain at that time, and of forcing her to dissipate her energies. Among the most noteworthy of these, always excluding Sir Francis Drake, was George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland. The first of his numerous privateering expeditions, made necessary by the dissipation of his fortune in a raffish youth, was in 1586, when he sailed with a small force in conjunction with Raleigh, the squadron being commanded by Robert Widrington. Their original idea was to cruise in the Pacific, but they did so well, both legally and illegally, in the Channel and the South Atlantic that they abandoned that project and returned to England well laden with booty. In all he sent out ten privateering expeditions, and himself sailed in four of them, but it is to be feared that they were not all successes and that in the end his creditors were the greatest losers. The Origin of the Armada. The Invincible or Most Happy Armada is generally put down as being the idea of Philip II of Spain, but as a matter of fact the scheme originated in the mind of Santa Cruz, the Spanish Admiral. Whether it was to increase his already considerable reputation or from genuine religious feeling must remain a subject of speculation — probably it was a mixture of the two. It was first put forward in the year 1583 with little success, but the admiral was not deterred and returned to the attack in 1586, and at the request of the King prepared such a full and convincing plan that preparations were soon put in hand. He reckoned that the conquest of England would call for an eight months' campaign and would require nearly a hundred thousand men. The fleet he suggested was to consist of 150 large men-of-war and some 400 auxiliary craft, an Armada to tax even the resources of Spain at that time. How- ever, after a certain amount of hesitation and a good deal of time to consider ways and means, the King decided to adopt the plan and to throw himself into it whole-heartedly. The English contrived to hold up his preparations considerably, and before the expedition was ready Santa Cruz, who was an experienced seaman and had the whole plan at his finger-tips, died. Had he lived, the history of the Armada and of the world during the next two centuries might have been very different. Singeing the King of Spain's Beard. Although the King of Spain was taking certain measures to prevent the knowledge of his expedition reaching the ears of Queen Elizabeth, there was really very little secrecy about it, and Mr. Secretary Walsing- ham was quite capable of keeping his Royal Mistress well informed. In 1587, therefore. Sir Francis Drake, who had already earned a wonderful reputation for reckless gallantry against the Spaniards, was selected to command a force that should impede their preparations. Four size- able men-of-war and two small pinnaces were lent by the Royal Navy, and with armed merchantmen the force was brought uo to about thirty sail of all sorts. The second in command was William Borough, a distinguished hydrographer and a man far in advance of his time with regard to the science of the sea, but with no pretence to martial ardour, 60 From a luater-colour hv Chjrles Dixon, R.I (Copyright of the Publishers) THE TWO ADMIRALS, 1588 ARK ROYAL " (lord HOWARD) ; " SAN MARTIN (duke of MEDINA SIDONLa) THE SPANISH MENACE and a very sad contrast to Drake's fervent gallantry. It ended in his being put under arrest and flying home, a flight which relieved his leader of a good deal of anxiety. The little squadron sailed in 1587, and from certain Hanse traders they learned that although the Armada was collecting at Lisbon, huge supplies of stores and munitions were at Cadiz awaiting transportation. The Tagus was left undisturbed therefore, and making straight for Cadiz Drake forced back the naval outposts, sailed into the port in spite of the efforts of the castle, and destroyed a hundred odd ships which were mostly laden with stores for the expedition. Hav- ing " singed the King of Spain's beard," as he laughingly put it, Drake worked up the coast and put the whole countryside into a thorough state of fear. The Marquis of Santa Cruz at Lisbon having ignored an invita- tion to come out and fight him in the old way, Drake went into the Tagus and burnt about a hundred more ships. From the national point of view it was a triumphant success, but many of his companions were dis- appointed at the smallness of their personal gain, and persuaded him when he had finished on the coast to go out to the Azores with the idea of plundering any homeward bound galleys which came his way. The San Felipe was taken, and while her rich cargo satisfied the gentlemen- adventurers, the capture really had a huge eflfect on the history of England, for it was by studying the papers that he found on board her that Drake first conceived some of his most dashing plans — plans which resulted after his death in the establishment of the British Empire. Although it is not at all certain that his exploit really postponed the departure of the Armada from 1587 to 1588, it certainly made the expedi- tion far less formidable than it would otherwise have been and multiplied its cost very much, while its success greatly encouraged the English and so assisted in the defence that they were able to make. The Duke of Medina Sidonia. On the death of its originator, the command of the Armada fell to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a grandee who had only his personal courage and his honesty to suggest him for the post. When the English attacked Cadiz he carried himself, as always, with conspicuous gallantry, but he had no heart in the expedition and does not even appear to have been confident of its success. He hated the sea because it made him sick, and he did everything that he could to avoid the command. Finally, the King wrote to him to thank him for having accepted the command, but one may well imagine that he did so chiefly because it would have been unhealthy, even for a noble of his position, to refuse it. So he completed the fitting out of the expedition with many misgivings, which were not decreased when he received a set of hopelessly vague and contradictory instructions from the King. The King's Plan. The root of the King's plan was that the Duke should take the fleet up Channel as far as Margate Roads, and from there ensure the Duke of Parma a safe passas?e for his invading force of veterans from Flanders, afterwards reinforcing him with a landing party of anything up to six 63 THE SPANISH MENACE thousand men according to circumstances. That part was tolerably clear, although an experienced seaman would scarcely have chosen the North Foreland as the best position for the job. But the Spaniards feared Drake above all people, and it was known that he had a very big part in our defensive plans at sea. So the admiral had instructions to attack him if he were encountered near the Chops of the Channel, or if he pursued too closely. On the other hand, there were also instructions to avoid an action on account of the necessity of preserving the men for the planned co-operation with the Duke of Parma. A touch of under- standing was contained in the warning that the English were superior in their gunpery, and therefore the Spaniards were to make every eflEort to close. Once Parma was landed the fleet was to take up a position at the mouth of the Thames and co-operate with the land commander, who was the senior, as much as possible. The whole plan shows how little the Spaniards understood the first principles of sea warfare and how little they had learned the history of England, for they proposed to invade while a fleet was left in being and that has always been proved exceed- ingly dangerous or impossible. There was a supplementary order which directed the Duke, if Parma's invasion were prevented, to make himself master of the Isle of Wight as a base for various raiding operations. The rest of the instructions concerned discipline, the stern suppression of blasphemy, and a score of other items which would not appear to come within the King's province. Changes of Plan. But even this plan, vague as it was in some details and minute in others, was not allowed to stand, and alterations were continually being made. At first it had been planned to hug the British coast as much as possible and carefully avoid the shallows of France and Flanders, where the manoeuvring of such a huge fleet would be a very difficult matter. But before long this was changed, and it was arranged that Parma was to join the fleet with his ships and men first at Dunkirk and then at Calais. The plan would alter matters considerably, one eflfect being that it would probably give the glory to the admiral rather than to the general. Various other changes were effected. English Preparations. While this mighty Armada was preparing in Spain, the English were well aware of what was going on and were taking measures to defend themselves. Land and sea forces were raised and trained, but there appears to have been little understanding of how much would fall on the shoulders of the Navy, and the ships were miserably supplied with stores and munitions, more miserably even than the state of the Royal Treasury would warrant. The ships were tied to British waters partly by the authorities' fear that if they ventured far afield the Spaniards would slip past them, and partly because they had not enough stores for any sort of a long cruise. Nearly all the English leaders pleaded to be allowed to hunt the Spaniard on his own coast ; they argued that even if they did not defeat him he would nevei dare proceed with the invasion U THE SPANISH MENACE with our ships ready to burn his towns and ravage his country — and they were quite confident that they could beat him. The confidence of the men is a good indication of how much the understanding of maritime matters had grown within a few decades, and the realisation of the seamen that they were more than a match for soldiers at sea. The Composition of the Armada. There is a good deal of misconception as to the composition of the Armada, and also as to how it compared with the British ships which met and routed it. It was really a Latin rather than a Spanish Armada, for all the Latin States were combed for its ships and a number hired from outside. The main squadron, commanded by the Duke himself, was the Armada of Portugal, and consisted of twelve big men-of-war. Against the stories of the huge Spanish ships and the tiny English ones it may be mentioned that only two units of this fleet measured a thousand tons. The second squadron as regards importance was the Armada of Biscay, commanded by Juan Martinez de Recalde, Vice-Admiral of the Fleet. It consisted of fourteen warships, one of them of over a thousand tons and four of them of only twenty apiece. Thirdly, there was the Armada of the Galleons of Castile, under Diego Flores de Valdez — sixteen ships varying from eight hundred and eighty-two tons to seventy-five. Don Pedro de Valdez commanded the ships of Andalusia, eleven vessels headed by the famous Niiestra Senora del Rosario, of one thousand one hundred and fifty tons. The Armada of Guipuzcoa brought another twelve ships, and then there were ten more from the Levant. The fleet of hulks consisted of twenty-three ships, some of them more powerfully armed and manned than the men-of-war, and many of them hailing from the Hanse towns. Two and twenty pataches and zabras, four big galleasses of Naples, and four small Portuguese galleys completed the fleet. A hundred and twenty-eight ships carrying 29,522 sailors, rowers, and soldiers. The size of the ships of the Naples contingent is not known, but apart from them there were only seven ships of over a thousand tons apiece, and this is probably the total number. The English had two. The English Fleet. The backbone of the defending fleet, which was put under the com- mand of Lord Howard of Effingham, Lord High Admiral of England, consisted of thirty-four men-of-war. Two of them were of over a thousand tons and another six of six hundred and over, so that in point of size the enemy had a big but not an overwhelming advantage. Our ships were better armed, however, and our men were better trained in gunnery, while in seaworthiness and weatherliness we had a huge advantage. Under Sir Francis Drake in the Revenge were thirty-four merchant ships of all sorts, but some of them were every bit as fine as men-of-war of the same size, for ships which sailed to the Levant and the West never knew what they would meet and had to be prepared to defend themselves against vastly superior forces. The City of London supplied thirty more merchant ships ranging in size from three hundred 66 THE SPANISH MENACE tons to eighty. Eighteen more sizeable merchantmen and forty-three little coasters were ready to fight, fifteen more carried victuals to the West, and another twenty-three ships of all sizes came forward and volunteered when the enemy was on the coast. Many of these merchant- men did little but swell the lists, the fighting falling on a portion of the fleet only. If our ships could keep their distance they were all right, for the Spanish gunports were made very small and so added to the inferiority of their artillery, but once they were laid alongside they would be in sorry plight, for the high sides of the Spaniards made them very difficult to board in force, and their soldiers well knew the use of their swords and pikes. Most important of all, the Spanish ships made a tremendous leeway and would not sail anywhere near the wind. The False Start. To the superstitious the start of the Armada was not auspicious. It left Lisbon in fine style, but next day only a part of it contrived to make Corunna. Bad weather had sprung up and the greater part of the fleet was scattered. Some of the ships were blown up as far as the Scilly Isles, where they chased some English merchantmen and raised the alarm that the invaders had arrived. Howard put to sea, although he was doubtful of the truth of the report, and wasted a lot of time and invaluable stores in the pursuit of the phantom fleet, whose ships in the meantime had returned to the main body at Corunna. There Medina Sidonia actually wrote to King Philip advising him to give up the whole project and make terms with the English, an action which one would have expected to result in his immediate relief. It is rather remarkable to note in this letter that after the whole energies of Spain had been directed to the equipment of the fleet the victuals were insufficient and scarce — in fact, except for ammunition, they do not appear to have been much better found than the English ships. At Corunna the ships were repaired and watered and finally got ready for departure, when the spirit of every- body but the admiral appears to have been good. The Real Start. Finally, the fleet got away in the early morning of July 12th, the signal to weigh being given as soon as the weather gave promise of becoming calm. This it did rather too thoroughly, for some hours after sailing the whole fleet was still clustered round the mouth of the harbour. Then a fair breeze sprang up, and they got way on, only to be badly scattered by a storm on the seventeenth. By the twentieth practically all the missing ships had rejoined the flag and the English coast was in sight, signal beacons on every suitable hill passing the alarm. The fleet in Plymouth had already been warned by Thomas Flemyng in the Golden Hind and was warping out of the port, greatly hindered by a south- westerly breeze which was just what the invaders wanted. They had made up their minds to attack the English in Plymouth, but by the time they arrived in sight of the port our ships were most of them outside and very ready to do the attacking. 66 O (I. s o fcL. o < a z U X -~. 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(Copyright of the Publishers) THE LAST FIGHT OF THE " REVENGE THE AZORES, 1591 THE SPANISH MENACE The First Action. Howard, Drake, Hawkyns, and Frobisher were clear by the morn- ing of the twenty-first, and although they had only a portion of the fleet with them they considered themselves strong enough to attack, not so much with any hope of defeating the enemy as to prevent him making any attempt at a landing. They got the weather gage, and sending in the little pinnace Disdain to give the Spanish Admiral defiance — which she appears to have done unmistakably — Howard took his flagship the Ark alongside the Spanish leader and hammered her until he was com- pelled to desist by the ships that came to her assistance. Meanwhile Recalde, whom the British respected far more than his leader, was having a very bad time from Drake and his kinsmen, and was very glad to withdraw. This was scarcely what the Spaniards expected and there was a good deal of confusion among them, an explosion blowing out the deck of the San Salvador and collisions doing a good deal of damage. At the end of two hours there was little risk of the Spaniards trying to land, and Howard decided to call off the action until more ships could come out, at the same time sending warning to Seymour and Wynter who had their squadrons further up Channel. Following up the Enemy. That night the Commander-in-Chief gave Drake the job of keeping in touch with the enemy, guiding the fleet with his big poop lantern. There was always something of the pirate about Drake, however, and as soon as he saw one of the enemy's big ships straggling slightly the promise of loot was too strong for him. He had no desire to share his prize with others, so extinguished his lantern and, of course, caused the greatest confusion in the fleet while he pursued his prey. She was a big enough mouthful for the little 500-ton Revenge, for she was the Nuestra Senora del Rosario of 1,150 tons, one of the biggest ships in the whole Armada and flagship of Don Pedro de Valdes. She mounted forty-six guns, and had on board 304 soldiers and 118 mariners. The Revenge had forty-three guns and 250 men in all, and even the fact that the Spaniard was already damaged aloft could not make the odds even. She was taken, and her valuable commander — he afterwards proved to be worth £3,000 ransom — transferred to the British ship, which then sent her prize into Dartmouth and hurried after the flag. Drake's action very seriously hampered his admiral, who was hanging on to the skirts of the enemy with scarcely a ship to support him in consequence of the confusion it caused. Had the enemy turned with any display of energy things might have gone very ill with us. Drake caught up with his chief on the evening of Monday the 22nd, and in the meantime we had taken possession of the San Salvador, which had been badly damaged by explosion. The Armada Treasure. In the loss of the San Salvador was the beginning of all the wonder- ful stories of the Armada treasure which has cost so many thousands in 86 THE SPANISH MENACE later years. She carried the Paymaster-General of the Fleet and a large part of the King's treasure, although how much this treasure was will never be known. There is no great reason to believe that it was a very large sum, for the intention of the Spaniards was to make the English pay for everything, and they were certainly not counting on the expedi- tion costing them very much after the first outlay. Naturally a fleet of this size would have to carry a certain amount of cash for ordinary expenses, but to risk a vast treasure on such an enterprise, when there was no need for it and when the King had already impoverished himself in fitting out the expedition, would have been ridiculous. Such gold as she carried was taken off before she was allowed to fall into our hands, but there is not the least reason to believe that it was all transferred to the Tobermory or any other galleon ; in fact, from the number of ships which assisted the disabled paymaster it is more likely to have been tolerably well distributed. The Second Fight. Materially the results of the first action were not great, but they served to encourage the English hugely and in at least equal degree to discourage the enemy. The handiness of our ships and their better gunnery were as obvious as the fact that many of the Spanish leaders were neither efficient nor loyal, for the way Recalde was abandoned was disgraceful. On the morning of Tuesday the 23rd the wind, after a calm which gave the enemy some chance of using their oars, came from the north-east, giving the Spaniards the weather gage. From morning till night a confused battle raged furiously and with particular gallantry. Several times numbers appeared to give the Spaniards the chance of cutting off one or other of our ships — H.M.S. Triumph especially having a narrow escape — but on each occasion she was either rescued or managed to slip past her opponents. Lord Howard in the Ark appeared to be everywhere, while some of the armed merchantmen whose value was doubted did useful work in heading off Spanish ships which were trying to get out of the melee. At the end of the day the greatest advantage lay in the fact that the Spanish were hopelessly confused and still further disheartened. Their ships were packed with men burning for a hand-to-hand fight on deck, but the English ships were handled so well that they were never given a chance, while at long bowls the English gunnery caused heavy casualties. The Action off the Wight. The indecisive second action off Portland was followed by a com- paratively quiet day on the 24th, and the action off the Isle of Wight on the 25th. It began by the English very nearly contriving to cut off the Spanish galleasses, but the wind came up enough to permit the main fleet to come to their assistance, although not before they had suffered considerably. The Triumph was soon again in danger, but she towed off with her boats and slipped out, her handling being specially men- tioned with admiration by the Spaniards. After four hours the majority of the English ships had expended all the ammunition they could spare, 86 THE SPANISH MENACE and the ships hung on to the skirts of the Spaniards, who had now little idea of landing until they could reach Parma, and apparently had no conception of the bad state of the defenders' ships. It is interesting to note that the Lord High Admiral took advantage of this very short and uncertain lull in the proceedings to call to his flag a number of his sub- ordinates and knight them on the deck of the Ark, a proceeding which must have greatly increased the confidence and enthusiasm of the fleet. We inflicted more damage than we received, but the fighting was really quite indecisive. Calais. Medina Sidonia had intended to get into touch with the Duke of Parma at Dunkirk, but on the evening of the 27th the Spanish Fleet anchored off Calais, and the English also anchored outside them and within comfortable cannon shot. He communicated with Parma, and although we had been reinforced with the Dover squadrons, all fresh ships and spoiling for a fight, we certainly could not afford to let the two forces unite. All through the night and the next day feverish prepara- tions were going on for an attack by fireships, a method which seemed particularly promising by the huddled position of the Spanish ships to leeward and the condition of their crews which had already been made obvious. The confusion that was caused when the blazing ships blew down on the enemy must have exceeded all expectations ; the Spaniards either slipped or cut their cables, and the British ships put the final touch to their panic. No opportunity was allowed to pass, and the guns of the English completed what had been done by fear and countless collisions. On top of it all came the news that Parma seemed in no hurry to join the fleet and made no effort to embark his forces. The Armada was hope- lessly scattered ; many of the ships were without ground tackle, and their anchorage off Calais was very insecure even if they could regain it, which was by no means certain. By the time they had reached Grave- lines the English had made a number of prizes, other ships had been driven ashore, and there was little left but flight. The Flight. Medina Sidonia has recorded his intention of trying to regain the Channel and he may perhaps have harboured that hope, but the practical man knew better. The only two alternatives were flight or fight, and most of the Spanish captains had already had quite enough of the latter. By this time they were very short of shot and most of them were leaking badly, so that after a council of war it was decided to make Spain by the only route possible — the North Sea and the Scottish coast. Nothing could please the English better, and they were very well con- tent and well advised to follow them at a distance to make sure that they did not attempt a landing or any further operations. The Spaniards made every attempt to keep with the flagship as she gave the course between the Shetlands and Orkneys and along the west coast of Ireland, but their ships were never weatherly and such a voyage would try the best ships of the age. All the way home to Spain the shores were strewn 87 THE SPANISH MENACE with wrecks, while the sick and wounded died in hundreds on board the foul ships. Water ran out, and many of the parties who landed to obtain it were cut to pieces. No mercy was shown to shipwrecked mariners in nine cases out of ten, and the only excuse that can be made for their treatment is that experience in the Low Countries and the Indies had shown our people just what they could have expected had the Most Happy Armada been successful. Only about half the ships of the fleet struggled back to Spain with a miserable fragment of their crews. The King was resigned and ascribed his bitter disappointment to the Will of God. It was just another example of the futility of carrying out sea operations with anybody but men born and bred to the sea, and with the love of the sea in their very blood. Sailors had beaten soldiers at sea. Drake and Norrys at Corunna. Although the Great Armada was defeated the English realised that the danger was not yet over, and accordingly in the following year Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norrys with a syndicate of their friends and a number of royal ships sailed, partly to worry the Spanish and partly to support the claims of Dom Antonio to the throne of Portugal. The expedition was badly fitted out and quite inadequate for its job. They had some success at Corunna, but failed to capture the whole of the town, and eventually the force had to re-embark after doing a good deal of damage. The troops were then landed at Peniche, captured the place and marched towards Lisbon, while the fleet went round to the Tagus. Eventually the force was compelled to seek refuge in its ships with heavy casualties due to sickness, but the Navy captured over seventy ships taking stores for the projected new Armada. Minor Expeditions. After this time-honoured fight there followed a long succession of attacks on the Spanish, with just as many Spanish attacks on our com- merce when it appeared that the job could be carried through with impunity. The capture of treasure-ships from the Indies became a famous method of rebuilding fallen fortunes, although it is to be feared that it is only the successful adventures of this sort whose history has come down to us. Drake, Frobisher, Raleigh, Cumberland, and many others led expeditions, some of them making fortunes and others ruining themselves. It is difficult to know just whether some of these operations should be classed as piracy, privateering, or operations of war, but in any case they were what were called into being by the circumstances of the time, and without them it is difficult to believe that the British Navy and British shipping could have survived. The Last Fight of the Revenge. The British administration was not content with any single expedi- tion to annoy the Spaniards, but kept up a constant campaign. In those days Spanish commerce meant nearly as much to the country as it did to us in the war with Germany, especially the annual treasure-fleets from 88 THE SPANISH MENACE the Indies. In 1590 squadrons cruising in the trade lanes caused the treasure-fleet to abandon its voyage and turn back, and the almost com- plete stoppage of the revenue of the country vi^as a very serious handicap to the Spanish administration, especially as they had not yet completely given up the idea of a new Armada. The same policy was followed in 1591, when a British squadron went to the Azores with the hope of capturing the treasure. Unfortunately, the Spanish were not to be caught so easily, and they sent out a huge fleet to meet the convoy in the Azores. The small British squadron that had been sent to guard the coast of Spain was quite powerless to stop it, and all they could do was to send warning to Lord Thomas Howard, who had a few ships at Flores, Drake's old flagship the Revenge being commanded by Sir Richard Grenville. The ships were in no condition to fight, being engaged in watering and changing ballast, while some of them had half their crews ashore sick. They weighed or cut their cables as quickly as possible and, knowing from experience that the clumsy Spanish ships would never catch one of ours to windward, they contrived to weather them. The Revenge was the last to weigh, perhaps because Sir Richard refused to abandon his sick, perhaps because his duty as Vice-Admiral was to cover a retreat. It ended in his little ship, with only a hundred men fit for duty, getting right in the middle of the entire Spanish Fleet. Howard gallantly attempted to cause a diversion, but the Spanish Admiral con- sidered that one ship in his clutches was worth more than half a dozen who could always evade him. So began the grandest defence in the history of the Navy, a fight that lasted for fifteen hours against colossal odds and ended in the ship being surrendered against the orders of her dying commander, with her ammunition expended, six feet of water and more in her hold, and over forty of her gallant men killed. The remainder of the fleet escaped, and Alonso de Bazan, the Spanish Admiral, waited for the treasure-fleet. The ships turned up, but the fear of the British had caused them to leave their treasures, so that the object of the expedition was attained after all. Before he could get his unwieldy convoy clear of the islands, however, a tremendous gale burst on it, and more than half the fleet was driven ashore or overwhelmed. The Revenge herself was wrecked with heavy loss of Spanish life. Elizabeth and French Politics. By this time Elizabeth was getting heavily involved in French politics, for Henry IV fought the League while he was a Protestant, and when he turned Catholic he found that some of his ambitious barons were desirous of making themselves independent. One aspired to the throne of Brittany and called in the help of Spain, who seized a considerable tract of French land round about Brest and fortified it. Frobisher and Norrys were ordered to assist the French in turning them out, and some fierce actions took place. It was during a final assault that Sir Martin Frobisher received a slight wound in his side and died owing to the efforts of his doctors. Poorly educated and scarcely able to sign his own name, a blunt seaman who cared nothing for popularity and 89 THE SPANISH MENACE offended many people by his rough speech, he was one of the most able men of his age, and in his private as well as his public capacity was one of the most glorious of Elizabeth's band of seamen. The Elizabethan Privateers. Although their exploits belong rather to the merchantmen-at-arms, Elizabeth made such good use of her privateers that it is necessary to make some mention of them, especially of William Parker of Plymouth. He gathered round him quite a little fleet, which was manned not only by his brother seamen, but by a number of west country gentry. He began by capturing and pillaging St. Vincent, C.V., and proceeding to the West Indies he had an extraordinarily successful career, capturing both towns and ships, and proving himself a leader of very marked ability. Parker was undoubtedly the gentleman of his profession and time, and in his exploits there are no stories of wanton destruction or cruelty to his discredit, which is more than can be said of many far more distinguished contemporaries. Drake's Last Cruise. The last cruise of Sir Francis Drake, undertaken in conjunction with Sir John Hawkyns, was against the West Indies and Spanish Main, and set out in 1595, some twenty-five vessels including half a dozen of the Queen's ships. They planned to land at Nombre de Dios, and march- ing across the Panama Isthmus to seize the Pacific treasure. Just before they sailed, however, these plans were altered on account of news that they received that a treasure-ship had put into Puerto Rico damaged and was well worth attacking. Time was wasted in an unsuccessful attack in the Canaries, and contriving to cut off a straggler the Spaniards learned the plans of the British by torturing her master. By the time they reached the Islands, therefore, the British found that everything was ready for them. Sir John Hawkyns died at the beginning of the operations, and the repulse of our attack on San Juan further dispirited the adventurers. They burned a number of towns in Central America, and finally captured Nombre de Dios with considerable booty, only to learn that their passage across the Isthmus was expected and that defences had been erected along the path. After a very feeble effort the troops returned to the squadron, and the disappointment appears to have been too much for Drake, who, worn out and dispirited, grew melancholy and died on January 28th, 1596. Monson appears to suspect poison, but although Drake was never particularly popular with his followers, there does not seem to be any basis for this suspicion. His body was enclosed in a leaden casket and buried at sea in Nombre de Dios Bay. The expedition returned at once to England, having achieved practically nothing as recompense for the death of two of the finest sea captains of the age. Their characters will ever remain a subject of dispute, for great seaman as he was and undoubtedly wonder- fully patriotic, Drake was certainly of a violent temper, and by his bragging apt to alienate the sympathies of his subordinates, who con- sidered that they were entitled to at least as much credit as he was. 90 THE SPANISH MENACE Hawkyns, on the other hand, was far less dashing and infinitely longer sighted, his principal fault being an excessive love of money. Yet when he was Treasurer of the Navy the good of the Service was his first thought. Further Threatened Invasions. At the same time as the death of Drake stirred the nation trouble was foretold in the Spaniards being given an easy opportunity of taking possession of Calais, where they had a very excellent chance of invad- ing England, and had every intention of carrying it into effect. To dis- tract their attention, therefore, an expedition was prepared against Cadiz under the joint command of the Lord High Admiral and the Earl of Essex, consisting of seventeen Royal ships, twenty-four Dutchmen, a number belonging to Lord Howard of Effingham, and something like a hundred armed merchantmen and store-ships. The instructions given were that the chiefs were to direct their principal attention against the Armada that was known to be collecting against us and in aid of the Irish rebels, although as a matter of fact the rumours in this direction had been grossly exaggerated. The policy of the Queen in this exploit, however, was vacillating in the extreme, and the orders were altered and almost cancelled before they sailed, just as they had been when Drake departed to singe the King of Spain's beard. The Spaniards had not the least suspicion of the attack, and from merchant ships captured more or less piratically on the way out it was learned that a number of ships were in the port without any adequate protection. However, they put up a very gallant defence, and with the aid of the batteries inflicted very considerable losses on the English as they fought their way through the bay and into the inner roads. The casualties were heavy on both sides, but the material losses of the Spaniards were enormous, though only two big ships were actually captured to be added to the Royal Navy under anglicised names. The defenders contested every inch of the path, and the fighting in the narrow streets of Cadiz was of the fiercest description. Finally, the whole town was in the hands of the English, and it was estimated that the Spanish loss amounted in all to twenty million ducats. Comparatively little spoil fell to the hands of the English, however, and in Faro they were even less successful. But the Bishop's Library was taken away by Essex, and is the nucleus of the present wonderful Bodleian Library. The Armada of 1597. Although this expedition perhaps prevented him making a dangerous attack on us, it spurred King Philip on to another Armada, and in 1597 he collected a fleet at Lisbon for a descent on Ireland. On this occasion he appears to have been quite successful in concealing his designs from the English, but bad weather intervened and the remnants of the fleet were glad enough to crawl back into Ferrol. Here they were fitted out again, but by this time Elizabeth's counsellors were on their guard, and accordingly Essex, with Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Walter Raleigh, sailed on what is known as the " Voyage to the Indies." 91 THE SPANISH MENACE Once again both Royal ships and armed merchantmen were employed in alliance with a Dutch squadron of ten ships, but the whole affair was badly bungled and the Spaniards were waiting for us on the coast. Accordingly this part of the project was abandoned, and the Azores were attacked instead. Raleigh was given no instructions, and acting on his own very good judgment offended Essex, when the beginning of the enmity between the two great adventurers was caused. After that, with lack of co-operation between the leaders, nothing could be done, and the expedition returned to England with little result. Cumberland's Last Effort. George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, has already been mentioned as a noteworthy adventurer of these times, fitting out a number of expedi- tions and sailing himself in several of them. His last venture was in 1598, when he collected twenty sail and left Plymouth in March. Tak- ing a number of prizes on the Spanish coast, he plundered the Canaries and then went on to the West Indies. San Juan was taken after a gallant action. A delay at this port, however, caused very heavy casualties through sickness. He had the bad luck to miss the main treasure-fleet from Mexico, which was the real aim of the whole expedition. From a financial point of view it was a failure, but indirectly it hampered the Spaniards very considerably by once again interrupting the flow of treasure into the King's coffers. The Earl did not go roving again, and died in 1605. Sir William Monson. The great Queen's reign was drawing to its close, but before the end there were one or two dashing naval exploits, principally to the credit of Vice-Admiral Sir William Monson. In 1602 he was to have sailed in an expedition under Sir Richard Leveson, but owing to delays and the waste of a lot of time in waiting for the Dutch concerted action was prevented and the Spanish treasure-fleet escaped ; in fact, it nearly captured the British squadron sent against it. Later it slipped through Monson's second line by the best of luck while he was pursuing a worth- less prize. He heard, however, that at Cezimbra there were a number of valuable ships, and accordingly decided to attack the port. By then he had rejoined Leveson's flag and concerted action was agreed upon, but whereas the admiral drifted out of the roadstead impotently his lieutenant anchored as near shore as he could get and maintained a magnificent hammer-and-tongs action with the forts and men-of-war. For a dozen killed and wounded the English gained the galley Sao Valentino worth a million ducats and dispersed the fighting squadron in the port, Leveson generously giving Monson the lion's share of the credit and assisting in every way in his advancement. Leveson eventually returned to England, while Monson remained on the coast as admiral for a time. When he finally reached Plvmouth he was immedi- ately honoured by the Queen in every wav, and sent out to Spain with another squadron to watch Corunna and Ferrol. After raiding the coast for some time he pursued what appeared to be a rich prize in the dark- 92 ' •>}<,, ;l,r, son Collection^ SIR RICHARD GRENN'ILI.E The records of the Devon hero of the Revenge are unhappily scarce, but mixed with his extraordinary gallantry it would appear that he had a full share of the pride, ambition, and dogged obstinacy whicli are suggested in the portrait. 93 ThcL :\.idmirafl 7H\-'}i'iit\{ fh^ tior.i Shcffcild. 'Kca 'Tcu ■afcm loknZKau-'kinj, anaS^az-fin 'Fothi{h^-jvr tIieiri^oodJcn'ic<: ~rhc iivetve. f>panlfh ^hivps i ^rAe2 : Squadron t-t^le^ Otir^nc E/i2 \SiJini^ tit Tll^ iimp/i f/iroui.7n Lonacn tn a.. Cncirvci- dra-rvn bv ^c Hoi fcs and alt v Comvamcs- (Macpberson Collection) ARMADA PLAYING CARDS .4s late as 1680 the Sfianisli Armada still bad a strong hold on the imagination of the English people, as this set of playing cards, published in that year, testifies. 94 (Macfyln'non Collection) CADIZ, 1596 Showing the strength of the Spanish position when Essex attacked it. The bridge wiiich was always regarded as the key to the position is shown on the right of the picture. 95 (Macphfrson t'olle, l,o>,J ACTION IN T' ^^'''^ OF- DOVER, 1603 96 One of the lessons of the repeated Dutch triumphs over the Spaniards u-as that galleys were not siiitablr for rough-weather work such as was to be expected in the Straits of Dover and the North Sea. 97 (Macpfurson totteclwnj CAPTURE OF A rORTUGUESE SHIT IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA, 1602 It did not take the Eiti^Iish and Dutch long to discover that Portugal was not able to protect the trade she was building up in the East, and many a big prize was taken. In this engage- ment the English force was under the command of Sir James Lancaster and the Dutch under Admiral Spilberg. 98 o c o m H H U K o g !fc: O 5 ~C| o ^ a e K 3 to'- 99 ^ ^ ^ -. "-^ G 100 THE SPANISH MENACE ness, and suddenly found himself in the midst of a Spanish fleet. By smart handling and stout fighting he extricated himself from a very awkward position. Altogether he was a remarkable leader who made the most of his opportunities. The Death of the Queen. King Henry's great daughter died on March 24th, 1603, leaving the country in a finer condition than it had been for many years before her time. She had made the British flag feared and respected all over the Seven Seas, and although there were pirates about in plenty they were generally very loath to undertake an attack on a British ship for fear of what might befall them. She had defied the greatest power of her age and had emerged victorious with her country immeasurably strengthened by the struggle. Trade had been fostered in every way and the firm foundations of the British Empire had been laid. From the naval point of view, however, perhaps the most important point was that now the Navy was regarded as a profession and not merely as a means of transporting soldiers where they wanted to fight. There were many dark days ahead, but the Service had really come into its own. CHAPTER VII— THE NAVY AND THE STUARTS James I and the Navy. When James I came to the throne he had at his command the finest fighting force at sea, for Elizabeth had brought it up to a magnificent pitch of perfection and had left it to him fit to go any- where or do anything. In a matter of months he had killed the wonderful spirit of the Navy and had ruined the service while spending a lot of money on its upkeep. It was not that he did not believe in Sea Power as long as it did not of?end the Spaniards, but he had a most unhappy knack of invariably choosing the wrong men for the job and although he himself was as keen as possible and had passed his enthusiasm on to Prince Henry, the state of the Fleet rapidly deteriorated and the corruption that sprang up in naval circles was appalling. James's action in immediately making friends with the Spaniards took the edge off the men's enthusiasm, for there did not appear to be any other head which they could conveniently hit. Finally things got so bad that the whole of the naval organisation had to be overhauled in 1618. As an example of what went on, the Bonaventure was considered too old for service and was ordered to be replaced by a new ship. The Treasury paid for her care and maintenance for seven years after she had actually been broken up, and although somebody got seventeen hundred pounds on account of her successor she never appeared. Fighting in the East. Although James I made friends with Spain and kept the country out of war in European waters, he was unable to control the forces in 101 THE NAVY AND THE STUARTS the East, where the East India Company was making such progress that it had excited the envy of its Dutch and Portuguese rivals. Fight- ing in these waters became almost continuous, but the Navy had no part in it. It will be described therefore in its more appropriate place, but as it caused the issue of numerous Letters of Marque it had considerable military importance. The Suppression of Piracy. At home the Navy had a certain amount of work to do in the suppression of piracy round about the year 1610. Elizabeth had granted Letters of Marque against the Spaniards, but legally these were cancelled when James made peace with that Power. As he was generally content to pardon any offender with a homily on the sacred- ness of peace, the privateers soon came to regard his edicts very lightly, and from that it was only a step to open piracy. Things got from bad to worse until in 1614 Monson and Sir Francis Howard took the avail- able ships of the fleet against the rovers. A little judicious hanging worked wonders, but the Barbary corsairs were a very different proposi- tion and kept the Navy busy, although the Sallee ships were so much faster than ours that few were taken. The Spanish Scare. In 1617 the Spaniards were known to be preparing a big force, and the question arose as to whether it was to be a surprise attack on us or an attack on the Barbary corsairs as the Dons declared. The King pulled of? a very clever stroke in immediately raising a fleet to co-operate with them to rout out the pirates, thus having his force ready to meet an invasion if necessary and at the same time avoiding precipitating hostilities. It was one of the few occasions on which James made good use of the Navy and it resulted in the Spanish scheme, whatever it might have been, being abandoned. Meanwhile, however, the Duke of Buckingham as Lord High Admiral had determined to use the ships so raised quite straightforwardly, and accordingly Mansell in 1620 sailed from Plymouth against the Barbary corsairs with six men- of-war and twelve hired merchantmen. A certain amount of damage was done to the corsairs, but little enough considering the size of the expedition. The English as Mercenaries. One of the most extraordinary incidents in the history of the Navy occurred in 1624, shortly before the death of James I, when he entered into an agreement with the French King which hired out to that monarch two British men-of-war and six armed merchantmen under Admiral Penington for use against any enemy that he might have, excepting the English and the Scots. All the details of the affair are somewhat obscure, but it would appear that the Duke of Buckingham had a very personal finger in the pie and that had his scheme been carried out it would have practically meant handing over the ships. As it was, only hopeless confusion resulted and eventually the fleet 102 THE NAVY AND THE STUARTS returned to England, when they were straightway ordered back and there discovered that they were not to fight against the Genoese as had been suggested but were to be used to put down the rebellious Huguenots at La Rochelle. Eventually only one man in the fleet consented to partake in such a service, but most of the ships were used. The Spanish Expedition. After the Penington fiasco Buckingham's taste for naval glory was by no means satisfied and his new plan was an expedition against Spain. Like most of Buckingham's whims it was expensive, but it must be said to his credit that he was willing enough to advance £30,000 to the empty Treasury against the cost. With twenty ships that the Dutch promised to send, the armament consisted of over a hundred vessels in all, most of them transports, under the supreme command of Viscount Wimbledon, a soldier. His instructions were to destroy Spanish shipping and tackle the Plate fleet if the opportunity arose, but unfortu- nately he knew nothing whatever about naval matters and the expedition was hopelessly bungled from the very beginning. Few of the captains had very much stomach for fighting and the commander was so utterly incapable that he sailed without giving his subordinates any rendezvous or any previous instructions, so that ships that parted company had not the least idea where to pick up the main body again. There was a good deal of fighting at Cadiz, but every blunder imaginable was made and such little triumph as we won was very dearly bought. No sooner was the fleet homeward bound to the North than the Plate Armada slipped in from the South in safety. Quarrel with France. In the same year, 1625, we began a quarrel with France where there had been considerable ill-feeling over the Penington affair. The illegal condemnation of prizes made things worse and the French retorted by seizing the whole of the English wine fleet in French ports. As Admiral of the Narrow Seas Penington was ordered in 1626 to attack Le Havre and destroy the French fleet therein with a handful of armed merchantmen, but the port was empty and the crews were generally in a state of open mutiny over their pay. The ha Rochelle Expedition. Meanwhile the Duke of Buckingham was preparing an expedition to sail to the relief of the Huguenots besieged in La Rochelle, although lack of money was a great hindrance to the preparation of an effective fleet. He himself went as Admiral in the Triumph but once again things were mismanaged, for the authorities forgot the invariable mediaeval precaution of detaining all foreign ships, with the result that they allowed a Dutchman to sail from Plymouth just before the Fleet and to give warning to the French in spite of the fact that a Dutch squadron was with us. Thus the French had ample time to prepare and things were made worse by Buckingham's obstinacy in refusing to take any advice from the practical seamen, while to cap all the besieged 103 THE NAVY AND THE STUARTS Huguenots would not co-operate with their relievers until we had given some definite grounds for them to hope that the expedition would be successful. As a matter of fact it was a miserable failure, and with the enemy and disease taking huge toll retreat was the only thing possible. It must be admitted that in this expedition Buckingham proved himself a sporting loser and took all the blame to himself. In addition promised help from England did not arrive. The Second La Rochelle Expedition. No sooner had the remnants of this enterprise arrived home than preparations were made for a second, although there was nothing really to be gained by the relief of the town and the whole enterprise was a mixture of Buckingham's swashbuckling and the Royal obstinacy which subsequently cost Charles his head. The French were having ships built for them in Holland and we had a certain preliminary success in capturing a big man-of-war that was practically completed at the Texel, but in the meantime we were suffering badly from the hornets which sailed from Dunkirk in swarms. The murder of Buckingham on the 23rd of August, 1628, prevented further waste on the scheme. The Dark Days. After the death of Buckingham the Na\^ embarked on a very dark period of its history. The Turkish pirates ravaged the Channel and English coasts, the peaces that we concluded with France and Spain, the latter including a secret clause against the Dutch, could not be said to increase our dignity, while the Dutch captured the greater part of the herring trade, fishing on our coasts with the utmost contempt for royal regulations or Charles's demand for licences. A fleet was raised by means of Ship Money for the suppression of piracy, and it must be noted that it was only when the tax was made a regular part of the King's income in peace time that such strong objections were raised to it. A fleet was fitted out for sea in 1635 but it did very little and the general level of the service was low. The Ship Money Fleet. The real trouble about ship money arose when a new writ was issued in August, 1635, levying the tax on the inland as well as the maritime counties and towns. Many of the agricultural districts had not the slightest interest in ships and shipping, and the demand caused the greatest discontent among them. The third writ for ship money in October, 1636, made it evident that the demands on the inland dis- tricts were to be permanent and it was against this that John Hampden and others took the stand which indirectly led to the Civil War. In the meantime, however, a fleet had contrived to get to sea and the moral effect of its existence was considerable. It did not extend, however, to the Dutch herring fishers who stubbornly refused to take out licences, in spite of the repeated demands of the impecunious King. 104 THE NAVY AND THE STUARTS Trouble with the Dutch. Beginning with the trouble with the Dutch herring fishers, the bad feeling in that quarter was rapidly increasing. In 1639 the Dutch Admiral Tromp, who was afterwards to become such a great figure in English history, stopped a number of British ships and took from them a body of Spanish soldiery bound for Dunkirk. It was an action entirely in keeping with the spirit of the times, but Charles would not have it so. A Dutch fleet pursued a body of Spaniards into the Downs where Penington with a weak squadron was quite unable to back up his protestations of neutrality. All this time the state of the fleet was going from bad to worse and the definite quarrel between the King and Parliament was approaching, so that in 1642 things came to a head by counter appointments. The result of these was that confusion grew up in the fleet and it became impossible to rely upon it as an instrument of the Royal will. The " Sovereign of the Seas." The crack ship of Charles I's Navy, the money for whose construc- tion was undoubtedly a contributory cause to losing him his head, was the Sovereign of the Seas, which was rightly known in her day as being the finest man-of-war afloat. She was built at Woolwich in 1637, and the fact that this number is also given as her tonnage in the old Navy List is curious. The Corporation of Trinity House, which in those days appears to have had very few of the qualities for which it is now known, was very much against her being built, for they maintained that a ship of her size, mounting three tiers of ordnance, could not possibly be safe at sea and could not possibly be accommodated in any British harbour. Both these jeremiads proved totally incorrect, for she never had any trouble over her draught and had a wonderful career. The original plan was for the King to launch her in State, but after he had taken all his Court down at the public expense it was found that the tides would not serve and a similar outing was planned for the next springs. A gale, however, sprang up the night before and to prevent her bumping herself to pieces she had to be launched in a hurry by the fight of flickering torches on her deck. Her total cost was just over £40,000, of which nearly £7,000 was spent on gilding and decoration, a luxury which caused a great outcry but curiously enough came to be so loved by the people that when the Commonwealth ordered that all our men-of-war should be painted a sombre black — " sad colour " — they would not allow the Sovereign of the Seas to be touched in any way. She carried a hundred guns of various sizes and in a life of nearly sixty years she certainly used them to very good advantage, for her fighting record was magnificent and she was always known by the Dutch as the Golden Devil. Eventually, in 1696, she was burned by the careless- ness of her shiokeeper, who allowed a lighted candle to fall over in a store-room, and by the false economy of the Government, who limited her fire-fighting apparatus to a few leaky buckets. 105 THE NAVY AND THE STUARTS Charles I and the Navy. Many people wonder how it was that Charles I could place so little trust in his fleet when it was essentially the Royal Navy and he had taken so much personal interest in it. The truth is that all through his reign he had been interested enough in material but had neglected personnel most shamefully, with the result that it is small wonder that the men turned against him. The condition of the seamen was wretched enough in Elizabeth's time but nothing to what it was in Charles's, when moreover there was practically no excuse for it. Absolutely no provisions were made for the comfort of the men, who were forced to sleep on the wet decks after having been pressed in the street and having had little chance of getting more than the clothes in which they stood, were fed on the vilest food imaginable and little enough of that, and seldom got their pay. To compare it with Eliza- beth's time it may be mentioned that the Gentlemen Adventurers took great pride in sharing the hardships of the men, but Buckingham, when he prepared for the La Rochelle Expedition, put aside a transport entirely to act as a kitchen and shore ship for the luxuries that he was taking with him, while the men were starving. The Roundheads on the other hand promised them great things and in the beginning fulfilled some of their promises. The Civil War. The first move of the Navy in the Civil War was to vote a com- bined allegiance to King and Parliament, an attitude which became impossible as time went on. Married to a French Queen the King naturally had every hope of help from across the Channel, but to get this the allegiance of the Navy was imperative and the attitude of the Navy was becoming more and more uncertain. The Earl of Warwick was the Parliamentarian Commander-in-Chief with Sir William Batten under him. By this time Queen Henrietta Maria had gone across to France for help, both financial and otherwise, and one of the first duties of the Parliamentary fleet was to prevent her return without precipitating an outbreak of hostilities. It will be remembered that in Plantagenet days the Fleet was regarded as the personal property of the King, and this attitude towards Charles's enemies was the direct result of its having become a national service. The Navy in the Struggle. The first trouble with the Navy was when the Queen contrived to land at Bridlington with stores and treasure for the King. Batten arrived almost immediately afterwards and at once opened fire on the ships, but unfortunately among his shots were a number of overs which struck and partially wrecked the house in which the Queen was lodged. Nothing could have been better calculated to arouse the chivalry of the Cavaliers, and Batten's action, although it appears to have been entirelv accidental, aroused tremendous enthusiasm. During the Civil War there was little enough genuine naval activity, but the Fleet, being 106 THE NAVY AND THE STUARTS on the side of the Puritans, undoubtedly contributed very greatly towards the result by preventing help reaching the King from abroad. At the same time there was so little real activity that the men got bored with their constant patrol against an invisible enemy. Once again history repeated itself, and before the war on land was half decided Parliament was in no condition to trust its own fleet. This was evident when Colonel Rainborow was appointed to succeed Sir William Batten in 1647 and was promptly turned out of his own flagship. By this time, although it had greatly assisted the Parliamentary cause, the Navy had rendered doubtful service to England in undermining her prestige abroad by showing how easily her King was frustrated. After Rain- borow was refused by the Fleet Batten was restored and celebrated his return to favour by taking eleven men-of-war across to Holland to join the Royalist Navy. Prince Rupert the Rover. Prince Rupert of the Palatinate had proved himself to be one of the most dashing cavalry commanders on the Royalist side although, as a matter of fact, he always just managed to fail to complete his victories by his lack of self-restraint. Latterly he had become somewhat estranged from Charles on account of the treatment that his advice had received and had taken advantage of the Parliament's permission to retire to Holland. When Charles was really defeated he realised what a devoted follower he had in his nephew, and although the Prince never forgave the King's advisers he consented to take over the command of the Royalist Fleet. With Batten's ships this amounted to seventeen sail and there followed an extraordinary cruise under the Royal rover, a cruise that was not far removed from piracy although the fleet pro- fessed to prey only on rebel tonnage. One ship after another was captured or abandoned worn-out, and the fleet was pursued from point to point by the relentless Blake. This was the first great service that Blake rendered to the Commonwealth and in this he possessed just the qualities lacking in the Prince. Never brilliant, he had a wonderful perseverance that gave him victory in the long run. Prince Rupert's heart being finally broken by the disappearance at sea of the ship which carried his beloved younger brother Maurice, his companion in many a dashing cavalry charge. The operations of Prince Rupert as a sea rover form a most fascinating incident in British sea history but they are of detail rather than of broad outline. The Commonwealth Navy. Under the Commonwealth organisation the Navy was very diflferent to what it had been under the King. Like most new republics they were enthusiastic for committees and there were any number set up for various purposes. At the same time it was a splendid period for the Navy because the rulers of the country realised two things — firstly, the importance of Sea Power, and secondly the necessity of keeping the Navy employed. This not only meant a powerful fleet but also 107 THE NAVY AND THE STUARTS the rapid increase of British prestige abroad, and even the mismanage- ment of the subsequent era could not totally destroy this work for some years. At the same time the Commonwealth's idea of naval manage- ment was by soldiers rather than sailors and the commanding officers were officially known as generals at sea. There is an old story that Blake ordered his fleet to wheel to the right the first time he took com- mand of it, and although this lacks confirmation it is not by any means impossible of many of his colleagues. Among these soldiers at sea were some of the finest commanders of their age, but nevertheless the Commonwealth was not always well treated by its subordinates. Most of its captains were promoted on account of their ability as seamen with- out reference to their moral or general character and it is to be feared that they did not hesitate to rob their employers to the very limit of their opportunity. This was in spite of the fact that the Government tegan by treating the men very well, both in respect of their wages and also of the prize money that they earned, while they encouraged individual effort by the award of medals, both for seamen and officers. The Mediterranean Station. Hitherto England had taken but few measures to enforce her naval position in the Mediterranean although ample warning had been received that these waters were becoming more and more important from the point of view of commerce. When Blake pursued Prince Rupert into the Mediterranean, however, our people at home began to realise that the sea had possibilities, and a powerful fleet there now added greatly to the respect with which our flag was treated. The Dutch did not like this at all, but at that time we were too big to be touched and the two fleets remained on the spot in mutual jealousy without caring to tackle one another. In addition to maintaining our prestige the ships that we sent " up the Straits " were a very great hindrance to the operations of the Barbary corsairs who by this time practically ruled the Middle Sea. The Perils of Shipping. In the early days of the Commonwealth peaceful shipping was in a very perilous position. Not only was it attacked by the Sallee rovers l50th inside and outside the Mediterranean but it was also the prey of more or less legitimate Royalist privateers, a horde of small craft who hailed from Dunkirk no matter what the political situation happened to be, and in addition a number of out-and-out pirates who made Jersey their base until Blake routed them out in 1651. Yet after all this the Commonwealth was making progress and the prestige of Britain was gradually increasing, to be put on a firm basis as a result of Cromwell's war against the Dutch. 108 ^%^' -li L'3 X, '-'JO a o O H Q r z r1 c 3 if: z o — z 2 5 G •z. o •g £ £ «>« 111 lit ^ to 3 1j *^ 112 MODEL OF THE "SOVEREIGN' OF THE SEAS " (Made bv Mr. H. B. Culver, of New York) The Sovereign of the Seas was launched for Charles I in 1637, and took part in many important actions during the next fifty years- She was the finest man-of-war in her day, and not only marked a great advance in naval architecture, but showed to %vhat a ridiculous height the waste of money on gilding and decoration had attained. 113 RV' -li 1 -i£ ^m^ >*& i u ca O U o in H W U J tL, Q < X u H D Q O — p^ ^ ' n 13 i^ O -^ "U -- 10 -5 ~^^ := -= K ~ ^ --: -= ~ >^ "^ S ^ ^^£ £ -5 IS ^ ., = ^ =^ ~ >^ ^ 5 ^ '^ 5 114 c ° - ^ K 2 -S »; ■s s ~ s = ^ i 115 £ 5 •§ a o S o >, -2-5S 8-2 •■^ ^ O ^ - "^S ^ ^ a S i; g 5 S £•« = s ? = 11 =3 £■= 116 2 £ o >. g "^ to dj ■- -a: -^ « -^ . •I o| o -« 5 c J= (N i;-=o S ^"^ "W ^ o '*-* PS gh:.= u ^ o Q fc u. O Tr. O f- o 117 .5°^ ». JX ^ w . »~ S? ^ . ■^ c- Is ■u X » V 3 ■Ci. J3 Q 1 K 5 S ?^ "^ *- C t3 -ft. iH 3 ;>^ 3 O »i. _o g t^ 1) "S ■« V ?i to -« -^ a <0 fi E Qj QJ 3 '1 ^ Q W ^-1 1J "5 ^ H^ ■il o ^ y< ) 118 CHAPTER VIII— THE DUTCH WAR The Cause of it all. For some years past events had been leading towards a clash of interests between England and Holland and the tension of the Civil War did nothing to avert it. In the East fighting was the rule rather than the exception and in time this was bound to breed ill-will at home. When the herrings deserted the Baltic and thereby ruined many Hanse towns the Dutch took up their pursuit and did a great part of their fishing along the English coast without going to the trouble and expense of taking out the licences that were supposed to be necessary. In addition the Dutch carrying trade was rapidly increasing, and although it was undoubtedly the biggest in the world it was feeling the growing English competition very badly indeed. Besides the actual compet- ing interest there was the fact that England was in a position to shut in the Dutch just as she shut in the Germans during the late war, and this fact was constantly in the minds of their shipping folk. Fuel was added to the fire by the fact that relations with the French were getting very strained and that the Dutch were becoming more and more friendly, not only with them but with the Danes as well. When the Prince of Orange died, Cromwell proposed a very close alliance with the Dutch republic, an alliance which afterwards grew into what was virtually a merging of the two countries, but as Holland would obviously get very much the worst of the bargain and would practically lose her independence this offer was rejected and its rejection gave further offence. Finally the famous Navigation Act — often spoken of as the original but really only a revival of mediaeval legislation — put a full stop on the Dutch carrying trade as far as England was concerned. The Dutch regarded it as being directed against them entirely and in a very short time ambassadors were recalled. Attempts to arrange a compromise were met with an astounding list of English grievances all over the world, while a large number of Dutch ships were seized under the provisions of the Act. The Aniboyna Affair. There were many causes of friction between the Dutch and the English and in most of these it must be confessed that, owing to poor and slack government, the latter were the aggressors. Generally speaking, the Dutch behaved with admirable restraint, the one blot on their record being the terrible Amboyna affair of 1623. Amboyna, or Ambon as it is now generally called, is an island in the East Indies which was discovered by the Portuguese in 1511. They returned ten years later and founded a factory but did not really obtain full posses- sion until 1580. In 1609 the Dutch turned them out and five or six years later the English founded a station on one end of the island remote from the Dutch settlement. This caused great uneasiness to the Dutch, who in 1623 descended on the factory, captured it, and put the inhabitants to death with appalling tortures that were quite foreign to the normal Dutch nature as one imagines it by reading their 119 THE DUTCH WAR history. It was many years before the impression made by this massacre was erased from British minds, and in 1654 Cromwell compelled the Dutch to pay £300,000 in compensation. The Commencement of Hostilities. The Navigation Act was passed on the 9th of October, 1651, and immediately trouble began. Within a month privateers' commissions were being issued and a huge Dutch fleet was being prepared. There was still no declaration of war, but as both nations were spoiling for a fight and both had powerful fleets at sea there was only one possible outcome of the situation. The match was applied to the magazine by Captain Young with a small squadron falling in with a dozen Dutch ships oflF the Start, merchantmen convoyed by three men-of-war. The Dutch Admiral struck his flag in time-honoured fashion in British waters but his Vice-Admiral refused to and was promptly given a broadside. After a sharp action the honours were paid but it was all that was wanted. Within a few days a small British squadron in the Downs was suddenly confronted by a Dutch Fleet of forty-two ships under Tromp. The Admiral sent a messenger on board the British flagship to say that he was there by stress of weather which made it impossible for him to stay at Dunkirk, but he was answered in somewhat surly fashion that the best thing that he could do was to get away as quickly as possible. Blake had a further squadron at Rye and received an urgent appeal for support, with the result that an action took place between Dover and Folkestone. It was fought with the greatest fierceness, shore boats constantly putting off from the coast with volunteers for the British Fleet, mostly fishermen. There were a good many casualties, and although it was really undecisive the British had the better of the action. It was probable that they would have made it a victory had not Tromp received at nightfall a message that there was a rich Dutch fleet of merchantmen in the Channel and his first care was to protect them. The effect of this action was to cause an immediate and imperative public demand for war, to which the Dutch were by no means averse. Both countries impressed both ships and seamen. The First Phase. War being officially declared, the first action of the British was to attack Dutch commerce, and especially the herring fleet which contri- buted so much to the quarrel. Blake was sent North to cut up the fishermen and to destroy the Dutch Baltic trade, and he carried out his instructions with the utmost consideration for non-combatants, a con- sideration that was far ahead of his day. Meanwhile Ayscue was in the Channel on similar work and making a number of rich prizes. The returning Dutch ambassador was able to take full information back to Holland concerning the disposition of our fleet, and meeting Tromp gave him all the intelligence that he wanted of the weakness of Ayscue's squadron, over which he had a great superiority. Ever^nhing was in the Dutchman's favour until a change of wind went against him, while 120 THE DUTCH WAR the shore batteries that had been erected round about Deal gave very welcome support to the British who were finally able to beat off the attack. Turning North to destroy Blake, Tromp's fleet was scattered by a gale and he returned home to be disgraced by the republic. De Ruyter. In Tromp's place Michiel de Ruyter, the greatest seaman of his day, was appointed Admiral. In him the Dutch certainly had a wonderful leader and his virtues almost make one forget the injustice done to Tromp. At that time, as on many other occasions in its history, the Dutch Navy was very severely handicapped by politics and De Ruyter was always very careful to keep out of them, at least in con- nection with his public work. His first action was against Ayscue off Plymouth in August, 1652, when he was escorting a big fleet of merchant- men clear of the Channel. A ding-dong battle ensued which appears to have been nothing better than a series of stubbornly contested single- ship actions, but De Ruyter certainly got the better of the day by being able to continue his work of convoying the merchantmen while the British were too badly damaged to pursue. Our Rear-Admiral Pack was killed by a round shot and was a heavy loss to the Fleet. Almost immediately afterwards Ayscue was relieved, which appears to have been as much an injustice as was Tromp's case, but he had a good deal of advisory work afterwards and his undoubted ability was not altogether lost. Penn was given command of the Western Squadron and although he only had half the Dutch force he was quite willing to fight them, but De Ruyter managed to avoid the action. Blake and the French. Although it would appear that we had our hands full with the Dutch in the West, Blake determined to aim a blow at Dunkirk as being the base of most of the French privateers. The Spanish were attacking the town and a French squadron was on its way there with a relieving army and stores. Blake engaged this squadron and routed it, with the result that almost immediately afterwards the town fell to the Spanish and we were relieved of anxiety on this score for a time. The Mediterranean Situation. The fact that the greater part of the war at sea was centred round home waters caused the administration to neglect the Mediterranean, where our fleet was vastly inferior to that of the Dutch and where we had big interests to protect. For a long time it was a matter of dodging round the neutral ports with a minor action when opportunity offered, but in 1652 Admiral Badiley, who was supposed to have the assistance of Appleton, engaged a superior Dutch fleet off Elbe. Appleton neither came out of port nor sent his ships to relieve his hard-pressed consorts, with the result that H.M.S. Phoenix was lost and the other three ships of the squadron badly mauled. The loss of the Phoenix was a very sad blow to British pride and accordingly it was determined to cut her out although she was lying at Leghorn and should have been 121 THE DUTCH WAR protected by the neutrality of the Grand Duke. By some strange reasoning it appears to have been the contention of our people that there was no breach of neutrality as long as no firearms were used, so that there was a scuffle on deck and below and a hasty retirement. In this action Cornelius Tromp, son of the Admiral, was very nearly drowned through jumping out of his cabin window. Our defeat off Dungeness caused even less attention to be paid to Mediterranean matters, and although there were a number of minor actions the sea was abandoned by our ships in 1653 and Badiley was employed at home. The Battle of the Kentish Knock. In 1652 De Ruyter was joined by Admiral De With, one of the finest Admirals the Dutch possessed but a man of extraordinary un- popularity. He was appointed as senior to De Ruyter and when the two fleets joined at Calais they consisted of seventy-nine ships. Many of them were in a very bad way and ten warships and five fireships were detached at once as being likely to be more embarrassing than helpful. The British fleet was in the Downs and both sides were quite ready for action, meeting off the Kentish Knock. Blake had Penn as Vice-Admiral and Bourne as Rear-Admiral but his fleet was very scattered when they sighted the enemy. However, he determined to attack at once with the ships that he could bring into action and he was fully justified by the fact that the Dutch were taken so much by surprise that they were unable even to hold a Council of War. At the same time they were in the stronger position because their weather side was pro- tected by the Knock sandbank which effectively prevented the British ships getting the gage. Against this advantage a number of Dutch crews were in a very mutinous state. At the end of three hours' desperate fighting the Dutch were undoubtedly beaten with remarkably little loss to the English, and much against his wish De With was forced to return to Holland by his captains. The Battle of Dungeness. Kentish Knock was a very useful victory for us but it was not suffi- cient to justify the over-confidence which was immediately felt through- out the Fleet. Our cruisers brought in a large number of prizes and the Dutch were confined to their ports, but when the authorities decided that they were bound to sue for peace and demobilised the greater part of the Fleet accordingly, it was asking for trouble. At the same time the Danes entered into an active agreement with the enemy and were able to render them very considerable assistance. The Dutch were by no means beaten so badly that we could afford any demobilisa- tion, and moreover the success of the British cruisers which were strangling the commerce that was absolutely essential to their country drove them to desperation. A huge convoy was therefore made up with a naval guard under Tromp and Jan Evertsen, De Ruyter acting as Vice-Admiral. This naval guard comprised seventy-three warships and small craft, while Blake in the Downs had under forty ships all told. 122 THE DUTCH WAR Leaving his convoy inshore Tromp took his whole fleet round the Good- wins, causing Blake to weigh hastily and make off to the southward to avoid being caught in a trap. Unfortunately the batteries that had saved Ayscue had been dismantled and it is to this fact more than to any other that the ensuing disaster was due. The two fleets sailed along side by side until Dungeness forced Blake to stand out to sea and they came in contact. There could only be one result of an action between such ill-matched forces and to make matters worse a number of English captains avoided the fight, it being suggested that they were in the pay of the Royalists. At the end of the action we had lost the Garland and Bonaventure, taken after gallant defences, and three ships sunk, while one Dutchman had been accidentally blown up. Blake was very lucky to be able to get back to the Downs and felt the defeat bitterly, but the Commonwealth authorities were big enough to realise where the blame lay and refused to accept his resignation. The Broom and the Whip. There is a popular legend to the effect that after this action Tromp hoisted a broom at his masthead in order to indicate that he had swept the sea of the British and that after the Three Days' Fight in the follow- ing year Blake hoisted a whip — later to become the pendant universally worn by men-of-war — to show that he had whipped the Dutch off the seas. There is little doubt that Tromp did fly a broom at the masthead when he returned to port, but the popular explanation is wrong. He had captured a number of prizes during his cruise and was naturally anxious to sell them. The age-old sign of a ship for sale is a broom at the masthead and he hoisted it. As for the pendant being Blake's whip, it was worn by men-of-war many years before his time. The Three Days' Fight. Blake had his revenge in 1653 when he was at sea with a large fleet supported by Monck, Deane and Penn. Tromp was with De Ruyter and Evertsen and was anxious to get his usual annual convoy into safety, but he was always a fighter and as the forces were roughly equal he decided to engage. The British force was very scattered so that Blake's and Deane's divisions took the brunt of the fighting to begin with against the whole Dutch fleet. The action started off Port- land on February 18th, 1653, and a tremendous battle lasted all day. Blake was badly wounded in the thigh and some of his ships were so shattered that they had to be detached. No fewer than three British ships were captured by the Dutch and afterwards retaken, while the Sampson was sunk. The exact Dutch losses are not known but it is certain that one ship was captured, three sunk and one blown up, while it is believed that there were other casualties. During the night Tromp managed to slip past the British and to run up Channel with his convoy, being overtaken off the Isle of Wight in the afternoon. At the end of the day two men-of-war and ten or twelve merchantmen had been taken from the enemy and the convoy was getting scattered. The pursuit lasted all through the night and the action recommenced at nine in the 123 THE DUTCH WAR morning of the twentieth not far from Gris Nez, but at the last moment the British were robbed of their prey. With the Dutch south of Gris Nez Blake considered that he had closed the Straits of Dover and waited for the morning of the fourth day to complete the victory, but under cover of darkness the Dutch had contrived to slip past and had returned to Holland. The Battle of the North Foreland. About this time the Navy was very hard pressed for men, for although the rates of pay were infinitely superior to those established under the Royalists, there was nearly as much delay in getting it and therefore the result to the seamen was practically the same. This trouble over pay caused constant discontent and led to a large number of men deserting to the Dutch. Some of these were renegades pure and simple, but some salved their conscience by maintaining that they were fighting in the Royalist cause. As time went on and the position of the Commonwealth became more secure this evil was reduced. Meanwhile negotiations for peace were once again opened, but as they were still on the same unsatisfactory basis that Holland should be put more or less under British influence they were dropped and the Nether- lands set about concluding a secret treaty with France. Meanwhile Tromp got together another fleet to convoy the outward bound merchantmen and although Monck crossed the Channel to meet him the two forces missed one another and the British had to be content with cutting up the Dutch fishing and coasting trades. The Dutch were equally disappointed when they failed to find a British fleet in the Downs or Dover Roads, and they suffered a good deal of damage from the guns of Dover Castle. Meanwhile the English at Yarmouth had received notice that the Dutch were in the Straits of Dover and hurry- ing south met the Dutch, who were making north, off the North Fore- land. Tromp had ninety-eight men-of-war and six fireships against Monck's hundred and five, so that the forces were remarkably evenly matched. It was one of the first actions in which a big effort was made to carry out some sort of tactical scheme, both Penn and Tromp show- ing that they had a very tolerable idea of the principle of fleet handling. Things had changed very much since the Spanish Armada, when two schools of fighting were in opposition — the British determined on cannonading and the Spanish on boarding if they could only get a fraction of a chance. Fighting at the North Foreland was just as stubborn and gallant on both sides as it had been in all the other actions between the British and the Dutch. Politics had worked their canker in the enemy's fleet, however, with the result that part of it began to give way and although Tromp fired into the fugitive ships his effort produced very little effect. By nightfall the enemy were off Ostend totally routed while the English had not lost a single ship, although their casualties had been heavy and included Deane. We captured eleven ships and their other casualties were believed to have been six ships sunk and two more blown up, although these latter figures are a little uncertain. 124 THE DUTCH WAR As a result of this victory England was able to maintain a rigid commer- cial blockade of Holland. Subsequent Operations. This blockade of the Dutch coast meant more to Holland than any action. Blake was ill and Monck was in command of the fleet with Penn as his colleague and Lawson and Badiley of Mediterranean fame as his subordinates. Peace negotiations were again proposed but they came to nothing, and in the middle of 1653 Tromp slipped out of the Maas with a fleet intending to join another fleet from the Texel, under De With. There was a partial action fought off Katwijk without any decisive result, but drawing the British blockading fleet away and letting De With slip out. The two Dutch fleets joined off Scheveningen and once again there was a ding-dong battle. But it was a disastrous one for the Dutch, for Tromp was killed by a chance musket ball on his quarter-deck in very much the same fashion that Nelson died at Trafalgar. It was decided to keep his flag flying and to hide the catastrophe, but the Dutch were beaten and after sustaining very heavy losses retired in disorder. The English casualties were heavy, includ- ing a number of captains, but the enemy lost something like twenty ships and a huge number of men. Tromp. Martin Harpertszoon Tromp was undoubtedly one of the greatest seamen of his age. He was born in 1597 and had salt water in his blood, for he went to sea in his father's ship before he was ten and was in action almost at once. His genius and outspokenness were often against him and in 1629 the Dutch Admiralty suspended him for putting forward suggestions for the reformation of naval administration and discipline. In an emergency, however, they were glad enough to have him back and he soon made himself the terror of Holland's enemies. He and Blake were worthy foemen but the curious thing is that they had a very strong personal regard and even friendship for one another, and while they fought hard they remained on terms of the utmost courtesy. His death in action by a chance bullet was a disaster to Holland, for his men worshipped him and would follow him anywhere, while in addition he had something of the genius of a Nelson and never lost his head either in victory or defeat. The End of the War. Scheveningen was the last of the fleet actions of the First Dutch War, but there were a number of minor fights, mostly single ship duels which make interesting reading. The Dutch contrived to get a number of convoys both in and out, but their main fleet was practically destroyed in a gale off the Texel and they were never in a position to meet us at sea. Blockading work cost us a lot of ships by stranding on the out- lying Dutch islands and shallows, and at the end of 1653 we very nearly lost the Phosnix which attempted to tackle a powerful Dutch fleet of armed merchantmen from the Baltic. Peace was finally concluded on 125 THE DUTCH WAR the 5th of April, 1654, when Cromwell was able to impose his own terms on the Dutch, always excepting the unfortunate demand for the union of the two countries which had caused so much trouble. British V. Dutch Ships. In the hard hammer-and-tongs fighting of the Dutch Wars one can- not help noticing how many ships — especially Dutch — foundered as a result of gunfire, which was a rare thing before. This is partly explained by the fact that the Dutch ships were built for speed and seldom had the least difficulty in getting away from our lumbering wagons which one authority describes as being so clogged with timber that there was no room for stores. It was said that the British built their ships to last seventy years and the Dutch seven. On the other hand this proved to be an advantage in action, for many a time we contrived to sink a Dutch ship long before we had knocked the fighting spirit out of her men. Quibbling with France and Spain. After peace had been concluded with the Dutch there was a good deal of irregular fighting with both France and Spain. With the latter we had a number of perfectly legitimate quarrels, while with the former there was always the matter of the corsairs that had preyed on British commerce no matter what the relations between the two countries happened to be. Cromwell contrived to get France and Spain bidding against one another for our friendship, but finally decided that Spain was the better worth attacking and fitted out an expedition to tackle her in the West Indies. Penn was in charge of the fleet and Venables of the land forces, but although they had their office by favour of the Commonwealth and had fought right lustily in the Protector's cause, it would appear that they were now both of them communicating secretly with Prince Charles in Holland. When his fleet was ready Cromwell dispatched it against the West Indies with a long list of grievances that we had against Spain. The armament was a big one but it was wretchedly equipped in every way and this lack was felt particularly when a mixed brigade of soldiers and sailors was landed at San Domingo. This brigade appears to have fought tolerably well, but it had no chance from the first and its rout was intensified by its utter lack of discipline. Penn wanted to attack Hispaniola (Hayti), which was supposed to be the primary object of the expedition, but the army was not keen and the capture of Jamaica on the way home, a very important landmark in British history, was something of an after- thought. In spite of their success both Penn and Venables were clapped into the Tower as soon as they ^ot home, presumably because their treasonable correspondence with Charles had been discovered, but they were soon released. Blake's Expedition. In the meantime Blake was sent to the Mediterranean in the autumn of 1654 with a considerable fleet. Our interests had been very much neglected there for some years past and our prestige was still 126 y. s. O = z Ui o z z td > td U [I. o w J H H .a ~ 'S ii 5 o 3 T3 ^ 129 ^^^ /f(nf,,, ^ .'/ //^. •/.-■ / C lit /■ (Macpherson ColtectionJ MARTIN HARPENTSZOON TROMP Second only to De liuyter among the Dutch Admirals, Tromp was li'orshipped by his men, and, curiously enough, maintained a personal friendship with his great enemy Blake. The above portrait is from an etching by Jan de Frcy, after a drawing by Jan Lievens, which is now in the British Museum. 130 n '■$■ O J o .Si u o -« ISO 2; e 5 a LJ ^ 3 "5 "? 1> I <3 > 131 >'i' w z D 5c3 -= 5 o >. 2 ^ ■S.CQ 132 in < O fc. X 3 -o V- ^ o ^ w -2 ° — t^ Vj -E, ^ V (;. %■ ■liiiljiiiiiiK: O 5 w IS D o Bi 2 Z 15. 3 o est; G = .a ~ too X o > < Q f- 3 Q S (U K -S fc) § 1 T3 w 1 u ■»» o ■e. •S a _^ ^ a -ci. 5i V ■~ -e s tt« ■^ K na -c •ai to 3 »i. ». ti "J 1 t: ■^ 135 r. N Ci 1. A "N P.JCtf. '. i ROBERT BLAKE (159'J-1657 General and AdiinrnI al ■cfn. Illnke Teas n merchant seaman before he retired and went into I'arliameni . and later made his name as a cavalryman He was one nf the outstanding figures — gallant, cool, an^l a clear thinker — and had much to do with Die rei'i-'al of English prestige. 136 THE DUTCH WAR low on account of the manner in which we had been forced to abandon the sea. When Blake went south instead of west the Spaniards felt that their misgivings were unnecessary, especially when they were assured that he had instructions not to attack them. This was quite true, but these instructions only extended until after Cromwell had made his projected stroke in the West Indies, when Blake was at liberty to do what he liked. He first of all put into Tunis and handed in a number of demands to the Bey, but this was pure bluf? for he had no means of enforcing them at the time. After he had refreshed his ships, however, he felt himself capable of taking up these demands and accordingly attacked the Tunisian fleet and forts. With comparatively small losses Blake reduced the ships and the town, although there was a good deal of extraordinary luck mixed with his skill. He then tackled the Spaniards and prevented them getting reinforcements to the West Indies, while he captured a number of merchant ships. When he returned British prestige in the Mediterranean and South Europe was fully restored. Further Operations Against Spain. In 1656 Blake had detached Captain Stayner with a number of ships to watch Cadiz and in the course of this operation he contrived to intercept the West Indian Fleet. Two ships — one of them a small prize that the Spaniards had taken — got into Cadiz, two were sunk, two burned and one captured with enough gold in her to pay for the whole expedition. Meanwhile Blake went out into the west in search of the main treasure fleet and finally found it in port at Santa Cruz in Tenerife. The Spaniards were expecting to be attacked and had made full preparations, both on shore and in their ships. Stayner led the van and after a fierce fight contrived to take the galleons. This done it was found impossible to get them away and they had to be destroved. while their victors were only saved from the fire of the forts by a lucky change of wind which carried them clear. The Death of Blake. Blake's health had been failing for some time and he had applied for permission to return, but thorough seaman as he was he did not follow hard on the news of his victory as he might well have done. He waited until Cromwell's permission came out to him, accompanied by his portrait set in gold and diamonds as an appreciation of the victory, and then sailed for home. His great desire was to die in peace on shore, but that was not to be and the soul of the great seaman passed as his ship was entering Plymouth Sound on the 7th of August, 1657. He was born in 1599 at Bridgwater, the son of a small merchant who had just been able to send him to Oxford and died leaving nothing. He then went out to Morocco as agent for the Bombay Company and had some experience at sea, taking out Letters of Marque for his trading ships. One way and another he made quite a considerable fortune and returned to England in 1640, entering Parliament in the same year. He made a reputation as a soldier before he went to sea in 1649, but 137 THE NAVY OF THE RESTORATION this was multiplied many times by his service as an Admiral. He may not have been brilliant but he was extraordinarily solid, had a very sound judgment and great courage both physically and mentally. He cared very little for politics but was very sincere in his beliefs and was certainly one of the outstanding men of his period. He had no use for courted popularity and his men loved him for looking after their interests to the limit of his ability, a policy which frequently made him unpopular among victuallers and others at home. The End of the Commonwealth. A few minor actions completed the war which dragged on for some time after the death of Blake. But by this time the strong hand at the helm of England was failing and after the death of Cromwell affairs were in such a hopelessly disorganised state that no naval operations could be considered. The whole countrv was turning towards King Charles and no section more enthusiastically than the Navy. The Dutch felt that the Restoration was imminent and feeling that they had not treated Charles at all well they thought it high time to get back into favour rather than risk another war with us. They therefore invited him to the Hague and it was from Holland that Admiral Montague brought him, escorted by the whole available British Fleet. CHAPTER IX— THE NAVY OF THE RESTORATION The Second Dutch War. Both Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York, were enthusiasts on naval matters and moreover they saw the situation far more clearly than their father had done. All his interests were in material, but they thought of personnel as well and the Restoration was the beginning of a new era in naval matters. Soon after Charles returned, a new Navigation Act was passed that hit the Dutch even more severely than its predecessors. They were not in a position to reply at once, although the trouble that culminated in the Second Dutch War really began almost immediately after the Restoration. For some time it was a question of outrage and reprisal, but when Holmes sailed across the Atlantic and captured New Amsterdam, re-named New York in honour of the Duke, it was felt that things were getting serious. The Dutch agreement to co-operate with the English against the Barbary corsairs and their sudden withdrawal led to very bad feeling and war became inevitable. The Duke of York was Lord High Admiral with Sir William Penn as his Captain of the Fleet, while Prince Rupert, Sir John Lawson, Sir Christopher Myngs and Sir George Ayscue had subordinate commands and the British Fleet, being prepared first, sailed across to the Texel to blockade the Dutch. De Ruyter was away on the African coast and the command of the Dutch Fleet was accordingly given to Admiral Obdam with numerous subordinate Admirals. As far as material went the fleets at sea were roughly equal, but if there was any advantage it lay with the British. 138 THE NAVY OF THE RESTORATION The Battle of Lowestoft. Hostilities proper commenced with the capture of an Anglo- Hamburg convoy by the Dutch, which brought a considerable value into their coffers and gave them much needed encouragement at the outbreak of war. At the same time it handicapped us badly because for the outfit of our fleet we were very largely dependent upon the naval stores that were taken. The Duke of York's squadrons which had come in for refit were immediately hurried to sea again and had they been possessed of a better intelligence service they would have discovered that the Dutch Fleet was not by any means perfect and that the quality of both ships and men was very suspect by their Admiralty. The British Fleet was anchored in Southwold when it was reported that the enemy was off Lowestoft and the Duke immediately weighed to engage. The Dutch Fleet was very scattered, but Obdam collected them skilfully to meet the British attack which came up with Prince Rupert in the van, the Duke of York in the centre and the Earl of Sand- wich (Montague) in the rear. At the very outset the battle degenerated into a melee, but the British and Dutch flagships singled one another out and commenced a hammer-and-tongs action in the old style. Things were going very badly for the Duke of York when the Dutch flagship suddenly blew up and only five men out of her crew of over four hundred escaped. The Dutch ascribed this disaster to treachery but there is little doubt that it was an accident. After this they had but little chance and Sandwich completed their discomfiture. The fact that the Duke did not follow up the victory as he might have done and so convert the retirement into a rout, caused very considerable comment in England, for it was felt that had he possessed the energy of some of his subordinates the war might have been ended at once. The Campaign of 1666. The latter part of 1665 was uneventful on account of the ravages of the Plague in London, but in the following year preparations were made to renew the war at sea with vigour. The French were helping the Dutch and this caused a most unhappy division of our fleet. It was understood that a French squadron was coming up from the Mediter- ranean and accordingly Prince Rupert guarded the Channel while Monck, by now the Duke of Albemarle, was in the Downs. The alarm was false, but the wind that took the Prince down Channel and made it difficult for him to return brought De Ruyter and Cornells Tromp down on to the Duke of Albemarle. He was in no way loath to fight and having the weather gage he attacked with vigour, but unfortunately in this case it was a disadvantage for as his ships heeled it became impossible to fight their lower-deck guns on account of flooding the ships. The first day ended in some of the British ships being cut off and being forced to surrender after sustaining a tremendous hammering. In spite of this the fight was not altogether against us, for many of the Dutch ships were badly damaged and their superior force had quite failed to subdue the British. So well did we fight that on the second 139 THE NAVY OF THE RESTORATION day many of the Dutch Captains behaved very badly, while Tromp caused a good deal of confusion by carrying out an independent manoeuvre. At the end of it both British and Dutch had lost about three ships and the enemy were in a far more disorganised condition. Albemarle retreated steadily without any sign of panic, and protected his damaged ships, waiting for Prince Rupert to come up. We lost a big ship by explosion but the Dutch did not dare to pursue their advantage. The sight of a big force to the westward caused very mixed feelings and it was doubtful whether it was Prince Rupert or the French, but luckily it turned out to be the former and, reinforced but still inferior to De Ruyter, the British attacked again. By the end of the fourth day both sides were exhausted and although they had had the better of the fight the Dutch were very glad to get away. Whether our ships were in a position to make any of them prizes had they not gone is another matter, but the Four Days' Fight was in our favour. The St. James's Day Fight. This famous action, which took place off the North Foreland and is sometimes known as the second battle of the North Foreland was fought on the 25th July, 1666. The British Fleet under the joint command of Albemarle and Prince Rupert was gathered in the Thames Estuary, while a slightly superior Dutch Fleet was under De Ruyter. The enemy planned a landing on the British coast and had taken a large number of soldiers, but they realised that it was impossible to carry out this plan while our fleet was still in being and accordingly they were disembarked before the action. One of the things for which it was conspicuous was a confirmation of the point that had shown itself in the Four Days' Fight, that the British seamanship was rapidly improving and that the ships kept magnificent station considering the circumstances. Once again the Dutch showed the evils of divided command and the most powerful of their squadrons was detached by a smaller one of ours, causing great confusion. Then the Dutch centre gave way and although finally De Ruyter conducted a masterly retreat he lost a number of ships and finally only got a shattered remnant into the shelter of the shallows. Holmes's " Bonfire." Soon after this fight, Holmes, who had captured New York, carried out a corsair raid on Terschelling. He burned 170 odd ships and set fire to a number of storehouses ashore containing invaluable munitions, so that altogether it was a most successful raid although it caused the Dutch to strain every nerve to obtain reprisals. By this time they had begun to be very disappointed in their French allies. The Dutch in the Medway. Peace negotiations were then commenced at Breda, but Charles II, losing his head over the victories that his seamen had won, dictated impossible terms, although he had let the fleet get into such a bad condition that it was in no state to enforce them. Angered by his. 140 ;{iMwiiiiMiiiwiiiiimtmiiwi»mwiMiiiii!»wii.iMiiiMiiiiiiiiiw OIIU': 'PJCyi-aiia Q liTci Cunwria^fi ( MttLpnerAun Li'lleitii PRINCE RUPERT, COUNT PALATINE OF THE RHINE (Engraving by Blodeling, after Sir Peter Lely) Prince Rupert as an Admiral showed most of the qualities and faults that he had exhibited as a cavalry leader in the Civil War. His life at sea is divided into his famous course as a corsair, not far removed from piracy, and ius service as an Admiral after the Restoration. The above portrait is from a contemporary print. 141 z < Q w O H Q X e 142 z a a e ■1-. - ^ S CJ : 1 0/ ^ K -: to Vl ^ r^ ^^ "a ~ :». o 143 ( Macpherson CoUettion ) EARL SANDWICH AT SOLE BAY (After the Painting by Sir R. Smirke, R.A.) Appointed originally for political purposes. Earl Snnihvich, the patron of Pepvs, proved his worth as an admiral, a}id died a gallant death 7uhen his flagship blew ((/>. 144 ^1 ,^ s t 05 i -J 'i J CO _. w £ •si *" la/', (u to > ^ ^ O T3 = ■= 147 o X u H H O w J H H • so ^ 5 ^ "~ l-i I, "^ :^ -^ 148 (Macpherson Collection) MICHIEL DE RUYTER (1(507-1676) Considered hy many to be the equal even of Nelson, De Rtiyter was certainly the greatest Admiral the Dutch ever possessed, but in spite of beitit^ the premier tactician of his age he was always the simple sailorman. His leadership marked a new era in fighting at sea. 149 > '// -■ /// ,//, / t (Macphersnn CoUetttoi) / I, J -i -'> JAMES 11 (Engravino nv Vandrebanc, after Sir C. Kwma-.k James as King seemed to do his best to ruin the service that h, had done so much to build up as Duke of York. 150 THE NAVY OF THE RESTORATION attitude the Dutch planned a descent on the English coasts with the co-operation of the French, but finally were left to carry it out them- selves. By this time Charles II had greatly disappointed his seamen by forgetting all his early promises and letting them get into a condition as regards pay and food that was no better than under the Commonwealth. A number of British seamen, therefore, deserted to Holland and it was by their aid that the Dutch were able to pick their way through the shoals and shallows at the entrance to the Medway and attack the British Fleet that was laid up there. The ships were without men and many of them almost without guns, but they put up what must be regarded as a remarkably gallant defence. The odds were far too heavy, however, and a number of men-of-war were destroyed while some, including the Royal Charles, of which we were so proud, were taken across to Holland in triumph. After that and other descents on the coast Charles was more reasonable and the Peace of Breda in July, 1667, concluded the struggle. The Third Dutch War. After the Peace of Breda the Navy lapsed into an exaggerated peace routine which sapped the whole efficiency of the Fleet. In 1670, however, Charles II signed a secret treaty at Dover by which he agreed to lend the Navy to Louis XIV for his purposes against the Dutch, a disgraceful proceeding which was disastrous to our interests. Louis XIV meant to make France territorially the same as ancient Gaul, with the Rhine as its frontier, and Charles set about helping him, forgetful of the appalling danger to England of a French Rhine Delta. The determina- tion of the Dutch had prevented his capture of Antwerp threatening us in the way that it might have done, but Louis was not contented and hired Charles to cut his own throat. The fleet which put out to his assistance in 1672 was under the command of the Duke of York with D'Estrees as Second in Command of the French contingent and Lord Sandwich as Rear-Admiral. It is an ignoble fact that the French had no intention of risking their infant navy more than was absolutely neces- sary, and the presence of a French force was really for no other purpose than to make sure that England earned her pay. The Battle of Solebay. Against the advice of Sandwich the allies allowed themselves to be caught by De Ruyter on a lee shore off Solebay, and at the very beginning of the attack the French made matters worse by sailing away from our ships. De Ruyter was not a man to let an opportunity pass and immediately put himself between the two fleets. He detached a small squadron to watch the French and then tackled us with a slightly superior fleet. The greatest loss to the British was Pepys's patron, the Earl of Sandwich, whose flagship, the Royal James, was grappled by a French fire-ship and was soon ablaze fore and aft. There are two stories of his death — one that he stood on his quarter-deck with two or three devoted juniors until the flames drove him overboard and he was drowned, and the other that he got away in an overloaded boat which 151 THE NAVY OF THE RESTORATION was swamped. His body was subsequently recovered and taken to Westminster Abbey where it now lies. Otherwise the fight was a drawn one with the balance in favour of the Dutch. Both sides suffered, but the enemy contrived to effect their object of preventing us helping Louis XIV in the Netherlands. It was one of the first actions in which the newly-raised force of Marines particularly distinguished themselves at sea. Soon after the action the Duke of York retired from the position of Lord High Admiral on account of his religious beliefs. The Campaign of 1673. As soon as the fleet had recovered from the battering of Solebay it carried into operation the main plan of assisting the French on the Netherlands coast. Under Prince Rupert the fleet crossed and threatened the Maas, but the Prince of Orange, who had taken com- mand in Holland, was not to be daunted and backed De Ruyter loyally. Accordingly their fleet tackled us and after a number of minor actions fought the Battle of the Texel. In this action the French pursued their same policy and gave us very little support, so that the British had to stand the brunt of a determined Dutch attack by superior force. Things were not going well with us when the French returned and De Ruyter retired, after an indecisive action it is true, but having relieved Holland of the blockade and all fear of invasion from the sea. Perhaps our greatest loss was Admiral Spragge, a man with a very high reputation both for gallantry and ability, who was killed. After this action the British, who had been becoming more and more sympathetic with the Dutch against the French, took a definite line and in 1674 withdrew from the war in which only the gallantry of our seamen saved us from the utmost discredit. James II and the Navy. When James II succeeded his brother his policy should have been to foster the affection of the fleet, for his position was by no means secure and the Navy was the greatest potential support that he could desire. He was well known and well liked in the fleet, although it must be confessed that during the latter period of his power he had dabbled in politics in a manner that had detracted considerably from his popularity, but when he became King he seemed to make every possible blunder in dealing with the Navy. One oflScer after another was alienated and thrown into the arms of William of Orange, and even the ships which Lord Dartmouth collected in James's cause were seething with mutiny. It was the active support of British ships that prompted William to cross in 1688 and to land at Torbay, Admiral Arthur Herbert being in command and passing quite close to Dart- mouth's fleet without being molested. When the latter finally got under way he found that his men were so disaffected that there was nothing for him to do but to join William. The War of the English Succession. Louis XIV was still on bad terms with the Dutch and when James fled to his court and begged assistance from him it was very readily 152 THE NAVY OF THE RESTORATION given, to damage Holland just as much as to help James. One would have thought that France had her hands full, for she was already fight- ing the Emperor, Spain and Sweden, and there is no doubt that this prevented the full force of the French being directed against us at the outset as it should have been. In the following year, however, Louis fitted out a big expedition to convey King James and five thousand troops to Kinsale, where the Jacobites had strong support. The Battle of Bantry. Admiral Herbert was immediately dispatched with what ships could be hastily collected but he failed to get into touch with the French for some time, and finally when he came up with them in Bantry Bay on the 30th of April his fleet had been reinforced until it amounted to nineteen men-of-war and three fireships. The French Fleet con- sisted of twenty-four ships of the line, five frigates and ten fireships, but none of them were as big as our crack vessels. Their main purpose was to land munitions and reinforcements for James's Army. In the course of the action the inferior British Fleet got very badly hammered and it was only the jealousies of some of the French Admirals that prevented it being badly defeated. The English held the field but the French had achieved what they had set out to do. There was some outcry against Herbert for having failed to smash the French, but William understood his difficulties better and with a spirit that unfortu- nately did not last created him Earl of Torrington. Almost immediately after this one of the brilliant minor actions of the Navy was the relief of Londonderry and the breaking of the boom with which the Jacobites had blocked the stream. Beachy Head. In the year 1690 William himself crossed to Ireland to win the Battle of the Boyne, leaving the administration in the hands of Queen Mary and his advisers. It cannot be said that the members of the council kept their heads, and when Louis XIV brought up his Mediter- ranean Fleet to reinforce the Brest Squadron they were thrown into a bad panic and commenced to issue any number of hasty orders, some of them contradictory and many against all naval judgment. Torring- ton, who had an Anglo-Dutch Fleet, was ordered to seek the invaders and destroy them, although he knew that a far better policy would be to wait until he was reinforced by the fleets of Admiral Killigrew from Gibraltar and Sir Cloudesley Shovel from Ireland. Without them he was distinctly inferior to the French, the difference being eight ships and nearly five hundred guns. Torrington's idea was to harass the French without enabling them to use their opportunities to crush his fleet, but unfortunately this plan was rather spoilt by the Dutch mis- understanding his orders and giving the Count de Tourville, who commanded the French, every opportunity. The Dutch saved them- selves from annihilation by smart seamanship, for there was a big tide- way and on Torrington's orders they suddenly anchored simultaneously and let the attacking French ships be swept past them. Torrington 153 THE NAVY OF THE RESTORATION withdrew to the mouth of the Thames in excellent order, reconditioned and was ready to defend William at any moment. He was given no chance, however, for he was immediately arrested and tried by Court Martial. The Court understood something of naval matters and acquitted him honourably, but the King would not accept the verdict, cancelled the decision and dismissed Torrington from the country's service. This action has long been recognised as a gross miscarriage of justice, for the Admiral's action certainly saved the country from invasion and forced Tourville into a corsair war on commerce which was annoying but which did not really make very much difference. The Battle of Barfleur. Meanwhile James II had failed in his campaign in Ireland, but he had not given up the game and in 1692 he and Louis XIV formed a very ambitious scheme for the invasion of England which was supported by many English politicians. The whole backbone of the invasion would have been French and there is no doubt that even had the fleet not succeeded it would have rallied the whole of England round William. The command of the naval side of the expedition was again given to Tourville, who was then somewhat under a cloud. He was a remarkably gallant man, which may have accounted for the fact that he fought the Battle of Barfleur against the judgment of any experienced Admiral and indeed against the specific orders that had been sent to him from Paris but which apparently did not reach him. The Anglo- Dutch Fleet was over double his strength, consisting of ninety-nine line-of-battle ships and thirty-eight smaller ships, mounting nearly 7,000 guns, against his forty-eight battleships and thirteen minor craft, mount- ing 3,240. In spite of this huge disadvantage Tourville fought gallantly and handled his fleet with remarkable skill, making the utmost use of the fog that hid most of the battle. It was an unsatisfactory fight, in which the greatest credit goes not to Admiral Russell but to Rear- Admiral Carter, who had been suspected of treason but who died a gallant death in attempting to hold up the flying French Fleet. Russell was very severely blamed by many for not making a more complete job of it. The Battle of La Hague. If Russell was criticised for not following up his victory Vice- Admiral Sir Ralph Delavall could not be so blamed, for with his division he found a large portion of the French Fleet near Cherbourg a few days later and after a dashing action with boats and fireships succeeded in destroying three of them. Meanwhile a dozen large enemy ships were sighted in the Bay of La Hogue, where they con- sidered themselves safe, and out of this refuge Vice-Admiral Rooke and his subordinates decided to rout them. At low tide there was so little water that the boats that were soon under way were actually engaged by French cavalry and on more than one occasion a seaman pulled a trooper off his horse with a boat-hook. In spite of all the opposition 154 "So! :: xt ■ — a. — fS WD Q^ I c: w HW .^ n ** H n "^^ H U< u w Z K O^Z X < OS H-Jfcu S-.0 < X 5 ca < w o z : £ S *^ ^ s ^ >^ si:, e -3 -t cq wj 160 o to = & ^ Cu a U O -^ z Q W [1. *" O 5 H N z s S ^ 9 s 2 g o ^ SI ^ ^ 5 ° • O ju ir,i ■M (J ^U a: "5 H^ ^ O t^ . £ ^ c C ^ C ^ "■ ^j tu .^ -c ■ — _, ^ T3 5 . o = "^ ftjQ; w^ ^ t 2 2 ^■H Sii j; "" 51 ~.i: S = = o « g-^Wv"' 2~ g"S -S SS;§ o = ^ ° s^-^ .^■si,-§ ^ ':=si :: t- g5i fcii fA < U K H 178 Jin ^ b s< s u: O QJ O < '^ Pi H 2 *" < > z td < C O z z . W p X s ^ fc. ^ *- ^ ^ £ ■- .; .~ ^ ::: (o "7 ~ 2 5;" 181 > OS D H O =^ -J 2 < 2 2C >• o fc z O > < S o OS >• 5 < ^ O a. X S = : < o CJ a -H fcu > 182 183 (Macpherson Collection) GEORGE VILLIERS, MARQUIS (AFTERWARDS DUKE) OF BUCKINGHAM As Lord Higli Admiral the Duke of Buckingham had considerable influence on the development of the British Fleet: hut although he accompanied it on one or two expeditions, he was not a seaman in any sense of the word, hut rather a courtier enthusiastic with a new toy. 184 SHIPS AND SEAMEN that the custom became general of lacing bonnets to the bottom of the sail to increase its area in line weather instead of reefing it in bad accord- ing to modern practice. The paddle fixed over the quarter had dis- appeared in favour of the rudder on the centre line. It was the placing of guns on shipboard that made the great difference in the size of ships. Fighting Tops. Tops seem to have been built on to the masts of ships from the earliest times, the ancient Phoenicians and Romans having a top for the accommodation of a pilot that he might the better see shoals and broken water. They soon came to be used for fighting purposes also, and in the Middle Ages darts and stones were thrown from the tops in English ships and " Greek Fire " from those in the Mediterranean. In the early days of the sixteenth century guns began to be mounted aloft, the Great Elizabeth of 1514 having six serpentines and a stone gun on her two tops, while the Mary Rose had six small pieces. Shipbuilding Bounties. The granting of bounties by the Crown for the encouragement of merchant shipbuilding was first mentioned in 1449 when special grants were made to those who would construct merchant ships of large size. During the next hundred years or so this was generally regulated at about five shillings per ton for all trading vessels of over a hundred tons burthen, but this was not always the case. One of the earliest cases of the bounty was in the instance of the merchantman Grace Dieu of Hull, for which John Tavernor was granted certain privileges which must have been very valuable to him in the course of his trading. Guns on Shipboard. It has already been mentioned that in Henry V's reign the Holigost was the most heavily armed ship of the British Fleet as far as guns were concerned, but that she only carried six pieces. The Regent of 1489, however, carried no less than 285 serpentines, all on deck, and although these guns were not, of course, large, and with their shot of only a few pounds were employed entirely as " murdering pieces " rather than for the destruction of material, it shows the hold that cannon had obtained. This artillery was designed practically entirely for defence against boarders, for which reason a large number were mounted in swivels on the bulwarks and on the rails of the forecastle and poop in order to sweep the waist of the ship if the enemy got a foothold in it. In the Henry Grace a Dieu, which was built in 1514 to replace the Regent, there were mounted 122 iron serpentines and a large number of other guns of larger but remarkably various calibres. When she was rebuilt an effort was made to get something like uniformity into her armament, but her ammunition supply must have been heartbreaking to any gunner. Fifteenth-C entury Ships. By the latter part of the fifteenth century ships were getting well on the way from the Medieval vessels which were direct descendants of the Vikings to the Tudor ships with which we are tolerably well ■'^'-r- ■ 18B SHIPS AND SEAMEN acquainted from contemporary pictures. The ships still had a big sheer forward and aft. The poop, generally hung round with shields which were then little more than decorative, was horizontal, while the long forecastle had a sharp sheer. The big mainmast, surmounted by a top and frequently having a topmast and topsail, was still placed amid- ships, which is as it was in Viking days, but by this time there had long been small masts both on the forecastle and poop. From the illustra- tions that are left to us, most of which are somewhat fragmentary and many of which are taken from stained glass windows in churches, it would appear that these ships must have been both slow and unhandy, but at the same time a distinct efTort was being made to obtain more seaworthy qualities. Progress of Shipbuilding in the Mediterranean. Living entirely on their shipping as they did, it is not surprising that the Venetians and Genoese forged ahead in the matter of ship construction, far ahead of the English. As early as the middle of the fifteenth century it is reported that ships of 1,500 tons burthen were being built at Genoa but the most famous of them all was the Santa Anna, which was built for the Knights of Malta at Nice in 1530. She was the mightiest ship of her time and was of over 1,700 tons burthen. She had six decks, of which two were under water. Her armament consisted of fifty heavy guns and an " immense number of lesser ordnance." Against the great enemy of the shipwright of those days, the worm, she was protected by a thick lead sheathing which must have made her handle very sluggishly. Her crew consisted of three hundred men. Her whole history is not known, but she certainly took part in the expedition to Tunis which Charles V led in 1535. The Galleasse. When artillery was placed on shipboard and the size of ships in- creased rapidly the Mediterranean powers evolved the galleasse, which in its original form was a large galley, decked both for strength and con- venience, and carrying guns on its broadside among the rowers. It was a very inconvenient compromise, the reduced number of rowers being compensated by three tall masts carrying lateen sails, but it was a big step in the direction of the broadside men-of-war which lasted for centuries. The Galleon. The galleasse was hopelessly unsuitable for Atlantic work and accordingly all the powers having a sea-board on that coast resorted to a new type which grew into the galleon. Instead of starting with the man-of-war which was the direct descendant of the Viking ship they worked up from the slow but seaworthy sailing merchantman and did without oars altogether. For greater strength and to keep their heavy guns as near to the centre line as possible these ships were built with sides that " tumbled home " very sharply, the deck being very much narrower than the water line. The fighting fore- and after-castles were 186 SHIPS AND SEAMEN built into the ship instead of being more or less independent structures, and the rig soon became very much more elaborate. It was the galleon type, adapted to British requirements by a general tendency to make it lower in the water, faster and handier than the Spaniards', that became the standard of British design, and right down to the end of the seventeenth century it was really only a matter of steadily develop- ing this along what seemed and proved to be practical lines. Discipline on Shipboard. The punishments laid down under the Laws of Oleron already mentioned give a vivid insight into the life on shipboard at that time and we have full information of what things were like in the fifteenth century. Flogging was general, even for swearing, and under many flags the punishment for theft was to be tarred and feathered and then to run the gauntlet of the whole crew, to be finally dismissed the ship more dead than alive. The Spaniards prescribed a similar punish- ment for gamblers, although it appears to have had little effect in stop- ping the trouble. No better result came from the power of the Admiralty to cut out offenders' tongues. Keel-hauling was a quite usual punishment which grew from the still older one of ducking in the sea, and one must remember how foul and barnacled most ships were to realise in full the terrors of being dragged under the ship's keel with a rope. The Construction and Repair of Ships. In the early days it was customary to build a ship wherever a stretch of the river bank appeared to be advantageous for the purpose, when a slip was constructed which might not be used for more than the single vessel. So it was that the Great Harry founded Woolwich Dockyard, for she was laid down in an open space near Erith where there was no vestige of an establishment. A large number of nobles and prelates contributed the material to her construction and as some of this material was very expensive, steps were taken to protect it. Then quarters and mess-rooms were erected for the shipwrights, who were then fed by the State, and so the dockyard grew up around the slip that had been only intended for the construction of one vessel. As regards repairs the earliest way was to bring a ship to a suitable spot at the top of a spring tide, haul her as far as possible up the bank, and, when she had made a berth for herself, to build a dam round her stern as elaborately as might be convenient. The famous first dry dock which Henry VII built at Portsmouth cost, according to the accounts, £193 Os. 6fd., and was little more than a basin which was closed by two gates with the space between them filled in with clay and rubbish. Undocking a ship was a tedious business and on one occasion it is reported that it took twenty men twenty-nine days, working day and night v/henever the tide suited, to clear the entrance and release the vessel. 187 SHIPS AND SEAMEN Aids 10 Navigation. When shipping did its utmost never to venture out of sight of land and to snug down and anchor at night wherever it was possible, light- houses and other aids to navigation were not necessary but when voyages began to be more ambitious it was another matter. In the early days there were several erected, the first ones being those main- tained in Egypt some six or seven hundred years before Christ. Among the Wonders of the World was the Pharos of Alexandria, and if this really was six hundred feet high — as was reported in the old manuscripts — there was a good deal of reason for it. When the Romans com- menced to build lighthouses Pharos was the generic name for them all, the ruins of one of them being still visible beside the Castle at Dover. After the thirteenth century there appears to have been a lull in light- house building until the early sixteenth when towers, mostly carrying huge open braziers of burning coal, began to spring up all over the coasts of Western Europe. In James I's reign it was proposed to erect a light on the Lizard, but the Trinity House immediately objected to it because it would help pirates to make their landfall and prey on British shipping. About the same time, however. Sir Edward Howard was granted a licence to build a lighthouse at Dungeness, his bargain being that he should receive a penny per ton from all ships passing the point. The claims of Trinity House in this matter led to protracted legislation, but the lighthouse was built. The Buss. Busses began to be mentioned in shipping histories in the early days of the sixteenth century and they appear to have existed almost unchanged well into the nineteenth. They were used principally for fishing ; in fact soon after their introduction they are mentioned in this connection only, and had a very full body on the water line with a narrow high poop. Generally speaking they were three-masted, the foremast and mainmast lowering for fishing purposes and the mizzen being used for riding. Some of them were certainly quite sizable and at the time of the Dutch Wars the herring busses on which Blake preyed ran from sixty to two hundred tons, although the average appears to have been round about eighty to a hundred. The Dogger. A fishing boat associated with the buss, but generally rather earlier, was the Dogger which was flourishing at the time of Edward III. What she was originally can only be surmised as a high sterned, full-lined boat with a tall mast and single sail amidships and a mizzen on the poop, but in later days she developed into something very much like the bomb ketches later used by the Navy. In the time of the Tudors and Charles I Doggers were frequently commissioned for naval purposes, but they do not appear to have been particularly successful and were dropped in favour of other small types, although they were often used later for privateering and smuggling as well as for fishing. 188 SHIPS AND SEAMEN Elizabethan Improvements. The long voyages undertaken by the Gentlemen Adventurers in Queen Elizabeth's day naturally led to great improvements in the con- struction of ships, and Sir Walter Raleigh described them as a practical seaman who had had more than a little to do with their conception. " In my own time the shape of our English ships has been greatly bettered. The striking of the topmasts has been devised, together with the chain pump. We have lately added the bonnet and drabler to the courses, we have devised studding-sails and sprit-sails. The weighing of the anchor by the capstan is also new. We have fallen into con- sideration of the length of cables and by it we can resist the malice of the greatest winds that blow : we have also raised our second decks." Many of these improvements still hold, while others have been improved out of existence. For instance, the old and certainly pre- Elizabethan custom of lacing bonnets, or extra pieces of canvas, to the foot of the sail when the weather was fine gave place to reefing, or taking in, canvas when it was foul. The studding-sails, which were set on the outer edges of square-sails, disappeared in the latter part of the nine- teenth century when the competition of steam forced the owners to economise and cut down their crews. The unwieldy sprit-sails, which were set on a yard under the bowsprit and were later joined by sprit- topsails over it, gave way to headsails of the normal shape many years ago. Feeding the Seamen. The manner in which British seamen were fed, or rather starved, has already been mentioned, and it is not surprising when one con- siders how often the victualling was put out by contract to speculators who were obviously unscrupulous. During the Commonwealth an attempt was made to feed the fleet officially, but it did not last long and soon afterwards the old contract system was restored. Pepys, who had an appreciation of the seaman's qualities beyond his age, did a good deal in the contract form which he drew out in 1677, but the system could not be satisfactory in any circumstances and in 1683 the State Victualling Department was again restored. It is very doubtful whether this was any more satisfactory than the old system, but in 1697 efforts were made to put things on a really satisfactory basis, partic- ularly with regard to payments by the victualling office which were generally many months overdue. Although this effected a certain improvement — for one could scarcely blame victuallers for supplying bad food when they could not get paid — it was a long time before the matter was put anything like right. The Discipline of the Stuart Ships. In the general disorganisation of the fleet in the time of the early Stuarts discipline was hopelessly mixed, very harsh in one point and lax in another. For instance, although England was at war with Spain in 1625 it was reported that three big men-of-war were in the Downs with 189 SHIPS AND SEAMEN no officers on board and only a handful of men because everybody else was ashore celebrating Christmas. In such circumstances it was lucky that we were fighting the Spaniards and not the Dutch. At the same time the discipline was becoming very much more brutal and harsh than it had been in Elizabeth's time and in consequence the men had lost a good deal of their self-respect. Flogging was becoming so common that it was said " that some sailors do believe in good earnest that they shall never have a fair wind until the poor boys be duly whipped every Monday morning " — a superstition which still exists in many French fishing boats where a fair wind is sought by turning the ship's boys to the direction from which a breeze is desired and then flogging them. The Petts. One of the greatest names to be associated with the improvement of ship construction is that of Pett. The first Peter Pett had been appointed Master Shipwright at Deptford in the reign of Edward VI and had held the post until his death in 1589. His elder son Phineas was born in 1570 and was a Master of Arts at Cambridge before he was appointed Master Shipwright at Deptford in 1605. His ships were the finest of their day and he was responsible for many improvements in design : after many promotions he was made Commissioner for the Navy in 1630 and died in 1647. His son Peter was born in 1610 and followed the family tradition. He was made Commissioner at Chatham in 1648 and naturally there was a good deal of feeling against him after the Restoration. He finally fell as a result of the Dutch attack on the Medway in 1667 and he died some three years afterwards. His son chose to follow the law with great distinction. Proportions of Stuart Ships. In the year 1618 a Royal Commission was appointed to consider the design of His Majesty's ships and the law that they laid down, which applied for many years afterwards, was that the length should be three times the beam, which should itself be three times the depth of hold. Sixteen feet of water they regarded as the maximum draught both from the point of view of sailing — which might well be a subject of discussion — and also because they regarded that as the most that was safe in British rivers and ports. Sir Anthony Deane. The great shipbuilding figure of the Restoration was Anthony Deane, an East Anglian who was brought forward by Pepys and made Master Shipwright at Harwich in 1664. He worked on a scientific basis and appears to be the first shipwright who had any definite idea beforehand what water his ships were going to draw. He contrived to get into his ships very much more room for water and stores and at the same time keep their gun-ports at a safe height above the water, which was considered a great achievement. 190 SHIPS AND SEAMEN The Early Yachts. It is often said that yachts were introduced into the Navy and yachting into England when the Dutch presented Charles II with a pleasure craft on his Restoration. Ships had been sailed or rowed for pleasure from the very earliest times — the case of Edgar and the Seven Kings may be quoted as one in which the pleasure was all Edgar's — and in the Navy of the early Stuarts there were several small craft which were yachts in everything but the Dutch name. The support of Charles II and the matches which he arranged with the Duke of York undoubtedly did much to foster the sport, but they did not start it. French Ships Copied. As soon as the French started to build a Navy really seriously they set about it on characteristically scientific lines, and when they sent their ships across to co-operate with those of King Charles their appear- ance caused a sensation. With all his faults the King had a great eye for a ship, and was so struck with the Superbe that he ordered Deane to design the Harwich as close to her dimensions and lines as he possibly could. She was so successful that nine others were laid down, and for the first time the English found that it was possible to build a really satis- factory ship which was not girdled, without a great element of luck. For generations after that both the French and the Spaniards had the reputation of building infinitely more satisfactory and faster ships than we could, and when we wanted a really good sailer we had to go out and capture her. When we had got her we generally altered her considerably to British ideas. William Ill's Fleet. The fleet to which William III succeeded on the abdication of James II was a very great advance in material on that of the Common- wealth, although the development had been fairly gradual. Taking the best ships of each type, the rates had the following characteristics : — Rate. Guns. Dimensions. Draught. Tons Burthen. Men. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. First lOO 146 0 X 47 4 X 19 7 20 0 1,739 780 Second 90 18 9 20 6 1,546 660 Third 70 140 0 X 40 10 X 17 3 18 0 1,174 460 Fourth 54 107 0 X 34 9 X 14 8 16 8 685 280 Fifth 32 86 0 X 27 0 X II 0 13 2 333 135 Sixth 18 74 0 X 22 6 X 9 2 9 0 199 85 These rates apply to this period only and were constantly being changed, but they give a very fair idea of the men-of-war of the period. In addition there were a large number of small craft of all sorts. One of the changes made by William was the reintroduction of two other types, the eighty-gun ship and the sixty, but the seventy-fours which later made up such a big proportion of the fleets of the world did not come in until later. When the wars began to be waged at greater distances it became 191 THE EARLY EXPLORERS usual to sacrifice a few guns for extra stores and water. By the end of the seventeenth century then, the man-of-war was well on the way to the standard which held in Nelson's day, but there were many improve- ments in detail yet to be made. CHAPTER XI— THE EARLY EXPLORERS Discovery and Trade. Having traced the history of the military navy down to the end of what may conveniently be described as the third era of its history, it is necessary to turn back and follow up the twin tales of discovery and trade, for they are inseparably connected with the naval side and cannot be divorced from it. The three subjects go round in a score of inter- twined threads and even to-day one cannot be considered without the other two, although the field of discovery seems to have been narrowed down almost to nothing. The Dawn of Discovery. The reputed discovery of Britain has already been mentioned in Chapter I as a necessary introduction to our sea-history, and the evidence that the Phoenicians actually did reach Britain has been sum- marised. Certainly the big authorities are not altogether agreed in this, for at least one believes that the Cassiterides, the islands from which the Phoenicians got their tin, were off the coast of Spain and were not to be identified with the Scillies at all. On the other hand, the remains of a very early boat, probably not long after the Phoenicians, were dug up at Glasgow and in that was found a cork plug which proved that even at that time the British Isles must have had communication, probably trading communication, with Spain or the South of France. In those days, however, the trade was almost entirely coastal, but from the likelihood of ships being blown out of their course it is quite possible that some remarkable voyages were made. The First Reported Discovery of America. There is no doubt that the Continent of America was discovered many centuries before the time of Columbus and the Viking expeditions will be recorded later. But long before that the Phoenicians are reported to have reached the New World. On the rather scanty evidence that exists it would appear that if they did so at all it would probably be the coast of Brazil that they found, but the whole story is so doubtful that it must not be read with anything more than interest. The Irish as Explorers. The Irish appear to have carried out some valuable exploration work in very early days, both from religious and from very different motives. The earliest recorded expedition was in A.D. 222 when a big fleet under Cormac MacArt left Ireland on a three years' cruise that was pure piracy and included the ravaging of the greater part of the coast of England which caused a special force to be raised in the West. 192 PKTER PETT, 1610-1670, MASTER BUILDER OF THE X AW. (From a Painting in the possession of the Eakl of Vakucjkougii) This painting is identical with one in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the above title is that which is given in the official catalogue of the Gallery. The ship is the famous Sovereiiin of the Seas, launched in 1637. 193 MODEL OF H.M.S. " PRINCE' The Prince was built at Chatham in 1670 jrom the designs of Phineas Pett, based on the ideui oj his father. {Science Musetmt, South Kensington) 191 OLIVAR '/■■" (Maipherson Collection) OLIVER CROMWELL Although he nevct went to .sea himself, Cromwell had a very fine realization ot the value of sea power, and it was in his day that the fame of Britain at sea was put on a really sound foundation. 195 SHIPS UNDER REPAIR (From Etchings by Hollar is the Print Department, British Museum) These two etchings by Hollar, u'lio knew sliifis tolerably thoroughly, give a good idea of the seventeenth-century Dutch ship without her rigging or ballast. The decoration and quarter galleries are especially worthy of notice. 190 MODEL OF THE 90-GU\ SHIP " TOROXAI 1< )\ ^l^e Coronation -was built in ItJtG and lost in the great gale of 1703. She was a typical second-rate of the period. The model ■was until a few months ago in the London Museum, but has since gone to .Imerica. 197 ~ CO 00 :- = o c^i ^ t/1 o 198 o O td X H I-, p 3u ^ it lip 199 (Macpherscn Collection) LOUIS XIV The influence of King Louis on the history of France at sen cannot he over-estimated. It was his enthusiasm and personality entirely -ui^hich permitted the plans of Richelieu and Colbert to take definite ayid permanent form. 200 THE EARLY EXPLORERS He also appears to have gone as far North as the Orkneys and to have aroused the first interest in the sea in the minds of his countrymen. Most of the long Irish voyages were religious, for the national character has always produced anchorites, and they probably built their homes in the Faroes and certainly in Iceland. From Iceland it is only a short passage to Greenland and it is by no means impossible that the Irish claim to have discovered North America long before the Norsemen is true, although there is now no means of proving it. The Sons of Ua Corra. Among the more mythical accounts of Irish voyages which may have some slight foundation in fact is that of the three sons of Ua Corra who collected five companions and sailed West for forty days and forty nights. Finally they contrived to get back to Spain after marvellous adventures. The story of these adventures as it is preserved is purely mythical but it may well be founded on the fact that the Irish reached America in the year 540. Iceland. The Irish priests who settled in Iceland had no desire to mix with other people or to encourage visitors, so that their doings there are not recorded. It was somewhere about the beginning of the ninth century that Naddod was proceeding home from Norway to the Faroes when he was overtaken by a gale and, as was the usual practice of seamen in those days, ran before it. On the tenth day he sighted an active volcano which, on top of their miseries, naturally terrified his men. However, they determined to explore and came upon a good landing place where, although there were no signs of human habitation, there were, in the words of the old Saga, " woods without end and fair pastures dripping butter." They saw that it was good and remained there for the whole summer, leaving on the approach of winter and christening it Snowland. The story attracted other adventurers and Goddar Svarvarson sailed round the island and called it Goddarsholm, settling there for the winter. Many others followed and eventually brought home stories of white-robed priests and choristers they had found singing on the shore and had wantonly slain. These were prob- ably early Irish settlers. Eventually a large colony was made, although it is not likely to have been composed of the best of Norway. Probably outlaws and ne'er-do-wells formed a considerable proportion of the population, but it was certainly courageous and enterprising. Erik the Red. One of the most noteworthy of these settlers in Iceland was Erik the Red, who appears to have been a mighty warrior of ungovernable temper. Being refused repayment of a debt he slew the debtor and for this was outlawed. Therefore he vowed that he would find the fabled islands of the West, and gathering a party he coasted round Iceland and then struck out into the open sea. In due course he came to a land of snow and ice, as unpromising a home as one could imagine, but 201 THE EARLY EXPLORERS he determined to call it Greenland for, as he naively remarked, " Men will be the more easily persuaded to come here if I give it a fair name." In spite of what he knew he told such a wonderful story of promise when he got back to Iceland that twenty-five shiploads of men and women followed him. Some were sunk and some put back, but finally fourteen ships struggled to port and Greenland was colonised. The Norse Discovery of America. All through the sagas there is abundant evidence that the Vikings discovered America, and indeed at the end of the nineteenth century a Viking ship was built as nearly as possible to the lines of the Gokstad boat and had not the least difficulty in crossing the Atlantic. Accord- ing to one Icelandic account the first discovery was by one Biarni Heriulfsson, who in the year 985 was blown out of his course, as so many of the Viking ships were, and sighted land which was named Helluland and which is generally identified with Labrador. He did not, however, allow his people to land but he talked about his discovery and Leif Ericsson followed him, sailing from Norway in the year 1000 with the King's Commission to proclaim Christianity in Greenland. But he in turn was blown out of his course and was quite willing to take advantage of this to complete his predecessor's discoveries. He explored Hellu- land and then worked South to a country that he called Vinland or Wine Land, which is identified with either Nova Scotia or Maine. If the latter it is rather curious considering that this State was the first to introduce prohibition. He was followed by Thorfinn Karlsefin, the greatest of them all, who was a wealthy trader in Iceland before he took to exploring. In the year 1002 he went to Greenland and soon after collected an expedition which included a hundred and sixtv men and a number of women and set out for the lands that Ericsson had discovered. They first appear to have made their landfall on the coast of Labrador and then went on to Markland, which is almost certainly Newfoundland. Further on they found the remains of a wrecked Viking ship, probably near Cape Breton, and then went on to Vinland. The winter of 1003 and 1004 was spent ashore, where they suffered con- siderable privations and where Thorfinn's son Snorri was born. The winter of 1004-1005 was spent in Vinland, where the natives were quite willing to trade peacefully until they took fright at a bull which the Vikings had brought with them and returned in a very different frame of mind. Their attack was beaten ofT with great difficulty and the next winter was spent further North, where the explorers considered them- selves to be safe from the natives. Unfortunately internal dissensions broke out among the settlers, principally about the women of the colony, and in the summer of 1006 Vinland was abandoned and the expedition returned to Markland and then home. Thorfinn, in his ship, reached Greenland with safetv but his consort was wrecked in the Irish Sea and a large proportion of her people were drowned. 202 THE EARLY EXPLORERS Madog. There are many people in Wales who still believe the story of Madog, although it is to be feared that it receives little credence from serious historians. This prince is supposed to have sailed in the latter part of the twelfth century to avoid the constant enmity of his brothers, taking his suggestion from the prophecy of Seneca as to the discovery of a New World. This is supposed to have been in 1164, and finally he made a landfall in Newfoundland. Leaving a guard of one hundred and twenty of his people well fortified, he returned to Wales and collected a number of settlers who sailed in ten ships and after a stormy passage succeeded in finding the remnants of his colony. He was dis- appointed of reinforcements, but his own people hung on and after a time intermarried with the aborigines. Thus began the numerous theories of Welsh Indians who were afterwards identified with the Tuscaroras round about the present State of Missouri. This legend received the support of such men as Southey and Humboldt, so that it cannot be dismissed without examination, but investigation fails to give the story very much support. Unfortunately later writers have added so many embellishments to the story that the whole has become more than suspect. Earliest Polar Exploration. The earliest recorded Arctic explorer was Other, a Northman from Helgeland, near the modern Trondhjem, who sailed in the middle of the ninth century and who deserves to have Alfred the Great as his historian. He was the first to round the North Cape and brought back the story of the Midnight Sun, which must have been a terrifying spectacle to anybody as superstitious as the Viking. His feat stirred the imagination of the Saxon king, whose Norse blood is shown in nothing so much as in his eagerness for every record of travel and dis- covery and his willingness to translate them himself for the benefit of his people. It was an excellent way of developing the " Sea-Sense " which he wanted badly for his Navy. Expeditions from the Orkneys. The Norse inhabitants of the Orkney Islands early became famous as seamen, as was only natural from their blood. In 1150, according to the saga, Earl Rognvald took a big expedition from the Orkneys to the Mediterranean and Palestine in company with some Norwegian galleys. The fleet consisted of fifteen vessels in all, with which they skirted down the English, French, and Spanish coasts. They appear to have been very late in starting and it is small wonder that they were in danger of losing ships. In the Western Mediterranean six of the fleet had already had enough and parted company to make for Marseilles. The pilgrims appear to have mixed a desire to profit with their religious motives, and meeting a Moorish ship oflf Sardinia they contrived to capture her with very considerable booty and a number of slaves who proved profitable. Thev wintered in Constantinople and Rognvald appears to have returned home overland next year. 203 THE EARLY EXPLORERS Nicholas of Lynn. There are vague and rather unconvincing references to an Arctic voyage about 1360 carried out by a Carmelite monk named Nicholas of Lynn. He certainly existed and was a scholar of considerable repute, but whether he actually did voyage into the Arctic in an attempt to reach the North Pole is a different matter. The Basques. Although they suffer from having no historian, the exploratory work of the Basques must be mentioned. In their search for fish and whales they certainly worked to the West of Iceland and realised the harvest of the Grand Banks as early as the middle of the fourteenth century, very possibly before that. Madeira and the Canaries. It is difficult to say just when the Canaries, or the Fortunate Isles, and Madeira were first discovered. It is obvious that the Ancients knew of the Canaries, although perhaps somewhat mistily, and it is more than likely that the Phoenicians had visited them. The Romans men- tioned them definitely, but after that they drifted into legend. In 1270 Lanciloto Malocello with a Genoese expedition rediscovered the islands and built a castle in the most northerly, which is still known after his name. Madeira also is supposed to have been known to the Phoenicians and to the Romans, but its later discovery is generally put down to Robert Macham, a West Country gentleman who eloped with his neighbour's wife, hired a ship at Bristol and attempted to reach France. Bad weather swept them out into the Atlantic but on the four- teenth day the wind moderated and they found themselves within sight of the Island of Madeira. They landed there, but owing to their hard- ships the lovers died shortly afterwards and the seamen, attempting to reach home, were captured by the Moors and imprisoned as slaves. They spoke of their discoveries and, one of their companions being ransomed, took the story to Prince Henry of Portugal who fitted out an expedition for the discovery and seizure of the island. Meanwhile Henry III of Castile had also fitted out an expedition and had reached the Canaries. There is a good deal of doubt thrown on the story, but it has been believed for centuries. Marco Polo. Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, was undoubtedly the greatest explorer of his time and although his voyages were by land rather than by sea he aroused an interest in geography and opened up vistas that caused many maritime expeditions to set out. His father and uncle belonged to a noble Venetian family which did not disdain to engage in trade, and it was in the course of their business that they found their way to the Court of the Kublai Khan at Pekin. They returned to persuade the Pope to send out missionaries to convert the Chinese to Christianity, but unfortunately he only sent two instead of the hundred desired, and these two turned back. The merchants went out again, 204 THE EMBARKATION OF MARCO POLO, VENICE, 1338. Frontispiece to a Manuscript Narrative of his Travels in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. (MS. Bodl. Misc. 264). (From Green s " Short History of Ihe English People," illiist. ed., by courtesy of Messrs. \fticniillai} <-'~ Co., Ltd.) EXI'KDITIOX Af.AIXST 'IHE ISLAND OF CllirAM.L OR SVPAX<.L (J AIWX) THK SOI.niKRS OF THK (.REAT KHAX LXABl.E TO I.AXI) IX JA\A These (It'll piitiirfs from an old MS. in the Bibliotheque Sationale, Paris (Maniiscrit Franfais, No. 2810, fol. 72 and 73 :"') represent incidents in the travels of Marco Polo, and show tile curions idea of some of the early artists of what a ship oi their o:i'H time looked like. 207 INCIDENTS IN SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE'S TRAVELS Thesi: illustrations, which are from the same MS. as those on the preceding page, are as imaginative as all Mandeville's experi- ences. The upper one is interesting as showing an astrolabe on the poop of the ship in the foreground; the lower is supposed to illustrate Prestei John's country. 208 ^#i#\ GEK^APO)! MERCA.TORIS R^TEI.^IVNPA^rT EJ5IGIEM ANNOR- L ". DVORVM JET SEX — AGrNTA.SVI ER.GA IPSVM ST-V'DJr a CAV5A DEPrNGI CVRABAT FJUMsTC HOG. C13. in. LXXTV. t'cl^**" ( Macpherson Collection) GERARDUS MERCATOR A Flewish mathematician and geographer , Mercator was born iti 1512 atid was the most famous geographer and mapmakcr of his day. 209 210 THE EARLY EXPLORERS however, and took with them young Marco, passing through the countries that after their time were closed to Europeans until the middle of the nineteenth century. Marco Polo was then about twenty-one and was very kindly received both then and on subsequent occasions, for he discovered that the Khan was enthusiastic to hear everything about foreign countries and took very good care that his wishes should be satis- fied. Marco took out notebooks packed with all the information that he could collect, much of which incidentally has come down to us. It was as an escort for a noble Mongolian lady that the Polos returned as far as Persia, this voyage being made by sea from Amoy. There were long delays on the Sumatra coast and in India and it was two years before they reached their destination, during which Polo had made the most of his time. At the Battle of Curzola in 1298 he commanded one of Dandola's galleys and the result was that he spent many months as a captive in Genoa, a very fortunate circumstance for posterity for it was while he was in prison that he dictated his famous book. In 1324 or 1325, in his seventieth year, he died at Venice. His book is difficult to read and rambles all over his many interests, but he gave Europe a mass of information and certainly had a very considerable influence on the history of the sea. Sir John Mandeville. After Marco Polo the next great figure in the history of exploration is Sir John Mandeville, who may not have been a great explorer but who was certainly a phenomenal liar. His experiences were published in the middle of the fourteenth century. According to his book he was an English knight who sailed on Michaelmas Dav, 1322, and performed a wonderful voyage all round the then known globe. Genealogists have contradicted most of the statements that he makes concerning his own birth, and it is generally believed that the book was written by a Liege physician of somewhat speckled reputation. All the experiences that he gives as his own have been taken from some authority or other, but as some of these authorities have been lost there is a certain amount of value in them when one can get away from the gross exaggeration and ornamentation which he adds to every story that he tells. One thing must be said in his favour and that is that even at that age he had a perfectly correct idea of the shape of the earth and knew the principle of finding latitude by observation of the Pole Star. Incidentally he tells a storv which he said that he heard in his youth, of how a certain man travelled eastward until he returned to his own country. This particular story has found no corroboration as to date, but it is distinctly interesting. The End of the Era. The fourteenth century really ends the era of more or less casual discovery, when men went to sea and were generallv blown at the mercy of the winds until they increased the knowledge of the world more or less unwillingly. After that there was a period when the dissensions of Europe prevented any good work being done, and when that was ended 211 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE the great period of exploration set in, a period when men had some clear idea of what they sought and sailed with a definite object. Sometimes their discoveries were very different from their dreams but that made no difference to the root principles of the age. CHAPTER XII— THE BEGINNING OF TRADE The Phoenicians. It is generally believed that the Phcenicians originated on the shores of the Persian Gulf and there seems to be little enough to make one doubt the theory, although few would venture on a definite date. They had migrated to the Mediterranean and founded the City of Tyre before the year 1200 B.C. for a certainty, and possibly far earlier. The Indian coasts were probably navigated for some thousands of years before that, but they are outside the ken of this work for many centuries to come. The Phoenicians lived for their gold purely and simply, and they had no desire for territory beyond what was necessary for their trad- ing cities, their defence, and to some extent their feeding. They built ships which were seaworthy, and they must have been possessed of extraordinary courage to have ventured so far into the unknown. The date of their first visit to Britain is unknown, and there are some who disbelieve that they ever reached us although the evidence appears to be tolerably conclusive. Presuming that they did, it must have been very early indeed, and they also visited and established trading posts in various other parts of the then known globe, always taking very good care that no whisper of their discoveries should reach the ears of possible trade rivals. They built ships for their own use and for sale to anybody who would buy. They chartered ships fully manned to any warring king who was willing to pay their price : the cause mattered little or nothing to them. There is little doubt that they were hard bargainers, scrupulous only when it suited their purpose, and often enough very unpleasant people to meet. But they were willing to work and run every risk for their profits, and with this aim they made rapid progress. Roman Trade from Britain. There was apparently a very considerable trade from Britain during the Roman occupation. Ireland is noted as having a regular commerce as early as A.D. 81 and London is specially mentioned by Tacitus as hav- ing a very considerable sea-borne trade. In those days it was apparently in oysters, dogs, slaves, tin and lead, while Southampton and Rich- borough also had a big trade. On the Gallic side Boulogne was the principal port, and the mouths of the various rivers. Towards the end of the Roman occupation there were said to be eight hundred ships engaged regularly in the corn trade between Britain and Gaul. Saxon Commerce. The marriage of King Ethelbert to Bertha, daughter of the King of the Franks, was a great fillip to Saxon commerce and several English 212 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE merchants settled in various parts of France, some even as far South as Marseilles. In the seventh century there was a very considerable trade between the two countries, and then British merchants were established principally at Rouen and Quentowich. King Oflfa appears to have fostered trade considerably, and when Egbert ascended the throne in 827 he attempted to do more, but as he had not taken the precaution of providing a Navy his merchantmen were practically annihilated by pirates. King Alfred was as interested in his carrying as he was in his fighting Navy and with typical foresight he immediately encouraged it by putting the taxes and the customs on an absolutely firm basis and assuring foreign traders of their safety. Until then traders appear to have offered presents to the monarchs of the countries with which they wished to deal in much the same way as pioneers in Africa took out presents for the savages, and of course they never knew when the demands would be increased. King Athelstan followed Alfred's example and also improved the status of the merchants, ordering that if a merchant " thrived so that he fared thrice over the wide sea by his own means, then he was henceforth of Thane right worthy." The Beginnings of the Wine Trade. For many years one of the principal items of our import trade was wine, which was imported in the earliest days of the conversion of Britain for religious purposes, as it was ordered that for the Mass the wine of the grape only should be used and no native drink would be ritualistically correct. To begin with, it was sent in bulk to the monasteries as the centres of religious practice but so much was cap- tured by pirates in transit that the monks attempted to grow their own. We have every reason to believe that as wine it was very poor indeed, but it was what was needed and it was not until the fifth century that it began to be imported regularly. In this case it is rather interesting to note that the import duties on the wine at Billingsgate were levied at the time of Ethelred II and that the foreign vintners made it their custom to give the King a portion of their wares in return for the right to trade. In this way we got our modern word " customs." Most of the wine in the early days came from France, but some also from Germany where Frankfort and Mayence were centres. The French had their own rights but the German wine fleets had to anchor of? Queenhythe Wharf (now the site of Cannon Street Railway Bridge) for two ebbs and a flood, while the Sheriff and the King's Chamberlain boarded them and took what they wanted. There was apparently very little regulation of their demands. After that they might be moored and land their cargo. In those days the only other ports through which wine might be brought were Sandwich, Bristol, Southampton and Chester, but there is no doubt that a good deal was smuggled as by this time the habit of wine drinking had grown in the country. By King John's day wine was very generally drunk and there was a very big trade in it. It is rather interesting to note that at this time the Bishop of Winchester was solemnly fined one cask of good wine — the 213 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE adjective is illuminating — for not reminding the King to present a girdle to the Countess of Albemarle. More serious historically is the fact that our modern measure of tonnage was originally tunnage and was intended to indicate the number of tuns of wine that a ship could carry. Rouen was originally the great French wine port and it had its own port of Dunegate in London. But after the English were turned out of this part of France they had to go to Gascony for wine and Bordeaux began to flourish. Henry VIII was the only British monarch until the time of Charles II who had a taste in champagne and he kept a special com- missioner at Ay to select so many casks a year for his personal use. It must be remembered that in those days champagne was a very diflferent wine to the modern vintage, being still and red. Later it was changed to white but was not made sparkling for many years afterwards. Henry I and Trade. As far as overseas trade was concerned the reign of Henry I stands by itself through a long cycle of years, and would have been an excellent object lesson for a number of his successors, no matter how selfish, if only they had had the eyes to see. For he was the first sovereign since Canute to realise the futility of trying to get blood out of a stone, and by troubling himself about trade he managed to get infinitely more money out of his people than any of his predecessors and at the same time left them satisfied. It seems wonderful that the merits of his very simple policy were not better recognised. After a few years of his rule the utter futility of King Stephen came as a sad blow to English shipping, for he was so busy with his own aflfairs that pirates swarmed in the narrow seas. British shipping was cut to pieces and foreign merchants soon learned to give England a wide berth. Both before and long after Henry's time, however, foreign trade suffered because English laws were all drafted by clerics who had not the least knowledge of commercial matters. Royal Interference. From the Norman Conquest right down to late mediaeval times trade suffered from the constant interference of Kings and their counsellors without the least knowledge of trade or of the inexorable law of supply and demand. Everything had to be regulated by royal will. The wool trade was stifled by the periodical prohibition of exports and time and time again the wine trade practically collapsed because prices were fixed by the King at a level which made it useless to try to import at a profit. In addition traders suffered from State competition because the King took his dues in kind to the extent of many times the amount of his private needs and then sold the excess in the open market. The Crusades. The Crusades appertain to land rather than sea warfare but it is necessary to mention them here on account of the strong influence they had on British shipping in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The general routine was to go overland to Marseilles and there embark, generally in galleys supplied by the Venetian or other Mediterranean 214 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE powers, but a considerable number of ships certainly went across the Bay of Biscay and through the Straits of Gibraltar, which must have meant a considerable test for their seaworthiness. Those who took the overland route must have observed not only the Mediterranean ships but also their methods of trading, and although the average Crusader would not be very interested in this, the host of camp-followers who followed the army most certainly would have been. Richard's Crusade. When Richard I went on his famous crusade the greater part of the army was transported by sea all the way from England but the most appalling waste was obvious everywhere. For instance ships were loaded with wine for the crusaders in Dover, although this wine had previously to be imported from France and French ports were touched at on the way out. The fleet going round in the Atlantic had a very bad time and a number of ships were lost. Impatient of delay Richard wasted more money in hiring ships in Marseilles and eventually he re- equipped his whole force in Sicily, where he wintered. The progress of the fleet to the Holy Land was harassed by weather and by the action of the Turks. That such a voyage as this should be undertaken by a big fleet, even if the greater part of it was scattered on the way, and that the ships should be stored for a year's service, are interesting notes of this early period. The records left of the transport fleet give us a very fair idea of the types of ship at sea at that time. Most of the work was done in galleys, some of them 120 feet long, propelled with one bank of oars and carry- ing a hundred men apiece, but there were all sorts of other ships employed. The biggest of the transports were the Dromonds, after- wards to have an evil reputation from their piratical operations in the Channel, and one of these that was sunk in 1182 had no fewer than 1,500 passengers on board. The busses and the salandres were smaller, while the Huissiers carried the horses which were accommodated in large open castles on the poop. From Marseilles to Acre took fifteen to twenty days at the very best but Richard I took no less than six months to get from England to Messina. As indicating something of the size of these ships it is mentioned in the inventory of one of his transports that she had thirteen anchors, thirty oars and two sails and that she carried forty horsemen and their mounts, fourteen footmen and fifteen sailors, but she must have been very much on the small side compared with some of the big dromonds. King John and Trade. Trade suffered severely at the hands of King John, who was always impecunious and none too scrupulous as to the way that he got money, quite forgetting that he was killing the fabled goose. He seized goods and ships just when it suited his purpose, not always even troubling to give a reason, and he was constantly imposing heavy taxes. Finally he entered into active competition himself, buying wine on the Continent and selling it in London against the legitimate traders. Quite a large 215 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE profit could be made by this means when he exacted immediate pay- ment but never paid his creditors. In the early days of Henry III the first care of the Regent was to restore the Royal credit, but before long the young king was following exactly the same lines as his predecessor and even carrying them to greater lengths. He not only traded him- self on the same system of credit but he gave orders that no wine was to be allowed to be sold in England until he had unloaded his stock and ships were impressed for the King's purposes without the least regard for the rights or convenience of their owners. To add to the trouble of the merchants the roads to the markets were most insecure and cargoes landed at Southampton were constantly being attacked on the road to London. On one occasion a vigorous counter-attack resulted in a number of the robbers being captured, when it was discovered that they were the King's own personal servants who had not been paid their wages for months and who were adopting this method of getting a living. Finally the finances of Henry III got to such a pitch that he gave orders to his chancellor to borroiv wines and merchandise in Bordeaux and to sell them at whatever they would fetch, no matter at how great a sacrifice, in order to get a little ready money. Plunder by Land and Sea. From a very early age the wine fleet sailed together for mutual protection and in the fourteenth century they were provided with a suit- able armed escort, generally supplied jointly by the Cinque Ports and the town of Bayonne. In the year 1372 Edward III fixed the reward of this convoy at two shillings for every tun of wine landed safely in England but ordered that all the profits of their own trading and any prizes that they might take in the course of the voyage should be deducted from this. There appears to have been considerable dispute over the accounts. The routine was for the wine fleets to leave England in the autumn, return before Christmas, and then to go down again before Easter. Occasionally summer convoys were formed. Pirates at sea, however, were not the only bandits that the wine trade had to fear. It has already been recorded how the Germans were legally looted off Oueenhythe and in 1505 it became the custom for every wine ship that passed the Tower to give the lieutenant there two black leather bottles, or lombards as they were called, from her cargo. Most of the wine was unloaded at Billingsgate but a few ships came through the drawbridge of London Bridge bringing foreign wines to Queenhythe and also to Vintners' Wharf and Three Cranes Wharf whose position can still be traced. M erchantmen-at-A rms. As has already been shown in the history of the early military operations of the Royal Navy, the King's Fleet was generally composed more of armed merchant ships than of regular men-of-war and this requisitioning of merchantmen was always a sore point with the shipping industry. The King had the right from the earliest times, and in the Norman period it was definitely laid down that he could issue writs to 216 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE arrest the ships of private owners all round the coast and at the same time could impress the necessary number of seamen, although this was only regularising ancient practice. The King also could and did arrest friendly foreign ships in British ports. The agreement with the Cinque Ports was beside this right and definitely gave the King the services of fifty-seven ships for fifteen days without payment, each with twenty soldiers. The conversion for many years was quite simple and only consisted of fitting temporary and rather shaky castles forward and aft and a fighting top on the mast-head which had to be strong enough to support not only its crew but also a heavy weight of stones and missiles that would be flung down on the enemy's deck. This was by far the cheapest way of organising a fleet, but it can be well understood that it injured trade very seriously and in the Middle Ages Parliament was constantly complaining that ships were taken up by the King long before it was necessary and often their owners had to pay their keep for months in port before the regular charter started. All this time the crews had to be paid and fed by the luckless shipowners. The Control of Armed Merchant Ships. Early in the fifteenth century it was agreed between England and France that armed merchant ships, which meant practically every ship afloat, should be prohibited from sailing without the granting of a special licence by the Crown. This was intended to check piracy but the efficiency of the idea is doubtful and there is little record of it ever hav- ing been enforced. When Henry V made the misbehaviour of armed merchant ships a capital offence it was different. The Terms of Hire. Although the owners often found it very difficult to get their money from the Crown the terms of hire were quite definitely established. In 1380 the charter rate was three shillings and fourpence per ton for every three months, commencing from the day the fleet assembled. Five years later it was reduced to two shillings and remained there a long time, in spite of the efforts of the owners. The earlier rate is referred to in the Act as being long established but there is no record of when it started. Another form of payment was the occasional diversion of tunnage and poundage, already mentioned, which was first levied in 1347 and renewed annually. Early in the fifteenth century this impost, together with a quarter of the wool subsidy, was granted to a special committee of merchants who policed the seas with ships specially commissioned. Their Prizes. The question of how the prizes made by armed merchant ships should be divided was always a very thorny one and a source of constant argument. King John granted the owners of the ship half the spoil and this was done on other occasions, but only when it became necessary in order to get any ships at all. More generally it was twenty-five per cent. In early days the owner divided his portion equally with the 217 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE crew, the master taking a double share, but in the Black Book of Admiralty, compiled about 1351, the King could only contrive to get a quarter, the owner another quarter, and the crew a half. Whether the last-named ever got their share was a matter of circumstance. At the same time it was enacted that any ship which intimidated the enemy by being in sight should have her share even though she did not take part in the action, a reward which must frequently have persuaded owners of ships at least to keep within sight of the enemy. It was always strictly forbidden to buy goods taken at sea except after regular division, but it is to be feared that this law was very frequently broken. In exceptional cases the whole of the prize was handed over by the Crown. Letters of Marque. Quite apart from the armed merchantmen who were regularly com- missioned into the Royal Navy for a longer or shorter period, were the merchantmen who sailed under Letters of Marque to attack enemy com- merce and frequently even their men-of-war. The practice started some time in the thirteenth century — 1243 is the date often mentioned — and originally permitted an individual Englishman who had proved that he had suffered loss at the hands of a foreigner to recompense himself from that foreigner's goods. Needless to say the party against whom the letters were made out took every care to keep out of the way of his revenge, and accordingly it became the custom to grant letters, first of all against a port and then against a country, limiting the value to be taken to the amount of the first loss. No machiners^ was set up to check these amounts, nor indeed was it possible, so that privateers naturally allowed themselves a very good rate of interest in spite of all precautions. Afterwards the system was extended to the granting of letters against the King's enemies in general for the period of hostilities, but very often they were used when the country was supposed to be at peace. The later developments of the system will be recorded in their place. Impressment of Foreign Ships. The King's right to impress foreign ships in British waters was early and continuously exercised, partly because everything that floated was usually required and partly because it was generally safer to refuse pay- ment to a man who was hundreds of miles away than to a loyal subject on the spot. Often, also, it was from motives of policy and this policy was not always scrupulous. Later on, especially in the Wars of the Roses, foreign ships were often taken up because the loyalty of our own men was more than doubtful, but it was not until the Tudors came that the wisdom of satisfying foreign merchants with regard to their pay was fully realised. Chartering. Besides the hiring of ships for service as men-of-war there was quite a lot of regular chartering as early as the thirteenth century. In 1290 a ship with a crew of six men to carry a mixed cargo of wine, cyder, wheat and oats from the Thames to Berwick was hired for ninety-nine shillings 218 < '— .:i5. l2-2- «>0 i ^ ^ 1 -^ iiVS ^ , z o Q z o o < s Q Di O z' o H O Z H H Q < J2 ~ . t^Sti ■&.JS 219 -c: -a '^ -«^ c :^ c t; -2 t*'" = Si = *-^Sc^ S ^ ■:a •-' I ■•-..i = c ;:; rs 5 S l; -^ ^ 1j « <.- '^ w •5 -t: ■£ ai /■ u u u 1- < w I/] z < a z bJ O b! w a 220 if 1 1 u 3 o 2 X. 3 2o Z u o S > > =2 J o Six < S o -?5 221 ». ^- "^ M I o pi is •222 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE for the trip, and three years later we appear to have had quite an estab- lished carrying trade, for merchants of Spain and Portugal were taking up British ships to transport their goods to Flanders. Henry V in 1423 hired his ship the Holigost to some Lombard merchants for a journey to Zeeland and back for twenty pounds, which has been worked out on modern values as a rate of about eight shillings a ton for a two months' voyage. Warships in Trade. While the early fighting fleets were composed principally of armed merchant ships there were occasions on which the procedure was reversed and men-of-war were employed in trade. The custom began in the time of Henry III — before which Royal ships were not large enough to attract the traders — and continued down to the reign of Elizabeth. As a rule the King chartered his ships for a lower price than private owners could manage, considering that he obtained a big advantage in keeping them maintained and manned. The Perils of the Sea. One would have thought that the faulty construction of their ships would have given the early travellers quite enough cause for fear, but they had to add superstition and all sorts of terrors until one cannot but admire the religious fervour of the pilgrims that persuaded them to undertake their voyages at all. Writing in 1350 one Ludolph of Cucham gives a most terrifying catalogue, and among the monsters he mentions there is the sea swine which apparently rises up near a ship and begs. " If the sailors give it bread it departs ; but if it will not depart then it may be terrified and put to flight by the sight of a man's angry and terrible face. He must look at it boldly and severely and must not let it see that he is afraid, otherwise it will not depart but will bite and tear the ship." The Wool Trade. One of the first great trades in England was the wool trade which was considerable under the Romans, while we contrived to get a far finer material than any of our Continental rivals as early as the thir- teenth century. By the fourteenth it was firmly established and duly taxed by the King, in fact one of the earliest forms of smuggling in England was getting wool out of the country, not smuggling anything in. The Flemish towns existed on British wool and frequently it served the political purpose of the King to embarrass them by prohibiting the export, until finally these occasions got so frequent that Parliament took the matter into its own hands. Some of the towns on the North East coast came into existence almost entirely for the purpose of facilitating the smuggling of wool, although the tax was nominally supposed to go to the maintenance of the Navv for the purpose of protecting merchant ships against piracy. British wool went as far afield as the Mediter- ranean ports, but normally it was only allowed to go through certain ports on the Continent. It was not until the reign of Edward III that 223 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE the manufacture of cloth was started in England, by which time it had become a saying in Flanders that " We buy fox skins from the English for a groat and re-sell them the tails for a guilder." The Rise of Flanders. While England was distracted by the beginning of the Hundred Years' War and while her Merchant Service was being used entirely as a transport force, the Mediterranean traders, especially those from Venice, ventured to cross the Bay of Biscay and establish themselves in the Flanders markets. The Count of Flanders gave them adequate protection and was wise enough to be satisfied with very moderate duties while the English Kings were squeezing them for the last penny. The Hanseatic League welcomed newcomers and the result was that a market was established in the Low Countries for Mediterranean and Eastern products from which we were totally barred, and from this in due course grew the Dutch carrying trade and all the trouble that it brought. Another Result of the Times. Another result of the way trade was maltreated and left unprotected is shown by the establishment of the Ludgate debtors' prison in the time of Richard IL The debtors put themselves there as a kind of sanctuary from their creditors, the regime being mild and the inmates allowed out with a guard. Significant is the fact that it is noted at the time that the inmates were practically all merchants and tradespeople driven to want by losses sustained through piracy at sea, which at this time had attained huge proportions. The Beginning of the Coal Trade. The Romans worked coal while they occupied England but after their day it seems to have gone out in favour of wood for many cen- turies. It was Edward III who made the first great efTort on behalf of the coal trade and it was due to his interest that the business was put on to a sound basis. In this connection, although of rather later date, it is interesting to note that the fairy-tale connection between Dick Whittington and his cat probably arose from the fact that he made the greater part of his fortune in the coal trade, which at that time was carried down the coast in small sailing vessels named " Cats." The Navigation Act, 1382. The British Navigation Act is generally associated with the time of the Commonwealth and the Wars with Holland, but the first one was passed as early as 1382 when Richard II enacted that British subjects should export and import goods in English ships only, with the majority of the crews English subjects. This was to foster the Navy, which at that time had dropped to a very low ebb, but it was practically nullified by an amendment in the following year which defeated its object. In 1464 a second Act was passed, but after three years' feeble enforcement this was allowed to lapse. 224 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE The Extension of Trade under Edward IV. Edward IV's care of trade showed its effect principally in the reciprocal treaties that he made with his most powerful neighbours which enabled British ships to navigate the seas with tolerable safety and which sent them much further afield than they had been before. Voyages to the Mediterranean, which had hitherto been a great adven- ture, now became quite usual and in Richard Ill's time it was con- sidered to be worth our while to establish our first consulate in Italy. It was a very valuable added market for our wool and laid the founda- tions of the trade expansions under the Tudors. The Icelandic Fisheries. Iceland was certainly in active communication with England in the early days of the fifteenth century, but the first definite account of an English fishing boat operating on the coast is in 1412, when the five men of her crew landed and wandered on the island. Next year thirty English fishing boats came with a cargo ship freighted with wares for barter, but on this occasion it seems that the fishermen behaved badly and were unpopular. In 1414 no fewer than five cargo ships came, in the next year six, and in 1419 as many as twenty-five English ships were wrecked in a single gale. A large part of the trade at this time was stock-fish, apparently caught by the islanders. As early as 1415 King Henry V speaks of " ancient custom " in these waters, but the bad behaviour of the British appears to have gone on. Efforts were made to prohibit British ships from entering into the trade but it went on, especially from the port of Bristol which by the sixteenth century was sending out quite a fleet, both of fishing and cargo boats. The Pilgrim Trade. In the early days the Pilgrim trade was one of the most important branches of commerce and was established as early as Offa's day, although then the route to the tombs of the Saints was generally over- land and the pilgrims received the special protection of Charlemagne. Later it developed as far as the Holy Land, sometimes overland for the greater part of the way, sometimes by sea across the Mediterranean. In the reign of Henry VI and before, the great centre was the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in the North of Spain and there is in existence a tolerably complete picture of the passage in those days which shows that the pilgrims must have been very uncomfortable. A number of cabins were erected, apparently something of a makeshift for each voyage, and also some open bunks, but a large number of passengers had to sleep on straw on the decks wrapped up in their cloaks. The bilges were unutterably foul and their appeal to the nostrils is described in fifteenth-century Anglo-Saxon. Sandwich, Winchelsea and Bristol were the principal terminals of this pilgrim trade, but other ports cer- tainly had a part in it. Travellers had to obtain a licence and in 1445 no fewer than 2,100 permits were issued for this one shrine alone, some of the pilgrims even travelling in the winter months. 225 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE The Power of Venice. One of the leading sea powers of the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages was Venice, founded by refugees before the Goths and the Vandals who felt that in the collection of low-lying islands among the lagoons they were safe and who found a precarious livelihood in the fisheries round about. Thus they came to be seamen from the very beginning and gradually to venture further afield, exchanging their fish for corn and the necessities of life. Then they began to go into the carrying trade until by the twelfth century they were a power and by the thir- teenth one to be reckoned with. The people were much like the Phoenicians in many respects, and when they were reproached for gross profiteering in the transport of the Crusaders they cynically maintained that they were Venetians first and Christians afterwards. The piratical attacks of the Dalmatians on their merchant ships caused them to found a fighting Navy and soon they came to be the bullies of the Mediter- ranean. They must be given full credit for commercial enterprise and gallantry but at the same time their method of exterminating rivals was medieval, as shown in the war with Genoa in 1379 and 1380. It was when Venice began to be ambitious and wished to be a land as well as a sea power that the decline set in and her ruin finally came with Vasco da Gama's discovery that the safest way to the East was by way of the Cape. Marseilles. Although it could not aspire to the power of Venice the port of Marseilles was one of the principal harbours of the world, having been founded by the Greeks about six hundred years before Christ as Massalia, probably replacing an earlier Phoenician settlement. Under the Romans it achieved considerable importance and suffered for resist- ing Ctesar in the Civil War. It was ravaged more than once when the Barbarians overran Europe but early in the thirteenth century it was able to protect itself and was established as an independent republic. When Provence was added to the Kingdom of France in 1481 the town remained a separate administration, handled directly by the Crown, but throughout its history commerce was its principal interest. The Hanse Towns. No account of medieval trade would be complete without some description of the Hanseatic League, a curious federation of trading cities in North Germany which began some time in the thirteenth century. In 1241 Liibeck and Hamburg were working together in the interests of trade and fifteen years later it is very certain that the League was in a very flourishing condition. A little later their history became somewhat obscure because the League was expressly forbidden by a Papal Bull for the protection of the Empire. In the earliest days, the League, in which Liibeck was always the moving spirit, was principally interested in the herring fisheries and it was when the fish suddenly decided to leave the Baltic that the interests of the merchants began to wander. It must not be thought, however, that they were not trading 226 \IKW OF LOXDON IN THK TIME OF HENRY \II. (Ilia-minafed page of a .Manuschipt in the British McsEU\r) (MS. Roy. 16 F. ii) From (,ri-ei,'s ' .S;„.r/ llhlory/- by courtesy of Messrs. MacmUla,, C~ Co.. Lid.) THE BEGINNING OF TRADE long before this, for German merchants were certainly well known in London before the Conquest and soon after they had quite an appreciable proportion of the wine trade. London was their earliest foreign settlement and in return for their wine, beer and Baltic products the merchants took away wool, skins, lead and tin so that it is only natural that when the League was openly formed Thames side should be their first headquarters. Owing to the habit of the German merchant- men of settling down for the winter wherever they happened to be on St. Martin's Day, November 11th, the trading centres soon became little German colonies and they were not slow in putting themselves into a position in which they could not be assailed. Lenten Cargoes. It must be remembered that in the early days quite a considerable proportion of England's overseas trade was connected with religious observances and for this reason the Hanseatic authorities granted exceptional permission for a ship to sail on St. Nicholas Day if it were laden with herrings or dried cod, which was the principal Lenten fare, or with German beer which did not travel very well in the summer. It was this single winter cargo that contributed very considerably towards the improvement in the seaworthiness of the ships. One of the first German trading colonies to be founded in this way was Winetha at the mouth of the Oder, a name whose resemblance to Venice cannot be overlooked and was not accidental. According to legend this city was overwhelmed by the sea on account of the sins arising out of its prosperity, and for centuries it was believed that every Good Friday it was allowed to rise from the water in all its glory to sink again on Easter Day. Wisby. After the disappearance of Winetha the principal trading mart of the League was the town of Wisby on the Island of Gothland, which formed a very fine centre both for the herring fleets and also for the distribution of German goods throughout the Slavonic territories and the Eastern Baltic. All common money was deposited here and the dues of the Hanseatic cities were paid at the town. In the fourteenth century the League quarrelled with Waldemar of Denmark and although until then they were purely merchants with a rigid and sometimes very cruel code of discipline for their members, the cities then gathered their forces and a war ensued. The first honours were with the Danes, who sacked Wisby and carried off colossal booty, but when the League came to fight for its existence it defeated King Waldemar and eventually sacked Copenhagen. Meanwhile what was left of Wisby was totally destroyed by a disastrous fire and the town, once the Queen of the Baltic, was never rebuilt. Its site and harbour, however, proved so tempting to local pirates that they used it for many years as their head- quarters, preying principally on Hanseatic ships. 229 THE BEGINNING OF TRADE The Discipline of the League. Lubeck was the moving spirit of the League from the beginning and brooked no rival. In the middle of the fourteenth century Bremen, realising its magnificent geographical position, attempted to raise its status and immediately became suspect. At the first slight excuse the League banished the city from its membership and literally starved it in every way until, in order to get back the right to exist, Bremen had to undertake crushing responsibilities. The Steelyard. The headquarters of the Hansa in London were situated in what was known as the " Steelyard," an area on the riverside quite close to the site of the present Cannon Street Railway Bridge. They were allowed to settle here in 1250 and nine years later Henry III gave them very important privileges which were confirmed by Edward I. They were very unpopular with their London neighbours, partly because they had more privileges than the natives and certainly more than they would have been allowed in their own homes, and partly because they were so much more prosperous than the English. They were literally a state within a state ; their habits and customs were those of the fourteenth-century German, which were very unpleasant indeed. Also they were arrogant to a degree, so that it is not surprising that the mob attempted to attack them on more than one occasion and generally got the worst of it. In the reign of Edward VI the Hanseatic League inter- fered so much with the Company of Gentlemen Adventurers that they were stripped of many of their privileges and were finally expelled from England by Queen Elizabeth in 1597. They retained the site, however, until it was bought by the railway some seventy years ago. The Decline of the League. The fortunes of the League began to decline in the fifteenth century when the herrings for some mysterious reason suddenly deserted the Baltic. Soon afterwards the limbs of the League began to get mutinous, especially the branches in Russia. For the next hundred years and more the rot from within increased until by 1669 only Liibeck, Bremen and Hamburg remained, with unimportant outside colonies. James I and Commerce. Owing to the development of the chartered companies and the comparative peace at sea for a large part of his reign, the time of James I is usually credited with being a golden time for commerce but as a matter of fact it thrived despite handicaps. During his reign the customs officials were very corrupt indeed ; at one moment they were victimising the shipowners and merchants and then coming to some agreement with them by which the Crown got practically nothing. The result was that nobody quite knew where he was, which was the most dangerous possibility of all for the development of trade. The Development of the Slave Trade. The manner in which the slave trade was started by Hawkyns has already been told and for a long time the trade was confined to the 230 THE OPENING OF THE EAST Spanish colonies. The British plantations such as they were did not call for any slave labour and it was not until Barbados and Antigua were founded round about 1625 that the British slave trade sprang up. For some time it was more or less casual, but in the reign of Charles II the charter of the Company of Royal Adventurers from England to Africa was taken over by the Royal African Assiento Company, who set about making the supply of negro labour to the Spanish West Indies and to the British colonies a regular business. Their head depot was at Kingston, Jamaica, where a huge building was put up as a central mart. It was later that Bristol and Liverpool made the carriage of slaves one of their principal trades and entered into a bitter rivalry. Slaves and fruits were somewhat callously regarded as perishable cargo, which was the reason that the West Indiamen were built for speed whereas the East Indiamen lumbered along in their own quiet fashion and made terribly long passages. The Trend of Trade. With the beginning of the Tudor period trade tended to divide into three parts, the home and Continental trade which steadily developed in its own way without any very drastic mile posts and the overseas trade to the West and to the East. These soon monopolised the interest of the historian and are dealt with in the following chapters which show how trade and discovery went hand in hand until the greater part of the modern world was thrown open in a remarkably short space of time. So striking were the instances of this opening that one is inclined to over- look the less picturesque features of commerce but they steadily developed on a sound basis, feeding and being fed by the progress of discovery. CHAPTER XIII— THE OPENING OF THE EAST The Road to the East. The existence of Cathay and the great nations of the East had been known to Europe from the earliest days, although then more or less mythically. The Crusades led to more being learned, for the Over- land Route to China was then in full operation and many Oriental merchants were operating in the Near East. In those days, however. Western Europe had little thought for trade, and those who had a mind which saw further than agriculture and war had plenty to keep them busy near at hand. When ships improved and the nearby markets became fully covered, men's minds turned further afield and the stories brought home by Marco Polo and others revealed in the Far East a wonderful field of trade and profit. The Overland Route was long, expensive and dangerous and did not welcome interlopers, so that it is little wonder that efforts were made to find a sea road. Prince Henry the Navigator. A considerable part of the credit for the strides that were made in exploration work during the fifteenth century must go to Prince Henry 231 THE OPENING OF THE EAST the Navigator, of Portugal, the grandson of John of Gaunt and son of the King John I who freed his country. After distinguishing himself as a soldier he carried out some exploratory work himself down the West coast of Africa, which he was convinced would lead to India. After that he sent out numerous expeditions which greatly increased the world's knowledge of the African coast, and at the same time he colonised the Madeiras and Azores. At this time he appears to have vaguely considered the possibility of a Western route to the East. In spite of discouragement and ridicule he still worked on his schemes until in 1441 his men were able to round Cape Blanco and bring him slaves and gold dust from Guinea. Immediately public opinion changed and everybody was with him, numerous expeditions being sent out manned both by Portuguese and foreigners. The prince died in 1460, beloved by everybody, but the work that he did lasted infinitely longer, for it was entirely due to his encouragement to their predecessors that the work of Vasco da Gama and other explorers was possible. They have aptly been described as Prince Henry's executors. Vasco da Gama and his Followers. Like many other explorers of his time the origin and early days of Vasco da Gama were the subject of infinite rumour, more or less unreliable. Perhaps the reason of this is that in those days it was far easier for a man of obscure birth but great courage to make a name for himself at sea than on land. He is supposed to have been born about the year 1460 and when he was famous he was attributed with a wonder- fully noble family. It is known for certain that he was the third son of the Governor of Sines, one of the many explorers sent out by Prince Henry the Navigator. Bartholomew Diaz had proved that there was a sea way round the Southern extremity of the African coast and immedi- ately he returned in 1488 it was proposed to follow up his discoveries. This scheme fell through, however, and it was not until 1497 that Da Gama was put in charge of an expedition of four vessels specially designed and built for the work, which sailed from the Tagus. They reached Malindi in East Africa and there found a number of Hindu merchants from whom they obtained a pilot. Da Gama struck across the Indian Ocean to Calicut on the Malabar coast, where he had to meet the jealous opposition of the traders who were already established there. However, he returned to Portugal with golden stories of his discoveries, and a fleet of no less than thirteen ships was immediately sent out under Pedro Alvares Cabral, who by bad navigation discovered Brazil on his way out to Calicut. The traders who were left at the post by Cabral were murdered by the natives and Da Gama was put in command of the expedition of ten ships that was sent out in 1502 to avenge the insult. This was done with appalling savagery, and from thence he proceeded to Cochin, getting favourable trade treaties all the way out bv the terror of his name. Numerous expeditions were sent out to trade in the East, but some of them were so badly bungled that Da Gama was glad to emerge from his retirement to take over their control as Viceroy of 232 f^iiiifi ■ •_1L_'i:'lL" " "' «■>' •» 1 Miiiaif > >*^ Ml lilt 1 "B^ii fcfc>dsaai.^^^i* *A*.> >T> 1 I >^ Il U ''nfec^' Hifpamcf farff jji. uni /rjJui cempetcnna -' ■-' 4-J n.' ■^"U-.l ■•- ■■'■ -'- Aeqvinqc tialis Typus oorum maririmarum Giuncj*, Maniamg£>,& An. golr ul ra promontorium Bon? /pci ui^, cura ommK porrubus, InHiJis, Scopulw, puIvin^s.fi/A^is , vcraa la ^ oruJmc Occani A.cth\opki.ib oriu m occafion ad JPcTc narabuciiD &proniOTic. S. Augufhni in ora Brafiljcnfi, vCTgcmis: DJiacura ciulHcm oceani In/ulis.praxipuc— verd S.nuMiiA.S.HcIcna, JnfuU AfccnGonis. mulrij^ al^s,eai'umquc gcnuino n^au^accuranf omnia ex op amis hdids abvlis hydrograpfncis dcccrpca3f cmcn^. . i^eC&jHe d(r tu/rm its ianla duinfj, Maim^^tua, mii drvo^tn.aiie oniinten .ma de glffude irtcic tUi .Itrficpjifiea Ocetm, dtvJAt'iBi^ iK^irTi irn ia v/^hen f*t ferajmitka ex C^ i .ia^Jhw fir ' .-fAifr. lU ven)rKiu7i(fifii^. jtome. 5. Hfierid , unfai/c A^m(am j^ien, MunJJr- wutT, mnde-<»/aertJtri^efpiiia^ei^n£)ai.aSitjecra)T. Amfdu Fii L-Mtren I ■C«. \J Icr.ima ■ Hrmr — > , , — DVTV/. MOTAPAE-«Wi. , ArftA *}J^ " -„... -€U^ PARS iti"-" -■s" t- CVfc Bm E(peran}ui the Spnnisli zvcrc al^vays at l»i^i^rrluuuls in thr East, and the action portrayed is only one of mauy that ivere fought whenever the opportunity offered. The mat sails of the native boats are interesting. •240 iMa.fh THE DUTCH AT MAURITIUS A fleet of eight merchant ships from Amsterdam sailed to Java in 1598, taking possession of the island of Manritiiis from the Portuguese and renaming it in honour of Prince Maurice of Xassau. One of the marvels that thev discovered luas the giant tortoise. 241 ■ 2'^ s i. fu ■? " 5 i - >- s ■^ ~ ^ -^ ^~ g 2 '"^ ^' « "^ -^ "K ^ ^ t:: J5 >^ " = S^ 242 THE OPENING OF THE EAST remembered that these companies were really associations of individuals somewhat akin to the Lloyd's of to-day — turned their attention to its advantages. They knew perfectly well that they would have to fight the vested interests of the Portuguese and the Dutch in the East, but the prize was well worth it and accordingly the East India Company came into being. The scheme was discussed in 1599 and it was agreed that to prevent all chance of the trade being lost for ever immediate steps should be taken. After some difficulties the petition to the Queen was approved on December 31st, 1600, and the adventurers had the privilege of a monopoly of Indian trade for fifteen years, with exemption from export duty for the first four voyages and permission to take money out of the country for the purposes of their trade. It must be remem- bered that this old embargo on the export of coin was one of the great handicaps of the early traders, but it was honoured more in the breach than in the observance. The First East Indian Expedition. The privateering Earl of Cumberland was one of the first backers of the East India Company and the pioneer expedition included one of the ships which he had built specially for corsair work against Spain, the Red Dragon, which had originally been the Mare Scourge. They were allowed by their charter to take six ships but they could not raise them and the fleet which eventually sailed consisted of the Red Dragon, the Hector, the Ascension, the Susati and a decrepit victualler named the Guest. The fleet was under the command of James Lancaster. They sailed in the early summer of 1601 and crawled round the Cape with very sickly crews, only Lancaster having realised the value of limes as a preventive of scurvy and so keeping his own men in good condition. After a delay at the Cape they crossed the Indian Ocean to Acheen in Sumatra, where they were well treated by the Dutch in possession in spite of their orders from home to keep us out. In the meantime the ships put to sea and captured a rich Portuguese, the Sao Thome, with a full cargo. The Ascension and the Susan were filled up — principally with loot — and sent home while the rest of the squadron went on to Java and established a station there to collect goods against their next voyage. The homeward voyage was rendered difficult by a succession of storms and the usual murmurings of the men, but by heroic rnethods and magnificent seamanship Lancaster managed to overcome his difficulties and reached home. The promoters nearly doubled their capital after all expenses were paid and Lancaster received a well-earned knighthood. The Development of the East Indian Trade. After that expeditions to the East were made regularly, and although some of them ended with disaster the majority were successful and the financial balance was well on the right side. The Dutch increased their opposition and raised all the difficulties that they could, but the British were as ready to fight as they were to trade and there was no turning them out. The terrible massacre of Amboyna, which has 243 THE OPENING OF THE EAST already been mentioned on account of its naval results, caused the feel- ing to be as bitter against Holland as it had been against Spain in the previous century. Before long the mainland of India was exploited as well as the islands and the Company was very kindly received by the Great Mogul, whose favour aroused the greatest jealousy among the estab- lished Portuguese. The Company got increased privileges from James I and prepared to take their own part, if necessary by force. One or two smart actions showed the Portuguese that we meant business and greatly increased our prestige with the natives, so that we were in time able to trade not only with the mainland and the East Indies but also with the Persian Gulf and as far afield as Japan. At the same time the traders always had to be on the lookout for trouble and it was never very far away. Swally Hole. It was the battle of Swally Hole, not far from Surat, which made all the difference. It was here that Captain Best, with the Company's ships Red Dragon and Hoseander, defeated a greatly superior Portu- guese fleet in 1612, very largely by his better seamanship and the advantage that he took of the numerous shoals and cross-currents that make the port dangerous. After that the power of the Portuguese began to decline at once and they never afterwards succeeded in dis- placing us from the premier place in India, although they still possess small colonies on the coast. The subsequent capture of Ormuz, the strongest Portuguese post on the Persian Gulf, settled the race for Eastern supremacy as far as they were concerned, but the Dutch were not so easily disposed of. The Enemies of the Company. While the Company was thus forcing its way forward against its foreign enemies it was but natural that it should make others at home. To begin with its monopoly was bitterly attacked and continued to be attacked as long as it existed. Numerous " interlopers " were fitted out in England to nibble at the Eastern trade, and should any one of them happen to be caught by the Company's ships she was immediately attacked and was almost certain to be taken. In such event her people could be certain of a very bad time, as bad as from the Portuguese or Dutch. On the other hand the chronically impecunious Stuart govern- ment saw in the Company's prosperity an ideal source of revenue and when things were very bad did not hesitate to levy blackmail. When this happened the bill was usually passed on to the unfortunate natives in some form or another. Towards the end of the seventeenth century a rival body was chartered, " The New East India Company," and the competition between the two threatened to wreck the whole trade until finally they united. Meanwhile the French East India Company had been formed and had established itself at Pondicherry in spite of the efforts of the English. Bombay. The Dutch Wars did not have as much effect on the fortunes of British trade in the East as might have been expected, and did little 244 WESTWARD HO ! to check the steady development of the Company. When Charles II received the town of Bombay as part of his wife's dowry it gave us an ideal base in Eastern waters and had a considerable effect on our operations. The Company established a dockyard there which per- mitted them to keep their ships seaworthy and greatly reduced the marine risk and finally, although not for a long time, they commenced to build ships there. Also they began to found their own local navy. At first it was for the protection of their ships from the pirates who operated from the Red Sea and East African coast, then against the French, and finally to take such offensive action as might be necessary in the Company's, and occasionally in Britain's, interests. The Position Consolidated. By the time the Treaty of Ryswick was signed the position of British trade in the East was tolerably secure. It had fought hard for the recognition of its status at home and had won. The unhappy rivalries between the old and the new companies were not yet adjusted, although they were on the way to an agreement, but perhaps the rivalry did more good than harm in the end. Founded on the firm basis of trade, the British Empire in the East was beginning to develop and the country was profiting greatly by the enterprise of her merchant adventurers. CHAPTER XIV— WESTWARD HO ! Before Columbus. Only a few months ago evidence was found that suggested that a combined Danish and Portuguese Expedition discovered the Continent of America some quarter of a century before Columbus. It appears that Erik of Pomerania, brother-in-law to the famous Prince Henry the Navigator, assisted certain Portuguese navigators who were anxious to discover what was afterwards known as the North-West passage and that through his interest a joint expedition of Danish and Portuguese ships commanded by Admirals Pining and Pothurst sailed from Den- mark in the reign of King Christjern I (1426-1481). The principal evidence of this expedition is dated 1551, seventy-five years after it sailed, and was written by the Biirgermeister of Kiel to King Christian III. He speaks as though it were quite well known that Pining and Pothurst reached Greenland and fought Eskimos from the American Continent. One Johannes Scolus, apparently belonging to this expedi- tion, is supposed to have sailed along the coast of Labrador in 1476 and soon after the Portuguese are calling Labrador " Joao Vaz Land." One of the early Portuguese navigators of the Azores was named Joao Vaz Corte Real and tradition has it that he was given his post as a reward for Polar discoveries, which points in the same direction. Hints of this expedition have long been known in the archives at Venice but the recent discovery of evidence at Copenhagen was the first that per- mitted it to be definitely described, and even so there are many details unhappily missing. 245 WESTWARD HO ! Thylde's Expedition. Long before the time of Columbus there was rumour of land to the West which, as has already been shown in a previous chapter, had undoubtedly been discovered long before. In 1480 an expedition was sent out from Bristol under the command of Thylde to re-discover the island of Brazil, a legendary land that was supposed to be some hundreds of miles ofT the Irish coast. Their vessel was only eighty tons and they made their voyage in the autumn, so that it is not surprising that the men of Bristol were not able to get right across the Atlantic as Columbus did later on. For many years the legendary island of Brazil was marked on charts, sometimes down by the Azores, sometimes much further North and, reduced to a rock, was even charted in the nineteenth century. Atlantis. Closely allied to the Brazils is Atlantis, the famous legendary island which was first mentioned by Plato. The Greeks believed that it had been a powerful empire nine thousand years before Solon and that its arms had reached the main continents. Finally it had been over- whelmed by the sea and it came to be made a sort of ideal republic. All the peoples of the Middle Ages firmly believed in the existence of these islands under some name or another, sometimes the Fortunate Isles, or Avalon, or Saint Brendan's Land, or numerous other names, but always closely allied in detail. There is so much interest in the story that it is still occasionally discussed by scientists. Christopher Columbus. The famous navigator, Christopher Columbus, or Cristobal Colon as his name is spelt in Spanish, was born in Genoa either in 1446 or 1451, the son of a wool comber. He was at sea at the age of fourteen but had time for some education and had also followed his father's trade for a spell. In 1476 he appears to have visited England and perhaps gone into the North. On his return he married the daughter of one of Henry the Navigator's Captains, which turned his mind still more towards explora- tion. He spent some time among Henry's old followers and appears to have then decided that the world was round and that the Orient could be reached from the West, a theory that had already been put forward but not accepted. He had considerable difficulty in finding a patron, for the Portuguese were too interested in the newly discovered route round the Cape and he could get no help from them. Genoa likewise would have nothing to do with the scheme. King John of Portugal, however, attempted to steal his ideas but was foiled by the cowardice of the people he sent out. Finding his way to Spain he was not long in interesting people of influence, but Ferdinand and Isabella at that time still had their hands full with the Moors and it was a long time before he could get any sort of an audience. Meanwhile Columbus returned to Portugal and sent his brother Bartholomew to England to obtain the interest of King Henry VII. Just when he was despairing he got into 246 -^rf" (Macpherson Collection) COLUMBUS I.WDING AT WATI.ING ISLAND, 1492 The actual /uiid/iWJ made by Columbus' ship is still the subject of some dispute, hut it is generally agreed as Watliug Island. 247 CHRISTOPHKR COLUMBUS XMERIGO NESPLCCI SEBASri.W CABOT 248 The work of these three explorers gives tlieni a pre-eminent place amon^ the pioneers of the New World. ( Macplieriiim i'olli^ction) LOIAMBUS AND THE EGG Rebuking some courtiers after his first voyage, Columbus challenged them to make an egg stand on its end. After they had failed he did it by gently cracking the point, explaining that everything was simple once yon had thought of the way of doing it, even the discovery of America. 249 ~ ;; -^ - t^ ■iJ -^ '^ .^ »: ^ "o ■« '^ "a . ^ :3 ->, -^ .0 i> ^ s ^ = ^ <^ ^ ^ »- C r' -il t- 3 ^ , 5=^ • 0 ° — ■ 0 S 2 •250 WESTWARD HO I touch with Queen Isabella's late confessor who persuaded her to hear him and finally he received his Royal backing in 1492. His aim was to sail to the West until he discovered Japan and to open up trade with the Khan of Cathay to whom he carried a letter of introduction. The town of Palos was ordered to find him two ships and the county gaols were scraped to find him crews, but even the indemnity offered was not sufficient to persuade men to volunteer. Finally the expedition sailed, consisting of Columbus's flagship the Santa Maria of one hundred tons and fifty-two men, Martin Pinzon's ship the Pinta of fifty tons and eighteen men, and the Nina of forty tons and the same crew, which was commanded by Vicente Yanez Pinzon. The fieet sailed in August, 1492, and was forced to put into Tenerife to replace a rudder lost by the Pinta. Here news came that three Portuguese men-of-war were on the look-out for him so that he pro- ceeded with all speed. The greater part of the ships' companies had never been afloat and when they got into the Sargasso Sea and sailed through miles of w^eed their spirits fell to zero and things got so bad that Columbus had to keep a double log, one for the benefit of the crew and one for himself. As their method of judging the ship's speed was for a man to drop some buoyant object over the bow and then walk aft along- side it until he came to the taffrail, it would appear that neither log could have possessed the slightest real value. Eventually when things were really desperate a light was seen in the darkness ahead at ten o'clock on October 11th, 1492, and the next morning they were off an island which they named San Salvador, but which is now known as Watling Island. Columbus and the West Indies. For some time Columbus cruised round the islands, still under the impression that Japan was only a short distance ahead, and took possession of Rum Cay, Cuba, Hispaniola and other islands. It was off Hispaniola, which is now Hayti, that the Santa Maria was wrecked and had to be abandoned, so that the Admiral determined to leave a shore party and return to Spain for more supplies. A fort was built and forty- four men were left. Returning in the Nina Columbus was very nearly arrested by the Portuguese in the Azores but finally reached the Tagus and was received with due ceremony. He reported to the Spanish Court at Barcelona and was received with the greatest honours through- out Spain. Immediately afterwards the Pope Alexander VI granted a Bull which gave to Spain any land discovered West of a line drawn a hundred leagues from the Azores and to Portugal any land east of that. The full effects of this were seen in Magellan's famous voyage round the world. The Later Voyages of Columbus. He set out again in the autumn of 1493 with a very much larger squadron and made his landfall at Dominica, reaching Hispaniola only to find the fort burned and the colony dispersed. He had a lot of trouble with his settlers who all expected to be rich without the least 251 WESTWARD HO ! effort on their own part. Embarrassed all round, he sent back five hundred Indian prisoners who he suggested might be sold as slaves in Spain, thus beginning the Indian slave trade. But the Queen knew of the gentleness of these natives and how hospitably they had treated the explorers and immediately ordered their return. On this voyage he discovered Jamaica and carried out considerable surveying work in the Caribbean, but the trials of the voyage very nearly killed him, and the colonists that he had taken out were hopeless. They were rebellious against their leaders and brutal to the natives. On his return a still larger fleet was put under his charge and he was granted a proportion of the profits that should have made him rich for life. The Death of Columbus. On his third voyage Columbus discovered the island of Trinidad and the mainland of South America. He reached Hispaniola only to find that malcontents intriguing in his absence had influenced the Court at home. Accordingly a Governor was appointed and Columbus and his two brothers were shipped home in chains. By the time he reached Spain the tide had once more turned in his favour and he was released. He made a fourth voyage but his health by now was broken and his enemies were gaining both in numbers and power, so that soon after his return from it he died at Valladolid on May 20th, 1506. Ojida. As typical of the dare-devil adventurers who followed Columbus may be mentioned Alonso de Ojida. Originally one of Columbus's lieutenants he was the nephew of one of the principal Inquisitors of Spain and incidentally was one of his leader's bitterest enemies. The result was that although Columbus was supposed to have a monopoly, Ojida, when little more than twenty-one, was fitted out with an expedi- tion at Seville and allowed to sail in 1499. He struck the South American coast and ran along it, defeating the Caribs time and again. Wantonly slaughtering a large number, and causing mischief wherever he went, he took a large number of slaves back to Spain but obtained very little profit. In 1502 he was allowed to sail again, but this expedition was fouled with appalling bloodshed and finally he was captured by his own compatriots and sent back to Hispaniola in irons. Arriving at the island, manacled as he was, he slipped overboard and attempted to swim ashore but his chains dragged him down and he was finally rescued on the verge of drowning. Eventually he was acquitted but the actions against him had ruined him and he disappeared from history for some years. In 1508 he appeared again, but once more caused trouble wherever he went and his force was finally cut up by the Indians. At last he succeeded and got the leadership of a large body but his rest- less spirit kept him fighting and he appeared indeed to have a charmed life. Finally his native enemies determined to kill him somehow and accordingly an ambuscade was laid for him and he was wounded by three poisoned arrows. Even then he recovered by the heroic method of putting red-hot plates on the wounds. Again ruined, he accepted the 262 WESTWARD HO ! help of an out-and-out pirate named Talavera but before long they com- menced to quarrel and finally their ship was wrecked on the Cuban coast. Reaching safety Ojida was setting out on yet another expedition when his health failed and finally he died in beggary in San Domingo, perhaps the greatest of the many adventurers who appeared to have all within their grasp but achieved nothing. Other Spanish Discoverers. After the first pioneers Spanish discovery tended more towards the land than to the sea but there were many names that deserve to be remembered : Balboa — an impoverished gentleman who fled from his debts in Hispaniola by stowing away in one of Ojida's ships and ended by being the first man to reach the Pacific — Cortez, Ponce de Leon, and many others. The treatment that they meted out to the natives was appalling but their courage in venturing into the unknown in the way they did and the marvellous manner in which they endured every hard- ship and terror, makes them men indeed whose names are bound to be remembered although scarcely one of them can escape the taint of savagery. Johfi Cabot. John Cabot, the head of the famous family, was born at Genoa in 1450 but lived in Venice from boyhood and took to the sea as a young man. Most of his early trading voyages were to the Levant and it was in the international marts there that he took a keen interest in the Chinese goods that were offered for sale. By this time the shape of the earth was known, and Cabot determined that a path should be found across the Atlantic. For this purpose he came to England in 1484 and interested a number of British merchants in his venture so that it was decided that he should make an attempt to find the Island of Brazil which Thylde had tried to do and failed. It was while he was attempt- ing to do this that news came that Columbus had reached the West Indies and Cabot immediately changed his plans and determined to concentrate on the discovery of Asia from the West. Accordingly he and his three sons, Sebastian, Lewis and Santius — the two last named of whom have been completely forgotten by the historians — received the permission of King Henry VII to seek the new lands. Any merchandise from these countries was to come through the port of Bristol free of duty but one-fifth of the profits was to go to the King. Cabot sailed in the ship Mathew with eighteen men on May 2nd, 1497, taking the North- about course round Ireland. After being fifty-two days at sea they made a landfall on the Northern end of Cape Breton Island, which was solemnly annexed in the name of the King. Cabot was con- vinced that he had reached the North-East corner of Asia and gave the name Cape Discovery to what is now Cape North. The explorers skirted the coast as far as Cape Race, catching large quantities of cod on the way down, and then struck across the Atlantic for England. The discoverer hurried to London as quickly as he could and for his 263 WESTWARD HO ! invaluable work King Henry was pleased to present him with ten pounds. Cabot's second voyage was made after he had gone into the Latin countries in search of seamen who had already been across the Atlantic or down the African coast, and in May, 1498, he sailed from Bristol with two ships and three hundred men. In this voyage his first land- fall was the East coast of the land which was later called Labrador and instead of striking West he went North until his crew mutinied in latitude 67° 30'. He then rounded Cape Farewell and explored a good deal of the coast until he was blocked by icebergs. He then went to Baffin's Land but unfortunately he missed the opportunity of dis- covering the St. Lawrence by mistaking Belle Isle Strait for a Bay. He skirted the coast as far as latitude 38° North, always under the impres- sion that he was coming to Japan, and returned to England a very dis- appointed man without dreaming of the wonderful work that he had done. Sebastian Cabot. His son Sebastian was born about 1476 but it is not certain whether Venice or Bristol was his native place. He went with his father on both his voyages and did useful work as a navigator for Henry VIII. King Ferdinand of Spain took him into his service in 1512 as Captain of the Navy for the special purpose of surveying the Newfoundland coast, but this expedition came to nothing. In 1520 he came back to England and was on the point of taking out an expedition on behalf of Henry VIII when he was dissuaded by a friend and instead attempted to enter the service of Venice. The transfer was postponed until a more appropriate time and in the meanwhile he was given the command of three Spanish ships on an Eastern expedition. He did some very useful work on the coast of South America, but because he had been forced by the natives to give up the gold that he had collected he was sentenced on his return to four years' banishment. In 1538 he returned to England and among his other positions was that of Life Governor of the Company of Mer- chant Adventurers. It is believed that he died about 1557. He appears to have been greatly loved by his townsfolk but to modern ideas one cannot help thinking that he was a born opportunist, changing his patron according to the price that he could extract. The Guinea Coast and Brazil. The first discoverer of Brazil was Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who had sailed in the Nifia with Columbus and who in the early weeks of 1499 was attempting to round Africa. In doing so he got carried too far to the West and sighted the Brazilian coast near Cape St. Augustine. He sailed a considerable distance up the Amazon hut made no attempt to annex the country for his master and contented himself with taking him some of the products that he had collected. Next year a Portuguese named Pedro Cabral, attempting to emulate Vasco da Gama, was carried to the Brazilian coast, which he immediatelv annexed for the Crown of Portugal. He sent home a pinnace to Lisbon to beg the 264 I'* (Macpherson Collection) DRAKE'S FLEET AT SAN DOMINGO, HISPANIOLA Shoivnif; the Spaniards' defences posilion and the difficullies of attack. MEDAL CO.NLMEMORATING DRAKE'S VOYAGES TO THE WEST, 1570-158 (By c^mrtcsy oj Messrs. Spink t2^' Son, Ltd.) 255 V2:ji^m^ DRAKE AT THE RIVER PLATE Slwwnii; an huliait ^inilclung off /lis JuU mid. m llif corner, exhibiting it. 256 SIR WALTER RALEIGH AT TRINIDAD, 1595 (i! the. course of his voyage to the Indies and Guiana in 1595 Raleigh captured and burned the City of St. Joseph, Trinidad, but released all his .Spanish prisoners except the Governor. t Macpherson Collection) M 4 MARTIN FROHISHER SIR JOHN HAWKINS SIR WALTER RALKK.H (M,icpl,ers;it Collcftimi) CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH Frobislici, Hawkins and Raleigli all made tlicir mark in maritime history in the Elizabethan period, and Capt. John Smith's energy and clear sight led to the estahhslimcnl nf the New England Colonies. 257 s^ e o = g o 258 1 V^'-^^\ikW^:i iV 259 (Macplictsmi I'ollcttim,) FLORIDA DISCONERED RV FRENCH HUGUENOTS 'lilt first Frruch selllenicnl in Florida was mcnie by Riband in 1500 hnt 7tias a failnrf, four years lalcr Laudonnicre made another attempt with a party of Huguenots, but the settlement was wiped out by the Spanish forces. The picture frnni De Bry apparenth relates to the same place as that depicted as Fort Caroliiie by Montanus in his book on " The New and Unknown World," published nearly a century later. {.See illustration on p. 270.) 260 iMacpheruin Collection) Ol.ANDO BLII.DING A TARW i:i. Olaiido, Si'Ciiiid ill Cttiiiiimiul of ,l Spaiiisll Expedition, was separated from !iis Commander by a storm, and attempted to make himself an independent governor. He wrecked his two ships and established himself ashore. In danger of starving he was forced to attempt the construction of a new ship from the wreckage of his original two and siicli rough timber as he could pick up. 261 (Macpherson Collection) CAPT. WAITBORNE AT ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOLNDLAND, 1618 De Bry relates how, wltih' Richard Waitboriie [probably Whit- bourne of Exmouthl was at the harbour of St. John's, a sea- monster or siren with hair of sky-blue, swam out, to their great consternation, but seeing the crew, swam back to the /atirf whence it came; and how later the same monster approached the ship in which was William Hncobridge [ilaconbridge] and tried to board it, but the sailors beat it off with clubs. Whereupon the monster next attacked two other ships, the crews leaving them and taking to land. 262 WESTWARD HO authorities to send out a settlement, and then proceeded to India. Amerigo Vespucci, after whom the continent of America is named, was then sent out and returned with a wonderful account of his doings on the coast, but it is to be feared that modern historians are rather inclined to put him down as a mere liar and not to give much credence to his explorations unless they are backed by independent evidence. After his time the Portuguese carried on the settlement of the country rather half-heartedly in spite of the efforts of the Spaniards to oust them, using it for some time as a penal settlement. One William Hawkyns, a Plymouth shipmaster, took his ship, the Pole of 250 tons, to Brazil in 1530 and not only made three very profitable trading voyages but also gave the English a very good name in these regions. John Rutt and Others. In the year 1527 King Henry VIII sent out John Rutt of Radcliffe in command of the ships Mary of Guildford and Sampson to explore the American mainland but the Sampson was lost and the other ship returned with very little result. One Captain Grube was then sent out and gave a very fair account of the region round Cape Race. In 1536 the Inns of Court raised a number of volunteers to take a fleet of small ships out into the West. At Cape Breton they discovered thousands of great auks and were pleased to find that their eggs were very good and nourishing. Then provisions ran out and after a ghastly bout of cannibalism the expedition reached home with difficulty. After that many similar voyages were undertaken, some of them successful. Sir John Hawkyns. The William Hawkyns that we have already mentioned had a son John, born in 1532, who was to become one of the most famous English seamen. When he was thirty years of age his family interest obtained for him the command of three ships with which he collected a number of negroes on the Guinea coast and sold them at colossal prices to work in the plantations of Hayti. This voyage showed a profit in spite of the fact that the Spaniards seized two of his ships with valuable cargoes, and on his return he had no difficulty in persuading the Queen to lend him one of the Royal ships to help him fit out a similar voyage on a very much bigger scale. It was on his third voyage that the treachery of the Spaniards at Vera Cruz caused the loss of the greater part of the expedi- tion, Hawkyns and his kinsman Drake having the greatest difficulty in escaping with their skins and the latter losing the greater part of his fortune. Hawkyns was appointed treasurer and comptroller of Queen Elizabeth's Navy and did magnificent work in giving it the finest avail- able material. After taking part in one or two other campaigns against the Spanish he died on Drake's last voyage to the West Indies, in a manner that has already been described in an earlier chapter. The slave trade to the Spanish islands which he encouraged was illegal from the first and to modern thinking grossly iniquitous, but it was another stepping stone which carried British commerce towards prosperity. 263 WESTWARD HO Frobisher. Before he was knighted Martin Frobisher had done some remark- ably useful exploratory work. He was a Yorkshireman, born about 1535, and went to sea at the age of nine. While still in the twenties he made up his mind that he would find a North-West passage to India and China and after many years of discouraging effort he contrived to fit out an expedition of three tiny ships, the Gabrielle of twenty-five tons and the Michael of twenty, with a ten-ton pinnace. Even this was possible only with the help afforded to him by the Earl of Warwick. The Michael deserted him and the pinnace foundered, but in the Gabrielle he held on and reached Labrador. Frobisher Bay he thought was a Strait which would lead him on his way and for many years it bore that name on the chart. When he returned he brought with him some quartz which immediately started an enthusiastic search for gold, although it is very doubtful whether the rock that he brought contained the slightest trace of it. However, it caused quite an important expedi- tion to be fitted out, the Queen starting it by the loan of her ship the Aid and a considerable sum of money. A third expedition in 1578 discovered Hudson's Strait more or less by accident but otherwise accomplished little. Afterwards Frobisher was employed by the Navy against the Spaniards and soon after attempted to retire. His roving spirit prevented him, however, and after one or two very minor expedi- tions against the Spaniards he was killed while in command of a squadron off Brest in 1594. John Davis. Like so many other distinguished seamen of his day John Davis, who has been claimed by many as the greatest of the Elizabethan explorers, was a native of Dartmouth, where he was born somewhere round about 1550. He went to sea from his childhood and having been a friend and neighbour of Gilbert it is only natural that his thoughts should turn towards the North. Equipped by one of the principal members of the Fishmongers' Company in London he set out on two expeditions to the North-West with the Sunshine and Moonshine, of fifty and thirty-five tons respectively, and then on his third and greatest in 1587 with the Sunshine, the Elizabeth and the twenty-ton pinnace Ellen. Arrived at Greenland he set the two bigger ships to fishing while he himself explored the coast in the pinnace. He then pushed on through the Straits named after him into Baffin's Bay. He also com- manded a ship against the Armada and served in other expeditions, until finally he was killed by Japanese pirates in the East Indies, while in the service of the East India Company. Quite apart from his works of discovery he wrote some useful books on seamanship and navigation, and invented navigating instruments which held the field for many years. Drake as an Adventurer. The part that Sir Francis played in the history of the fighting Navy has already been described, but perhaps his greatest fame rests on his expeditions as an adventurer — expeditions that in those days were a 264 WESTWARD Ho mixture of exploration and trade but which did infinite good to England at sea. He was born in or about 1545 in Devonshire but was brought up on the Kentish coast. Sir John Hawkyns, who was his kins- man, saw to such education as was thought necessary for a gentle- man in those days and then apprenticed him while still a child to the coasting trade. It was good experience and permitted him to take his place in overseas expeditions at the age of eighteen. At twenty-two he was Captain of the Judith with Hawkyns when they were betrayed at Vera Cruz, and although he made his name as a magnificent seaman he lost his whole capital in the disaster but was lucky enough to escape with his life. He was soon back in those waters having his revenge on the Spaniards under the cover of Letters of Marque from Queen Elizabeth. The next few expeditions were devoted rather to plunder- ing Spanish towns than to legitimate trading but they increased his reputation as a seaman and in one of them he got a sight of the Pacific Ocean from the Isthmus of Panama and determined to sail it in the first British ship to visit its waters. With the assistance of Queen Elizabeth he set out with five small vessels at the end of 1577, skirted down the coast of Brazil, where he scuttled two of his ships as useless and proceeded with the rest. The necessary execution of his lieutenant Thomas Doughty for mutiny delayed the expedition further and he had considerable difficulty in negotiating the Straits of Magellan, the remain- ing two ships with him turning back. With his flagship the Pelican, now renamed Golden Hind, he carried on, captured a number of Spanish ships on the West coast, and went as far up as latitude 48 North in an attempt to find a passage back into the Atlantic. Failing this he struck across the Pacific, nearly lost his ship in the Celebes, and crawled past the Cape of Good Hope on very short rations. Finally he made Plymouth in September, 1580, two years and ten months after sailing, and there was considerable doubt as to whether he would be knighted or hanged as a pirate. Fortunately the Queen decided on the former course and he settled down until he was wanted to help thwart Philip's Armada. John Oxenham. A Drake in miniature, John Oxenham, who was one of his men on his first expedition, certainly deserves passing mention for his daring. When Drake had temporarily foresworn the sea and had retired to Court, Oxenham scraped together enough to buy a little ship at Plymouth and sailed in 1575 on a daring expedition. Drake had taught^ the Spaniards to guard their mule convoys effectively, so Oxenham decided that he would get into the Pacific and intercept them there. Arriving at the Isthmus of Panama he concealed his ship as well as he could and crossed with his little partv, being verv careful not to disturb the Spaniards. On the Pacific a fortv-five foot pinnace was built and launched. He was thus the first Englishman to navigate in that ocean, capturing two treasure shins and then setting about the return journey. By this time the Spaniards were alarmed and managed to 266 WESTWARD HO regain their treasure in the absence of the main body of English. As soon as he heard of his loss Oxenham hastened to attack, although he was hopelessly outnumbered, and the result was that the entire expedi- tion was killed or executed with the exception of two boys. Had he followed the Spanish custom of killing his prisoners he would have saved his men and his treasure. Thomas Cavendish. The expedition of Thomas Cavendish (or Candish as he was some- times called) in 1586 is a good example of the morals of the time. He was a Suffolk gentleman with a great enthusiasm for exploration and accordingly fitted out three ships in the hope of going round the world. Reaching the Straits of Magellan he carried out some practical survey- ing work and then took on board one of the last survivors of an unfortunate colony that a Spaniard named Sarmiento had founded on the Patagonian coast. This man, Tomas Hernandez, said that there were fifteen other survivors, including two women, only a mile away, and Cavendish promised to rescue them, but immediately callously changed his mind and left them to their fate. Hernandez landed at Valparaiso as guide to a watering party whom he betrayed to the Spaniards and caused to be hanged at Santiago de Chile. Long after- wards he died a beggar. Cavendish pushed on, burned a few towns and looted a few ships and reached the Californian coast where he captured a valuable treasure ship. He then crossed the Pacific, lost his last remaining follower, and in the Desire rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached home. He was possessed of courage and determina- tion but was a bad leader and achieved very little. Being in financial difficulties soon afterwards he planned a fresh venture in which he was accompanied by John Davis, whom he falsely accused of its failure. He died before the expedition reached home. Raleigh's Colony in Virginia. Sir Walter Raleigh's great contribution to the Empire was his attempt to found an English colony in Virginia in 1583, the actual site now being part of the State of North Carolina. He really had very poor success, largely owing to the bad methods of the settlers, but he sent back the most glowing accounts and several expeditions were fitted out. In James I's reign the project was taken up again and a chartered com- pany founded to exploit the colony. The establishment of the tobacco growing industry made a firm basis for its prosperity, although its progress was not so striking as that of some of the other States. Hudson the Navigator. Owing to his being principally remembered for the voyage which he undertook under the Dutch flag this navigator is generally known as Hendrik Hudson but as a matter of fact he was an Englishman whose Christian name was certainly Henry but about whose early life we know nothing. His first voyage was under the protection of the Muscovy Company, and in a little ship with ten men and a boy he sailed in 1607 266 (Macpherson Collection) CAPTAIN ARGAIJ. Al KING POWHATAN'S STRONGHOLD IN VIRGINIA, ca 1614. (From De Brv) Captain Argnll's methods of forcing the chief Powhatan to terms \>y kidnapping his daughter Pocahontas were not creditable, but they enabled the agreement to be made with a minimum of bloodshed. 267 1 5 „ = r5 to Is? 2 .2 2 e o Z rz 'Z <" S a 268 o c 11 V p '■hi =■ w a x z X :2 Z o < W 11^ ^* 1 4i ^ - ' ! £'-V- ■^^t^s^ ":l 4^ :l^ * = ^ T. ■^ %. *^- » ^ "^-^ U T^l: >i^. 'n>i- V4 _ _^ j' S T. Z :M 5 " w X 0 i- ^ Z < U ^ Z o X w ._^ w n c: iC < tr. c; u "- -a 5i> ?■= ":: « ~ >. V ». "^ = o i| 2 S £ -^ £ ^ •=~ £•« ■&] = S Si's « 5 ■•= 287 (Muiphcrson ( i.llecliini) PANAMA, ABOl'T 1690. .li oiii' tcriiiimil of tlic Sl>iinisli Overland route by which Inline treasure was transported, Panama was always the favourite aim of the buccaneers and gentlemen adventurers. SIR HENRY MORGAN The most dashing and picturesque of the seventcentti-century buccaneers, and, scoundrel as he was, he undoubtedly made as good a Deputy Governor of Jamaica as most of his contemporaries. (Macpherson Colh-clion) 288 c -Is li. ^ >_ K s 5 *o o *^ ■a K 1:0 ^i) -C c -« ^ o Hri. o .S s ■* s c s s^ ,^ o to ^ ^ ^^ u 1) e pi e 50 13 t^ ^ "S *i _"-. ij 3 ^ -Ci. -0 ^ J; Vs "a ■a. a «0 "J ^ -S ^ 5 H-^ ^ c s 0 >. c -u C l! -^ F^ a, i ;; 289 e 5 •« ^ 3*0 290 Z < 291 (Macpherson Collection) rii/ /i^ C'-ery t^iA^jj^ e^i^ <^ iA^ (?JIS:A T J^Oi/f?>r CAPTAIN AVERY Although a most successful pirate Avery's record is free from wanton cruelty or bestiality, and finally, after having made a vast fortune, he died in penury through being cheated by certain Bristol Quakers. 292 SEA-ROVERS arrived at Corunna the Spanish treasury was empty, and lying there waiting for their wages it is only natural that the crews should get dis- satisfied and soon be ready for anything. Avery collected the most promising men of both ships and seized his vessel the Charles II to go a-pirating. That he was not as bloodthirsty as he is often described is shown by the fact that the captains and the loyal members of the crews were allowed to go ashore unharmed, although Avery knew perfectly well that the first thing that they would do would be to start a hue and cry for him. He appears to have been scrupulously just to his followers, which was rather a rare thing with the out-and-out pirates, and after a number of minor prizes they took a valuable ship belonging to the Great Mogul. On the spoil of this prize the crew retired, but some of them were captured later and hanged after they had been acquitted once. Avery himself returned to Bristol a rich man and is said to have been so thoroughly cheated by the good Quakers of that town that he died a beggar. His activities, and the natural annoyance of the Great Mogul, led to a proper patrol of the distant seas being instituted. Madagascar. During the latter part of the seventeenth and early in the eighteenth century an extraordinary state of aflEairs sprang up in Madagascar, which became a regular pirate centre. Merchants whose ships might well be the next attacked went out there with cargoes of stores and liquors for the pirates and brought back return cargoes of goods that had been stolen on the High Seas. It is illuminating that this was allowed to con- tinue so long ; in fact one cannot help thinking that the maritime powers deserved to be plundered for their neglect of the most obvious measures of protection. The Buccaneers. It is almost customary to lump the pirates and the buccaneers together and to treat them as one set of lawbreakers, whereas the latter regarded themselves, and were frequently regarded, as good citizens who had most of them suffered at the hands of the Spaniards and were waging a private war on Spain, no matter what happened to be the state of affairs in Europe. The trouble was that many adventurers who fitted out their ships against the Spaniards found a dearth of Spanish prizes and therefore in their need took the first one which came to hand, but that was regarded as an unfortunate accident. Originally they were the settlers who established themselves in the Spanish islands to hunt the wild cattle and to prepare the hnccan, or dried beef, which was very much in demand by seafarers in those days. Had they been left alone they would certainly have made excellent citizens and have contributed considerably to the prosperity of the Spanish colonies, but in an unlucky moment the Dons decided that they were trespassers and should be exterminated. The result was that they made them enemies for ever, and as they were not strong enough to stamp them out they suffered greatly at their hands. The spirit of hatred against the Spaniard appears to have been the only thing that kept the English, French and Dutch in 293 SEA-ROVERS harmony in the West Indies. While they were peaceful citizens redress- ing a grievance against the Spaniards, the buccaneers were well enough in their way, but they soon degenerated and it has been said that the only real difference between them and the pirates proper was that the latter regarded their ships as their homes and the buccaneers only as a means of transport to their booty. Sir Henry Morgan. Surely one of the most extraordinary romances of ocean roving is the life of Sir Henry Morgan. He called himself a buccaneer and a respectable citizen, yet his methods shocked even the buccaneers them- selves. His appointment as Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica caused a scandal, yet he was every bit as good an administrator as most of his contemporaries. He was born in Wales in 1635 and as a lad is sup- posed to have been kidnapped in the streets of Bristol and shipped off to the West Indies, although this story is open to doubt. In those waters he soon made his name for daring and in 1668 was given the command of a privateer fleet by the government. In 1670, although still quite a young man, he made his reputation for good by leading a party to the sack of Panama, acting with consummate skill but robbing his followers of the greater part of their plunder and abandoning most of them at Chagres. In 1672, in consequence of his having continued his raids in spite of the Anglo-Spanish treaty, he was arrested and taken to England. But he was a man after the Merry Monarch's own heart, with the result that he returned with a knighthood and a commission as Deputy- Governor. Many accusations were brought against him, but he managed to weather all his troubles in spite of the fact that he was manifestly guilty of helping pirates and various other offences which were not in keeping with the dignity of a Lieutenant-Governor. In 1688 he was nearly upset, but on the intercession of the Duke of Albemarle the King ordered his reinstatement. He died shortly afterwards and his funeral showed the very real affection which the Jamaicans felt towards this extraordinary adventurer. Captain William Dampier. Although regarded nowadays principally as a navigator who carried out surveying work far in advance of his time, William Dampier was primarily a buccaneer who was in the front rank of his profession. His father tried to make him a shopkeeper, but he was soon away to sea and did well in the Navy against the Dutch before he migrated to Jamaica. From there he drifted into the logwood trade, which was directly against all the Spaniards' edicts. Once there it was only a short step to buccaneering proper, and this step was taken before 1678. In the following year he sailed v/ith Coxon, Sawkins and Sharp, a notorious trio, and happily for us he kept a full diary of his adventures. His band crossed the Isthmus of Panama and after taking several prizes a number of them, including Dampier, sailed out into the Pacific. This venture, like so many others of the same description, ended in quarrels and Dampier was soon back in the Caribbean. He then shipped in the 294 SEA-ROVERS Revenge on a cruise that was rank piracy and in the course of it circum- navigated the globe, making his usual voluminous notes and adding greatly to the knowledge of the time. In 1699, in spite of his record, he was appointed to the command of H.M.S. Roebuck to explore the East Indies and Australia, at whose existence he had hinted in his log. Unfortunately he was persuaded to go round the Cape of Good Hope instead of Cape Horn, so that he missed the definite discovery of inhabit- able Australia although he skirted the North Coast. His ship sank at Ascension, where he is supposed to have buried a large treasure. He then sailed with Danish Letters of Marque with Alexander Selkirk, the original of Robinson Crusoe, as a very surly shipmate, but the cruise was a failure. Finally he went on a last cruise in a subordinate capacity and died ashore in 1715. End of Vol. I. ^M » ^ i ^^^^^^^ 5:: ^^Mw^^^ ic^ ^^B Heavtng the Lead. The Norwegian Sea Serpent. 200 /(. loiigl Alff and the Female Pirates Aluilda and Rusila. Woodcuts from Claus Magnus, " Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus," 1555. (Macpherson Collection) 295 Woodcut from the Title-page of Eurique Dias' Narrative of the voyage and Wreck of the Ship St Paul (wrecked oft Sumatra, 15C1), a very rare Portuguese work, published Lisbon, 1565, of which the only copy known is now in the Macpherson Collection. 296 INDEX Admiral of England : disputed jurisdiction over Cinque Ports, 18 Admiralty, Secretary of the : genesis of office, 20 /Ethelred, Saxon King : misunderstanding of sea power, 13 ; opposes Canute, 14 African Coast : expeditions to, 232 ; map of West Coast, 233 Aftercastles, see Forecastles Agricola, Roman Emperor : circumnavigates Britain, 6 Aid, British ship : expedition for gold, 264 Aids to Navigation, early, 188 Albany, Duke of. Regent of Scotland : French naval service, 54 ; invasion plans, 54 Alexander VI, Pope : Bull granted to Spain, 251 Alexandria, lighthouse at, 188 Alfonso d 'Albuquerque, 235 Alfred, Saxon King: organises a fleet, 12; designs his own ships, 12 ; portrait, 9 ; translation of Other's travels, 203 ; carrying trade, 213 Algiers, Siege of (1662), 284 Ambon, East Indies, see Amboyna Amboyna, East Indies, massacre at, 119, 244 America, Central, map, 259 America, Discovery of : Phoenician legend, 192 ; Irish claim to, 201 ; Norse discovery of, 202 ; Danes and Portuguese in, 245 " Ancient Towns," affiliated with Cinque Ports, 18 Andalusia, Ships of, in Spanish Armada, 65 Andrea Doria, see Doria Anne Royal, British warship : Cadiz Expedition, 109. See also Ark Royal Antigua, foundation of, 231 Antwerp, captured by French, 151 Appleton, Admiral, deserts Badiley, 121 Aquitaine, invasion of (1439), 43 Arab Navigation : compass legend, 172 Arctic Discovery, by Pytheas, 2 Arctic Voyages : Nicholas of Lynn, 204 Argall, Captain, in Virginia, 267 Ark Royal, Elizabethan warship, 85, 178 Armada, The Spanish, 1588 : origin of, 60 ; first plan of, 63; changes of plan, 64; English defences against, 64 ; composition of, 65 ; English fleet, 65 ; leaves Lisbon, 66 ; leaves Corunna, 66 ; prepara- tions for a second, 88, 91 Armed Merchant Ships : use by Norman kings, 25 ; at siege of Calais, 32 ; guarantee of behaviour (1413), 40 ; misbehaviour treason, 41 ; maintain Channel Patrol, 45 ; Burgundian navy, 45 ; Edward IV's navy, 46 ; Elizabeth's navy, 56 ; against Armada, 65, 86 ; attack on Havre (1625), 103 ; Norman period, 216 ; control in 15th century, 217 ; terms of hire, 14th and 15th cent., 217 Arthur, King, at sea, 8 Arundel, Earl of : Company of Merchant Adven- turers, 236 Ascension, Sinking of Revenge, 295 Ascension, ship, in East Indian Expedition, 243 Ash, seaport : Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Athelstan, Saxon King : builds a navy, 12 ; mer- chants, 213 Atlantis, legend about, 246 Avalon, see Atlantis Avery, John : piratical methods, 293 ; portrait, 292 Ayscue, Admiral, 116, 120, 121 Azores : Drake's expedition (1587), 63 ; the Revenge, 89 ; voyage to the Indies, 92 ; colonization of, 232 ; Portuguese discovery of, 245 Bacon, Roger, and mariner's compass, 172 Badiley, Admiral, in Mediterranean, 121 Balboa, first to reach Pacific 253 Balearic Islands ravaged by Barbarossa, 280 Bantam, capture of, 1684 (ill.), 242 Bantry, Battle of, 153 Barbados, foundation of, 231 Barbarossas, Brothers, see Uruj and Khair-ed-Din Barbary Corsairs : in English waters, 102, 104 ; Anglo-Spanish expedition, 102 ; Duke of Bucking- ham against, 102 ; checked by Commonwealth, 108 ; Anglo-Dutch scheme, 138 ; in Mediter- ranean, 274, 279 Barfleur, French port : the White Ship, 19 ; battle of, 154, 159 Barnstaple : Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Bart, Jean, boarding Dutch ship (ill.), 290 ; por- trait, 291 Barton, Andrew, Scottish pirate : defeat and death,51 Basilisk, early gun, mounted in Great Michael, 52 Basques, Exploration by : Grand Banks, 204 Batten, Sir William, Parliamentary seaman : in Civil War, 106 ; attempt to supersede, 107 ; deserts to Royalists, 107 Bayonne, French port : help at siege of Calais, 32 ; builds English warships, 40 ; seamen's affrays, 171 ; protection to wine fleet, 216 Bazan, Alonzo de, Spanish Admiral : last fight of the Revenge, 89 Beachy Head, Battle of, 153, 158 Beggars of the Sea : capture Brill (1572), 57 ; aims and work, 281 Behuchet, Nicholas, French knight : burns Ports- mouth, 26 ; hanged after Sluys, 31 Bergen, Hanseatic centre : view, 220 Bertha of France : trade effect of marriage, 212 Biarni Heriulfsson, Viking, see Heriulfsson Bideford : Aquitaine expedition, 43 Billingsgate : wine trade, 213 Bireme, model of, 163 Biscay : in Spanish Armada, 65 Black Prince, The : fighting at sea, 32 Blackbeard, see Boscanegra, Edigo Blake, Robert : against Prince Rupert, 107 ; in Mediterranean, 108; against Jersey pirates, 108 action off Dover, 120 ; against Dutch commerce 120 ; against French, 121 ; Kentish Knock, 122 resignation refused, 123 ; Three Days' Fight, 123 friendship with Tromp, 125 ; Mediterranean expe dition (1654), 126 ; portrait, 136 ; character, 138 death after Santa Cruz, 137 Blanche Nef, La, wrecked (1120), 19 Blasphemy, laws of Oleron, 171 ; in Armada, 64 Blessing of the Bay, American ship : launch, 272 Blockade of French Ports, by Henry III, 22 Blocking Operations : first at Calais (1436), 43 Blood Eagle, Viking torture, 11 The Sta, Vol. 1. 297 INDEX Boarding : by Romans, 7 ; at Sluys, 31 ; favoured by Spaniards, 66 ; artillery against, 185 Bodleian Library, nucleus of, 91 Bombay: Charles II, 245 Bona Confidentia, ship : expedition to China, 235 Bona Speranza, ship : expedition to China, 235 Bonaventure, Elizabethan warship : fraudulent ac- counts, 101 Bonaventure, Commonwealth warship : taken by Dutch, 123 Bonnets : method of increasing sail, 177, 185, 189 Bordeaux : wine trade, 214 ; burning by Rollo, 273 Borough, Steven : expedition to White Sea, 236 Borough, William, Elizabethan seaman : with Drake, 60 Boscanegra, Edigo, Genoese filibuster : at Sluys, 31 Boston : Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Boulogne, French port : Roman Channel Patrol, 6 ; besieged by Henry VII, 51 ; taken by English (1544), 54 Bounties, Shipbuilding : 15th century, 185 Bourne, Admiral : first Dutch war, 122 Bowsprit, The : two in Grdce Dieu, 42 Brabant : Company of Merchant Adventurers, 236 Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex : Roman post, 7 Brancaster, Roman fortress at, 7 Brawls, Seamen's, see Seamen's Affrays Brazil, William Hawkyns' voyage to, 263 Brazil, Discovery of: Phoenician legend, 192; by Pedro Alvares Cabral, 232 ; re-discovery of, 246 ; by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, 254 Breda, Treaty of : ends second Dutch war, 151 Bremen : Hanseatic League, 230 Brest : blockade of (1513), 53 ; in French civil wars, 89 ; death of Frobisher, 264 Bridlington : in Civil War, 106 Brigg, Lincolnshire : dug-out found at, 166 Brightlingsea, Essex : relation to Cinque Ports, 18 Brill, Dutch town : captured by the Beggars of the Sea, 57 Bristol : Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 ; wine port, 213; pilgrim trade, 225; slave trade, 231; Avery's return to, ~293 Britain, Discovery of : by the Phoenicians, 1, 192 ; Pytheas's expedition, 2 ; Himileo the Cartha- genian, 2 Britain, Early Trade : corn trade, 212 Britain, Invasion of, by Caesar, 5 ; by Claudius, 6 Britons, Early : fleet with Veneti, 2, 168 ; dug-out canoes, 166 ; coracles, 168 ; Picta, 168 ; conti- nental trade, 192 Broadside Warship : origin in galleasse, 186 Broom, Tromp's, legend of, 123 Brothers' War, The : neglect of sea power, 19 Buccaneers : hatred of Spain, 293 Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of ; against Barbary corsairs, 102 ; hires fleet to France, 102 ; Spanish expedition, 103 ; La Rochelle expedition, 103 ; assassination, 104 ; luxury afloat, 106 ; por- trait, 184 Burgermeister of Kiel (1551) : Danes in America, 245 Burgh, Norfolk, Roman post at, 7 Burgundy, Dukedom of : powerful navy, 45 Buss, Ship type : development, 188 Cables : consideration of length, 189 Cabot, John : discovery of Asia from West, 253 ; life, 253 Cabot, Sebastian : Company of Merchant Adven- turers, 236 ; portrait, 248 ; life, 254 Cabral. Pedro Alvares, discovery of Brazil, 232 Cadiz : attacked by English, 63, 91, 95 ; Anglo- Dutch expedition (1625), 103, 109, 111 ; blockaded (1656), 137 Cssar, Julius : conquers the Veneti, 5 ; invasion of Britain, 5 Calais: Edward Ill's siege of, 32; French siege of (1436), 43 ; Earl of Warwick at, 44 ; supports Thos. Neville, 45 ; lost by Q. Mary, 56 ; Armada plans, 64 ; Armada fireship action, 76, 87 ; takein by Spaniards, 91 Calicut : Da Gama's exf>edition, 232 Callinicus : invented Greek fire, 170 Camaret Bay, battle of (1512), 52 Camouflage at sea, by Romans, 169 Cana, Juan Sebastian del, circumnavigation of globe, 235 Canary Islands, unsuccessful attack on, 90 ; re- discovery of, 204 Candish, see Cavendish, Thomas Cannon at sea ; first mentioned at La Rochelle, 35 ; reign of Henry V, 40 ; salved from Mary Rose, 55; early, 185; influence on design, 185, 186; variety of size, 185 Canute, King of Saxon England : succeeds Sweyn, 14 ; invades Norway, 14 ; giant galley, 168 Cape Blanco, rounding of (1441), 232 Cape Breton, Viking ship, 202 Cape Discovery, see Cape North Cape North : Cabot's expedition (1497), 253 Cape Race : Captain Grub's expedition, 263 Capstan : weighing anchor, 189 Caraquon, French warship, flagship of Francis I, 54 Carausius, Marcus Aurelius : independent British kingdom (a.d. 286), 6 Cardiff, Welsh port : ships at siege of Calais, 32 Cards, Playing (Armada), 94 Carlingford, Irish port : Norse origin, 20 Caroline, Fort (ill.), 270 Carrack, Ship type, model of, 173 Carrying Trade : Dutch v. English, 119 Carter, Rear-Admiral : Barfleur, 154 Carthaginian Ships : copied by Veneti, 5 ; illustra- tion of, 3 Carthaginian Trade : Roman attempts to injure, 2 Cassiterides Islands : disputed position, 192 Castile, Galleons of : in Spanish Armada, 65 Catapults at Sea : use by Romans, 5 Cathay ; existence known, 231 Cats, English sailing ships : coal trade, 224 Caulking : moss by Early Britons, 166 ; mortar by Phoenicians, 167 Cavalry in Sea Warfare : La Hogue, 154 Cavendish, Thomas : expedition West, 237 ; at the Ladrones (ill.), 239 ; expedition of 1586, 266 ; death, 266 Cezimbra, attacked by English, 92 Chain Cables, used by the Veneti, 5 Chain Pumps, introduction, 189 Chancellor, Richard ; expedition to China, 235 ; death, 236 Channel, Battle of the (1293) : English victory, 22 Channel Islands : Guernsey pillaged, 26 ; attacked by Evan, 35 ; piratical centre, 108 Channel Patrol, see English Channel Charlemagne, Emperor of the Franks : negotiations with King Offa, 8 ; pilgrims, 225 Charles I, King : Ship Money Fleet, 104 ; La Rochelle, 103 ; Sovereign of the Seas, 105 ; in- terest in the Navy, 106 298 INDEX Charles II, King : intriguing in Commonwealth 126 ; restoration, 133 ; interest in Navy, 138 disappoints Navy^ 151 ; hires fleet to France, 151 encourages yachting, 191 ; slave trade, 231 knighthood to Morgan, 294 Charles V, French King : apjxiints Jean de Vienne, 36; Magellan's offer to, 235 Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy : maintains Navy, 45 ; alliance with Edward IV, 46 Chartering of Ships : in 13th century, 218 ; in 15th century, 223 Cherbourg, burned by Earl of Huntingdon, 32 Chester ; port for wine trade, 213 Chinese Navigation : compass legend, 172 Christian III, King : Danes in America, 245 Christjern I, King : North-West Passage, 245 Christopher, English cog : captured by French (1338), 26; recapture at Sluys Cinque Ports: establishment of Federation, 18; King John's French War, 20; raid French com- merce, 25; Edward Ill's reign, 35; seamen's affrays, 171 ; protection to wine fleet, 216 ; piracy by Montfort, 273 Civil War, English : Ship Money discontent, 104 ; uncertainty of the fleet, 105-107 ; Bridlington, 1U6 ; Royalist fleet in Holland, 107; Prince Rupert's fleet, 107 ; Royalist privateers, 108 Claudius, Roman Emperor, occupies Britain, 6 Clerics, Fighting, with William I, 17 ; William of Wrotham, 20 Coal in England : beginning of trade, 224 ; Dick Whittington story, 224 Coast Fortresses : construction by Romans, 7 ; Edward Ill's reign, 35 Cochin ; Da Gama's expedition to, 232 ; his death, 235 Cog, Mediaeval ship type, description, 172 CoUieston, Aberdeenshire : Armada wreck, 81 Colon, Cristobal, see ColumBus, Christopher Colour of Ships : Commonwealth decree, 105 Columbus, Christopher : life, 246 ; portrait, 248 ; " C. and the Egg" (ill.), 249; in the West Indies, 251 ; death, 252 Company of Merchant Adventurers : expedition to China, 235 ; charter granted to, 236 ; antagonistic to East India Co., 236; Sebastian Cabot, life governor, 254 Company of Royal Adventurers, charter of, 231 Commerce Destruction: Blake's methods, 120; French, in peace-time, 126. See also Piracy, Encouragement of, and Privateer* Commonwealth Navy, British : organization, 107 ; victualling reforms, 189 Compass, The, origin of, 171 Constantinople, view of, 221 Constantius Chlorus, attacks Carausius, 7 Copenhagen, Danes' sacking of 229 Coracles, Early British, 168 Cordeliere, French warship, see Marie La Cordeliere Cormac Macart, Irish explorer : three years' cruise (A.D. 222), 92 Coronation, 90-gun ship (1686), 197 Corrupt Naval Administration : under James I, 101 ; Charles I, 106 ; Commonwealth, 108 ; victualling (q-v.), 189 Corunna, rendezvous of Armada, 66 ; attacked by Drake and Norrys, 88 ; blockaded by Monson, 92 Count of the Saxon Shore, Roman office : establish- ment, 6 ; failure to check pirates, 6, 7 Cromwell, Oliver : relations with Dutch, 119 ; loyalty to Blake, 123, 137 ; imposes terms on Dutch, 126; death, 138; portrait, 195 Crusades: effect on trade, 214; Richard I's, 215 Cuba, taken by Columbus, 251 Cumberland, George Clifford, Earl of : privateering ventures, 60, 88 ; last voyage and death, 92 ; East India Company, 243 ; portrait, 278 Curzola, Battle of : Marco Polo, 211 Customs : James I's reign, 230 Cyzicus, Battle of, 170 Damme, Battle of, 20 Dampier, Captain William : portrait, 291 ; career, 294-5 Danegeld : levied by /Ethelred, 13 ; remitted by Stephen, 20 Danish Invasion : /Ethelred defeated, 13 ; Norman England, 18 Danish Letters of Marque, Dampier sails with, 295 D'.Annebaut, Claude, French Admiral, attacks Portsmouth (1545), 54 Dardanelles : battle in 1646 (ill.), 277 Dartmouth : ships at siege of Calais, 32 Dartmouth, Admiral Lord, joins William III, 152 Davis, John: expeditions to North-West, 264; death, 264 Davis Suaits, 264 De Bove, Sir Hugh, Norman adventurer, invaded England, 21 De Br^ze, Pierre, Seneschal of Normandy, raids England (1457), 43 De Burgh, Hubert, defeats Eustace the Monk, 21 ; ships of, 172 De Champlain, visit to Massachusetts (1604), 271 De la Cerda, Don Carlos, Spanish corsair, defeated at Winchelsea, 32 De Ruyter, Michiel : off Plymouth, 116, 121 ; re- places Tromp, 121 ; Kentish Knock, 122 ; Dunge- ness, 122; Four Days' Fight, 140; St. James's Dav, 140 ; portrait, 149 ; Solebay, 151 ; the Texel, 152 De Vienne, Jean, French corsair, life, 35 ; death at Crusade, 39 De With, Admiral, joins De Ruyter, 122 ; with Tromp, 125 Deane, Admiral : first Dutch War, 123 ; killed, 124 Deane, Sir Anthony : ship designs, 190 Death Sentence, by assassination, 6 Decoration of Ships, extravagant Stuart, 105, 113; 17th cent. Dutch, 196 Decoy Ships, Viking, 168 Delavall, Vice-Admiral Sir Ralph : La Hogue, 154 Denham, Sir John, with Warwick at sea, 44 Denmark : friendship with Holland, 119, 122 Deserters, Naval, apprehension of, 20 ; help the Dutch, 124, 151 Desire, ship, in Cavendish's expedition of 1586, 266 D'Estr^es, French admiral, third Dutch War, 151 Dias, Enrique, woodcut from voyage and wreck of St. Paul, 296 Diaz, Bartholomew, expedition to S. Africa, 232 Dieppe, bombardment of (1694), 161 Dingle Bay, Spanish landing in, 59 Discipline, Naval, in Henry VI I I's time, 53 ; Stuart period, 189 Discovery : history of early, 192 ; relation to trade, 192 Discovery, Hudson's expedition of 1610, 271 Disdain, Elizabethan pinnace, defies Armada, 85 Dockyards, Medisevai : Rouen, 36 Dogger, Ship type : development, 188 Dominica, Columbus's voyage (1493), 287 Doria, Andrea, war against Turks (1537), 280 Doria, Giovanni, battle of Lepanto, 281 Dorsetshire, first Viking raid, 11 299 INDEX Doughty, Thomas, Drake's lieutenant, execution of, 265 Dover : Roman Fortress at, 7, 188 ; a Cinque Port, 18 ; resists P'rench (1216), 21 ; burned by French, 25; Henry Vll's base, 51; Henry VHI embarks, 50 ; Hispano-Dutch action off, 97 ; Anglo-Dutch action (1652), 117, 120 ; bombarded by Tromp, 124 Downs, The, Hispano-Dutch battle (1639), 105, 114, 115 ; start of Dutch War, 120-121 ; batteries, 121, 123 Drake, Sir Francis, singes the King of Spain's Beard, 60 ; squadron against Armada, 65, 85 ; portrait, 82 ; with Dom Antonio, 88 ; last cruise of, 90 ; at Hispaniola, 255 ; medal commemo- rating voyages, 255 ; at River Plate, 256 ; life, 264 ; with Hawkins at Vera Cruz, 264 Draught of Warships, limited by order (1618), 190 ; uncertainty before Deane, 190. Dromonds, Richard I's Crusade transports, 215 Dry Docks, early system, 187 Du Rieux, French knight, descent on Wales (1405), 38 Dug-out, Prehistoric, examples discovered, 166 ; Phoenician, 167 Duguay Trouin, French corsair, captures Nonsuch, 162 Dunegate, wine trade, 214 Dungeness, battle of, 123 ; lighthouse, 188 Dunkirk : in Armada plans, 64 ; privateers, 104, 108; taken by Spanish 121 Dutch Carrying Trade, beginning of, 224 Dutch, Combined Operations with the : capture of Brill, 57 ; Cadiz expedition, 91 ; with Monson, 92 Straits of Malacca, 98; Gravelines (1603), 99 Cadiz expedition (1625), 103; La Rochelle, 103 Barbary corsairs, 138 ; war of English Succes- sion, 153 Dutch East India Company, Hudson's expedition for (1609), 271 Dutch Eastern Empire : against Portuguese, 119 ; against English, 102, 119 ; Amboyna Massacre, 119 ; foundation of Indian Empire, 237 Dutch Fishing Industry : in English waters, 104, 119; first Dutch War, 120 Dutch Navy, political canker in, 121, 124 Dutch Shipbuilding : French warships, 104 ; warship design, 126; 17th cent, ships (ill.), 196 Dutch War, First : causes of, 119 ; tactics, 124 ; costly blockade 125; end, 126 Dutch War, Second : beginning, 138 ; French inter- vention, 139, 140, 151 ; Peace of Breda, 151 Dutch War, Third : beginning, 151 ; Britain with- draws 152 Dutch Warships typical 17th cent., 182 East India Company : foundation, 238 ; Dutch and Portuguese rivalry, 102 ; Robert Blake an agent, 137 ; monopoly from Queen (1600), 243 ; first ex- pedition, 243 ; received by Great Mogul, 244 ; James I, 244; New East India Company, 244; French East India Company, 244 East Indiamen : slave trade, 231 Easter Day, Winetha legend, 229 Edgar, King : claim to be King of the Seas, 13 ; rowed by the Seven Kings, 13 Edinburgh, plundered by Lord Lisle, 54 Edmund Ironside, Saxon Prince, defies Canute, 14 Edward, English cog, captured by French, 26 Edward III, King: misuse of sea power, 25, 35; portrait, 27 ; battle off Winchelsea, 32 ; wine trade, 216 Edward IV, King : invades France, 46 ; encourages the Navy, 46 Edward VI, King, Hanseatic League, 230 Edward the Confessor, King ; tieet maintained by Harold, 14 Ediuard Bonaventure, ship : expedition to China, 235 ; wrecked, 236 ; expedition of 1582, 237 ; James Lancaster expedition (1591), 238 Egbert, King : merchantmen, 213 Egyptians at Sea : Ptolemy's yacht, 167 Elba, Island of, action off (1652), 121 Elchere, Saxon alderman, leads a fleet, 12 Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen, obtains Laws of Oleron, 170 Elizabeth, Queen : immediate naval activity, 56 ; por- trait, 58 ; vacillating policy, 91 ; expulsion of Hanseatic League, 230 ; Company of Merchant Adventurers, 236 ; death, 101 Elizabeth, ship : expedition of 1582, 237 ; expedition of 1587, 264 Elizabethan Warships : typical, 181 ; improvements in design, 189 Ellen, ship, Davis's expedition, 264 Enemy Ships Captured ; reward to captors, 45 ; English goods in, 45 ; Burgundian Navy, 45 English Channel, Patrol of : under Romans, 6, 7 ; Earl Harold, 15 ; by Cinque Ports (g.i'.), 18 ; by Henry I, 19; technical difficulties, 25; neglect by Edward III, 26; put out to contract, 36, 45; by Henry V, 41-42 English Succession, War of the, beginning of, 152 Erik of Pomerania : Portuguese and North-West Passage, 245 Erik the Red, discovery of Greenland, 202 Erith : building of Great Harry, 187 Esclain, Antoine, French admiral, attack on Ports- mouth (1545), 54 Essex, Earl of, attacks Cadiz, 91 ; voyage to the Indies, 91 ; enmity with Raleigh, 92 Ethelbert, King : Saxon commerce, 212 Ethelred, King, see ALthehed Ethelred II, English King : wine trade, 213 Euphrates, River : earliest navigation on, 1 Eustace the Monk : takes to the sea, 20 ; invades England, 21 ; execution, 22 Evan, Welsn piiate, allied to French, 35 Evertsen, Jan, first Dutch War, 122 Exeter (city of) ; Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Exeter, Duke of, leads Lancastrian fleet, 44 Exploration : Henry the Navigator, 231 ; Danes in America, 245 Explorers, Irish : Cormac Mac.Art, 192 ; sons of Ua Corra, 201 Fairhaven Bay : identity questioned, 2 Faro : taken by English (1596), 91 Faroe Islands : Irish colonization, 201 Fenton, Edward : British expedition (1582), 237 Ferrol : Armada of 1597, 91 ; blockaded by Monson, 92 Feudal System : effect of end on Navy, 4fi Field of the Cloth of Gold: Henry VIII's embarca- tjon, 50 Fire at Sea : Greek Fire, 170 Fireships : use against Armada, 7P Fishing Boats, early types, 188 Fishing Industry: denuded by Tudor Navy, 55; Ice- landic expeditions, 56 ; Icelandic fishing, 15th rent., 225 Fitzstephen, Robert, Norman knight, invades Ice- land, 20 300 INDEX Fitzstephen, Thomas, mariner, wrecks the White Ship (1120), 19 Fitzwilliam, Sir William, Vice-Admiral, fails against Scots (1523), 54 Flag, Respect to the British : demanded of Spain, 55; starts Dutch War, 120 Flanders : help at siege of Calais, 32 ; piracy encour- aged, 55; seamen's affrays, 171 Flemish Mercenaries : Don Carlos de la Cerda, 32 Flemyng, Thomas, Elizabethan seaman, sights Armada, 66 Flogging : constant punishment, 187, 190 ; for fair wind, 190 Florida: discovery by Huguenots (ill-), 260; see also 270 Flotsam and Jetsam, Cinque Ports' rights of, 18 Forecastle : illustration of mediaeval, 175 ; early guns on, 185 ; development of, 186, 187 Forth, Firth of : naval operations (1544), 54 ; Wynter's campaign, 56 Fortunate Isles, see Canary Islands ; Atlantis Four Days' Fight, of North Foreland (1666), 132, 133, 134 Fowey ; Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 France, English Invasions of : by Richard II (1379), 30; by Edward III, 31; by Henry V, 41; bv Henry VI, 43; by Edward IV, 46; by Henry VII, 51; by Henry VIIl, 52 Francis I, French King, war with England, 54 Francis II, King of France, at war with Elizabeth, 56 Francis, ship ; expedition of 1582, 237 French Coast, English Raids on, by Earl of Hunt- ingdon, 31 ; reign of Henry IV, 39 ; reign of Henry VIII, 53, 54; reign of Queen Mary, 56 French Raids on English Coasts: in Henry Ill's reign, 22; Edward I's reign, 22; Nicolas Behuchet, 26 ; sack of Gravesend, 30 ; sack of Winchelsea, 32 ; Jean de Vienne, 36 ; reign of Henry IV, 39 ; reign of Henry V, 41 ; Pierre de Brfeze, 43 ; by Pregent, 53 French Ships : designs copied by English, 191 ; (ill.), 199 French Trade : East India Company, 244 Frobisher, Martin, Elizabethan seaman : Armada, 85 ; privateering, 88 ; killed at Brest, 89 ; portrait, 257 ; North-West passage expedition, 264 ; death, 264 Frobisher Bay, 264 Gabrielle, ship, North-West passage expedition, 264 Galleasse, origin of, 186 Galleon, origin of, 186 Galley Slaves : endurance of, 169 ; treatment of, 279 Galleys: in Roman invasion, 5; Henry VIII's, 53; unsuitability for rough water, 97 ; Phoenician, 167 ; speed of 167 ; Viking, 167 ; arrangement of oars, 169; Henry Ill's, 172; Richard I's Crusade transports, 216 Gama, Vasco da : explorations of, 232 ; discovery of Cape route, 226; death, 235 Gambling at Sea, Spanish punishment for, 187 Gapland, Commonwealth warship, taken by Dutch, 123 Gascony : wine trade, 214 Genoa : shipbuilding progress, 186 Genoese Mercenaries: hired by Edward III, 26; at Sluys, 31 ; Boscanegra, 31 ; against Henry V, 41 ; separate peace with Henry V, 42 Gentlemen Adventurers, hardships shared by, 106 George, ship : North-East passage, 237 German Traders, early, in England, 229 Germany : exploration by Pytheas, 2 Gibraltar, Hispano-Dutch action off, 100 Girdling ships, necessity of, 191 Goddar Svarvarson, see Svarvarson Gokstad, Norway : Viking ship, 11, 164, 167, 202 Gold, Export of : drain by smugglers, 165 Golden Devil, see Sovereign of the Seas Golden Hind, Elizabethan ship : warning of Armada, 66; Drake's expedition (1577), 265 Good Friday : Winetha legend, 229 Goodwin Sands, Barton defeated off, 51 Gosnold, Bartholomew, visited Massachusetts (1602), 271 Gotland, submits to King Arthur, 1, 8 Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, see Massachusetts, 271 Grdce Dieu, 15th cent. Hull merchantman, 185 Grdce Dieu, Henry V's warship, description, 42 Grand Banks : Basques fishing, 204 ; blunder by Mainwaring, 282 Gravelines, French port : naval assistance in land battle, 56 ; Armada action off, 78, 87 ; Hispano- Dutch action off, 99 Gravesend, sacked by French (1380), 30 Great Elizabeth, Tudor warship : guns in tops, 185 Great Harry, Tudor warship : illustration (frontis- piece), 179 ; building of, 187 Great Michael, Scottish warship, description of, 52 Greek Fire : description, 170 ; method of use, 170, 185 Greene, Henry: Hudson's expedition of 1610, 271 Greenland : colonization of, 202 ; Irish legend, 201 ; Erik the Red, 201 ; Christianity in, 202 Greenwich Hospital, foundation of, 165 Grenville, Sir Richard (or Greynville) : last fight of the Revenge, 89 ; portrait, 93 Grey, Lady Jane, deserted by Navy, 55 Grube, Captain, expedition to America, 263 Guernsey, pillaged by French (1337), 26 Guest, in East Indian expedition, 243 Guienne, lost after La Rochelle, 35 Guipuzcoa, .\rmada of, 65 Gunports : Spanish too small (1588), 66; Deanc's improvements, 190 Guns, Naval, see Cannon at Sea Half Moon: Hudson's expedition in 1609, 271 Hamburg : Hanseatic League, 230 Hamburg Company, 236; Tudors' policy to, 238 Hampden, John, opposes Ship Money, 104 Hanseatic Cities, dues of, 229 Hanseatic League : fleet taken by Warwick, 44 ; help to Spanish Armada, 65; in 13th cent., 226; early days, 226 ; Lenten cargoes, 229 ; settlement in England, 230 ; expulsion from England, 230 ; suppression of Victualling Brothers, 274 Harek of Thjotta, Viking, piracy in 1018, 168 Harfleur, French port: Evan's pirate fleet at, 35; captured by Henry V, 41 ; attempted recapture, 41 Harold, King, maintains a sea patrol, 14 ; ship- wrecked in Normandy, 15 ; defends his throne, 15 Harold Hardrada, King of Norway, invades Eng- land, 15 Harwich, Caroline warship, copied from French, 191 Hastings, Viking leader, invasion of England, 13 Hastings, Sussex, Cinque Port, 18 ; raided by French (1338), 26 Havre, French port: Francis I's base, 54; ceded to Elizabeth, 59 ; attacked by Penington (1625), 103 Hawkyns, Sir John, Elizabethan seaman : Armada, 85 ; last cruise, 90 ; slave trade, 230, 263 ; portrait, 257 ; comptroller of Navy, 263 ; death, 263 301 INDEX Hawkyns, William, voyage to Brazil (1530), 263. Hector, East Indiaman, 1601 expedition, 243 Helgeland, 203 Helluland, Viking discovery, 202 Henrietta Maria, Queen, helps Royalist cause, 106 Henry I, English King, maintains a fleet, 19 Henry HI, English King: his wine trade, 216; Hanseatic League, 230 ; piracy by Cinque Ports, 273 Henry HI of Castile, expedition to Canaries, 204 Henry IV, English King, position at sea, 39 Henry IV, King of France, relations with Eliza- beth, 89 Henry V, English King, efforts for Navy, 40 ; charter of HoUgost, 223 Henry VI, English King, wastes the Navy, 43 Henry VII, English King, lands at Milford Haven, 46 ; influence on Navy, 51 ; invades France (1492), 51 ; defeats Ravenstein, 51 Henry VIII, English King, invades France, 52; embarkation, 50 ; wine trade, 214 Henry the Navigator, Prince : exploration workj 231, 232; Erik of Pomerania, 245 Henry, Prince of Portugal, expedition to Madeira 294 Henry, Prince of Wales, naval enthusiasm, 101 Henry Grdce a Dieu, Tudor warship (1514), see Great Harry Herbert, Admiral Arthur (Lord Torrington) : trans- ports William III, 152; Bantry, 153; Beachy Head, 153 ; unjust disgrace, 154 Heriulfsson, Biapni, Viking, possible discovery of Labrador, 202 Hernandez, Tomas : Cavendish's expedition of 1586, 266 ; death, 266 Herodotus, Roman historian, ignorant of Britain, 1 Herring Fisheries, poaching by Dutch, 104 Himilco, Carthaginian navigator, voyage to Britain, 2 Hispaniola (Hayti) : attack projected (1654), 126 ; taken by Columbus, 251 Hiuan-Yuan, Chinese Emperor : compass legend, 172 Hoggskyns, John, Master Carpenter to Henry V, 42 HoUgost, English warship, built by Henry V, 40 ; chartered (1423), 223 Holmes, Admiral, captures New York, 138; " Bon- fire," 140 Hornsea, Yorkshire port, earliest mention, 2 Hoseander, E.l. Co.'s ship: battle of Swally Hole, 244 Houtman, Cornells, expedition of 1595, 237 Howard of Effingham, Lord (first), honour of the Flag, 55 Howard of Effingham, Lord (second), commands against Armada, G5 Howard, Lord Edward : defeats Andrew Barton, 51; Lord High Admiral, 52; death, 53 Howard, Sir Francis, against pirates, 102 Howard, Lord Thomas, Elizabethan seaman, 89, 91 Howard, Lord Thomas, Lord High Admiral, 53 Hudson, Henry, North-East passage, 266, 271 ; dis covers Jan Mayen Island, 271 Hudson River, Hudson's navigation of, 271 Hudson's Strait, discovery of, 264 Huissiers, Richard I's Crusade transports, 215 Hull, Yorkshire port : invasion of Aquitaine (1439), 43 ; dug-out canoe at, 166 Hundred Years' War : commencement of, 25 ; effect on Flanders, 224 Huntingdon, Earl of, raids French coast, 31 Huntingdon, John, Earl of. Admiral of Henry V, 42 Hythe, Kent, Cinque Port, 18 Iceland : Irish conquest, 8, 201 ; English fishing fleet, 56; Naddod's visit, 201; Goddar Svarvar- son's visit, 201; early settlers, 201; fishing in 15th cent., 225 Impressment of Foreign Ships, in early times, 218 ; in Wars of Roses, 218 Inns of Court, raised expedition for West, 236 Invasions of England by France : King John's reign, 21; by De Bove, 21; Edward I's reign, 25 ; Eustace the Monk, 21 ; Jean de Vienne, 36 ; 1386 failure, 36; Du Rieux on Wales, 38, 40; war of English Succession, 154 Ipswich : Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Ireland: Viking raids on, 11, 19; base of Saxon raids, 18 ; trouble encouraged by Spain, 59, 91 ; invaded by James II, 153 Ireland, English invasions of : King Arthur, 8 ; Henry II, 20 Irish Explorers: Cormac MacArt, 192; sons of Ua Corra, 201 Isabella, Queen, invades England, 25 Jackman, Charles : North-East passage, 237 Jacobite Plots : help by smugglers, 165 Jamaica : captured by Penn (1654), 126 ; discovery of, 252 ; Morgan, Governor of, 294 James I, English King ; naval policy, 101 ; hires fleet to France, 102 ; commerce, 230 ; East India Co., 244; exploitation of Virginia, 266; pardon to Mainwaring, 282 James, Duke of York (James II) : interest in Navy, 138 ; battle of Lowestoft, 139 ; portrait, 150 ; third Dutch War, 151 ; retires from Navy, 152 ; succession and deposition, 152 ; invades Ireland, 153 Jan Mayen Island, discovery of, 271 Jean de la Valette, at siege of Malta, 281 jennet Purwyn, Scottish pirate ship, 51 Jersey, Channel Isl., pirate base, 108 Joao Vaz Land, 245 John, English King : develops the Navy, 20 ; his wine trade, 216 ; trade and taxes, 215 John, King of Portugal, 246 John of Gaunt, Spanish adventurer, 36 Juan of Austria, Don, battle of Lepanto (1571), 281 Judith, British ship, see Drake Kara Sea, North-East passage expedition, 237 Katwijk, action off (1653), 125 Keel-hauling, sea punishment, 187 Keeper of the King's Ships, institution of office, 20 Kempthorn, Captain, fight against Algerines (ill.), 285, 287 Kent, Edward, Earl of. Lord High Admiral (1407), 39 Kentish Knock, Battle of (1652), 122 Ketch, rig and origin, 188 Khair-ed-Din Barbarossa, 280 Khan of Cathay, 257 Killigrew, .Admiral, war of English Succession, 153 Kingmaker, The (Richard Neville, Earl of War- wick), 44, 45, 47 Kingston, Jamaica, slave trade, 231 Kinsale, James II lands at, 153 Knights Hospitallers : siege of Malta, 1565, 280 ; their fleet, 280 Kublai Khan, visit of Marco Polo, 211 La Hogue, Battle of, 154, 160 La Rochelle, Battle of (1372), 33, 35, 36; English hired against, 103 ; Buckingham's expedition, 103, 112 Labrador, probable discovery of, 202, 245 302 INDEX Lancaster, Sir James, attacks Portuguese shipping, 98 ; expeditions, 238, 243 Lapland Coast, Willoughbv's expedition to China, 235 Latitude, Observations to Determine, by Pytheas, 2 Law, Sea : Laws of Oleron, 170 Lawson, Admiral Sir John, 138 Lead, Heaving the (ill.), 295 Lead Sheathing, 16th cent., 186 Leaks, in mediaeval ships, 172 Leghorn, Italian port, neutrality outrage, 121 Leicester, ship (1582), 237 Leif Ericsson, explorer, 202 Leith, Scottish port, blockaded by Wynter, 56 Lepanto, Battle of, 276, 281 L'Espagnols-sur-Mer (battle of Winchelsea), 29, 32 Letters of Marque : origin, 218 ; Drake revenges Vera Cruz, 265 Levant Company, Tudor policy to, 238 Levant Trade, convoy destroyed (1693), 165 Levantine Ships, discipline in, 170 Leveson, Sir Richard, operations against Spain, 92 Light Dues, earliest, 188 Lighthouses, early, 188 ; opposition to, 188 Linschoten, Jan Huygen van, foundation of Dutch East Indian Empire, 237 ; map of West Coast of Africa, 233 Lion, Scottish pirate ship, 51 Lisbon, Portuguese port : Armada collects at, 63 ; shipping burned at, 63 ; attacked by Drake, 88 ; Armada of 1597, 91 Liverpool : slave trade, 231 Lizard, first lighthouse, 188 London : ships at siege of Calais, 32 ; invasion of Aquitaine, 43 ; squadron against Armada, 65 ; early seaborne trade, 212; in Henry Vll's time (ill.), 228 London Bridge, wine trade, 14th cent., 216 Londonderry, relief of, 153 Long Serpent, Viking ship, size of, 168 Lord High Admiral, foundation of the office, 39 Louis XI, King of France, beats Edward IV, 46 Louis XIV, King of France : treaty with Charles 11, 151; supports James II, 152; plans invasion, 154; portrait, 200 Lowestoft, Battle of (1665), 131, 139 Liibeck, Hanseatic League, 230 Ludolph of Cucham, perils of sea, 223 Lyle, John Dudley, Lord, operations against Scot- land, 54 Lymne, Kent, Roman fortress, 7 Lynn, Norfolk, ships in Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Macham, Robert, probable re-discovery of Madeira, 204 Madagascar, piracy in 17th cent., 293 Madeira, re-discovery of, 204 ; colonization of, 232 Madog, Prince, legend of 203 Magellan, Ferdinand, 235 Maine, possible Viking discovery, 202 Mainwaring, Captain Henry, plunder of Newfound- land (1614), 282 ; ravages Spanish coasts, 282 Malacca, Straits of, Anglo-Dutch privateers in, 98 Malindi, Da Gama's expedition, 232 Malocello, Lanciloto, expedition to Canaries, 204 Malta, Knights of, giant warship, 186 Malta, Siege of (1565), 275, 280 Man, Isle of. Viking occupation, H Mandeville, Sir John, 208, 211 Manila, Battle off (1595), 240 Mansell, Admiral, 102 Manteuffel, German pirate, 274 Marchant Royal, merchantman, James Lancaster's expedition, 238 Margaret of Anjou, Queen, treachery of, 44 Margate, ships at siege of Calais 32 ; rendezvous for Armada, 63 Marie la Cordelikre, French warship, battle of Camaret Bay (1512), 52 Markland, Viking discovery, 202 Marseilles, French port visited by Scipio, 2 ; founda- tion, 226 ; early times, 226 Mary I, Queen, supported by fleet, 55 Mary II, Queen, in William Ill's absence, 153 Afory of Guildford, Rutt's ship, expedition to America (1527), 263 Mary Rose, English warship, founders (1545), guns in tops, 54, 185 Mary Rose, Capt. Kempthorn's ship, 17th cent., 285, 287 Massachusetts, John Smith's voyage to, 271 ; early shipbuilding, 272 Massalia, foundation, 226 Master Carpenter to the King's Ships, John Hogg- skyns, 42 Master Shipwright, origin of the office, 42 Mathew, Cabot's ship, 2.53 Matilda, Queen of William I, part in conquest, 17 Matilda, Empress, invades England, 20 Maurice, Prince, drowned at sea, 107 Mauritius, Dutch at (1598), 241 Mayflower, Pilgrim Fathers' ship, sails from Ply- mouth, 272 Maximian, Roman Emperor, establishes Channel Patrol, 6 Maximus, Roman Emperor, use of sea power, 7 Medals, Naval, awarded by Commonwealth, 108 Mediterranean, British Navy in, under Common- wealth, 108, 121, 126; Russell's fleet (1694), 165 Mediterranean, piracy in, 279 Medina Sidonia, Duke of, 63, 66 Medway, Dutch raid on, 140, 142, 143 Mercator, Geradus, portrait, 209 Mercenary Fleets, see Phoenicians ; Genoese Mer- cenaries ; Flemish Mercenaries ; Evan ; Pening- ton. Admiral; Charles II -Merchant Adventurers, Company of, 235, 236, 254 Merchant Ships, 15th cent., 176 Merchantmen, Armed, see Armed Merchant Ships Merchants, as debtors, result of piracy, 224 Michael, Frobisher's ship, 264 Milford Haven, French defeat off (1405), 38 ; land- ing of Henry VII, 46 Moltke, German pirate, 274 Moluccas, Expedition to (1582), 237 Monck, Admiral (later Duke of Albemarle), first Dutch War, 123, 124; battle of North Foreland, 124 ; Commander-in-Chief, 125 ; Four Days' Fight 139; St. James's Day, 140 .- s - Monson, Sir William, operations against Spain, 92; against pirates, 102 Montfort, Henry de, piracy by Cinque Ports, 273 Moonshine, ship in Davis' expedition, 264 Mora, William the Conqueror's flagship, presented by the Queen, 16, 17 Morgan, Si~r Henry, portrait, 288 ; life, 294 ; sacking of Panama 289, 294; death, 294 Morgan, Piers, French captain, see Primoquet Mortars, use at Dieppe (1694), 161 Muscovy Company, 235 Myngs, Sir Christopher, 138 Myoparo, the Phoenician, early piracy, 273 Naddod's exploration of Iceland, 201 Naval Brigades, Penn at San Domingo, 126 303 INDEX Naval Militia: maintained by Earl Harold, 14; fails against William, 15; by Cinque Ports (q.v.), 18 Navigation Acts, British : mediseval, 224 ; Common- wealth, 119; Charles II, 138 Neot, Saint, fights in Saxon Navy, 12 Neutral Cargoes, captured in enemy ships, 45 Neutrality, elastic ideas of, 122 Neutral Ships, forcible impressment of, 42 Neville, Thomas, inherits Warwick's fleet, 45 New England Fisheries, commencement, 272 New World, end of 17th cent. 272 New York, view of {ca. 1670), 269 ; Hudson's entry in harbour, 271 Nice, shipbuilding at, 186 Nicholas of Lynn, Carmelite monk, probable Arctic voyage of, 204 Nicobar Islands, James Lancaster's expedition, 238 Nina, ship in Columbus' expedition (1492), 251 Nino, Don Pedro, Spanish naval leader, raids Eng- land (1405), 40 Nombre de Dios, attacked by Drake, 90 Nonsuch, H.M.S., captured by Duguay Trouin, 162 Norman Conquest : trie beginning, 15 ; difficulties of organization, 16 ; the actual operation, 17 Norman Ships : the White Ship, 19 ; general type, 170 Normandy: Viking occupation, 11, 14; Henry V's invasion, 41 ; seamen's affrays, 171 Norrys, Sir John, Elizabethan seaman, 88, 89 North-East Passage 237, 271 North Foreland, Battle of, 124; Four Days' Fight, 132 ; St. James's Day Fight, 135 North Pole, Nicholas of Lynn Legend, 204 North-West Passage, Hudson's attempt at, 271 Northumberland, Duke of, uses Navy for Lady Jane Grey, 55 Norway, conquered by Canute, 14 Norwegian Invasion of England, 15 Norwegian Navigation, use of compass, 172. See als» Vikings Nova Scotia, possible Viking discovery, 202 Nuestra Senora del Rosario, Spanish ship, 65, 71 Obdam, Admiral, battle of Lowestoft, 139 Ochiali, battle of Lepanto (1571), 281 Offa, King of Mercia, builds a fleet, 8 ; pilgrim trade, 225 Ojida, Alonso de, expedition to S. America, 252 ; life and death, 252, 253 Olando, builds a caravel, 261 Oleron, Laws of, outline of, 170 Orange, Prince of, result of death, 119 Orkneys, submit to King Arthur, 8 ; naval party defeated, 56 ; expeditions from, 203 Ormuz, capture by East India Co., 244 Orwell, River, base of defence fleet, 25 Oseberg, Viking ship, 164 Ostend, Spaniards besieged in, 99 Other, Arctic explorer, 203 Overland Route to China, 231 Oxenham, John, expedition to Pacific (1575), 265 Oxus, River, origin of Vikings, 8 Pacific, English Adventurers in the : Earl of Cum- berland's plan, 60 ; John Oxenham's expedition, 265 Pack, Rear-Admiral, 121 Panama, Isthmus of : attacked by Drake, 90 ; view of, about 1690, 288; sacked by Morgan, 289, 294 Parker, William, Plymouth privateer, 90 Parma, Duke of, part in Spanish Armada, 63, 87 Pay, Harry, English privateer, 38 Pay of Seamen ; unpaid by Edward IV, 39 ; Stuart irregularities, 106 ; Commonwealth, 124 ; Charles II, 151 Pelican, Drake's flagship, 265 Pembroke, Strongbow, Earl of, invades Ireland, 20 Pembroke, Earl of, defeat off La Rochelle, 35 Penelope, ship, in James Lancaster's expedition, 238 Penheurt, Le Sieur de, French naval leader, defeats English, 40 Peniche, Portugal, landing by Drake, 88 Penn, Admiral Sir William : Western squadron, 121; Kentish Knock, 122; Three Days' Fight, 123 ; North Foreland, 124 ; West Indian expedi- tion, 126 ; treasurable correspondence, 126 ; second Dutch War, 138 Penington, Admiral: in French service, 102; Havre expedition (1625), 103 ; unable to enforce neut- rality, 105 Penzance ; ships in Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Pepys, Samuel : improves victualling, 189 ; patron of Deane, 190 Perils of Sea, in 14th cent., 223 Persian Gulf, origin of Phoenicians, 167 Personnel of the British Navy : difficulties under Henry VIII, 55; Commonwealth, 124; disloyalty in, 123, 124 Peru, capture of Spanish galleon off, 283 Pett, Peter (1st), Master Shipwright until 1589, 190 Pett, Peter (2nd), Commissioner of the Navy, 190, 193 Pett, Phineas, Master Shipwright, 190 Pevensey, Sussex, Roman fortress at, 7 ; Norman invasion (1066), 17 Philip, King, of France, 21 Philip II, King of Spain: wedding voyage, 55; in- volves England against France, 56 ; moves against Elizabeth, 59 ; plans Great Armada, 60 Phoenicians : probable trade with Britain, 192 ; origin, 167, 212; ships, 167, 212; possible dis- covery of America, 192 ; trade, 212 Phcenix, Commonwealth warship, lost and retaken, 121 ; commerce destroying, 125 Picta, Roman ship type, origin of, 168 Piers Morgan, French captain, see Primoquet Pilgrim Fathers, 271 Pilgrim Trade, in early days, 225 Pilots : penalties for default, 171 Pining, Admiral, expedition to America, 245 Pinta, ship : Columbus' expedition (1492), 251 Pinzon, Vicente Yanez, in Columbus' expedition (1492), 257; discovery of Brazil, 254 Piracy, by Cinque Ports, in Henry Ill's reign, 273 Piracy, by Men-of-war: Edward IV 's reign, 39; Burgundian Navy, 45 ; Earl of Warwick, 44 Piracy, Early, Phoenicians, 273 ; in Mediterranean, 273 Piracy, encouragement of, by Emperor Charles, 55 Piracy, suppression of : by Henry V, 41 ; Raven- stein, 51; Queen Elizabeth, 50; Edward VI's regency, 55; James I's feebleness, 102; Ship Money fleet, 104; by Pompey, (67 B.C.), 273 Pirates, Baltic, Wisby as base, 229. See also Victualling Brothers Pirates, Norse, Roman measures against, 6 ; Viking era, 8, 168; female (ill.), 295 Pirates, Scottish, in Roman times, 7 ; against Edward I, 22 ; Andrew Barton, 51 304 INDEX Pirates in English Waters : Roman measures against, 6, 7 ; Scottish in Roman times, 7 ; no quarter for Norsemen, 13; from Cinque Ports, 18; Edward Ill's reign, 26; Henry IV's reign, 39; Earl of Warwiclc, 44; Andrew Barton, 51; encouraged by Emperor, 55; in Queen Elizabeth's reign, 56, 182 ; Barbary corsairs, 102, 104 ; Commonwealth, 108 Plague, The Great : hampers naval operations, 139 Plunder at Sea : 14th cent, wine trade, 216 Plymouth : ships in Aquitaine expedition, 43 ; pro- posed Armada attack, 66 ; Ayscue V. de Ruyter, 116 Polain, French galley leader, see Esclain Pole, William Hawkyns' ship: voyage to Brazil (1530), 263 Polo, Marco, Venetian traveller : journey to Pekin, 204; battle of Curzola, 211; (ills.), 205, 207 Pooping, Mediterranean fear of, 167 Pondicherry, India, 244 Porchester, Hampshire, Roman fortress at, 7 Portland, Three Days' Fight off, 118 Portsmouth : Roman use of, 7 ; burned by French (1337), 26 ; Boscanegra's part, 31 ; action off (1545), 49, 54 ; docl^yard established, 51, 187 Portugal, Armada of, in Spanish Armada (1588), 65 Portuguese Discovery of America before Columbus, 245 Portuguese Eastern Empire, 119 ; 235, 236 Portzmoquer, French captain, see Primoquet Pothurst, Admiral, expedition to America, 245 Poynings, Sir Edward, defeats Ravenstein, 51 Pregent, French admiral, 53 Prevesa, Battle of (1538), 280 Primoquet, French captain, at Camaret Bay, 53 Prince, British warship, built 1670, model, 94 Prisoners of War, mediaeval treatment of, 32 ; Spanish in Ireland, 59 Privateers, English : Earl of Cumberland, 60 ; after Armada, 88, 90 ; in E. Indies, 102 ; against Dutch, 120 Privateers, French : in peace-time, 126 ; after Bar- fleur, 165 Privateers, Piracy by : in French religious wars, 56; Elizabethan, 59; James I's reign, 102 Prizes of Armed Merchant Ships, 14th cent., 217 Ptolemy, map of world, 210 Ptolemy Philopator, gigantic yacht, 166 Pulo Pinaou Islands, Lancaster's expedition (1591), 238 Pumps : difficulties before, 172 ; chain type, 189 Pytheas, Greek navigator, 2 Quarter Galleries, 17th cent. Dutch, 196 Quicklime, use in sea fighting, 22 Quinquereme, galley type, probable detail, 169 Rainborow, Colonel, rejected by fleet, 107 Raleigh, Sir Walter : privateering ventures, 60, 88 ; voyage to the Indies, 91 ; enmity with Essex, 92 ; nautical writing, 189 ; at Trinidad, 256 ; por- trait, 257 ; attempt to colonize Virginia, 266 Ras de Catteville, Norman reef, the White Ship, 19 Rating of Warships, under William III, 191 Ravenstein, Philip von Kleve, piratical activities, 51 Real, Joao Vaz Corte, discovery of Azores, 245 Recalde, Admiral Juan Martinez de, 65, 85 Reculver, The, Roman fortress, 7 Red Dragon (ex Mare Scourge), ship. East India expedition (1601), 243; battle of Swally Hole, 244 Regent, English warship (1489), battle of Camaret Bay, 52 ; armament, 185 Repairs, Ship : mediaeval methods, 187 Restoration, The: naval part in, 138; feeling after, 190 Retz, Baron de, French admiral, see D'Annebaut, Claude Revenge, Elizabethan warship: Drake's flag against Armada, 65 ; captures Rosario, 71, 85 ; last fight, 83, 88 Revenge, Dampier's ship : circumnavigation of globe, 295 Rhine, Mouth of the, French designs on, 151 Rhodes : eviction of Knights Hospitallers, 280 Richard I, English King, Laws of Oleron, 170 Richard II, English King, invades France, 30 ; against De Vienne, 36 Richard III, English King, enlarges Navy, 46 Richborugh, Kent, Roman fortress, 7 ; early trade, 212 Robert, Duke of Normandy, invades England, 19 Rognvald, Earl, 203 Roebuck, British ship, in Dampier's exploration, 295 Rollo, Norman corsair, ravage of French coast, 273 ; conversion to Christianity, 273 Roman Invasion of Britain : by Caesar, 45 ; by Claudius, 6 ; the evacuation, 7 Roman Ships, illustrations of, 3, 4, 163 Romans : policy at sea, 7 ; coast fortresses, 7 ; Channel patrol, 6 Romney, Kent : opposition to Norman Conquest, 17 ; a Cinque Port, 18 Romney Marsh, Roman defence of, 7 Rooke, Admiral Sir George, La Hogue, 154 ; Levant convoy disaster, 165 Rouen, French dockyard at, 36 ; wine trade, 214 Rowing : Viking method, 168 ; arrangement of banks, 169 Royal African Assiento Company : slave trade, 231 Royal Charles, British warship, 151, 198 Royal James, destroyed at Solebay, 151 Royal Marines, at Solebay, 152 Rudders, introduction of, 185 Rum Cay : Columbus' expedition (1492), 251 " Running the Gauntlet," sea punishment, 187 Rupert, Prince : corsair cruise, 107 ; under Duke of York, 138 ; battle of Lowestoft, 139 ; Four Days' Fight, 139 ; St. James's Day, 140 ; portrai, 141 ; third Dutch War, 152 Russell, Admiral, at Barfleur, 154 ; in Mediter- ranean, 165 Russian Company, Tudors' policy to, 238 Rutt, John, expedition to American mainland, 263 Rye, Sussex, relation to Cinque Ports, 18 Ryswick, Peace of (1697), 165 Sails, Decoration of, Elizabethan, 178 Saint Brendan's Land, 246 St. James's Day Fight (1666), 135, 140 St. Martin's Day, 229 St. Nicholas' Day : Lenten cargoes, 229 St. Vincent, Cape Verde : taken by William Parker, 90 Salee Pirates, see Barbary corsairs Salisbury, Earl of, at battle of Damme (1213), 21 Salisbury, Earl of, contracts Channel Patrol (1454), 45 Saltash : ships in Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Salute to the Flag, from Philip of Spain, 55 Salvage of Sunken Ships : Mary Rose, 54 Sampson, ship, expedition to America (1527), 263 Sampson, Commonwealth man-of-war, sunk by Dutch, 123 305 INDEX San Domingo, W. Indies : attacked by Penn, 126 ; death of Ojida, 253; Drake's fleet at, 255 Son Felipe, Spanish ship, taken by Drake (1587), 63 San Juan, Drake repulsed at, 90 ; taken by Cumber- land, 92 San Martin, Spanish flagship, 61 San Salvadore, Spanish Armada ship, 72, 85 San Salvador, see Watling Island, 251 Sandwich, Earl of, 138, 139, 144, 151 Sandwich, Kentish port ; battle with Romans, 6 ; battle with Vikings, 12 ; Cinque Port, 18 ; ships at siege of Calais, 32 ; sacked in 1457, 43 ; Lord Rivers seized at, 44; base for Edward IV 's in- vasion, 46 ; port for wine, 213 ; pilgrim trade, 225 Santa Anna, Maltese warship {1530), 186 Santa Cruz, Teneriffe, attacked by Blake, 137 Santa Cruz, Marquis of. Admiral, plans Armada, 60; refuses Drake's challenge, 63; death, 60 Santa Maria, Columbus' flagship, model of, 177 ; expedition of 1492, 251 ; wrecked, 251 Santiago de Compostela, 225 Sao Thome, Portuguese ship, capture of, 243 Sao Valentino, Portuguese treasure ship, capture by English, 92 Saracen Ships : defeat at Cyzicies, 170 ; giant, in 1191, 171 Sargasso Sea : Columbus' expedition (1492), 251 Saxon Commerce, with France, 212 Saxon Warships, King Alfred's design, 12 Scheveningen, Battle of (1653), 125, 127, 129 Schooneveld, Battle of (1673), 147 Scilly Islands : Phoenician legend, 192 Scolus, Johannes, 245 Scotland, English wars against: Edward I, 22; Edward III, 26; Jeane de Vienne, 36; Henry IV, 39; Henry VIII, 54; Queen Mary, 56; Queen Elizabeth, 56 Scottish Navy : importance of, 52 ; under Duke of Albany, 54 Scottish pirates : in Roman period, 7 ; against Edward I, 22; Henry V's reign, 41 Sea Fire, see Greek Fire Sea Serpent, woodcut from book by Olaus Magnus, 295 Seamen, Naval, driven to piracy, Edward IV, 39 Seamen's Affrays and Brawls, 22, 171 Searchthrifty, ship in expedition to White Sea, 236 Seasoned Wood for Shipbuilding, use by King Alfred, 13 Selkirk, Alexander, 295 Senlac, Battle of (1066), 17 Sextensesse, Viking ship type, description of, 168 Shantying, in early galleys, 169 Sheathing, Lead, in 16th cent, ships, 186 Sheer, legendary origin of, 168 Sheppey, Isle of, Viking occupation, 11 Shields Round Gunwhale, decorative, 186 Ship Design ; development of, 166 ; Royal Commis- sion of 1618, 190; copying French, 191 Ship Money, imposed by Charles I, 104 Shipbuilding : contracts by Henry V, 40 ; divided contracts, 42 ; Tudor methods, 187 Shipwrecked Mariners, under Laws of Oleron, 171 Shipwrights : Tudor terms of employment, 187 " Shooting the Sun," 250 Shoreham : ships at siege of Calais, 32 " Silver Fleet," Spanish, capture of, in 1628, 268 Simon of Utrecht, suppression of Victualling Brothers, 274 Sines, Governor of, Vasco da Gama, 232 Singeing the King of Spain's Beard, operations by Drake, 60 Sizes of Ships, 166, 168, 171, 172, 185, 186 Slave Trade, development of, 230 Sluys, Battle of (1339), 26, 28; piratical strong- hold, 51 Smith, Captain John, 257, 271 Smugglers, British, treason by, 165 Snorri, Viking, 202 Solebay, Battle of, 144, 145, 151 Soleil Royal, French warship, 199 Somerset, John Beaufort, Earl of. Lord High Admiral (1406), 39 Soper, William, Southampton merchant, supervises ship construction, 40 South Foreland, battle of the (1217), 22 Southampton: warship building, 40; Henry V's base, 41 ; invasion of Normandy, 42 ; Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 ; early trade, 212 ; port for wine, 213 Sovereign, British warship, battle of Camaret Bay, 52 Sovereign of the Seas, title claimed by Edward III, 26 Sovereign of the Seas, British warship, 113, 193 Spain : help to English at siege of Calais, 32 ; vic- tory off La Rochelle, 35 ; fleet with Jean de Vienne, 36 ; raids English coast (1405), 40 Spanish Armada, see Armada Spanish Corsairs : Don Carlos de la Cerda, 32 Spanish Ships : excessive leeway (1588), 66 ; com- parison with English, 187 Speaker, British warship (1649), 198 Speed of Ships, Romans' use of wax, 169 Speedwell, Pilgrim ship, chartered by Pilgrim Fathers, 272 Spice Islands, Magellan's effort to obtain, 235 Spragge, Admiral, killed in action, 152 Spritsails, introduction of 189 Stayner, Captain, blockades Cadiz (1656), 137 ; at Santa Cruz, 137 Steelyard : Hanseatic League, 230 Steering : Viking method, 168 ; rudders, 185 Stephen, English King, neglects the Navy, 20, 214 Stortebeker, pirate in 15th cent., 274 Studding Sails, introduction of, 189 Sumatra: Lancaster's expedition, 238 Superbe, French warship, copied by English, 191 Sun, Shooting the, 250 Sunshine, Davis' ship, 264 Surrey, Earl of, defeats Andrew Barton, 51 Susan, ship, in East Indian expedition (1601), 243 Svarvarson Goddar, visit to Iceland, 201 Swally Hole, Battle of (1612), 244 Swearing on Shipboard, punishment for, 187 Sweyn, King of Denmark, conquers England, 13 Swivel Guns, early purpose, 185 Talavera, pirate, connection with Ojida, 253 Tarret, Jacques, French shipbuilder, builds Great Michael, 52 Tarring and Feathering, sea punishment, 187 Tavernor, John, Hull shipowner, builds giant ship, 185 Teignmouth : ships in Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 Teneriffe, attacked by Blake, 137 Terschelling, Holmes' raid on, 140 Texel, The : French warships built, 104 ; Dutch fleet destroyed, 125 ; blockaded (1665), 138 ; battle of 1673, 148, 152 ; Jean Bart boarding ship, 290 Thames, River, Roman defence of, 7 ; Danish in- vasion of, 18 ; French raid on (1380), 30 ; German wine merchants, 229 306 INDEX Thanet, Isle of, Viking occupation, 11 Theft at Sea, punishment for, 187 Thomas. English cog, Edward Ill's flagship, 26, 32 Thomas of Lancaster, Prince, Admiral of England, 40 Thorfinn Karlsefin, explorer, exploration of North America, 202 Thorne, Robert, Dutch East Indian empire, 237 Three Cranes Wharf, wine trade, 216 Three Days' Fight (1652), off Portland, 118, 123 Three Deckers, the first English, 105 Thule, disputed position, 2 Thylde, re-discovery of Brazil, 246 Tides, Cause of the, Pytheas' discovery, 2 Tin Islands (Cassiterides), identity questioned, 1 Tobermory Galleon, origin of story, 86 Tongues, Cutting out of, sea punishment, 187 Tonnage, origin of, 214 Topmasts, introduced in England, 186 ; Elizabethan improvements, 189 Tops : for pilot, 167 ; for fighting, 172, 185 ; guns in, 185 Topsails : use by Romans, 170 ; mediasval English, 186 Torbay, landing of William III, 152 Torrington, Earl of (Admiral Arthur Herbert), 152, 154 Tostig, Saxon Earl, invades England, 15 Tourville, Admiral de, Beachy Head, 153 ; Barfleur, 154 Trade, British : in Edward IV's reign, 225 ; under James I, 230 ; in Tudor period, 231 Trade, Early : principally coastal, 192 ; Phoenicians, 212; beginning of wine trade, 213, 214; Henry I, 215 ; Royal interference, 214 ; influence of Crusades, 214 ; King John and, 215 ; wool trade with Romans, 223 ; Lenten cargoes, 229 Trade, French, with Britain, early, 212 Transports: Ceesar's, 5; William the Conqueror's, 17; Edward Ill's, 26; Henry V's, 41 Treasure, The Armada, 72, 85 Treasure Fleets, Spanish : the Revenge, 88 ; missed by Cumberland, 92 ; escapes in 1602, 92 ; Wimble- don's expedition (1625), 103; attacked by Blake (1656), 137. See also " Silver Fleet " Trinidad, Discovery of, 252 Trinity House, opposes lighthouse construction, 188 ; favours small ships, 105 Triumph, Elizabethan warship, 86; Buckingham's flagship, 103 Tromp, Cornells, escape at Leghorn, 122 ; Four Days' Fight, 140 Tromp, Martin Harpentszoon : against Spaniards, 105, 114, 115 ; first Dutch War, 120 ; disgrace and reinstatement, 121, 122 ; Dungeness, 122 ; broom legend, 123 ; Three Days' Fight, 123 ; North Foreland, 124 ; character, 125 ; portrait, 130 ; killed, 125 Trouville, French town, base of Norman invasion, 17 Tryggvason, Olaf, Viking, Long Serpent of, 167 Tudor, House of : naval policy, 46 ; trade at begin- ning, 231 Tumble-home, origin of, 186 Tunis : Anglo-French expedition (1390), 37 ; reduced by Blake, 137 ; Charles V's expedition (1535), 186 Tunnage and Poundage, instituted in 1347, 45 Turberville, Sir Thomas de, treachery of, 25 Tuscaroras, Welsh Indians, 203 Tyre, City of, foundafion, 212 Tyvesser, Viking ship, description of, 167 Ua Corra, Irish chief, 201 Uruj Barbarossa : his piracy, 280 ; death, 280 Valdez, Don Diego Florez de, in Spanish Armada, 65 Valdez, Don Pedro de, in Spanish Armada, 65 ; captured by Drake, 85 Valladolid : death of Columbus, 252 Vanguard, Elizabethan warship, 79 Vasco da Gama, see Gama Venables, General, West Indian expedition, 126 Veneti, Gallic tribe, opposition to Csesar 2 ; ships, 5 Venice : shipbuilding progress, 186 ; mediaeval sea power, 226; in 13th cent., 226; Winetha's re- semblance to, 229 Vespucci, Amerigo, possible voyage to Brazil, 263 ; portrait, 248 Victualling : bad under Stuarts, 106, 151 ; Laws of Oleron, 171 ; gradual improvement, 189 Victualling Brothers, routed by Hanseatic League (1402), 274 ; origin and work, 274 Viking Ships : Gokstad, 11, 164, 167 ; Oseberg, 164, 168; rowed by free men, 167 Vikings : origin of, 8 ; piratical expeditions, 11 ; customs, 11 ; in Normandy, 11, 14 ; unsuccessful in Spain, 14 ; raid Norman England, 18 Vinland, Viking discovery, 202 Vintners' Wharf, wine trade, 216 Virginia, map of, 258 ; Raleigh's attempt to colonize, 266 ; Captain Argall in, 267 Vittoria, ship, circumnavigation of globe, 235 Vroom, Henry Cornelius, paints Armada actions, 68 Waitborne, Captain, in Newfoundland, 262 Waldemar, King of Denmark, Hanseatic League's quarrel with, 229 Walmer, Kent, landing of Caesar, 5 Walsingham, Secretary of State, watches Armada preparations, 60 Wars of the Roses : ruin of Navy, 43 ; Warwick's part in, 44; impressment of ships, 218 Warship Design, English and Dutch, 126 Warships as Merchantmen, 26, 223 Warwick, Richard Neville, Earl of, 44-47 Warwick, Earl of. Parliamentary seaman, Com- mander-in-Chief, 106 Wash, The, Roman defence of, 7 Water-beggars, see Beggars of the Sea Waterford, Irish port, Norse origin, 20 Watling Island, Columbus at, 251 Wax, Romans coat ships' bottoms with, 89 Weather Gage : first mention, 22 ; effects at Skiys, 31 ; disadvantage, 139 West Indies, British privateers in : William Parker, 90 ; Drake and Hawkyns, 90 ; expedition of 1597, 91 ; Earl of Cumberland, 92 West Indiamen, slave trade, 231 Whip, Blake's, legend of, 123 Whistle of Office, Lord Edward Howard and his, 53 White Ship, The, wreck of, 19 Whittington, Sir Richard, 219, 224 Widrington, Robert, Elizabethan seaman, privateer- ing expedition, 60 Wight, Isle of, occupied by French (1545), 54 ; plan of Spanish Armada, 64 ; landing prevented, 74 ; action off, 86 Wildfire, see Greek Fire William I, The Conqueror : captures Earl Harold, 15 ; invasion of England, 15, 17 ; collects a navy, 18 William II (Rufus), appreciation of Navy, 19 307 INDEX William III ; support of fleet, 152; injustice to Tor- rington, 154 ; landing at Torbay, 156, 157, 152 ; Navy of, 191 William, Prince, drowned (1120), 19 William, ship in North-East passage, 237 Willoughby, Sir Hugh, 235 Wimbledon, Viscount, Cadiz expedition (1625), 103, 104 Winchelsea, Sussex : relation to Cinque Ports, 18 ; battle off (1350), 29, 32 ; sacked by French (1360), 35 ; Aquitaine expedition (1439), 43 ; pilgrim trade, 225 Wine Trade, English : ships seized by French, 103 with France, 213, 214; with Germany, 213, 229 King John's trade, 215; Henry Ill's trade, 216 plunder at sea, 216 Winetha, German port, legend of, 229 Winthrop, Governor, Blessing of the Bay, 272 Wisby, Hanseatic port, 229 Women at Sea, in Henry VIII's reign, 55 Wood, Sir Andrew, Scottish privateer, 52 Wool Trade, in Richard Ill's reign, 223, 225 Woolwich Dockyard, foundation of, 187 Worcester, Earl of, maintains Channel Patrol, 45 Wrotham, William of. Keeper of the King's Ships, 20 Wynter, Sir William : Forth expedition, 156 ; Spanish Armada, 79 Wyssant Bay, France, embarkation of Caesar, 5 Yachts: Ptolemy's, 166; early English, 191 Yarmouth, Roman post, 7 ; Queen Mary blockaded at, 55 Young, Captain, start of Dutch War, 120 308 c J U/^ 30 NORTHEPSTERN UNIV. LIBRARIES 39358003416846