An engraving of the great seal of Charles Lord Howard of Effingham, as
high admiral of England, with another, his lordship’s autograph, are
presented to the readers of the _Table Book_ from the originals, before
the Editor, affixed to a commission in the first year of that nobleman’s
high office, granting to sir Edward Hoby, knight, the vice-admiralty of
the hundred of Milton, in the county of Kent.[167]
It will be remembered, that the lord Howard of Effingham, afterwards
created earl of Nottingham, was the distinguished admiral of the English
fleet, which, in conjunction with the winds of heaven, dispersed and
destroyed the formidable Spanish armada for the invasion of England in
1588, during the reign of queen Elizabeth. These engraved
representations therefore are no mean illustrations to a short account
of the office of lord high admiral, which, after having been in
commission upwards of a century, is revived in the person of the heir
apparent to the throne.
* * * * *
It is commonly said, that we have obtained the term _admiral_ from the
French. The first admiral of France, or that ever had been there by
title of office, was Enguerrand de Bailleul, lord of Coucy, who was so
created by Philip the Hardy in 1284, and under that title appointed to
command a fleet for the conquest of Catalonia and other Spanish
provinces from Peter of Arragon.
The French are presumed to have gained the term in the crusades a little
before this period, under St. Lewis, who instituted the order of “the
ship,” an honour of knighthood, to encourage and reward enterprise
against the Turks. The collar of this order, at the lower end whereof
hung a ship, was interlaced on double chains of gold, with double
scallop-shells of gold, and double crescents of silver interwoven,
“which figured the sandy shore and port of Aigues-Mortes, and, with the
ship, made manifest declaration that this enterprise was to fight with
infidel nations, which followed the false law of Mahomet who bare the
crescent.”[168] The chief naval commander of the Saracens is said to
have been called the _admirante_, and from him the French are
conjectured to have gained their _amiral_: if they did, it was the only
advantage secured to France by the expedition of St. Lewis.[169]
Still, however, whether the French _amiral_, comes from the Saracen
_admirante_ is doubtful; and though the title occurs in French history,
before we discover _admiral_ in our own, it is also doubtful whether we
derive it from our neighbours. The Saxons had an officer, whom from his
duties they called “_Aen-Mere-all_, that is _All upon the sea_:”[170]
this title therefore of our ancient ancestors may reasonably be presumed
to have been the etymon of our _admiral_.
* * * * *
William de Leybourne was the first Englishman that had the style of
admiral. At the assembly at Bruges in 1297, (25 Edward I.) he was styled
_Admirallus Maris Regis_, and soon after the office became tripartite.
We subsequently meet with the titles of admiralty of the north and of
the west, and in 1387 (10 Richard II.) we find Richard, son of Allan,
earl of Arundel and Surry, denominated _Admirallus Angliæ_: this is the
earliest mention of that style.[171]
Charles, lord Howard of Effingham, the illustrious high admiral of
Elizabeth, held the office eighteen years under his heroic mistress, and
was continued in it fourteen years longer by her successor James I. In
1619 he was succeeded in it by George, marquis (afterwards the first
duke) of Buckingham, who held the dignity till 1636, (temp. Car. I.)
when it was in commission for a week, and then conferred on Algernon,
earl of Northumberland, and afterwards, by the parliament, on Robert,
earl of Warwick. He surrendered his commission in 1645, under an
ordinance that members should have no employment, and the office was
executed by a committee of both houses, of whom the earl was one. In
1649, the commissioners of the admiralty under the Commonwealth were
allowed three shillings each per diem.
At the restoration of Charles II. in 1660, his brother James, duke of
York, was appointed lord high admiral; but on the passing of the test
act in 1673, being a Roman Catholic, he resigned, and the office was put
in commission, with prince Rupert as first lord, till 1679. It remained
in commission till the end of that reign.
James II. (the duke of York just mentioned) on his accession declared
himself, in council, lord high admiral, and lord general of the navy,
and during his short reign managed the admiralty affairs by Mr.
Secretary Pepys.
Throughout the reign of William III., the admiralty was continued in
commission.
Queen Anne, in 1702, appointed her consort, prince George of Denmark,
lord high admiral of England; he executed the office under that style,
with a council, till 1707, when, on account of the union, he was styled
lord high admiral of Great Britain, and so continued with a council as
before. He died October 28, 1708, and the queen acted by Mr. Secretary
Burchel, till the 29th of November, when her majesty appointed Thomas,
earl of Pembroke, lord high admiral of Great Britain, with a fee of 300
marks per annum. In November, 1709, the admiralty was again put in
commission, and has been so continued from that time till April 1827,
when the duke of Clarence was appointed lord high admiral of Great
Britain.
* * * * *
The lord high admiral has the management and controul of all maritime
affairs, and the government of the royal navy. He commissions all naval
officers, from an admiral to a lieutenant; he takes cognizance and
decides on deaths, murders, maims, and all crimes and offences committed
on or beyond sea, in all parts of the world, on the coasts, in all ports
or havens, and on all rivers to the first bridge from the sea. He
appoints deputies for the coasts, coroners for the view of dead bodies
found at sea, or on the waters within his jurisdiction, and judges for
his court of admiralty. To him belongs all fines and forfeitures arising
from the exercise of his office, the goods of pirates, &c. maritime
deodands, wrecks, salvage, sea-prize, waifs and strays, porpoises, and
other great sea-fishes, called royal fishes, whale and sturgeon only
excepted.[172] He is conservator of rivers and public streams, and of
all ships and fisheries, with power to reform unlawful nets and engines;
and he arrests and seizes ships, impresses mariners, pilots, masters,
gunners, bombardiers, and any other persons wheresoever they may be met
with, as often as the naval service may require.[173] Formerly, in
common with other admirals, he wore a whistle suspended by a gold chain,
with which he cheered his men to action, but which has now descended to
the boatswain.[174]
* * * * *
The powers of the commission from the lord Howard of Effingham, high
admiral of England, to sir Edward Hoby, may further illustrate the
nature and extent of this high office. The deed itself is in Latin,
fairly engrossed on parchment, with a large and fine illumination,
entirely filling the side and bottom margins, representing a branch of
white roses tinged with red, entwined with a branch of honeysuckle, the
leaves and flowers in fair and proper colours.
This commission empowers “sir Edward Hobbie, knight,” to take cognizance
of, and proceed in all civil and maritime causes, contracts, crimes,
offences, and other matters, appertaining to the jurisdiction of the
English admiralty of the queen in the hundred of Milton in the county of
Kent, and the maritime parts thereof, and thereto adjacent, and to hear
and determine the same: AND to inquire by the oath of good and loyal men
of the said hundred of all traitors, pirates, homicides, and felons, and
of all suicides, and questionable deaths and casualties within such
admiralty jurisdiction, and of their estates, and concerning whatever
appertains to the office of the lord high admiral in the said hundred.
AND of and concerning the anchorage and shores and the royal fishes,
viz. sturgeons, whales, shellfish, (cetis,) porpoises, dolphins, rigge
and grampuses, and generally of all other fishes whatsoever, great and
small, belonging to the queen in her office of chief admiralty of
England: AND to obtain and receive all pecuniary penalties in respect of
crimes and offences belonging to such jurisdiction within the said
hundred, and to decide on all such matters: AND to proceed against all
offenders according to the statutes of the queen and her kingdom, and
according to the admiralty power of mulcting, correcting, punishing,
castigating, reforming, and imprisoning within the said hundred or its
jurisdiction: AND to inquire concerning nets of too small mesh, and
other contrivances, or illicit instruments, for the taking of fish: AND
concerning the bodies of persons wrecked and drowned in the waters of
the hundred: AND concerning the keeping and preservation of the statutes
of the queen and her kingdom in the maritime parts of the said hundred:
AND concerning the wreck of the sea: AND to exercise the office of
coroner, according to the statutes in the third and fourth years of
Edward the First: AND to proceed according to the statutes concerning
the damage of goods upon the sea in the 27th year of Edward III.: “AND
you the aforesaid sir Hobbie, our vice-admiral, commissary, and deputy
in the office of vice-admiralty, in and over the aforesaid hundred of
Milton, we appoint, recommending to you and your locum tenens firmness
in the execution of your duty, and requiring you yearly in Easter and
Michaelmas term to account to the Court of Admiralty your proceedings in
the premises.”---- “Given at Greenwich under our great seal the twelfth
day of the month of July in the year of our Lord from the incarnation
one thousand five hundred and eighty-five, and in the twenty-seventh
year of the reign of our most serene lady Elizabeth by the grace of God
queen of England, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c.”
The “great seal” above mentioned is the great seal of the admiralty,
engraved on a preceding page, and as there represented, of the exact
size of the seal appended to the commission.
[167] For the loan of this document, the editor is indebted to his
valuable and valued correspondent J. J. K.
[168] Favine, b. iii. c 4.
[169] “This good prince being dead of a dysentry at the camp of
Carthage in Africa, the fifth day of August One thousand two hundred
threescore and ten, his body was boiled in wine and water, until that
the flesh was neatly divided from the bones. His flesh and entrails
were given to the king of Sicily, monsieur Charles of France, brother
to the king, who caused them to be interred in the monastery of Mont
Reall, of the order of St. Benedict, near to the city of Palermo in
Sicily. But the bones, wrapped up worthily in seare cloth and silks,
excellently embalmed with most precious perfumes, were carried to St.
Denis in France: and with them those of his son, monsieur John of
France, count of Nevers, dying in the camp and of the same disease.”
_Favine._
[170] Maitland, Cok. Just. p. i.
[171] Godolphin’s Admiralty Jurisdiction, 1746.
[172] Beatson.
[173] Cowel, &c.
[174] Fosbroke’s Ency. of Antiquities.
* * * * *