MEDIAEVAL SHIPS.
In the times of the Norman kings of England both the war and the
mercantile navies of the country were highly developed. William the
Conqueror invaded this island without the assistance of a war navy. He
trusted to good luck to transport his army across the Channel in an
unprotected fleet of small vessels which were built for this purpose,
and which were burnt by his order when the landing had been effected. We
possess illustrations of these transport vessels from a contemporary
source--the Bayeux tapestry, which was, according to tradition, the work
of Queen Matilda, the Conqueror's consort. Fig. 27 represents one of
these vessels. It is obviously of Scandinavian type, resembling in some
of its features the Viking ship shown in Figs. 22 to 26. Apparently,
oars were not used in this particular boat; the propulsion was effected
by means of a single square sail. The mast unshipped, as we know from
other illustrations on the same piece of tapestry. The steering was
effected by a rudder, or steering-board, on the starboard-side. In all
the illustrations of ships in this tapestry the main sheet was held by
the steersman, a fact which shows that the Normans were cautious
navigators. Another ship is represented with ten horses on board.
We possess confirmatory evidence that the ship shown in Fig. 27
represents a type that was prevalent on our coasts in the eleventh and
two following centuries, for very similar boats are shown in the
transcript of Matthew Paris's "History of the Two Kings of Offa" (now
in the Cottonian Library), the illustrations in which are supposed to
have been drawn by Matthew Paris himself. The history is that of two
Saxon princes who lived in the latter half of the eighth century, and
was written in the first half of the thirteenth. We may fairly suppose
that the illustrations represented the types of vessels with which the
historian was familiar. They were all of the type depicted in the Bayeux
tapestry. They are of the same shape at both ends, just like the Viking
ship, and it may be added, like the boats to this day in common use
along the coasts of Norway.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--One of William the Conqueror's ships. 1066
A.D.]
It must not be supposed that the art of building ships of larger size,
which was, as we have seen, well understood by the Romans, about the
commencement of our era, was forgotten. On the contrary, though, no
doubt, the majority of ships of the eleventh and twelfth centuries were
of small dimensions, yet we occasionally meet with notices of vessels of
comparatively large size. Such an one, for instance, was _La Blanche
Nef_, built in the reign of Henry I., and lost on the coast of Normandy
in the year 1120 A.D. This ship was built for Prince William, the son of
the King, and he was lost in her, together with 300 passengers and crew.
This number proves that the vessel was of considerable size. _La Blanche
Nef_ was a fifty-oared galley. Long before her time, at the end of the
tenth century, when Ethelred the Unready was King of England, the Viking
Olaf Tryggvesson built, according to the Norwegian chroniclers, a vessel
117 ft. in length.
It may here be mentioned that galleys continued to be used, along with
sailing ships, in the various European navies till the seventeenth
century.
Another instance of the loss of a large twelfth-century ship occurred in
the reign of Henry II., half a century later than the wreck of _La
Blanche Nef_, when a vessel engaged in transport work foundered with 400
persons.
In the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion a great impetus was given to
shipbuilding and to maritime adventure in this country by the expedition
which the king undertook to the Holy Land. A fleet of about 110 vessels,
according to Peter Langtoft, sailed from Dartmouth in April, 1190 A.D.
It was reinforced considerably in the Mediterranean; for, according to
Matthew Paris, Richard was accompanied on his voyage to Palestine by 13
buccas, 100 "ships of burthen," and 50 triremes, and according to
Vinesauf, the fleet consisted of about 230 vessels. The buccas, or
busses, or dromons, were ships of the largest size, with triple sails.
There were two sorts of galleys; some were propelled by oars alone, and
others by oars and sails: the latter were the larger, and, according to
Matthew Paris, sometimes carried 60 men in armour, besides 104 rowers
and the sailors. He also states that some of them had triple banks of
oars like the ancient galleys; but, according to Vinesauf, the majority
had not more than two banks of oars, and carried the traditional flying
deck above the rowers for the use of the soldiers; they were low in the
water compared to the sailing-ships, and they carried beaks, or rams,
which, as narrated subsequently, they used to some purpose.
The larger type of sailing-ships carried a captain and fifteen sailors,
forty knights with their horses, an equal number of men-at-arms,
fourteen servants, and complete stores for twelve months. There were,
moreover, three much larger vessels in the fleet which carried double
the complement mentioned above.
As an instance of the very large size to which vessels occasionally
attained in those days in the Levant, we may refer to a Saracen vessel
which was attacked by Richard's fleet near Beirut in Syria, in 1191. It
was described by many of the old chroniclers. This ship had three masts,
and is alleged to have had 1,500 men on board at the time of the fight.
The attack was carried out with great difficulty, on account of the
towering height of the sides of the Saracen vessel, and it was not till
ramming tactics were tried by the galleys charging in line abreast, that
her hull was stove in, in several places, and she went down with nearly
all hands, only thirty-five, or, according to other accounts forty-six,
having been saved.
These large ships appear to have been used by other Mediterranean Powers
towards the end of the twelfth century. For instance, a great Venetian
ship visited Constantinople in 1172 A.D., of which it was stated that
"no vessel of so great a bulk had ever been within that port." This
vessel is mentioned by Cinnamis, Marino, and Filiasi, and others, but
her dimensions are not given. It is, however, known that she had three
masts. Cinnamis, who was at Constantinople at this very time, states
that she received from 1,500 to 2,000 Venetian refugees on board, and
conveyed them to the Adriatic. The Venetians are said to have employed
another very large ship at the siege of Ancona in 1157 A.D. On account
of its size it was named _Il Mondo_.
The Republic of Venice was, during the time of which we are writing, and
for a long subsequent period, the foremost maritime power of the world.
It is highly probable that many of the improvements which found their
way into mediaeval ships owed their origin to its great naval arsenal,
which was famed for its resources and for the technical skill of its
employes. At one time this arsenal employed 16,000 workmen, and during
the great struggle of the Republic with the Turks at the end of the
sixteenth century it turned out a completed and fully equipped galley
every day for a hundred days in succession. During the Crusades, Venice
and the rival Republic of Genoa secured between them the great bulk of
the business involved in transporting troops and stores to the East, and
they frequently hired out their war and merchant ships to other Powers.
Shortly after the Crusade of Richard Coeur de Lion the trade and
shipping of England appear to have undergone great expansion. In the
reign of Henry III. (1216 to 1272) the historian, Matthew of
Westminster, writes of them in a strain which might almost apply to our
own day:--
"Oh England, whose antient glory is renowned among all nations, like
the pride of the Chaldeans; the ships of Tarsis could not compare
with thy ships; they bring from all the quarters of the world
aromatic spices and all the most precious things of the universe: the
sea is thy wall, and thy ports are as the gates of a strong and
well-furnished castle."
In another place the same historian writes of the English trade as
follows:--
"The Pisans, Genoese, and Venetians supply England with the Eastern
gems, as saphires, emeralds, and carbuncles; from Asia was brought
the rich silks and purples; from Africa the cinnamon and balm; from
Spain the kingdom was enriched with gold; with silver from Germany;
from Flanders came the rich materials for the garments of the people;
while plentiful streams of wine flowed from their own province of
Gascoigny; joined with everything that was rich and pretious from
every land, wide stretching from the Hyades to the Arcturian Star."
No doubt this expansion was due, in part, to the very large
participation which the English fleet took in the Crusade. Great numbers
of English mariners were thus enabled to penetrate into seas that were
new to them, and had opportunities of studying the commercial needs of
the countries which bordered on those seas. Another cause which
powerfully contributed to the development of navigation, and
consequently of shipbuilding, was the introduction of the mariner's
compass into Western Europe during the first half of the thirteenth
century.
The English war navy, also at the commencement of the reign of Henry
II., appears to have been in a very efficient condition. Matthew Paris
gives a description of a great naval fight off the South Foreland, in
the year 1217, between a Cinque Ports Fleet under the famous Hubert de
Burgh, who was at the time Governor of Dover Castle, and a large French
fleet under a monk of the name of Eustace, who was one of the most
skilful naval commanders of his day. The English fleet consisted of
forty vessels, of which only sixteen were large and manned with trained
sailors. The French fleet, which was endeavouring to carry a strong
invading army to England, was made up of eighty large vessels, besides
numerous galleys and smaller craft. The account of the battle is most
interesting, because it throws a flood of light upon the naval tactics
and the weapons of offence of the day. The English commander
manoeuvred for the wind, and having got it, he bore down on the French
fleet, and attacked their rear ships with flights of arrows carrying
phials of unslaked lime, which being scattered and carried by the wind,
blinded the Frenchmen; boarding was then attempted with perfect
success, the rigging and halyards of the French ships were cut away,
causing the sails to fall upon their crews. A hand-to-hand combat then
took place, which resulted in fearful slaughter of the would-be
invaders: several of the French ships were rammed and sunk by the
English galleys, and in the end the whole of the hostile fleet, with the
exception of fifteen vessels, was taken or sunk. This was one of the
most momentous naval battles in English history, and is memorable as
having furnished the first recorded instance of a battle having been
preceded by manoevres to obtain the weather-gauge.
[Illustration: FIG. 28. Sandwich seal. 1238.]
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Dover seal. 1284.]
We have, unfortunately, very few illustrations of the thirteenth-century
ships, and those which we do possess are taken from the corporate seals
of some of the Cinque Ports and other southern seaport towns. Fig. 28 is
a representation of the seal of Sandwich, and dates from the year 1238.
The circular form of a seal is not very favourable for the
representation of a masted ship, but we can at least make out that the
vessel in question is of the Scandinavian type used by William I. and
his successors. It also appears to have been an open boat, and contains
the germs of the castellated structures fore and aft, which, as we shall
see afterwards, attained to the most exaggerated dimensions. In the case
of the Sandwich ship these castles were not incorporated with the
structure of the vessel; they were merely elevated positions for the use
of the archers and men-at-arms, and were mounted on columns, and were
probably removable. We can also learn from the engraving that the
practice of furling sails aloft was practised at that time. Fig. 29 is
the seal of Dover, and dates from the reign of Edward I. (1284 A.D.). It
does not show much progress over the Sandwich boat of nearly fifty
years earlier, but we may notice that the castles are more developed and
of a more permanent character. This vessel also possesses a bowsprit.
It was about the middle of this century that cabins appear to have been
introduced into English ships. The first mention of them occurs in 1242,
when orders were given that "decent chambers" were to be constructed in
a ship in which the king and queen were to voyage to Gascony.
There are records in existence of the dimensions of some vessels which
were built for Louis IX. of France in the year 1268 A.D. at Venice and
Genoa. They are published in Jal's "Archeologie Navale." The Venetian
ship which was named the _Roccafortis_ appears to have been the largest.
Her dimensions are given as follows: length of keel, 70 ft.; length over
all, 110 ft.; width at prow and poop, 40 ft. This latter dimension is
hardly credible. The _Roccafortis_ had two covered decks, and a castle
or "bellatorium" at each end, and also several cabins. The crew numbered
110.
The Genoese ships were smaller. Two of them were of identical
dimensions, viz. length of keel, 49-1/2 ft.; length over all, 75 ft.;
beam, 10 ft. The figure given for the beam appears to be too small in
this case, if the dimensions of the mast, 70-1/2 ft., are correct, for
such a long mast could hardly have been carried in so narrow a boat.
These vessels had two decks, and are said to have had stabling for fifty
horses each; but this latter statement cannot be true if the dimensions
are accurately given.
We have very little information about the ships of the end of the
thirteenth and commencement of the fourteenth centuries. There is a list
in existence of Cinque Ports ships which were fitted out in 1299 to take
part in the war against Scotland. They were thirty in number. More than
half of them had complements of two constables and thirty-nine
mariners, and the smallest had one constable and nineteen mariners.
There is also a statement of the tonnage and complements of ships
intended for an expedition to Guienne in the year 1324, which throws
some light on the size of the vessels employed in the Scottish
expedition. From it we learn that a ship of 240 tons had 60 mariners and
officers; one of 200 tons, 50; vessels between 160 and 180 tons, 40; of
140 tons, 35; of 120 tons, 28; of 100 tons, 26; of 80 tons, 24; and of
60 tons, 21. From the above we may infer that the largest vessels in the
Cinque Ports' squadron of 1,299 were from 160 to 180 tons. The measure
of a ton in those early days was probably the cubic space occupied by a
tun of wine of 252 gallons in the hold of a ship.
We possess one representation of an English ship of the date of this
expedition to Guienne. It was engraved on the seal of the Port of Poole
in the year 1325 (Fig. 30). It is remarkable as the earliest known
instance of an English ship fitted with a rudder at the stern instead of
the side-rudder, or paddle, which had been in use from the very earliest
times. We also notice in this ship a further development of the stern
and forecastles, which, however, were not as yet fully incorporated with
the structure of the hull.
The reign of Edward III., which commenced in 1327, was, in consequence
of the wars with Scotland and France, one of great naval activity. After
some years of desultory naval warfare in the Channel, a famous sea fight
took place at Sluys, in Dutch Flanders, about ten miles north-east of
Blankenberghe, in the year 1340. The English fleet consisted of about
200 ships under the personal command of Edward III. The allied French
and Genoese fleet numbered, according to the English king, 190, and was
composed of ships, galleys, and barges, while some of the chroniclers
have put its numbers at as many as 400 sail, but this would probably
include many small craft. The battle resulted in the capture, or
destruction, of nearly the whole French fleet. The English are said to
have lost 4,000 men killed, and the French 25,000. In one vessel, named
the _Jeanne de Dieppe_, captured by the Earl of Huntingdon, no fewer
than 400 dead bodies were found. The latter figure shows that some very
large vessels were used at this battle.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--Poole seal. 1325.]
Edward III. caused a gold noble to be struck in 1344 bearing the
representation of a ship almost precisely similar to the vessel on the
seal of Poole, of about twenty years earlier (Fig. 30). It is fitted
with a rudder at the stern, and we may therefore conclude that at this
period the side-rudder, or clavus, had disappeared from all important
vessels. The fore and stern castles were, in most cases, temporary
additions to merchant ships, to adapt them for purposes of warfare. In
fact, nearly all the sailing-ships used in naval warfare down to, and
even after the fourteenth century, appear to have been employed as
merchant vessels in time of peace; and this remark applies even to the
king's ships. It was, no doubt, the introduction of artillery that first
caused the sailing warship to be differentiated from the merchantman.
Although gunpowder for military purposes is said to have been used on
land as early as 1326, and although iron and brass cannon are mentioned
amongst the stores of three of the king's ships in 1338, nevertheless,
the battle of Sluys and the subsequent naval engagements in the reign of
Edward III. appear to have been fought without artillery. It was not
till the last quarter of the fourteenth century that guns became at all
common on board ship.
In the year 1345 Edward III. invaded France, and was accompanied by a
fleet of from 1,000 to 1,100 ships, besides small craft. Two hundred of
these vessels were employed after the king's landing in ravaging the
northern coasts of France and destroying the hostile shipping.
In the year 1347 Edward organised another great naval expedition against
France, this time in order to give him the command of the sea during his
siege of Calais. The fleet was drawn from all the ports of the kingdom,
and small contingents came from Ireland, Flanders, Spain, and the king's
own possession of Bayonne. There are two lists in existence of the
numbers of ships and men contributed by each port to this expedition.
They agree very closely. According to one of them, the united fleet
consisted of 745 ships, and 15,895 mariners, or an average of about
twenty mariners to each ship. This figure, of course, does not include
the fighting men. About fifty of these vessels were fighting ships
fitted with castles, and the remainder were barges, ballingers (which
appear to have been a kind of large barge), and transports. The largest
contingents, by far, came from Yarmouth, which contributed 43 ships and
1,950 men; Fowey sent 47 ships and 770 men; and Dartmouth supplied 32
ships and 756 men; while London, independently of the king's own
vessels, sent only 25 ships manned with 662 men.
In 1350 Edward III. and the Black Prince fought a famous naval battle
off Winchelsea against a fleet of forty Spanish ships. The battle is
generally known by the name of L'Espagnols-sur-Mer. Edward was
victorious, though he lost his own ship, through its springing a leak
when colliding with one of the Spanish vessels. The tactics of the
English consisted chiefly of boarding, while the Spaniards, whose
vessels were much the higher, attacked with cross-bows and heavy stones;
the latter they hurled from their fighting-tops into their adversaries'
ships.
From the foregoing, we can infer that the naval resources of England in
the first half of the reign of Edward III. were very great. During the
latter half of his reign he neglected his navy, and the French and
Spaniards, in spite of all their previous losses, rapidly gained the
upper hand at sea, and ravaged the English coasts. In 1372 the Spanish
fleet assisting the French inflicted a severe defeat upon an inferior
English squadron which had been sent to the relief of La Rochelle. This
battle is memorable because it was, probably, the first sea-fight in
which artillery was employed, the Spanish ships having been partly armed
with the new weapon. The Venetians are usually credited with having been
the first people to employ naval guns; but we do not find them using
artillery against the Genoese till the year 1377.
The introduction of cannon as the armament of ships of war was the cause
of several modifications in the construction of their hulls. Most of the
early vessels fitted with cannon were of the galley type, the guns being
mounted on the upper deck, and fired over the bulwarks, _en barbette_.
Afterwards portholes were cut through the bulwarks. Fig. 31 represents
a Venetian galley of the fourteenth century, as given by Charnock, with
a single gun mounted in the bow.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Venetian galley. Fourteenth century.]
The new form of armament of ships involved a considerable raising of the
height of side, and in order to counteract the effect of the high
topside, carrying the weight of guns aloft, the beam of the vessel
relatively to its length had to be much increased. The Venetians were,
however, afraid to make the transverse section wide throughout, lest the
weight of the guns near the sides of the vessel should cause the
connection of the sides with the beams to strain; hence they gave the
sides considerable "tumble home," or fall inboard, as represented by
Fig. 32, which shows the cross-section of a Venetian galleon. It will be
noticed that the width of the upper deck is only about half that of the
greatest beam. This practice was afterwards carried to an absurd extent
by the Venetians and their imitators, even in cases where guns were not
carried aloft, as may be seen from the sketch of a galleon given in Fig.
33. Hence it is evident that the introduction of ordnance on board ship
accounted for a complete revolution in the proportions of hulls hitherto
in vogue. The rig of ships also underwent a considerable development
about this period. The old single mast of the galley was supplemented by
two and in some cases by three others. The sails were still square sails
carried on spars, and the practice of reefing the sails to the spars
aloft, instead of lowering spars and sails together on deck, had now
become common.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Cross-section of a Venetian galleon.]
Two years after the action off La Rochelle we find the French commencing
the construction of a Royal Navy at Rouen. This step was taken in
consequence of the strong opinion held by Jean de Vienne, who was
appointed Admiral of France in 1373, that vessels built specially for
the purposes of war would have a great advantage over the hired
merchantmen which had to be adapted for fighting each time they were
impressed.
It is highly probable that the latter half of the fourteenth century
witnessed many improvements in ships built in the Mediterranean. This
was no doubt due, in part, to the intense commercial rivalry that
existed at that time between Venice and the other Italian Republics.
Fig. 34 is taken from a MS. Virgil in the Riccardi Library, reproduced
in M. Jal's[14] work. It represents an Italian two-masted sailing-ship
of this period. This is one of the earliest illustrations of a ship
with a permanent forecastle forming part of the structure of the
vessel. The stern castle also appears to have a permanent, though not a
structural character. Ships of somewhat similar type were used in
England in the reign of Richard II. at the end of the fourteenth
century. Fig. 35 represents one of them, the original being in an
illustrated manuscript in the Harleian Library. It was written by a
Frenchman of the name of Francis de la Marque in Richard's reign. There
are illustrations in manuscripts still in existence written about this
period, which confirm the fact that this type of ship was then
prevalent.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Venetian galleon. 1564.]
The reign of Henry V. (1413 to 1422) was one of great naval development.
The king himself took a most ardent interest in the Royal Navy, and
frequently inspected the ships during their construction. Under his
auspices some very large vessels were built for the fleet. Lists of this
king's ships are still in existence. They are classified under the
names Great Ships, Cogs, Carracks, Ships, Barges, and Ballingers. The
largest of the great ships was the _Jesus_, of 1,000 tons; the
_Holigost_, of 760; the _Trinity Royal_, of 540; and the _Christopher
Spayne_, of 600; the last-mentioned was a prize captured by the Earl of
Huntingdon. The majority of the ships were, however, from 420 to 120
tons. The carracks were apparently not English-built ships, as all those
in the king's navy were prizes captured in 1416 and 1417. The three
largest were of 600, 550, and 500 tons respectively. The barges are
given as of 100 tons, and the ballingers ranged from 120 to 80 tons. The
total strength of the Royal Navy about the year 1420, as given in the
list compiled by W. M. Oppenheim from the accounts of the keepers of
the king's ships, is 38; of these 17 were ships, 7 carracks, 2 barges,
and 12 ballingers. It is worthy of notice that there were no galleys
included in the list.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Italian sailing ship. 15th century.]
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--English ship. Time of Richard II.]
Henry invaded France in 1415 with a fleet of 1,400 vessels, which had
been raised by impressing every British ship of 20 tons and upwards. The
home supply not being sufficient for his purpose, Henry sent
commissioners to Holland and Zealand to hire additional vessels. In all
1,500 ships were collected and 1,400 utilised. These figures give us a
fair idea of the resources of this country in shipping at that time.
This was the invasion which resulted in the victory of Agincourt and the
capture of Harfleur. In the year following (1416) France was again
invaded and the fleet was stated by some to have numbered 300, and by
others 400 ships. A naval battle was fought off Harfleur. It resulted in
a complete victory for Henry. The old tactics and the old weapons seem
to have been used. Although, as we have seen, guns had been used in
sea-fights nearly forty years previously, there is no mention of their
having been employed on either side at this battle.
In 1417 the king again collected 1,500 vessels at Southampton for a
fresh invasion of France. Having first obtained the command of the sea
by a naval victory over the French and Genoese, a landing was duly
effected near Harfleur. Several vessels, including four large carracks,
were captured in the sea-fight, and were added to the king's navy.
During the reign of Henry V. the Mercantile Marine of England made no
progress. Commerce was checked in consequence of the state of war which
prevailed, and the improvements in shipbuilding seem to have been
confined to the Royal Navy. It seems probable, however, that the
experience gained in the construction and navigation of the very large
ships which the king added to the navy had its effect, ultimately, in
improving the type of merchant-vessels.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--English ship. Time of Henry VI.]
During the forty years of the reign of Henry VI. England was so greatly
exhausted and impoverished by war with France and by internal
dissensions at home, that commerce and shipbuilding made little
progress. We possess a sketch of a ship of the early part of the reign
of Henry VI. It is contained in a manuscript in the Harleian Library of
the date, probably, of 1430 to 1435. It is reproduced in Fig. 36, and
differs from the ship of the reign of Richard II. shown in Fig. 35,
chiefly in having the poop and forecastle more strongly developed.
While England was steadily declining in power from the time of the death
of Henry V., a new maritime nation was arising in South-Western Europe,
whose discoveries were destined to have a most marked effect on the
seaborne commerce, and consequently on the shipbuilding of the world. In
the year 1417 the Portuguese, under the guidance of Prince Henry the
Navigator, commenced their exploration of the west coast of Africa, and
they continued it with persistency during the century. In 1418 they
discovered, or rather re-discovered, the island of Madeira, for it is
extremely probable that it was first visited by an Englishman of the
name of Machin.
The Portuguese prince firmly believed that a route could be opened round
Africa to the Indies. To reach these regions by sea seems to have been
the goal of the great explorers of the fifteenth century, and the
Portuguese were stimulated in their endeavours by a grant from Pope
Martin V. of all territories which might thenceforward be discovered
between Cape Bojador and the East Indies. In 1446 an expedition
consisting of six caravels was fitted out, and made a voyage to Guinea;
it resulted in the discovery of the Cape Verde Islands. The caravel was
a type of ship much used by the countries of Southern Europe in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A description of a Spanish vessel of
this type is given on pages 87 to 89. In 1449 the Azores were
discovered. In 1481 a lucrative trade was opened up between Portugal and
the natives of Guinea. Six years afterwards the Cape of Good Hope was
reached by Bartholomew Diaz, and in 1497 it was doubled by Vasco da
Gama.
During a great part of the period in which the Portuguese were thus
occupied in extending their commerce and in paving the way for great
discoveries, the condition of England, owing to the French war and to
the subsequent Wars of the Roses, was passing from bad to worse.
Nevertheless, the spirit of commercial enterprise was not wholly
extinguished. A few merchants seem to have made fortunes in the shipping
trade, and among them may be mentioned the famous William Canynge of
Bristol, who was probably the greatest private shipowner in England at
the end of the reign of Henry VI. and during the time of Edward IV.
(1461 to 1483). Canynge traded to Iceland, Finland, and the
Mediterranean. He is said to have possessed ships as large as 900 tons,
and it is recorded on his monument, in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe,
in Bristol, that he at one time lent ships, to the extent of 2,670 tons,
to Edward IV. It is also related of him that he owned ten ships and
employed 800 sailors and 100 artisans.
It was not till the year 1475, upon the conclusion of peace between
Edward and the French king, Louis, that affairs quieted down in England,
and then trade and commerce made most marvellous progress. The king
himself was one of the leading merchants of the country, and concluded
treaties of commerce with Denmark, Brittany, Castile, Burgundy, France,
Zealand, and the Hanseatic League. In the reign of Edward's successor,
Richard III., English seaborne trade obtained a firm footing in Italy
and other Mediterranean countries.
We, fortunately, possess drawings which show that an enormous advance
was made in shipbuilding during the period under discussion, or that, at
any rate, the advance had by that time reached England. Fig. 37
illustrates a large ship of the latter half of the fifteenth century. It
is taken from a manuscript in the Cottonian Library, by John Rous, the
celebrated Warwickshire antiquary and historian. This manuscript records
the life and history of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who was born
in 1381, and died in 1439. The author of the manuscript, however, lived
till 1491, in the early part of the reign of Henry VII., and we may
therefore conclude that the illustrations represent ships of the latter
half of the fifteenth century. The vessel shown in Fig. 37 was used for
war purposes, as four guns were mounted on the broadside. There were
also four masts and a bowsprit, and a strongly developed forecastle,
which formed part of the structure of the ship. There was apparently
very luxurious accommodation provided for passengers and officers in a
large deck-house at the poop. The mainsail was of very large dimensions,
and was emblazoned with the arms of the Earl of Warwick. In this
illustration we see an early approach to the modern type of
sailing-ship. There are several other drawings of ships in the same
manuscripts, and most of them have the same general characteristics as
Fig. 37.
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--English ship. Latter half of fifteenth
century.]
The reign of Henry VII. (1485 to 1509) was a memorable one in the annals
of navigation and commerce. Two years after he came to the throne, the
Portuguese sent the expedition, previously referred to, to discover a
route to the Indies round Africa. The expedition never reached its
destination, but Diaz succeeded in discovering the Cape of Good Hope.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Columbus' ship, the _Santa Maria_, 1492.]
A few years later, in 1492, Christopher Columbus made his famous attempt
to reach the Indies by sailing west. This expedition, as is well known,
resulted in the discovery of the West Indian Islands, and, shortly
afterwards, of the mainland of America. The ships which Columbus took
with him on his voyage were three in number, and small in size. As Spain
had possessed many large vessels for a century and a half before the
time of Columbus, it is probable that he was entrusted with small ships
only, because the Government did not care to risk much capital in so
adventuresome an undertaking.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Sail-plan of the _Santa Maria_.]
Fortunately, we have a fairly exact knowledge of the form and
dimensions of the caravel _Santa Maria_, which was the largest of the
three vessels. She was reconstructed in 1892-93 at the arsenal of
Carraca, by Spanish workmen, under the superintendence of Senor Leopold
Wilke, for the Chicago Exhibition of 1893. Senor Wilke had access to
every known source of information. Figs. 38 to 40 give a general view,
sail-plan and lines, of this ship as reconstructed.
The following were her leading dimensions:--
Length of keel 60.68 feet
Length between perpendiculars 74.12 "
Extreme length of ship proper 93 "
Length over all 128.25 "
Breadth, extreme 25.71 "
Displacement fully laden 233 tons
Weight of hull 90.5 "
The _Santa Maria_, like most vessels of her time, was provided with an
extensive forecastle, which overhung the stem nearly 12 ft. She had also
an enormous structure aft, consisting of half and quarter decks above
the main deck. She had three masts and a bowsprit. The latter and the
fore and main masts were square-rigged, and the mizzen was
lateen-rigged. The outside of the hull was strengthened with vertical
and longitudinal timber beams.
The _Santa Maria_, as reproduced, was sailed across the Atlantic from
Spain by Captain D. V. Concas and a Spanish crew in the year 1893. The
course taken was exactly the same as that followed by Columbus on his
first voyage. The time occupied was thirty-six days, and the maximum
speed attained was about 6-1/2 knots. The vessel pitched horribly.
In 1497 the first English expedition was made to America under John
Cabot. We have no particulars of the ship in which Cabot sailed, but it
could not have been a large one, as it is known that the crew only
numbered eighteen. The expedition sailed from Bristol in the month of
May, and land, which was probably Cape Breton, was sighted on June 24.
Bristol was reached on the return journey at the end of July. In the
following year Cabot made another voyage, and explored the coast of
North America from Cape Breton to as far south as Cape Hatteras. Many
other expeditions in the same direction were fitted out in the last
years of the fifteenth and the first years of the sixteenth centuries.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--Lines of the _Santa Maria_.]
While Cabot was returning from his first voyage to North America, one of
the most famous and most epoch-making expeditions of discovery of modern
times was fitted out in Portugal. On July 24, 1497, Vasco da Gama set
sail from the Tagus in the hope of reaching India _via_ the Cape of Good
Hope. His squadron consisted of three ships, named the _San Gabriel_,
the _San Raphael_, and the _Birrio_, together with a transport to carry
stores. There is a painting in existence at Lisbon of the _San Gabriel_,
which is supposed to be authentic. It represents her as having a high
poop and forecastle, very like the caravel _Santa Maria_. She had four
masts and a bowsprit. The latter and the fore and main masts were
square-rigged. The _San Gabriel_ was, however, a much larger vessel than
the _Santa Maria_. She is said to have been constructed to carry 400
pipes of wine. This would be equivalent to about 400 tons measurement,
or, from 250 to 300 tons register.[15] The other two ships selected were
of about the same dimensions, and of similar equipment and rig, in order
that, in the event of losses, or accidents, each of the ships might make
use of any of the spars, tackle, or fittings belonging to the others.
It may here be mentioned that the ships reached Quilimane, on the east
coast of South Africa, on January 22, 1498. After many visits to East
African ports, during which they satisfied themselves that the arts of
navigation were as well understood by the Eastern seamen as by
themselves, they set sail for India early in August, and after a voyage
of twenty, or, as some say, twenty-three days, they sighted the coast,
and shortly afterwards arrived in Calicut, nearly fourteen months after
they started from Lisbon.
About this time the Memlook Sultans of Egypt absolutely cut off the
trade which had been carried on for centuries between the Italian
Republics and the Malabar coast of India _via_ the overland route and
the Red Sea. It was this fact that gave the discovery of the sea-route
to India such enormous importance, and, ultimately, it was one of the
causes of the commercial downfall of the Italian Republics. The Cape
route became the great high-road of commerce to the East, and remained
so down to the present reign, when the re-establishment of the overland
route, and, eventually, the successful cutting of the Suez Canal,
restored commerce to its old paths.
The discoveries of Columbus, Vasco da Gama, John Cabot, and their
successors, had an enormous influence upon shipbuilding, as they not
only widened the area of seaborne commerce, but offered strong
inducements to navigators to venture on the great oceans, far from land,
in craft specially adapted for such voyages. Hitherto, sailors had
either navigated the great inland seas of Europe or had engaged in the
coasting trade, and the longest voyages undertaken before the end of the
fifteenth century were probably those which English merchants made
between Bristol and Iceland, and between our Eastern ports and Bergen.
Henry VII. not only encouraged commerce and voyages of discovery, but
also paid great attention to the needs of the Royal Navy. He added two
warships to his fleet, which were more powerful vessels than any
previously employed in this country. One of them, named the _Regent_,
was copied from a French ship of 600 tons, and was built on the Rother
about 1490. She carried four masts and a bowsprit, and was armed with
225 small guns, called serpentines. The second ship was named the
_Sovereign_, and it is remarkable, as showing the connection at that
time between land and naval architecture, that she was built under the
superintendence of Sir Reginald Bray, who was also the architect of
Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster Abbey, and of St. George's Chapel,
Windsor. The _Sovereign_ carried 141 serpentines.
The _Regent_ was burnt in an action off Brest in the reign of Henry
VIII., in the year 1512. She caught fire from a large French carrack,
called the _Marie la Cordeliere_, which she was attacking. Both ships
were utterly destroyed.
The _Marie la Cordeliere_ was probably the largest warship of her time.
She is said to have carried 1,200 men, and to have lost 900 killed in
the action. She was built at Morlaix at the sole cost of Anne of
Brittany, then Queen of France.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--The _Henry Grace a Dieu_. _Pepysian Library,
Cambridge._]
The _Regent_ was replaced by a very famous ship called the _Henry Grace
a Dieu_, otherwise known as the _Great Harry_. As a consequence, most
probably, of the size and force of some of the French ships, as revealed
in the action off Brest, the _Henry Grace a Dieu_ was a great advance on
any previous British warship. She was built at Erith, and was probably
launched in June, 1514. Her tonnage is given in a manuscript in Pepys'
"Miscellanies" as 1,500; but it is generally believed that she did not
in reality exceed 1,000 tons.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--The _Henry Grace a Dieu_. _After Allen._]
There are more drawings than one in existence, supposed to represent
this famous warship. One of them, shown in Fig. 41, is from a drawing in
the Pepysian Library, in Magdalene College, Cambridge. Another, shown in
Fig. 42, is from an engraving by Allen of a picture ascribed to Holbein.
The two illustrations differ in many important respects and cannot both
represent the same ship. There is very little doubt that Fig. 41 is the
more correct representation of the two, because it is confirmed in all
essential respects by Volpe's picture of the embarkation of Henry VIII.
at Dover in 1520 on this very ship. Volpe's picture is now at Hampton
Court Palace, and shows four other ships of the Royal Navy, which were
all built in the same style as the Pepysian drawing of Fig. 41, with
enormous forecastles and poops. The vessel represented in the picture
ascribed to Holbein appears to belong to a later date than 1520, and is,
in fact, transitional between the ships of this period and those of the
reign of Elizabeth. One of the warships of the latter period is shown in
Fig. 45.
According to a manuscript, in the Pepysian Collection, the _Henry Grace
a Dieu_ was armed with twenty-one guns and a multitude of smaller
pieces. The numbers of the various guns and the weights of their shot
are given in the following table:--
+---------------+---------+-----------+
| | | Weight of |
| Name of gun. | Number. | shot. |
+---------------+---------+-----------+
| | | lbs. |
| Cannon | 4 | 60 |
| Demi-cannon | 3 | 32 |
| Culverin | 4 | 18 |
| Demi-culverin | 2 | 8 |
| Saker | 4 | 6 |
| Cannon Perer | 2 | 26 |
| Falcon | 2 | 2 |
+---------------+---------+-----------+
The sizes of the guns of this time are pretty accurately known, because
one of the ships of Henry VIII., called the _Mary Rose_, built in 1509,
went down off Portsmouth in 1545, and several of her guns have been
recovered, and are still in existence.
The portholes were circular, and so small in diameter that no traverse
could have been given to the guns. This practice continued to prevail
till the time of the Commonwealth. There were five masts in this, as in
all other first-rates henceforth down to the time of Charles I. One of
the masts was inclined forward, like a modern bowsprit. Each mast was
made in one piece, the introduction of separate topmasts having been a
more modern improvement.
[Illustration: FIG. 43--Genoese carrack. 1542.]
The highest development in the art of shipbuilding at this period was
reached in the large merchant-ships called Carracks. The competition
between the great trading republics of Italy, viz. Venice and Genoa, and
the rivalry of Portugal probably accounted for the marked improvement in
the character of merchant-ships in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries. Fig. 43 gives a representation of a large Genoese carrack of
the sixteenth century. It will be noticed that this vessel had four
masts, and was square-rigged, the foremost mast having been inclined
forward somewhat after the fashion of the modern bowsprit. In the
sixteenth century the carrack often attained the size of 1,600 tons.
Towards the latter half of this century a Portuguese carrack captured by
the English was, in length, from the beakhead to the stern, 165 ft.;
beam, 47 ft.; length of keel, 100 ft.; height of mainmast, 121 ft.;
circumference at partners, 11 ft.; length of mainyard, 106 ft.; burthen,
1,600 tons. This vessel carried 32 pieces of brass ordnance--a very
necessary addition to the merchant-ship of the period--and accommodated
between 600 and 700 passengers.
The most important maritime event in the sixteenth century was,
undoubtedly, the fitting out by Spain, in 1588, of the gigantic
expedition intended to invade this country in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. An account of the fleets on either side may therefore be
interesting.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Spanish galleass. 1588.]
The great Armada consisted of no less than 132 vessels, of which only
four were galleys, and four galleasses.[16] Of the remainder, 30 were
under 100 tons, and 94 were between 130 and 1,550 tons. The total
tonnage of the ships, less the galleys and galleasses, was 59,120. The
armament consisted of 2,761[17] guns. The seamen numbered 7,865 and the
soldiers 20,671. The fleet was divided into ten squadrons. The largest
vessel was the flagship of the Levant squadron, and was of 1,249 tons,
and carried 30 guns. The crew consisted of 80 sailors and 344 soldiers.
The next largest was of 1,200 tons and carried 47 guns, but the greater
number of the vessels were much smaller. The popular belief as to their
incredible size and unwieldiness must therefore be dismissed as
baseless, for even the largest ships were far exceeded in size by some
of the carracks, or merchant vessels, of that day. On the average the
Spanish vessels mounted 22 guns apiece, and carried crews of 231 sailors
and soldiers. Fig. 44 is a sketch, taken from the tapestry of the old
House of Lords, of one of the galleasses of the fleet. It will be
noticed that she carried her guns extremely high, a peculiarity which
was common to many of the Spanish vessels; for we read that their fire
did more harm to the rigging than to the hulls of the English vessels.
The fleet mustered by Elizabeth was far more numerous, but its tonnage
did not amount to one-half of that of the Armada. The total number of
vessels sailing under the English flag was 197, of which, however, only
34 belonged to the Royal Navy. The remainder were merchant vessels,
hastily fitted out and adapted for purposes of war by their owners, or
by the ports to which they belonged. Of the Royal ships the largest was
the _Triumph_, built in 1561. She was commanded by Sir Martin Frobisher,
and was only exceeded in size by four of the Spanish vessels. The
_Triumph_ was between 1,000 and 1,100 tons, but there were only seven
ships in the English Navy of between 600 and 1,000 tons, whereas the
Spaniards had no fewer than 45. The crew of the _Triumph_ numbered 500,
of whom 300 were sailors, 40 gunners, and 160 soldiers.
The _Triumph_ carried 42 guns, of which 4 were cannon, 3 demi-cannon, 17
culverins, 8 demi-culverins, 6 sakers, and 4 small pieces. The greatest
number of guns carried by any ship in the fleet was 56, mounted on board
the _Elizabeth Jones_, of 900 tons, and built in 1559. The flagship of
the Lord High Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, the _Ark_, was the
most modern of the English warships, having been built in 1587. She was
of 800 tons, carried a crew of 430, and mounted 55 guns.
Of the merchant auxiliaries the two largest were the _Galleon Leicester_
and the _Merchant Royal_, each of 400 tons, and each carried a crew of
160 men. In the former of these the explorer Cavendish afterwards made
his last voyage. Another of the merchant-ships, the _Edward
Bonaventure_, belonged to the Levant Company, and in the years 1591 to
1593 was distinguished as the first English ship that made a successful
voyage to India.
The size of a large number of the merchant-ships was under 100 tons. The
total number of the crews of the entire English fleet was 15,551; of
these 6,289 belonged to the queen's ships.
As a general rule, the English ships in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
both in the Royal Navy and in the Mercantile Marine, were much inferior
in size to the vessels belonging to the great Maritime Republics of
Italy and to Spain and Portugal. Hitherto the practice had been general
of hiring Genoese and Venetian carracks for mercantile purposes. It is
stated that about the year 1578, or twenty years after Queen Elizabeth's
accession to the throne, there were only 24 ships in the Royal Navy and
135 of above 100 tons burthen in the whole kingdom, and but 656 that
exceeded 40 tons. Nevertheless, in this reign there was a great
development of mercantile activity, in which the sovereign as well as
her people participated. Many trading expeditions were sent out to the
West Indies and to North America, and warlike descents on the Spanish
ports were frequently carried out, and were attended with great success.
In Elizabeth's time the first British colony, Virginia, was founded in
North America, and Sir Francis Drake undertook his memorable and
eventful voyage round the world in a squadron, which consisted, at the
commencement, of five vessels, whereof the largest, the _Pelican_, was
of only 100 tons burthen, and the smallest a pinnace of 15 tons. So
great was the progress made about this time in English maritime trade
that, only four years after the date above mentioned, there were said to
have been no less than 135 English commercial vessels of above 500 tons
in existence.
In the year 1587 Drake, in his famous marauding expedition in the
Spanish seas, captured a great carrack called the _San Felipe_, which
was returning home from the East Indies. The papers found in her
revealed the enormous profits which the Spaniards made out of their
trade with India, and afforded such valuable information that the
English merchant adventurers were incited to cut in and try to secure
some share of this trade for themselves. This led, ultimately, to the
founding of the celebrated East India Company, and to the conquest of
India by the British. In 1589 certain merchants petitioned the queen to
grant them a licence to trade with the East Indies; but Elizabeth,
fearing the resentment of the Spanish and Portuguese, would not grant
their request for many years, and it was not till the last day of the
year 1599 that she gave a charter of incorporation to the Earl of
Cumberland and 215 knights and merchants for fifteen years, and thus
founded the first East India Company. English adventurers, however, did
not wait for a charter before commencing their trading operations with
the East, for in 1591 an expedition consisting of three ships was sent
out under the command of James Lancaster. Only one of the three--the
_Edward Bonaventure_, which, as already mentioned, had been a merchant
auxiliary in the English fleet that opposed the Armada--ever reached the
East Indies in safety.
A few weeks after the charter had been granted Lancaster led another
expedition to the East. His fleet consisted of five ships; the largest,
the _Dragon_, was of 600 tons, and had a crew of 202. After an
adventurous voyage the fleet returned to England in September, 1602,
having been absent two years and eight months.
There is abundant evidence to show that foreign merchant ships in
Elizabeth's reign were often much larger than any built in this country.
The following are examples. In 1592 a Portuguese carrack called the
_Madre de Dios_ was captured and brought home. She was of 1,600 tons
burthen, 165 feet long from stem to stern, and had seven decks,
including the numerous half and quarter decks which formed the poop. In
1594 a Spanish carrack was destroyed which had 1,100 men on board. When
Cadiz was taken in 1596 two Spanish galleons of 1,200 tons were
captured, and the flagship, the _San Felipe_, of 1,500 tons, was blown
up. In 1602 a Portuguese carrack of 1,600 tons was captured at Cezimbra.
She was named the _San Valentino_, and was worth, with her cargo, a
million ducats.
The system of striking topmasts appears to have been introduced into the
English Navy in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is mentioned by Sir
Walter Raleigh as a recent improvement and "a wonderful ease to great
ships, both at sea and in the harbour." Amongst the other novelties
mentioned by the same authority was the use of chain-pumps on board
ship; they lifted twice the amount of water that the old-fashioned pumps
could raise; studding, top-gallant, sprit and topsails were also
introduced, and the weighing of anchors by means of the capstan. He also
alludes to the recent use of long cables, and says that "by it we resist
the malice of the greatest winds that can blow." The early men-of-war,
pierced with portholes, carried their lower guns very near the water. In
some cases there were only fourteen inches from the lower sill of the
portholes to the water-line. This practice led to many accidents;
amongst others may be mentioned the loss of the _Mary Rose_, one of the
largest ships in the Royal Navy in the time of Henry VIII. Sir Walter
Raleigh mentions that, in his time, the practice was introduced of
raising the lower tier of ports. Nevertheless, this improvement did not
become general till the time of the restoration of Charles II. Fig. 45
is a representation of an English ship of war of the time of Queen
Elizabeth, supposed to be of the date 1588. It is copied from the
tapestries of the old House of Lords. It shows clearly the recently
introduced topmasts alluded to by Sir Walter Raleigh. It is certainly a
much more ship-shaped and serviceable craft than the vessels of Henry
VIII. There is also in existence a drawing of a smaller Elizabethan
warship in the Rawlinson MSS. in the Bodleian Library; in essential
particulars, it confirms Fig. 45. Both of these show that the
forecastles and poops had been considerably modified.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--English man-of-war. About 1588.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Venetian galleass. 1571.]
Another great naval war was waged in the latter half of the sixteenth
century, about sixteen years before the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
The scene was the Adriatic Sea, and the combatants were Venice, with her
allies, Spain and the Papal States, on the one hand, and the Turks on
the other. It culminated in the complete defeat of the latter at Lepanto
in 1571. The site of the battle of Lepanto is very near to that of
Actium, and it is a remarkable circumstance that twice in history a
decisive naval battle between the West and East should have been decided
at the same spot. The allies possessed a fleet consisting of 208 galleys
and 6 galleasses. The Venetians introduced the latter type of vessel in
order to meet the Turks on even terms. It was an improved form of galley
with three masts, carrying several guns on the broadside, most of them
mounted on the upper deck. Fig. 46 represents one of the Venetian
galleasses as used at the battle of Lepanto, to the winning of which
engagement they are said to have contributed materially. The galleass
was essentially a Mediterranean warship. It was never generally adopted
by the Western powers, but four Neapolitan vessels of this category,
carrying each 50 guns, formed a part of the great Armada sent by Spain
to effect the conquest of England. The galleass represented in Fig. 46
had a circular forecastle in which were mounted several guns, to be used
in end-on attack.
It is impossible to read the accounts of the battle of Lepanto and of
the defeat of the Spanish Armada without noticing the great contrast
between the ships used in the two wars at about the same period. In the
Mediterranean the single-banked galley was still the prevailing type,
while in the Western and Northern seas the bulk of the Spanish and the
whole of the British fleets were sailing-ships.
It does not appear that any further novelties, or improvements, worth
alluding to were introduced into the practice of shipbuilding till the
accession of the House of Stuart in 1603. All the monarchs of this
family paid particular attention to the development of the Royal Navy.
King James I. had in his service an educated naval architect of the name
of Phineas Pett, who was a Master of Arts of Emmanuel College,
Cambridge, and a member of a famous family of shipbuilders who had been
employed for two centuries previously, from father to son, as officers
and architects in the Royal Navy. Some time after the accession of
James, a Royal Commission inquired into the general state and management
of the navy, and issued a report in 1618, which was in effect "a project
for contracting the charge of His Majesty's Navy, keeping the coast of
England and Ireland safely guarded, and his Majesty's ships in harbour
as sufficiently guarded as now they are, provided that the old debts be
paid, ... and certain assignments settled for the further payment of the
navy quarterly." At the time the report was issued there were only
seventeen vessels in the navy which had been built during the reign of
James. The most important of these was the _Prince Royal_, built in
1610, and, at the time, considered to be one of the finest men-of-war
in the world. Fig. 47 is an illustration of a man-of-war of the period,
which, there is strong evidence for believing, was this very vessel. It
was designed and built under the superintendence of Phineas Pett at
Woolwich Dockyard, and was given by the king to his son Henry, Prince of
Wales, in honour of whom it was named the _Prince Royal_. It was in many
respects a remarkable departure from the prevailing practice of the
times, and, if stripped of its profuse carved work, was very similar in
outline to the men-of-war built as recently as the commencement of the
last century. The designer was bold enough to abandon some of the
time-honoured features of ship construction, such as the beak, or prow,
derived from the old galleys, and the square buttock, or tuck. The
latter feature, however, continued to appear in the ships of most other
European countries for some time afterwards. The length of keel of this
vessel was 114 ft., and the beam 44 ft. The reputed burthen was
1,400 tons, and the vessel was pierced for 64 guns, whereof she carried
55, the vacant portholes being filled in action from the opposite side,
a custom which prevailed down to the last century and was adopted in
order to lessen the dead weight carried aft. The great difference
between the shape of the quarter galleries and forecastle in this ship
and in the earlier types will be noted. The armament of the _Prince
Royal_ consisted of the following guns: On the lower deck six
32-pounders, two 24-pounders, and twelve 18-pounders. The bow and
aftermost ports were empty, and in case of necessity the former
was filled by an 18-pounder from the opposite side, and the latter by a
24-pounder from the stern-ports. The upper deck was armed with
9-pounders, the aftermost port being vacant, and filled up when
required. The quarter-deck and forecastle were provided with 5-pounders.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--The _Prince Royal_. 1610.]
The building of this ship aroused many apprehensions, and a Commission
was appointed to report on the design while it was being constructed. It
certainly seems that gross errors were made in the calculations. For
instance, it was estimated that 775 loads of timber would be required
for her construction, whereas 1,627 loads were actually used. The timber
also was so unseasoned that the ship only lasted fifteen years, and had
then to be rebuilt.
Many complaints were made about this time of the incapacity and
ignorance of English shipbuilders. Sir Walter Raleigh laid down the
following as the principal requirements of warships: strong build,
speed, stout scantling, ability to fight the guns in all weathers,
ability to lie to easily in a gale, and ability to stay well. He stated
that in all these qualities the royal ships were deficient. He also
called attention to the inferiority of our merchant-ships, and pointed
out that, whereas an English ship of 100 tons required a crew of thirty
hands, a Dutch vessel of the same size would sail with one-third of that
number.
Another authority of the time complained that--
"he could never see two ships builded of the like proportion by the
best and most skilful shipwrights ... because they trust rather to
their judgment than their art, and to their eye than their scale and
compass."
The merchant navy of England languished during the early years of the
reign of James I. Owing, however, to the patronage and assistance
extended by the king to the East India Company, and also in no small
measure to the stimulus caused by the arrival of some large Dutch
merchantmen in the Thames, the merchants of London abandond the practice
of hiring ships from foreigners and took to building for themselves. In
the year 1615 there were not more than ten ships belonging to the Port
of London with a burthen in excess of 200 tons, but, owing to the sudden
development of shipbuilding, the Port of Newcastle in the year 1622
owned more than 100 ships exceeding the above-mentioned tonnage.
In the year 1609 the king granted a new charter to the East India
Company, and in the following year a vessel, called the _Trade's
Increase_, was sent out. This ship was the largest merchantman built up
to that time in England. Her career, however, was not fortunate. She was
careened at Bantam, in order that some repairs to her hull might be
effected, but she fell over on her side and was burnt by the Javanese.
Before the year 1613 British merchants had made altogether twelve
voyages to the East Indies, for the most part in ships of less than 500
tons. In that year, however, all the merchants interested in the
Oriental trade joined together to form the United East India Company.
The first fleet fitted out by the re-organised Company consisted of four
ships, of 650, 500, 300, and 200 tons burthen respectively. It had to
fight its way with the Portuguese before it could commence to trade. The
Portuguese considered that they were entitled to a monopoly of the trade
with the East, and jealously resented the intrusion of the English
merchantmen, whom they attacked with a fleet of six galleons, three
ships, two galleys, and sixty smaller vessels. They were, however,
ignominiously defeated, and the English merchants were enabled to
accomplish their purpose.
During the last five years of the reign of James I. the strength of the
Royal Navy was increased twenty-five per cent. His son and successor,
Charles I., through all the troubles of his eventful reign, never
neglected this branch of the national defences, and during his reign the
Mercantile Marine grew to such an extent that, at the time of the
outbreak of the Civil War, the port of London alone was able to furnish
100 ships of considerable size, all mounting cannon and fitted up in
every respect for the operations of war.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--The _Sovereign of the Seas_. 1637.]
The _Sovereign of the Seas_, illustrated in Fig. 48, may be taken as a
sample of the largest type of warship built by Charles. Like the _Prince
Royal_, she was designed by Pett, and was considered to be the most
powerful man-of-war in Europe of her time. Her construction must have
been a great improvement on that of the _Prince Royal_; for, whereas the
latter ship was declared to be no longer fit for service fifteen years
after her launch, the _Sovereign of the Seas_, though engaged in most of
the naval battles of the seventeenth century, remained in good condition
for a period of sixty years, and was then accidentally burnt at Chatham
when about to be rebuilt. She was the first three-decker in the Royal
Navy, but as she proved somewhat crank, she was cut down to a two-decker
in the year 1652. At the Restoration she was renamed the _Royal
Sovereign_.
This very remarkable vessel was of 1,683 tons burthen. Her length of
keel was 128 ft.; length over all, 167 ft.; beam, 48 ft. 4 in.; and
depth from top of lanthorn to bottom of keel, 76 ft. She was built with
three closed decks, a forecastle, a half-deck, a quarter-deck, and a
round-house. She carried in all 102 or 104 guns, and was pierced for
thirty guns on the lower, thirty on the main, and twenty-six on the
upper deck; the forecastle had twelve, and the half-deck fourteen ports.
She also carried ten chasers forward, and as many aft. She was provided
with eleven anchors, of which one weighed two tons.
The _Royal Sovereign_ may fairly be taken as representing the
commencement of a better school of ship construction. Her merits were
due to the talents of Phineas Pett, who, though not uniformly successful
in his earlier designs, was a great innovator, and is generally regarded
as the father of the modern school of wooden shipbuilding.
Very little is known, unfortunately, of the character and rig of the
smaller classes of trading vessels of the end of the sixteenth and the
commencement of the seventeenth centuries. It is, however, tolerably
certain that cutter-rigged craft were used in the coasting and Irish
trades as far back as 1567; for there is a map of Ireland of that date
in existence on which are shown two vessels rigged in this manner.
With the description of the _Royal Sovereign_ we close the account of
mediaeval naval architecture. Thanks to the fostering care of Charles I.,
to the genius of Pett, and to the great natural advantages conferred by
the superiority of English oak to other European timbers, England at
this period occupied a high place in the art of shipbuilding. The
position thus gained was maintained and turned to the best advantage in
the period of the Commonwealth, when successful naval wars were
undertaken against the Dutch and other European States. These wars
eventually resulted in establishing England, for a time, as the foremost
maritime power in Europe.