CHAPTER IV.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.