Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/141

Rh which the people of Bruges are said to have been the authors. Gioia, of Amalfi, who flourished in the beginning of this century, is supposed to have been the first who attached a divided card to the needle; but his card seems to have had only eight winds or points drawn upon it.

The contemporary chroniclers have not recorded the edfects produced by the introduction of the compass on navigation and commerce; but it must have given a great impulse to both. A few interesting facts, however, connected with English shipping during the present period have been preserved. Henry III. appears to have had some ships of his own. One of the entries in the Liberate Roll of the tenth year of his reign is as follows;—"Henry, by the grace of God, &c.—Pay out of our treasury to Reynold de Bernevall and Brother Thomas, of the Temple, twenty-two marks and a half, for repairs, &c. of our great ship; also pay to the six masters of our great ship, to wit, to Stephen le Vel, one mark; Germanus de la Rie, one mark; John, the son of Sampson, one mark; Colmo de Warham, one mark; Robert Gaillard, one mark; and Simon Westlegrei, one mark. Witness ourself at Westminster, the 17th day of May, in the tenth year of our reign. For the mariners of the great ship." The vessel here referred to is, we suppose, the large ship called the Queen, which, in 1232, Henry chartered to John Blancbally, for the life of the latter, for an annual payment of fifty marks. In an order of the same king to the barons of the Cinque Ports, in 1242, mention is made of the king's galley of Bristol, and of the king's galleys in Ireland. Edward I. probably had a much more numerous navy. When he was preparing for his war with France, in 1294, this king divided his navy into three fleets, over each of which he placed an admiral, this being the first time that that title is mentioned in English history. We are not, however, to suppose that all the ships forming these three fleets