Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/259

Rh case. The wealthier inhabitants of the sea-coasts did likewise follow the queen's example in building ships of war with all imaginable cheerfulness, insomuch that in a little time the queen's fleet, in conjunction with her subjects' shipping, was so potent that it was able to furnish out twenty thousand fighting men for sea service." The ships thus built by private individuals were of course merchant-ships, though liable to be pressed into the public service in cases of emergency. In 1572 it is stated that the entire navy of England consisted of 146 vessels of all sizes, of which 1 carried a hundred guns, 9 from eighty-eight to sixty, 49 from fifty-eight to forty, 58 from thirty-eight to twenty, and the remaining 29 from eighteen to six. Of these, however, only 13 belonged to the crown; the rest consisted of the mercantile shipping of the country, which was still esteemed the principal part of its maritime force. In the year 1582 the English merchantmen are said to have been 135 in number, many of them being of 500 tons burthen. The fleet equipped to encounter the Spanish Armada, in 1588, consisted, according to the most authentic account, of 117 ships, having on board 11,120 men. Of these vessels eighteen are stated to have been merchant adventurers from the river Thames, but of the rest by far the greater number must have been merchantmen hired or pressed for the occasion. Another account makes the entire number of ships to have been 181; namely, 34 men-of-war, of which five were from 800 to 1100 tons burthen each; the 18 private adventurers; 33 furnished by the city of London; 43 hired ships; and 53 coasters, sent by various sea-ports, These last seem to be omitted in the other enumeration. According to a work published in the latter part of the seventeenth century, the writer of which appears to have derived much of his information from Pepys, the then Secretary of the M 3