Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/292

Rh NAVY agree in describing the battle as one of the most sanguin ary and desperate sea-fights ever known. The same monarch, at the siege of Calais, is stated to have blockaded that port with 730 sail, having on board 14,956 mariners, 25 only of which were of the royal navy, bearing 419 mariners, or about 17 men each. The earlier and middle parts of the reign of Edward III. were particularly famous for the power of the English fleet, and for the dread which it inspired. After a splendid victory over the Spanish fleet in 1350, the title of &quot;king of the sea &quot; was bestowed on the sovereign. Towards the end of that reign, however, naval as well as other affairs were neglected, the seas were left unguarded, the coasts were insulted, and acts of piracy were committed in English waters which a few years before had been impossible. Complaints were loud and frequent. The duke of Lancaster, Edward s brother, was charged with having misspent a sum of money granted to him for the guardianship of the seas, and the anger of the Commons, unable to vent itself upon him, expended itself in a successful impeachment of some of the king s ministers. In the next reign attempts were made to improve matters ; but, notwithstanding the levies from the Cinque Ports and other towns, the naval force in 1378 was insufficient to keep even English waters free from pirates, and it was due to the private exertions of John Philpot, a London merchant, who fitted out a squadron at his own expense, that John Mercer, a celebrated Scottish pirate, was captured and his career ended. Plymouth and Hastings were burned, Winchelsea was attacked, and two descents were made, with much damage, upon the Isle of Wight. In one of these descents the French possessed themselves of most of the island, but were finally driven to their ships by Sir Hugh Tyrrel, governor of Carisbrooke, and &quot; a spur of incredible sharp ness.&quot; Return expeditions were made to French and Spanish towns by the English, who, however, acted rather in the privateer capacity of men who had to take the law into their own hands than as authorized warriors of the English king. Naval affairs improved under Henry IV., and the reign of Henry V. was most glorious in maintaining the naval superiority over the fleets of France. From a letter of this sovereign to his lord chancellor, dated 12th August 1417, discovered by Samuel Lysons among the records in the Tower, and of which the following is a copy, it would appear that there was something like an established royal navy in his reign, independently of the shipping furnished by the Cinque Ports and the merchants, for the king s own use, on occasion of any particular expedition. The letter appears to have been written nine days after the surrender of the castle of Touque, near Honfleur, in Normandy, whence it is dated. &quot; An rcKerendpere en Dieu VEvesque de Duresmc Tire Chanceller d Angleterre. &quot; By the Kyng &quot; Worshipful fader yn God We sende you closed within this letter a cedule conteyning the names of certein Maistres for owr owne grete Shippes Carrakes Barges and Balyngers to the whiche Maistres We have granted annuitees such as is appointed upon echo of hem in the same Cedule to take yercly of owre grante while that us lust at owr Exchequer of Westm r. at the termes of Michelmasse and Ester by even porcions. Wherefore We wol and charge yow that unto cche of the said Maistres ye do make under owr grete seel beyng in yowre warde owr letters patentes severales in forme after th effect and pourport of owr said grante. Yeven under owr signet atte owr Castle of Touque the xij. day of August. &quot; Extract from the Schedule contained in the preceding Letter. vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Grande Niof appelle ) I hc [or &quot;Jehu&quot;] dont John Wil- ( liam est Maistre 1 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Trinate Royale dont ) Steph Thomas est Maistre garde deinz Hannill. vj. Mariners. vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Holy Cost dont Jor dan Brownyng est Maistre vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrake appellee le Petre dont John Gerard est Maistre vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrake appellee lePaule dont William Payne est Maistre vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appellee le Andrewe dont John Thornyng est Maistr vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appellee le Xpofre dont Tendrell est Maistr vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appellee le Marie dont William Richeman est Maistr vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appellee le Marie dont William Hethe est Maistre vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appellee le George dont John Mersh est Maistr V J. I vl Mariners. Mariners. Mariners. Mariners. Mariners. Mariners. Mariners. Mariners. The remainder, to the masters of which pensions were thus granted, consist of 17 &quot;niefs, barges, and bally n- gers,&quot; some with three, and others two mariners only. But history informs us that about this time Henry embarked an army of 25,000 men at Dover on board of 1500 sail of ships, two of which carried purple sails, embroidered with the arms of England and France, one styled the &quot; King s Chamber,&quot; the other his &quot; Saloon,&quot; as typical of his keeping his court at sea, which he considered as a part of his dominions. The general orders for the admii i of a fleet, contained in the Black Book of the Admiralty, lay it down that &quot; the admirall ought by his office to elect and order for the king s person, if he be present, otherwise for his lieutenant, the best and most able shipp of the kingdome, which shall be called the chamber of the king or of his lieutenant ; and if the king be present then the Comptroller of his household is to make choice of some of the best shipps of the whole ffleete (that is to say) one shipp for the Hall, another for the Wardrobe, the third for the Larder, and the fourth for the Kitchen.&quot; Froissart, writing of the battle of L Espagnols sur Mer, in 1350, speaks of a ship called &quot; la Salle du Roi, ou tous ses hotels e toient.&quot; It -would appear from a very curious poem, 1 written in the early part of the reign of Henry VI. (between 1426 and 1438), that the navy of his predecessor was considerable, but that, by neglect, it was then reduced to the same state in which it had been during the preceding reigns. Shortly after the time when this poem must have been written, it appears from the parliament roll (20th Henry VI., 1442) that an armed naval force, consisting only of eight large ships, with smaller vessels to attend them, was to be collected from the ports of London, Bristol, Dart mouth, Hull, Newcastle, Winchelsea, Plymouth, Falmouth, &c. ; and, of course, the royal ships of 1417, the names of which are. contained in the foregoing schedule, were then either gone to decay or dispersed. We are not to judge of the size of the ships from the few mariners appointed to each. These were merely the ship-keepers, or harbour- duty men, placed on permanent pay, to keep the ships in a condition fit for sea when wanted. The classes of ships and vessels mentioned in the records of what may be called the first period of the British navy are very numerous, varying with the use for which they were designed. Thus there were &quot;cogs,&quot; or large, swift vessels, sometimes of 250 tons, carrying 130 seamen besides archers and soldiers; &quot;barges,&quot; or small cogs, which carried 60 to 80 men; &quot;balingers,&quot; or boats resembling modern barges ; &quot; caraks,&quot; large vessels, chiefly used in Continental navies ; &quot; crayers,&quot; transport 1 &quot;The English Policie, exhorting all England to keep the Sea, and namely the Narrow Sea ; showing what profit cometh thereof, and also what worship and salvation to England and to all Englishmen&quot;; it is printed in the first volume of Hakluyt s Collection of Voyages.