Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/510

 502 ENGLISH GALLEYS IN THE October yet been set free.^ Moreover, from this time onwards, the restitution of the galley, which had been such a burning question since August 1546, disappeared from amongst the demands that Selve was pressing upon the English government.^ Mr. Oppenheim criticizes the navy list of 5 January 1548 ' as omitting the French galley or Mermaid which ' was in the service then and long afterwards'.* But if the French galley was restored in 1547, the 1548 list is perfectly accurate in giving the Galley Subtile as the only ' Roo Galley '.^ That this was really the case is confirmed by the fact that whenever Richard Broke is referred to during the year 1548 he is always described as captain of the galley,* and this title could hardly have been applied to him had there been more than one galley attached at this time to the English fleet. Several times also in the spring of 1548 Selve writes of ' la Gallayre qu'ilz ont ', as, for example, on 17 February : la Gallayre qu'ilz ont je I'ay moy mesmes veue en terre sur le bort de ceste riviere (i.e. the Thames) a in ou mi mil d'icy oii elle a este aussy mise en pieces et refaicte de neuf et m'est adviz qu'elle ne sera pas bien tost preste k servyr ; ' and in April he reports, ' Quand a la Gallayre j'entendz qu'elle sera dans I'eaue en ceste riviere la sepmaine prochaine et bien tost preste pour servir ', ® In 1549, however, there comes a change ; in the list of ships under Cotton (dated 12 May 1549) two galleys are mentioned, Galley — William Terrell '.* This ' late French galley ' is obviously for Selve in a letter to the constable dated 27 September 1547 says that ' Quelcun me diet hyer au soyr que ugne des gaUaires du baron de Sainct-Blancquard avoyt ren- contre en mer la gallaire d'Angleterre de laquelle elle avoyt recouvr6 tous les forsayres et aultres esquippages quy feurent retenuz icy audict baron quand sa gallaire luy feust rendue et neanlmoins avoyt laissd aller le corps de ladicte gallaire angloise, dont je ne 89ay aultrement la vdrite et estime, Monseigneur, que vous la s^aures trop mieulx par dek ' (ibid. p. 210). - • Its equipment is given as 250 soldiers, mariners, &c., 3 brass and 28 iron pieces. ' Selve to the constable of France, 17 February 1548 {Corresp. de Selve, p. 290). Correspondence explains that ' Gallayre ' refers to the Great Galley ; but this is hardly likely to be correct, for the Great Galley w&b not a galley at all in the continental sense of the term, and Selve is usually pretty accurate in this connexion ; moreover, the word ' voguer ' which he uses to describe the galley's motion is much more commonly used of rowing than of sailing. » State Papers, Dom., Edward VI, vii. 9. In Drake and the Tudor Navy (p. 66-7) Corbett follows Oppenheim and suggests that the late French galley was the one captured off Ambleteuse ; this of course, cannot have been the case. He also, curiously
 * The Inglesshe Gallay — Rycharde Broke ; The Late french
 * Selve to the constable, 7 June 1547 (Corresp. de Selve, p. 159).
 * The slaves were not retiimed, but whether they were set free or not is doubtful ,
 * Printed in Archaeologia, vi. 218-20.
 * Administration of the Royal Navy, p. 100.
 * Acts of the Privy Council, ii. 205, 22 June 1548 ; ii. 556, 1 July 1548.
 * Selve to the French king, 28 April 1548 (ibid. p. 334). The editors of Selve's