Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/148

128. The ships, indeed, in commission, belonging to the Crown, did not exceed sixty; but several were larger than the largest of the French, and all were more efficiently manned. The 'Great Harry,' a ship of a thousand tons, with a crew of seven hundred, carried Lord Lisle's flag. The 'Venetian,' with the flag of Sir Peter Carew, was seven hundred tons; her crew four hundred and fifty. The rest were rather smaller, although they passed at the time as vessels of first-class power. In collective force, nevertheless, the enemy had the advantage. The whole number of sailors in the fleet at the beginning of June amounted only to twelve thousand.

The royal squadron, however, properly so called, formed but a small part of the naval strength of England. The sea-going population had not thought it necessary to discontinue their ordinary occupations; the Iceland and Ireland fishing-fleets sailed as usual in May; but there remained a number of vessels, of various sizes, belonging to Falmouth, Truro, Fowey, Plymouth, Dartmouth, Dittisham, Totness, Poole, Rye, Bristol, and other places, which through the winter had been out as privateers; and, having gorged themselves with plunder, were called in, as the time of danger approached, to join the lord admiral at Spithead. The two services had absorbed between them the effective male inhabitants of the coast towns. There was a fear that the home fisheries would be neglected, and an important item in the