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 To assist in the executive business of the Lord High Admiral, the Admiralty Office or Admiralty Board was formed. Full regulations for the conduct of all these officials do not seem to have existed until the time of Edward VI.; and, indeed, it may be assumed that no department of such great importance could, at the mere fiat of an individual, leap at once into full activity and usefulness. The Commissioners of the Navy Office met, apparently from the time of their first appointment, on Tower Hill, in a building which, under Elizabeth, was known as the Queen's Consultation Room. The Board of Admiralty, in the earlier days of its existence, had no fixed home, and met sometimes at the Lord High Admiral's residence and sometimes even afloat.

At the instance of Sir Thomas Spert, Henry VIII. also, in 1513, established what is usually known as Trinity House, but is properly entitled "The Guild of the Holy and Undividable Trinity and St. Clement, at Deptford Strond." It was at first associated to some extent with the navy, part of its duty being to examine into the professional qualifications of officers and petty officers, and to supply seamen as they were needed. In 1566, the master, wardens, and assistants of the Guild were empowered to set up beacons and sea-marks; and, gradually, lighting, buoying, and pilotage fell more and more under their control, until their original connection with the navy became obscured.

Naval punishnments, "according to the custom of the sea," which was extremely barbarous, were much the same in the