Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/192

 NAVY middle ages vessels were small, and the bold spirit of the Northmen and the Frisians had passed away; whatever improvements were made were owing to Italians and Portuguese, Henry Grace de Dien, from an old woodcut. who now became the boldest sailors. The Portuguese discovered the route by sea to India; two Italians in foreign service, Co- lumbus and Cabot, were the first since the times of Leif the Northman to cross the Atlantic. Long sea voyages now became a necessity, and they re- quired large ships ; at the same time the necessity of arming vessels of war, and even merchantmen, with heavy artillery, equally tended to increase size and tonnage. The same causes which had produced standing armies on land, now produced standing navies afloat ; and it is from this time only that we can proper- ly speak of navies. The era of colonial enterprise which now opened for all seafaring nations, also saw the formation of large fleets of war to protect the newly formed colonies and their trade ; and a period followed richer in naval strug- gles and more fruitful to the development of naval armaments than any that preceded it. The foundation of the British navy was laid by Henry VII., who built the first ship, called " The Great Harry." His successor formed a regular standing fleet, the property of the state, the largest ship of which was called the Henry Grace de Dieu. This vessel, the largest ever built up to that time, carried 80 guns, partly on two regular flush gun decks, partly on additional platforms both forward and astern. She was pro- vided with four masts ; her tonnage is variously stated at from 1,000 to 1,500. The whole of the British fleet at the death of Henry VIII. consisted of about 50 sail, with an aggregate tonnage of 12,000, and manned by 8,000 sailors and marines. In 1578 it comprised 24 ships, of 10,395 tons, 954 guns, and 6,570 men. The Tri- umph, of 1,000 tons and 100 guns, was the largest vessel; next to her ranked the Elizabeth and the White Bear, each of 900 tons and 80 guns. The large ships of the period were clumsy contrivances, deep-waisted, that is to say, provided with towering forecastles and poops, which rendered them exceedingly top-heavy. The Mary Eose was sunk off Sheerness in 1588 while tacking, her lower ports being only 16 inches above the water. The first English three-decker was the Sovereign of the Seas, afterward called the Eoyal Sovereign, built in 1637. She bore the character of the best man-of-war in the world until 1696, when she was accidental- The Sovereign of the Seas. ly burned at Chatham. She is the first vessel of whose armament we get something like an accurate account. She had three flush decks, a forecastle, a half deck, a quarter deck, and a