The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume I Part 20

To the Tyrians also is due the colonisation of other countries, which, following the example of the mother-country, soon rivalled her in wealth and enterprise. The princ.i.p.al of these was Carthage, which in its turn founded colonies of her own, one of the first of which was Gades (Cadiz).

From that port Hanno made his celebrated voyage to the west coast of Africa, starting with sixty s.h.i.+ps or galleys, of fifty oars each. He is said to have founded six trading-posts or colonies. About the same time Hamilco went on a voyage of discovery to the north-western sh.o.r.es of Europe, where, according to a poem of Festus Avienus,(128) he formed settlements in Britain and Ireland, and found tin and lead, and people who used boats of skin or leather. Aristotle tells us that the Carthaginians were the first to increase the size of their galleys from three to four banks of oars.

Under the dynasty of the Ptolemies the maritime commerce of Egypt rapidly improved. The first of these kings caused the erection of the celebrated Pharos or lighthouse at Alexandria, in the upper storey of which were windows looking seaward, and inside which fires were lighted by night to guide mariners to the harbour. Upon its front was inscribed, "King Ptolemy to G.o.d the Saviour, for the benefit of sailors." His successor, Ptolemy Philadelphus, attempted to cut a ca.n.a.l a hundred cubits in width between Arsinoe, on the Red Sea, not far from Suez, to the eastern branch of the Nile. Enormous vessels were constructed at this time and during the succeeding reigns. Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, is said to have owned five hundred galleys and two thousand smaller vessels. Lucian speaks of a vessel that he saw in Egypt that was one hundred and twenty cubits long.

Another, constructed by Ptolemy Philopator, is described by Calixenus, an Alexandrian historian, as two hundred and eighty cubits, say 420 feet, in length. She is said to have had four rudders, two heads, and two sterns, and to have been manned by 4,000 sailors (meaning princ.i.p.ally oarsmen) and 3,000 fighting-men. Calixenus also describes another built during the dynasty of the Ptolemies, called the _Thalamegus_, or "carrier of the bed-chamber." This leviathan was 300 feet in length, and fitted up with every conceivable kind of luxury and magnificence-with colonnades, marble staircases, and gardens; from all which it is easy to infer that she was not intended for sea-going purposes, but was probably an immense barge, forming a kind of summer palace, moored on the Nile. Plutarch in speaking of her says that she was a mere matter of curiosity, for she differed very little from an immovable building, and was calculated mainly for show, as she could not be put in motion without great difficulty and danger.

But the most prodigious vessel on the records of the ancients was built by order of Hiero, the second Tyrant of Syracuse, under the superintendence of Archimedes, about 230 years before Christ, the description of which would fill a small volume. Athenaeus has left a description of this vast floating fabric. There was, he states, as much timber employed in her as would have served for the construction of fifty galleys. It had all the varieties of apartments and conveniences necessary to a palace-such as banqueting-rooms, baths, a library, a temple of Venus, gardens, fish-ponds, mills, and a s.p.a.cious gymnasium. The inlaying of the floors of the middle apartment represented in various colours the stories of Homer's "Iliad;" there were everywhere the most beautiful paintings, and every embellishment and ornament that art could furnish were bestowed on the ceilings, windows, and every part. The inside of the temple was inlaid with cypress-wood, the statues were of ivory, and the floor was studded with precious stones. This vessel had twenty benches of oars, and was encompa.s.sed by an iron rampart or battery; it had also eight towers with walls and bulwarks, which were furnished with machines of war, one of which was capable of throwing a stone of 300 pounds weight, or a dart of twelve cubits long, to the distance of half a mile. To launch her, Archimedes invented a screw of great power. She had four wooden and eight iron anchors; her mainmast, composed of a single tree, was procured after much trouble from distant inland mountains. Hiero finding that he had no harbours in Sicily capable of containing her, and learning that there was famine in Egypt, sent her loaded with corn to Alexandria. She bore an inscription of which the following is part:-"Hiero, the son of Hierocles, the Dorian, who wields the sceptre of Sicily, sends this vessel bearing in her the fruits of the earth. Do thou, O Neptune, preserve in safety this s.h.i.+p over the blue waves."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FLEET OF ROMAN GALLEYS.]

Among the Grecian states Corinth stood high in naval matters. Her people were expert s.h.i.+p-builders, and claimed the invention of the trireme, or galley with three tiers of oars. Athens, with its three ports, also carried on for a long period a large trade with Egypt, Palestine, and the countries bordering the Black Sea. The Romans had little inclination at first for seamans.h.i.+p, but were forced into it by their rivals of Carthage.

It was as late as B.C. 261 before they determined to build a war-fleet, and had not a Carthaginian galley, grounded on the coast of Italy, been seized by them, they would not have understood the proper construction of one. Previously they had nothing much above large boats rudely built of planks. The n.o.ble Romans affected to despise commerce at this period, and trusted to the Greek and other traders to supply their wants. Quintus Claudius introduced a law, which pa.s.sed, that no senator or father of one should own a vessel of a greater capacity than just sufficient to carry the produce of their own lands to market. Hear the enlightened Cicero on the subject of commerce. He observes that, "_Trade is mean if it has only a small profit for its object_; but it is otherwise if it has large dealings, bringing many sorts of merchandise from foreign parts, and distributing them to the public without deceit; and if after a reasonable profit such merchants are contented with the riches they have acquired, and purchasing land with them retire into the country, and apply themselves to agriculture, I cannot perceive wherein is the dishonour of that function." Mariners were not esteemed by the Romans until after the great battle of Actium, which threw the monopoly of the lucrative Indian trade into their hands. Claudius, A.D. 41, deepened the Tiber, and built the port of Ostia; and about fifty years later Trajan constructed the ports of Civita Vecchia and Ancona, where commerce flourished. The Roman fleets were often a source of trouble to them. Carausius, who was really a Dutch soldier of fortune, about the year 280, seized upon the fleet he commanded, and crossed from Gessoriac.u.m (Boulogne) to Britain, where he proclaimed himself emperor. He held the reins of government for seven years, and was at length murdered by his lieutenant. He was really the first to create a British manned fleet. In the reign of Diocletian, the Veneti, on the coast of Gaul, threw off the Roman yoke, and claimed tribute from all who appeared in their seas. The same emperor founded Constantinople, erected later, under Constantine, into the seat of government. This city seemed to be destined by nature as a great commercial centre; caravans placed it in direct communication with the East, and it was really the entrepot of the world till its capture by the Venetians, in 1204. That independent republic had been then in a flouris.h.i.+ng condition for over two hundred years, and for more than as many after, its people were the greatest traders of the world. It was at Venice in 1202 that some of the leading pilgrims a.s.sembled to negotiate for a fleet to be used in the fourth crusade. The crusaders agreed to pay the Venetians before sailing eighty-four thousand marks of silver, and to share with them all the booty taken by land or sea. The republic undertook to supply flat-bottomed vessels enough to convey four thousand five hundred knights, and twenty thousand soldiers, provisions for nine months, and a fleet of galleys.

"Surrounded by the silver streak," our hardy forefathers often crossed to Ireland and France, prior to the first invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar, B.C. 55, when he sailed from Boulogne with eighty vessels and 8,000 men, and with eighteen transports to carry 800 horses for the cavalry. In the second invasion he employed a fleet of 600 boats and twenty-five war-galleys, having with him five legions of infantry and 2,000 cavalry, a formidable army for the poor islanders to contend against. But their intercourse with the Romans speedily brought about commercial relations of importance. The pearl fisheries were then most profitable, while the "native" oyster was greatly esteemed by the Roman epicures, of whom Juvenal speaks in his fourth satire. He says they

"Could at one bite the oyster's taste decide, And say if at Circean rocks, or in The Lucrine Lake, or on the coast of Richborough, In Britain they were bred."

British oysters were exported to Rome, as American oysters are now-a-days to England. Martial also mentions another trade in one of his epigrams, that of basket-making-

"Work of barbaric art, a basket, I From painted Britain came; but the Roman city Now calls the painted Briton's art their own."

The smaller description of boats, other than galleys, employed by the Romans for transporting their troops and supplies, were the _kiulae_, called by the Saxons _ceol_ or _ciol_, which name has come down to us in the form of _keel_, and is still applied to a description of barge used in the north of England. Thus

"Weel may the keel row,"

says the song, and on the "coaly Tyne," a small barge carrying twenty-one tons four hundredweight is said to carry a "keel" of coals. The Romans must also have possessed large transport vessels, for within seventy or eighty years after they had gained a secure footing in this country, they received a reinforcement of 5,000 men in seventeen s.h.i.+ps, or about 300 men, besides stores, to each vessel.

Bede places the final departure of the Romans from Britain in A.D. 409, or just before the siege of Rome by Attila. Our ancestors were now rather worse off than before, for they were left a prey to the Vikings-those bold, hardy, unscrupulous Scandinavian seamen of the north, who began to make piratical visits for the sake of plunder to the coasts of Scotland and England. They found their way to the Mediterranean, and were known and feared in every port from Iceland to Constantinople. Their galleys were propelled mainly by means of oars, but they had also small square sails to get help from a stern wind, and as they often sailed straight across the stormy northern seas, it is probable that they had made considerable progress in the rigging and handling of their s.h.i.+ps. A plank-built boat was discovered a few years since in Denmark, which the antiquaries a.s.sign to the fifth century. It is a row-boat, measuring seventy-seven feet from stem to stern, and proportionately broad in the middle. The construction shows that there was an abundance of material and skilled labour. It is alike at bow and stern, and the thirty rowlocks are reversible, so as to permit the boat to be navigated with either end forward. The vessel is built of heavy planks overlapping each other from the gunwale to the keel, and cut thick at the point of juncture, so that they may be mortised into the cross-beams and gunwale, instead of being merely nailed. Very similar boats, light, swift, and strong, are still used in the Shetlands and Norway.

Little is known of the state of England from the departure of the Romans to the eighth century. The doubtful and traditionary landing of Hengist and Horsa with 1,500 men, "in three long s.h.i.+ps," is hardly worth discussing here. The Venerable Bede, who wrote about A.D. 750, speaks of London as "the mart of many nations, resorting to it by sea and land;" and he continues that "King Ethelbert built the church of St. Paul in the city of London, where he and his successors should have their episcopal see."

But the history of this period generally is in a hopeless fog. Still we know that London was now a thriving port. Caesar, in his "Commentaries"

distinctly states that his reason for attempting the conquest of England was on account of the vast supplies which his Gaulish enemies received from us, in the way of trade. The exports were princ.i.p.ally cattle, hides, corn, dogs, and _slaves_, the latter an important item. Strabo observes that "our internal parts at that time were on a level with the African slave coasts." "Britons never shall be slaves" could not therefore have been said in those days. London, long prior to the invasion of England by the Romans, was an existing city, and vessels paid dues at Billingsgate long before the establishment of any custom-house. Pennant tells us, in his famous work on London, "As early as 979, all the reign of Ethelred, a small vessel was to pay _ad Bilynggesgate_ one halfpenny as a toll; a greater, bearing sails, one penny; a keel or hulk (_ceol vel hulcus_), fourpence; a s.h.i.+p laden with wood, one piece for toll; and a boat with fish, one halfpenny; or a larger, one penny. We had even now trade with France for its wines, for mention is made of s.h.i.+ps from Rouen, who came here and landed them, and freed them from toll-_i.e._, paid their duties.

What they amounted to I cannot learn."

The Danes, having once a foot-hold, were never thoroughly expelled till the Norman conquest, and as a maritime race excelled all the nations of the north of Europe. They had two princ.i.p.al cla.s.ses of vessels, the _Drakers_ and _Holkers_, the former named from carrying a dragon on the bows, and bearing the Danish flag of the raven. The holker was at first a small boat, hollowed out of the trunk of a tree, but the word "hulk,"

evidently derived from it, was used afterwards for vessels of larger dimensions. They had also another vessel called a _Snekkar_ (serpent), strangely so named, for it was rather a short, stumpy kind of boat, not unlike the Dutch galliots of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Their piratical expeditions soon increased, and Wales and the island of Anglesey were frequently pillaged by them, while in Ireland they possessed the ports of Dublin, Waterford, and Cork, a Danish king reigning in the two first cities. But a king was to arise who would change all this-Alfred the Great and Good, the "Father of the British Navy."

On the accession of Alfred the Great to the throne, he found England so over-run by the Danes, that he had, as every school-boy knows, to conceal himself with a few faithful followers in the forests. In his retirement he busied himself in devising schemes for ridding his country of the pirate marauders; and without much deliberation he saw that he must first have a maritime force of his own, and meet the enemies of England on the sea, which they considered their own especial element. He set himself busily to study the models of the Danish s.h.i.+ps, and, aided by his hardy followers, stirred up a spirit of maritime ambition, which had not existed to any great extent before. At the end of four years of unremitting labour in the prosecution of his schemes, he possessed the nucleus of a fleet in six galleys, which were double the length of any possessed by his adversaries, and which carried sixty oars, and possessed ample s.p.a.ce for the fighting men on board. With this fleet he put to sea, taking the command in person, and routed a marauding expedition of the Danes, then about to make a descent on the coast. The force was larger than his own; but he succeeded in capturing one and in driving off the rest. In the course of the next year or two he captured or sunk eighteen of the enemy's galleys, and they found at last that they could not have it all their own way on the sea.

About this time the cares of government occupied necessarily much of his time: his astute policy was to win over a number of the more friendly Danes to his cause, by giving them grants of land, and obliging them in return to a.s.sist in driving off aggressors. He was nearly the first native of England who made any efforts to extend the study of geography.

According to the Saxon chronicler, Florence of Worcester, A.D. 897, he consulted Ohther, a learned Norwegian, and other authorities, from whom he obtained much information respecting the northern seas. Ohther had not only coasted along the sh.o.r.es of Norway, but had rounded the North Cape-it was a feat in those days, gentle reader, but now Cook's tourists do it-and had reached the bay in which Archangel is situated. The ancient geographer gave Alfred vivid descriptions of the gigantic whales, and of the innumerable seals he had observed, not forgetting the terrible maelstrom, the dangers of which he did not under-rate, and which it was generally believed in those days was caused by a horribly vicious old sea-dragon, who sucked the vessels under. He compared the natives to the Scythians of old, and was rather severe on them, as they brewed no ale, the poor drinking honey-mead in its stead, and the rich a liquor distilled from goats' milk. Alfred not merely sent vessels to the north on voyages of discovery, but opened communication with the Mediterranean, his galleys penetrating to the extreme east of the Levant, whereby he was enabled to carry on a direct trade with India. William of Malmesbury mentions the silks, shawls, incense, spices, and aromatic gums which Alfred received from the Malabar coast in return for presents sent to the Nestorian Christians. Alfred constantly and steadily encouraged the science of navigation, and certainly earned the right of the proud t.i.tle he has borne since of "Father of the British Navy."

[Ill.u.s.tration: APPROACH OF THE DANISH FLEET.]

Time pa.s.ses and we come to Canute. On his accession to the throne as the son of a Danish conqueror, he practically put an end to the incursions and attacks of the northern pirates. The influence of his name was so great that he found it unnecessary to maintain more than forty s.h.i.+ps at sea, and the number was subsequently reduced. So far from entertaining any fear of revolt from the English, or of any raid on his sh.o.r.es, he made frequent voyages to the Continent as well as to the north. He once proceeded as far as Rome, where he met the Emperor Conrad. II., from whom he obtained for all his subjects, whether merchants or pilgrims, complete exemption from the heavy tolls usually exacted on their former visits to that city.

Canute was a cosmopolitan. By his conquest of Norway, not merely did he represent the English whom he had subjugated, and who had become attached to him, but the Danes, their constant and inveterate foes and rivals. He thus united under one sovereignty the princ.i.p.al maritime nations of the north.

And still the writer exerts the privilege conceded to all who wield the pen, of pa.s.sing quickly over the pages of history. "The stories," says a writer(129) who made maritime subjects a peculiar study, "as to the number of vessels under the order of the Conqueror on his memorable expedition are very conflicting. Some writers have a.s.serted that the total number amounted to no less than 3,000, of which six or seven hundred were of a superior order, the remainder consisting of boats temporarily built, and of the most fragile description. Others place the whole fleet at not more than 800 vessels of all sizes, and this number is more likely to be nearest the truth. There are now no means of ascertaining their size, but their form may be conjectured from the representation of these vessels on the rolls of the famous Bayeux tapestry. It is said that when William meditated his descent on England he ordered 'large s.h.i.+ps' to be constructed for that purpose at his seaports, collecting, wherever these could be found, smaller vessels or boats, to accompany them. But even the largest must have been of little value, as the whole fleet were by his orders burned and destroyed, as soon as he landed with his army, so as to cut off all retreat, and to save the expense of their maintenance." This would indicate that the sailors had to fight ash.o.r.e, and may possibly have been intended to spur on his army to victory. Freeman states, in his "History of the Norman Conquest," that he finds the largest number of s.h.i.+ps in the Conqueror's expedition, as compiled from the most reliable authorities, was 3,000, but some accounts put it as low as 693. Most of the s.h.i.+ps were presents from the prelates or great barons. William FitzOsborn gave 60, the Count de Mortaine, 120; the Bishop of Bayeux, 100; and the finest of all, that in which William himself embarked, was presented to him by his own d.u.c.h.ess, Matilda, and named the _Mora_. Norman writers of the time state that the vessels were not much to boast of, as they were all collected between the beginning of January and the end of August, 1066. Lindsay, who thoroughly investigated the subject, says that "The Norman merchant vessels or transports were in length about three times their breadth, and were sometimes propelled by oars, but generally by sails; their galleys appear to have been of two sorts-the larger, occasionally called galleons, carrying in some instances sixty men, well armed with iron armour, besides their oars. The smaller galleys, which are not specially described, doubtless resembled s.h.i.+ps' launches in size, but of a form enabling them to be propelled at a considerable rate of speed."

Boats covered with leather were even employed on the perilous Channel voyage.

[Ill.u.s.tration: s.h.i.+PS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. (_From the Bayeux Tapestry._)]

The Conqueror soon added to the security of the country by the establishment of the Cinque Ports, which, as their t.i.tle denotes, were at first five, but were afterwards increased in number so as to include the following seaports:-Dover, Sandwich, Hythe, and Romsey, in Kent; and Rye, Winchelsea, Hastings, and Seaford, in Suss.e.x. On their first establishment they were to provide fifty-two s.h.i.+ps, with twenty-four men on each, for fifteen days each year, in case of emergency. In return they had many privileges, a part of which are enjoyed by them to-day. Their freemen were styled barons; each of the ports returned two members of Parliament. An officer was appointed over them, who was "Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports," and also Constable of Dover Castle.

"For more than a hundred years after the Conquest," says the writer just quoted, "England's s.h.i.+ps had rarely ventured beyond the Bay of Biscay on the one hand, and the entrance to the Baltic on the other; and there is no special record of long voyages by English s.h.i.+ps until the time of the Crusades; which, whatever they might have done for the cause of the Cross, undoubtedly gave the first impetus to the s.h.i.+pping of the country. The number of rich and powerful princes and n.o.bles who embarked their fortunes in these extraordinary expeditions offered the chance of lucrative employment to any nation which could supply the requisite amount of tonnage, and English s.h.i.+powners very naturally made great exertions to reap a share of the gains." One of the first English n.o.blemen who fitted out an expedition to the Holy Land was the Earl of Ess.e.x; and twelve years afterwards, Richard Cur de Lion, on ascending the throne, made vast levies on the people for the same object, joining Philip II. and other princes for the purpose of raising the Cross above the Crescent. Towards the close of 1189 two fleets had been collected, one at Dover, to convey Richard and his followers (among whom were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Salisbury, and the Lord Chief Justice of England) across the Channel, and a second and still larger fleet at Dartmouth, composed of numbers of vessels from Aquitaine, Brittany, Normandy, and Poitou, for the conveyance of the great bulk of the Crusaders, to join Richard at Ma.r.s.eilles, whither he had gone overland with the French king and his other allies. The Dartmouth fleet, under the command of Richard de Camville and Robert de Sabloil, set sail about the end of April, 1190. It had a disastrous voyage, but at length reached Lisbon, where the Crusaders behaved so badly, and committed so many outrages, that 700 were locked up.

After some delay, they sailed up the Mediterranean, reaching Ma.r.s.eilles, where they had to stop some time to repair their unseaworthy s.h.i.+ps, and then followed the king to the Straits of Messina, where the fleets combined. It was not till seven months later that the fleet got under weigh for the Holy Land. It numbered 100 s.h.i.+ps of larger kind, and fourteen smaller vessels called "busses." Each of the former carried, besides her crew of fifteen sailors, forty soldiers, forty horses, and provisions for a twelvemonth. Vinisauf, who makes the fleet much larger, mentions that it proceeded in the following order:-three large s.h.i.+ps formed the van; the second line consisted of thirteen vessels, the lines expanding to the seventh, which consisted of sixty vessels, and immediately preceded the king and his s.h.i.+ps. On their way they fell in with a very large s.h.i.+p belonging to the Saracens, manned by 1,500 men, and after a desperate engagement took her. Richard ordered that all but 200 of those not killed in the action should be thrown overboard, and thus 1,300 infidels were sacrificed at one blow. Off Etna, Sicily, they experienced a terrific gale, and the crew got "sea-sick and frightened;" and off the island of Cyprus they were a.s.sailed by another storm, in which three s.h.i.+ps were lost, and the Vice-Chancellor of England was drowned, his body being washed ash.o.r.e with the Great Seal of England hanging round his neck.

Richard did not return to England till after the capture of Acre, and the truce with Saladin; he landed at Sandwich, as nearly as may be, four years from the date of his start. As this is neither a history of England, nor of the Crusades, excepting only as either are connected with the sea, we must pa.s.s on to a subject of some importance, which was the direct result of experience gained at this period.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CRUSADERS AND SARACENS.]

The foundation of a maritime code, by an ordinance of Richard Cur de Lion, a most important step in the history of merchant s.h.i.+pping, was due to the knowledge acquired by English pilgrims, traders, and seamen at the time of the Crusades. The first code was founded on a similar set of rules then existing in France, known as the _Roles d'Oleron_, and some of the articles show how loose had been the conditions of the sailor's life previously. The first article gave a master power to pledge the tackle of a s.h.i.+p, if in want of provisions for the crew, but forbad the sale of the hull without the owner's permission. The captain's position, as lord paramount on board, was defined; no one, not even part-owners or super-cargoes, must interfere; he was expected to understand thoroughly the art of navigation. The second article declared that if a vessel was held in port through failure of wind or stress of weather, the s.h.i.+p's company should be guided as to the best course to adopt by the opinion of the majority. Two succeeding articles related to wrecks and salvage. The fifth article provided that no sailor in port should leave the vessel without the master's consent; if he did so, and any harm resulted to the s.h.i.+p or cargo, he should be punished with a year's imprisonment, on bread and water. He might also be flogged. If he deserted altogether and was retaken, he might be branded on the face with a red-hot iron, although allowance was made for such as ran away from their s.h.i.+ps through ill-usage. Sailors could also be compensated for unjust discharge without cause. Succeeding clauses refer to the moral conduct of the sailor, forbidding drunkenness, fighting, &c. Article 12 provided that if any mariner should give the lie to another at a table where there was wine and bread, he should be fined four _deniers_; and the master himself offending in the same way should be liable to a double fine. If any sailor should impudently contradict the mate, he might be fined eight _deniers_; and if the master struck him with his fist or open hand he was required to bear the stroke, but if struck more than once he was ent.i.tled to defend himself. If the sailor committed the first a.s.sault he was to be fined 100 _sous_, or else his hand was to be chopped off. The master was required by another rule not to give his crew cause for mutiny, nor call them names, nor wrong them, nor "keep anything from them that is theirs, but to use them well, and pay them honestly what is their due." Another clause provided that the sailor might always have the option of going on shares or wages, and the master was to put the matter fairly before them. The 17th clause related to food. The hardy sailors of Brittany were to have only one meal a day from the kitchen, while the lucky ones of Normandy were to have two. When the s.h.i.+p arrived at a wine country the master was bound to provide the crew with wine. Sailors were elsewhere forbidden to take "royal" fish, such as the sturgeon, salmon, turbot, and sea-barbel, or to take on their own account fish which yield oil. These are a part only of the clauses; many others referring to matters connected with rigging, masts, anchorages, pilotage, and other technical points. In bad pilotage the navigator who brought mishap on the s.h.i.+p was liable to lose his head. The general tenor of the first code is excellent, and the rules were laid down with an evident spirit of fairness alike to the owner and sailor.

The subject of "Letters of Marque" might occupy an entire volume, and will recur again in these pages; They were in reality nothing more than privileges granted for purposes of retaliation-legalised piracy. They were first issued by Edward I., and the very first related to an outrage committed by Portuguese on an English subject. A merchant of Bayonne, at the time a port belonging to England, in Gascony, had s.h.i.+pped a cargo of fruit from Malaga, which, on its voyage along the coast of Portugal, was seized and carried into Lisbon by an armed cruiser belonging to that country, then at peace with England. The King of Portugal, who had received one-tenth part of the cargo, declined to restore the s.h.i.+p or lading, whereupon the owner and his heirs received a licence, to remain in force five years, to seize the property of the Portuguese, and especially that of the inhabitants of Lisbon, to the extent of the loss sustained, the expenses of recovery being allowed. How far the merchant of Bayonne recouped himself, history sayeth not.

A little later a most important mercantile trade came into existence-that in coal. From archaeological remains and discoveries it is certain that the Romans excavated coal during their reign on this island; but it was not till the reign of Edward III. that the first opening of the great Newcastle coal-fields took place, although as early as 1253 there was a lane at the back of Newgate called "Sea-coal Lane." As in many other instances, even in our own days, the value of the discovery seems to have been more appreciated by foreigners than by the people of this country, and for a considerable time after it had been found, the combustion of coal was considered to be so unhealthy that a royal edict forbad its use in the city of London, while the queen resided there, in case it might prove "pernicious to her health." At the same time, while England laid her veto on the use of that very article which has since made her, or helped to make her, the most famous commercial nation of the world, France sent her s.h.i.+ps laden with corn to Newcastle, carrying back coal in return, her merchants being the first to supply this new great article of commerce to foreign countries. In the reign of Henry V. the trade had become of such importance that a special Act was pa.s.sed providing for the admeasurement of s.h.i.+ps and barges employed in the coal trade.

King John stoutly claimed for England the sovereignty of the sea-he was not always so firm and decided-and decreed that all foreign s.h.i.+ps, the masters of which should refuse to strike their colours to the British flag, should be seized and deemed good and lawful prizes. This monarch is stated to have fitted out no less than 500 s.h.i.+ps, under the Earl of Salisbury, in the year 1213, against a fleet of s.h.i.+ps three times that number, organised by Philip of France, for the invasion of England. After a stubborn battle, the English were successful, taking 300 sail, and driving more than 100 ash.o.r.e, Philip being under the necessity of destroying the remainder to prevent them falling into the hands of their enemies. Some notion may be gained of the kinds of s.h.i.+ps of which these fleets were composed, by the account that is narrated of an action fought in the following reign with the French, who, with eighty "stout s.h.i.+ps,"

threatened the coast of Kent. This fleet being discovered by Hubert de Burgh, governor of Dover Castle, he put to sea with half the number of English vessels, and having got to the windward of the enemy, and run down many of the smaller s.h.i.+ps, he closed with the rest, and threw on board them a quant.i.ty of quick-lime-a novel expedient in warfare-which so blinded the crews that their vessels were either captured or sunk. The dominion of the sea was bravely maintained by our Edwards and Henrys in many glorious sea-fights. The temper of the times is strongly exemplified by the following circ.u.mstance. In the reign of Edward I. an English sailor was killed in a Norman port, in consequence of which war was declared by England against France, and the two nations agreed to decide the dispute on a certain day, with the whole of their respective naval forces. The spot of battle was to be the middle of the Channel, marked out by anchoring there an empty s.h.i.+p. This strange duel of nations actually took place, for the two fleets met on April 14th, 1293, when the English obtained the victory, and carried off in triumph 250 vessels from the enemy. In an action off the harbour of Sluys with the French fleet, Edward III. is said to have slain 30,000 of the enemy, and to have taken 200 large s.h.i.+ps, "in one of which only, there were 400 dead bodies." The same monarch, at the siege of Calais, is stated to have blockaded that port with 730 sail, having on board 14,956 mariners. The size of the vessels employed must have been rapidly enlarging.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DUEL BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH s.h.i.+PS.]

Chaucer gives us a graphic description of the British sailor of the fourteenth century in his Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales," It runs as follows:-

"A schipman was ther, wonyng fer by Weste: For ought I woot, he was of Dertemouthe, He rood upon a rouncy, as he couthe, In a goun of faldying to the kne.

A dagger hangyng on a laas hadde he Aboute his nekke under his arm adoun.

The hoote somer had maad his hew al broun; And certainly he was a good felawe.

Ful many a draught of wyn had he drawe From Burdeux-ward, whil that the chapman sleep.

Of nyce conscience took he no keep.

If that he foughte, and hadde the heigher hand, By water he sent hem hoom to every land.

But of his craft to rikne wel the tydes, His stremes and his dangers him bisides, His herbergh and his mane his lode menage, Ther was non such from Hulle to Cartage.

Hardy he was, and wys to undertake; With many a tempest hadde his berd ben schake.

He knew well alle the havens, as thei were, From Scotland to the Cape of Fynestere, And every cryk in Bretayne and in Spayne, His barge y-cleped was the _Magdelayne_."

In the reign of Henry V., the most glorious period up to that time of the British Navy, the French lost nearly all their navy to us at various times; among other victories, Henry Page, Admiral of the Cinque Ports, captured 120 merchantmen forming the Roch.e.l.le fleet, and all richly laden.

Towards the close of this reign, about the year 1416, England formally claimed the dominion of the sea, and a Parliamentary doc.u.ment recorded the fact. "It was never absolute," says Sir Walter Raleigh, "until the time of Henry VIII." That great voyager and statesman adds that, "Whoever commands the sea, commands the trade of the world; whosoever commands the trade, commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself."

A curious poem is included in the first volume of Hakluyt's famous collection of voyages, bearing reference to the navy of Henry. It is ent.i.tled, "The English Policie, exhorting all England to keep the Sea,"

&c. It was written apparently about the year 1435. It is a long poem, and the following is an extract merely:-

"And if I should conclude all by the King, Henrie the Fift, what was his purposing, Whan at Hampton he made the great _dromons_, Which pa.s.sed other great s.h.i.+ps of the Commons; The _Trinitie_, the _Grace de Dieu_, the _Holy Ghost_, And other moe, which as nowe be lost.

What hope ye was the king's great intente Of thoo s.h.i.+ppes, and what in mind be meant: It is not ellis, but that _he cast to bee_ Lord round about environ of the see.

And if he had to this time lived here, He had been Prince named withouten pere: His great s.h.i.+ps should have been put in preefes, Unto the ende that he ment of in chiefes.

For doubt it not but that he would have bee Lord and Master about the rand see: And kept it sure, to stoppe our ennemies hence, And wonne us good, and wisely brought it thence, That our pa.s.sage should be without danger, And his license on see to move and sterre."

When the king had determined, in 1415, to land an army in France, he hired s.h.i.+ps from Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland, his own naval means not being sufficient for the transport; among his other preparations, "requisite for so high an enterprise," boats covered with leather, for the pa.s.sage of rivers, are mentioned. His fleet consisted of 1,000 sail, and it left Southampton on Sunday, the 11th of August, of the above-mentioned year.

When the s.h.i.+ps had pa.s.sed the Isle of Wight, "swans were seen swimming in the midst of the fleet, which was hailed as a happy auspice." Henry anch.o.r.ed on the following Tuesday at the mouth of the Seine, about three miles from Harfleur. A council of the captains was summoned, and an order issued that no one, under pain of death, should land before the king, but that all should be in readiness to go ash.o.r.e the next morning. This was done, and the bulk of the army, stated to have comprised 24,000 archers, and 6,000 men of arms, was landed in small vessels, boats, and skiffs, taking up a position on the hill nearest to Harfleur. The moment Henry landed he fell on his knees and implored the Divine aid and protection to lead him on to victory, then conferring knighthood on many of his followers. At the entrance of the port a chain had been stretched between two large, well-armed towers, while it was farther protected by stakes and trunks of trees to prevent the vessels from approaching. During the siege, which lasted thirty-six days, the fleet blockaded the port, and at its conclusion Henry, flushed with a victory, which is said to have cost the English only 1,600 and the enemy 10,000 lives, determined to march his army through France to Calais. It was on this march that he won the glorious battle of Agincourt. On the 16th of November he embarked for Dover, reaching that port the same day. Here a magnificent ovation awaited him. The burgesses rushed into the sea and bore him ash.o.r.e on their shoulders; the whole population was intoxicated with delight. One chronicler states that the pa.s.sage across had been extremely boisterous, and that the French n.o.blemen suffered so much from sea-sickness that they considered the trip worse than the very battles themselves in which they had been taken prisoners! When Henry arrived near London, a great concourse of people met him at Blackheath, and he, "as one remembering from whom all victories are sent," would not allow his helmet to be carried before him, whereon the people might have seen the blows and dents that he had received; "neither would he suffer any ditties to be made and sung by minstrels of his glorious victory, for that he would have the praise and thanks altogether given to G.o.d."

[Ill.u.s.tration: REVERSE OF THE SEAL OF SANDWICH.]

Next year the French attempted to retake Harfleur. Henry sent a fleet of 400 sail to the rescue, under his brother John, Duke of Bedford, the upshot being that almost the whole French fleet, to the number of 500 s.h.i.+ps, hulks, carracks, and small vessels were taken or sunk. The English vessels remained becalmed in the roadstead for three weeks afterwards.