A HISTORY OF THE ADMINIS- TRATION OF THE ROYAL NAVY VOLUME I MDIX— MDCLX A HISTORY OF THE ADMINIS- TRATION OF THE ROYAL NAVY AND OF MERCHANT SHIPPING IN RELATION TO THE NAVY BY M. OPPENHEIM VOL I MDIX-MDCLX JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LONDON AND NEW YORK MDCCCXCVI A HISTORY OF THE ADMINIS- TRATION OF THE ROYAL NAVY AND OF MERCHANT SHIPPING IN RELATION TO THE NAVY ■:■ FROM MDIX TO MDCLX WITH AN INTRODUCTION TREATING OF THE PRECEDING PERIOD BY M. OPPENHEIM JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LONDON AND NEW YORK MDCCCXCVI ve .0 ^^^ J. MILLER ANC SON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH 7 480584 JUL f: :872 BOSTON COLLEGE UBBAK* CONTENTS List of Illustrations Preface . - . Introduction — The Navy before 1509 Henry Vin, 1509-1547 Edward VI, 1547-15 S3 Mary and Philip and Mary, 1553-15 58 Elizabeth, 1558-1603 James I, 1603-1625 . . Charles I, 162 5- 1649, Part I— The Seamen Part //—Royal and Merchant Shipping Part III— The Administration . The Commonwealth, 1649-16 60 , Appendix A — Inventory of the Henry Grace a Dieu B — The Mutiny of the Golden Lion C — Sir John Hawkyns . D — A Privateer of 1592 Index ...... PAGE viij ix I 45 100 109 115 184 216 251 279 302 372 382 392 398 401 tW ^ >} As the Holigost was of 760 tons a rate of ;^300, in modern values, or about eight shillings a ton for a voyage probably occupying nearly two months, cannot be considered excessive, and does not imply any great fear of sea risks, whether from man or the elements. And sold. jn the meantime, in virtue of the Council order of March 3, 1423, the destruction of a navy progressed merrily. During 1423 the following vessels were sold to merchants of London, Dartmouth, Bristol, Southampton, and Plymouth, and, from the prices, many of them must have been in good condition ' : — George (Carrack), . . . ;^I33 6 8 Grande Marie ^ .... ;^200 George (Balinger), ... 20 o o Holigost (Spayne) . . . 200 Christopher^ l66 13 4 Nicholas, 76 13 4 Katrine Breton (Balinger), 20 o Swan, 18 o o Thomas, 133 6 8 Cracchere, 36 13 4 Fawcon, ... ^50 o Anchors and other stores were sold and, in 1424, the storehouse and forge at Southampton went for £66, 13s 4d ; if there were to be no ships there was certainly no reason to keep up any establishment for their repairs. In the same year eight other vessels, mostly described as worn out, followed their sisters. They were sold for very low prices and the description of their state may be exact, although two at least were nearly new, and what we know of administrative methods in later times does not warrant an implicit faith, especially under a Council of Regency. When a 550 ton ship, like the Marie Sandwich^ brought only ;^I3, it must be assumed that she was almost worthless even for breaking up, or that the proceedings were not devoid of collusion. Henry VI :-. \ye have no record of the expenditure for the first years Subsequent _^^ ..i^r ^a ^ ^ ^ \ ^ Naval Adminis- of Henrys reign but, from 31st August 1427 to 31st August tration. 1433, the sum of £Zo<^, los 2d was spent by Soper for naval purposes, being an average of £\Z/!^, i8s 4d a year.^ The 1 Roll of Foreign Accounts, No. x. * Ibid, * Ibid. No. x. The Navy before 1509 23 Trinity Royaly Holigost, Grace Dieu, and Jesus were still in existence, but dismantled and unrigged at Bursledon. Apparently there were no officers attached to them, or at Southampton, of sufficient experience to assume responsi- bility, since Peter Johnson, master mariner of Sandwich, was paid for coming to superintend the removal of the masts of the Grace Dieii. The Trinity Royal was so far unseaworthy and useless as to be imbedded in the mud of the river Hamble, and fifteen Genoese and other foreign master mariners were employed about dismasting her. There seems at this time to have been some purpose of rebuilding the JesuSy because she was taken to a dock lately prepared at Southampton, and, of the whole amount before mentioned, £16$, 6s lod was laid out in unrigging her, towing to Southampton, expenses of dock, etc. As the sails and stores of the vessels sold in 1423-4 were still under Soper's care, a new storehouse, 160 feet long and 14 feet broad, was built at Southampton. That at London had not been closed in 1423, possibly because it may have been within the precincts of the Tower, and much of the equipment of the four great ships still remaining was kept in it. During the four years ending with the 31st August 1437, £96, OS 2^d was received from the Exchequer and £72, is 6d from the sale of cordage, etc., belonging to the ships ; ^ the expenditure was ;€^I43, 6s 5|d. For the two years ending 3 ist August 1439, the outlay on the Royal Navy was ;^8, 9s yd. The ' Libel of English Policie,' which is now held to have re- presented the views of the governing statesmen was therefore given to the world when the estimates for the crown navy averaged £^y 4s 6Jd a year. Economy had been further exercised by the discharge of the shipkeepers as superfluous, and possibly one of the results of this careful thrift was the destruction of the Grace Dieu by fire, while lying on the mud at Bursledon, during the night of the 7th January 1439.'^ Some loose fittings were saved and i5,40olbs. of iron recovered from the burnt wreck. Soper's next account, from 31st August 1439, ends on 7th April 1442, during which time he received ;^3, los from the Exchequer and i^3, os lifd for I222lbs. of lead from the ships. The dis- bursements were ;^4, i6s 4d, chiefly incurred in breaking up the cabins ^ on the Trinity Royal and Holigost and taking away the timber; the Jesus appears to have been too far perished to experience even this fate.^ From 7th April 1442, Soper was succeeded by Richard ^ Roll of Foreign Accounts^ No. x. ^ Ibid. No. xi. ^ ' Cabanes,' deck structures. * Roll of Foreign Accounts^ No. xi. 24 The Administration of the Royal Navy Clyvedon, a yeoman of the crown^ by Letters Patent, dated 26th March 1442, but at the smaller fee of one shilling a day which had been received by Soper's predecessors. In all probability Soper's salary was very irregularly, if at all paid, and an official outlay which averaged some ^i, los a year, offered few opportunities in the way of perquisites to a pros- perous merchant. For five years and ninety days, from 7th April 1442 until 6th July 1447, the receipts were £61, 2s 7d, all from the sale of stores originally belonging to the vessels sold in 1423-4 ; no expenses of any sort had to be met since the bare hulks of the Jesus, Trinity, and Holigost, still exist- ing were left to take care of themselves.^ The next and last accounts continue for the following four years and nine months to the 7th April 1452, when they cease. The amount received was £71, iis 4^d, again altogether from the sale of stores; the expenditure was £\6, 12s lod, mostly referable to the cost of a chain fixed across the Hamble.^ As only the rotting hulls of the Trinity and Holigost now remained, it is difficult to estimate its value so far as they were concerned, but for the first time for nearly forty years, there were now fears of French reprisals. Th^ Jtirt ■'^^ must not, however, be supposed that because the Royal of the Navy. Navy was not kept up, no measures were taken to protect maritime interests. The predecessors of Henry V had em- ployed a combination of royal and impressed ships ; Henry V apparently intended to increase the crown navy until it was powerful enough to enable him to rely on it for every purpose but that of transport. Rightly or wrongly the Protector and Council adopted a different system and one which was con- tinued through all the political changes of the reign. Instead of keeping up a royal force, or of pressing ships and placing them under the crown officers, indentures were entered into now and again with certain persons supposed to be competent to provide under their own command an agreed number of ships and men to keep the sea for a specified time. In favour of this plan it was perhaps argued that it was cheaper than any other, and that it should prove sufficiently effective as the coast of France was either in English occupation or belonged to a neutral or ally in the Duke of Brittany, and that an ex- pensive Royal Navy was unnecessary when a French navy was impossible and only the ordinary rovers of the sea had to be met and destroyed. Against it might be urged that, besides the delay inevitable to the process of collecting mer- chantmen at a given rendezvous, it was the object of the persons undertaking the work to make a profit on the ^ ' Valecto de corone.' In 145s there were twenty-three attached to the house- hold. The title implied the premiership of that class of society. ' Roll 0/ Foreign Accounts, No. xii. . * Ibid. No. xiii The Navy before 1509 25 bargain and that they would probably minimise effort, time, and expense, as much as practicable. So far as the scanty evidence enables us to judge it is possible that, until the loss of the French coastline, the plan, had it been carried on under the authoritative supervision of an able and honest crown official, might have worked successfully. Doubtless the economy promised was the final argument because, once the Royal Navy had been suffered to perish, there was never throughout the reign any financial possibility of restoring it. By 1433 the royal expenses were nearly double the revenue ; and the Lord Treasurer, Cromwell, told the King, ' nowe daily many warrantis come to me of paiementes ... of moche more than all youre revenus wold come to thowe they wer not assigned afore ; whereas hit aperith by your bokes of record which have been showed that they have been assigned nygh for this eleven yeere next folowyng.' ^ As many of the debts of Henry V for hire of ships and men's wages were still unpaid, the conditions were evidently not favourable to the direct action of the crown either in re- placing its own navy or taking ships into pay. An inter- mediary of recognised position to whom a payment was usually at once made on account, doubtless inspired more confidence in owners and men. Although not the first in point of time, the commission of Sir John Speke by an agreement of 2nd May 1440, is noticeable in that the service was apparently the first in which the men were paid and victualled at a weekly rate, one and sixpence a week wages and the same for victuals.^ For at least two centuries the rate had been threepence a day, with usually an additional sixpence a week ' reward,' and this reduction of pay seems to imply that there were plenty of men to be obtained. In 1442 the Commons themselves arranged the period — 2nd February to nth November — during which a fleet was to be at sea, and even designated the ships which were to serve, together with the allowances to officers and men.^ There were to be eight ships, all merchantmen, manned by 1200 men, and each of the eight was to be attended by a barge and balinger having respectively 80 and 40 men apiece. There were also four pinnaces. One of the ships is the Nicholas of the Tower of Bristol. ' Of the Tower ' was the man-of-war mark, and this is the only one found in the lists of merchantmen of the century. The Nicholas of the Tower of Henry V was sold to some purchasers belonging to Dartmouth, but may have passed into Bristol ownership. It was the crew of this vessel, usually described as a man-of-war, who seized and ^ Rot. Pari, iv, 439. 2 Roll of Foreign Accounts^ No. xi. ' Rot. Pari, v, 59. 26 The Administration of the Royal Navy- executed the Duke of Suffolk on his passage to Flanders when exiled in 1450. The seamen's pay, two shillings a month, if not an error of entry, can only be explained by the expectation of a liberal division of prize-money, one half of which was to be shared among masters, quarter-masters, soldiers and sailors. The other half was divided into thirds, of which two went to the owners and pne to the captains and under-captains. The victualling was now one and twopence a week. The captains and under-captains were military officers ; there was no ship- captain in the modern sense although the master, whose pay was sixpence a day, was his nearest equivalent. The condi- tions were beginning to slowly change during this century, but hitherto the fighting had been done on board ship by the soldiers embarked for the purpose. The duty of the sailors, whether officers or men, was only to handle the vessel at sea or in action. The fleet does not appear to have put to sea till August, although the undertakers. Sir William Ewe, Miles Stapylton, and John Heron, were receiving money for its pre- paration in June.i In 1445 the charges for the passage of Margaret of Anjou when she came to share the crown do not show the same tendency to lower wages ; masters were still paid sixpence a day, but the men received one and ninepence a week and their sixpence ' reward,' and pages (boys) one and three halfpence a week.2 During the winter of 1444-5 ^ Cinque Ports squadron was in commission from September to the following April, and this must be almost the last in- stance of the performance of the ancient service of the ports in a complete manner. Twenty-six vessels were provided — four from Hastings, seven from Winchelsea, four from Rye, Lydd, and Romney, two from Hythe, three from Dover, five from Sandwich, and one from Faversham, numbers which perhaps indicate the relative importance of the towns at this time. The whole cost of the fleet was only £6^2, 9s i^d, while Margaret's journey was considered worth ;^i8io, 9s 7|d.3 The tonnage of the Cinque Ports vessels is not given, but that they were of no great size may be inferred from the small number of men in each. In 1449 Alexander Eden and Gervays Clifton, afterwards Treasurer of Calais, were entrusted with the care of the Channel and, although their deeds have left no mark in history, they were considered so satisfactory at the time that, in the following year, Clifton was granted a special reward of four hundred marks for his good service. In 1450 Clifton and Eden were again performing the same duty and, in 1452, Clifton and Sir Edward Hull. Certainly there was now every ^ Exch. War.forlssueSy 27th June, I442. "^ Roll 0/ Foreign Accounts, No. xiii. * Ibid. The Navy before 1509 27 reason for redoubled vigilance. Between 1449 and 145 1 the English Conquests in France had gone like a dream ; only- Calais was left, and that was considered to be imminently- threatened. Notwithstanding loans, mortgages of revenues, and money obtained by pawning the crown jewels, the govern- ment owed £i'j2,ooo, while the receipts from the crown estates were not more than ^^5000 a year, and the yearly charge of the household alone was ;^2 3,000. If we add to these facts a saintly king, and an inefficient government, the first mutter- ings of the storm of civil war, and a foe, exhausted it is true, but eager for vengeance, we are able to partly picture the extent of the losses in honour and prosperity which made one of the first acts of the Duke of York, when created Protector on 27th March 1454, the appointment of a fresh commission to guard the seas. On the following 3rd April, the tunnage and poundage for three years was assigned to the Earls of Salis- bury, Shrewsbury, Wiltshire, Worcester, and Oxford, the Lords Stourton and Fitzwalter, and Sir Robert Vere, for that pur- pose.^ That immediate action might be taken a loan of ;i^iooo was raised in the proportions of London ;j^300, Bristol ;i^i50, Southampton ;!^ioo, Norwich and Yarmouth ^100, Ipswich, Colchester and Maiden ^100, York and Hull ;^ioo. New Sarum, Poole and Weymouth ^^50, Lynn £^0, Boston ^30, and Newcastle ;!^20, to be repaid out of the tunnage and poundage.2 In 1455, the first battle of St Albans was fought and there Henry vit— was no further question of naval matters until Edward IV was '^'^^ ^^^ ^*^" on the throne. Naval power appears to have had but little influence on the result of the wars of the Roses, nor, except at one moment, is the command of the sea shown to be a factor of any great importance in the struggle. Such as it was the Yorkists possessed it, as owners and seamen both affected the white Rose, but the Lancastrians seem never to have experi- enced any difficulty in obtaining necessary shipping, when in power on land, during the years of war. In 1459, however, when York fled to Ireland, and Warwick to Calais, the attach- ment the seamen generally felt for the latter enabled him to hold his own there and in the Channel, which perhaps had no nconsiderable influence on the final issue. The naval weak- ness of the Lancastrians compelled them, instead of protecting the English coasts off the French ports, to issue commissions to array the posse comitatus in the maritime counties to repel invasion, and the sack of Sandwich in 1457, by the Seneschal de Breze was an outcome of the changed conditions. But Warwick's fight on 29th May 1458, with a fleet of Spanish 1 Exch. War. for Issues^ 28th May 1454. The Rolls of Parliament only name the first four Earls and Lord Stourton. 2 Rot. Pari. V, 244. 28 The Administration of the Royal Navy Henry VI :— Results of the Contract System. Henry VI:- Docks, etc. ships of more than double his strength, and his capture of six of them, though little better than open piracy, was a sharp reminder that English seamen had not lost the spirit which animated their fathers, and, under the right conditions could still emulate their deeds.^ Unless the merchant marine had degenerated very rapidly there must have still been plenty of seagoing ships available in English ports, but the subjoined Treasury warrant perhaps indicates the difficulty the Lancastrians experienced in chartering ships and obtaining men. On 5th April 1460, Henry was once more king and his adversaries in exile, and an order of that date directs the officials of the Exchequer that ' of suche money as is lent unto us by oure trewe subgittes for keping of the see and othire causes ye do paye to Julyan Cope capitaigne of a carake of Venise nowe beinge in the Tamyse £100 for a moneth, and to Julyan Ffeso capitayne of a nother carrake of Jeane^ being at Sandwich ;^I05 for a moneth the which two carrakes be entretid to doo us service.' This is of course not conclusive because foreign vessels were at times hired by all our kings although English ships were available. But in June 1460 the Lancastrian Duke of Exeter, with a superior force, met Warwick at sea, but did not venture to attack him, being unable to trust his men. If, therefore, the men were not reliable there was good reason for the employment of foreigners. Administering the navy by contract had been tried and found wanting ; it had never been resorted to before and was never used again. It had proved expensive and ineffective. There can be little doubt that had one half the money wasted in spasmodic efforts been devoted to the maintenance of a small but efficient royal force, always ready for action, the results, if less profitable to the intermediaries, would have been better for the nation. But before all and above all, whatever plan was adopted, there was necessary the hand to control and the brain to govern. The military organisation had been systematised for centuries and would go on working more or less easily whatever the personal qualities of the ruler. The Navy was not yet to the same extent an organised and permanent force, and its strength in any reign was still dependent on the initiative of the sovereign. Henry obtained canonisation at the expense of the lives and prosperity of his subjects, of his followers, and of his son. It had been better for them if he had possessed more of the sinful strength of a man and less of the flaccid virtue of a saint. There is nothing known positively of any improvements ^ And as men sayne ther was not so gret a batayle upon the sea this xl wyntyr.* {Faston Letters , i, 429, Ed. Gairdner.) 2 Genoa. The Navy before 1509 29 in the form or equipments of ships during this reign. There are no inventories in detail between the time of Henry V and the first years of Henry VH. But while in the first quarter of the fifteenth century we find that men-of-war possess, at the most, two masts and two sails, carry three or four guns, and one or two rudimentary bowsprits, at the close of the same century they are three or four masters with topmasts and topsails, bowsprit and spritsail, and conforming to the cha- racteristics and type which remained generally constant for more than two centuries. It is quite certain that no sudden transition occurred ; the changes came slowly with the passing years, but they have left no traces in the records. Whether docks were used in England before the fifteenth century may be doubtful, but the word is in common use in the reign of Henry V, although it did not denote what we now understand by such a structure. Its derivation from the Low Latin Diga a ditch, more exactly indicates its character, but the word was employed in more than one sense, and even after the construction of the first dry dock at Portsmouth in [496, we find in the sixteenth century an arrangement of timber round a ship in the Thames, to protect her from the ice, called a dock. The Nomendator Navalis of 1625 de- scribes a wet dock as ' any creek or place where we may cast in a ship out of the tideway in the ooze, and then when a ship hath made herself (as it were) a place to lie in we say the ship hath docked herself,' a description which much more nearly portrays the dock of the fifteenth century than the dry dock of to-day. The following details of a dock for the Grace Dieii in July 1434 are perhaps the fullest to be found, and are taken from Soper's accounts for that year : — ^ ' And in money paid Thomas at Hythe, and 29 men labourers, for working about, making and constructing anew^ of a fence called a hedge,* by the advice and ordinance of discreet and wise mariners, that is to say on the Wose,< near Brisselden aforesaid for the safe keeping and govern- ment of the King's ship, and to the putting out and drying up of the sea water strongly running from the said King's ship because the same is weak : and also that the said King's ship may be kept more safely and easily in its said bed '" called dok within the said enclosure ; taking for this work made and built by the said ^ by agreement with him made in gross for the King's advantage the said month of July 12th year xxviiis vi7 Although Henry VII, during a reign of twenty-four years, General added only five or six vessels to the navy, it cannot be said fo^ty^^^* that he was indifferent to the maritime strength of the country, or to that of the navy proper. The political conditions did not require fleets at sea as they had done in the fourteenth, and again did in the succeeding century. The objects sought by Louis XI, Charles VIII, and Louis XII did not necessitate strength at sea, at anyrate in the Channel, and when Henry VII did act abroad English ships were only engaged in the un- opposed transport of troops. The existence, however, of a Royal Navy did not prevent Perkin Warbeck's attempted landing in Kent, nor impede his sailing about the narrow seas, subsequently, unmolested and apparently at his own pleasure. Nevertheless Henry recognised that, as fleets were then constituted, the naval strength of the crown was, in the end, dependent on that of the country generally, and acted upon that view in a way that was new in English history. He commenced giving the bounty on the construction of large ships which remained customary for a century and a half, and which did much to encourage the production of vessels fit for war service. Perhaps some similar reward may have been given by earlier kings although the instance of Taverner's Grace Dieu, previously noticed, is the only one which supports that view. If such rewards had been given they could have been only occasional but Henry made the encouragement much more frequent and a part of his policy. On the other hand the plan may have been copied from the usage of a foreign power, and if so that power was Spain. We know the reverential admiration Henry felt for the Spanish monarchs and their methods ; in 1494, 1495, 3-"^ 1498 Ferdinand and Isabella issued ordinances which promised large rewards of 60,000 to 100,000 maravedis, to the builders of ships of from 600 to 1000 tons.^ These were probably not the first of such regulations, and the service they did may well have been forced on Henry's notice when an exile. Certainly the Spanish marine at this time was in a flourishing condition. The fleet of 1496, which carried Dona Juana to Middleburgh consisted of 120 seagoing vessels, and in the same year a royal order directed the preparation of two ships each of 1000 tons, two of 500, two of 400, six of 300, four of 200, and four caravels.2 ^ 60,000 marvedis=l6o ducats of account, that is ducats of 375 maravedis each. The coined ducat was of 365 marvedis or ten reals twenty-five maravedis, estimated as equivalent to forty-five reals and forty-eight maravedis now (Shaw, Hist, of Currency). The real of 1492 contained 5i"23 grains of silver (Del Mar, Money and Civilisation^ p. 93). A century later the Spanish or Portuguese ducat passed for 5s 6d English (Arber, An English Garner, iii, 184). "^ Fernandez Duro, Viajes Regios por Mar, pp. 36, 63. It is doubtful however whether any of these ships belonged to the crown or, in fact, whether there was ^S The Administration of the Royal Navy The first warrant for the payment of a bounty is dated in 1488/ and orders £26, 13s 46. to be allowed to Nicholas Browne of Bristol on the customs of the first voyage, made by a new ship of 140 tons built by him. This is nearly three shillings and tenpence a ton. The next of i6th May 1491,^ is again in favour of three Bristol men who have built a 400 ton ship, and, 'we calling to our remembrance the great cost and charge they have sustained about the same .... to encourage them and such others,' allow five shillings a ton on the customs. Although 400 tons was not an unknown tonnage in the merchant marine, it was as yet exceptional, and when the bounty, a century later, was most vigorously worked, its tendency was to induce the construction of medium ships, somewhat over or under 200 tons, rather than especially large ones. Sir William Fenkyll, an alderman of London, had 100 marks conceded him in the same way as the others, ' for the encoragyng of othr our true subgetts the rather to apply themself to the makyng of shippes.' ^ By a warrant of 7th January 1502, Robert and William Thorne and Hugh Elyot of Bristol, having bought a French ship of 120 tons and as ' with the same ship the said merchants offre to doo unto us service at all tymes at our commaundement,' had ;^20 allowed them. The sovereign by whose directions these expressions were used was neither ignorant of the importance, nor indifferent to the growth, of the merchant marine although he may have seen no reason for departing from his native prudence in matters of action. Henry VII :- Hcnry's caution seems to have calculated on the possibility Engush and of his future dependence on a foreign fleet, and he was anxious Foreign Ships, ^q make a good impression among shipowners abroad. There is a curiously worded order in 1486^ for the payment of three hired Spanish vessels ' withoute any part deteyning or abbrigg- ing as that they may have cause to make goode reporte of our deling with them in these parties and as they may be encouraged and welewilled to serve us semblably here- after.' As a matter of fact the king frequently hired Spaniards while the royal ships were unemployed, and when the ser- vices demanded certainly threw no strain on native resources ; he may have seen in such a course a minor way of knitting more closely the mercantile and other ties which were con- necting Spain and England. These Spanish ships were hired at two shillings a ton per month, a rate which was double that obtained by English owners. Sometimes Henry tried to buy a Spanish vessel, but with little success, for Ferdinand and any Spanish Royal Navy, exclusive of the galley service, before the commence- ment of the seventeenth century. ' £xcA. War. for Issues^ 29th Nov. "^ Exch. War. for Issues. ^ Ibid., 19th Jan. 1496. * Ibid., 7th Apr. The Navy before 1509 39 Isabella were making stringent regulations against the sale abroad of vessels owned by their subjects. One reason explaining Henry's propensity for foreign ships may perhaps be found in a hint we have of difficulties about the rate of hire of English ones. In 1 487 special sums were granted to some English owners, ' to the entent that noe president shall be taken by us for the waging of the same aftre the portage of every tonne.' ^ According to this they desired to be paid a fixed sum and not hired by the ton, perhaps because the crown estimate of a ship's tonnage may have differed con- siderably from the owner's. If this were so it is the only suggestion we have of dissatisfaction with the normal way of payment, and it was a contention in which the crown soon and finally gained the victory. If Henry VII built few ships he laid the foundation of aHenryvii;- permanent establishment for building and repairs in a wayDock™"^*^ hitherto unknown. We have seen that Henry V had store- houses at London and Southampton, and a workshop in the last named town, and that a dock in the fifteenth century meant only a temporary arrangement by which a ship was laid a- shore at a suitable place. Such primitive appliances were the completest yet attained. Henry proceeded much further, and in June 1495, Brygandine was ordered to superintend the con- struction of a dry dock at Portsmouth, the first known to have been built in England. If one existed previously no reference to it has survived, and we may suppose that the new depart- ure was the result of foreign superiority in such matters rather than of native enterprise. No foreigner however was em- ployed in the work, and Brygandine, so far as we know, had had no training as an engineer. The undertaking was com- pleted without accident and without any delay caused by un- foreseen difficulties. The total cost was ;^I93, Os 6|d ; it was built of wood except the dockhead, which was ' fortifyed ' with stone and gravel, of which 664 tons were used, and although it is not so stated, it may be assumed that the timber walls were backed with stone. During 1495-6 forty-six weeks were spent in the work, operations being suspended between No- vember 1495 and February 1496, and between April and July of the latter year. When the Sovereign came out of this dock twenty men were at work for twenty-nine days ' at every tide both day and night weying up of the piles and shorys and digging of ye clay and other rubbish between the gates.' From this it may be conjectured that the gates did not meet in closing, but that the structure was of this form an arrangement doubtless due to fear of the pressure of the ^ Exch. War. for Issues, 7th Mar. 40 The Administration of the Royal Navy- water outside when the one ' ingyn ' employed for the purpose had succeeded in emptying the dock. The expression 'as well for ye inner as ye uttermost gate,' also bears out this view. The dock itself occupied twenty-four weeks, the gates and dockhead twenty-two weeks, the number of men paid each week varying between twenty-eight and sixty. Carpen- ters received from fourpence to sixpence a day, sawyers four- pence and labourers threepence. Four tons of iron at £2^ 14s and £4. a ton were used, besides large quantities of nails, spikes and other iron work.i From 1485 a storehouse was hired at Greenwich for the use of the ships lying in the river, at a yearly rental of ^5, but down to 1550-60 Portsmouth, in virtue of its dock and the subsidiary establishments which grew up round it, remained the predominant naval port. Few of the townspeople, how- ever, seem to have been able to supply any necessaries, stores having to be sent from London or bought at Southampton ; wood was the only thing obtained plentifully in the neighbour- hood. When Deptford, Woolwich, and Chatham were founded its one advantage of lying in the Channel did not serve it against the greater facilities they offered in other respects. Henry VII:- The ships of Henry VII are found to resemble in equip- sMpping. ment and fittings those of his successors rather than the mediaeval type, but that may be because we have no inven- tories of the time of Edward IV and the later years of Henry VI. Improvement must have been continuous although there is no trace of the successive steps. The Regent and the Sovereign were respectively four- and three-masters, with fore and main topmasts ; although the topmasts were separate spars it is probable that they were fixed and that a method of striking them had not yet been introduced. These two ships must have differed much less in appearance from a sailing ship of 1785 than from one of 1385 or even of 1425. They were fitted with a forecastle, poop, and poop royal, with a bowsprit and spritsail, and the fixed and running gear were, generally, much the same as now. As a detailed inventory of the Henry Grace a Dieu of not many years later, and varying but little in type, is given in this volume it is not necessary to describe them in detail.^ The introduction of portholes is usually attributed to Decharges, a French inventor of Brest and the date given is 1 501. They were certainly known long before^ but their adaptation to the purpose of broadside fire was doubtless one of the improvements of the sixteenth century. Still the date of their general acceptation must be before 1501 and earlier than is generally supposed, since the Regent and Sovereign have 1 Aug. Office Bk., No. 316, ff. 49-64. 2 Appendix A. * Cf. Jal, Glossaire Nautigue, s.v. Sa5ord3.n6. Porte. The Navy before 1509 41 their poops and forecastles pierced for broadsides, and there is no suggestion that there was anything novel in such a plan. It need hardly be pointed out that the presence of a large number of guns along the sides brought about a complete alteration in shipbuilding. Not only had vessels to be more strongly built to meet the greater weight and strain, but the 'tumble home' tendency of the topsides was increased to bring the ordnance nearer the keel line. The Mary Fortune and the Sweepstake were much smaller vessels but were also three-masters, with a main topmast and sixty and eighty oars respectively for use on board. Vessels of this type, which were frequently called galleys by those who used them, have been erroneously supposed by later writers to denote the real galley, to which they bore not the least resemblance, or to represent a modified type peculiar to the English service. They were ordinary ships differing in no respect but size from their larger sisters, but small enough to permit the use of sweeps when necessary. The serpentine weighing, without any carriage, about 250 lbs. was the usual ship gun, and the Regent carried 151 of these in iron and 29 in brass in 1501.^ Of course bows and arrows and all the older armament were still carried. The ships' sides were lined with pavesses or wooden shields painted in various colours and glittering with coats of arms and devices. For painting the Regent and Mary Fortune, and doubtless other ships, vermillion, fine gold, russet, bice,^ red lead, white lead, brown, Spanish white, verdigris, and aneral ^ were employed.^ The favourite Tudor colours, white and green, with the cross of St George, flew out in the standards and streamers which were of ' linen cloth ' or of say.5 The pay of the men was one shilling a week as shipkeeper Henry vii:— in harbour, and one shilling and threepence when on active Men.^"^^ ^^ service. Victualling at first cost one shilling and a halfpenny a week, but subsequently rose to one shilling and twopence, and shipwrights, sawyers, labourers, and all others employed about the ships received food as well as pay. The jackets noticed under Edward IV, which perhaps signified some sort of uniform, were still provided. One hundred, at one shilling and fourpence apiece, were bought for the same number of men sent from Cornwall to Berwick to join the fleet acting in conjunction with Surrey's army against Scotland in 1496.^ The sea captain was still non-existent, that rank being con- fined to the leadership of the soldiers on board ; the master, the highest executive naval officer, received three shillings and fourpence a week, the purser and boatswain one shilling ^ Aug. Office Bk., No. 317, f. 15. ^ gjug and green. ^ Ashen colour. ■• Aug. Office Bk. No. 317, f. 24. ^ A woollen cloth. « Tellers' Rolls, No. 63. 42 The Administration of the Royal Navy and eightpence, quartermasters one shilling and sixpence, the steward and cook one shilling and threepence.^ These were harbour rates ; at sea the pay appears to have been much higher. When the Sovereign was brought from the Thames to Portsmouth, a voyage which occupied thirty-one days, the master obtained £2 los, the purser 14s 8d, the quartermasters I OS each, the boatswain i6s 8d, the steward 8s, and the cook 10S.2 Of the condition, habits, and manner of thought among the men we know nothing. Ferdinand's ambassador, De Puebla wrote to him that, ' the English sailors are generally savages,' but he was not the last envoy whose delicate diplo- matic sense they have outraged by plain speaking. This sensitive gentleman lodged, however, in a house of ill-fame in London from motives of economy, ^mmerciar ^" commercial matters Henry followed those methods dic- Poucy. tated by the political economy of his age, which seemed likely to increase the trade and shipping of the country. A navigation act of the first year of his reign, and this time meant seriously, forbade the importation of foreign wines in any but English, Irish, or Welsh owned ships. Three years later it was enacted ^ ' That where great minishing and decay hath been of late time of the navy of this realme of England and idleness of the mariners within the same, by the which this noble realm within short space of time, without reformation be had therein shall not be of ability, nor of strength and power to defend itself/ No wines or Toulouse woad were to be imported except in ships owned by English subjects and, ' most part ' manned by native crews. The punishment for disobedience was the forfeiture of one half the cargo to the king, and one half to the informer ; under the same penalty exportation of goods in foreign vessels was forbidden if English ships could be obtained. Yet notwithstanding the desponding tone of this preamble, trade was now travelling far afield. The consul at Florence of 1484 had now an associate at Pisa, and a treaty of commerce in 1490 with Denmark shows that we possessed establishments there and in Norway and Sweden, and that the trade was carried on in English bottoms. The king frequently let out his men-of-war on hire for distant voyages, and if merchants found it profitable to take a ship of the size of the Sovereign for a voyage to the Levant the Mediterranean trade must have been already of some im- portance. Edward IV, by a commercial treaty of 1467 with Bur- gundy, granted free fishing round the English coasts to the subjects of that power This was confirmed by the treaties of 1 Aug. Office Bk., No. 316, f. 72. ^ Ibid., f. 70. *4 Hen. VII, cap. 10. The Navy before 1509 43 1496 and 1499 but withdrawn by that of 1506, called therefore by the Flemish the Intercursus Malus. It is possible that Henry recognised the value of the fishing industry as a nursery of seamen, but more probable that he was impelled by purely political motives. The discovery of America and the passage round the Cape The New of Good Hope must have impressed the king intellectually ^^®°°^°'^°®- even though his imagination was untouched by the wonders daily opened to the old world, but there is little evidence that he wished England to join directly in the search for new sources of wealth. The half-hearted assistance given to the Cabots, and the licences without assistance granted to Elliot, Ashurst, and others of Bristol, were not aids of a nature to win success in new and doubtful undertakings. This course of action is usually ascribed to Henry's parsimony, but it may well be that he feared to be brought into political antagonism with Spain and Portugal, and that he was dubious of the ability of his subjects to keep up profitable communication between countries separated by vast distances of sea. Eng- land possessed comparatively little floating capital, and capital is as essential to colonisation as to smaller businesses. We know that intercourse with the West completely changed the character of the Spanish marine in causing it to be replaced by ships of a larger and more commodious type, a change which alone postulates the waste and subsequent investment of a relatively enormous sum. But Spain, even before the voyage of Columbus, was a much wealthier country than Eng- land, and it seems that if any profitable discoveries had been due at this time to English explorers they would soon have been found to have been made for the benefit of stronger and wealthier powers. Moreover the political risk was not an imaginary one and might have induced the condition of things existing under Elizabeth when the country was much less able to hold its own. There is an illustration of this in the orders given by the Spanish monarchs in 1501 to Alonso de Hojeda to impede the progress of English discoveries on the transatlantic coast.^ That Henry had not forgotten the traditions of the past and realised the value of a national marine is shown by his maintenance of the navy, by the formation of a royal dock- yard, by his navigation acts, and, above all, by the inaugura- tion of the bounty system on ocean-going ships. In this, as in other things, he moved slowly, but the progress in the end was none the less complete because in the beginning it had not been unduly stimulated by encouragements not warranted by either the needs or capabilities of the country. The crown, ^ H. Harrisse,yo^« Cadot, the Discoverer of North America, and Sebastian his Son. Lond. 1896, p. 138. 44 The Administration of the Royal Navy instead of being controlled by nobles indifferent to, or des- pising commerce, was now influenced by the commercial classes and found its profit in aiding their development. These classes were now replacing the capital destroyed in the wars of the fifteenth century, eager for fresh markets, and with no maritime adversary to fear. For the moment English mercantile effort took a direction that did not bring it into conflict with larger interests, but when the natural expansion of trade and shipping brought the country into collision with other powers the struggles of centuries, which had shaped and hardened a skilful and dauntless maritime population, bore their natural fruit in a school of seamen able to use and direct the instruments which the increasing wealth and ambition of the nation placed in their hands. HENRY VIII 1 509-1 547 Henry VII had been chiefly occupied in securing the Tiie New- permanence of his dynasty, and although sometimes drawn its causes, into action abroad, had avoided any serious entanglement in continental politics. His son's policy was the reverse of this, and his reign presents a series of unsuccessful attempts to make England the centre round which European politics were to revolve. These views necessitated the maintenance and employment of an armed force, and although the army was still considered the effective weapon of offence the growing opinion that the navy was essentially the national arm, en- sured a proper solicitude being bestowed upon it, although its real predominance was not yet recognised ; ' when we would enlarge ourselves let it be that way we can and to which it seems the eternal Providence hath destined us,' was, we are told, the argument of those who were opposed to an invasion of France by land.^ The use of such reasoning as this shows that the epoch of maritime expansion was not far distant. But besides deduction from past experience there were other causes working to induce a natural and, it may be said, almost automatic increase in the navy of the crown. In the past centuries ' our ancient adversary ' of France had been the only enemy really within touch, and no systematic attack by sea from France had been practicable for more than a hundred years. But the consolidation of that kingdom, and the acces- sion of Francis I, a monarch by no means indifferent to the supremacy of the sea, one of whose first acts was to order the construction and fortification of the Port of Havre in 1516- 17, and who built ships and brought round fleets from the Mediterranean to contest the command of the channel, neces- sarily compelled a corresponding activity on the English side. Another circumstance enforcing increased naval strength was 1 Herbert, Life of Henry VIII, p. 125, ed. 1870. 46 The Administration of the Royal Navy the union of Brittany with the French crown. This event was regarded by contemporary Englishmen somewhat in the light that we should now look upon the domination of the coast lines of Holland and Belgium by Germany and France. The marriage of Anne of Brittany to Charles VIII, in December 1 49 1, gave France its most valuable arsenals and ports, and the command of a race of fine seamen. Henry VII, perhaps recognising that the subjection of the province could only at most be deferred and not prevented, made but perfunctory efforts, either by war or diplomacy, to hinder it. Hitherto, except for the customary practice of piracy, the Breton ports had been neutral or friendly, and the Breton seamen indifferent to the dynastic or national quarrels of the two great powers. In the future the ports were to be the chief source of danger to English maritime supremacy, and the men the mainstay of the navy which carried on a prolonged and doubtful contest with England for more than a century. With Spain, notwithstanding isolated ship and fleet actions occasionally occurring, warfare had never been serious or con- tinuous, nor had the political interests of the two countries been of such a nature as to bring them into conflict. The union, however, under the sway of Charles V, of the Empire, of Spain, and of the Netherlands, altered, in view of the new attitude assumed by Henry VIII, the pre-existing situation, and here again, besides the Imperial troops, Spanish fleets had to be reckoned with. Although those fleets were never in reality so powerful as they appeared to contemporary observers, the ne- cessities of Trans- Atlantic voyages and the practice of ocean navigation had given experience to officers and men and im- proved the build of the ships, so far at anyrate as size and apparent power were concerned.^ Accommodation had to be supplied for larger crews and for numerous passengers, but the science of shipbuilding was not sufficiently advanced to meet these requirements except by methods which gave big- ness at the expense of seaworthiness. But whatever the actual combatant value of the Spanish navy, or its power of mobilisa- / tion at any required moment and place, it was a factor to be j considered in the counsels of the Emperor's possible enemies and was another reason for the strengthening of the English navy. That that navy occupied a strategically advantageous position on the line of communication between the penin- sular and northern possessions of the Empire was a fact not likely to be forgotten by the advisers of either Henry or Charles. 1 When Charles V sailed from Flushing to Spain in 15 17 we read that the operation of lowering a boat took two hours, (Fernandez Duro, Viajes Regios par Mar, p. 94). The fleet was made up of 52 vessels drawn from Holland, Zealand and Spain, but this can scarcely refer to the Dutch vessels. Henry VIII 47 In the north a comparatively long peace with Scotland, and the distractions caused by the Wars of the Roses, had enabled that power to extend its commerce and obtain a prosperity reflected in the existence of a navy, for the first and only time strong enough to attract the attention of foreign observers. In 15 12 James IV had three agents in France especially retained to arrange a supply of naval stores and ships,! and Lord Darcy informed Henry that the king of Scotland, who spent much of his time on board the ships, possessed some sixteen or twenty men-of-war. The Great Michael recently built, and perhaps the actual instigation of the Henry Grace a Dieu, was one of the wonders of the country and reputed to be the largest and strongest vessel yet launched in northern latitudes. That 'Jack Tarrett, a Frenchman,' was her shipwright pointed to the ever present danger of the old alliance between France and Scotland, a danger much intensified if Scotland was to take a place as a naval power. Without, therefore, attributing to Henry VIII an excep- tional foresight, the conditions were such as to compel an in- crease in the navy commensurate with the larger aims of the royal policy and the wider duties the execution of such a policy involved. The navy was not relatively larger than it had been under some of the preceding kings, notably Henry V, the main distinction being that under Henry VIII it "was slowly tending towards its future position as a principal in- strument of offence instead of acting as a mere auxiliary. This, again, was as much, or more, due to the changed cir- cumstances of land warfare as to any definite intention. The English army was still a militia ; the troops of France and the Empire were now standing armies, highly trained and veterans in war. For most of the western countries the age of feudal levies was over, but England had not yet clearly acknowledged the new era. The troops sent under the Marquis of Dorset in 15 12 to invade Guienne, in conjunction with Ferdinand's Spaniards, returned home en masse in defiance of their commander's and of Henry's orders and threats. * The world was breathless with astonishment at such a flagrant act of insubordination.' ^ An English army was not yet composed of ragged losels pressed from the gutter, but the ancient feudal tie which knit together knight and re- tainer was almost destroyed. Armies of this type could not possibly match themselves against the professional continental soldiers. But the country could not have afforded nor would it have permitted a permanent military force, therefore either its claims to exercise a powerful mediatory position were to ^ Royal MSS. 13, B ii, 56. 2 Brewer, Reign of Henry VIII, i, 21. 48 The Administration of the Royal Navy- be forsaken or that peculiar genius for the sea, which had hitherto been of secondary use but which had always been implicitly recognised as the especial heritage of the race, was to replace the mere ability to fight it shared with many other nations. But for the singular skill of the English archer the change would have come long before ; improvements in artil- lery and musketry at last compelled it. The effects were not plainly seen till the reign of Elizabeth, but the militant history of Henry VIII is a series of steps — whether due to a sagacious recognition of the altered situation or to a mechanical compli- ance with it — towards an increase in the power and use of the Navy, and improvements in its administration, although, as the traditions of centuries are not lightly set aside, armies were still levied to fulfil their ancient role in France. There was also another and personal element which doubtless had its influence. Henry was, if not a born sailor, at least something more than a yachtsman. He was con- tinually inquiring about the merits of new ships, and requiring reports on their sailing qualities in a way that implied some technical knowledge, and showed a real interest beyond the political one in sea affairs. He is said to have been himself the designer of a new model. Sometimes he acted as an amateur master or pilot and dressed the character, of course in cloth of gold. On one occasion when present at the launch of a vessel he wore vest and breeches of cloth of gold, and scarlet hose, with a gold chain and whistle.^ This was a factor which helped the progress of events, but which could have had little influence had the royal inclination been con- trary to the tendency of the time. The following list of the men-of-war of the reign, has for convenience been thrown into a tabular form, which, however, gives it a fuller and more final appearance than it is intended to claim. The records are not sufficiently complete or de- tailed to enable the inquirer to be certain in all cases of the exact year of building, rebuilding or purchase, and a further element of uncertainty is introduced by the changes of name which occurred, and continuity of name in what may be sup- posed to be new ships, but of whose building there is no distinct evidence. The dates printed in heavier type may be taken as exact ; the others can only be regarded as likely to be correct, and the tonnage varies at different times in nearly every ship. From the preceding reign came the Regent, Sovereign, Mary and John, (ot Carvel of Ewe), Sweepstake and Mary Fortune. ^ Slate Papers Ven., Oct. 1515. a-nd Letters and Papers of the reign of Henry Vni, 6th Nov. 1515. Among his jewels was 'a chayne of golde of threefolde with a whistell and a pece of a unycornes home at it inclosed in gold,' (^Cott. MSS. App. xxviii, f. 29). The whistle was the badge of the sea officer. Henry VIII 49 Built Bought Rebuilt Prize Tonnage Sovereign ' . 1509 600 Peter Pomegranate "^ 1509 — 1536 — 450 Mary Rose ^ 1509 — 1536 • — 500 Gabriel Royal * . 1509 — — 700 Mary James ^ — 1509 1524 — 300 Mary George ^ — 1510 — 300 Lion'' . — — — 1511 120 Jennet Pyrwin * . — — — IS" 70 John Baptist^ — 1512 — 400 Great Nicholas'^" — 1512 — — 400 Anne Gallant'^'^ — 1512 — — 140 Dragon ^^ . 1512 — — — 100 Christ^^ . 1512 300 lizard^* . 1512 120 Swallow 1512 — 1524 — 80 Kateryn Fortileza '^ 1512 700 Great Bark " . 1512 — — — 400 Less Bark '' 1512 160 Kateryn Galley "^^ 1512 — — 80 Rose Galley »^ . 1512 — — — — Henry Galley -» . I512 — — — — Lesser Barbara 2' — 1512 — — 160 Great Barbara ^ 1513 400 Black Bar k-^ . — 1513 — — — Henry of Hainptoti ^* . — 1513 — — 120 Great Elizabeth"-^ — 1514 — — 900 Henry Grace a Dieu ^^ 1514 1540 — 1000 ^ Exch. War. for Lssues, 29th Jan. 1 5 10 and Letters and Papers, i, 3422, viii. ^ Ibid. The pomegranate was a part of the arms of the city of Granada. ^ The capture of Granada and the destruction of the Moorish kingdom had resounded through Christendom, and after Katherine of Aragon's arrival in England the pomegranate was frequently used as a badge. ^ Ibid. The name referred to Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. * Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A. Doubtless the ' carrack of Jene called the Mary Loret,' of Stowe MSS. i/ifi, f. 29, and the ' Gabriel Royal or Carrack of Genoa,' of Letters and Papers., 15th Dec. 1512. In the absence of other evidence the authoritative dates given in the Royal MS. must be accepted, but there is no trace in other papers of the existence between 1509-12, of some of the vessels assigned by it to 1509, and some of the dates can be shown to be wrong. * Roy. MSS. 14 B xxii A. Perhaps the James of Hull, for which ;^26o was paid in July 1512, (^Kings Book of Pay intents'). Rebuilt about 1524, (^Chapter House Book, vol. vi). '^ Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A. In March 1512 Sir Ed. Howard was paid ;^666, 13s 4d for the Mary Howard, bought of him {King's Book of Payments), and probably the same vessel. '' Captured from Barton, the Scotch privateer. ^ Ibid. ^ Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A. The John Hopton, or 'John Hopton's Ship' of 1512. In Jan. 1513 he received /looo'for his great ship bought by the king ' {King's Book of Payments'). '" Bought from Wm. Gonson and others (Letters and Papers, 24th Apr., 15 13). " Certainly a king's ship, but whether bought or built only probable by collation. ^'^ Ibid. '^ Ibid. First called the Christ of Lynn. '* First mention of Lizard and Swallow, Letters and Papers, 15th Dec. 15 12, Described as new ships, 22nd Mar. 15 1 3 (JOott. MSS. Calig. D. vi, loi). '^^ Letters and Papers, 15th Dec. 1512. A Genoese carrack. ^^ First mentioned Letters and Papers, 15th Dec. 15 12. " Ibid. '^ Ibid. '^ Ibid. ^ Ibid. The Kateryn, Rose, and Henry are de- scribed as new in Letters and Papers, 27th March 1513. ^' Letters and Papers, 15th Dec, 1512, and July 1513, and Fcedera xiii, 326. "^ 'The Great Barbara, before called the Mawdelyn.' First mentioned July, 1513. ^Elsewhere 'the Marc Fflorentyne, otherwise called the Black Bark Christopher.^ ^^ Probably ' the carrack of Hampton ' bought in March 1 5 1 3 for 6000 ducats from Fernando de la Sala, (J^ing's Book of Payments'). ^ The Salvator of Lubeck, bought for ;^2333, 6s 8d, Letters and Papers, 8th Aug. and 25th Oct. 1514 ; Exch. Var. 244/6. ^Commenced 4th Dec. 15 12; 'hallowed 'at Erith 13th June \^ii^ (J^ing' s Book D 50 The Administration of the Royal Navy Built Bought Rebuilt Prize Tonnage Mary Imperial'-'' 1515 — 1523 — 120 Mary Gloria -' . — 1517 — — 300 Kateryn Plesaimce''^ I518 — — — 100 Trinity Henry ™ . I519 — — — 80 Mary and John ^' — 152I — — — Mawdelyn of Deptford 32 1522 — — — 120 Great Zabra ^' . 1522 — — — 50 Lesser Zabra ** . 1522 — — — 40 Fortune or Hulk ^^ 1522 — — — 160 Bark of Morlaix '^^ — — 1522 60 Mary Grace^'' — — — 1522 — Bark of Boulogne ^^ — ' — — 1522 80 Primrose ^^ . 1523 — 1536 — 160 Minion '"' 1523 — — — 180 New Bar k^^ 1523 — — — 200 Sweepstake ■*- 1523 — — — 65 fohn of Greenwich ■•' — — — 1523 50 Mary Guildford'^ 1524 — — — 160 Lion^^ 1536 — — — 160 Mary Willoby^^ 1536 — — — 160 Jennet " 1539 — — — 200 Mathew ■*^ . — 1539 — — 600 Sweepstake « 1539 — — 300 Less Galley . — 1539 — — 400 Great Galley =" — 1539 — — 500 Salamander — — — 1544 300 Unicorn ^' . — — — 1544 240 Pauncye ^^ . 1544 — — 450 of Payments'). " Probably the ' new galley ' of Letters and Papers^ 6th Nov. 1515, and replaced or rebuilt, Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A. ^ Bought of John Hopton for ;!f 500 {King's Book of Paymeyits). ^ Chapter House Book, vol. xi, f. 72. ^ Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A. »' ' The Great Mary and John, the Spaniard Ship,' (Q.R. Anc. Misc. Navy 6i6c, 6), or 'the great Spaniard that the emperor gave the king' {Letters and Papers, iii, 3214). The earlier Mary and John had disappeared by this time. ^^ Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A. ^^ Ibid. Zabra was used both in Italian and Spanish for pinnace. '' Ibid. ^'^ Ibid. * Ibid. ^' First mentioned Letters and Papers July 1524, also Aug. Office Book, No. 317, but probably the Mary of Homflete, a prize, and taken into the service. ^* According to Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A, dating from 151 1, but the name does not occur in the State Papers before 1522. ^' Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A. *" Cott. MSS. Vesp. C. ii, and Letters and Papers, 12 Apr. 1523. Rebuilt as a 300 ton ship about 1536 {Letters and Papers, x, 1231). ■" Letters and Papers, 3rd June 1523 and Q. R. Misc. Navy 867/5, 2nd Feb. 1524. *^ Ibid. ''^ Occurs in several men-of-war lists from 1523 ; assigned by Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A to 1513, in all probability an error. •'^ Roy. MSS. 14, B xxii A. Doubtless named in com- pliment to the Guildford or Guldeford family, persons of importance during the first two Tudor reigns. Both the first and second wives of Sir Henry Guldeford, Comptroller of the Household to Henry VHI, were named Mary. ^^ First mentioned Letters and Papers, x, 1231. *^ This vessel occurs in a list calendared under 1522 {Letters a7id Papers, iii, 2014), but the date assigned is wrong by at least twenty-five years. She was built in or before 1536, captured by the Scotch, and described as English in a Scotch fleet, {Ibid, xi, 631) ; recaptured by Lord Clynton in Sept. 1547, and resumed her place in the English navy (Holinshed, p. 989). ■"First mentioned Letters and Papers, 31st Dec. 1539. ■** Or Mathew Gonson; first mentioned loth June 1539. ■"• First mentioned loth June 1539 ; an entirely different vessel from the preceding of the same name. ^ Or Less Bark and Great Bark. They were Hamburg ships {Letters and Papers, iSth Nov. 1544), and are first mentioned loth June 1539. ^' The Salamander and Unicorn were captured at Leith in May 1544, (Holinshed, p. 962). The Salamatider (a Salamander was the badge of Francis I) had been presented to James V of Scotland by the French king when the former married Madeline of France. *^ Or Pansy. Henry VIII 51 Built Bought Rebuilt Prize Tonnage Mary Hatnbro ^ . — 1544 — — 400 Jesus of Lubeck ^ . — 1544 — — 600 Struse o/Dawske^ — 1544 — — 400 L'Artjque^ — 1544 — — 100 Swallow ^' . 1544 — — 240 Dragon ^ . 1544 — — — 140 Fawcon ^ . 1544 — — — 100 Galley Subtylle «» . 1544 — — — 300 Mar lion ^' . — — 1545 70 Mary Thomas ^^ . — — — 1545 100 Mary James ^ — — — 1545 120 Maiy Odierne ^ . — — — 1545 70 Hind^ 1545 — — 80 Grand Mistress ^ 1545 — — — 450 Anne Gallant^'' . 1545 — — 400 Greyhound ^ 1545 — — — 200 Saker «» 1545 — — — 60 Brigandine '" 1545 — — — 40 Less Pinnace '' 1545 — — — 60 Hare '^ 1545 — — — 30 Roo'^ . 1545 — — — 80 Morian " . 1545 — — 400 Galley Blancherd''^ — — 1546 — Christop/ier '^ — 1546 — 400 George " — • 1546 — — 60 Phmnix — 1546 — — 40 Antelope''^ . 1545 — — 300 Tiger . 1546 — — — 200 Bull . 1546 — — — 200 Hart . 1546 — — — 3QO 13 Rowbarges''^ . 1546 — — — 20 First mentioned Letters and Papers, 18th Apr. 1544. "^ First mentioned Letters and Papers, 15th Nov. 1544. A Hamburg ship. '^^ Ibid. ^"^ Ibid, Of Dantzic. ^ Ibid., or L'Artigo. Qy, from the French artichaut, in military terminology, a spiked fence. *^ First mentioned Letters and Papers, l8th Apr. 1 544. ^ Ibid. ^ First mentioned Letters and Papers, 1 5th Nov. 1544. " Probably the true year as there is a payment l^Pipe Office Declared Accounts, 2193), to five Venetians for fitting her, as being more experienced in galley work. According to Add. MSS. 22047, she was of 200 tons. ^' Or Merlion ; a prize of 1544 or 1545 (^Letters and Papers, 19th Apr. 1545). *^ Ibid. ^ Ibid. ^ Ibid. "First mentioned Letters and Papers, 3rd Aug. 1545. Probably the ' great shallop ' in building {Letters and Papers) 19th Apr. that year. ^ Ibid. Probably the ' great galleon ' building at Smalhithe on 19th April. There was a Grand Mistress in the French navy at this time. ®' Ibid. Probably the ' second galleon ' building at Smalhithe on 19th April. ^ Ibid. Probably the ' new gallyot ' building at Deptford 19th April. ^ Ibid. Probably the ' middle shallop ' building at Deptford 19th April. Saker was the name of a piece of ordnance or of the peregrine hawk. '" Ibid. Probably the ' small shallop ' building at Dover on 19th April. '' Ibid. Probably the 'less Spanish pinnace ' of 19th April. "^ Ibid. ''^ Ibid. Captured by the French 2nd Sept. 1547 (Stow p. 594). ''^ Ibid. Of Dantzic. " Captured from the French i8th May (Stow). "^ First mentioned Letters and Papers, Mar. 1546. Of Bremen. '' The Phcenix and the George are first mentioned as royal ships in Anthony's list of 1546 ; probably merchantmen of those names in the list of loth Aug. 1545, and bought into the service. '^ The Antelope, Tiger, Bull znd Hart ^xst occur in Anthony's list of the navy in 1546 ; in that year {Letters and Papers, Mar. 1546, uncalendared) there were 'the four new ships a making at Deptford 1000 tons,' with which tonnage these correspond. " Twenty tons each. 52 The Administration of the Royal Navy We are accustomed to the general statement that Henry VIII enlarged the navy, but the foregoing list shows a much more extensive increase than is implied by a general expression and, if so far as number is concerned it errs at all, it errs on the side of omission. A little indulgence in admitting names could have extended it considerably. No foreign purchased merchantman has been inserted without the authority of a definite statement, or unless it appears in lists later than the reign under consideration ; but there are foreign ships omitted as only temporarily hired which may really have belonged to the crown. Other vessels which occur in almost indistinguish- able fashion among men-of-war have been left out in view of the custom which frequently obtained of describing hired ships as king's ships while they were in the royal service, and in some cases it has been found impossible to satisfactorily trace particular vessels. For instance, during the first half of the reign a ' great galley ' of 600 or 800 tons, flits in a most puzzling way through some, but not the most reliable, of the papers. I take it to have been an indefinite designation ap- plied at various times to various ships,i but that opinion may be altogether wrong and it may be the actual name of a large vessel which has left no other indication of its existence. Again, the Earl of Southampton, for four years Admiral of England, bequeathed Henry his ' great ship ' by his will dated September 1 542. The Earl died in 1 543, but which is the ship in question, or whether it appears at all in the foregoing list, cannot be determined. Activity in Exclusive of the thirteen rowbarges, there are eighty- five and^^^ciaBe vessels, and of these forty-six were built, twenty-six purchased, ofSMps. a.nd thirteen were prizes. The periods of greatest activity synchronise with war with France 15 12-14, war with France and Scotland 1522-5, with the possibility in 1539 of a general alliance on religious grounds against England, and with war against France and Scotland in 1544-6. But allowing for uncertainty of dates, possibility of omissions, and our almost entire ignorance of the repairs and rebuildings which must have been progressing uninterruptedly, there is no cessation of vigorous action throughout the reign. The existing dock- yards could have hardly been equal to the demands on them for repairs alone, and this is doubtless one reason for the large number of ships purchased, a course which was also probably cheaper for the moment. All Henry's foreign purchases seem to have been Italian or Hanseatic. During I5ii-i4he hired several Spaniards and tried to buy some, but his desires were vain in face of the strict Spanish navigation laws. In 15 13 the Spanish envoy, de Ouiros, was instructed to inform the * As in the case of the Mary Rose, {King's Book of Paymtnts). Henry VIII 53 king that the sale of Spanish ships abroad was forbidden under heavy penalties, and that his government could not permit them to be sold even to Henry.^ In fact we find from another source that the sale of ships was forbidden to foreigners even though they were naturalised Spanish subjects, and as, from October 1502, a bounty of 100 maravedis a ton was given up to 1500 tons it is hardly surprising that their sale to aliens was sternly interdicted.^ In 15 13 Knight wrote to Henry that the whole of a Spaniard's goods had been confis- cated for selling a carrack to him. Under these circum- stances the king had to buy in the North German ports, and, judging from the small number of years most of them re- mained in the effective, many must have been built for the purpose of sale to him. The vessel which has the chief place in popular memory Royal ships:— is the Henry Grace a Dieu, but she probably differed little in gj^g* ^^^ ^^^' size, form, or equipment, from others nearly as large. Her total cost, with the three small barques built with her, was ;^87o8 5s 3d, but out of the 3739 tons of timber used 1987 cost nothing being presented by several peers, private persons, and religious bodies. According to the accounts she was con- structed under the supervision of William Bond, but if a nearly contemporary letter may be trusted Brygandine, the clerk of the ships designed and built her.^ Bond's connection with: her may have been merely financial and confined to payments of money. Fifty-six tons of iron, 565 stones of oakum and 171 1 lbs of flax were other items. She was a four-master and possibly a two-decker with fore, main and mizen top-gallant sails, but with only two sails on the other masts, and with two tops on each of the three principal masts.^ All ships but the very smallest had four masts, the two after ones being called, respectively, the main and bonaventure mizens. There was nothing exceptional in the Henry's fittings, top-gallant sails being known to have been used in the previous reign, and, as at that time, the topmasts were not arranged for lowering. An equivalent to the ease given a labouring ship by striking the topmasts was obtained by lowering the fore and main yards to the level of the bulwarks. As most of the guns were carried in the poop and forecastle ships must have been ' built loftie ' ^ State Papers, Spain, ii, 144. 2 Fernandez Duro, Disquisiciones Nauticas, Lib. V, li, 354. The Spanish ship ton, or ' tonelada de arqueo,' was rather smaller than the English ; ' esta tonelada dearqueo es un espacio de 8 codes cilbicos cada codo tiene 33 dedos 6 pulgadas de 48 que tiene la vara de Castilla,' (Jbid. p. 161, quoting Veitia). This works out at 5 3-44 cubic feet against the 60 cubic feet allowed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centur)' English ships. The measurement by tonelada was Sevillean, or South Spanish ; the Biscayan builders calculated by the tonel, ten of which equalled twelve toneladas (Fernandez de Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages II, 86). ^ Lodge, Illustrations of British History, i, 14. * See Appendi.^ A. 54 The Administration of the Royal Navy Royal Ships :— Armament. on the Spanish model and presented a squat and ungainly appearance. Vessels were now mostly carvel built, and those clench, or clinker, built, were regarded as too weak to stand the shock of collision when boarding was intended. Speaking of some foreign ships brought into Portsmouth, Suffolk wrote that some of them were ' clenchers, both feeble, olde, and out of fashion,' and therefore not to be taken up for service with the fleet. ^ Spritsails were now coming into more common use and, with the spanker on the bonaventure mizen or fourth mast and sometimes with another on the main mizen, served) the purpose of the later fore-and-aft sails. Vessels were now, although still slowly and clumsily, able to work more closely to windward. There is one entry which runs ' eight small masts at 6s 8d the pece ymploied in the Great Bark and other the Kynges shipps for steddying saills.' ^ It can only be said that there is no mention in the inventories, or any sign in the drawings of ships of this century, of what are now called studding sails. An ordinary vessel appears to have been armed along the waist, in her forecastle of two or three tiers, and in her summer castle or poop, also divided into decks. For some of these ships we still have the armament : — ^ Great Elizabeth ^ ■s. u c 5) 55 c 3 o c o 2 0) a ( Upper Deck* Fo'c'stle X Middle Deck ( Nether Deck Waist Stern ( Upper Deck Poop \ Middle Deck ( Nether Deck i6 12 12 3 — — 2 2 2 8 I i6 6 1 State Papers, (1830), 6th Aug. 1545. - Chapter House Bks. vol. vi. ^ Ibid. vol. xiii. It should be stated that these figures are from an inventory of stores and fittings remaining on board the ships in 15 15, and do not necessarily represent the full equipment. They may, however, be taken to indicate its distribution. * It has been mentioned that the weight of the serpentine was about 250 lbs. ; double serpentines were presumably heavier. Serpentines and other small pieces were fitted with one or two removable chambers for loading. * All that is known of slings is that they were ' bigge peces of ship ordenance,' {^Letters and Papers, uncalendared, 1542). ' Bigge ' must be understood relatively as they were fired with chambers. * The French Pierrier, used for stone shot. ' Murderers, half a century later, were small swivel guns, but at this date perhaps larger. These two are described as ' two grete murderers of brasse.' * According to another paper (^Letters and Papers, i, 572 1) the upper forecastle deck carried eight serpentines and eight smaller guns. * She also had six serpentines and a stone gun in the main and mizen tops. In Henry VIII 55 Great Barbara c o u c 1! 60 CO c O 0) n o c/3 o ( Upper Deck Fo'c'stle \ Middle Deck ( Nether Deck Waist Stern 1' Upper Deck Poop^ Middle Deck ( Nether Deck 6 7 7 6 — — — 2 2 2 2 4 Ships like the Henry, Sovereign, and Mary Rose carried also heavier pieces than these, the commencement of the change to fewer but more powerful guns, which progressed rapidly during the middle of the century. The Mary Rose had 79 guns (besides six in her tops), of which 33 were serpentines, 26 stone guns, and 10 murderers, but she also had five brass curtails and five brass falcons.^ The Sovereign, when rebuilt in 1 509, was given four whole and three half curtails of brass, three culverins, two falcons, and eleven heavy iron guns among her 71 guns.^ The curtail, or curtow, was a heavy gun of some 3000 lbs., hitherto only used as a siege piece on land, and its transference to maritime use marks a revolution in ship armament which deserves attention. The Mary Rose and Sovereign were in 1509, the two most powerfully armed ships which had yet existed in the English navy, perhaps the most powerfully armed ships afloat any- where that year, and it is curious to notice that the Peter Pomegranate built with them was fitted in the old style, with innumerable serpentines which could have been of little more effect. than toy guns, appearing almost as though the contrast was an intentional experiment. At any rate with the heavier armaments of the Sovereign and Mary Rose, commences the long struggle between the attack and defence still going on, for hitherto there had been practically no attack so far as a ship's sides were concerned. The system was extended as the reign progressed, and in 1546, we find comparatively small ships like the Grand Mistress carrying two demi cannons and five culverins, the Swallow one demi cannon and two demi culverins, out of a total of eight heavy guns ; the Anne Gallant four culverins, one curtail, and two demi culverins ; the Greyhound one the fifteenth century darts were flung from the tops ; now most large vessels carried guns in them. "^Letters and Papers, i, 5721. 2 Ibid, and Chapt. House Bks., vol. xiii. Eighty -four guns according to the latter. 56 The Administration of the Royal Navy Royal Ships:— Ordnance Stores. culverin, one demi culverin, and two cannons petro/ besides their other smaller pieces.^ Even the Roo of 80 tons has two demi culverins and three cannons petro. To measure the full extent of the change we must compare these vessels with the Henry, of three or four times their tonnage, which in 1 5 14, carried only one bombard, two culverins, six falcons and one curtow, in addition to 126 serpentines and 47 other guns of various but probably light weights, seeing that most of them were used with chambers. To whom was this innovation due ? It commenced with Henry's accession, and if not owing to his direct initiative, he has the merit of recognising its value and persistently putting it into execution. But we know from other non-naval docu- ments that he had some knowledge of artillery and took an active personal interest in such matters, and it may very well be that the improvement was his own. In any case it was one in which England took and kept the lead, and which gave the country an incalculable advantage in the contest with Spain during the close of the century. From other papers we can ascertain with sufficient com- pleteness the character of the weapons and stores for offensive purposes carried on board. There is a state paper of July 15 13, coincident with the invasion of France which gives the following details'* : — I ti i- ^ > S S '5. w 1 Henry Grace a Dieu^ 3 '3 c c P3 S 1 d. a 3 e 400 260 40 2000 5000 4000 1500 1500 2000 5 lasts 500 Gabriel Royal 350 230 20 500 1500 1200 500 500 400 2 „ 300 Mary Rose 200 180 20 350 700 700 300 300 200 3 „ 220 Sovereign 400 260 40 500 1500 1200 500 500 500 2 „ 300 Kateryn Fortileza 300 210 40 350 700 700 300 300 200 3i„ 220 Peter Pomegranate 150 130 20 300 600 600 250 250 200 8 brls 180 Great Nicholas 135 15 250 500 500 200 200 160 6 „ 160 Mary James 150 85 15 200 500 400 160 160 160 6 „ 130 Mary a7id John 100 100 200 500 400 160 160 160 6 „ 90 Great Bark 150 88 12 200 500 500 200 200 160 6 „ 130 John Baptist 150 135 15 250 500 500 200 200 160 6 „ 1 6a Lizard 6g 32 8 80 200 160 60 60 50 3 „ 50 Jennet 10 44 6 60 150 120 50 50 50 3 „ 35 Swallow 20 46 4 60 150 120 50 50 40 3 „ 35 Sweepstake — 66 4 60 150 120 50 50 40 3 ,. 35 ' Low Latin petra, stone shot ; the name subsequently defined a particular weight or shape, and remained in use although iron shot were fired from what was still called a stone cannon. -Add. MSS. 22047, and State Papers of Henry VI IT, (ed. 1830), xvii, 736, (old numbering). ^ Letters and Papers i, 4379. The soldiers, sailors, and gunners are from Letters and Papers i, 3977, of April 1513. The soldiers were obtained and forwarded by various persons responsiljle, e.g.., the 350 of the Gabriel Royal were made up of 100, being the retinue or immediate followers of Sir Thomas Courtenay and Sir Henry VIII S7 • The reader will remark the small number of gunners allowed. The Sovereign had 70 or 80 pieces and the proportion here does not allow even one gunner to a piece on a broadside. Perhaps the soldiers manned the guns, but it is more likely that the seamen were beginning to take a combatant part instead of confining themselves to working the ship. Bows and arrows still formed an important part of the equipment, but although we have no similar list for shot the amount of powder shows the reliance now placed on artillery and musket fire. Incidentally, among remains of stores, we find ' 200 harquebus shot,' 900 serpentine shot, 1350 iron ' dyse,' 8 darts for wildfire, to set the sails of an enemy's ship on fire, and two chests of wildfire with quarrels.^ Also ' 300 small and grete dyse of iern,' 420 stone and 1000 leaden shot, 120 shot of iron 'with cross bars,' 22 ' pecks for to hew gonstones,' - and 74 arrows of wildfire.^ The well known picture of the embarkation of Henry Vlll^^^^^^J^^'^^g at Dover, on his way to the interview with Francis I in 1520, represents the Henry Grace a Dieu as the chief ship in the fleet. This was inherently improbable as the Henry drew too much water to enter either Dover or Calais harbours, but it can be proved to be incorrect from documentary evidence. The squadron consisted of the Great Bark, Less Bark, Kateryn Plesaimce, Mary and John, and two rowbarges.^ The inter- view was originally proposed for 1519 and a year previously on 22nd May 15 18, the Kateryn Plesaunce was commenced for the express purpose of carrying the King and Queen across the Channel.^ She cost ;^323, 13s 9d, including the victualling and lodging expenses of the men working upon her, and required 80 tons of ballast.^ In none of the accounts relating to men-of-war are there any details of extrinsic decoration, if it existed, and even in the Kateryn, intended for a royal pleasure trip there is only one charge often shillings for painting and gilding the ' collere.' House carpenters were employed for ' the makynge of cabons and embowynge of wyndows,' and although the chief cabin was wainscoted and William Cornwall, her captains, loo from the Bishop of Exeter, lOO from Lord Arundel, and 50 from Lord Stourton. * To defend archers in the field. This is the only instance, so far as is yet known, in which ships carried them as part of their equipment, and here pro- bably it was only in connection with the invasion of France. ^ Armour. ^ It should be noticed that when these schedules were drawn up, the Henry was not yet launched, the figures therefore were purely conjectural and not lequisites shown by experience to be necessary. 1 Letters and Papers, i, 5276 ; the Peter Pomegranate. Quarrels or quarreaux were used with crossbows. 2 Stone shot. ^Letters and Papers, i, 5721. The Sovereign, Great Nicholas and Kateryn Fortileza. * Chapter House Bks., vol. ii, f. 102. ^ j^fi^^ f_ 73. ^ Ibid., ff. 80, 88. 58 The Administration of the Royal Navy lighted by 112 feet of glass, the Queen's own cabin was cheaply furnished with a dozen 'joined stools' at tenpence apiece. The Kateryn was sometimes called a bark and sometimes a galley and this leads us to the question of the classification of the royal vessels. If we accept without inquiry that of the list of 5th January 1548,^ we find ships like the Anne Gallant^ Unicorn, Salamander, Tiger, Hart, Antelope, Lion, Dragon, Jennet, Bull and Greyhound, described as galleys. But in Anthony's list of 1546 the same vessels are called galleasses ; obviously therefore the two words did not define particular types as rigidly as they do among naval archaeologists to-day, or even as they did towards the end of the sixteenth century. The Kateryn galley of 15 12 was a three masted vessel with bowsprit and fore and main topmasts, as was also the Rose another ' galley ' of the early years of the reign,^ Both were supplied with oars — thirty — as was usual with small vessels long after this date when the name galley had fallen into disuse. Another, the Sweepstake (of Henry VII), had a mizen mast,^ and a sprit mast on the bowsprit,* so that it may be assumed that she also was a three-master although else- where she is described as ' the king's rowbarge called the Sweepstake' ^ In 1546 the Hart, Antelope, Tiger, and Bull are four- masted flush-decked ships, apparently pierced on a lower gun deck for nine pieces a side ; the Anne Gallant and Grand Mistress four-masters, of 450 tons, with forecastle and poop, carrying guns on the upper and on a lower deck ; the Grey- hound, Lion, Jennett, and Dragon, are similar well-decked vessels with the addition of great stern and quarter galleries extending nearly the whole length of the poop and nearly one- third of the length of the vessel. The contradictions we have to face can be best exemplified by one example, the Greyhound, which in the 1548 list is called a galley, in a 1546 list said to be a copy of Anthony's,*" a galleass, and in that portion of Anthony's manuscript remaining in the Museum, a ship.'^ This last authority, a series of original drawings, calls only the Greyhound, Lion, Jenfiett, and Dragon, ' ships ' and the only point in which they seem to differ from the ordinary type is in the possession of the stern and quarter galleries. If these drawings are accurate, and they so far differ from each other as to lead us to suppose that they were intended to por- tray individual ships, it is impossible that any one of them can have been impelled by oars, although sweeps may have • ArckcBologia, vi, 2i8. ^ Chapter House Bks., vol. xiii. ' Letters and Papers, i, 4376, f. 213. ■• Chapter House Bks., vol. xii, f. 510. * Ibid., f. 306. ° Quoted by Derrick, Memoirs of the Royal Navy, p. 303. ''Add MSS. 22047. The other vessels drawn he calls galleasses. Henry VIII 59 been occasionally and temporarily used for a particular pur- pose. They may have been worked from the gun-ports, in which case the Grand Mistress could only have used eight a side. The conclusion therefore is that the term galley did not imply an oared vessel of the Mediterranean type, such as we now associate with the word, but was applied first to light ships small enough to use sweeps when necessary, and later to an improved model, possibly built on finer lines than the heavy, slow moving hulks of the beginning of the reign, and expected to bear, to the ponderous 600 or 1000 ton battle ship, the same relation in speed that the real galley bore to a mediaeval sailing vessel. A fleet formation of 1545 was of course based on that customary in an army and we have Van, Battle or main body, and Wing, arranged for. In that year some of the vessels just mentioned were not yet afloat, but the Salamander, Swallow, Unicorn, J ennett, Dragon, and Lioji were included in the Battle. The Wing, composed of ' galliasses and ships with ores,' comprised among others, the Grand Mistress, Anne Gallant, and Greyhound. That they should have been classed with ' the ships with ores,' does not show that they were of the same order, but only that they were supposed to be sufficiently handy under sail to act with them. There was therefore a certain number of ships, large and small, vaguely and uncertainly called galleys, possessing certain modifications on the normal type, and there is some reason to believe that the innovation, whatever may have been the par- ticular change in form or structure, was due to Henry himself He sometimes appears to have had his own designs carried out ; a prize was to be altered * so as she now shall be made in every point as your Grace devised.'^ In 1541 Chapuys wrote to the emperor : ' The King has hkewise sent to Italy for three shipwrights experienced in the art of constructing galleys, but I fancy that he will not make much use of their science as for some time back he has been building ships with oars according to a model of which he himself was the inventor,' ^ Chapuys must have been referring to the earlier Rose, Kateryn, and Swallow type, and possibly to others not now to be traced ; but to the presence of the Italian shipwrights was undoubtedly owing the launch of the Galley Subtylle in 1544. 'Subtylle' was not an especial name, but was applied to a class more lightly built and quicker in movement than the ordinary galley. This was the only real galley built by him since it differed in no respect from the standard Mediter- ranean pattern, but in 1 546 thirteen ' rowbarges ' of twenty tons apiece were added to the Navy. These were rowing * Letters and Papers, 17th April 1523. 2 ^i^fg Papers, Spain, 1 6th July. 6o The Administration of the Royal Navy- vessels, and unless intended for scouting or for towing and to give general assistance, it is difficult to see their utility as they were too small to engage with any chance of success. In the result they were sold within a year or two of Henry's death. The sixteenth century galley service, such as it was, was forced on the English government by the action of Francis I in bringing his own and hired galleys round from the Medi- terranean. It was always repugnant to the national tem- perament and soon languished when the exciting cause was removed. Although three or four galleys were carried on the navy list until 1629 the last years in which any served at sea were 1563 and 1586. These various attempts at evolving a new type, which should combine the best points of the galley and the sailing vessel, show that Henry recognised at least some of the faults of the man-of-war of his day. He failed because the solution was not within the scientific knowledge of his time, and per- haps also because the work of the galley benches must have been abhorrent to the hereditary instincts and traditions of the English sailor. But he was the first English king who gave the Navy some of that forethought and effort at improvement that had hitherto been devoted wholly to the army. His ex- periments left so little visible trace in the one direction that in 1 55 1 Barbaro could write to the Seigniory, 'They do not use galleys by reason of the very great strength of the tides,' ^ but, in another, the drawings of the last ships launched, the four of 1546, one of which, the Tiger, is reproduced in the frontispiece — comparatively low in the water, little top-hamper, neat and workmanlike in appearance — show a very great ad- vance on anything before afloat, and indicate a steady pro- gression towards the modern type. Dec(fration^and If we are to judge of the decoration of ships by the refer- saiiing quau- ences to ornament in the naval accounts, we should have to conclude that it was entirely absent. Unquestionably it was to a certain extent present, since its absence would have been contrary to the instincts of humanity and the customs of every nation that has had a navy. But it could not have been as extensive as it afterwards became, nor have taken any very expensive form. The hulls were doubtless painted as in the previous reign, but the bows and stern seem to have been quite devoid of carving or gilding. The tops, which were large enough to hold heavy guns, were ornamented with ' top- armours ' of red, yellow, green, or white kersies lined with canvas. The Sovereign had copper and gilt ornaments on the end of the bowsprit, and gilt crowns for the mast heads 1 State Papers^ Venetian, Report of England. Also Soranzo's Report of 1554, ' They do not use galleys.' Henry VIII 6i had been an embellishment used for centuries. The Unicorn and Salamander have representative figures on their beak- heads/ but as they were prizes no deduction can be drawn as to English custom. The English built ships have no figurehead, but the beakhead sometimes ends in a spur, implying the idea of ramming. This spur, however, points upward and is much too high to have been of any use for that purpose. The ships' sides were still surrounded with pavesses, now only light wooden shields and decorations, but which were survivals of the real shields of knights and men- at-arms in ancient vessels, ranged round the sides of the ship until needed for fighting. A hundred years later the cloth weather protection round the oarsmen of a Mediterranean galley was still called the pavesade. These pavesses seem to have sometimes taken the place of bulwarks, not always present. In 15 13 Sir Edward Echyngham, captain of a ship then at sea wrote that he had fallen in with three Frenchmen, ' Then I comforted my folk and made them to harness, and because I had no rails upon my deck I coiled a cable round about the deck breast high, and likewise in the waist, and so hanged upon the cable mattresses, dagswayns/ and such bedding as I had within board.' ^ The form of expression suggests that the absence of rails was unusual. Of the rate of sailing attained by these ships and their weatherly qualities we know hardly anything. On 22nd March 15 13 Sir Edward Howard wrote to Henry, evidently in answer to a royal command to make a report on the subject, describing the merits of the squadron he had been trying, apparently between the Girdler and the North Foreland.* The Kateryn Fortileza sails very well ; the Mary Rose is 'your good ship, the flower I trow of all ships that ever sailed ; ' the Sovereign, ' the noblest ship of sail is this great ship at this hour that I trow be in Christendom.' Some time, but not long, before 1525 the Sovereign was in very bad con- dition, and her repair was urged because ' the form of which ship is so marvellously goodly that great pity it were she should die.' ^ Her name however does not subsequently occur and she was probably broken up. In 1522 Sir William Fitz- william related in a letter to the king that the Henry sailed as well or better than any ship in the fleet, that she could weather them all except the Mary Rose, and that she did not strain at her anchors when it was blowing hard.^ It seems rather late in the day for a trial of a vessel afloat in 1 5 14, but some altera- tions may have been previously made rendering it advisable. 1 Add. MSS. 22047. ^ Bed and table covers. 3 Cott. MSS., Calig. D. vi, f. 107. * Hid. loi. * Coti. MSS. Otho, E. ix. f. 64. ^ Letters and Papers, 4th June. / 62 The Administration of the Royal Navy Even when ill and near his end Henry evinced the same interest in the seagoing qualities of his ships, since we learn from a letter of 1546 that he had required to be informed whether ' the new shalupe was hable to broke the sees.' Fiagsand If carving, gilding, and painting were scant on these ships gna s. they shone bravely with flags and streamers. Those of the Peter Pomegranate were banners of St Katherine, St Edward, and St Peter, six of the arms of England in metal ; ^ of a Red Lion ; four of the Rose and Pomegranate ; two of ' the castle,' and eight streamers of St George.^ The Henry Grace a Dieu was furnished with two streamers for the main mast respectively 40 and 5 1 yards long, one for the foremast of 36 yards, and one for the mizen of 28 yards ; there were also ten banners 3^ yards long, eighteen more 3 yards long, wrought with gold and silver and fringed with silk, ten flags of St George's Cross, and seven banners of buckram, at a total cost of £^7, 2s 8d.^ Banners mentioned in other papers were, of England, of Cornwall, of a rose of white and green, of a Dragon, of a Greyhound, of the Portcullis, of St George and the Dragon, of St Anne, of ' white and green with the rose of gold crowned,' of ' murrey and blue with half rose and half pomegranate, with a crown of gold,' and of ' blue tewke with three crowns of gold.' ^ White and green were now the recognised Tudor colours, and there is some indication of their use in that sense in the reign of Henry VH ; the Greyhound was the badge of that king, the Dragon of his son. The Portcullis referred to the control of the straits of Dover, the Pomegranate to Catherine of Aragon and Spain ; the constant recurrence of the Rose as a badge and as a ship's name needs no explanation. The banner with the representation of a saint upon it was a survival of the custom existing in earlier times, by which every ship was dedicated to a saint, under whose protection it was placed and whose name it usually bore. Besides ornament flags had long served the more prosaic purpose of signalling. Even among merchantmen there seem to have been some recognised signals, as in 15 17 the Mary of Penmark, driven into Calais by bad weather, hoisted ' a flag in the top,' for a pilot.^ This signal must therefore have long been common to at least two seafaring peoples. So far as the Royal Navy was concerned, we can only say that a flag '' on the starboard buttock ' of the admiral's ship called his cap- ^ Heraldically in gold and silver. ^Letters and Papers, 28th Jul}' 1514- Banners were sqTiare or nearly square, somewhat resembling the Royal Standard of to-day. Standards were long, narrow, and split at the end. Streamers were still longer and narrower, now re- presented by pennants, (N. H. Nicolas, Excerpta Historica, p. 50). ' Lette7-s and Papers, loth April 1 5 14. •• Ibid, i, 5721; Chapter House Bks., vol. xiii ; and Stowe. MSS. 146, f. 1 14. ^ Letters and Paper s.^ ii, 3549. I Henry VIII 63 tains to a council.^ But a system of day and night signalling had long been in existence in the Spanish service, and in view of the close connection between the two countries commerci- ally, and the employment of Spanish ships and seamen by the crown, it would have been extraordinary had it not been known and used here. According to Fernandez de Navar- rete - a scheme of signals for day and night use was practised in 1430. In 1517 a flag halfway up the main mast called the captains to the flagship ; sight of land was announced by a flag in the maintop ; a strange ship by one half way up the shrouds, and more than one strange sail by two flags placed vertically. A ship requiring assistance fired three guns, and sent a man to wave a flag in her top, while if the admiral's ship showed a flag on her poop, every captain was to send a boat for orders. A code with guns and lights made the corresponding signals during darkness and fog.^ The earliest set of regulations for the government of a fleet Fleet Reguia- tious in this reign is contained in an undated paper entitled 'A Book of Orders for the War by Se and Land,' prepared by Thomas Audley by command of Henry.* The articles relat- ing to sea matters, and dealing with the management of a fleet may be thus summarised — I. No Captain shall go to windward of his Admiral. 2. Disobedient captains shall be put ashore. 3. No ship to ride in the wake of another, 4. If the enemy be met the weathergage is to be obtained ; only the Admiral shall engage the enemy's Admiral, and every ship is, as nearly as possible to attack an opponent of equal strength. 5. Boarding not to be undertaken in the smoke, nor until the enemy's deck had been cleared with small shot. 6. If a captured ship could not be held the principal ofiBcers were to be taken out of her, the vessel ' boulged,' and ' the rest committed to the bottome of the sea for els they will turne upon you to your confusion.' 7. When going into action the Admiral is to wear a flag at his fore and main, and the other ships at the mizen. 8. The Admiral shall not enter an enemy's harbour, nor land men without calling a council. From the last regulation it would appear that only limited authority was left to the admiral, and it was perhaps due to Sir Edward Howard's actions of 15 12 and 15 13, the last of which, an attempt to cut out galleys, was a defeat, and cost Howard his life. From the second it seems that little disciplin- ary power was left in the admiral's hands, and from the seventh that it was not customary to fly the colours at sea. It will be observed, from the methodical way in which the captains were directed to go into action, that the tendency 1 Harl. MSS. 309, f. 10. 2 Colecdon de Viages, i, 412. ^ Fernandez Duro, Viajes Regios por Mar^ p. 128. * Harl. MSS. 309. Audley, afterwards Lord Chancellor and Lord Audley of Walden was Speaker in 1529 and knighted. In this paper he is called simply Thos. Audley so that it may be presumed to be earlier than 1532, the year of knighthood. / ( Admirals. 64 The Administration' of the Royal Navy- was still strong to handle a fleet as troops and companies were handled ashore.^ The next fleet orders show little alteration.2 I. Every ship shall retain its place in the Van, Battle, and Wing, and every captain take his orders from the commander of his own division. 2. In action the Van shall attack the French Van, Admiral engage Admiral, and every captain a Frenchman of equal size. 3. The Wing shall always be to windward so that it may ' the better beate off the gallies from the great ships.' 4. The watchword at night to be ' God save King Henry,' when the other shall answer ' Long to raigne over us.' This fleet is the first recorded to have been opened into divisions, each section being distinguished by the position of a flag. The Lord Admiral flew the royal arms in the main top and the St George's cross at the fore, while the other ships of the * battaill ' carried the St George at the main. The admiral commanding the Van wore the St George's cross at the fore and main, and the rest of his command the same flag at the fore. The officer commanding the Wing flew the St George in both mizen tops and those under him in one. The^Lorda The hour of the professional seamen had not yet come for either admirals or captains. Like most of Henry's execu- tive or administrative officers they were taken from among the men he saw daily round him at court. It would be unfair to suppose this the cause that the Navy did little during his reign, for the very existence of a powerful fleet is often reason enough why its services should not be needed. It was not until 1545 that the French made any real attempt to contest the command of the sea. In that year John Dudley, Lord Lisle, afterwards Duke of Northumberland, commanded the English forces, and, in a position where some of Sir Edward Howard's bull like tactics might have been judicious, he failed to come aux prises with his adversary.^ If we may believe his own confessions he distrusted his powers and recognised his incapacity, but in after years, when the aggrandisement of his family was concerned, he showed no such hesitating modesty. On one occasion he wrote to Henry admitting his want of experience but ex- pressing a hope that ' the goodness of God ' would serve instead.^ On another, he said, ' I do thynck I shuld have doon his Maiestie better service in some meaner office wherein to be directed and not to be a director.' ^ If 1 Cf. Le Fleming MSS. p. 8, 12th Report Hist. MSS. Com. App. Part vii. 2 State Papers., (ed. 1830) loth Aug. 1545. * Cf. State Papers., (ed. 1830), letters of 15th, i6th, and i8th Aug. 1545. He seems to have been completely outmancEuvred. * Ibid.., I2th Aug., 1545. ^ Ibid.., 17th Sept. 1545. Henry VIII 65 honestly felt this frame of mind was hardly calculated to inspirit his subordinates. Although the office of admiral as a commander of a fleet dates from the thirteenth century it was for long only a temporary appointment, obtaining its chief importance from the character of the person holding it. When several fleets were at sea and the principal command was vested in one person he became for the time, Admiral of England, laying down his title with his command. From the beginning of the fifteenth century this office of 'Great Admiral of England Ireland and Aquitaine' became a permanent one, carrying with it the control of all the maritime strength of the crown, and being usually bestowed on a relative of the sovereign. The first of such patents is of 23rd Dec. 1406, and bears a resemblance, in the powers and privileges it confers, to the similar ones of the Admiralship of Castile, that can hardly be accidental.! gy^ as far as the navy was concerned his duties were purely militant, and there is no trace of his inter- ference in administration. The ' Great Admiral ' also possessed jurisdictive functions, trying, by his deputy, all maritime causes, civil and criminal. The fees and perquisites attached to the exercise of these duties made the post valuable in the fifteenth century, but it does not appear to have ensured any especial political power to its holder during that troubled time. Frequently it became a mere court title of honour ; the Earl of Oxford was Great Admiral during the whole reign of Henry VII, but his name never occurs in naval affairs. In many instances, during the fifteenth century, the Admiral of England did not command at sea at all, but during the reign of Henry VIII the post became one of actual executive control, and, later, of administrative responsibility. The Lords Admirals of this reign were mostly men who, before or after- wards, held other important State or Household appointments and who had no expert knowledge of their duties. The Earl of Oxford was succeeded by Sir Edward Howard by Letters Patent of 15th August 15 12; his brother. Lord Thomas Howard, the victor of Flodden, was appointed 4th May 1513; ^ Cf. Duro, La Marina de Castilla^ App. No. 26. Patent of Don Alonso Enriquez. For purposes of reference it may be well to append a list of the Admirals of England during the fifteenth century : John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, 23rd Dec. 1406; Edmund Holland, Earl of Kent, 8th May 1407; Thomas Beaufort, 1st Sept. 1408 ; John, Duke of Bedford, 26th July 1426 ; John Holland, Duke of Exeter, 2nd Oct. 1435 ; William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, 1447 (acting) ; Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, 29th July 1450 ; Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, 1462 ; William Neville, Earl of Kent, 30th July 1462 ; Richard, Duke of Gloucester, I2th Oct. 1462 ; Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, 2nd Jan. 147 1 (defeated and killed at Bamet and his appointment not recognised by the Yorkists) ; John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, 25th July 1483 ; and John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, 21st Sept. 1485. E 66 The Administration of the Royal Navy- Henry, Duke of Richmond, illegitimate son of the King, i6th July 1525 ; William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton, i6th August 1536; John, Lord Russell, 1 8th July 1540; and John Dudley, Lord Lisle, 27th January 1 543. That most of these men had no experience whatever of the sea was not con- sidered detrimental to their efficiency. Royal SMps There were not many men-of-war lost during Henry's reign, but both absolutely and relatively, seeing the little active service undergone by the Navy, the number is much larger than under Elizabeth. The Regent was burnt in action in 1 5 12. In 1 5 13 a ship commanded by Arthur Plantagenet, an illegitimate son of Edward IV, sank after striking on a rock in Bertheaume Bay, near Brest, but we are ignorant whether she was a man-of-war or a hired merchantman, probably, however, the latter. Sometime in or before 1514, a small vessel, name unknown, was wrecked at Rye,^ but a more important loss was that of the Great Elizabeth^ in September 15 14, at Sandgate, west of Calais, during the passage of the Princess Mary to France when 400 men were drowned.2 The Christ, freighted to the Mediterranean for trade, was, in 1515, captured by Barbary corsairs and all but thirty of those on board killed. Letters patent were issued, authorising a national subscription for their ransom. The next was that of the Anne Gallant^ in August 1518, on the coast of Galicia while chartered by some London merchants on a trading voyage. In 1545 several foreign hired fighting ships were wrecked by stress of weather, but the most remarkable loss of the reign was that of the Mary Rose which capsized off Brading on 20th July 1545, when getting under way. Ralegh says that her ports were only sixteen inches above the water line, and attri- butes the disaster to this circumstance. Beyond the fact that most of Ralegh's observations on maritime matters, where not doubtful or unintelligible, can be shown to be incorrect,^ there is the great improbability that after at least fifty years' experi- ence of gun-ports they should have been cut so low since she had been rebuilt in or before 1536. Moreover Anthony's drawings show them to have been pierced very much higher in other vessels. A contemporary writer, who obtained his ac- count from an eye-witness, ascribed it to a different cause and makes no mention of the ports.^ By the ist August measures had been taken towards rais- ing her and the persons who had undertaken the work desired, ' Ffyrst ii of the gretest hulkes that may be gotten, more the hulk that rydeth withyn the havyn, Item iiii of the gretest hoys withyn the havyn, ' Chapter House Books, vol. v, f. 153. - Stow. p. 497, and C/irunicle 0/ Calais, Cam. Sec. p. 16. 3 Infra, p. 127. ■• Infra, p. 80. Henry VIII 67 Item V of the gretest cables that may be had, Item x grete hawsers, Item X new capsteynes with xx'i puUeyes, Item 1 puUeyes ^ bownde with irone Item V doseyn balast basketts, Item xl lb of talowe, Item xxx Venyzian maryners and one Venyziane carpenter, Item Ix Inglysshe maryners to attend upon them, Item a greate quantitie of cordage of all sortes, Item Symonds patrone and maister in the ffoyst doth aggree that all thynges must be had for the purpose aforeseid.^ It appears from this that cables were to be passed through her ports, or made fast to her, and that by means of the hulks she was to be bodily hauled up, a course from which rapid success was anticipated. On the 5th August, her yards and sails had been removed and ' to her mastes there is tyed three cables with other ingens to wey her upp and on every side of her a hulk to sett her uppright.'^ Two days later the officers at Portsmouth fully expected that she would be weighed with- in twenty-four hours,^ but on the 9th ' Thitalians which had the doying for the wayeing of the Mary Roos have been with my Lord Chamberlayn and me to signifie unto us that after this sourt which they have followed, hithierto, they can by no meanes recover her for they have alredye broken her foremast . . . and nowe they desyer to prove another waye which is to dragg her as she lyeth untill she come into shallowe ground and so to set her upright, and to this they axe vi days' proof.' ^ The second way proved as fruitless as the first, but we rqad that 22 tuns of beer were consumed during the work, which must have made it appear an enjoyable summer outing to the men.^ Up to 30th June 1 547, the whole amount expended in the various attempts was £402, 6s 8d ^ and this may have in- cluded £$7, IIS 5d to Peter Paul, an Italian, for the recovery of some of her guns, which was paid within the time for which the total was made up but appears in other papers.^ The last reference to the unfortunate ship is another payment of £$0 to Peter Paul for recovering ordnance and then, after four years of effort, any further hope was foregone.^ During the greater part of his reign, Henry like his prede- Royal SMps cessors, allowed merchants to charter men-of-war for trading Merchants, voyages. In 15 11, ;^200 was paid for the Mary and John by two merchants who hired her to go to the Baltic, a five months' voyage, but out of this sum the king paid the wages of the crew and supplied flags and doubtless other stores.^"^ One reason for putting royal officers and men on board may have been to prevent the ship being used for piratical purposes. In 1 Blocks 2 State Papers^ (ed. 1830) i Aug. 1545, Brandon to Paget. 3 md.^ Lisle to Paget. * Ibid.^ 7th Aug., Suffolk to Paget. 5 Ibid.^ 9th Aug., Lisle to Paget. ^ Pipe Office Declared Accounts^ 2477. ' Ibid.^ 2587. But ^559, 8s 7d, according to State Papers^ Dom. Ed. VI, xv, II. 8 Pipe Office Decld. Accts., 2588, and Acts of the Privy Coimcil^ 17th May 1547. ^ Acts of the Privy Council, 3rd Aug., 1549. i» Chapter House BAs., vol. i, ff. 23, 28. 68 The Administration of the Royal Navy Convoys. Dockyards :- Portsmouth. the same year the Anne Gallant also went to the Baltic,^ and from there to Bordeaux before returning to London, and the Peter PoDiegranate to Zealand ; in 1 5 1 5 Richard Gresham freighted the Mary George, and Richard Fermor the Christ, to the Mediterranean. For the Anne Gallant tho. crown received ;^300, and for the crew of the Peter lOO 'jorgnets' were pro- vided.2 When the Anne Gallant was wrecked in 1518 the loss seems to have been submitted to arbitration, * for the copyinge of the byll of the grosse averies of the same Anne Gallant and the warde of the arbetrers theruppon made ii^' but there is no trace of the result.^ In 1524, the Minion and Mary Guildford were at Bordeaux, and in 1533, two other vessels. After that year there is no further instance known of Henry permitting his ships to be hired by private persons. Convoys were provided by the government during war time. In 15 13, the Royal Navy being fully occupied on service, £^^ was paid to the owner of the Mawdelin of Hull for escorting a wool fleet to Calais, and there are other similar agreements.* In the preceding year there was a guard of the herring fleet afloat, although we have no knowledge of its strength.^ In 1522 we have the first sign of an attempt to patrol the four seas, four vessels were stationed between the Thames and Rye, four others between Rye and the Channel Islands, and three are assigned to the somewhat unintelligible location of between the Channel Islands and the Tweed.^ Doubtless it was only a temporary measure, but it is important as showing that it was now understood that the Navy had a more continuous purpose than mere attack or defence in fleets. Portsmouth dockyard, with the storehouses and workshops attached to it, and said to have been situated at that portion of the present yard known as the King's Stairs, was the only one existing in 1509. The enlargement of the Navy necessitated a corresponding increase in the accommodation for building and repairs, and naturally the first references are to Portsmouth. In the first year of the reign there are pay- ments for ' the breaking up of the dockhead where the Regent lay — having out the said ship afloat out of the same dock into the haven of Portsmouth — making a scaffold with great masts for the sure setting on end of her main mast,''' and £\iy^, 14s 2d was expended there on the Sovereign? During ' ' Estland or parties of Spruse.' 2 Chapter House Book, vol. i, ff. 30, 33, 46. The character of jorgnet is doubtful ; cf. Planche Cyclopaedia of Costume, s.w.Jornet. ^ Chapter House Book, vol. xi, f. 107. ■• Letters and Papers, i. 4225 and Q.R. Anc. Misc. Navy, 616, c. * Letters and Papers, i, 3445, - when divers of the French ships of war lay there.' « Lbid., iii, 2296. ' Ibid., i, 3422 — i. ^ Exch. War. for Issues, 29th Jan., 15 10. Henry VIII 69 the first war with France, additions were made to the estab- lishment,^ and from a later paper we learn that five of these were brewhouses, the Lion, Rose, Dragon, White Hart and Anchor,^ while some ' reparrynge and tylinge of the houses att the dokke,' was also executed. In other respects the town was cared for, since in 1526, 675 pieces of ordnance were on the walls and in store, and in the same year £20 was spent on repairing the dock. In 1523, however, the existing dock must have been much enlarged in view of the charges ' for making a dock at Ports- mouth for the king's ship royal,' the Henry Grace d Dieu? She was brought into the dock with much ceremony, 'the same day that the King's Ship Royal the Henry Grace a Dieu was had and brought into the dock at Portsmouth of and with gentlemen and yeo- men dwelling about the country there which did their diligence and labour there in the helping of the said ship, and also with mariners and other labourers in all to the number by estimation of looo persons.'* These assistants consumed during their arduous labours through the day eight quarters of beef, forty-two dozen loaves of bread and four tuns of beer. The method of construction was still the same as under Henry VII, as there are payments for 'digging of clay for the stopping up of the same dock head,' and for breaking up these solid fabrics. The next event connected with the Portsmouth yard was the purchase of nine acres of land, in 1527, at twenty shillings an acre; this ground was surrounded by a ditch and hedge with gates at intervals.^ The dockyard however gradually sank in con- sideration during this reign. Woolwich and Deptford soon disputed supremacy with it, and the gradual formation of Chatham yard between 1560 and 1570 completed its decay. Its last year of importance was 1545, when the fleet collected there, and when its approaching neglect was so little antici- pated that the chain across the mouth of the harbour was renewed and fresh improvements were contemplated. But from that year until the era of the Commonwealth it almost disappears from naval history. Woolwich, commonly but erroneously called the Mother Dockyards: Dock, grew up round the Henry Grace a Dieu. The accounts" 'Wooiwich. show various amounts expended in the hire of houses and grounds there for purposes associated with the ship, and some of these were converted into permanent purchases. One such occurred in 15 18 when the king bought a wharf and houses ^ Leland, Itinerary. ^ Letters and Papers^ l8th Jan. 1525. * Chapter House Books, vol. vi. * Ihid., f. 40. ^Letters and Papers^ 28th Feb., 1527, and Aug. Office Book, No. 317, (second part), f. 22. ® Chapter House Books, vol. v, f. 133. 7o The Administration of the Royal Navy from Nicholas Partriche, an alderman of London, for ;^iOO/ but the Longhouse, and perhaps others had been built in 1 5 12. In 1546 the yard was again enlarged by the addi- tion of docks and land belonging to Sir Edward Boughton, which were obtained by means of an exchange of property ; these docks had been leased by the crown for at least seven years previously at £6, 13s 4d a year.^ In connection with Woolwich we find a description of the office formalities necessary when a ship was moved from one place to another. In 15 18 the Henry Grace a Dieu and the Gabriel Royal were brought from Barking creek, the first to Erith, and the second to Woolwich, and among the expenses incurred were payments 'To John Dende scryvenor in Lombarde Strette for certen wrytyngs and bylls made by hym for the Kyngs lysences to my office, belongynge, that is to seye, for one warraunte made to Master Cornely, the Kinges attorney, xii^i, and for a letter to rygge the schippes viiid, and for a warraunte to have the schippes owt of Barkyn Creke, viiid, and for ii comyssions made to provide all things concernynge the same schippes, iis, and for divers copyes of the same xvi^.' ^ It is doubtful however whether a dry dock existed at Woolwich at this time. In this particular instance there is a payment to John Barton, ' marshman,' for the making ' of the Gabriel Rialls docke the sixteenth daye of Marche anno dicto in grett when the seid shipp most be browght apon blokks xxx'''.* Seventeen men were at work and this cannot refer to a dry dock which would have required more men and much more money ; it seems to have been a graving place in which the vessel was shored upon blocks. But when the Henry was being built the charges include the travelling expenses of men from Southampton and Portsmouth ' for the makynge of the dokkehede,' and ' to break up the dokhede.' Dockyards:- The formation of Deptford is usually assigned to 1517, when John Hopton, comptroller of the ships, undertook, for 600 marks, to ' make and cast a pond ' in a meadow adjoining the storehouse, and to build ' A good hable and suffycient hed for the same pond and also certyn hable sleysis through the which the water may have entre and course into the foresaid ponde as well at spryng tydes as at nepetydes.' * It was to be of sufficient size to take the Great Galley, Mary Rose, Great Bark, Less Bark, and Peter Pomegranate., « Rot. Clans. lo, Henry VIII, m. 6, and Lansd. MSS. i6, f. 120. 2 Acts of the Privy Council, 15th Jan. and 14th Mar. 1546. ^ Chapter House Books, vol. xi, f. 107. ■• Jbid., f. 44. The principal men employed about dock construction are always called 'marshmen,' probably persons with special experience of work in swampy ground, and ' inning,' from the Romney Marsh district. 5 Add. Charters (B.M.), 6289. Deptford. Henry VIII 71 There is some evidence that a pond with an inlet communi- cating with the river, was in existence in the thirteenth century, in which case Hopton only adapted and improved it The storehouse can be traced back to 1513/ but it is possible that the building hired at 'Greenwich' in 1485, by Henry VII was really at Deptford, seeing that Deptford Strand was sometimes called West Greenwich ; if so its beginnings are older than Portsmouth. Even in 1513 there is a reference to 'the howse at the dockhede,' but in 15 18, when the Great Nicholas was brought to Deptford for repair, there are charges for putting her into the dock, for * making the same dockhed,' ' for pylinge of the dockhede,' and for 'scouring out the dokk at the este ende of the Kyngis storehouse.' There was also made ' a myghty hegge of grete tesarde and tenets ^ along the seid dockside and the retorne of the same ; ' in the same year a wharf and two sheds were built.^ The use made of Deptford grew steadily until by the end of the reign it had become the most important yard. In 1546-7 more storehouses had to be hired at a cost of £\7, 1 8s 8d for the year, while ;^i, 6s 8d covered the extra payments for the same purpose at Woolwich, and no such temporary augmentation was required at Portsmouth. * There seems at one time to have been intention to make Dockyards : Erith a permanent naval station. By Letters Patent ' of ^"* " I2th January 15 13-4, John Hopton was appointed 'keeper of the new storehouses at Deptford and Erith for supplying the king's ships.' On j8th February X32 was paid to Robert Page of Erith for ' The purches of a tenement with an orchard and gardeyn and othir appurtenaunces thereunto belonging, conteigning foure acres of ground, being and sett in the parish of Erith by us of hym bought upon the which ground we have newe edified and bilded a house called a storehouse for the saffe kepyng of our ordynaunce and habillamentes of warre belonging to our shippes.' ^ In 1 52 1 the fittings, guns, and ground tackle of some of the ships were kept here, and shortly before that the sills of the doors had been raised ' for the keepinge owt of the hye tydis for att every tyde affore ther was ii fifoote depe of water in the seide storrhowsse.' At this date there were 88 bolts of canvas, 219 cables and hawsers, 27 masts, and 25 guns besides powder, pikes, bows and blocks in the house, which must have been of good size. We do not know the circumstances ^ Letters and Papers, i. 4387, (3rd Aug). ^ Stakes and brushwood. ^ Chapter House Books, vol. xi, ff. 9, 14. ^ Pipe Office Accounts, 2588. ^ Q.R. Misc. Navy, 867/5. According to a modern writer (C. J. Smith, Erith Lond. 1872, p. 61), the storehouse ' stood a little eastward of the point where the road from the railway station meets West Street at right angles. A considerable portion remains.' 72 The Administration of the Royal Navy that led to its disuse, but long before the end of the reign Erith ceases to be mentioned in connection with naval affairs. If we were to assume that the docks, so frequently spoken of in official papers, were all dry docks, we should have to conclude that there were nearly as many in existence then as now. There can, however, be no doubt that the term was applied indifferently to a complete dock with gates, to a grav- ing place, and even to a temporary protection of timber, fitted round a ship afloat to protect it from the ice. At Erith, in 15 12-13 there was 'a new docke ' made, in which the Sovereign was placed and repaired, the dock and repairs together occupying only eight weeks,^ But in 1526 the construction of a dock at an estimated cost of ;^6oo was suggested, so that it is certain that one did not exist there previously.2 In another instance John Barton and twenty- three marshmen were paid for two days' work while they * cast and made a dock for the Grett Galey affore the towne of Depfforde Stronde for the suer keepinge of her ther owt of the ysse.' ^ Subsequently certain ships are said to have been brought ' into their dock ' after they had been aground for breaming and floated again ; ^ in such a case it seems to have meant only a mooring place. At Portsmouth in 1528 a number of labourers were 'working by tide for the making of a dock for the grounding of the Mary Rose, Peter Potnegran- ate, and Jokfz Baptist,^ which vessels were ' wound aground by certain devices.' ^ These examples show clearly that the word when found in a sixteenth century paper, must be understood in a far wider sense than is customary to-day. Nevertheless there are references which seem to imply that there were other docks than those in the government yards. In 15 13 men were engaged in ' casting and closing the dockhede with tymber bord and balyste at Ratcliffe,' and another one at Limehouse is also mentioned.^ Shipwrights There was as yet no large resident population of ship- wrights and others at the naval centres chosen by the govern- ment. For the Henry Grace d Dieu workers were brought from districts far afield. Plymouth, Dartmouth, Bere Regis, Exeter, Saltash, Bradford, Bristol, Southampton, Bodmin, Exmouth, Poole, Ipswich, Brightlingsea, Yarmouth, Hull, Beverley, York, and other places furnished contingents. Most of the men came from the south and west, but of single towns Dartmouth and Ipswich supplied the largest numbers. While travelling to and returning from the scene of their employment they re- ceived a halfpenny a mile, known as conduct money, for food ^ Chapter House Books, vol. xii, f. 115. "^ Roy. MSS., 14 B xii D. * Chapter House Books, vol. xi, f. 3. * Ibid., f. 65. ' Aug. Office Book, No. 317, (second part), ff. 27, 29. * Chapter House Books, vol. xii, ff. 71, 365. ana Work- Henry VIII 73 and lodging, and the agents sent to press them were paid one shilling a day.^ Probably the call to the royal service was not unpopular as all classes of workmen were boarded and lodged in addition to their wages ; under Henry VII they were victualled, but there is no mention of free lodging. Shipwrights received from twopence to sixpence a day, sawyers, caulkers, and pumpmakers, twopence to fourpence, smiths twopence to sixpence, and labourers from twopence to fivepence. The staff at Portsmouth included a chip-bearer and a chip-gatherer at sevenpence a day, so that at this time ' chips ' did not constitute the scandalous perquisite it after- wards became. Of the carpenters working on the Henry Grace a Dieu, 141 were supplied with 'coats' costing from two to five shillings each, but that was a nearly exceptional expenditure, although 164 were provided for the men building the Mary Rose and Peter Pomegranate. The cost of victual- ling averaged twopence halfpenny a day, and they were given bread, beef, beer, ling, cod, hake, herring, pease, and oatmeal. There were cooks to prepare their food and a ' chamberlyn ' to make the beds which were bought or hired for their use ; flockbeds and mattresses cost from 3s 4d to 5s., bolsters is and IS 6d, sheets 2s to 3s, blankets is 4d, and coverlets is to 2S.2 Sometimes flock beds and mattresses were temporarily procured for twopence, and feather beds for threepence a week. The beds were made to hold two or three men, and in at least one instance ten men were packed into three beds. By 1545 wages seem to have risen somewhat, since at Deptford and Portsmouth that year the pay and victualling of all classes — carpenters, smiths, labourers, caulkers, and sawyers — came to ninepence a day. The principal designers and master shipwrights were John Smyth, Robert Holborn, and Richard Bull, who were in 1 548 granted pensions on the Exchequer of fourpence a day ' in consideration of their long and good service, and that they should instruct others in their feats,' ^ James Baker, the only master shipwright whose reputation outlived his generation, is not mentioned among these men, but he is elsewhere spoken of as 'skilful in ships,' ^ and he possessed a pension, also from the Exchequer, of eightpence a day. In the reign of James I he was still remembered and said to have been the first who adapted English ships to carry heavy guns, a survival which, whether exactly correct or not, testifies to an exceptional skill in his art. In 1 546 Baker got into trouble by being in possession of some forbidden religious books, and it is likely that only his professional ability saved him. Henry ordered that he should be examined, but ' His Maiestie 1 Chapter House Books, vol. vi, flp. 53, 57, ^ Ibid.^ fF. 61-3 ^ Acts of the Privy Council, 22nd April 1548. * Ibid., 2lst August 1545. 74 The Administration of the Royal Navy thynketh you shall find him a very simple man, and therefore wold that without putting him in any great fear you should search of him as much as you may.' Evidently the king knew him well, and had doubtless often discussed shipbuilding with him. The famous Pett family who furnished a succession of celebrated shipbuilders between the reigns of Mary I and Mary II, were not yet prominent. In 1523 a Peter Pett is among the shipwrights, pressed from Essex and Suffolk, who were working at Portsmouth, and there is a yet earlier mention of a payment of ;^38, is 4d to a John Pett for caulking the Regent in 1499.^ A recent writer,^ in a Pett pedigree, gives Thomas Pett of Harwich as the father of the first well known Peter Pett who died in 1589. It is therefore possible, but scarcely probable, that this was the Peter Pett who was work- ing in 1523 as a boy. By the treaty of 151 1, between Henry and Ferdinand, the former undertook to hold the Channel between the Thames and Ushant with 3000 men, of whom some 1600 were sailors and gunners.2 For the fleet of 15 13, exclusive of the crews of 28 victualling ships, 2880 seamen were required;^ in 15 14, during the month ending with 22nd May, there were 23 king's ships, 21 hired merchantmen, and 15 victuallers in com- mission manned by 3982 seamen and 447 gunners, exclusive of the soldiers carried as well.^ When maritime action in force recommenced in 1545, it was estimated that 5000 men would be wanted which ' wilbe some dyffycultie.' Beyond this one expression there is no hint of any trouble having been experienced in procuring these men although the numbers were larger than those which Charles I, a century later, found it almost impossible to obtain. As the proportion allowed theoretically was two men to a ton '^ the ships were much more heavily manned than in the seventeenth century, but in practice the crews do not usually work out at one man to a ton, even including soldiers. Henry's success was due in a great measure to the fact that the men were punctually paid and fairly well fed, two elementary incentives to loyal service neglected during the two succeeding centuries. In his first war of 1512 he entered into an agreement with the admiral, Sir Edward Howard, by which the latter, being supplied with ships, men, and money, had the whole administration placed in his hands, having to pay wages and find provisions and clothes.^ In every subse- quent expedition the admiral's duties were only executive. 1 Tellers Rolls, No. 64. * ]sf_ Y)q,^z, History of Deptford. ' Cott. MSS. Vesp. C. vi, 375. •* Letters and Papers, i, 3977. * Ibid., i, 5112. ^ Letters and Papers, 19th April 154S, (uncalendared). ' Feeder a, xiii, 326, 8th April 1512. Henry VIII 75 The rate of pay was five shillings a month, and at this it re- mained during nearly the whole reign, but in addition, a certain number of dead shares, or extra pays, the division of which is somewhat obscure, were allotted to each ship. They are first met with during the war with France in 1492, and, at that time, in connection with the pay of the soldiers serving on board the fleet. Subsequently the favour was extended to the maritime branch, and was perhaps intended to replace the ' reward ' of sixpence a week in addition to their pay, which had been enjoyed by the seamen in preceding centuries. But if the dead shares were at any time divided among the sailors they speedily lost the privilege, and early in the reign we find the shares, reckoned at five shillings apiece, reserved for the officers. There are a few apparent exceptions, perhaps due to our ignorance of the exact sixteenth century meaning of the words used. The wages bill of the Katherine of London ^ distinctly says that the dead shares are divided between ' master and mariners,' and there are some other similar cases, e.g. ' 168 dead shares to be divided among the mariners.' ^ But in the vast majority of references they are seen to be meant for the officers. The number of course depended on the size of the ship, and for the Henry Grace a Dieu they were thus distributed ^ : — Master — ; master's mate, 4 ; four pilots, 16 ; four quarter- masters, 1 2 ; quartermaster's mates, 4 ; boatswain, 3 ; boat- swain's mate, i\ ; cockswain, \\ ; cockswain's mate, i ; master carpenter, 3 ; carpenter's mate, \\ ; under-carpenter, i ; two caulkers, 3 ; purser, 2 ; three stewards, 3 ; three cooks, 3 ; cook's mates, i| ; two yeomen of the stryks, 2; their mates, I ; two yeomen of the ports, 2 ; their mates, i. The officers' pay was the same as that of the men, but they received in addition either these dead shares, reckoned at five shillings each, in the proportion shown here, or ' rewards ' of so much a month. The Peter Pomegranate may be taken as a repre- sentative ship, as the Henry carried some officers unknown in the smaller vessels. In the Peter the master obtained one pound ten shillings a month of twenty-eight days ; the master's mate and quartermasters ten shillings ; the boat- swain twelve shillings and sixpence ; master gunner, carpenter, purser, steward and cook, ten shillings, and gunners six shillings and eightpence. Surgeons were paid ten shillings and thir- teen shillings and fourpence, and pilots twenty and thirty shillings a month, but neither were always carried.* Within certain limits, however, officers' wages vary considerably, de- 1 Letters and Papers, i, 5017. ^ /^zV/.^ 25th April 1544, (uncalendared). 8 Exch. Accts. (Q.R). Bdle. 57, No. 2. * The Spanish West Indian fleets were not ordered to have an apothecary and medicines on board till 1556, {Real Cedulas 29th July and 9th September 1556). 76 The Administration of the Royal Navy pending on the number of dead shares allotted among them, which, again, was subject to the size of the ship, an indication of the commencing division into rates. But before Henry's death the formula of pay ran ' dead shares and rewards in- cluded ' for an average, exclusive of captains, of eight shillings a month ^ all round, so that the old system was beginning to be discarded. For many years of the reign some sort of uniform in the shape of ' coats ' or * jackets ' was supplied to the men, but its exact character is nowhere described. When the Mary Rose and Peter Pomegranate were brought round from Portsmouth to the Thames thirty-five coats in green and white were pro- vided, but as the cost was 6s 8d apiece these could only have been for the officers.^ Sir Edward Howard, by his agreement in 1512, had to furnish the sailors with them at is 8d each, and he appears to have charged for 1616 besides 1812 for the soldiers.3 Masters and pilots had sometimes coats of damask, every coat containing eight yards.^ In 15 13, we find refer- ences to 1244 mariners', gunners', and servitors', jackets,^ and to 638 coats of white and green cloth, 13 of white and green camlet, 4 of satin, and one of damask.^ Although indi- cations of uniform for the men have been noticed under Edward IV and Henry VII, the provision was much more liberal when Henry ascended the throne. He had at first an overflowing treasury wherewith to minister to his love of dis- play and carry out more completely a custom he may also have thought useful from the point of view of health and of making the men proud of the royal service. But the allusions to seamen's clothes are few after the first years. The system appears to have lasted, although perhaps not continuously, until his death, since in 1545 the writer of an estimate of naval charges asks if 1800 seamen are to have coats at two shillings each. ^ siok and Sick men appear to have been kept in pay if landed for that reason, because when Sir Thomas Wyndham proposed to send such members of his crew ashore, the council preferred that he should keep them on board as they would only be re- ceiving pay uselessly on land and might not come back.^ Those discharged disabled from wounds sometimes received a gratuity; in 1513, sixty men of the Mary James sent home in that condition were given twopence a mile conduct money, the ^ Letters and Papers^ 9th March, 1545-6, (uncalendared), and State papers^ (ed. 1830) I2th August 1545. ^ Letters and Papers^ i, 3422 — ii. ' Roy. MSS. 7 F xiv-75. * Cott. MSS.^ Galba B iii-137. * Chapter House Books, vol. ii, f. 3. * Ibid., vol. iii, f. 4. ' Letters and Papers, 28th May 1545, (uncalendared). * Ibid., i, 5762. Wounded Men. Henry VIII *j'j usual rate being a halfpenny a mile, and a gift of ;i^20 among them.^ Until 1 545, there is no record of exceptional disease in fleets, but in September of that year the plague broke out in the English ships, although as the French were suffering even more and were eventually compelled by it to disband their fleet, it did not adversely affect the result of the operations. In August there were many men sick which was ascribed * to the great hete and the corrupcion of the victuall by reason of the disorder in the provision and the strayte and warm lying in the shippes.^ On the 28th August Lisle wrote to Paget that there was much illness, 'those that be hole be veray unsightlie havyng not a ragg to hang uppon ther backes.' On 3rd September, Lisle landed at Treport in Normandy, and sacked and burnt the town, and it is not until after that date that the word ' plague ' is used and the terrible disease raged viru- lently. On 4th September there were 12,000 effective men, soldiers and sailors ; on the 13th, 8488, so that in little more than a week 3512 'were sick, dead, or dismissed,'^ By nth September, Lisle was back at Portsmouth and wrote to the king that the ships were generally infected. Although the fleet was then broken up, it seems to have lingered on in the vessels kept in commission through the winter as there are ref- erences to it in the following April. The captains of men-of-war were still usually military captains, officers or courtiers who made no attempt to work the ship. They were for the most part, persons holding appointments in the household, but towards the end of the reign, the new feel- ing that the sea was as important as the land as a field of national effort had trained officers who were almost professional seamen. These men belonged to the class who would earlier have been content to command soldiers during a voyage, but who were now continuously occupied in commanding ships at sea or in attending to administrative details ashore. Nomin- ally a captain's pay was one shilling and sixpence a day, but there were frequently extra allowances. In 1 5 1 3, Walter, Lord Ferrers, captain of the Sovereign received five shillings and two pence a day ' by way of reward ' over and above his one shil- ling and sixpence,^ and Sir William Trevilian of the Gabriel Royal, three shillings and fourpence a day. On the other hand captains who happened to belong to the troop of ' King's Spears ' were paid ' out of the King's cofers ' and took ^ Letters and Papers, i, 4475. 2 State Papers, (ed. 1830), 2nd August 1545, Lisle to King. The summer of 1545 was unusually hot. Lisle then described symptoms which point to dysentery and scurvy, {Ibid., 1st August). ' Ibid., 15th September 1545, Lisle to Council. Only three men were killed in what little fighting there was at Treport. * Aug. Office Book, No. 315, f. I. 78 The Administration of the Royal Navy- nothing from the navy expenses.^ The King's Spears were a troop of Horseguards, fifty in number, formed by Henry shortly after his accession. Each of them was attended by an archer, man-at-arms, and servant, ' they and all their horses being trapped in cloth of gold, silver, or goldsmith's work.' Eventually want of money led to the disbandment of this force. In 1545 the demand for captains exceeded the supply for the smaller ships, the circumstances perhaps promising neither fame nor prize money. The official total of men-of-war and armed merchantmen under Lisle's command was 104 ships, the strongest fighting fleet as yet sent to sea. About some of these he wrote, 'As concernynge the meane- shippes I know noon other waye (I meane those that come out of the west parties and such of London, as were victuallers that want capitaignes) but to place them with meane men to be their capitaignes as serving men and yomen that be most mete for the purpose.' ^ ' Meane men ^ here signifies those of moderate social status, and serving men the confidants or attendants of noblemen, and who were frequently gentlemen themselves. In 1 546 a Spaniard was retained as captain of the Galley Suhtylle and a Venetian as its patron, or master, but as they were provided with an interpreter the crew must have been English.^ This is a further proof of the little experience native officers had of galley work ; apparently the English captain of the preceding year had not been found efficient. Whether the crew were seamen or criminals is not quite certain; the term ' forsathos ' ^ is used but only in connection with the French prize, the Galley Blancherd, which was undoubtedly manned by prisoners, its original crew. In more ways than one this prize seems to have been a source of trouble to its captors. To keep the men in condition constant practice was essential, ' Richard Brooke . . . keptt me company as far as Gravesend to kepe the forsados in ure and breth as they must contynewally be otherwyse they wilbe shortly nothing worth.' Most of the captives were Neapolitans, with the habits of their class, and Brooke desired new clothes * for all the said forsados who he saith are most insufferable without any manner of things to hang upon theym. So that I perceyve the same galley will be some chardge to His Maiestie contynewally, yf His Highnes do keep her styll with her suit of forsadoes as she ys now.' ^ Lisle urged that if the Blancherd was restored ' Chapter House Books, vol. ii, f. 17. ^ The least important. ^ State Papers (ed. 1830), 7th Aug. 1545. Lisle to Paget. ■' Old French, ineien. * Acts of the Privy Council, 14th April 1546. ® Spanish, ^r^aofo. ' State Papers (ed. 1830), 15th July 1546, Lisle to Paget. Henry VIM 79 at the conclusion of the war the prisoners should be granted their liberty. Perhaps he may have thought it advisable to get rid of them on any terms, but the argument he pressed was that such a course would make the French chary, at any future time, of bringing their galleys near English ports or ships if the slaves on board knew that surrender meant freedom. Yet another diplomatist, Dr William Knight, found ' the sMp Discipline ungodly manners of the seamen ' not to his liking, and so far as the scanty material permits us to judge, they appear to have been an unruly and disorderly race. Discipline in the modern sense was of course unknown, and such restraints as existed sat but lightly on both royal and merchant seamen. An undated paper, but which is probably earlier than 1530, discussing the causes of the decay of shipping, describes the men as ' so unruly nowadays that ther ys no merchantman dare enterpryse to take apon hym the orderyng and governing of the said shippes.'^ Even the government dealt with them gently, and when in 15 13, the crew of a man-of-war were discontented with their captain, Sir Weston Browne, the Vice-Admiral was directed, if he could not pacify them, to replace Browne.^ Sometimes whole crews went ashore, and when the French attacked Dover in 15 14, the king's ships in harbour there lay uselessly at their anchors for want of men. One sailor, Edward Foster, was examined at Portsmouth in 1539) before the Mayor and two admiralty officials for saying that ' if his blood and the King's were both in a dish, there would be no difference between them, and that if the Great Turk would give a penny a day more he would serve him.'^ One would like to know what happened to this matter-of- fact physiologist. Regulations existed for the maintenance of order on board ship, and were ' set in the mayne mast in parchement to be rid as occasion shall serve.' * A murderer was to be tied to the corpse and thrown overboard with it ; to draw a weapon on the captain involved the loss of the right hand ; the delin- quent sleeping on watch ^ for the fourth time was to be tied to the bowsprit vv^ith a biscuit, a can of beer, and a knife, and left to starve or cut himself down into the sea ; a thief was to be ducked two fathoms under water, towed ashore at the stern of a boat, and dismissed. Only a boat from the flagship was to board a stranger to make inquiries, as the men ' would pilfer 1 Roy. MSS. 14 B xxxiii. 2 Letters and Papers^ i, 5762, Council to W)mdham. ^ Ibid.^ 14th Sept. 1539. * Harl. MSS., 309, f. 10. These rules were based on the ordinances issued by Richard I, themselves grounded on customs reaching back to the dawn of Mediter- ranean navigation. * Probably on ' look out ' is meant, still the most serious offence of which a sailor can be guilty. 8o The Administration of the Royal Navy thinges from oure nation as well of the kinges dere frends/ but in a captured ship all plunder, except treasure, between the upper and lower decks was allotted to them. It is interest- ing, as showing Henry's desire to avoid giving needless offence, to compare this order, about the manner in which strange ships were to be visited, with another issued at the end of the reign. It was still more impressively worded. Neutrals were to be ' gently ' examined, and if no enemies' goods found in them not to be harmed. And ' the violation of our pleasure in this behaulf is of such importance as who- soever shalbe found culpable therein, we shall not faile so to look upon him as shall be to his demerits.' ^ In addition to regulations which, if not new as maritime customs, were new as a code of discipline we find that crews were now assigned stations on board ship, an essential to- wards smartness in work, but one which so far as we know had no previous existence. The station list — or one of them — of the Henry Grace a Dieu has come down to us, and although no similar paper exists for any other ship it cannot be supposed that an improvement in method and working, of which the advantages must at once have made themselves felt, could have failed to have been generally adopted.^ This list gives — The forecastle loomen ; waist 120 Main capstandard^ and main sheets, 80 In the second deck for the main lifts, 20 In the third deck to the topsail sheets, 40 In the said deck for the trin and the To the bonaventure and main mizen, 20 dryngs, ^ 20 To the helm, 4 men To the stryks* of the mainsail, 8 prin- To the main top 12 ; to the fore top, 6 ; cipal men To the main mizen top, 6 To the bonaventure top, 2 The little top upon the main top, 2 The little top upon the fore top, 2 The little top upon the main mizen top, 2 For the boat 40 ; the cok, 20 The gellywatte, 10. ^ Notwithstanding these signs of orderly training the loss of the Mary Rose was attributed solely to the insubordination and disorder of those on board. Her captain. Sir George Carew, being hailed when matters looked serious answered that ' he had a sort of knaves whom he could not rule.' But these men had been chosen for the Vice-Admiral's ship as especially good sailors and therefore 'so maligned and dis- dained one the other that refusing to do that which they should do were careless to do that which was most needful and necessary and so contending in envy perished in frowardness.' ^ » State Papers (ed. 1830), March 1546. 2 Exch. Accts. (Q.R.), Bdle. 57, No. 2. * Trin from the old English tryndelle or tretidelle, awheel ; dryngs are halliards. Both trin and dryngs were used in connection with the mainsail. '' Ropes. * Capstan, Spanish, cabrestante. ' Great boat, cockboat, and jollyboat. ^ Hooker's Zt/e of Sir Peter Carew ^ pp. 34-5. Henry VIII 8i Until very recent times the victualling on board ship was Victualling, a source of continual anxiety to the authorities, and of grumbling and vexation to the men ; and even in the time of Henry VIII it appears to have given more trouble than any of the other details of administration. There was no victual- ling department until 1550, and either local men were em- ployed at the ports where supplies were to be collected or others were sent from London to make the purchases. Com- missions to provide provisions were given to persons attached to the household, or to highly placed officials with sufficient influence to obtain them. In 1496 John Redynge, clerk of the Spicery, was victualling both the land and sea forces on service.^ In July 15 12, Sir Thomas Knyvet, Master of the Horse, was supplying the fleet and undertaking the respon- sibility of transport ; in October, John Shurly, Cofferer of the Household, and John Heron, Supervisor of the London Customhouse.^ Between 1544-7 numerous agents were em- ployed and were subject to no central control, unless a re- ference to the Lord Chamberlain, Lord St John, afterwards Marquis of Winchester, as ' a chief victualler of the army at the seas ' may be held to imply his general superintendence. In 1 5 12 the cost of provisioning each man stood at one shilling and threepence a week. There were some complaints that year, but in 15 13 Sir Edward Howard, like many a later admiral, was begging earnestly for stores, 'let provision be made, for it is a well spent penny that saveth the pound.' A captain, William Gonson, finding that he was running short, wrote to the Council that unless he received fresh supplies for his men, ' I cannot keep them in order, for if we lack victuals and wages at anytime as well Spaniards as Englishmen shall murmur.' That also was an experience many later captains were to find commonplace. Most of the victualling difficulties in subsequent reigns were due to want of money or to absolute knavery, but the embarrassments at this date seem to have been as much caused by lack of organisation due to want of experience in the supply of large fleets longer at sea than formerly. There is, however, a letter of Howard's, belonging to 1 5 12 or 1 5 13, which shows that roguery was already at work : ' they that receved ther proportion for ii monthes flesche cannot bryng about for v weekes for the barelles be full of salt, and when the peecis kepith the noumbre wher they shulde be peny peces they be scante halfpeny peces, and wher ii peces shulde make a messe iii will do but serve.' ^ Short measure was therefore a frequent experience. In April 1513a convoy reached the fleet off Brest just in time, 'for of 1 Tellers' Rolls, No. 63. 2 Exch. War. for Issues, I2th July, 15 12, 3.nd. Letters and Papers, i, 3445. ^ Ellis, Original Letters, I, 147, Series III. F 82 The Administration of the Royal Navy- ten days before there was no man in all the army that had but one meal a day and once drink.' After Howard's death, when the captains of the fleet returned to Dartmouth, and they were asked why they had come back, ' they all replied for default of victuals not having three days allowance.' ^ The pursers, a class who move through naval history loaded with the male- dictions of many generations of seamen, were already con- demned. It is doubtless in connection with the return of the fleet that two officials wrote on the same day, ' I fear that the pursers will deserve hanging for this matter,' and 'an out- rageous lack on the part of the pursers.' ^ It may have been the experiences of 15 12 and 15 13 that led to an order in September of the latter year, of which there is no previous example that the vessels named for winter service should be provisioned for two months at the time.^ They were directed 'to victual at Sandwich from two months to two months during four months.' Although the regulation remained in force, Surrey complained in 1522 that some of his ships had only supplies for eight days instead of two months.* In 1 545 the French were said to carry two months' stores.^ Victualling stores and requisites were obtained by purvey- ance, and there was not consequently much eagerness dis- played to sell to the crown. There is a proclamation of 1522 ordering, under penalty of £^, every one possessing casks to put them out of doors that the King's purveyor might take them at ' a reasonable price,' one, that is to say, to be fixed by him. The prices paid for provisions, are, therefore, no absolute indication of the market rates, but the following are some for this period.^ Biscuit (15 12) 3s 6d and 5s a cwt. Beer (15 1 2) 13s 4d a tun Do. (1554) 7s 6d a cwt. Do. (1547) i6s and 2 is a tun Salt beef (1512) ;^i, lis a pipe Red Herring (15 13) 5s the cade Do. (1544) £2, 1 2s a pipe Do. (1547) Qs 6d and us the cade White Herring (15 13) losa barrel Do. (1547) 2 IS a barrel By 1 545 the rate had run up to eighteenpence a week per man, or perhaps more,^ and two months' provisions were esti- mated to occupy 83 tons of space in 100 ton ship with a com- plement of 200 soldiers and sailors. A pound of biscuit and a gallon of beer a day were allowed to each man, and ' 200 pieces of flesh ' to every hundred men on four days of the > Coii. MSS. Calig. D. vi, 104-7. - Letters and Papers^ 2 1st May, 1 5 13. Fox and Dawtrey to Wolsey. 3 Ibid.^ i, 4474. •* Ihid, iii, 2337. Surrey to King. 5 State Papers (ed. 1S30) 20th Aug., 1545. ^Letters and Papers^ i, 3445, 5747, and 27th March, 1513. Chapter House Books, vol. vi. Pipe Office Declared Accounts, 2193. Prices varied a great deal, being much higher at Portsmouth for instance than at Yarmouth. ' Letters and Papers 19th April 1545 (uncalendared) and State Papers (ed. 1830) I2th Aug., 1545. Henry VIII S3 week. Beer was the recognised right of the sailor, and the exigencies of warfare had to yield to his prerogative. After Surrey captured Morlaix in 1522, he announced his intention of going on a cruise and of not returning ' as long as we have any beer, though in return we should drink water.' ^ Evidently it was considered out of the question to remain at sea without beer, and again when Lisle was off the French coast in 1545 he gave pointed expression to the fear that if the victuallers did not arrive ' a good meynye of this fleet may happen to drynck water.' The payments for provisions from September 1542 until the death of Henry in January 1547, amounted to ^^65,610 los 4M,2 and we can still trace the proceedings of the various agents at Sandwich, Lowestoft, Portsmouth, Yar- mouth, and Southampton. ' Necessary money,' an allowance to the pursers for candles, wood, etc., was in operation accord- ing to the ' old ordinance ' at the rate of twopence a man per month.3 The increase in the navy and the additional work caused The new Ad- by the mobilisation of fleets necessitated an augmentation from the first on the administrative side of the department though no systematic and permanent change was made until the close of the reign. Brygandine remained clerk of the ships till about 1523; in that year he was granted a release — a customary proceeding — for all embezzlements or misde- meanours committed while in office, and this probably means that he resigned then or shortly afterwards.^ But although he had been the chief administrative officer, he was now by no means the only one even during his term of service, though it is not easy to define the exact duties and responsibilities of his associates. The fleets of 15 13-14 carried a 'Treasurer of the Army by Sea,' in the person of Sir Thomas Wyndham,^ who was also allowed one shilling and fourpence a day for two clerks, and Brygandine had nothing to do with payments made for stores or wages in these ships. In 15 13 John Hopton, a gentleman usher of the chamber was given charge of the fleet conveying troops to Calais,^ and from that time until his death Hopton was closely connected with naval affairs. In 15 14 he was made keeper of the store- houses at Erith and Deptford, with a fee of one shilling a day, and as such received under his charge the fittings of the ships ' Letters and Papers iii, 2362. Surrey to Wolsey. 2 State Papers, Dom., Ed. VI, xv, II. ^ Letters and Papers, 9th March 1545-6 (un calendared) and Q.R. Anc. Misc. Navy, 616 d., 2. ^ Rot. Pat. 14th of Henry VIII, Pt. II, m. 26. 'Embezzlement,* in these pardons, had not the particular meaning attached to the word now. They were meant to protect the holder against accusations he might not, from lapse of time, have sufficient evidence to refute. ^ Aug. Off. Bk. No. 315, f. 3. " Letters and Papers, 26th May 1513. 84 The Administration of the Royal Navy- dismantled and laid up that year ; it has been noticed that he contracted for the work required for the formation or enlarge- ment of the pond at Deptford in 15 17. He was an owner of ships and sold at least one to the king, and, in the same year, he is called ' clerk comptroller of the ships.' His duties must have been mainly clerical and financial, for we have many separate series of payments made by him to Brygandine who seems to have retained the active direction of executive work, and certain passages in the records known as the Chapter House Books, seem to imply that they were written under his supervision. Hopton held a definite appointment, but there are others mentioned as employed in purchasing stores, travelling for certain purposes, or in charge of ordnance taken out of the ships, who can only have held temporary and subordinate situations. There were sometimes local clerks of the ships, as at Portsmouth when Thomas Spert was given 'the rule of all the forsaid ships, maisters, and maryners with the advise of Brygandine.'^ Here, however, the whole control was really in the hands of the customers of Southampton who were ordered to provide the money requisite, muster the men once a v/eek, and exercise a general oversight. Again, in 1529, Edmund More, of whom nothing is known beyond this single reference, was acting as clerk of the ships at Portsmouth. When there was only one naval centre the clerk of the ships resided there, but after the foundation of Woolwich and Deptford his place was in London, and the local clerk represented the later Com- missioner in charge of a dockyard. Hopton died in or before July 1526,2 and had been succeeded from 1524 by William Gonson, also a gentleman usher of the king's chamber, as keeper of the storehouses at Erith and Deptford.^ Although in 1523 Thomas Jermyn was the recognised Clerk of the Ships,^ and in 1533 Leonard Thoreton,^ Gonson, who also commanded ships at sea, soon became the dominant official. He is found equipping men- of-war, directing their movements and making payments for wages, victualling, and the purchase of necessaries, but notwithstanding the extent of his authority he does not seem to have held any titular rank. In 1538 Sir Thomas Spert was Clerk of the Ships,*' but appears to have had very little ' Cott. AISS., App. xviii, f. lo. Undated, but before 1529, when Spert was knighted. "^Letters and Papers^ iv, 2362. ^ Ihid.^ 25th Sept. 1524. ■' Ibid.^ 2nd March 1526, and Aug. Office Book, No. 317 Part ii, f. I. * Letters and Papers, 14th July 1533. ^ Arundel MSS., 97. On Spert's monument in the chancel of St Dunstan's Stepney, he is called 'comptroller of the navy.' The designation was not in use until long after his death, in September 1541, and the monument itself is a seven- teenth century one. Henry VIII 85 to do unless Gonson happened to be suffering from gout. Spert was followed by Edmund Water, another gentleman usher of the chamber, who held his office by patent, neither Jermyn, Thoreton nor Spert acted under Letters Patent, and in the absence of an enrolled appointment, they were doubtless considered merely acting officials. Large payments to Gonson can be traced down to 1545- Then for the first time we have the titles of ' Treasurer of the See,' ' Paymaster of the See,' and ' Treasurer of the See Maryne Causes,'^ as describing John Winter, who, however, died in less than a year. It was possibly the loss of William Gonson's practised experience, and dissatisfaction with his successors, which helped to move Henry to make in 1 546, the most important change in naval administration that had yet occurred. In one day the naval organisation was revolu- tionised. By Letters Patent of the 24th April 1546, Sir Thomas Clere was constituted Lieutenant of the Admiralty, with a fee of ;^ioo a year, ten shillings a day for travelling expenses when engaged on the business of his office, ;^io a year for boat hire and twentypence a day for two clerks ; Robert Legge, ' Treasourer of our maryne causes' with 100 marks a year, six shillings and eightpence a day for travelling expenses, eight pounds a year for boat hire, and sixteenpence a day for two clerks ; William Broke, ' Comptroller of all our shippes,' with ^50 a year, four shillings a day for travelling expenses, eight pounds for boat hire, and sixteenpence a day for two clerks ; Benjamin Gonson,^ ' Surveyor of all our shippes,' with ;2f 40 a year, the same travelling allowance and boat hire as the comptroller, but only eightpence a day for one clerk ; Richard Howlett, Clerk of the Ships, with £^2, 6s 8d a year, three shillings and fourpence a day travelling expenses, and six pounds for boat hire. William Holstock and Thomas Morley were granted annuities of one shilling a day without specific duties, but they were both employed in assisting the other officers. All these fees were paid from the Exchequer. By another patent of the same day, the supply of guns, powder, and other ordnance necessaries for the Navy was placed under the direction of Sir William Woodhouse, called ' Master of the Ordnance of the ships,' at a fee of 100 marks a year, six shillings and eightpence a day travelling expenses, eight pounds a year for boat hire, and two shillings and fourpence a day for three clerks. The stores were still kept at the central office in the Tower, and became separate from, if subordinate to, the old Ordnance Office, remaining so until 1589. 1 Siate Papers (ed. 1830), 8th Jan. 1544-5, andxvi, 441 (old numbering). '^ Son of Wm. Gonson. 86 The Administration of the Royal Navy- It would be of great interest to know exactly the motives moving Henry to the formation of — to use a later name — the Navy Board. Beyond discontent with the administration in 1545, the accessions of 1546 suggest that it was his intention to still further strengthen the Navy, and experience had doubtless shown that the old organisation was too inelastic for more than a limited number of ships acting within a restricted sphere. Hitherto fleets had carried troops, landed them, and returned home ; or gone to sea, fought the enemy, and returned home ; but now the era of long cruises was commencing, and the transition necessarily involved additional administrative work with which the clerk of the ships or the comptroller could not alone cope. Another subject of inquiry is the model on which the board was formed. It was not derived from any foreign power, for the organisation was then, and long afterwards, superior to and unlike, anything existing abroad. The similarity of many of the titles and of their corresponding duties suggests that it was copied from the constitution of the Ordnance Ofiice, which Henry had also remoulded to suit the altered conditions of warfare. The Lieutenant of the Admiralty, acting under the Admiral of England, as the Lieutenant of the Ordnance acted under the Master General, was intended to be the most important member of the board. But after the death of Clere's successor. Sir William Woodhouse, the post was not filled up and the Treasurership exercised by an expert official like Benjamin Gonson, or a great seaman like Hawkyns, speedily became the chief administrative office. Another cause of the Treasurer's ascendancy is to be found in the fact that he had to be a man of some capital, able and willing to advance money to the crown. He was to have allowance for all moneys laid out if his books were signed ' by two or three ' of the other officers.^ Originally this may only have been intended to apply to all moneys received from the Exchequer and expended by him, but the yearly accounts show that it soon became a normal condition for the crown to be indebted to him for advances. Two other officers found their positions altered by the new development. The Lord Admiral had been till now only a combatant officer ; from this date he interfered more or less frequently and directly in matters of administration for which he was nominally responsible. But while the members of the Navy Board were men of weight and reputation his action mainly took the course of agreeing with the advice given him. Under the new arrangement the Clerk of the Ships became a very subordinate officer. More than a century later Pepys claimed that the clerk possessed from ^ Letters Patent^ 24th April. Henry VIII 87 former times a consultative and equal voice with the other officers. It would be difficult to disprove it, and it is true that the signature of the clerk appears sometimes — but only sometimes — attached to documents with those of his col- leagues. In 1600, however, his duties are distinctly said to be confined to registering the resolutions of the board gener- ally.^ At especially busy periods he shared the active work of superintendence but ordinarily only the Treasurer, Compt- roller, and Surveyor, are found to be exercising authority, and the gradual alteration of his title from Clerk of the Ships to Clerk of the Acts is itself a sign that his functions had become purely secretarial. Besides English vessels, Henry hired Spanish during the Hiredswps. earlier years of his reign and Hanseatic during the later ones, England being on much more friendly terms with Spain in 1509 than in 1547. One or two ' Arragoseys,' i.e. Ragu- sans were in pay, that republic being a maritime power of some importance in the fifteenth century. The English ships taken up for the crown were mostly employed as victuallers and tenders, and were therefore not required to be large and do not afford any measure of the magnitude of the merchant navy. In April 15 13 there were thirty-nine impressed of 2039 tons, and of these the largest was 140 tons ; twenty-eight of them were serving as victuallers, one being usually attached to each of the largest men-of-war.^ The rate of hire was one shilling a ton per month, for both victuallers and fighting ships, and the wages, victualling, and dead shares were the same as on king's ships ; jackets were frequently provided for the crews as for men-of-war's men. Another account gives a list of twenty-two English vessels of 3040 tons, and six Spanish of 1650 tons as having served.^ The Spaniards were manned by 289 Spanish and 181 English seamen, with 869 English soldiers and a majority of English officers. Henry had to pay a hiring rate of fifteenpence a ton for them, and 7s id a month to Spanish seamen, 4s 9d to gromets, and 2s 5d to pages, while the dead shares allotted to the foreigners were at six shillings each instead of the five shillings of the Englishmen. The difference of pay must have caused a great deal of jealousy but the king's attempts to obtain Spaniards at the standard rate had failed.^ The Mary of Bilboa was taken up at fifteenpence-farthing and a half-farthing a month., terms which imply a good deal of higgling.^ In 1514 there were twenty-one hired fighting 1 Add. MSS. 9297, f. 13. 2 Letters and Papers^ i. 3977, 3978. Eight were from Topsham, and eight from Dartmouth. 3 Ihid., i, 4533, 31st October 1513. * Ibid.., 15th May 1 5 13. Dawtrey to Wolsey. * Ibid.., l8th July 15 13. 88 The Administration of the Royal Navy- ships and fifteen victuallers engaged. The former measured 2770 tons, and included one of 300, one of 240, one of 200, and three of 160 tons.^ In 1544 twenty-two foreign ships, now mostly Hanseatic, of 1465 tons were still obtaining fifteenpence a ton, and 379 men in them seven shillings and sixpence a month, while the English pay remained at five shillings, and thirty-five hired English vessels received their one shilling a ton.^ In the same year the expedition against Scotland required 117 transports of which London furnished 6, Calais 2, Amsterdam I, Dordrecht i, Antwerp 4, Hamburg 5, Lubeck 2, Ipswich 31, Yarmouth 31, Newcastle 6, Hull 6, and Lynn 4.^ English owners did not show themselves eager to send their ships to join the royal fleet and it was necessary to issue a circular letter in August 1545, to the mayors of the various ports which ran : — 'Fforasmuch as I understand that dyvers and many of the adventurers that are appointed for Portsmouth ... do slacke and drawe back from the same being rather gyven to spoyle and robberye than otherwise to serve His Maiestie and making ther excuses for lack of necessaries do showe themselves not wyllynge to serve the kyng's Maiestie according to their dievvties' they were ordered to go to Portsmouth immediately on pain of death.^ Their disinclination to be shackled by the discipline of a fleet can be understood when we find Lisle writing to Paget that ' nother Spanyard, Portugell, nor Flemynge that Cometh from by south but they be spoylid and robbid by our venturers.' The successful privateering of 1544, when 300 French prizes were taken,^ was assuredly joyously remembered and similar good fortune hoped for. If there is no exaggera- tion in Stow's account the event is remarkable as the first instance of our sweeping the Channel on an outbreak of war, and signifies the steady growth of a marine able to perform the work. The Merchant The materials for an estimate of the strength of the mer- *^' chant navy are scanty, but we find in this reign a commence- ment of the plan largely extended under Elizabeth, of obtaining returns of the vessels belonging to various ports. Henry, moreover, followed the example of his father in granting a bounty on large ships. In 1520 an allowance of four shillings a ton was ordered on the customs due for the first voyage of the Bonaventure of London of 220 tons ; in 1522 five shillings a ton on the Antony of Bristol, of 400 tons, because she was good for trading purposes and ' also to doo unto us service in ' Letters and Papers^ i, 5 1 12. ^ Jbid.^ 25th April 1544 (uncalendared). ' State Papers (ed. 1830), i8th April 1544. * Ibid.^ xvii, 552 (old numbering). * Stow, p. 588. War was declared on 3rd August, 1544. Henry VIII 89 warre.' ^ The wording of the warrant rather implies, however, that the Antony was a purchase from a foreign owner. In 1 521 four shillings a ton was paid on the Johiz Baptist of Lynn of 200 tons, and in 1530 five shillings a ton on the. John Evangelist of Topsham of no tons. If there was any rule regulating the apportionment of the bounty it is impossible to define it now. In 1544 there is a payment of five shillings a ton on the Mary James of Bristol of 160 tons 'to corage othre our subgetts to like makyng of shippes.' ^ There were doubtless many more similar grants but which were not issued in a form which ensured their survival in the records. In 1 5 13 Bristol had nine vessels of 100 tons and upwards ready to join the royal fleet. Of these one was of 186 tons, one of 120, one of 130, three of 1 10 and three of 100 tons.^ It is significant of the little reliance that can be placed on state- ments of tonnage that, in another paper, the one of 1 86 tons is given as of 160, one of 1 10 as 140 and the one of 120 as of 100. In the case of merchantmen the discrepancies may per- haps be attributed to the fact that it was to the interest of the owner of a hired merchantman to measure his ship at as high a tonnage as possible, as he was paid by the ton, while the navy authorities acting in the interest of the crown desired to rate it as low as they could. In the case of men-of-war the tonnage, unless they had actually performed a trading voyage and stowed goods, could only have been by estimate, which would explain a difference of 100 or 150 tons in the supposed measurement of a large ship. In 1528, there were 149 vessels engaged in the Iceland fishery all which, with the exception of 8 from London, be- longed to the east coast ports. Yarmouth sent 30, Cley, Blak- eney, and Cromer 30, and Dunwich, Walderswick, Southwold, and Covehithe 32. To the herring fishery in the North Sea went 222, of which the Cinque Ports sent 1 10 and the east coast the remainder. Trading to Scotland were 69 ships of which only 6 sailed from London.^ This return was used years afterwards to show the prosperous condition of these trades as compared with a later period when the number of vessels employed had greatly fallen off ; except that it is endorsed in Cecil's handwriting the date of the comparison is unknown. For 1533, there is a certificate of the ships returned from Ice- land that year, 85 in number, of which 6, of from 50 to 100 tons, belonged to London ; 10, of from 35 to 95 tons to Lynn; 14, of from 40 to 95 tons to Yarmouth ; 7, of from 60 to 150 tons to Orwell haven ; and 17, of from 30 to 90 tons to Wells and Blakeney.5 Unless they were trading vessels, used on occasion ^ Exch. War. for Issues, 17th July 1522. 2 Ibid., 7th Feb. 1544. ^ Letters and Papers, 1 6th Jan. 1 5 13. * Letters atid Papers., iv, 5101. * Ibid., vi, 1380. 9© The Administration of the Royal Navy for the Iceland fishery, the average tonnage seems very high for North Sea fishing boats of that century. Nearly 700 sail were reputed to enter Calais harbour every year and ' at the least' 340 foreign herring boats also traded there.^ These figures point to a flourishing local trade round the coasts and in the fisheries, but there are only three returns relating to ships of larger size and they do not give' particulars for more than a few ports ; — 2 Minehead Burton^ Lynn Cley Yarmouth Lowestoft Aldborough Hull Newcastle Tons 100 Tons 110 Tons 120 Tons 130 Tons 140 Tons 160 I I I 6 I I I 7 I I I 3 2 I I I I ' Trade and Voyages. There were 99 other vessels of from 40 to 100 tons also sailing from these ports ; but if the table were complete and included London, Bristol, Southampton, and Dartmouth — to name no others — we should infer a surprisingly large total from the 32 belonging to these towns. Foreign observers, men represent- ing a maritime state like Venice, considered the sea strength of England much greater than would be assumed from the few sources of information we possess. In 1531, the Venetian re- presentative reported that Henry could arm 150 sail ; * in 155 1, Barbaro thought that the crown could fit out 1 500 sail of which * 100 decked,'^ and in 1554, Soranzo remarked that there were * great plenty of English sailors who are considered excellent for j^the navigation of the Atlantic. '^ These Venetians paid especial attention to the English marine and in no instance do they write of it depreciatingly. Commerce does not appear to have progressed in a ratio corresponding to its growth during the close of the fifteenth century. Trade had been then recovering the position lost through the unsettled political state previously existing, and had benefited under a king who made its expansion the key- note of his policy. Half a century had brought it relatively into line with that of other countries, and thenceforward its increase was no longer a question of regaining a standard already once attained, but of competition with other powers whose trade was marked out on definite lines. This accounts ^ Letters arid Papers y 1540 (uncalendared). "^Ibid.^ 15th May 1544; March 1545; and 19th April 1545 (uncalendared). * Somerset. * State Papers, Venetian, Falier's Report. ^ Ibid., Barbaro's Report. ^ Ibid., Soranzo's Report. Henry VIII 91 for the comparatively stationary condition of commerce under Henry, and until new factors came into play under different circumstances. According to Hakluyt voyages to the Levant were frequent until 1534 but then fell off.i In that year Richard Gonson, son of William Gonson the naval official, undertook a Mediterranean trading voyage, which occupied a year, the usual time allowed for the passage out and home. In the same way English merchants traded with the Canaries and northern ports, but we have no details bearing on the ex- tent of the traffic. William Hawkyns of Plymouth, father of Sir John Hawkyns, made three voyages, of which the last was in 1532, to Brazil and Guinea. From a remark, however, made by Chapuys, in a despatch to the emperor, voyages to Brazil could not have been uncommon.^ In 1 5 17 there is said to have been an exploring expedition sent out under the command of Thomas Spert, who had been master of the Henry Grace a Dieu and other ships, and who possessed Henry's confidence then and afterwards.^ He was a yeoman of the crown, and by Letters Patent of loth No- vember 1 5 14, enjoyed an annuity of ;^20 a year. In 1527 John Rut, another man-of-war officer, left England in June with two vessels for Newfoundland, one, the Mary Guildford, being a king's ship. Rut returned in her without having effected anything ; the other was lost at sea. Two other attempts at discovery are also assigned to this year. * In 1536 Hore, with the Trinity and the Minion, reached Cape Breton Island, and a further voyage was intended in 1 541. These enterprises show Henry's desire to extend English commerce, and a further illustration of the fact is to be found in his en- deavour in 1 541 to obtain permission for some Englishmen to sail in the next Portuguese fleet for India, ' to adventure there for providing this realm with spices.' ^ Doubtless the religious revolt had for the time an injurious influence on our trade, seeing that Englishmen were regarded as heretics by some of their best customers, and that the whole influence of the Roman Church was employed in Spain, and elsewhere, to the detriment of the country. The reaction born of intellectual freedom, and of the moral and material strength which was its natural product, did not make itself felt till later. Moreover as long as England acknow- ledged the Roman rule she was bound by the division of the new discoveries made by the Popes, a division which fatally hampered her attempts to share the riches of the golden * Voyages^ v. 256, (Ed. 1885). ^State Papers^ Spain, 2nd January 1541. ^ The facts relating to this doubtful voyage are fully discussed by H Harrisse in John Cabot, the Discoverer of North America, and Sebastian his Son, London 1896 p. 157 et seq. * Ibid., p. 340. * Herbert, life of Henry VIIL p. 651, ed. 1870. 92 The Administration of the Royal Navy- West When that dividing line was no longer recognised, and individual enterprise or greed had free play, the condi- tions which brought her into antagonism with other maritime powers were also those which stimulated the growth of national vigour and self reliance. In that sense the Reforma- tion considered as a liberation from restraining ties, was an important factor in the development of English sea power. There were two statutes, in 1532 and 1539, confirming the navigation act of 1490. In 1540 it was enacted that who- ever should buy fish at sea from foreign fishermen to sell on shore, should be subjected to a fine of £10, a statute which seems to point to the commencing decay of the native fishing industry. The cable and hawser manufacture, long associated with Bridport, was protected by the parliament of 1529, and Henry is said to have expended immense sums in the endeav- our to make Dover a safe harbour.^ Another act for the preservation of Plymouth, Dartmouth, Teignmouth, Falmouth, and Fowey havens, from the injury caused by the gravel brought down from the tin works, was passed in 1532. In 15 13 a license for the formation of a guild, afterwards the Trinity Corporation, was granted for the * reformation of the navy lately much decayed by the admission of young men without experience, and of Scots, Flemings, and Frenchmen as lodesmen ; '^ in 1536 the Trinity guild of Newcastle was founded.^ ' Navy ' is here used in its original sense, meaning the shipping and seamen of the kingdom generally, and not the ' King's Navy Royal' During the sixteenth century the Trinity House had no connection with the Royal Navy ; during the greater part of the seventeenth century, it had an occasional consultative, but no direct connection. It has never had any actual share in the administration of the Navy, nor that close association with it that, trading on the loss and destruction of its early documents, it has claimed. Coast Defences. Allied to the defence of the kingdom by sea was the protection of the seaboard by the forts or castles, on the south and east coasts, some of which still exist. The initial motive was the threatening political outlook of 1539 when a European coalition against England appeared probable. During the next few years upwards of ^^74,000, from the spoil of the suppression, was spent for this purpose,* and this perhaps does not include ;^ 17,498 devoted to the fortifications of Hull. ' A book of payments,' made to the garrisons in 1540, enumerates seventeen of these defences, but more were afterwards built. p^ndittt^ There is, of course, no chronological series of papers relating ^ It is said ;^8o,ooo ^^ Letters and Papers 19th March, 1513. ^ Ibid., xi, 943. * Gasquet, Henry VIII arid the English Monasteries^ ii, 534-5. Henry VIII 93 to the naval expenditure of the reign. Only isolated accounts for those years when active service was undertaken are to be found. The general disbursements for 1 5 1 3 came to ^^699,000/ and the naval expenses, from 4th March to 31st October, were ;!^23,ooo, but this seems to have been almost entirely for wages and hire of ships, only £'2^^, 17s 9|d having been spent on repairs, and neither victualling, ordnance stores, nor the cost of preparation being included.^ Detailed accounts were strictly kept although so few have survived. In one book it is stated that two copies of the accounts were to be made ; one to be retained by the person charged with making pay- ments, the other to be kept ' in oure owne custodie for oure more perfytte rememberaunce in that behalf'^ The first kept as his acquittance by Sir John Daunce, is now in the Record Office, and bears Henry's signature in numerous places, show- ing the close personal attention he gave to naval affairs. When William Gonson was acting as paymaster, he received between 21st August 1532 and 25th August 1533, £^^16% los, from 1 6th December 1534 to nth December 1535 £709^, 17s 9|d, and from 4th April 1536 to 29th June 1537. ;^3497, 3s 2d.* As a whole, on these years, the crown was indebted, beyond the money paid out to Gonson, ;^I487, 12s 9d, and the expenditure was almost entirely for dockyard work and stores, although there must also have been the cost of ships ' in commission, not here entered. During the years of warfare between 1544-7 the amounts expended became very large. Richard Knight, who describes himself as 'servant' of Lord St John, received between 12th February 1544-5 and 30th June 1547, £101,12'/, and of this ;^84,ooo was devoted to seamen's wages and victualling.^ Of the total sum ;^40,ooo came from the Exchequer, ;!^20,500 from the Court of Augmentation, £1600 benevolence money in Norfolk, and ;^8ooo from the court of Wards and Liveries. Coincidently many thousands of pounds were paid through William Gonson, John Wynter, and his successor, Robert Legge, and doubtless through other persons. The new system of administration did not at first work altogether successfully as far as bookkeeping was concerned. From the following letter of Lisle's we find that Sir William Paget, a Secretary of State, had written to him making inquiries, and he answers ' You write unto me that the Tresawrer of thadmyralltie being called to accompt his reckoning is so illfavoridly mad that there semith a want of;^2000 wich you cannot well se what is become of hit.' ^ Letters and Papers^ Preface to vol. ii, p. 194. ^ Ibid., i, 4533. ^ Chapter House Books, vol. i, f. 23. ^ Chapter House Books, vol. iii, f. 68, Cf. Letters and Papers, xiii, (Pt. i), I777, where the dates and amounts differ somewhat. * Pipe Office Declared Accounts, 2587. 94 The Administration of the Royal Navy and goes on to explain a series of transactions, but both Legge and Wynter appear to have been performing the duties of Treasurer which may be a reason for the entanglement of figures.^ It was stated that during 1544-5, the crown had expended ;^i, 300,000,^ and the naval expenses from Septem- ber 1 542 to the end of the reign are fully detailed in a later paper.2 Cordage, timber, and other stores, .... ;^45,230 l8 8 Coat and conduct money, ...... 2,415 13 2 Wages of seamen, soldiers, shipwrights, dockyards, etc., 127,846 10 7 Victualling, 65,610 10 4^ Ordnance and ammunition, ..... 19,276 13 io| Furniture* of ships, 1582 14 7 Hire of docks, storehouses, riding and posting charges, 502 4 6 Mvatee^g Great stress has been laid on the prevalence of piracy in the sixteenth century as the chief school of English seaman- ship. Of course it was practised during this reign to an extent that would now be thought monstrous, but it did not attain the proportions of a few years later, nor were English seamen dependent on its development for a knowledge of their art. When religious and political motives impelled them to a guerilla warfare, they became pirates because they were already good seamen, with the training of centuries behind them, and the sea was their natural field of action. The succession of conflicts between France and the Empire induced an internecine maritime war between those powers, in the shape of privateering, which sometimes smouldered but never died out. Convoys for the Spanish American fleets were instituted in 1522 on account of the depredations of French privateers. The despatches of the Imperial ministers show that France, during the reign of Henry and his im- mediate successors, was, much more than England, a source of injury to Spanish trade. The success of French privateering, together with the voyages for purposes of discovery and settlement, of Verazzani in 1523, of the brothers Parmentier in 1529, of Jacques Cartier and Roberval in 1534 and 1549, of Villegagnon 1555, of Bois-le-Compte in 1556, of Jean de Ribaut in 1562, and of Ren6 de Laudonniere in 1564, a succession of efforts which only closed with the outbreak of the wars of religion, seemed to point to France rather than to England as destined to challenge Spanish maritime supremacy. In 1 55 1 France sent a fleet of 160 sail to Scotland, and it is doubtful whether England could have collected one of equal strength to act at a similar distance. Englishmen, however, joined in the game to a sufficient 1 State Papers (ed. 1830;, 6th April 1546. - Ibid.^ xvii, 683 (old numbering), Wriothesley to Council. ' Slate Papers, Dom. Ed. VI, xv, 1 1. ' Any kind of movable fittings. Henry VIII 95 extent even now. In 1540 the Emperor was informed that a Spaniard, with gold and amber on board, had been seized by two English ships, and a few such successful and profitable incidents must have acted as a strong incentive to ventures which promised large profits on a moderate outlay. There was very little police of the seas, nor could the guardians themselves be trusted in face of temptation. In 1532 some captains sent out on this service plundered Flemish merchant- men they met.^ As early as 1 5 1 5 a commission of Oyer and Terminer was issued to the Earl of Surrey and two others to hear and decide piratical offences^; in one case eighteen soldiers serving on a man-of-war stole a boat with the inten- tion of seizing a ship at sea. The French had, during the first quarter of the century, a reputation for fair play, and Wolsey in 1526, wrote to Henry that ' though many English have been taken at sea by the French, they have always made full restitution,'^ but when the Scotch began to interfere in the trade, proceedings became embittered by competition. By 1532 the narrow seas were said to be full of Scotch privateers and the customary ransom of prisoners was twenty shillings for a sailor and forty for a master.* Both Spaniards and Frenchmen attacked each other in English ports, which, until 1539, were mostly unarmed and plunder was openly sold in the coast towns. That from a Portuguese ship was purchased by the mayor and others of Cork, and in 1537 the owners had been for three years vainly endeavouring to obtain redress.^ Ordinary merchantmen, sailing with cargo, took advantage of any favourable chance without necessarily acting on a pre- meditated plan. One vessel, crossing the Channel, met three Bretons and it then occurred to the owner and master that they had lost £60 by Breton pirates and could obtain no re- dress. Not to lose the opportunity they captured one and sold the cargo at Penryn.^ Piracy had not yet taken the savage character with which a few more years were to see it imbued ; the theological bitterness was as yet wanting. Cases of bloodshed were very rare, and so far at any rate as English- men were concerned, the pirate was also sometimes a respectable tradesman on shore.^ In 1543 the prisons were said to be full of pirates and the Council adopted the plan of requiring sure- ties before issuing letters of marque. The port towns flourished, at least some of them, then and long afterwards far more on the traffic with pirates, who visited them and sold the proceeds of robbery to the inhabitants, than by legitimate trade. Con- 1 State Papers, Spain, 30th January 1532. Chapuys to Emperor. 2 Letters and Papers, ii, 235. ^ Cott. MSS. Caligf. D., viii, 150. * Letters and Papers, 29th March 1532. * Ibid., xii, 782. ^ Ibid., xiii, 158. ' Acts of the Privy Council, 14th April 1546. Powder and Shot 96 The Administration of the Royal Navy sequently no victim could rely on obtaining assistance even from the civic authorities. A French ship was ransacked in Plymouth Roads in August 1 546 — peace with France had been signed on 7th June — notwithstanding her captain's appeal for help in the town, which seems to imply that the work was very leisurely and thoroughly done. The Council ordered that unless the goods were recovered and the pirates captured the inhabitants of Plymouth were to be made pecuniarily liable for the damage.-^ The wording of the Council order sug- gests that the Frenchman was boarded from the town, in which case the refusal of the mayor to interfere is still more significant. Only one statute relating to piracy was passed by Henry. Before 1535 offenders frequently escaped because, if they did not confess, it was necessary to prove the crime by the evidence of disinterested witnesses and this was usually an impossibility. A fresh act therefore rendered them liable to be tried before a jury under the same conditions as ordinary criminals. 2 Ordnance, Soon after Henry's accession he gave large orders for ordnance to foreign makers, chiefly at Mechlin, but the guns so obtained seem to have been for land service. There is only one paper which gives us the weight of the ship serpentine as used in 15 13, and here it works out at 261I lbs. exclusive of the chamber or loading piece which weighed 41 Ibs.;^ the chamber contained the powder only, not the shot.* These were made by Cornelius Johnson * the king's iron gunmaker,' and who was one of the twelve gunners attached to the Tower with a fee of sixpence a day ; as king's gunmaker he also received eightpence a day. The sling, one of the heavier ship guns, weighed with its two chambers 8| cwt. and 27 lbs., and there were also half and quarter slings ; but there does not appear to have been any standard weight for these or other guns.^ The serpentines bought in Flanders, for field use, weighed from 1060 lbs. to 1160 lbs. each. Guns were mounted on two or four-wheeled carriages, or, sometimes, on ' scaffolds ' of timber; leaden shot and * dyse ' of iron were used with serpentines and iron shot with curtails. In one instance 200 iron dice weighed 36 lbs., and they seem to have usually been one and a half inch square. The Artillery Garden at Houndsditch was granted for practice with ' great and small ordinance,' and persons with such English names as Herbert, Walker, and Tyler are noticed as gunfounders early in the reign, although, according to Stow, cast iron guns were not made in England till 1543. Some writers assert that they were used in Spain in the fourteenth century ; if so it is pro- bable that they were made here before the date given by Stow. ^ Acts of the Privy Council^ 8th August 1546. 2 27 Hen. viii, c. 4. ^ Stowe MSS. 146, f. 41. ■* Nomenclator Navalis. * Chapter House Books, vol. xii, f. 91. Henry VIII 97 Serpentine powder cost from £4, 13s 4d to £6, 13s 4d and ' bombdyne ' ;^5 a last ; corn powder tenpence a pound.^ Serpentine was a fine weak powder and probably midway in strength between bombdyne and corn. During 15 12-13, 51 lasts, 12 barrels, 12 lbs. were used at sea, and 37 lasts during the succeeding year. For saltpetre we were dependent on importation, and between 1509-12 there are two contracts for quantities costing ^"3622, at sixpence a pound, with John Cavalcanti and other Italian merchants who were the usual purveyors, but gunpowder was made at home. Shot, whether of stone or iron, were called gunstones, round shot of iron costing £4, los to £s, los a ton, and of stone 13s 4d a hundred. Cross bar shot were in common use, e.£: ' gun stones of iron with cross bars of iron in them.'^ There are ' ballez of wyld- fyre with hoks of yron,' and ' bolts of wyldfyre ' both, like the arrows of wildfire, to set the enemy on fire. ' Tampons ' were wads, sometimes of wood, and not the tompions now known : 16,000 were bought for the /lenry Grace a Dieu at ten and twenty shillings the thousand.^ From an entry 'for two sheepskins to stop the mouths of the guns,' we may infer that they were stuffed into the muzzles, or tied over them. Sheepskins were also used for gun sponges, and ' cartouche ' or cartridge cases were made of canvas.^ In 1536 there were only 39 lasts, 11 barrels of powder in the Tower, 33,000 livery arrows,^ ' decayed,' all the bows in the same condition, and the morrispikes wormeaten.^ But the construction of the forts round the coastline in 1539-40, and the events that followed, gave an impetus to the demand for war material. In 1546 the Council querulously complained that 'the stores, general rule is whenever the King's Maiestie shuld bye al is dere and skase, and whenever he shuld sel al is plentye and good chepe,' an experience not confined to sovereigns. Stores such as timber, pitch, tar, oakum, ironwork, etc., necessary for building or repairs were mostly obtained from tradesmen at or near the dockyard towns. One reason for the adoption of Portsmouth is perhaps to be found in its nearness to Bere Forest and the New Forest, but nearly everything but timber, if not to be obtained at Southampton, had to be sent from London. Naval officials, like Gonson, sold necessaries to the crown, while acting as its represen- tatives, and such transactions appear in the accounts as quite legitimate and customary. About 1522 oak timber from ^Letters and Papers^ 23rd Feb. and 25th Nov. 1514, and i, 5024. The last was 2400 lbs. The prices for serpentine and bombdyne powder are probably only for manufacture. 2 Chapter House Books, vol. x, f. 32. 2 Ibid., vol. V, f, no, *Ibid., vol. vi, f. 58. ^ Arrows of inferior quality. * Letters and Papers, x, 299. G 98 The Administration of the Royal Navy Bere was costing one shilling a ton rough and unhewed, one and eightpence seasoned, and three and fourpence ready squared. Ash was one shilling and beech sixpence.^ Carriage cost twopence a ton per mile, and the work of felling and preparing the wood was performed by the king's shipwrights who were sent into the forests for that purpose. Iron was £4. to ^5, IDS a ton, the Spanish being of a better quality than the Enghsh and costing the higher price. Cables were used up to seventeen inches in circumference, ordinarily described as Dantzic, but sometimes from Lynn and Bridport, and bought of both English and foreign merchants. The price averaged about ;^I2 a ton. The establishments did not, in 15 15, possess any means of weighing cordage delivered, and there is a charge of 3s 46. for scales ' hyrede of a belle ffundere dwellynge at Hondise Diche,' and sent down to Deptford to weigh purchased cables. The following are the prices of miscellaneous requisites : — w [ Olron^ (1515), 14s 4d and I5sa bolt^ Raw Tallow (1523), 6s per cvvt. > J do. (1518), los a bolt Purified Tallow (1523), gs per cvvt. § ] Vitery^ (1515), £4, 13s 4d the balet^ Tallow (1544), 7s and los per cwt. '^ [Poldavys'* (1515), i8s a bolt Flax (1513), 8s per cwt. Do. (1523), los and 12s per cwt. Hemp (1523), gs per cwt. Oakum (1423), 8s to 14s per cwt. Lead (1513), 6s per cwt. Pitch (1514), 4s a barrel Rosin (1523), los per cwt. Do. (1523), 6s a barrel Do. (1544), 8s per cwt. Do. (1544), 8s a barrel andtoJiJavy. ^^ i^ of course beyond the scope of this work to enter into the vexed question of Henry's merits or demerits as a ruler, in its widest sense. But the arming of his kingdom was an important part of the office of a sixteenth century king, and the views on which it was planned, and the way in which it was carried out, must form a weighty element in the final judg- ment of his fitness for his post. So far as the Navy is concerned there is little but unqualified praise to be awarded to Henry. That his action was due to a settled policy and not the product of a momentary vanity or desire for display is shown by the fact that it commenced with his accession and was still pro- gressing at his decease. For almost thirty-eight years nearly every year marked some advance in construction or administra- tion, some plan calculated to make the Navy a more effective fighting instrument. So far as numbers went he made it the > Chapter House Books, vol. vi, f. 41. The ton contained 40 cubic feet of dry, and 50 of green, timber. 2 Probably Olonne (Vendue). ^ 28 ells : the English ell is five — the French six-fourths of a yard ; as the canvas was French, the ells are most likely French. •• Probably Vitre (Brittany). ^ A bale. " A Breton canvas. There was a ' poll davye baye ' on the Breton coast (^State Papers, ed. 1830, xiv, 325), and a small village named Poldavid is situated in Douarnenez Bay. At a later date it is frequently called ' Dantzic PoUdavy ' and then probably means a canvas of Breton type obtained from Dantzic. Henry VIII 99 most powerful navy in the world, remembering the limited radius within which it was called upon to act. He revolutionised its armament and improved its fighting and sailing qualities, he himself inventing or adapting a type thought fit for the narrow seas. He enlarged the one dockyard he found exist- ing and formed two others in positions so suitable for their purpose that they remained in use as long as the system of wooden ships they were built in connection with. Regulations for the manoeuvring of fleets and the discipline of their crews were due to him. He discarded the one mediaeval officer of the crown and organised an administration so broadly planned that, in an extended form, it remains in existence to-day. He built forts for the defence of the coasts, a measure that might now be criticised as showing ignorance of the strategi- cal use of a fleet, but a criticism which is inapplicable to the middle of the sixteenth century when the Navy had yet to fight its way not only to supremacy but to equality. It may be said that events pointed to, and almost enforced, the new direction given to national endeavour and the new value attached to the naval arm. Allowing due weight to the altered conditions the fact remains that Henry accepted them and carried out the innovations they involved with an energy and thoroughness akin to genius. The maritime systems of France and Spain, whether in details of shipbuilding or the larger methods of administration, remained unchanging and inelastic, ignoring the mutations of a century remarkable for activity and progress. Spain tried to hold the command of the sea in the sixteenth century with an organisation little altered from that found sufficient in the previous one. Cir- cumstances brought England into conflict with her and not with France, and she had to pay for her blunder of pride or sluggishness with the ruin of her empire. In these changes history gives no sign of there being any extraneous influence acting through the king. Ministers might come and go but the work of naval extension, done under his personal supervision and direction, went on metho- dically and unceasingly. He trod a path that some of his predecessors had indicated but none had entered. The errors he committed were those inevitable to a new scheme, a plan which was not an enlargement but a reconstruction, and in which he was a pioneer. His mistakes were those of the scientific ignorance and feudal spirit of his age ; his successes were of a much higher order and informed with the statesman- ship of a later time. EDWARD VI 1547-1553 changes^in the j-p jg usually said that during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary the Navy was neglected. As a generalisation this is incorrect, although it is true that the number of ships fell off and that the results of naval undertakings were not com- mensurate with the efforts made, or the money expended upon them. But the administration of both reigns will compare favourably with that of long periods of the seven- teenth century. Considering the tardy acceptance of new ideas it would have been marvellous had Henry's policy been at once consistently and continuously carried on. The factious struggles which occupied the reign of Edward and the religious difficulties of that of Mary were not conducive to perseverance in any settled design, but at least the Regency did not make it their business to at once sell off the Navy, Moreover many of the disappearances from the Edwardian navy lists are of the purchased vessels of the later years of Henry's reign, and of the small rowbarges he had built from his own design and for a special purpose. The former, we may be certain, had not been constructed with the strength and solidity characterising English ships, and some were perhaps old when bought into the service for which they were momentarily desirable. The earliest navy list subsequent to Henry's death is of 5th Jan. 1548.-^ This contains 32 large vessels, having an aggregate of 10,600 tons, besides the Galley Sub ty lie, 13 rowbarges of 20 tons each, and 4 barks of 40 tons. Of other ships belonging to the last reign the French Galley or Mer- maid is omitted, but was in the service then and long after- wards, the Artigo had been sold by an order of 14th April ' Printed in full in Archcsologia, vi, 218. Edward VI loi 1547, and the Minion had been given to Sir Thomas Sey- mour. Comparing this with the next list of 22nd May 1549-^ we find that not only are all the large vessels of 1 548 still carried in it but that it is increased by the presence of the Mary Willoby, recaptured in 1 547, two French prizes of 200 tons each, and ' the three new pinnaces unnamed/ and evi- dently just built.^ Eleven ships were cruising in the North Sea and eighteen in the Channel, which does not give the impression of a cessation of activity notwithstanding the intrigues of Somerset, Seymour, and Northumberland, Kett's rising, and similar distractions. During 1548 and 1549 ten of the rowbarges, being doubtless found useless, were sold for ;^i65, 4S.3 The next list is of 26th August 1552^; of the before-named 32 vessels the Murryan had been sold in December 1 5 5 1 for £AfiO, the Struse for i^200, the Christopher and Unicorn are ordered to be sold, the Grand Mistress is considered worthless, and the Less Bark, Lion, and Dragon are to be rebuilt. The remainder are still serviceable, or re- quire only slight repair, while the names of the Primrose and Bark of Bullen reappear attached to new ships and the Mary Willoby has been rebuilt.^ A French prize, the Black Galley, captured in 1549, is not found in this list, and the Lion, a Scotch man-of-war taken by the Pauncye, was lost off Harwich. In January 155 1 a fleet of twelve vessels was at sea, and in 1552 at least eight vessels were in commission, so that alto- gether up to 1552 there was no great reduction in the effec- tive strength or want of energy in its use. There were now three galleys belonging to the crown and they were not favourably regarded. In 1551 a note of the debts incurred in relation to them was required and the crews were to be dis- charged as the vessels were very expensive and ' serve indede to lytle purpose.' ^ This was followed by a warrant on 30th March for ;^23i, 12s to pay them off, and ;^55 'to be divided equallie amonge the Forsares nowe disarmed.' Edward died on 6th July 1553, therefore it is not strange GiUingiiam. that there is no later navy list of his reign than that of August 1552. Not only was there no deterioration during his short rule, but two important steps were taken in furtherance of the work of organisation that was Henry's legacy. The com- mencement of the great Chatham yard, and the formation of the Victualling into a separate and responsible department, were due to the action of the Council. The Medway anchor- 1 Lansd. MSS. 2, f. 66. ^ Probably the Moon^ Seven Stars, and Swift. ^ Pipe Office Accounts, 2194. * Harl. MSS., 354, f. 9. Printed in full in Derrick's Memoirs of the Royal Navy, pp. 16, 17. * Edward was present at the launch of the Primrose and Mary Willoby on the 4th July 15 5 1 {[ournal). ^ Acts of the Privy Council, 7th February 1551. I02 The Administration of the Royal Navy- age was then, and for some years afterwards, called GilHngham, or Jillingham, Water, and the first order for its use is of 8th June 1550, when the Council directed that all the ships laid up were to be, after the discharge of their officers and crews, 'herbarowed' there.^ On 14th August they further ordered that the men-of-war at Portsmouth were to be brought round to Gillingham, and on 22nd August William Wynter, then ' Surveyor of the Ships,' was sent down to superintend their removal. 2 This of course could have been no sudden deter- mination, but there is no hint of the discussions that must have preceded it. Considerations that may have favoured the measure were the limited anchorage space afforded by Woolwich and Deptford, and the distance of Portsmouth from the centre of government and the merchants supplying stores, of which nearly all had to be sent from London. Another reason was the ease with which the work of grounding and graving could be carried on in the Medway with its banks of mud and large tidal rise and fall ; this, in fact, is the only one given in the Council order of 14th August 1550. Years were yet to elapse before the beginning of the dockyard appears, and the victualling storehouses for the men employed were at Rochester. That there were a large number of men there is shown by the victualling accounts between 28th June 1550 and 29th September 1552. Rochester stands for ;^6i37 of the total, while Woolwich and Deptford cost ;£"8382, Ports- mouth .^^2407, and Dover ^646.^ The Admiralty branch, represented by the Treasurer, spent, up to 24th October 1551 ;^66oo, at Gillingham in wages and necessaries. Portsmouth, however, only slowly lost its comparative pre-eminence al- though it was now far less important than Deptford ; in 1556 there were still more vessels laid up there than at Gillingham, and its victualling charges, the only test remaining, were ;^2472, against ^^"1526 at Gillingham. The choice of the Medway was followed by an order, on i6th January iSS^j ^o build a bulwark at Sheerness for its defence.^ Naval Ex- The only accounts of the Navy Treasurer which have penditure. survived for this reign are from 25th December 1546 to 25th December 1547, and from 29th September 1548 to 24th October 1551.^ During the first period his expenses were nearly ;;^4 1,000, of which sea-charges (wages) were ^^6926, Deptford ;^i 8,824, Woolwich ^^3439, Gillingham ;^4i67, Harwich £162,1, Colne ^^484, and Portsmouth i^i2ii. It will be noticed that there are heavy payments in relation to Gillingham nearly three years before the action of the Council, ' Acts of the Privy Council. ^ Ibid. ^ Pipe Office Accounts, 2355. '^ Acts of the Privy Council. ' Pipe Office Accounts, 2194 and 2588. War with France and Scotland con- tinued until 24th March 1550. Edward VI 103 in 1550. There is no obvious explanation of this ; the body of the account does not show what particular work was carried on there but it may have been done by way of experiment. In the second period the Treasurer received ;^65,8o9and spent ^^66,250. Of this sum sea-charges were ;^ 14,400, press and conduct money ^2900, Deptford ^^30,300, Woolwich ;^20S4 Gillingham ;^66oo, and Portsmouth £iiS7- Edward VI in- herited his father's interest in maritime affairs and appears to have been continually at Deptford. There is a charge of ;;^88, 6s 2d for paving 'the street,' presumably the High Street, which was ' so noysome and full of fylth that the Kynges Maiestie myght not pass to and fro to se the buylding of his Highnes shippes.'^ Deptford, it is seen, was now the leading dock- yard, a position it retained for the remainder of the century. All such improvements as seemed beneficial were adopted that the service might be rendered more efficient. A warrant for £yo. iis was issued to pay for 'bringing over certain Bretons to teach men here the art of making polldavies.' From another document we find that two of these Bretons were atached to Deptford. Lead sheathing was newly applied to English ships in 1553, but had been since 15 14 in use in the Spanish marine.^ There can be little doubt that Henry VIII had intended the formation of a Victualling Department, and that the Council only executed a set purpose already fully discussed and resolved upon. To a man with Henry's clear perception of the reeds of the growing Navy, and his liking for systematic and responsible management, the haphazard method of a dozen igents acting independently and uncontrolled by any central authority, must have been peculiarly hateful. Edward Baeshe who, until 1547, had been merely one of the many agents employed, was chosen in that year to act with Richard Wattes, the two being appointed ' surveyors of victuals within the city of London,' with power to press workmen, seamen, and ships, and with a general superintendence over their local subordinates. They supplied not only the fleet but the troops acting against Scotland. This was a tentative movement onwards, but by Letters Patent of 28th June 1550, Baeshe alone was appointed ' General Surveyor of the Victuals for the Seas,' with a fee of ^^50 a year, three shillings and four- pence a day for travelling expenses, and two shillings a day for clerks. Provisions were obtained by exercising the crown prerogative of purveyance, and the money required was re- ceived from the Treasurer of the Navy and included in his estimates, although Baeshe also kept separate accounts which ^ Pipe Office Accounts^ 2194. ^ Haklu3rt, Voyages^ iii, 53 (ed. 188^) and Fernandez Duro Armada Espanola^ p, 121. I04 The Administration of the Royal Navy Admiralty Officers. Piracy and Privateering. were examined and signed by not less than two of the Admiralty officers. Between ist July 1547, and 29th Sep- tember 1552, ;^5 1,500 passed through his hands and his inferior officers were acting under his directions wheresoever ships were stationed. Death and other accidents soon altered the arrangement of the Navy Board as appointed by Henry VIII. Robert Legge, the first Treasurer by patent, died some time ir 1 548, and his accounts determined on 29th September. Ke was succeeded by Benjamin Gonson, although Gonson's Letters Patent bear the date of 8th July 1 549. William Wynter, son of John Wynter the first Treasurer, and who was making a name as a seaman, succeeded Gonson as Surveyor by Letters Patent of the same date. William Holstock, formerly an unclassified assistant, became keeper of the storehouses at Deptford by patent of 25th June 1549, at a salary of £"26, 13s 4d a year and £6 for boat hire. Sir William Woodhouse, originally Master of the Ordnance of the Navy, succeeded Sir Thomas Clere as Lieutenant of the Admiralty by a patent of i6th December 1552, and on the same day Thomas Windham replaced Woodhouse as Master of the Ordnance of the Navy. From the date of the institution of the Admiralty the post of Lord Admiral, hitherto one of dignity and occasional high command, became an office necessitating work of a more everyday character. Although there is no precise order bearing on the subject it is evident that its holder was at the head of the Board and decided questions referred to lim by the inferior officers. Thomas, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, was appointed on 17th February 1547, and was beheaded on 20th March 1549. John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who, under his earlier title of Lord Lisle had held the post under Henry VIII was again nominated for a short time from 28th October 1549, but from 4th May 1550 Edward, Lord Clynton, became High Admiral. Strangely as it may read, there was for the moment a direct connection between this great office of the crown and piracy, for Lord Seymour was implicated in several nefarious transactions of the kind. But the government itself, while publicly denouncing pirates and equipping ships to apprehend them, was secretly encouraging acts which were only to be faintly distinguished from open robbery. In August 1548 certain vessels were sent out against the Scots and pirates, but private instructions were given to the captains that, because we were on very doubtful terms with France, they were to seize French ships, * saying to them that they have been spoyled before by frenchemenne and could have no justice, or pretending that the victualles or thinges of munition found in any such frenche shippes weare sent to ayde the Scottes or Edward VI 105 such lyk.' ^ It is true that if peace continued all such cargoes were to be restored and the captors' expenses discharged by the government, but in face of such teaching it cannot be a matter for surprise that the generality of owners and captains bettered their instructions and failed to draw the line at the exact point marked for them. One of the articles against Seymour at his trial included accusations that goods taken by pirates were seen in his house and distributed among his friends ; that when plunder had been recaptured from the freebooters the captors were sent to prison, and that pirates taken and committed to prison were set free. As a rule the charges made in an indictment of a fallen minister require to be very closely scanned, but for these there is a good deal of corroborative evidence. As early as 20th September 1546, the Council were hearing the complaint of ' oon that sueth against a servant of Sir Thomas Semars for a pyracie.' After his death the Council awarded ^^40 to a Frenchman in com- pensation for losses sustained through ' the ministres of Lord Seymour.'^ There is a distinct statement that when pressed for money after the death of his wife, the Dowager Queen, he was, among other things, in partnership with many pirates and re- ceived half the booty.^ Although some of the details of the complaints made against him may be inexact there can be no doubt that the charges as a whole were well founded, and-it is significant that the Council dealt with the trouble more suc- cessfully after his execution. In view of the proceedings of the government and the Lord Admiral, it is not surprising that piracy advanced in popularity. Ships, either of the Navy or hired, were being continually sent to sea to keep order ; sometimes the latter joined in the business themselves ^ and the former often gave but half-hearted service. As many of the company of a man- of-war might, a month before, have been members of a pirate's crew, and perhaps expected at their discharge to again tread a rover's deck, no great ardour was to be expected from them. At times they seem to have been unable even to wait for their discharge. When Tyrrel and Holstock were serving in the Channel, their men, when they boarded foreigners for in- quiry, robbed them of property and provisions.^ The superior officers had to be spurred on to their duty. On one occasion it was necessary to order the Admiral commanding in the Channel to attend to his business, ' and not lye in the haven at Dover idlye as the Navye doth.' '^ When a leader of the 1 State Papers^ Dom. Ed. VI, iv, 39. ^ Acts oftlie Privy Council, 31st January 1552. ^ Chronicle of King Henry VIII, edited by Major Martin Hume, Lond. 1889, pp. 161-3. ^ Acts of the Privy Council, 20th November 1552. * Rid., 22nd September 1551. ^ Ibid., l8th February 1550. io6 The Administration of the Royal Navy The Salute to the Flag. Rewards and Peculations. fraternity was caught, the haul usually proved expensive and useless, as he was speedily free again ; Xsoo was granted to the captors of Cole, a well-known name about this time, but Cole is soon found to be at work once more. Strangeways who later died in Elizabeth's service at Havre, Thomson, and Thomas and Peter Killigrew were others whose names were too familiar to the Council. English, Irish, and Scotch pirates swarmed in the narrow seas, a fleet of twenty sail were on the Irish coast, and the Scotch seem to have been particularly active. These adventurers, whether licensed or unlicensed, were usually gallant enough and thought little about odds. A privateer of 95 tons and 28 officers and men fell in with a fleet of 27 Normans and Bretons returning from Scotland where they had served for six months. Nothing daunted, ' althugh our powr were litle yet as pore men desyrus to do our dewtye,' they closed with one and drove it ashore where they left it ' rolling uppon the terrabile waves,' then drove two others ashore and captured a fourth. The French fleet carried 120 guns and iioo men.-^ The incident is remarkable as showing the careless indifference, born of centuries of struggle with the sea and the enemies it carried, with which our sea- men regarded superior strength, long before the outburst of successful piracy on a large scale, which is supposed to have taught them their peculiar faculty. In other ways the members of the Regency showed themselves desirous of upholding the honour of their country. There is no especial reference during the previous reign to the claim to the salute, but it was now stringently enforced when possible. It was not yielded however without protest, ' the Fleming's men-of-war would have passed our ships without vailing bonnet, which they seeing, shot at them and drove them at length to vail the bonet.'^ A year later they were more tractable, since the Flemings riding at Dieppe lowered the sail to an English man-of-war which came into the port.^ With France the question was less easily settled. When Henry Dudley and the Baron de la Garde were both at sea, the former, having the weaker fleet, desired instructions about the salute. The Council wrote that ' in respect of thamitie and that the sayd Baron is stronger upon the sees sume tymes yelde and sume tymes receyve thonnour.'"* There was no change in the pay or position of the seamen, but they appear to have been liberally treated. The crew of the Minion, 300 in number, were given ;^ioo among them 1 State Papers, Dom. Ed. VI, 7th Sept. 154S. "^ Journal of Edward VI, April 1550. * Ibid., 2nd July 1551. ■* Acts of the Privy Council, 17th May 1552. Edward VI 107 for capturing a Frenchman, probably the Black Galley} Wilh'am Wynter, Surveyor of the Navy, commanded the Minion on this occasion, and neither now nor afterwards did the duties of their posts prevent the four principal Officers commanding at sea, sometimes for long periods. We do not find any mention of embezzlements and thefts during the reign of Henry VIII, not, probably, because they did not occur, but because the Navy papers are comparatively scanty and mostly financial accounts made up in their final form. With Edward VI they begin to appear, and grow rapidly in number subsequently. It was found necessary to pass an act forbidding the Lord Admiral, or any of his officers, to exact payments of money or fish from the Newfoundland or Iceland fishermen under pain of a fine of treble the amount levied.^ It was said to be a practice of ' within these few years now last past,' but abuses usually have to be of long existence before they attain the honour of an Act of Parliament for their suppression. A victualling agent, Henry Folk, was committed to the Fleet prison for embezzling money received for navy victualling, ' which he hath not answered againe to the poore men but converted the money otherways and suffered them to remayne unpayed and in exclamacion.' The ' poore men ' here referred to are more likely to have been persons from whom provisions had been purchased than seamen. The decline of the fishing industry was attributed, among other causes, to the action of the crown purveyors in seizing quantities of fish at nominal prices. There is no return of merchant shipping for this period. Merchant but the bounty of five shillings a ton on new vessels was paid Irad^!"^ ^^^ in several cases. Lord Russell, the Lord Privy Seal, received it on the Amie Russell of 1 10 tons and there are other similar war- rants. There is, however, a paper calendared under the next reign which gives a list of merchantmen of 100 tons and up- wards, 'decayed' between 1544-5 and I553- It names seven- teen belonging to London of 2530 tons, thirteen of Bristol of 2380 tons, and five owned in other ports.^ This does not ne- cessarily mean that the merchant navy had decreased to the extent of thirty-five such ships but may refer to those worn out by age and service and possibly replaced. Royal ships were still chartered by merchants for trading purposes ; p^iooo was paid for the Jesus of Lubeck and another, for a voyage to the Levant in 1552.* Later in the reign two of the ^ Pipe Office Accounts, 2194. ^ 2 and 3 Ed. VI, c. 6. ^ State Papers, Bom. Mary i, 23. Although calendared under the first year of Mary the return goes on with a list of those ' decayed since the death of Edward VI to the present time,' numbering sixty-two of 9170 tons. The date assigned to this document cannot therefore possibly be correct and it probably belongs to the reign of Elizabeth. * Journal of Edward VI, 14th February 1552. io8 The Administration of the Royal Navy The circum- stances under which the Navy was maintained. navy officers, Gonson and Wynter, were indulging in similar speculation, and obtained the Matheiv valued at ;^I208, for which they were required to give sureties. A commercial treaty with Sweden was on foot in 1550, but as the King of Denmark was urgently complaining of the English pirates who infested the Sound it was not likely to be of much advantage. The formation of the Russia company in 1553, although it was not incorporated until 1555, marked the inception of the great trading companies which did much, directly and indirectly, to increase both the number of ships and their size. Attention was given to the fishing trade and its growth stimulated by an enactment ^ which made Fridays, Saturdays, and Ember days, fish days, under penalty of ten shillings fine, and ten days' imprisonment for the first, and double for the second and every following offence. All through the reign regard was paid to naval require- ments under financial conditions which, during many other periods, would have ensured their relegation to a future time. On the 4th November 1550, the Officers of the Navy appeared before the Council and brought books with them, one relating to the docking and repair of certain ships, a second ' concerning things necessary to be done,' and a third containing an estimate of stores required. The money wanted for these purposes was j^'2436, and the department was already in debt to the amount of ^4800. Two years later the crown owed ^^"132, 372 abroad and ^^108,826 at home, of which only ^5000 was due by the Admiralty.^ The naval expenses from January 1547 to September 1552 are tabulated as : — 2 Cordage, timber, etc., ;^5i,i52ii5 Coat and conduct money, ...... 5070 i 5 Wages of soldiers, sailors, dockyards, shipwrights, etc., . 78,263 3 8J Furniture of ships and carriage, ..... 2451 14 10 Riding and posting charges, hire of docks and storehouses, 1609 4 6 Victualling, 64,844 17 3^ Ordnance and ammunition, ...... 10,445 ^^ 8^ These were very large amounts, taken with those of the last years of Henry VI 11,"^ for the England of 1552, and we know that the public debt of ^241,000 was the result of heavy borrowings at home and abroad. Some progress however was made towards the liquidation of the debt, since it had sunk to i^ 1 80,000 at the accession of Mary. But as, in this financial situation, the Navy was not allowed to materially retrogress the imputation usually made against the Regency of indiffer- ence to its strength is one certainly not justified by facts. ' 2 and 3 Ed. VI, c. 19. ^ State Papers^ Dom. Ed. VI, xv, 41. ^ Ibid., XV, II ■• Supra p. 94. MARY AND PHILIP AND MARY 1553-1558 There is no complete navy list for the reign of Mary there- The Royal fore the changes that took place in the royal ships can only, ^^' in most cases, be ascertained by comparison with earlier and later lists. There is, however, a record of the sale of certain ships in 1555 > the Primrose for ^rooo, the Mary Hainbro £20, the Grand Mistress i^35, the Hind £'^, the Christopher £iS, the Unicorn £10, and four of tiie smallest pinnaces or row- barges.^ The prices obtained show that, with the exception of the Primrose, they must have been in very bad condition. The Ba7'k of Bullen was delivered in 1553 to Jeffrey Coke, on condition of his carrying the Lord Deputy and the royal despatches to and from Ireland when necessary.^ The Henry Grace a Dieu was burnt by accident at Woolwich on 25th August 1553.^ Comparing the first complete navy list of Elizabeth with the Edwardian of 26th August 1552, we find that, besides the above mentioned vessels, only the Pauncye, Alathew, and Less Bark, are wanting of the larger ships. On the other hand the Sacrett, a French prize of 160 tons, a new Mary Rose of 500 tons in 1555, the Philip and Mary in 1556 of 450 tons, the Lion rebuilt in 1557, a new Bark of Boulogne, and the Brigantine replace these deficiencies. When we read that Henry VIII left a fleet of 53 vessels, and that it rapidly diminished after his death, it must be remembered that thirteen of them were twenty-ton rowbarges immediately cast off as useless, and that only twenty-eight, excluding the galleys, were of 100 tons and upwards. A navy list of February 1559 names twenty-five of this class, serviceable and unserviceable, and the next, of 24th March 1559, twenty. ' Pipe Office Accounts, 2195. According to State Papers, Dom. Eliz., ii, 30, the Primrose had been sold for ^1800, but only ^1000 had ever been paid. 2 Acts of the Privy Council, 4th October 1553. ^ Machyn's Diary, Camd. See. no The Administration of the Royal Navy- Accepting the last, as affording the most unfavourable com- parison, it does not warrant the severe condemnation of the naval administration of Mary's reign to which we are ac- customed. Moreover many of the men-of-war dated from the years 1544-6, and were now approaching the time when they required rebuilding. The long ' life ' of wooden as compared with iron ships has become proverbial but did not apply to sixteenth, and hardly to seventeenth century vessels. Doubt- less the absence of proper sheathing, and the bad adjustment of weights, which caused excessive straining in a seaway, had much to do with it, but whatever the cause men-of-war are found to need rebuilding within, at the most, every twenty- five years during the Tudor and Stewart reigns. There is an Elizabethan paper of 1 562 1 which, if it can be even partially trusted, shows that the closing months of Mary's reign were characterised by great dockyard activity. The Hart^ Antelope, Swallow, New Bark, Jennett, Greyhound, Phcenix, and Sacar are assigned to 1558 as new ships, that is to say as rebuilt, for in these early documents distinction is seldom drawn between one really new and one merely rebuilt. Mary died on 17th November 1558, and if the year were reckoned by the New Style there would be no question but that they must have been begun during her lifetime and finished at least shortly after her death. But at this time the year ended on 24th March, and the unknown writer of the paper in the Cecil MSS. when he assigns these vessels to 1558 means a period ceasing on 24th March 1559, when Elizabeth had been nearly four-and-a-half months on the throne. It is known that the dockyards were working busily shortly after Elizabeth's accession, but assuming the 1562 writer to be correct in his dates, and as a whole there is some corrobora- tive evidence of his general accuracy, it seems quite impossible that these eight ships could have been rebuilt between 17th November 1558, and 24th March 1559. That being so Mary's government must be allowed the credit of recognising the decline in the effective force and of the measures taken for its renewal. There is another test that can be applied to the question of the activity or inactivity of the government, and that is the number of ships sent to sea during these years. In 1554 twenty-nine men-of-war, manned by 4034 men, were in com- mission ; 2 during 1555-6 thirty-eight, several of them of course twice or thrice over ; ^ in 1557 twenty-four, and in December eight others were in preparation.^ Yet, again, if we take the ' Cecil MSS. Cal. Pt. I, No. 846. The credit to be attached to this paper is discussed in the English Historical Review^ ix, 71 1. 2 Pipe Office Accounts, 2356. ^ Jj^n,^ 2357. ^ State Papers., Dom. Mary, xii, 36, 65. Mary and Philip and Mary iii squadrons especially sent out pirate catching, we find that during 1555-6 eight vessels were equipped to search for Cole and Stevenson, two well known adventurers, and there are many other references to men-of-war commissioned with the same object. In another way the naval history of this reign is noteworthy. Although it was not unknown for ships to be at sea in winter it was as yet exceptional, but we now find it occurring more frequently during these few years than through the whole reign of Henry VIII. No fewer than eight were cruising during the first four months of 1556;^ in October 1557, ten ; ^ and ten in February and March of the same year.^ Lord Clynton was still Lord Admiral at the death of^^^i^f*y^^^. Edward VI. He was then unfortunate enough to be on the ministration, wrong side, and his influence with the men seems to have been small, as the crews of six vessels, sent to the Norfolk coast to prevent the flight of Mary, went over to her side. Clynton was replaced by William, Lord Howard of Effing- ham, from 26th March 1554. The first named, however, re- gained the Queen's favour by the efficient aid he gave in Wyatt's rising and was reappointed on loth February 1557; thenceforward he retained the office till his death on i6th January 1585. The only other change among the chief officers was the nomination of William Wynter to be Master of the Ordnance of the Navy from 2nd November 1557'; * he was already Surveyor and now held both offices for the rest of his life. The salary of the conjoined appointments was ;^ioo a year, with the usual 6s 8d a day travelling expenses, 2s 4d a day for clerks, and ^8 a year for boat hire. The management of the Admiralty was, if not exactly reformed, subjected to close scrutiny. In 1556 Lord Howard was ordered 'to repayre himself forthwith on receipte hereof,' without the knowledge of the other officers, and take ' a secret muster ' of the men on board the ships, to search the ships for concealed men and victuals, and to arrange for a monthly muster on the cruisers in the narrow seas.^ Regulations were also established for the supply of stores and provisions and their economical use, and a first attempt was made to check the waste of ammunition in saluting by an order that it was not to be consumed in ' vayne shot.' ^ A year later a further alteration followed, which took the form of allowing a fixed yearly sum for ordinary naval ex- penses, a rule which remained long in force. There may also have been other reasons for some additional changes made. Clynton may not have been entirely trusted, or some sus- ' Exch. War. for Issues, 23rd April, 2nd and 3rd of Philip and Mary. 2 Ibid., Oct. ^ Ibid., 30th March, 3rd and 4th of Philip and Mary. * Rot. Pat. * Acts of the Privy Council, nth January 1556. ^ Ibid., 3rd June 1557. 1 1 2 The Administration of the Royal Navy picion, perhaps, was taking shape concerning the provident or honest conduct of the Officers. The order ran : — ' Wheare heretofore the Queues Maiestie hath ben sundrie tymes troubled with thoften signing of warrantes for money to be defraied about the necessarie chardges of her Highnesses navie and being desierouse to have some other order taken for the easyer conducting of this matter heareaftyr : Dyd this daie upon consultacion had with certayn of my lords of the Counsel! for this purpose desyere the Lord Treasurer^ with thadvise of the Lord Admyrall to take this matter upon hym who agreinge thare- unto was content to take the chardge thereof with theis conditions ffoUowinge ; ffirst, he requyred to have the some of ;^i4,ooo by yere to be advaunced half yerely to Benjamyn Gonson Threasarer of Thadmyraltie to be by hym defrayed in such sort as shalbe prescribed by hym the sayed Lord Threasowrer with thadvise of the Lorde Admyrall.' For which sum the Lord Treasurer will ' cause such of her Maiesties shippes as may be made servicable with calkeinge and newe trymmynge to be sufficiently renewed and repaired Item to cause such of her Highnes saied shippes as must of necessitie be made of newe to be gone in hand withall and newe made with convenyent speede Item he to see also all her Highnes saied shippes furnysshed with sailles, anchors, cables, and other tackell and apparell sufficientlye Item he to cause the wagis and victuallinge of the shipp keepers and woorkmen in harborough to be paied and dischardged Item he to cause a masse of victual to be alwayes in redynes to serve for looo men for a moneth to be sette to the sea upon eny sodeyne Item he to cause the saied shippes from tyme to tyme to be repaired and renewed as occasion shall requiere Item whenn the saied shippes that ar to be renewed shalbe newe made and suf- ficientlie repaired and the hole navie furnyshed of saylles, anckers, cables, and other tackell then is the saied Lord Treasowrer content to contynue this servis in fourme aforesaied for the some of ^10,000 yerely to be ad- vaunced as is aforesaied Item the -saied Benjamyn Gonson and Edward Bashe Surveyor of the Victuells of the shippes shall make theare severall accomptes of the defrayment of the saied money and of theare hole doinges herein once in the yere at the least and as often besydes as shall be thowght convenyent by my Lordes of the Counsel!.' Any surplusage was to be carried forward towards the next year's expenses ; the division of the money was, by estimation, ;;^2000 for stores, i^iooo for rigging, ;!^6ooo for harbour wages and victualling, and _jf 5000 for the building and repair of ships.^ By 1558 the allowance was reduced to ^jTi 2,000 a year, but even the proposed minimum of ^10,000 was much above anything allowed by Elizabeth during the greater part of her reign. Moreover, the large scheme of rebuilding outlined in this paper indirectly confirms the statement of the writer in the Cecil MSS? in assigning numerous new, i.e. rebuilt, ships to 1558. Obviously the circumstance of the Queen being overworked was not by itself any reason why the real control should be taken from the Lord Admiral and other Officers and given to the Lord ' Paulet, Marquis of Winchester. 2 State Papers, Dom. Mary, x, I, 2. ^ Supra p. no. Mary and Philip and Mary 1 13 Treasurer. The fact that payment was now to be made in gross to Gonson of so many thousands a year instead of, as formerly, by warrant for each separate matter, will explain the necessity for some new check on the Navy Treasurer, but will not explain the practical supersession of the Lord Admiral. As long as Burleigh was Lord Treasurer he also remained the final authority on naval matters, practically exercising the authority of a First Lord of the Admiralty of the present day. The system of accounts now adopted en- dured, with some modifications, for nearly a century, and to the order which prescribed the rendering of a full statement once a year we owe the series of Audit, or Pipe Office Accounts^ an invaluable source of information for naval history. The average of wages all round had risen to 9s 4d a Expenditure month 'dead shares and rewards included;' this, judging ^nfs^**^"^^ from the early years of the next reign, meant 6s 8d a month for the seamen. The custom of providing the men with coats and jackets was dying out. There are no references to these articles in the naval papers of the reign, but in a semi-official expedition, that of Willoughby and Chancellor in 1553, the instructions direct that the 'liveries in apparel' were only to be worn by the sailors on state occasions. At other times they were to be kept in the care of the super- cargoes and ordinary clothes were to be sold to the crews at cost price.i The one return of expenses remaining shows an extremely heavy naval expenditure.^ Between 1st January 1557 and 31st December 1558 ;^i 57,638 was spent, of which victuall- ing took ;^73,503, Deptford £22,12.0, Woolwich .^4048, Gillingham £^0%, Portsmouth £7^21, and wages of men at sea ;^43,492. Stores, such as timber, pitch, tar, cordage, etc., absorbed nearly ;^20,ooo, included under the dockyard headings. From this account it also appears that Legge when Treasurer, probably therefore in the reign of Henry VIII, had advanced ;;f 100 to two Lincolnshire men for seven years in order to assist the creation of another centre of the cordage industry. The experiment was not successful and the item is carried over formally in each successive account until dropped as a bad debt. Victualling storehouses for the government had been built or bought at Ratcliff, Rochester, Gillingham and Portsmouth ; ordnance wharves at Woolwich, Portsmouth and Porchester. Portsmouth was momentarily regaining favour, and the Council recommended that ships should be laid up there because the harbour afforded better opportunity for rapid action in the Channel than did the Thames. The chief shipwright was now Peter Pett who was receiving a fee of one shilling a day from the * Hakluj^, Voyages^ iii, 2o, ed. 1885. ^ pipg Office Accounts, 2591. H 114 The Administratipn of the Royal Navy- Disease on Shipboard. Privateering and Piracy. Exchequer in addition to the ordinary payments made to him by the Admiralty. War was declared with France on 7th June 1557, but the operations of 1558 were nullified by ah outbreak of disease in the fleet as severe as that of 1545. In 1557 Howard informed the Council that he could not obtain at Dover ' in a weke so moche victulls as wold victull ii pynnesses,' and although the complaint is a year earlier the character of the supplies and the hardships it connotes, are very likely the key to the visita- tion of the following summer. From the 5th to 17th August Clynton lay at St Helens with the fleet, having returned from the capture and destruction of Conquet. On the i8th he put to sea, and on the 20th was near the Channel Islands, when so sudden an outburst occurred ' that I thinke the lieke was never syne ffor ther wer many ships that halfe the men wer throwen downe sick at once.' ^ After holding a council with his captains, which the masters of his ships also attended, he returned to Portsmouth. Privateering was encouraged by a proclamation of 8th July 1557, permitting any one to fit out vessels against the royal enemies, and allowing possession to be retained of all ships and goods captured ' withoute making accompte in any courte or place of this realme,' and without payment of any dues to the Lord Admiral or any other officer. This entire abrogation of control increased the tendency to illegal acts even among the more honest adventurers ; while Carews, Killigrews, Tremaines, and the ubiquitous Strangways, and Thomson, industriously working for themselves, the govern- ment had always with them. Thomson was off Scilly in 1556, with three ships, and was taken. When tried only he and four others were condemned and the Council loudly com- plained of the partiality of the jury, a partiality which better explains the prevalence of piracy during these years than the accepted explanation of the inefficiency of the Navy. The two Killigrews, Thomas and Peter, were, if not the worst, the most successful offenders and in 1556 were sufficiently en- riched by their plunder to think of retiring to ' some island ' for the winter. They were frequently chased into French ports, but to keep them there was beyond the power of the men-of-war, and the French authorities treated them with a neutrality more than benevolent. When we find a privateer belonging to the Lord Privy Seal attacking neutral vessels, and man-of-war officers board- ing and robbing a Flemish merchantman at Tilbury, it seems wonderful, in view of the excesses such incidents suggest among the majority with no sense of legal responsibility, that commerce could have been carried on at all. ' State Papers Dom.^ Mary, xiii, 64. ELIZABETH 1558-1603 Her subjects were occupied, during the greater portion ofTbeNavai Elizabeth's reign, in teaching their Queen the use of a navy, Elizabeth, instruction that she was the first English sovereign to put into practice on strategic principles. Yet study of the forty-five years of glorious naval history on which her renown is mainly based, leaves the impression that more might and should have been done with the Navy. That she preferred diplomacy to force would have been a merit had the choice been founded on an ethical detestation of the cruelty of war, instead of an ingenuous belief in her own skill and the obtuseness of her antagonists. Under conditions more favourable to ascendancy at sea than have ever existed for England, before or since, the successes of the Navy itself, as distinguished from the expan- sion of the commercial marine, were, although relatively great, limited by the hesitation with which the naval arm was em- ployed, the way in which the service was pecuniarily starved, and the settled doctrine underlying her maritime essays that an expedition should be of a character to return a profit on the outlay. And perhaps the severest comment on her government lies in the fact that she was more liberal in her treatment of the Navy, than of any other department of the State. In February 1559 she possessed twenty-two effective ships of 100 tons and upwards, in March 1603, twenty-nine ; practically, therefore, she did little more than replace those worn out by efflux of time, for only two were lost in war- fare. If Henry VHI created a navy under the stimulus of a possible necessity it requires little imagination to con- ceive his course when the time had come, as it never came for him, to put forth every effort in using it for the preservation of England. ii6 The Administration of the Royal Navy When Elizabeth succeeded to the throne, the possession of a fleet and an organised administration, the French royal navy, only a few years before an apparently serious com- petitor, had ceased to exist ; the rivalry of Holland had not yet begun, and it is hardly an exaggeration to say that a Spanish royal navy had never existed, in the sense of an ocean going service organised on a basis enabling it to act vigorously and effectively in any direction.^ The opportunity had come therefore to a power with maritime ambition, the only one possessing an efficient fleet and naval control, and incited by religious differences and commercial emulation. The altered situation brought to the front a band of men who, in the preceding century, would have been military adventurers in France, but who now, half traders, half pirates, handled their ships with the same strategic and tactical skill their ancestors exercised on land, and who, if they had been allowed a free hand, would have brought Spain down in ruin instead of merely reducing her to a condition of baffled impotence. They were not allowed a free hand. When acting for them- selves they had the knowledge that if it suited the royal policy of the moment repudiation of their deeds might mean, if not loss of life, at least loss of property and reputation. When in command of royal fleets they were kept in touch with the government, hampered by voluminous and contradictory instructions, and, above all, their efforts and successes rendered nugatory by the parsimony which kept the depots always on the brink of exhaustion. In naval, as in other matters, Elizabeth tried to make her subjects do the work of the crown and therefore she frequently confined her action to taking a share with several ships in a ^ With the exception of the galley establishments at Seville and Barcelona there were no royal dockyards in Spain. There was no difference made, in building, between merchantmen and men-of-war, and in 1584 Martin de Recalde petitioned to be allowed to fly the royal standard because without it his fleet would be taken for merchantmen. In return for the large bounty given and the advances made to builders the crown seized their vessels on every occasion and for every purpose where, in England, the royal ships would have been employed. The system was the same as that by which Edward III had destroyed English shipping. In 1601 the Duke of Medina Sidonia wrote plainly that the remedy for the im- poverishment fallen on Spanish shipowners was ' that the King should build the vessels he required and not take them from private individuals, ruining them.' In the fleet of the Marquis of Santa Cruz at Terceira in 1583 only three belonged to the crown, and in the Armada only twent3'-five. Sometimes contracts were made with admirals who undertook to serve with a certain number of ships, and at other times with towns who engaged to supply them. There was no Admiralty as in England. There had been an Admiral of Castile from the beginning of the thirteenth centur}', but the civil portion of his duties was confined to the head- ship of the courts of law deputed to hear maritime causes. If a fleet or squadron was to be equipped officials, who may or may not have had previous experience, were temporarily entrusted with the duty at the various ports and their functions ceased with the completion of their work (Fernandez Duro, La Armada Invencible ; Disqiiisiciones Naicticas, Lib. V. ; Hist, de la Marind). Elizabeth 1 1 7 privateering expedition, prepared by private individuals for their own profit. Such expeditions swell the list of ships em- ployed at sea, and privateering as a source of injury to an enemy has its value, but such enterprises when forming the whole effort of the State for a particular year show an insuffici- ent acquaintance with the character of the operations required. Privateers were equipped not with large objects but to secure profits for owners and crews. It sometimes happened that this purpose was at issue with the wider views of the admiral in command, and the voyage became ineffective where a simi- lar number of men-of-war subject to discipline might have done important service. The enormous increase in the mer- chant marine which, it will be shown, characterised the reign, was in one way disadvantageous since it induced the govern- ment to rely more on a guerre de course than on the sustained and systematised action of the Royal Navy. Even when a great fleet was sent out the light in which Elizabeth regarded it is instructively shown in a letter to Nottingham, after the Cadiz voyage of 1 596, when he had asked for money to pay the men's wages : ' though we have already written you divers letters to prevent the incon- venience which we suspected would follow this journey that it would be rather an action of honour and virtue against the enemy and particular profit by spoil to the army than any way profitable to ourself yet now we do plainly see by the return of our whole fleet that the actions of hope are fully finished without as much as surety of defraying the charge past or that which is to come.^ The blow to Spanish power and prestige, or an ' action of honour and virtue/ counted for nothing if a fleet did not pay its expenses and make some profit over and above. It may be asked then in what respect was Elizabeth per- sonally deserving of praise? The answer is that it fell to her to use for the first time an untried weapon — untried in the sense that never before had England relied on it as the right arm of attack or defence. For centuries the defence of the country had depended on the mail-clad horseman and the yeoman archer ; from the first days of her accession she re- cognised that the enemies of England were to be fought at sea, a doctrine which is a commonplace now, but was then being only slowly evolved in minds even yet dazzled by memories of invasions of France. She accepted and proved the truth of the theory on which the policy of Henry VIII was grounded, and, if she failed to carry it out fully, it was perhaps more from ignorance of the might of the weapon in her hand than from want of statesmanship. Notwithstanding her niggardliness, which nearly ruined England in 1588, she ex- pended money — for her lavishly — on the Navy, while the ^ Lives of the Devereux I, 375. ii8 The Administration of the Royal Navy- military and other services were remorselessly starved. Sooner or later the naval authorities obtained at least part of their re- quirements, in striking contrast to the fortune of other officials who thought, and whose contemporaries probably thought, their needs of equal or more importance. If she did not use the fleet as some of the great seamen who served her would have had her use it, she at anyrate extended its field of action in a manner hitherto unknown, and sealed the direction of future English policy. The following abstract, compiled from the pay and vict- ualling lists and the State Papers, will show the number of vessels of the Royal Navy in commission each year, that it was used continuously as never before, but also that it was seldom used up to its possible capacity. In every case there were hired merchantmen as well if a fleet was engaged in an over-sea expedition, but unless there was a prospect of plunder the brunt of the work always fell on the men-of-war. As an arbitrary division, for the purpose of the table, first-rates are taken as those above 600 tons ; second -rates from 400 to 600 tons ; third-rates from 200 to 400 tons ; fourth-rates from 100 to 200 tons ; fifth- rates from 50 to 100 tons ; and sixth- rates under 50 tons. Owing to technical difficulties connected with the lists used it is probably not exactly correct but is sufficiently so to give a just impression : — H >, ISt 2nd 3rd 4th Sth 6th 0^ ISt 2nd 1559 — — — 2 4 — - — 1581 — — 1560^ — — — — — — 1582 — — 1561 — — I I 2 — I 1583 — — 1562 — 2 4 I 5 — — 1584 — — 1563 2 I 9 I 7 4 3 1585 — I 1564 — — I 2 3 — 1586 — 3 1565 — — — 2 — — — 1587 — 3 1566 — — — I 2 — — 1588- 5 10 1567 — I — I I — — 1589 4 1568 — 2 I I — — 1590 — 8 1569 — 3 4 2 2 — — 1591 — 8 1570 — 3 3 3 2 — — 1592 — 2 1571 — — — 2 I — — 1593 — I 1572 — — — 2 2 — — 1594 — I 1573 — I I 3 I — — • 1595 — 4 1574 — — — 2 I — — ■ 1596 4 9 1575 — — — 2 I — — 1597 6 II 1576 — I 3 2 2 — — 1598 — 5 1577 — I 2 2 — — — ' 1599 6 10 1578 — 2 3 I — — — 1600 2 2 1579 — I 3 3 I — — 1601 2 II 1580 — I 6 2 I — — 1602 3 9 4th 5th 6th ' No information available. ' The whole navy except the Popinjay in Ireland. | ^ And in this year, as in many others, the same vessel was sometimes in commission more than once. This was especially the case with the fourth- fifth- and sixth-rates and is an unavoidable source of error. Elizabeth 119 From this it is evident that vessels of from 400 to 600 tons were the favourites ; they were handier, better seaboats, and represented the latest improvements in shipbuilding. Of the eleven first-rates on the navy list in 1603, two were Spanish prizes of 1596, four dated from the beginning of the reign, while the remaining five were of 1587 and later years ; it was these latter that were used from 1596 onwards. The four earlier ones, built before Hawkyns came into office, were of an old type and seem never to have been commissioned unless the services of the whole Navy were required. The Victory, for instance was only at sea in 1563, 1588, and 1589, although she is not entered in the foregoing table under 1589, because lent to the Earl of Cumberland for a private venture. The stress of the work fell therefore on the smaller vessels. The Bojiaventtire, for instance, was at sea every year from 1585 to 1590 inclusive. During the greater part of 1591 she was in dock at Woolwich for repairs, but at Portsmouth in October, and then sent to sea. Again in 1592, 5, 6, 7, and 1599. The Dreadnought, launched in 1573, was commissioned during each of the six years 1575-80, and in 1585, 7, 8, and 1590. She was then, for nearly a year, in dry dock, recommencing service in 1594, continuing it in 1595, 6, 7, 9, 1601, 2, and 1603. It must also be noted that many of these years in- cluded more than one commission. Excluding the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-rates, which were serviceable for privateering purpose, but could not take a place in any form of attack re- quiring ships of force, it will be seen by how very few vessels the naval warfare was really carried on, and that a succession of serious descents on the Spanish coasts and transatlantic settlements, such as were urged on Elizabeth, would have necessitated very large additions to the Royal Navy. Shortly after the Queen's accession she possessed, accord- ing to one account thirty-five,^ and according to another thirty-two ^ vessels of all classes and in good and bad condi- tion. Some ships had been under repair before Mary's death,^ but the dockyards were working with redoubled vigour since Elizabeth's succession. At Deptford, in March, 228 men were at work on five ships; at Woolwich 175 men on eight others, and at Portsmouth 1 54 men on nine more.^ Some of these were rebuildings, others could have been but trifling repairs, but the list shows with what energy Elizabeth and her Council applied themselves to the maintenance of the fleet. From that time the yards, with the exception of a few years, were kept fully occupied, and the following is a list of the new ships built at them or otherwise added to the Navy. The dates are New Style : — 1 State Papers, Dom. Eliz., 20th February 1558-9. ^Ihid., 24th March 1559. ^ Add. MSS. 9294, f. i. * State Papers, Dom., iii, 44. I20 The Administration of the Royal Navy Elizabeth Jonas'^ Built At By Rebuilt Bought Prize 1559 Woolwich 1597-8 — — Hope"^ 1559 1602-3 — — Victory ' — 1560 — Primrose * — — 1560 — Minion ^ — — 1560 Galley Speedwell^ 1559 — — — Galley Tryrighf 1559 — — — Triumph ^ 1561 1595-6 — — Aid' 1562 — — Galley Ellynor '» — — — 1563 Post " 1563 — — Guide » 1563 — — Makeshift^"- 1563 — — — Search " 1563 — — — White Bear '''^ 1564 1598-9 — — Elizabeth Bonaventure '* 1581 1567 — Foresight '* 1570 — — — BulP^ 1570 — — Tiger i^ — 1570 — — Swiftsure i" 1573 Deptford Peter Pett 1592 — — Dreadnought '* 1573 do. Math. Baker 1592 — — Achates'^' 1573 do. Peter Pett — Handmaid'^ 1573 do. Math. Baker — — — Revenge ^^ 1577 do. — — — Scout"^ 1577 do. — — — Merlin"^ 1579 — — — Antelope'^ 1581 — — Golden Lion ^ 1582 — — Brigantine ^ 1583 — Nonpareil'' Deptford 1584 — — Galley Bonavolia ^ — 1584 — — Greyhound'^^ 1585 Wm. Pett — — — Talbot^ 1585 R. Chapman — — — Cygnet^^ 1585 Tho. Bowman — — — Makeshift^'' 1586 Limehouse Wm. Pett — — — Spy^ 1586 do._ do. — — — Advice ^* 1586 Woolwich M. Baker — — — Trust ^ 1586 — — Sun^ 1586 Chatham M. Baker — — — Seven Stars^'' 1586 — — — " Machyn's Diary, 3rd July 1559 ; State Papers, Dom., iii, 44, and xcvi, p. 295. - State Papers, Dom., xcvi, p. 295 ; Pipe Office Accounts, 2358, and Cecil MSS. Cal. No. 846. ^ Exch. War. for Issues, 14th Mar. 1560; Pipe Office Accounts^ 2358, and State Papers^ Dom., xcvi, p. 295. ** Pipe Office Accounts, 2358. ^ Ibid. « Ibid, and Cecil MSS. , Cal. No. 846. ' Ibid. » Cecil MSS., Cal. No. 846, and Pipe Office Accounts, 2198. " According to State Papers, Dom., xcvi, p. 295, built in 1560, but she is not mentioned in the accounts till 1563, and was first in commission in December 1562. '" First mentioned this year and noted as French, probably from Havre. There were also eleven small French ships taken in the port of Havre in 1562, and carried on the navy list till 1564, after which year they disappear. They may have been returned on the conclusion of peace in April ; there was some discussion to that effect. " Four small brigantines. Exch. War. for Issues, 4th July 1563, and Pipe Office Accounts, 2360. ^''^ Pipe Office Accounts, 2200 and 2361. "Ibid., 2364, and Exch. War. for Issues, I2th Aug. 1567. '< Pipe Office Accounts, 2206 and 2367. '* Ibid., 2206 and 2208. ^^ Ibid. ^■' Ibid., 2209 and 2370. ^^ Ibid. ^' Ibid. ^ Ibid. -^ Ibid., 2213 and 2374. ^ ^l>^*- Ti- -^oo 'd-Tj-^rj-Ti--^Th -4-CO 00 ThrJ-O -:l--i-T^Tl-rhO •^'J-'+O u)VOi£3VO rorormO O O cotorococotocotovovo toroO fOcot<^cOt<1vntororOO oooooovovovc vr>li^o^0^a^0^a^O^O^O^fOPOP^ t^ « n m i-c v-ivoao O OO «£> SJSipiog 00 0000 00 000 00000000000««^^<<^0t^"^"^"^« ri N c^ CTvcocjo t-~t^t-.i^l^t^l-^t^vovr>foroc-> >-■ w w •-< i-i siauunrj 000^^^^^^0000000000000>£)O^>^^^^<<C<>ClW01C^l-*>-tMt-ll-HH)-(»-lt--ll-(Mt-()-(t-< B3S JB USJ^ 00000000000000000000000000p"20000 OvdO O'-nvnvj-imu-ivmninO OvD'.D M OI>-'*"^"*'^'^ u->\r>io^Tl-Tj-cocococ^oiMNCiNNPJcqMi-(i-ii-ii-ii-iMi-( inoqjBij UI U3J^ t-~ r>.vo Oc^MMC^««MN«OOOOOi^t~»t^ 1^0 xo vr> vn ui vo rocorotOMwi-ii-ii-ii-ii-ii-it-iMi-ii-ii-iMwi-iwi-i aOUBUpiQ JO jqSiSAY S^OvO>£lVOlOvnvOT^^d--::l-co-^^cOTJ-T^-^oco^^ rorq M m 1-1 11 1-1 1-1 6 00000000000000000000000000000000 «; 00000000000000000000000000000000 XI "^ rooo ooOcoOOOOi-i>0-^>-iO\00"i'^'^ rt-vo O O O O »^ •— »-) Ol "^ M-VO c^ C^ t^O>0>x^CT* Ti-ri-o^ t-fOO ONONt^u^t*^^^ CI W »-t cocnt^c*lC^CNC^C^C^Cl^-^^-t^-^^-^^-^^-^^H^-l j5r^t~.t^t^r-.t^r^t^t^t^vo>£>vovD t^vDvo^ vnvr>vnTi--+-^'^Th'^Tt-«ot*ito«o o 1 < 00000000000000000000000000000000 mOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO J30 coOw->o '^t^O C c C-oo t^ t^ t^vo ■rJ-Tl-'<^cocot-( ►-* w i-i »-< Canvas for sails in bolts, f ths of a yd. broad and 28 yds. loag u^ vnoo t^ •4-00 covociciio 00 OOr>.cil^ot^-^OciMio>-" O O^ ^n \r> tvo r^Tt-'^roi-t n ci ct\ci ci O^ CT^ c^cc r^inu^u^-^row t-t t-i t-« i-i spi-eX pUB SJSBIU JO iqSiSjVV goOM i-<-<^Tl-ts,t^ MM>-ii-it^ONMwi-ii-icoi-it^i-imvni-ivo--'T}-Ti-o gOCinMl-lMOMl-ll-ll-ll-IMIHI-lMWl-l 1-1 sSbuuojl pUB UOX " vniyi vn TO CI T^ t-^io ooO O O OvOMi-i O OOvDi^cocOTh ^hkO li^ O -^ ci ci oo g vn vn ii vo ON a^ t^vD t1- ON o lO vo ^ irwD oovniH d O ^uil^f^i-ivDooi^vovn-^ -S CO ON O^oo VD vo l^vo vo u-ivrjvnu-iTt-vrjw^'^Tj-Tj--^cococi ci ci c» i-t uapjng "ThO ci 1-1 invriM c^co^ovoooco r^w On^O com -rhTj-ci onOnci ci O Onci ci O^ Eoous roa^vn>J-iCl roi-it~~i-( Tj-Thui-rh^hcO'^ co^OM^O >-< i-it-~cot^ir>-nJ-rhco iiiO «>■ r^vo ^-n \J^^ vn\i-i^Ti--^-^co^Throrotococi ci ci ci ci i-i w JJB 35lB^ X O , , O O 1 O O , ^ ^^ '-', \ ^. \ *^ '^. ". "^. OO. "^"^ '?o? 1 "^ "1 1 °° "^. *^ ". vOMZ)vo*Ovoiri in Tnvn-^vninm \nio vn-tj-vnTj- co-rJ-Thco cocicicici pjBA\. -JOJ 35IBH SJvor^vor--fOci 1 ci 1 di-iooi-(Oswcicoi-i>x>Chr^| corhThci 1 \ii\ncici»-i "^-rocorocococoi d-m\r>tr5ci xnvOTj-Tt-cj tocorod O t>.t^vovOvO tuBgg ooo or^J-^t-vnt-^ m\o cocomcioocicicioooo r^vo io>o*o tj-mvo ^^r^T^co ^co^cocococorocorocorocococicococorococicicicicicicicii-ii-ii-iwi-i 133^ JO qj3u3l t100 000>nvi-i>-oOvr)--t-OOmcicooO-4-t^ooooO-!j-mOOcoOOOO uO O i-i 1-1 O ONO ONOIOO ONCC OOOONO OOOt^COi-^OOVOVOVD^DOVOu^mvovn Elizabeth 125 In consequence of the existence of a formula, to be presently- noticed, for calculating tonnage, we have in the preceding table for the first time an attempt at exactness instead of the former round numbers. The keel and other measurements given can only be taken as approximate seeing that they differ in nearly every paper. And some of the other particulars, such as the number of anchors and cables, represent only a theoretical equipment ; the inventories show that vessels fre- quently carried more than the seven anchors and seven cables assigned to the large ones here. On the other hand the strength of the crews rarely reached the proportions in the list, it may safely be said never, if a large fleet was prepared. The great Portuguese carrack, the Madre de Dios, captured in 1592 and regarded as the largest ship afloat, had a keel length of 100 feet, an extreme breath of 46 feet 10 inches, and an extreme length of 165 feet.i The keel length of the Rainbow being loofeet, her extreme length was I39feet 6 inches and she had only 32 feet of beam. Moreover the carrack would be hampered by tiers of cabins built up on her poop and forecastle ; a comparison of these proportions will help to ex- plain the better weatherly and sailing qualities of the English ships. If for further illustration we compare the Elizabeth Jonas carrying 55 heavy guns,^ with a 52 gun ship of 1832 we find that the ordnance of the latter weighed 125 tons 4 cwt. ; cables (iron and hempen), 56 tons I cwt. ; anchors I2 tons 10 cwt. 2 qrs. ; masts and yards 74 tons 5 cwt. ; and fixed and run- ning rigging 5 1 tons 9 cwt.^ This table also explains why galleys, never much in favour, were rapidly falling out of use. In 1588 the Bonavolia served for two months as a guardship in the river at a total cost of ;^I028,^ that is to say £^\A, a month. In 1589 there is an estimate, in the handwriting of Hawkyns, for the same galley but 150 ' slaves ' are now allowed for, and * there may- be for every bank ^ a soldier with his piece if the service re- quire it.' He adds ' there is no dyett spoken of for the slaves for that we are not yett in the experyence.' ^ We cannot now tell whether Hawkyns had his early merchandise of negroes in his mind or whether ' slaves ' was the pleasant Elizabethan way of describing criminals and vagrants.'^ The reference how- ever, to ignorance in the matter of diet seems rather to imply- that negroes were in question. Doubtless the cost of free * Haklu)rt, Voyages, xi, 354, ed. 1885. ^ Infra p. 157. 'J. Edye. Calculations relating to the displacement of ships of war ^ Lond, 1832. * State Papers, Dom. ccix, 85. * Rowing seat. ^ State Papers, Dom., ccxxix, 77- ^By 39 EHz. c. 4. (1597-8) 'dangerous rogues' were to be sent to the galleys, but it is the only statute so directing and does not seem to have been acted on (Tximer, History of Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 129). Nor am I aware of any allu- sion to an English galley service in the literature of the time. 126 The Administration of the Royal Navy- oarsmen had been found to be too great. It will be observed that a large cruiser like the Dreadnought could be kept at sea throughout the year at a charge of ;^303 a month while the almost useless galley, only doubtfully available in summer, cost very much more. The galley service was only possible among the Mediterranean states, and then only when, like Venice, they bought surplus human stock by the thousand from the Emperor. The four galleys of l6oi -2 were never once engaged in active service, and were probably only used for purposes for which steam tugs are now employed ; perhaps also in pageants, men from the royal ships or ordinary watermen being put in them for the particular service. Types of Ships. The lines of ships had begun to vary according to the purpose for which they were designed. There had formerly been no difference between merchantmen and men-of-war except that the latter were perhaps more strongly built. But a paper by William Borough, Comptroller of the Navy, now describes three orders : — ^ •r Tv,^ ci,^..*-«o<- V,.. j^^*. A { To have the length by the keel 1. Ihe shortest, broadest, and J j^, . , ^v , ^-u -a -J- j *u deepest order 1 double the breath amidships and the ^ ■ ( depth in hold half that breadth. This order is used in some merchant ships for most profit. 2. The mean and best proportion f Length of keel two or two and a for shipping for merchandise, like- \ quarter that of beam. Depth of hold wise very serviceable for all pur- ( eleven-twentyfourths that of beam. poses. 3. The largest order for galleons ( Length of keel three times the or ships for the wars made for the -j beam. most advantage of sailing. I Depth of hold two-fifths of beam. If the figures in the preceding table are trustworthy it will be seen that the keel length is very seldom three times the breadth although the later ships show a drift towards that proportion. The short keel, not sufficiently supported in a head sea must have made the vessel pitch tremendously, and one object of the beakhead and great forward rake was to shatter the seas and prevent them breaking on board. Pro- bably these ships were but little worse sailers than the ordinary merchantmen of the beginning of this century, at least before the wind. They could not sail on the wind within at least eight points ; fore and aft sails were not yet known, and the top-hamper of lofty sides and built up poop and forecastle levered the vessel off to leeward. Improvements Many improvements however were introduced. A method and Inventions. ^|-g^j.jj^jj^g topmasts, 'a wonderful ease to great ships,' and a system of sheathing by double planks, having a layer of tar and hair between them, were two of the most important. Both ' State Papers^ Dom,^ ccxiiii, IIO, Elizabeth 127 were due to Hawkyns, and the. sheathing process remained in use for more than a century after his death. The finest Elizabethan men-of-war, the fastest sailers and best seaboats then afloat were built frorh his plans ; and from the time of his appointment as Treasurer of the Navy dates the change to the relatively low and long type that made the English ships so much more handy than their Spanish antagonists. On Ralegh's testimony the chain pump, the use of the cap- stan for weighing the anchor, bonnets and drablers, sprit, studding, top, and top-gallant sails were all new.^ Ralegh is usually accepted as an authority, but some of these statements are surprisingly inaccurate, considering that he was a ship- owner, and had himself been to sea. The bonnet, which laced on to the foot of the ordinary sail, was in use at least as early as the fourteenth century : the drabler laced on to the bonnet, and if the name was new the thing itself was doubtless old. Top, top-gallant, and sprit sails, can be traced back to the close of the preceding century, and there is no reference to studding sails in the inventories. In view also of the ' main,' 'forecastle,' and 'lift' capstans found on a ship like the Sovereign in 1496 it seems incredible that they should not have been earlier applied to weighing the anchor. The chain pump was brought into use by Hawkyns ; a patent log was invented by Humphrey Cole but it does not appear to have superseded the ordinary log line. The lower ports were now some four feet above the water line, and there was a tendency to decrease the deck superstructures. Ralegh is emphatic in his disapproval of deck cabins : ' they are but sluttish dens that breed sickness in peace, serving to cover stealths, and in fight are dangerous to tear men with their splinters.' Nevertheless others thought differently, and in view of the large crew of a man-of-war and crowded narrow quarters some deck accommodation was perhaps absolutely essential. Both poop and forecastle were barricaded and the bulkheads pierced for arrow and musketry fire. In ships ' built loftie ' there was a second, and perhaps even a third tier over the poop and forecastle of similarly defended cabins. The waist was partly open on the upper deck, while on the lower deck were again loop-holed bulkheads running trans- versely, so that if a ship were boarded her assailants found themselves exposed to a galling cross-fire from the defenders. Gravel ballast only was used and for such crank vessels a large quantity was necessary. It was seldom changed and becoming soaked with bilgewater, drainings from beer casks, and the general waste of a ship, was a source of injury to the vessel and of danger to the health of the men. The ' cook- 1 Works, II, 78, ed. 175 1. 128 The Administration of the Royal Navy room,' a solid structure of bricks and mortar, was built in the hold on this ballast, and in that position, besides making the ship hot and spoiling the stores, was a frequent cause of fire. Moreover ballast and cook-room being practically immovable nothing could be known of the condition of the timber and ironwork below. Sir William Wynter advocated, in 1578, the use of stone ballast and the removal of the cooking galley to the forecastle, but neither proposal was generally adopted.^ In the squadron commanded by Hawkyns and Frobisher in 1590 the Mary Rose, however, Hawkyns' flagship, had her cook-room especially removed from the hold to the forecastle, ' as well for the better stowinge of her victualles as also for better preserving her whole companie in health during that voyadge beinge bounde to the southwardes.' We may there- fore take it that the opinion of Hawkyns coincided with that of Wynter on this point. But the alteration in the Mary Rose was an isolated occurrence, and even as late as the beginning of the eighteenth century the galley was still sometimes in the hold. The large amount of space occupied by the ballast, cables, ammunition, and other necessaries left but little room for other things, and a ship had only provisions on board for three or four weeks, although theoretically she was expected to carry more. The presence of a fleet of transports was therefore necessary with all naval expeditions. The attention given to maritime matters bore fruit in other inventions, many of them far in advance of their time. Centre board boats, paddle wheels, a diving dress, and fireships, were all recommended and perhaps used." Gawen Smith proposed to erect a beacon and refuge, capable of holding twenty or thirty persons, on the Goodwin sands such as was actually tried, unsuccessfully, in the first half of this century.^ cost and Con- There is no detailed statement of the whole cost of a ship StrUCtlOn of it»t imi ^ 1 sMps. complete. Most were built by contract, and payment to the master shipwright responsible appears to be only for the hull, masts and spars. For an early vessel, probably the Trmmph, there is a fuller account^ and here the total is ^3788, of which the timber cost £1200, spars and ironwork £yoo, and wages i^i888 ; this does not include sails, fittings, etc. Building by contract seems to have commenced with the accession to ofiice of Hawkyns in 1578. The Lion was rebuilt in this manner in 1582 for £1^0, the Nonpareil for ;^i6oo, the Hope ' brought into the fourme of a galease ' ;^25o,* and the « Cecil MSS. Cal. ii, 222. * W. 'BoMme, Inventions or Devises, Lond. 1578. Bourne's book was possibly the origin of the fireships used at Calais in 158S ; it must have been well known to the leading seamen of the fleet. 3 State Papers, Do7n., cxivi, 97. * Cecil MSS. Cal. No. 846. * The Elizabethans called any ship comparatively low in the water a galleass, or said that she was built 'galleas fashion,' irrespective of oars. Elizabeth 1 29 Cygnet^ and Greyhound \yaA\ for ;!f93, i8s id and £66, 13s 4d each.i The Victory was * altered into the forme of a galleon ' for ;!^5C)0, and the Vanguard and Rainbow built for £2600, apiece.2 The Merhonour, Garland^ and Defiance, cost ;^5, 2s, £^, 19s 5d, and ;^6, 7s 4d a ton,^ and the price was based on the net tonnage. These rates do not however correspond with the amounts in the naval accounts which are ^3600 for the Merhonour, ^^3200 for the Garland, and ;^3000 for the Defiance. The earliest details we have of construction are in con- nection with these three vessels. A committee consisting of Howard, Drake, Hawkyns, Wynter, Borough, Ed. Fenton, Rich. Chapman, and Mathew and Christopher Baker,settled the plans.^ The three were very similar, and it was decided that the one to be built by Peter Pett (the Defiance) should have a keel length of 92 feet, a beam of 32 feet, and be 15 feet deep ' under the beame of the maine overloppe.' Eight feet above the keel ten beams were to be placed on which ' to lay a false overloppe so far as neede shall require,' and under the ten beams ten riders were to be set ; the riders at the footwales were to have two ' sleepers on every side fore and afte,' and pillars to be sufficiently bolted to them. The pillars sup- porting the lower deck had been newly adopted,^ and as riders were put into the White Bear twenty years after she was built they also were possibly a recent improvement. The main, or lower deck, of the Defiance was to have twelve beams, with side knees and standards, every knee having four bolts and the deck itself was of three-inch plank. The upper deck was of two-and-a-half inch plank, but three inches in the waist ; on this deck were the poop and forecastle. From the keel to the second wale four-inch plank was to be used, thence to the 'quickside or waist,' three-inch, and above that two- inch 'rabbated to the rallies to be inbowed to goe to the shippes side.' On the orlop deck there were to be cabins for the boatswain, surgeon, gunner, and carpenter ; the ship's company were berthed on the main deck. The Merhonour, and Garland, differed only in details, therefore these vessels, one of which was the third largest in the Royal Navy, were not even two-deckers in the modern sense. Three-deckers were unknown in the English service and, beyond the existence of a print, diagrammatic in character, in the British Museum, which is said, on insufficient authority, to represent the Ark Royal, there is no ground for supposing that two-deckers were in use. The Warspite, of 648 tons, had possibly only one ordnance deck but certainly 1 Pipe Office Accounts, 2218, 2220, and 2221. "^ Ibid., 2223. ^ State Papers, Dom. cclxxvi, 57. ■• Ibid., ccxxiii, 45. * Ralegh, Invention of Ships. 130 The Administration of the Royal Navy not more than one-and-a-half; 'having an overloppe and deck before and after, and a half deck abaft the main mast' ^ She was ' planked between the two lower walles and from the lower walle down to the keele with four-inch plank, and from the second walle upwards to the cheyne walle with three-inch plank, and from the cheyne walles to the railes upwards on the waste with two-inch plank.' The Warspite was one of the few shipbuilding failures of the reign. In 1598, although a nearly new ship, she cost £712 for repairs and further sums were spent on her in the succeeding years. The illustration of an Elizabethan man-of-war, reproduced from a drawing in a Bodleian MS., shows some marked differ- ences from the Tiger of Henry VIII. She is probably a vessel of the earlier portion of the reign ; perhaps the Bull or Tiger of 1570. So far as the hull is concerned, there is distinct retrogression in that the keel is relatively shorter to the extreme length, and that the poop is built up to a dis- proportionate and unseaworthy extent. This last may be explained by the fact that the earlier Tiger was not expected to be called upon to serve outside the four seas, while the later ship had a wider cruising scope. The extended field of service called for larger crews, and as the orlop deck was not intro- duced till late in the reign, the increased accommodation necessary was obtained by the provision of more deck struc- tures. In the matter of heavier masts and spars, possibly finer under water lines, larger sail area, and the multiplica- tion of appliances for more rapid handling, there was an un- doubted advance on the earlier ship. Decoration of Philip's ambassador told him in 1569 that 'they expect to Ships. be able to repel any attack by means of their fleet,' and this confidence found natural expression in an inclination to decorate and adorn the weapons on which they relied. At any rate we now find specific payments for these purposes made with a frequency new in naval history. The ' carving of personages in timber,' and painting and colouring of ships in 1563 cost £\2i, 13s 8d and 'painting and colouring red the great new ship called the White Bear ' ^ ;i^2o. Three ' great personages in wood for the garnishing and setting forth ' of the same vessel were £1, 15s each. The upper works of the Bonaventure were painted black and white,^ and the Lion in ' timber colour ; ' as the White Bear was red, and the Revenge and Scout, green and white there was evidently no ^ Pipe Office Accounts, 2232. The distinction between overlop and deck is not always clear. Sometimes overlop appears to mean a deck, running the whole length of the ship, as distinguished from a forecastle or poop deck, and at other times a slight lower deck not intended to carry guns. This last became its ultimate meaning, and it is used in this sense in relation to the Defiance and Warspite. 2 Pipe Office Accounts, 2200. ^ Ibid., 2204. Elizabeth 131 regulation colour. The Bonaventure had a dragon on her beakhead, the royal arms on her stern, and two lions and two dragons in gilt and paint on her galleries. The Foresight carried the Queen's arms, a rose and d^fleur delis, on her stern, and in 1579 £2, 13s 4d was paid for carving a Saturn and a Salamander for the Swallow. Figure heads were usual. The Nonpareil, Adventure, Dreadnought and Hope, had a dragon ; the Charles, Defiance, Rainbow, Repulse and Garland a lion ; the Mary Rose, a unicorn, and the Swiftsure a tiger. When the White Bear was rebuilt the carvings included, * an image of Jupiter sitting uppon an eagle with the cloudes, before the heade of the shippe xi'i ; twoe sidebordes for the heade with compartments and badges and fruitages xH ; the traynebord ' with compartments and badges of both sides vii'i ; xvi brackets going round about the heade at xiis the pece ; xxxviii peces of spoyle or artillarie round about the shippe at xivs the pece ; the greate pece of Neptune and the Nymphes about him for the uprighte of the sterne vi^i xs.' ^ The whole cost of carving was here £172, and of painting and gilding ;^205, los, but these appear to have been excep- tional amounts. Painting the Bonaventure cost £2^^, 6s 8d, the Dreadnought ;^20, the Vanguard £^0, and the Merhonour £^0, and these sums more nearly represented the ordinary expenditure. On the Elizabeth however ;^i8o was spent in 1598 for 'newe payntinge and guildinge with fine gold her beake heade on both sides with Her Maiesties whole armes and supporters, for payntinge the forecastle, the cubbridge heades ^ on the wast, the outsides from stemme to Sterne, for like payntinge and newe guildinge of both the galleries with Her Maiesties armes and supporters on both sides, the sterne newe paynted with divers devices and beastes guilte with fine gold ; for newe payntinge the captens cabbon, the somer decke * as well overhead as on the sides, the barbycan, the dyninge roome and the studdie.' ^ The Rainbow's lion figure head was gilt and on her sides were ' planets, rainbows, and clouds ' with the royal arms on the upper, middle, and lower counter, but the whole charge was only ;^58, 6s. Cabins were painted and upholstered in the favourite Tudor colour of green and * Her Maiesties badge ' was painted in green and red. The White Bear and the Elizabeth are the only two instances in which comparatively large sums are found to be spent in ornament, and it does not appear that there was as yet more than a bent towards general embellishment. The smaller vessels are never men- tioned in this connexion. The opinion of a contemporary was that, both for work and appearance, ^ Trailboard, a carved board reaching from the stem to the figure head. 2 Pipe Office Accounts, 2238. * Bulkheads. *Poop. * Pipe Office Accounts, 2236. Tonnage Measurement. 132 The Administration of the Royal Navy 'our navy is such as wanteth neither goodly, great, nor beautiful ships who of mould are so clean made beneath, of proportion so fine above, of sail so swift, the ports, fights, coines, in them so well devised, with the ordnance so well placed, that none of any other region may seem com- parable unto them.' ^ The new method of building by contract, and the large number of merchantmen upon which the bounty was now paid, necessitated a more exact measurement of tonnage than had hitherto obtained. In 1582 a rule was devised which re- mained in use for nearly half a century and was said to have been due to Mathew Baker, son of the James Baker shipwright to Henry VIII, and himself one of the principal government shipwrights. The writer says : 2 ' By the proportion of breadth, depth, and length of any ship to judge what burden she may be of in merchant's goods and how much of dead weight of ton and tonnage. The Ascc7ision of London being in breadth 24 feet, depth 12 feet from that breadth to the hold, and by the keel 54 feet in length doth carry in burden of merchant's goods (in pipes of oil or Bor- deaux wine) 160 tons, but to accompt her in dead weight, or her ton and tonnage may be added one third part of the same burden which maketh her tonnage 213-3-. After the same rate these proportions follow : Breadth at Depth Burden in Dead midship from her Keel cask of oil weight A Ship of beam breadth or wine tonnage 20 ft. 10 ft. 42 ft. 861 115 A Ship of 21 „ lOl „ 45 „ 102-^ 1 36 J Prudence of London 24 „ 12 „ 5U„ iSo| 202§ Golden Lion 32 „ i2ori4„ 102 „ 403 or 461 537 or 6i4§ Elizabeth Jonas ^ 40 n 18 „ 100 ,, 740 986f To find the burden of any ship proportionately to the Ascensioii before specified multiply the breadth of her by her depth, and the product by her length at the keel, the amounting sum you shall use as your divisor. If 15^552, the solid cubical number for the Ascensto7i do give 160 tons, her just burthen, what shall 8400, the solid number of a ship 20 feet broad, 10 feet deep, and 42 feet keel. Work and you shall find 86|t tons of burden while if you add one-third you shall find your tonnage 114 almost.' This formula made theory square with fact since the result corresponded with the tuns of Bordeaux wine experience had shown a ship to be able to carry. But strictly, ' burden ' and * ton and tonnage,' as used here do not correspond with our net and gross tonnage, since burden is used in connexion with lighter material occupying more space than a heavy cargo, such as coal, that would be represented by ton and tonnage. The Spanish system of measurement in 1 590 was to multiply half the breadth by depth of hold and the result by the length ^ Add, MSS., 20,043. Treatise concerning the Navy of England, f. 6. By James Montgomery, * State Papers^ Domestic^ clii, 19. ^ Compare the measurements of the two men-of-war, as given here, with those on p. 124. Elizabeth 133 lis 5% was deducted for the entry and run, divided by eight, gave the net tonnage ; over all.i From thi and the remainder 20% was added to obtain the gross tonnage. ^ As early as 1561 the Venetian Resident considered ""^^^ teamen. England superior to its neighbours in naval strength,^ but he may not have included Spain among the neighbours. The Spaniards officially in England kept Philip fully ac- quainted with the character and equipment of the fleet. He was always apprised of any preparations, and in such detail that we find him told on one occasion that twelve or fourteen ships were of from 400 to 700 tons 'with little top-hamper and very light, which is a great advantage for close quarters, and with much artillery, the heavy pieces being close to the water.'* Eight years earlier his ambassador, De Silva, recommended him to have ships built in England instead of continuing the chartering system in vogue in Spain as ' certainly the ships built here are very sound and good.'^ These intimations probably did not stand alone, but neither then nor later did they lead to any change in the type affected in the Peninsula. English seamen did not favourably impress the Spaniards. One of Philip's correspondents, in writing to him that four men-of-war had been prepared for sea, added, 'the men in them are poor creatures.' ^ Six months later he was informed that although Elizabeth possessed twenty-two large ships she had only been able to fit eleven for sea, and would find it impossible to equip more, and that ' the men on the fleet although they appear bellicose are really pampered and effeminate different from what they used to be.''' The estimate appears the more extraordinary because English seamen were at this time giving daily proof, at the expense of Spanish and other commerce, of the wild energy animating them. As late as 1586, Mendoza wrote that four ships were in commission and others in preparation, but of these latter, only four were seaworthy, ' all the rest being old and rotten.'^ If Philip was continuously misinformed as to the number of ships available, the difficulties in furnishing them, and the fighting value of the men, it may help to explain the confidence he showed later. As a matter of fact, there are very few complaints throughout the reign about embarrassments due to want 1 ' Esloria,' i.e., the keel length added to the fore and aft rakes. ^Duro, Dis. Nauticas, Lib. V, p. 152. If this is tried with the above ships the feet must first be reduced to cubits ; it will be found that the Spanish method makes the tonnage much heavier, the Elizabeth is 996 net and 1196 gross. ^ State Papers., Venetian., Surian's Report. - * Calendar of Letters and Papers relating to English affairs at Simancas., 1 0th May 1574. 5 Ibid.., 3rd Aug. 1566. « Ibid., 8th Jan. 1569. ^ Ibid.., 1st June 1569. « Ibid., 30th March 1586. 134 The Administration of the Royal Navy of crews. The semi- piratical expeditions preferred by the government were better liked than would have been a more regular warfare that would have meant harder fighting and fewer chances of plunder. Hatred of Spain and Popery, con- joined with the hoped for pillage of Spanish galleons, formed an inducement that never failed to bring a sufficient number of men together, notwithstanding that, as privateering specu- lations, most of the voyages were, pecuniarily, failures, although they served their purpose in destroying Spanish commerce and credit. The proportion of men on board a man-of-war was three to every five tons, of gross tonnage ; one-third being soldiers, one-seventh of the remainder, gunners ; and the rest seamen. In merchantmen the ratio was one man to every five tons of net tonnage, one-twelfth being gunners and the rest seamen.^ But in practice the strength of a crew de- pended on the number of men required and the success of the impress authorities. Payand°'°'''~ Until 1 585 the wages remained at 6s 8d a month, to which Rewards. jt had been raised in 1546 or very shortly afterwards. In 1585, the sailor's pay was raised to ten shillings a month, through the action of Hawkyns. There must have been some dissatisfaction with the quality of the men hitherto serving, and the breach with Spain doubtless made an improvement necessary. Hawkyns coated the pill for Elizabeth by assuring her that fewer men would be required, of the standard to be attracted by the higher rate, and, ' by this meane her Maiesties shippes wolde be ffurnyshed with able men suche as can make shyfte for themselves, kepe themselves clene withoute vermyne and noysomeness which bredeth sycknes and mor- talletye.'2 Moreover, ships could then carry more stores and continue longer at sea. Hawkyns was one of the few com- manders of his age who recognised a claim to consideration in his inferiors, and made some attempt to secure their health and comfort. In 1589 he took care to have his stores 'of an extraordinary price and goodnes to keep men in health ' ; in 1595 he took out clothes for his men and a new kind of ' lading victuells, a kind of victuells for sea service devised by Mr Hughe Platte.'^ Hammocks were introduced in 1597, when a warrant authorises payment for 300 bolts of canvas * to make hanging cabones or beddes ... for the better pre- servation of their health.'^ In 1590, a suggestion, which did not, however, take practical shape till long afterwards, was made for the benefit of the merchant sailor. John Allington, a draper of London, proposed the creation of a special office • State Papers^ Dom.^ clii, 19. The Spaniards allowed one seaman to every five tons of net tonnage. "^ Ibid.y clxxxv, 33, ii. ^ Pipe Office Accounts, 2233. ■• State Papers, Dom., cclviii, f. 10. Elizabeth 135 for the registration of contracts between merchants, owners, and masters of ships. This would have led to something equivalent to the present ' signing on ' enforced by the Board of Trade, and would have regulated the position of the seamen and simplified the enforcements of his rights, too often sacri- ficed to an unscrupulous use of legal forms.' ^ Allington, like most of the projectors and schemers of his day, was no phil- anthropist. He offered to pay ^^"40 a year for permission to establish such an office, and apparently expected to obtain five shillings apiece from 500 or 600 ships a year. No especial provision was made on board men-of-war for the sick or wounded sailor ; if the .ship went into action he was placed in the cable tier or laid upon the ballast as being the safest places. If he survived the medical science of his time, and was landed disabled, he was supposed to be passed to his own parish. Sometimes he was permitted to beg. A printed licence from Howard, as Lord Admiral, under date 1590, still exists empowering William Browne, maimed in 1588, to beg for a year in all churches.^ By 35 c 4 and 39 c. 21 of Elizabeth relief was afforded to hurt men ; these were both repealed by 43 c. 3 which enacted that parishes were to be charged with a weekly sum of not less than twopence or more than tenpence to provide help, the pension however in no case to exceed ten pounds for a sailor or twenty pounds for an officer. Gratuities were sometimes given. In 1593 Hawkyns was ordered to pay two shillings a week, for twenty weeks, to 29 injured men, and William Storey, having lost a leg, received £1, 13s 4d, ap- parently in settlement of all claims.^ Such gifts, in view of the number we can still trace, were probably more frequent than would be expected from the character of Elizabeth. In 1587 a month's extra pay was awarded to the crews of three pinnaces for their good service in capturing Spanish prizes. For 1588 £$> was divided among 100 men who manned the fireships sent into Calais Roads, ;^8o, among the wounded of the fleet generally, and £7 to sick men in the Elizabeth.^ In 1591 six months' pay was given to the widows of the men killed in the Revenge^ and in 1594 there is a gift of ;^6i, 19s 6d to Fielen Armourer, widow of John Armourer of Newcastle, ' in consideration of his good and faithful services,' although the name is quite strange in naval affairs.^ Merchant seamen were also remembered in these benefactions. On one occasion forty marks were paid to five men ' having been lately lamentably afflicted in Naples by pryson and other punyshments by thinquisition of Spayne as we are informed and by secret escape savid their lyves.' ^ 1 Lands. MSS., i66, f. 198, 2 j^^^^ 1^4^ 53. 3 jn^., 73, f. 161. * Pipe Office Accounts^ 2225. * Ibid.^ 2228 and 2231. ^Exch. War. for Issues, 25th Jan. 1579. 136 The Administration of the Royal Navy On another 'in consideration of the valiantnes done in Turkey by our welbeloved subiecte John Ffoxe of Woodbridge in our county of Suffolk, gunner by whose meanes 266 Christians were released out of miserable captivity/ an assuredly nobly earned pension of one shilling a day was conferred upon him.^ When it cost the Queen nothing directly she was sometimes still more liberal. To Robert Miller, a master mariner, ;^200, was allowed out of forfeited goods in consideration of his services and losses at sea ; George Harrison received iJ^Soo, in the same way and for the same reasons. Sometimes seamen's wives, whose husbands were prisoners in Spain, petitioned the Council for help. In one instance the merchants owning the ships were ordered to assist the women ; in another their landlords were directed not to press them for rent. We can know little of the internal economy of a merchant- man in those days. The vessels were relatively as crowded, and probably as unhealthy, as men-of-war ; the victualling was of the same, and at times even worse quality, seeing that the owners of merchant vessels were expected to buy govern- ment provisions if the victualling department found itself overstocked. In 1596 there is a letter directing the Lord Mayor to forbid the city butchers to sell meat to ships until the government stores of salt beef were sold out. This is followed by an order from the Council to the Serjeant of the Admiralty not to allow any outward bound trader to pass down the river unless a certificate of such purchase was pro- duced.2 We have no means of "estimating the mortality from disease on board merchant ships, but we know that in men- of-war it was very great. ' In the late Queen's time many thousands did miscarry by the corruption as well of drink as of meat,' says a seventeenth century writer ; ^ and Sir Richard Hawkyns thought that, in twenty years, 10,000 men died from scorbutic affections. The length of the voyages now under- taken rendered larger crews necessary ; the accommodation was narrow and ill-ventilated, the requirements of sanitation unknown, and the food was usually scanty and bad, so that the sailor was placed under conditions that made him fall an easy victim to disease. In Drake's voyage of 1585-6 out of 2300 men nearly 600 died from disease. In the expedition of 1589, out of 12,000 men employed, nearly one-half perished, mainly from sickness and want of food, and every enterprise, small or great, suffered more or less largely in the same way. Usually the hope of plunder sustained the men through all ' Ibid., 28th Jan. 1 580. The story is told in full in Hakluyt, Voyages^ xi, 9, et seq. (ed. 1885). 2 State Papers, Dom. ccxxxvii, ff. 169, 1 70, ' State Papers, Dom.Jas. /, xli, p. 119. Elizabeth 137 such trials, and there is only one serious case of the mutiny of a crew because of 'the weakness and feebleness they were fallen into through the spare and bad diet' But in this instance sympathy with their captain may have had much to do with their action.^ The pages of Hakluyt relate much of the suffering endured by our seamen abroad from disease and privation, but there is one historic illustration at home of the miseries borne by the men and the callousness or scanty resources of the authorities. On loth August 1 588 Howard wrote to Burghley : ' Sicknes and mortallitie begin wonderfuUie to growe amongste us . . . the Elizabeth, which hath don as well as eaver anie ship did in anie service, hath had a great infectione in her from the beginning soe as of the 500 men which she carried out, by the time she had bin in Plymouth three weeks or a month there were ded of them 200 and above, soe as I was driven to set all the rest of her men ashore, to take out the ballast and to make fires in her of wet broom 3 or 4 dales together, and so hoped there- bie to have cleansed her of her infectione, and thereuppon got newe men, verie tall and hable as eaver I saw and put them into her ; nowe the in- fectione is broken out in greater extremitie than eaver it did before, and they die and sicken faster than ever they did, soe as I am driven of force to send her to Chatham . . . Sir Roger Townsend of all the men he brought out with him hath but one left alive ... it is like enough that the like infectione will growe throughout the most part of the fleet, for they have bin soe long at sea and have so little shift of apparell . . . and no money wherewith to buy it.' On the 22nd August he writes to the Queen that the infec- tion is bad, that men sicken one day and die the next but, in courtly phrase, that ' I doubt not that with good care and God's goodnes which doth ever bles your Maiestie it wyll quenche againe.' But on the same day he tells the Council more plainly, ' the most part of the fleet is grievouslie infected and die dailie . . . and the ships themselves be so infectious and so corrupted as it is thought to be a verie plague . . . manie of the ships have hardly men enough to waie their anchors. '2 And as illustrating the infection and its probable cause comes a complaint from him to Walsingham that, although the beer in the fleet has been condemned as unfit for use, it is still served out to the men, and ' nothing doth displease the sea- men more than sour beer.' This sickness is usually said to have been the plague or typhus. But Howard and his captains, who had lived to middle age in a country where the plague was endemic and who must have known its symptons well, obviously thought ' the infectione ' something different. In the passage quoted above he compares it to the plague and in another letter he writes, ' The mariners who have a conceit (and I think it true and so do all the captains here) that sour drink hath been a ' See Appendix B. * State Papers^ Dom. Eliz,, ccxv, 41. 138 The Administration of the Royal Navy great cause of this infection amongst us.' ^ The plague was familiar to them all but this was something they could not easily name. The same arguments apply, although perhaps not so closely, against typhus which in its general form and symptoms was familiar under various names to sixteenth century observers. But 1588 was not a particularly unhealthy year on land and there is no record of any sudden outbreak of epidemic disease either before or after that occurring on the fleet. Moreover though typhus occasionally kills within a few hours it has never been known to kill numbers in the rapid fashion suggested by Howard. It is probable that the com- plaint was an acute enteritis, caused by the beer, acting on frames enfeebled by bad and insufficient food, and still further weakened by the scorbutic taint to which all classes, but especially seamen, were subject in the middle ages. On the whole the position of the sailor was now steadily deteriorating. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries his pay had been relatively very high, and as he was only called upon to serve round the coasts, or, at furthest, to Bordeaux or the Baltic, his health was not affected by conditions to which he was only exposed for a short time. But towards the end of the sixteenth century the wages, in consequence of the general rise in price, were relatively less than they had been, and less than those of the artisan classes on shore. In an epoch when the increase in the number of distant voyages set his services in commercial demand he was required to serve in the royal fleets for longer periods than had been before known. He was exposed to "a merciless system of impressment, cheap for the State because he had to indirectly bear the cost. And the length of the cruises, their extension into tropical climates, and the character of the provisions, unsuited to the new conditions, made themselves felt in outbreaks of disease to which his ancestors, assembled chiefly for Channel work, had been strangers. Morally the general tone among the men cannot have been high if we may judge them from a phrase used by the officials sent down to examine into the plunder of the Madre de Dios in 1592, ' we hold it loste labor and offence to God to minister oathes unto the generallitie of them.' 2 seatoen'8 jt ^^\[\ have been noticed that in his letter of loth August vlOtnlllg. - 1*11 Howard says that the men have no money wherewith to buy clothes ; in another he suggests that a thousand marks' worth of apparel should be sent down. But the custom of providing crews with coats or jackets at the expense of the crown had quite ceased, and even if necessaries were supplied to the men they had to pay for them. The supply was usually a private ^ State Papers Dom., 2b'Ca. h.\x%. \^%%. Howard to Walsjmgham. 2 Lansd. MSS., 70, f. 183. Elizabeth 139 speculation on the part of some Admiralty official. In 1586 Roger Langford, afterwards paymaster of the Navy furnished men with canvas caps, shirts, shoes, etc., a piece of business by which he lost ^^140. In 1580 the government sent over clothes for the men on the Irish station, the cost of which was to be deducted from their wages. The articles included, ' canvas for breches and dublettes ' — ' coutten for lyninges, and petticoates,' stockings, caps, shoes, and shirts.^ Hawkyns with the forethought always characterising his action as an admiral, took out with him in 1595 'calico for 200 suits of apparel,' 400 shirts, woollen and worsted hose, linen breeches and Monmouth caps.^ There is a sketch in a contemporary treatise on navigation of a seaman, apparently an officer. He wears a Monmouth, or small Tam o' Shanter, cap, a small ruff round the neck, a close-fitting vest, and long bell- mouthed trousers.^ In 1602 there is a payment in the Navy accounts of £S4> ^9^ 8d for clothing for Spanish prisoners. Canvas shirts, cotton waistcoats, caps, hose, and ' rugge ' for gowns were provided and the articles were doubtless of the same kind and quality as those M^orn by the men. During the earlier years of her reign the Queen, like her Royal SMps predecessors, frequently allowed her ships to be hired for trading voyages. In 1561 the Minion, Primrose, Brigandine and Fleur de Lys, were delivered to Sir William Chester and others for a voyage to Africa. In this case Elizabeth shared the risk. For her ships, and for provisions to the value of ;:^500, she was to receive one-third of the profits. The hirers undertook to ship at least ^5000 of goods, pay wages and all other expenses, and each enter into a bond of 1000 marks to carry out the conditions.* In 1563 the Jesus of Lubeck 'wa.s lent to Dudley and others, to trade to Guinea and the West Indies, for which they paid ^^500.^ She was then, after having been in the Royal Navy nearly twenty years, valued at ^^2000 for which amounts the hirers had to give their bonds. She returned in 1565, was at Padstow in October, and 'cannot be brought to Gillingham till spring of next year.' The adventurers could not have procured a 600 ton vessel, for two years, for ^500 from any owner but the State. And as she had to remain at Padstow during the whole winter it may be inferred that she returned in a very unseaworthy condition, for Elizabethan seamanship was certainly equal to taking a ship up Channel during the winter months. She was hired by Hawkyns in 1568 and was then the first of the only two men-of-war lost to Spain during the entire reign. When a convoy was furnished a full charge was levied for the 1 Acts of the Privy Council^ 14th Aug. 1580. 2 Pipe Office Accounts^ 2233. ^ Harl. MSS., 167, f. 39. * State Papers^ Dom. Eliz. xvii, 43, and xxvi, 43. ^ Ibid., xxxvii, 61. 140 The Administration of the Royal Navy- protection ; ;^558 was received in 1569 from the Merchant Adventurers' Company for men-of-war serving on this duty, and again ^^586 in 1570.^ As private owners built more and bigger ships the demand for men-of-war for trading voyages grew less, but the Queen often lent them for privateering ventures in which she was pecuniarily interested, assessing their estimated value as a portion of the money advanced by her and on which she would receive a dividend. Under these circumstances her representatives did not err on the side of moderation when valuing the ships thus temporarily lent. When Drake took the Bonaventure and the Aid'va 1585 they were appraised at ^10,000, an obviously extravagant esti- mate. Nominally Elizabeth advanced ;:^20,ooo, of which these two ships stood for half ; she got her ships back, ;^2000 for the use of them, and the same dividend on ;!^20,ooo as the other persons who had taken shares. Those others lost five shillings in the pound ; she must have made a profit, ^p^toe^t!"^ In consequence of the greater activity of the Royal Navy the victualling department experienced a corresponding en- largement. In 1560 the buildings at Tower Hill, formerly the Abbey of Grace, and granted in 1542 to Sir Arthur Darcy, were purchased from him for ;^I200, and ^^700 expended in repairing them.^ Other storehouses were hired at Ratclifif and St Katherines, the latter from Anthony Anthony, Surveyor of the Ordnance, who seems to have taken great interest in naval matters, and to whom we are indebted for the coloured draw- ings of ships previously referred to. For his storehouse he was paid ^16 a year ; another at Rochester cost ;^5, 6s 8d a year. By a patent of 24th December 1 560, William Holstock was joined with Baeshe as Surveyor of the Victuals ; this was surrendered and replaced by another of 30th October, 1563 in which John Elliott took Holstock's place. Neither Holstock nor Elliott had any actual position, the new patents only giving them the chance of succeeding Baeshe. An agreement with him of 13th April 1565, but which did not cancel the title and fees granted to him by his Letters Patent, instituted a considerable reform inasmuch as it did away with purveyance, or forced purchase, at rates fixed by the officers of the crown. Henceforth Baeshe was to be paid fourpence halfpenny a day for each man in harbour and fivepence a day at sea. For this he was to provide, per head, on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, i lb of biscuit and i gallon of beer, and 2 lbs of salt beef, and on the other three days, besides the biscuit and beer, a quarter of a stockfish,^ one-eighth of a pound of butter, and one quarter of a pound of cheese. Fourpence ^ Pipe Office Accounts^ 2205, 2206. "^ Ibid.^ 2358 and Exch. War. for Issues^ 15th Feb. 1560. 2 Dried fish. Elizabeth 141 a man per month at sea, and eightpence in harbour he was to allow for purser's necessaries, such as wood, candles, etc., and he was to pay the rent of all hired storehouses and the wages of his clerks. He undertook not to use the right of purvey- ance unless ordered to victual more than 2000 men suddenly, and agreed to always keep in hand one month's provisions for 1000 men. The agreement could be terminated by six months' notice on either side, and until it ceased the crown advanced him ^500 without interest to be repaid within six months of the cessation of his contract. He was given the use of all the crown buildings belonging to his department, subject to his keeping them in repair, and was permitted to export 1000 hides in peace time and as many as he should slaughter oxen dur- ing war.^ The weight of purveyance was felt chiefly in the home counties, and Elizabeth may have felt it good policy to. do away with a ceaseless source of popular irritation which was really of very little advantage to the crown. From this date payments were made to Baeshe direct from the Ex- chequer and no longer through the Navy Treasurer. Isolated payments relating to storehouses, of no general interest, recur in the accounts, but the growing importance of Chatham is shown by the removal, in 1 570, of buildings at Dover, and their re-erection at Rochester, at a cost of £t,^o. In 1569 an additional i^iooo was advanced to Baeshe with- out interest, and in 1573, the harbour rate was raised to five- pence halfpenny per man, and the sea rate to sixpence. All this assistance, for probably further sums were lent to him with- out interest, does not seem to have enabled him to carry on his work without loss. In 1576 he petitioned the Queen to be forgiven the first ;^500 advanced to him and to be permitted to pay off the balance at ;!^iooo a year. He based his claim to con- sideration on the fact that he had saved her 1000 marks a year by his contract and had acted without recourse to purveyance, * no small benefit to the hole realme.' He had lost ^^500 a year, for four years, by the embargo on trade with the Low Coun- tries, which prevented his exportation of hides, and ;^24o by the fire at Portsmouth. And — ' finally what my service hath bin from tyme to tyme as well to her most noble ffather, brother, and sister, as to her Maiestie I do referre the same to the report of my Lord Tresorer and my Lord Admirall and yet hitherto I never receyved from her Maiestie any reward for service but only her Maiesties gracious good countenance to my comfort.' * The petition does not appear to have obtained anything beyond a continuance of these unsubstantial favours, but Baeshe struggled on till 6th May 1586 when he gave six months' notice to determine his contract. He then antici- ^ Fipe Office Accounts, 2362. ^ State Papers, Dom. cix, 37 142 The Administration of the Royal Navy pated a loss of i^534 on victualling eight or ten ships, 'which I am not able to beare.'^ He must have been a very old man and anxiety perhaps hastened his death, which occurred in April 1587. In the interval, however, the rate had been raised, from ist November 1586 to 31st March 1587 to six- pence a day per man in harbour, and sixpence halfpenny at sea, and from 1st April 1587 to 31st October to sixpence half- penny in harbour and sevenpence at sea, * on account of the great dearth.' The Armada was already expected, but on 30th June 1587, when the stores were handed over to Baeshe's successor there were only 6020 pieces^ of beef, and 2300 stockfish in hand. By Letters Patent of 27th November 1582 James Quarles ' one of the officers of our household ' ^ had been granted survivorship to Baeshe, and he now took his place from 1st July 1587, at the same fees and allowances as had been originally given by the patent of i8th June 1550. The rate was maintained at sixpence halfpenny and sevenpence ' untill it shall please Almightie God to send such plentie as the heigh prises and rates of victuall shalbe diminished ' The quantity and quality of the food provided for the men in 1588 has long been a source of disgrace to Elizabeth and her ministers. An apology for them has been attempted on the ground that the mechanism at work was new and not cap- able of dealing with large numbers of men, and that the failure was mainly due to the suddenness of the demand. So far as the first statement is concerned it is sufficient to answer that the victualling branch had been organised for nearly forty years, and found no difficulty in arranging for 13,000 men in 1596, and 9200 men in 1597 after timely notice. The last reason may excuse the victualling department but will not relieve the statesman in responsible direction. The government had had long notice of the coming of the Armada, but even as late as March Burghley was occupied with niggling attempts at making 26 days' victuals last for 28 days.^ In 1565 Baeshe had undertaken to keep always one month's victuals for 1000 men in store, but in June 1587 there was not even so much. The point therefore is that if the ministry had thus early recognised the necessity for a reserve, and that two or three months were requisite for the collection and preparation of provisions for a large force, and if with the knowledge that such provisions were certain to be required, and in spite of the warnings of those best able to judge, they neglected the preparations and continued a supply which was merely from hand to mouth, they must be held guilty of the ' State Papers, Dom. clxxxix, 8. ^ 12,040 lbs. ' He was chief clerk of the kitchen, [Lansd. AfSS., 62, f. 132). * State Papers, Dom. ccix, 16. Elizabeth 143 sufferings inflicted on the men by their miserable policy. When the moment of trial came Quarles and his superiors did their best, but the accusation against the latter is that had they exercised the foresight supposed to be one of the qualifi- cations for their dignified posts no such sudden and almost ineffective efforts would have been necessary. The spirit in which they or the Queen dealt with the matter is shown by the necessity Howard was under of paying out of his own pocket for the extra comforts obtained for the dying seamen at Plymouth.^ How far Elizabeth was herself answerable is a moot point. There is no direct evidence that the delay in obtaining pro- visions was due to her orders. On the other hand we know that the postponements in equipping the ships, and the hesitat- ing action and inconsistent directions and suggestions that characterised the early months of 1588, were due to her, and there is a strong probability that much of the shame should rest with her rather than with ministers who perhaps had to carry out commands to which they had objected in Council. Moreover very few things, especially those involving expense, were done without the knowledge and approval of Elizabeth. It was a personal government and there is no reason to sup- pose that this particular branch was beyond her cognisance. With the fatality that has usually dogged English militant endeavour the fleet did not even obtain the benefit, at the right time, of the stores provided. Frequently victuallers were blundering about for weeks looking for it, while the admirals were sending up despairing entreaties for supplies. In April, Drake wrote to the Queen ' I have not in my lifetime known better men and possessed with gallanter minds than your Majesty's people are for the most part' Whether the cause was incompetence or a criminal parsimony their fate, after having saved their country, was to perish in misery, unheeded and unhelped except by the officers who had fought with them. In the conceit of Elizabeth and her like they were only ' the common sort' During the forty years that Baeshe had served the crown he had never been charged with dishonesty and he died poor. Quarles however had at once serious malpractices imputed to him as having occurred within his first year of oi^ce.^ His accuser, a subordinate, as usual offered, to do his work for 1000 marks a year less, and on examination of the charges it seems likely that some were untrue and that other defaults occurred in consequence of the orders given to him. From 1589 the rate again fell to fivepence-halfpennyand six- pence, in harbour and at sea; but for 1 590 and 1 591 Quarles was allowed ^^23 5 5, on account of the dearth still existing. He had ' State Papers^ Dom.^ ccxix, 23. - Ibid.^ ccxxvi, 8$, and ccxxxi, 80. 144 The Administration of the Royal Navy- petitioned that he had suffered a loss of ;^3i72, between April 1590 and April 1 591, being the difference between the rates paid to him and the cost per head of the victuals.^ He died in 1595 and was succeeded by Marmaduke Darell, his coad- jutor, ' clerk of our averie.'^ Till 1600 the rate remained the same although heavy extra allowances were made each year to Darell ; then it was raised to sixpence halfpenny and seven- pence. In this year £7'^2> was spent on repairs to Tower Hill where there were separate houses for beef, bacon, ling, etc., 'the great mansion being the officers lodgings.' The storehouses and brewhouses at Portsmouth, built by Henry Vni, still existed under the names originally given them and were repaired at a cost of £22,^^. One ton and a half of gross tonnage, or one of stowage, was allowed on board ship, for one month's provisions for four men, of which the beer occupied half, wood and water a quarter, and solid food the remainder of a ton.^ There is no reason to suppose that either Baeshe, Quarles, or Darell were either dishonest or incompetent. The terrible outbreaks of disease that occurred during nearly every long voyage were not con- fined to the English service and were the natural result of salt meat and fish, and beer that could not be prevented from turning sour. They could only do their best with the materials at command but which were not suitable to the larger field in which the services of English sailors were now required. The Adminis- Benjamin Gonson was Treasurer of the Navy when Elizabeth came to the throne and held the post until his death in 1577. The number of vessels added to the Navy during his term of office shows that he was not inactive, and he was certainly a competent public servant. John Hawkyns* was his son-in-law, and the relationship doubtless inspired Hawkyns with the hope of succeeding him, and perhaps enabled him to infuse some of his own spirit into the manage- ment of the Navy, while Gonson was still its official head. But mere relationship, although it had its influence would not alone have sufficed, had not Hawkyns already made his name as a seaman and as an able commander. In 1567 he re- ceived a grant of the reversion to the office of Clerk of the Ships, a post he could only have looked upon as a stepping- stone, and which he never took up. In 1577, when Gonson was ill, Hawkyns petitioned the Queen, probably, although it is not specifically^mentioned, for the reversion to his post, and ' State Papers Dotn., ccxxxix, 109. 2 _/?^/_ Pat, 8th Nov. 1595. ^ State Papers^ Dom. clii, 19. ^ Born in 1532 of a well-known Plymouth mercantile and seafaring family. He went to sea early, but his voyages of 1562-4-8, and the diplomatic difficulties to which they led with Spain, first brought him into prominence. He married Katherine Gonson about 1558. Elizabeth 145 drew up a long catalogue of unrecompensed services.^ Gon- son died in the course of a year, a landed proprietor in Essex, and a successful man, but he had told his son-in-law, when the latter was trying to obtain the reversion, that, ' I shall pluck a thorn out of my foot and put it into yours.' Hawkyns lived to realise the truth of the kindly warning. He commenced his duties from ist January 1577-8, acting under Letters Patent of i8th November 1577, by which he was granted the survivorship to Gonson. For seventeen years, during the most critical period of English history, he was, in real fact, solely responsible for the efficiency of the Navy, and he, more than any other man may be said to have 'organised victory ' for the English fleets. His duties included not only the superintendence of the work at the dockyards, but that of building, equipping, and repairing the ships, of keeping them safely moored and in good order, of the supply of good and sufficient stores, and apparently of every administrative detail except those connected with the ordnance, and of victualling and pressing the men. The technical improvements he him- self invented or introduced have already been noticed. In the administration he made others, which may or may not have been advantageous, but which touched the interests of subordinates, and which resulted in his having to stand alone and carry on his work impeded by the sullen enmity of his colleagues and his inferiors. Hawkyns owed his knighthood to Howard rather than the Queen; his reward after 1588 was to be allowed a year wherein to unravel his intricate accounts. In fact few of Elizabeth's officials escaped her left-handed graces. Baeshe died in poverty after forty years of honest service, and Hawkyns was continually struggling to clear himself from suspicions that were kept hanging over him, but from which he was given no proper opportunity to free himself Eliza- beth's favours and bounties were reserved for court gallants of smoother fibre than were these men. In 1594, shortly before his last unhappy voyage, Hawkyns founded a hospital at Chatham for ten poor mariners and shipwrights. He, with Drake, established the ' Chatham Chest,' for disabled seamen, and it should be remembered to his honour that, in an age when little care was bestowed on inferiors if they had ceased to be of any utility, he never relaxed his efforts until his craft had rescued from Spanish prisons the survivors of those under his command in 1 568 whom he had been compelled to leave ashore after escaping from San Juan de Ulloa. Charges of peculation against persons connected with maritime affairs were rife on all sides. The shipwrights * State Papers^ Dom., c.xi, 33. 146 The Administration of the Royal Navy quarrelled among themselves and with Hawkyns, and two of the former, Chapman and Pett, were moreover accused by out- siders of gross overcharges.^ Captains were said to dismiss pressed men for bribes, to retain wages, and keep back arms ; ^ pursers to steal provisions, to make false entries by which they obtained payments for money never advanced to the men, and to remain ashore while their ships were at sea.^ Pursers, cooks, and boatswains, bought their places : the cooks had the victuals in their care and recouped themselves at the expense of the seamen ; boatswains stripped a ship of movable fittings, on her return home, and stole rigging and cordage.^ According to the evidence of a witness, in the inquiry of 1608, these abuses, if they did not commence, took fresh and vigorous life after the death of Hawkyns. In 1587 he recognised the theft going on and his inability to completely suppress it ; ' I thincke it wolde be mete their weare a provost marshyall attendante upon ye Lord Admirall and Offycers of the Navye to doe suche present execucyon aboorde the shippes uppon the offenders as shulde be apoynted.' ^ Accusations were not wanting during Gonson's lifetime but the increased activity of the Navy after his death gave a wider scope both to suspicion and to actual peculation. Hawkyns was not the only one of the Principal Officers whose conduct was impeached, but in virtue of his position the brunt of attack fell upon him. There was hardly one of his duties which at some time or another did not give occasion for a charge of dishonesty. '^ Hawkyns, if we may judge by the letters remaining in the Record Office, was more frequently in communication with Burghley, explaining his intentions and desires, than with his official chief the Lord Admiral. Either therefore Burghley was satisfied with his conduct — and there is one letter that directly supports this view — or the Lord Treasurer allowed a man whose honesty he doubted to remain in a responsible office without removing him, or adopting any new measure of supervision. The quality of the cordage had been a common cause of complaint and, in 1579, Hawkyns wrote that he had taken measures, of which he doubted not the success, to remedy this and other evils, and that he had a memorandum ready proposing a course to be followed, ' wherebye the offyce wolld not onelye flourysshe but within a few yers be bountyfullye provyded of all maner of provycion without extra charge to her Maiestie.' '^ Subsequent events show that the suggestions he was here about to make were accepted and, as a conse- 1 Siale Papers, Bom., cclxxvi, 57, - Ibid., ccxxii, 48. » Harl. MSS., ccliii, f. 6. * Ibid. ^ State Papers.^ Dom., ccii, 35, Hawkyns to Burghley. * Some of these charges are examined in detail in Appendix C. ' State Papers, Dom., 28th Oct., 1579. Elizabeth 147 quence of his new methods, the clamour raised against him grew so loud that in January' 1583-4 a commission sat to in- quire into the condition of the ships and the conduct of the office. Nothing is known of their report but it was evidently not of a character fatal to his reputation. In another letter to Burghley shortly afterwards he attributes his success in carry- ing out reforms to the aid he had received from the minister's skill, ' in the passinge of theis greate thinges thadversaries of the worke have contynewallye opposyd themselves against me . . . and their slawnders hathe gone verye farr .... onlye to be avenged of me and this servis which doth discover the corruption and ignoraunce of the tyme past.* * By 1587 he had begun to share Gonson's weary disgust of his surroundings, and intimated that the work was too much for any one man and should be done by a commission. Howard's high opinion of him was expressed freely in his letters during 1588, and shown practically by the knighthood he conferred. Notwithstanding his services, so fully tested in that year, he does not appear to have won the shy confidence of Elizabeth, but that he had succeeded in convincing Burghley is I think clearly proved by the following letter : 2 — ' My bownden dewtie in humble manner rememberyd unto your good lordshipe ; I do perseve hir Maiestie ys not well sattysfied concernyng the imploymentes of the great somes of mony that have byne reseaved into thoffice of the navye although your Honour dyd very honourably bothe take payne and care to se the strycte and orderly course that ys used in thofBce and thereupon delyver your mynd playnely to her Maiestie as your lordship found yt for which I shall ever acknowlege myself dewty- fuUy bownd to honour and serve your lordshipp to the uttermost of my abillytie : and whereas her Highnes pleasure ys to be farther sattysfied in myne accomptes ther hathe nothyng byne more desyred nor cold be more wellcome or acceptible to me and when yt shalbe hir Maiesties pleasure to nomynate the persons that I shall attend upon I wyll brieffly shew the state of every yeres accompt suffycyently avouched by boockes to the last day of Desember 1588 which is XI yeres. . . If any worlldly thynge that I possesse cold free me of this mystrust and importyble care and toyle I wold most wyllyngley depart with yt for as the case stondeth I thynke ther ys no man lyvinge that hathe so carefuU so myserable so unfortunate and so dangerous a lyfe ; onlye I se your lordship with care and trewthe dothe serche into the trew order the sufficiency and valyditye of the course that ys caryed in the office whiche otherwyse I wold even playnely gyve over my place and submyt myselfe to her Maiesties mercye thogh I ly vid in pryson all the dayes of my lyffe ; the matters in thoffice growe infenyte and chargeable beyond all measure and soche as hardly any man can gyve a reason of the innumerable busynesses that dayly grow ; yet the mystrust ys more trobelsome and grievous then all the rest for with the answerynge of thone and towle ofthother there ys hardly any tyme left to serve God or to sattysfie man. The greater sort that serve in this office be growen so proud obstinate and insolent nothynge can sattysfie them' and the ^ State Papers^ Dom., clxx, 57, April 1584 "^ Ibid., ccxxxi, 83. ' This probably referred to Borough. Another writer, who was no lover of Haw- 148 The Administration of the Royal Navy commen sort very dysobedyent so as a man that must answere the im- moderate desyre of all these were better to chuse to dye than so lyve. The paynfull place that your lordship dothe holde and the imoderate de- maunds that comes before you havyng with the favour of her Maiestie the hellp of an absolute power to bynd and lose may eselye demonstrate the borden that so meane a man as I am dothe bere (which must passe every thynge by petycon and mystrust), to sattysfie the multytude of demaundes that are in this office and although they be many and as well satysfied as in any office in all Ingland yet few are contentyd but go away with grudg- ing and mormoure. It were a great vanytie for me to comend myne owne service neyther do I go abowt to acumyllatte to myself any comendacon for that I thought I performyd my dewtie suffycyentlie but yf the estate of thoffice be consyderyd what yt was when I came into yt and what yt ys now ther wilbe found greate oddes wherein I have traveyled as carefully as I cold and as my creddytt cold obtayne meane to reduce the state of th- office shipes and there furnyture into good and perfitt ordre; in recompense whereof my onely desyre ys that yt may please hir Maiestie some course may be taken wherein hir Maiestie may be sattysfied that a playne and honest course hathe byne taken and caryed in thoffice and then to dyspose of my place to whome yt shall please hir Highnes and I shalbe reddy to serve hir Maiestie any other way that I shalbe appoynted wherein my skyll or abyllytie will extend and so I humbly take my leve from Deptford the i6th April 1590.' The writer of this letter was either a master hypocrite so skilful in roguery that he feared neither the investigations of his superiors nor the denunciations of envious and hostile subordinates, or an honest man who had nothing to dread from inquiry. He had convinced Howard and Burghley, of whom the first was a seaman who had proved his work by the tests of war and storm, and the second no guileless innocent, but a politician grown grey among surroundings of fraud and intrigue. Only the penetrating Elizabeth refused to be de- ceived. In 1592 and 1594 he again expressed his wish to resign, but the government had apparently no desire to lose his services.^ On Clynton's decease Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham became Lord Admiral,^ and held the office till 161 8. His name is indissolubly connected with the maritime glories his support of Hawkyns and his clear judgment as a commander helped to bring about. Howard was the first Lord Admiral who transferred some of the privileges of his office. In 1 594 he gave over to the Trinity House the manage- ment of buoys and beacons along the coasts and the rights of ballasting in the Thames.^ This marks the first practical con- nection the Corporation had with maritime affairs. Hawkyns died at sea on 12th November 1595, and the Treasurership was not immediately filled up. Roger Langford, long an office assistant, and his deputy during his absence, was made kyns, said that Borough did all he could ' to gett all the keyes to his owne girdle,' {Harl. MSS. 253, f. i). ' State Papers^ Dom., ccxlii, 79 and ccxlvii, 27. =» Rot, Pat., 8th July 1585 =" State Papers, Dom., 30th May 1594 Elizabeth 149 ' General Paymaster of the Marine Causes,' but simply worked at the accounts without authority in administrative business.^ In 1598 Fulke Grevill, afterwards Lord Brooke, was appointed Treasurer with full powers.^ Grevill is said, by a modern writer, to have possessed 'a dignified indolence of temper,' and ' a refinement in morality which rendered him unfit for the common pursuits of mankind.' These were not qualifica- tions peculiarly fitting him for the rough surroundings of naval affairs in 1598 and the real control passed into the hands of his colleagues. Till his death in 1589 Sir Wm. Wynter, from 1557 Sur- veyor of the Ships and Master of the Ordnance of the Navy, was, after Hawkyns, the most influential officer. He was suc- ceeded by Sir H. Palmer,^ who held the post until he became Comptroller in 1598,* when he was replaced as Surveyor by John Trevor.^ After Wynter's death there was no longer a separate ordnance department for the Navy. Richard Howlet, the former Clerk of the Ships, died in 1560, and George Wynter, a brother of Sir William Wynter was appointed.^ In 1 580 George Wynter was succeeded by William Borough,^ who, in 1588 was followed by Benjamin Gonson, son of the former Treasurer,^ who, in turn, was succeeded by Peter Buck in 1600. William Holstock became Comptroller from 12th December 1 561, in succession to Brooke, and in 1589 William Borough succeeded him until 1 598. Nearly all these men commanded ships or squadrons at sea at various times, in addition to their duties as members of the naval board. There is a draft docu- ment existing^ which shows that in January 1564 it was in- tended to add another officer as * Chief Pilot of England,' on the model of the ' Pilot Major ' of Spain. Stephen Borough was the person chosen, and in consequence of the losses of shipping through the ignorance of pilots and masters no one was to act in such a capacity in vessels of forty tons and up- wards, without a certificate of competence from him, under a penalty of two pounds. Masters' mates, boatswains, and quartermasters were to be similarly examined and certified. This plan, however, was not carried into execution. Concerning the dockyards the most noteworthy feature is Dockyards, the rise into importance of the Chatham yard. For 1563 the expenses of Deptford were £ig,yoo, while those of Gillingham, chiefly for the wages and victuals of shipkeepers, were ;^3700. In 1567 it is first called Chatham, a house rented for the use of the Board, and the cost of Chatham and Gillingham ^^6300. Next year the ground on which Upnor Castle was to be built • J?oi Pat. 5th May 1596. ^ Ibid.., 22nd December 1598. 3 Ibid., nth July 1589. ^ Ibid., 20th Dec. 1598. ^ Ibid. 6 Ibid.., loth Oct. 1560. ' Ibid., 24th Mar. 1580. « Ibid., 6 Nov. 1588. ^ Lansd.MSS. 116, f. 4. 150 The Administration of the Royal Navy was bought for ^25,^ and in 1574 a fort was ordered for Sheer- ness which replaced the bulwark built in the reign of Edward VI. In 1 57 1 more ground was rented at Chatham, and in 1574 the fairway through St Mary's Creek, by which the anchorage could be taken in flank, was blocked by piles.2 Deptford, however, was still in considerable use, especially for building and repairs of ships, and in the same year the dock was re- constructed. In 1578 a new pair of gates for the Deptford dock cost ;^I50, and in the following year most, if not all, of the dockyards were fenced round with hedges.^ Small additions in the shape of wharves and storehouses, were being continu- ally made to Chatham ; one of the former, built in 1 580, was 378 feet Long, 40 feet broad, and cost five shillings a foot. Various other improvements of the same kind were carried out in con- nection with Woolwich and Deptford, and as no drydock was constructed at Chatham during this reign, all the building and repairs of the big ships was done at the former places. Ports- mouth was hardly used at all. In 1586 a new wharf was made, and sundry small expenses were at various times in- curred for keeping the dock in order, but sometimes for years in succession the only expenses relating to it are the salaries of the officers in charge. The yard was nearly destroyed by a fire on 4th August 1576, and was probably not fully re- stored. It was, moreover, contemned by the chief officers, who considered it expensive and defenceless.^ For a few years, from 1601, the Hansa steelyard was handed over to the Admiralty and used for storage purposes. In early times the Bridport district had supplied most of the cordage used in the English service ; in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it had mostly come from abroad. In 1573 there was an attempt to secure independence in this respect, and ;^8oo which he was to repay by ;£^ioo a year, was ad- vanced to Thomas Allen to build ropehouses at Woolwich.^ Allen was ' Queen's merchant,' i.e., crown purchaser, for Dantzic cordage. The experiment was probably a failure, since there is no other reference to it, and was not renewed until the next reign. In addition to the forts at Upnor and Sheerness the ships lying in the Medway required some further protection, as relations with Spain became more critical and rumours of plots to fire the vessels frequent. This was given by means of a chain, an old and well known form of defence. In a letter to Burghley, of March 1585, Hawkyns suggested the chain with two or four pinnaces stationed by it, and the Scout and Achates at Sheerness to search everything passing.® In ' Pipe Office Accounts, 2204. ^ im^^ 2210. * Ibid., 2215. * State Papers, Dom., ccxl, 47. Hawkyns and Borough to Lord Admiral. Exch. War. for Issues, 6th July 1573. ^ State Papers, Dom., clxxvii, 26. Elizabeth 151 October the work was nearly completed ; it had been * tedyous and cumbersome but now stretched over the river in good order yt dothe requyre many lyghters for the bearynge of it which are in hand.' ^ One end was fixed to piles, the other worked round ' two great wheels to draw it up ; ' it was sup- ported by five lighters, and pinnaces were stationed at each shore end. The Council ordered, as well, that whereas Her Majesty was ' advertysed that some practyce and devyce ys taken in hande to bourne and destroye the navye,' the principal officers were to sleep on board at the anchorage in turn, for a month at the time, and see that the shipkeepers did their duty. The Elizabethan drawing of the Medway and surrounding district, partly reproduced in this volume, does not show the chain at Upnor and is probably therefore of a date between 1568-85. It is seen that the ships are moored athwart stream in three groups, from Upnor towards Rochester, the larger ones being at Upnor. They must have been moored across stream from considerations of space ; and the accuracy of the placing is corroborated by a much later drawing of 1702 which shows vessels in the same position, and by the fact that we know from other sources that the first-rates were nearest Upnor. These latter carried lights at night 2 and the whole were in the especial charge of the principal masters of the Navy of whom, after 1588, there were six and who were allowed three shillings a week for their victualling*. The first sign of the dockyard is possibly shown between Chatham Church and St Mary's creek. The vessels are shown dismantled as would have been actually the case. In 1559 shipwrights' wages were from eightpence to a SMpwrights. shilling, and in 1588 from a shilling to seventeenpence a day ; they were also provided with free lodging, or lodging money at the rate of a shilling a week, with three meals a day and as much beer * as shall suffice them,' and, between 25th March and 8th September, an afternoon snack of bread, cheese, and beer.^ From 1st November to 2nd February, they worked from daylight till dark ; for the rest of the year from five o'clock, in the morning till 7 at night, and, on Saturdays till 6 o'clock. They were allowed one hour at noon, and work was started and stopped by bell ; anyone ringing it except by order of the master shipwright was fined a day's pay and put into the stocks.^ The three principal constructors, or master shipwrights were Peter Pett, Mathew Baker, and Richard ^ Add. MSS. 9294, f. 58. 2 ' Candles spente in nightlie watches of four shippes lying at Chatham for the better suertie and preservacon of the flete there at xiiis iiiid every shippe,' for the quarter. " Harl MSS. 253, f. 13. " Ibid., f. 14. 152 The Administration of the Royal Navy Chapman. Pett died in 1589 and was succeeded by his son Joseph, and then, in 1600, by his better known younger son Phineas, who had been sent to Cambridge but who did not think it unbecoming his university standing to start in Hfe as a carpenter's mate on a Levant trader. Although Pett has the greater reputation, at least one officer of the Admiralty well qualified to judge — William Borough — considered Baker his superior, John Davis, the explorer, also specially speaks of him as, * Mr Baker for his skill and surpassing grounded knowledge in the building of ships advantageable to all pur- pose hath not in any nation his equal.' ^ Baker became master shipwright by Letters Patent of 29th August 1572, and by virtue of the patent, received a fee of one shilling a day for life from the Exchequer. Peter Pett already held a similar patent, Richard Chapman obtained one in 1587 and Joseph Pett in 1590. Little is known of Chapman beyond the fact that from the ships he built his reputation must have been equal to that of the others, and practically all the important building of the reign was done by these three men. and^Pay^°^" There are but few notices of the ships' officers of this period. In all ranks the majority seem to have been dis- posed to add to their pay by irregular methods. Some of the accusations made against them have been noticed, and on service, whether the prize was a captured town or a small merchantman, discipline was at an end until all, from captains downwards had taken their fill of pillage. At sea captains obeyed or disobeyed, deserted or remained with their admiral, without usually being afterwards called to account for their conduct. In only one case was a captain, William Borough, tried for insubordination in 1557, and as this is the first in- stance of a court martial the proceedings are here printed in full.2 If Drake intended to disgrace Borough he failed, for no result followed, and the delinquent, two years later, became Comptroller of the Navy. Until 1582 the old system of pay- ing the officers the wages of a ' common man ' per month, and adding to this by a graduated proportion representing the dead shares and rewards, still continued. However when wages were raised in that year the dead shares and rewards were abolished, except as a form of expression, and each officer had a fixed sum per month, according to the rate of his ship.^ But sometimes the scale of pay depended not upon the rate, but was ' according to the greatness of his charge,' z>., on the nature of the work for which the vessel was commissioned.* Wages were again raised about 1602,^ and the two scales of payment are thrown together in the following table : — ^ Seaman's Secrets. ^ Appendix B. ^ State Paters^ Dom., clii, 19. * Ibid., clxxxvi, 43. ^ Jbid., cclxxxvi, 36. Elizabeth 153 8" Master Master's Mate Boatswain Boatswain's Mate Quartermaster Do. Mate Purser Master Carpenter Carpenter's Mate Master Gunner Gunner's Mates Surgeon Pilot Cook Yeomen of the 1 Tacks and Jeers 1 00 n M 00 n 11 00 O"000000000iiii M»>, 1-1 »H IHWt-ll-lUMl-l l10<-r«^J0►-'0^0^•10^|^l1>1'H?' 000 CTvO ooooooooooooooooooP- % 2 i -i ^ ^ CTl CTi OhiiOOOii>iOhOhioj4n IHH I-IHH l-l MHI-1 o\oooiOcriooc?>oo\ooa-itn-vnr«OM*»^4"^<-"tr«0?' JOJ-^*ux 0." Ov G OJ GO 0\-(^ VO a\vO CTv G G P" ON s t-i ox 00 1 GGOOGGOGGGGGO w jk, 00000 CT\0 M OOOOM OOto OOOOOOp^ 1 0' c -i -1 •^ o\o 1 GmiOGGOGOOGGh Mjj^ 1-1 >^i-ii-(i-(i-ii-iMI-ll-l ^J G lUxc^^J(>JOi--Jtrt^JGOxt» CT, G G Oi vO ON-f^ W3 CTvvO 0^ G G P* 1 00 1 GGOGGGGG GGGO w jk, iih I MlOl1^10^?' COGGa\GtOOOOO OOMOOOOOOP- 00 10 2 1 - GO CTi-f". CTvO 0^ G G P" 1 N 1 G GO GO GO "jK, o| |^Io|iio|tH]iiiiiiW w <3\0 00 » 00 ooooooP- 00 p re w ^ 0^ 1 "GO GG wy^ ^j| Gi^^l^^OJ |^-r|'^|'£) -;>■ G P* 154 The Administration of the Royal Navy- Harbour pay was from 40% to 50% below these rates. There is nothing known of the reasons moving the govern- ment to the relatively enormous increase of the end of the reign, marked by a liberality contrary to the traditions of nearly half a century. The relative pays would now, in some cases, be considered extraordinary ; surgeons and trum- peters are put on the same footing, and sixth-rates of 1602 are given the option between them but are not allowed both. A captain's pay varied between 2s 6d and 6s 8d a day, and he was allowed two servants for every fifty men of his crew, and if he were a knight four men. This really meant that he was licensed to draw pay and rations, or the value in money of rations, for the permitted number of servants whether or no they were actually on board. In 1588 lieutenants at £:^, and corporals at 17s 6d a month were carried in some of the ships. Although in 1564 it had been intended to nominate a pilot major to insure a knowledge of seamanship and navigation in those responsible for the safety of ships, further experience may have brought more efficient men to the front and rendered it unnecessary. There are very few signs that such a step could have been requisite, judging from the accounts of the voyages of these years. Men seem to have handled their ships skilfully in all conditions and under all difficulties, and in navigation landfalls were made with accuracy, landmarks known and recorded, and the Channel soundings as minutely mapped out and acted upon as now. The case was very different with Spanish seamen. From 1508 there had been a great school of cosmography and navigation at Seville, under the superintendence of the Pilot Major of Spain, but it does not appear to have succeeded in turning out competent officers. The records of the Spanish voyages show how fre- quently gross errors in navigation occurred, and travellers communicated their impressions to the same effect. One of these, writing in 1573, says, ' How can a wise and omnipotent God have placed such a difficult and important art as navigation into such coarse and lubberly hands as those of these pilots. You should see them ask one another, " How many degrees have you got ?" One says, " Sixteen,'' another " About twenty," and another " Thirteen and a half." Then they will say, " What distance do you make it to the land ? " One answers, " I make it 40 leagues from land," another "la hundred and fifty," a third, " I reckoned it this morning to be ninety- two leagues ; " and whether it be three or three hundred no one of them agrees with the other or with the actual fact.' ^ 8^^^^^°* In 1558 there were ordnance wharves and storehouses, con- ment. ' Quoted by Duro, Dis^. Nauiicas, II, 189. Professor Laughton considers that the losses of the Armada, in the flight round the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland, were as much due to bad seamanship as to the summer gales with which they had to contend. Elizabeth 155 nected with the Navy at Woolwich, Portsmouth, and Por- chester ; Gillingham was shortly after added to these. In her youth Elizabeth appears to have been fond of fireworks as the ordnance accounts bear ^^130, 4s 2d expended, between 1558- 64, to amuse her in that way. The report drawn up in 1559^ tells us that there were 264 brass and 48 iron guns, of all cali- bres down to falconets, on board the ships, and 48 brass and 8 iron in store. To these could be added upwards of 1000 small pieces, whole, demi, and quarter slings, fowlers, bases, portpieces, and harquebuses.^ Eleven thousand rounds of cannon shot, 10,600 of lead, 1500 of stone and 692 cross bar shot, supplied the guns ; other weapons were 3000 bows, 6300 sheaves of arrows, 3100 morrispikes, and 3700 bills. The heaviest piece used on shipboard was the culverin of 4500 lbs, throwing a 17^ lbs. ball with an extreme range of 2500 paces ; ^ the next the demi cannon weighing 4000 lbs., with a 303^ lbs. ball and range of 1700 paces ; then the demi culverin of 3400 lbs., a 9|- lb. ball and 2500 paces, and the cannon petroe, or per- rier, of 3000 lbs. 24^ lb. ball and 1600 paces.* There were also sakers, minions, and falconets, but culverins and demi culverins were the most useful and became the favourite ship guns. The weights given differ in nearly every list found and were purely academic. A contemporary wrote, ' the founders never cast them so exactly but that they differ two or three cwt. in a piece,' and in a paper of 1 564 the average weights of cul- verins, demi culverins, and cannon periers are respectively 3300 lbs., 2500, lbs., and 2000 lbs. The equipment of a first-rate like the Triumph (450 sea- men, 50 gunners, and 200 soldiers) in small arms, was 250 harquebuses, 50 bows, 100 sheaves of arrows, 200 pikes, 200 bills, 100 corselets, and 200 morions.^ There were 750 lbs of corn, and 4470 of serpentine, powder on board. The Victory had 200 harquebuses, 40 bows, 80 sheaves of arrows, 100 pikes, 180 bills, 80 corselets, and 160 minions; she carried 600 lbs, of corn powder, and 4347 of serpentine. Twenty-four was the number of ships usually taken as the standard to be prepared in the numerous estimates of the equipment necessary for fleets ; in 1574 there were 45 demi cannon, 37 cannon periers, 89 culverins, 142 demi culverins, 183 sakers, 56 minions, and 66 falcons on board 24 vessels in June of that year.^ The first list giving the armament of the ships individually is of 1585 and is as follows -J ' State Papers^ Dom.^ iii, 44. ^ Slings do not again occur in ordnance papers ; these were probably relics of the reign of Henry VIII. ^ The ' pace ' was 5 feet {Cott. MSS. Julius F. IV, f. I, Arte of Gunnery). *Lansd. MSS. 113, f, 177. ^ State Papers, Dom., xcvi, p. 275 (i577)- ^ Ibid., p. 317. ' Ibid., clxxxvi, 34. 156 The Administration of the Royal Navy J. c K c c « c c « « E§ s 'e fe «5 _o 8 ^ " C .2} S (U c •3 ^ rt c O.J) ^ c« Elizabeth Qc3 6^ 3 Q-3 ra s (X, cu a PQ 9 4 14 7 6 2 8 4 10 12 Triumph 9 4 H 7 6 2 — — 4 10 12 White Bear II 6 17 10 10 4 4 — 4 10 12 Victory 6 4 14 8 2 4 — 6 10 12 Hope 4 2 6 10 4 2 I — 4 6 12 Mary Rose 4 2 8 6 8 — — — 2 6 4 Nonpareil 4 2 4 6 12 I I — 4 6 12 Lion 4 4 6 8 6 — 2 — 4 6 12 Revenge 2 4 10 6 10 — 2 — 2 4 6 Bonaventure 4 6 8 6 2 2 — 4 6 12 Dreadnought 2 4 10 6 — 2 — 2 8 8 Swiftsure — 2 4 8 8 — 4 — 2 6 8 Antelope — 2 2 6 6 2 2 — 4 4 10 Swallow — 2 — 4 8 2 6 — 4 4 10 Foresight — — 4 8 8 4 — — 2 2 8 Aid — — 2 8 2 6 I 4 8 8 Bull — — — 6 8 3 I — 4 4 Tiger — — — 6 10 2 2 — — 4 4 Scout — — — — 8 2 6 2 2 6 Achates — — — — 2 4 10 — 2 4 Merlin — — — — — 6 ^ — 2 2 This appears to have been the existing or intended pro- vision, 'according to Sir William Wynters proporcion of 1569.' The system of heavily arming ships, introduced by Henry VIII, had grown in favour with the lapse of time. From a chance allusion we know that the Victory's waist was ordinarily 20 feet above the water line ; she only had a lower gun-deck, therefore, the lower tier must have been more than the four feet above the water allowed by Ralegh. In only one paper have we any information as to the dis- tribution of the guns ; from a schedule of October 1595, of iron ordnance to be provided for the ' lesser ship now building ' (probably the Warspite) we are able to note their arrangement and the tendency to limit the varieties in use.^ But it differs considerably from the armament of the Warspite as given in the next table. For the sides on the lower overloppe, . For the stern and prow on the lower overloppe, For the capstan deck on the sides, For the stem and prow on the sides, For the waist fore and aft, -. . . . For the half deck .... 12 Culverins 4 do. 8 Demi Culverins 4 do. 6 Sakers 2 do. The next list drawn up two months after Elizabeth's death, gives the armament of the whole Navy.^ Upnor Castle pos- sessed, in brass, i demi cannon, 3 culverins, i minion, 3 fawcons and 4 fowlers ; in iron, 4 culverins, 5 demi culverins and i saker. The ships : ' State Papers^ Dam., ccliv, 43. ^ Royal MSS. 17 A xxxi. Elizabeth 157 Elizabeth Triumph White Bear Merhonour Ark Royal Garland Due Repulse Warspite Defiance Mary Rose Bonaventiire Nonpareil Lion Victory ^ Rainbow Hope Vanguard St Mathew St Andrew* Antelope Adventure Advantage Crane Tremojitana Quittance Answer Moon Charles Advice Super lativa * Mercury Merlin Lion's Whelp S c c .0 'S c 4] ■# a, Brs Brass Brass Brs Im Brs Irn Brs Irn Brs Irn Brs Irn Brs 3 6 4 4 3 2 4 2 3 4 6 4 4 4 3 4 2 4 2 2 2 2 4 2 18 19 21 15 12 16 13 14 14 10 II 7 8 10 9 14 16 4 4 4 I I I 2 13 16 16 16 12 12 14 10 14 7 14 8 12 7 12 16 10 7 5 II 6 2 4 2 2 3 2 6 14 8 4 2 3 19 13 12 4 6 2 6 4 4 4 12 9 I 4 4 2 4 4 7 8 2 12 4 2 5 4 4 2 2 2 4 4 5 3 4 I 2 3 I 2 6 7 2 6 2 2 2 7 I I I 4 4 2 2 I 4 2 2 2 2 2 3 6 2 2 4 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 4 8 7 4 2 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 2 2 4 2 4 4 2 Comparing this with the preceding list of 1585 it is noticed that there is a large decrease in cannon and a corresponding increase in culverins, demi culverins and sakers, which strained a ship less, were served more quickly and by fewer men, and permitted a heavier broadside in the same deck space. They were mounted on four-wheeled carriages and may have been fitted with elevating screws, the latter probably recently intro- duced as they are mentioned among Bourne's Inventions. The length of a cannon carriage was 5 J ft, and of a demi cannon carriage 5 ft, costing respectively £1, 3s 4d and 19s Qd.^ A ship's anchors and guns had her name painted on them J ' With two chambers. ^ With three chambers. * Although the Victory was not rebuilt until some years later she was not at this date upon the effective. * Also two curtails. * The other three galleys had the same armament. « State Papers, Dom., cvi, 58 (1575). ' Add. MSS. 9297, f. 212. 158 The Administration of the Royal Navy William Thomas, master gunner of the Victory, drew at- tention in 1584 to the lack of trained gunners he thought he perceived, nor was he the only person who detected the same deficiency. The Spaniards who were, under the circum- stances, perhaps better judges thought differently, and one of their Armada captains relates that the English fired their heavy guns as quickly as the Spaniards did their muskets.^ The grant of the artillery ground by Henry VIII as a place of practice has already been mentioned, and, in 1575, it is again brought into notice by an order that sufficient powder and shot should be allowed to train ' scollers ' there.^ Until Wynter's death in 1589 the supply of ordnance stores for the Navy remained under his control, and the absence of remark shows that the business progressed smoothly. It then became a part of the ordinary work of the Ordnance Office, and that department did not belie the unsavoury reputation it has always held. By 1591 outcry against it ran high, and in 1598 and 1600 its corrupt and lax administration called forth various projects of reform. The superior departmental officers gave themselves allowances and, through brokers, sold to themselves as representing the crown ; the inferior clerks were in league with the gunners in embezzlement.^ With such encourage- ment it is not surprising to find that ' the master gunners who do usually indent for the provision of ships and fortified places do commonly return unreasonable waste of all things com- mitted to their charge, which waste grows not by any of Her Majesty's service but by the gunners themselves in selling Her Majesty's powder and shot and other provisions, so'metimes before they go to sea and most usually upon their return from the sea,' Usually the captain shared the proceeds with the gunner and the clerks of the Ordnance department, and the transac- tion leaves no mark. Occasionally a captain refused and then we have the incident put on record as in the case of the master gunner of the Defiance, who, when she returned from sea in 1596 offered his commander ;^ioo for permission to steal half the powder remaining on board.* The patentee for iron shot was a prisoner for debt and forced to sublet his con- tract ; sometimes he bought shot sold by the gunners, ' so that Her Majesty buyeth her own goods and payeth double for the same.' When the pursuit of the flying Armada ceased want of ammunition was as much a reason as want of pro- visions. But if the deposition of John Charlton, who lived in a house adjoining to that of Hamon, a master gunner of the Ark Royal, is to be credited, that ship, at any rate, did not lack powder. Charlton informed Howard that he had daily seen much powder taken into Hamon's dwelling. Hamon ' La Armada Invencible^ I, 76, ^ State Papers, Dom., cvi, I4. ^ Ibid., cclxxv, 40. ■• Ibid., cclvii, 108. Elizabeth 159 confessed, but according to Charlton, very incompletely, for, ' where it was set downe but iiii barrels I will aprove that after the fight there came to his house fortie barrels which was to her Maiestie in that fighte greate hinderance.' It is significant that a labourer in the employ of the Ordnance Office acknow- ledged that he had been hired to pick a quarrel with Charlton and maim or kill him.^ The cost of cast iron ordnance was, between 1565 and 1570, from ;^io to £\2 a ton ; in 1600 it had fallen to ;^8 and £<^ a ton. Brass ordnance was from £0^0 to £60 a ton. The reputation of our founders stood so high that the Spaniards were prepared to pay £22 a ton for iron guns and to give a pension to the man who could smuggle them over.^ The exportation of ordnance was strictly prohibited, but anexten- sive underhand trade went on notwithstanding the efforts of the government. In February 1574 all gunfounders were called upon to give bonds to ^2000 apiece not to cast ordnance without licence and not to sell it to foreigners. The seat of the industry was Kent and Sussex and the requirements of the kingdom exclusive of the Royal Navy and of the royal forts, were then estimated at 600 tons a year.^ There seem to have been only some six or seven founders in the business, and in the following June, the Council ordered that no one should enter into it without permission ; that all guns should be sent to the Tower wharf, there to be sold to English subjects who were to give sureties not to sell abroad out of their ships ; and that all founders were to send in a yearly return to the Master of the Ordnance of the number of guns sold, and to whom.* These orders were repeated in 1588 and 1601, but a founder estimated that 2500 tons of ordnance were cast a year, being three times as much as could be used in England, and it was supposed that, previous to 1 592, out of 2000 tons yearly made 1600 were secretly sent abroad. Although the saltpetre had been obtained from the con- tinent powder had long been made in England as well as bought abroad. In 1562 three persons who had erected powder mills, tendered to supply it on a large scale — 200 lasts a year — at ;^3, 5s a cwt. (of 100 lbs.) for corn powder, and £2, 1 6s 8d for serpentine powder.^ This offer does not seem to have been accepted although in 1560 the crown was paying ;^3, 5s 2d, the cwt (of 112 lbs.) for serpentine powder, and in 1570, still higher prices. In November 1588 there was *a reasonable store ' of round shot in hand and 55 lasts of powder ; 100 tons of shot and 100 lasts of powder were required to ^ Lansd. MSS., 65, f. 94, * State Papers, Dom., ccxliv, 116. ' Ibid., xcv, 22, 69. * Acts of the Privy Council, 19th June 1574. * State Papers, Dom., xxi, 56. Com. or large grain, powder was used for small arms ; serpentine for the heavy guns, but the latter was going out of use at sea. penditure. 1 60 The Administration of the Royal Navy- make good deficiencies, but in view of the amount remaining in stock only the fatal blundering which has always character- ised the departments can explain the constant prayer for supplies that came, vainly, from the fleet.^ Wynter, whose province it was to attend to naval requirements in these matters, was himself on service from 22nd December 1587 until 15th September 1588, in command of the Vangziard and the Ark Royal. How the business of his office was carried on in his absence we do not know with certainty, but from some entries in the Privy Council Register for 1588, it would appear to have been handed over to the Ordnance Office. The cost of the powder was here estimated at ;!^ioo a last, but in 1589 a tender from George Evelyn, John Evelyn, and Richard Hills, to deliver 80 lasts a year for eleven years at £Zo was accepted. In 1603 they, with some other partners, were still acting and furnishing 100 lasts a year. Round shot, from cannon down to fawcon, was obtained at an average of ;^8 a ton ; 'jointed shot,' and cross-bar shot were dear, from 2s 6d to 8s apiece, according to the size of the gun. Stone shot were still used and cost from sixpence to two shillings each conformable to size.^ NayaiEx- The naval expenses, especially during the last fifteen years of her reign, must have seemed appalling to Eliza- beth and would have excused her parsimony had she not been so lavish to herself From the Audit Office Accounts we are enabled to give on the next page the amounts for which the Treasurer of the Navy was answerable, but these by no means included all the expenditure of the crown in various expeditions. The total cost of the Cadiz and Islands voyages, for instance, of 1596 and 1597 is given as ;^i 72,260 and this is only partly represented below.^ If the Queen took a share in an adventure the money she advanced was paid from the Exchequer and is not borne on the Navy accounts. The i^ 1 2,000 a year allotted to Gonson, under Mary, for the working of the naval establishments during peace was re- duced from 1st January 1564 to ;^6ooo a year, of which he was to pay Baeshe £\6\.> 2s a month for harbour victualling. * Of course war, or preparation for war, upset all calculations of economy, but the attempt was steadily made to keep the normal, every-day, expenses of the department separate from the exceptional ones, and to reduce the former to as low a sum as practicable. Gonson must have found the £6000 a year impossible, for in 1567 it was raised to ;^7695, 6s 2d. The economy could have been only nominal, for on the same date as this new order ^ there is a warrant to Gonson for ' State Papers^ Dom., ccxviii, 35. ^ JUJ., Ixxiv, 3. * Ibid., cclxxxvii, 59. ■• Exch. War. /or Issues, 1st Mar. 1564. ''Ibid., 2 1 St Feb. 1567. Elizabeth i6i 13 Dockyards 1 c >> 1 >< a •a •s .5 3 15 > s .2 % a J3 0. t^ h| > 6 0. Q "3 1 .5 t/5 3 00 -3 £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ 1559 1 1560 j 106000 43300 5157 26800 1400 2726 23380 — — — — 1561 19757 3200 2164 19528 866 265 — 27485 — — — 15625 — — — — — — — — — — — 1563s 53790 19208 3701 19707 944 2529 1 602 1 63290 — — — 1564 18000 4492 2038 2912 14 268 1497 21471 — — ■p- 1565 5318 2149 4350 445 32 294 7844' — — — 1566 5178 1843 3612 247 10 77 — 6244 — — — 1567 13129 1999 6257 484 12 66 — 19000 — — — 156S 12062 2718 5843 1854 21 100 743 15115 — — — 1569 1 701 5 7484 2653 343 12 50 2820 17800 6354 — — 1570 15138 7162 3133 985 12 266 2332 17527 3834 — — 1571 8580 2403 — — — — — 8598 — 5752 28468 1572 12300 2765 — — — — — 8559 — 5646 2913 1573 8934 2686 — — — — — 10686 — 5940 4746 1574 14157 2964 — — — — — 12877 — 6143 3776 1575 6802 2969 — — — — — 6893 — — 1576 9957 4449 — — — — — 10660 — 5631 5029 1577 12977 3871 — — — — — 12899 — — — 1578 14276 5032 — — — — — 14956 — 5712 8727 1579 8400 4918 — — — — 1351 8100 — 3849 148 1 1580 5829 11932 — — — — 4110 14602 — 3833 6172 1581 9532 3356 — — — — — ■ 1 1 902 — — — 1582 8388 3230 — — — — — 8663 — 4015 4624 15S3 6694 2274 — — — — — 7486 — 1584 8020 2615 3680 — — — — 8515 — 3934 4581 1585 12934 5786 — — — — — 1 1602 — — 1586 25691 8636 — — — — 8905 29391 — — — 1587 46300 29563 — — — — 7355 44000 — — — 158S 80666 59221 5387 — — — — 90813 — 2283 88530 1589 52317 15949 3864 — — — 12650 47836 — 4756 43057 1590 61168 20379 2257 — — — 16109 60370 3248 — — 1591 35626 13198 7046 — — — 4141 31000 — 6172 24868 1592 29937 11657 7442 — — — 6789 28585 — 5554 23031 1593 26000 9872 — — — — 5400 22269 — 4974 17224 1594 49000 16241 — — — — — 49300 — — — 1595' 59700 14665 12328 5631 — — 15293 59000 — 10425 48588 i596'o 37421 16387" — — — — 2120412 38379 — 10363 27935 1597 64705 28630 — — — — 40680'^ 76513 — 14906 60702 1598 69000 22100 — — — — 9229 53300 18000 14203 39000 1599 67116 32426 — — — — 15749 66665 — 7137 59504 1600 37780 21355 — — — • — 14039 35200 8600 8170 19028 1601 56500 28866 — — — — 14166 — 22910 7047 45326 1602 62457 40945 — — — — 26270 60832 20104 6976 53840 > Until, and including, 1564 the money for victualling is paid by the Navy Treasurer and contained in his totals. * Comprising wages and tonnage hire. ' Timber, ironwork, pitch, tar, etc., and sometimes included in the dockyard amounts. * Ordinary, comprised wages of clerks and shipkeepers, moorings, and normal repairs of ships. Extraordinary, building and heavy repairs of ships, building and repair of wharves, storehouses, and docks, purchase of stores, and ordinary sea wages. * Accounts wanting. ^ In 1 560 and 1563 some sub- sidiary charges at Harwich and other ports. ' The total spent is now exclusive of the victualling. ^ Account keeping by dockyards ceases ; divided into ordin- ary and extraordinary. ^ From ist Jan., 1595, to 24th April, 1596. "■ From 6th May to 31st Dec. 1596. " From ist Jan. to 31st Dec. exclusive of the Cadiz Fleet. i^ Qf which Cadiz ^14,415. " Of which Channel ^^9945, and ocean service ;^27,263. 1 62 The Administration of the Royal Navy ;^i 0,200 extra for stores and ship repairs which would have formerly been included in the ;^i 2,000 a year. By a state- ment of 1585 the average for these years was ^10,946 yearly, when building, repairs, and stores purchased were included.^ From 1 571 commences the division into ordinary and extra- ordinary, which doubtless had a further saving for its object, although how the process was to work, except as tending towards clearer bookkeeping, is not now manifest. In October 1579 ' bargains ' were made between the Queen and Hawkyns, and with Pett and Baker.^ Twenty-five vessels of all classes were named in the agreement and Hawkyns undertook to provide their moorings, to keep spare cables and hawsers on board, and to furnish other cordage necessary for ordinary harbour and sea use, for ;^I200 a year, the contract being terminable at six months' notice. He was not to be called upon to account for the i^i200 and therefore evidently expected, and was at liberty, to make a profit. The agree- ment with Pett and Baker was to the effect that they should ground and grave the ships at least every first, second, or third year, according to size ; that they should repair or re- place all faulty masts and yards that became defective in harbour, except the lower masts and yards of the sixteen largest vessels ; that they were to pay wages, victualling and lodging of the men they employed and provide all materials and tools ; they were to supply carpenters' stores to vessels in commission, and pay all carriage and hire of storehouses. For this they were to have i^iooo a year. It was these two con- tracts that brought such -a storm of obloquy on Hawkyns. On the one hand, the other officers found the greater part of their occupation gone, and their interference in some of the most important transactions an unwarrantable intermeddling with agreements approved by the government. On the other Hawkyns and the shipwrights expected to make a profit, and circumstances seem to suggest that the way in which Hawkyns insisted on the work being done did not leave Pett and Baker that margin they anticipated. These two men subsequently became his bitter enemies, and in 1588 sent in a report on his management, to which events at that time were daily giving the lie. The effect of the new arrangement was to make Hawkyns supreme in all the branches of administration, and therefore every contractor or middleman, with whose arrange- ments he interfered, swelled the outcry. The result of the commission of inquiry of January 1584 was not to displace him, but apparently it did abrogate these contracts, and in 1585 a new one was entered into with Hawkyns alone. For ;^4000 a year he defrayed the repair of ships in harbour, found ' Add, MSS, 9294, f. 30. 2 State Papers^ Dom., cxxxii, 41, 42. Elizabeth 163 moorings, paid shipkeepers and the garrison of Upnor, repaired wharves and storehouses, finding in all cases materials, victuals, and lodgings for the workmen.^ The object of this and the preceding agreement was to get the ordinary done for ^^4000 a year, devoting the money saved to the purchase of cordage, masts, etc., which had formerly been extra. Hawkyns main- tained that he had performed it successfully ; his opponents denied it. It was the last contract, from which they were ex- cluded, that Pett and Baker reported upon. He gave notice to terminate it at Christmas 1587 in consequence of the great increase in naval operations, and no third bargain was engaged in. From ist January 1589 the amount allowed for the ord- inary was raised to £726% 2 which then only restored it to the standard of 1567 ; in January 1599 it was increased to £\ 1,000 a year.^ The year to which the reader will turn with most interest is 1588, and the figures here given, representing the payments of Hawkyns only, deal with the expenditure through him and probably do not represent the whole, even of the naval ex- penses. A document printed by Murdin^ makes the naval disbursements, between the beginning of November 1587 and the end of September 1588, exclusive of victualling and the charges borne by London and other ports, reach the much larger sum of ;!^ 1 12,000. Powder and shot were used to, the value of i^ 1 0,000, while ;!^20,ooo was required to replace stores and put the fleet in seaworthy condition again. Another estimate puts the expenses of the year at ;!f92,370.^ It gives the cost by fleets: the Lord Admiral's ;^3 1,980; Seymour's ;^i2,i8o ; coasters and volunteers ;^i 5,970 ; Frobisher's ^^840 ; Drake's ;^2 1,890, etc. Finally we have the items stated in a different way^: wages ;^52,557 ; conduct and discharge money £22'j2 ; tonnage (hire of) ;^6225 ; other expenses ^^15,003; extraordinary allowances and rewards ;^8 54. The compensation paid for the eight vessels converted into fire- ships and sent among the Spaniards during the anxious night of 28-29th July was £^i\i^ los, perhaps the cheapest national investment that this country has ever made.^ Two of them were of 200 tons apiece, in all they measured 1230 tons. There were in pay during the struggle in the Channel 34 Preparation Queen's ships and 163 merchantmen, but all through the yearneets?^ merchantmen had been taken up or discharged, and men-of- war put in and out of commission as the need seemed more or less urgent There were 8 admirals, 3 vice-admirals, 126 captains, 136 masters, 26 lieutenants, 24 corporals, 2 ' Pipe Office Accounts^ 2221. 2 ^f^^fg Papers^ Dom., ccxviii, 16. ^ IMd. cclxx, 26. '• Burghley Papers^ p. 620. * State Papers^ Dom.^ ccxxxiv, 72, 75. ^ c^^^_ jf^sS. Otho E IX, f. 192. " State Papers^ Dom., ccxvii, 71. 164 The Administration of the Royal Navy- ensign bearers, 2 secretaries, 13 preachers, and 11,618 soldiers, sailors, and gunners.^ Other authorities give a larger number of men, in one instance 15,925 ; and only 95 merchantmen appear in the Audit Office Accounts as paid by the Treasurer. In this case the in and out working must have puzzled the authorities considerably, but ordinarily experience had en- abled them to calculate with fair accuracy the probable cost of sending a fleet to sea. In October 1580 — Drake had returned in September and Mendoza was vapouring — such an estimate was prepared for twenty men-of-war, to be manned by 4030 seamen and gunners, and 1690 soldiers. The press and conduct money of the seamen amounts to ^1410, los, that of the soldiers and their coat money to £6^6 \ sea stores of ships i^8oo, and wages of officers and crews for one month ;^2669, 6s 8d. The discharge money for both soldiers and sailors is ;^I462, and one month's provisions ^^"4004. In all the charges make a total of ;^i 1,449 for the first month. As there would be no cost of preparation, nor press, conduct, coat, or discharge money to be reckoned in the following months, the cost for the second and succeeding months would be £^77 Z each. For another ;^i 2,000 twenty-two armed merchantmen, of 5200 tons and 2790 men, could be joined with the men-of-war for three months. The last years in which foreign ships appear to have been ' stayed ' by the authority of the crown for service with its fleets were 1560, 1561, and 1569. There is a payment of ;!^300 in 1560 for 'putting the Venetian's hulk and ship that be staied for our service in warre in like order and sorte.' ^ In 1569 another ^300 was paid by Gonson to two Ragusan masters whose ships were stayed but do not appear to have been used.^ Some other foreign vessels are also referred to but their names do not occur in any naval paper. The expenses of the semi-private, semi-royal, expeditions of various years are not borne on the navy accounts and the references to them in the State Papers are frequently in- complete and contradictory. That of Frobisher, in 1589, cost upwards of i^i 1,000, of Frobisher and Hawkyns in 1590, ;i^i7,ooo,^ and of Lord Thomas Howard in 1591, ;^24,ooo.5 The outlay attendant on Essex's fleet in 1596 was £7%f)00^ and that of the Drake-Hawkyns venture in 1595, ;^42,ooo.^ Here the Queen provided six men-of-war and, according to one statement,^ was to have had one-third of the booty, but it is difficult to disentangle the actual facts from the several 1 Cott. MSS. Otho E IX, f, 192. 2 Exch. War. for Issues, loth May 1560. * Ihid., 13th June 1569. * State Papers, Dom., ccxxxiv, 72, * Ihid., ccxl, 14. " Ibid.y cclvi, 107. But see supra p. 160. ' Pipe Office Accounts 2233, but ^^70,000 according to State Papers, Dom., cclix, 61. * State Papers, Dom.y cclii, 107. Elziabeth 165 discrepant versions. The voyage was a disastrous failure financially, treasure to ;^4907 only being brought home ; worse still it cost the lives of Drake and Hawkyns. The lower ranks, however, did not fare so badly ; it was said that iJ"iooo was embezzled from the sale of powder alone, and some of the men, being drunk, ' showed a great store of gold ' on their return. In the seventeenth century Monson noticed that, notwith- Division of standing the destruction they brought on Spanish commerce ^'^"'®^°°®^" nationally, the majority of the Elizabethan adventurers not only made no fortunes but ruined themselves by their enter- prises. So far as pecuniary receipts were concerned there were only two really great captures during the Queen's reign. Her share of the Si Philip, taken by Drake in 1587, was £^6,672 ; Drake's own, ;^i8,235 ; the Lord Admiral's, ^4338 ; and private adventurers, ;^44,787.^ A still richer haul was made in the Madre de Dios, taken in 1592, which, by the account of her purser, carried 8500 quintals of pepper, 900 of cloves, 700 of cinnamon, 500 of cochineal, and 450 of other merchandise, besides amber, musk, and precious stones to the value of 400,000 crusados, and some especially fine diamonds.^ In this case there was only one Queen's ship among the ten entitled to share, and the services rendered by that one were questioned, but Her Majesty demanded the lion's share of the proceeds. If the men were not paid wages the usual arrange- ment for the division of prize money was that if ships were cruising, and ' thirds ' were agreed upon, the spoil was to be divided into three parts, viz., tonnage {i.e., owners), one part, the victuallers the second part, and the men the remaining third. But if ships joined in * consortship,' their takings were to be first divided ton for ton, and man for man, then each vessel's proportion was to be joined and divided into shares as before.^ By the second mode ships belonging to the squadron, but absent from a particular capture, would still ' State Papers^ Dom., cciv, 46. ^ Latisd. MSS., 70 f. 82. The Madre de Dios, the Bom Jesus, the Santa Cruz, and the St. Bartholomeu, all richly laden left Goa in company on loth January 1592. The Bom Jesus was lost in the Mozambique Channel with all on board, the Bartholomeu parted company about the same time and was never heard of again, the Satita Cruz was run ashore and burnt to prevent capture. Nor was the total loss of a Portuguese or Spanish squadron, from various causes, at all remarkable. The captain of the Madre de Dios, Fernando de Mendoza, had ibeen master of Medina Sidonia's flagship in 1588; his maritime interviews with the English must have become a veritable nightmare to him. The Fuggers of Augsburg, to whom the cargo was hypothecated, are said to have been the real losers by the capture, as it was probably not insured. It was difficult to insure Spanish ships at this time. In 1587 a Spaniard wTOte of a vessel in the West Indies, ' I have not assured any part thereof and at this present I do not find any that will assure at any price ' {Lansd. MSS,, 53 f. 21). The conditions had become much more unfavourable to Spanish seaborne commerce by 1592. 3 Lansd. MSS., 73, f. 38. t66 The Administration of the Royal Navy- share the pillage. The captain took ten shares, the master seven or eight, and most of the remaining officers three to five each ; if the cruiser was a privateer the Lord Admiral received a tenth from each of the thirds. For the twelve years 1587-98 Nottingham's tenths amounted to upwards of ;^i 8,000.^ The following computation shows the proportions due on this system of division assuming the value of the carrack's cargo to have been iJ" 140,000.2 Foreskht Tonnage 450, . . . . ;^8o92 9 8^) (Queen's Ship) ^^Av' " > ' ' ' ^^°? '° ^ [^2310310 4i ^ '^^ Victualling as for men, 7505 10 4 J Roebuck Tonnage 350, . . . . 6294 3 ij | (Sir W. Ralegh) ,^.^" ^f°' • • • ■ • 7064 o 4| \ 20422 3 loj ^ ^ ■" Victualling as for men, 7004 o 4^ J Daintv Tonnage 300, .... 5394 19 9J - - - ■^- Men 100, 4415 o 2i ^ 14225 o 2\ CSir J Hawkvns") ' 44^i 'J ^=2 ^ ^ ^ Victualling as for men, 4415 o 2^ Five Shins Tonnage 1235, . . . 22209 7 6^ j (Earl of Cumberland^ ^^" ^oo 22075 i li \ 66359 9 9i ^ ^ Victualling as for men, 22075 I I2 J Two Shitis Tonnage 260, .... 4675 13 2 ] If Lo?S Men 127. .... 5607 i Zl 15889 I5 9 Victualling as for men, 5607 I l\ ] There was thus a total of 2595 tons. One third of ;:^i40,ooo is ^^46,666, 13s 4d and this, divided by 2595, gives a unit of £17, 19s 6d a ton. For the Foresight 450 times £\J^ 19s 6d yields roughly- the ;^8o92, 9s 8|d to which her tonnage entitles her ; the same formula gives the shares of the other ships, and of the men, substituting in the latter case 1057 for 2595. The Earl of Cumberland, one of the most persistent and one of the most unlucky of the private advent- urers of his day got only ;^36,ooo, and in the end, after much bickering, Elizabeth took nearly i^8o,ooo of the plunder. There is no doubt that the fleet was in ' consortship,' ^ but it did not suit her interests to allow that form of division. The official belief, and one apparently well founded, was that enormous theft went on, both among officers and men, before the prize was brought into port. Robert Cecil, who had been sent into Devonshire to make inquiries, wrote to his father that, approaching Exeter, he ' cold well smell them almost such has been the spoils of amber and musk among them ... there never was such spoil' Officers and men pillaged first, the captains took what they could from them, and when the 1 Harl. MSS., 598. 2 Lansd. MSS. 73, f. 38. It suited Elizabeth to rate the Foresight as high as possible, so she now reached her maximum of 450 tons ; she had been as low as 260. 3 Lansd. MSS. 70, ff, 55, 187. Elizabeth 167 admiral, Sir John Burroughs, came up, he plundered the captains. Among other items the Commissioners found that an emerald cross three inches long, 62 diamonds, and 1400 ' very great ' pearls had been stolen. It is not known what became of the Madre de Dios, but possibly an offer from the mayor and burgesses of Dartmouth to pay ^200 and build a hospital for the poor in return ' for y^ carrick ' may refer to it.^ In 1584 Hawkyns wrote to Burghley ' I ame perswydyd ^^^"gant^jj^ that the substance of this reallme ys treblyd in vallew syns Trade, her Maiesties raygne.' So far as the carrying trade, as ex- emplified in the increase of merchant ships, was concerned, the statement was more than justified. The legislation that had long been directed in a more or less perfunctory manner to the encouragement of English merchant shipping by pro- tective enactments was enforced more stringently. Such enactments were varied or renewed by the ist, 5th, 13th, 23rd, 27th and 39th of Elizabeth. The coast fisheries were assisted by permission being granted to export fish in English bottoms, free of custom, subsidy, or poundage,^ while the internal con- sumption was increased by the more rigid exaction of the observance of fish days. The coasting trade was confined to English owned ships, and the earlier statutes bearing on ex- portation or importation in foreign vessels were put into active operation. These measures were not fruitless. For 1576 is a list of fifty-one ships built in the preceding five years and attributed, rightly or wrongly, to the statute ordering abstin- ence from flesh on Wednesdays.^ In 1581 the authorities of the Trinity Corporation sent in a certificate showing a large increase in the number of fishing boats, there being in a short time, an addition of 114 on the east and south-east coasts alone between Newcastle and Portsmouth.^ The bounty of five shillings a ton, for vessels of 100 tons and upwards, only paid occasionally during preceding reigns is now of common occurrence. The Exchequer warrants name 162 ships on which it was given during the reign, and the series is probably far from complete. Certain names frequently recur in these entries ; the Hawkyns family of Plymouth ; Olyff Burre, a coppersmith of Southwark, who obtained the bounty on 790 tons of shipping in two years ; the Fenners of Chichester ; Philip and Francis Drake ; and William Borough. Sometimes seamen were both owners and masters but more frequently the owners are described as merchants. Towards the later years of the century, when the volume of ocean trade had greatly increased, the bounty payments become almost continuous, and then owners had to give surety not to sell their ships to foreigners. Between 1581 > Harl. MSS., 306, f. 233, 3rd May 1594. ^ 5 gUg. c. 5. ^ State Papers, Dom., cvii, 68. * Ibid., cxlvii, 21, 22. 1 68 The Administration of the Royal Navy and 1594 there had been built — or rather had received the premium — 46 such vessels of which 25 belonged to London, 7 to Bristol, 2 to Southampton, 3 to Dartmouth, and i each to Hull and Liverpool.^ The Galleon Ughtred of Southampton, built by John Ughtred of Netley, was of 500 tons, and when she was sent to sea under Fenton was valued at ;^6o35, fitted, victualled, and munitioned.^ It is perhaps indicative of the results of the years 1587-8-9 that while only 46 such vessels had been built in thirteen years, there were, between 1592 and 1595, 48 large ships of 10,622 tons receiving a sum of ;^2683, 5s- In one year — 1593 — London owners were paid on 16 ships of 3248 tons ; Dart- mouth, as in the preceding century, is ahead of the other southern ports with seven vessels of 1460 tons.^ From Sep- tember 1 596 to September 1 597 the bounty was paid on 57 ships of 11,160 tons ; two were of 400 tons, four of 320, two of 310, thirty-two of between 200 and 300 tons, and the general increase in the tonnage of individual ships is another noticeable fact in the growth of the shipping industry.* But probably the bounty was not always paid. At the foot of a list of merchantmen for the years 1572-9, the owners of which had given bond that they should not be sold to the subjects of a foreign power, the clerk writes : ' whether all these or how many of them have had any allowance of Her Majesty I cannot tell for that there is no record of the allow- ance in this court' ^ The total is 70 ships of 12,630 tons ; the largest are, one of Bristol of 600 tons, one of London of 450, and one of Dartmouth of 400 tons. One entry, on 9th July, i577j is that Francis Drake of Plymouth gives bond for the Pelican of 1 50 tons.^ Very often the five shillings a ton was not paid but allowed on the customs, as in 1595, when 636 crowns were granted to three London merchants ' to be allowed on the customs of merchandise brought by the said ships.' It was of course to the interest of the owner to have his vessel rated at the highest possible tonnage, both for the bounty and for service with the royal fleets. For the latter ■^ Ibid.^ ccl, 33. This paper bears a note by Burghley, ' Engl shippes allowed money for ther tonag syce 22 Eliz.' It has been shown that the custom, as a mark of royal approbation, was much older than Elizabeth, but it may have been made a right from about 1580. ^ Ibid.^ cl, 96. ^ State Papers^ Dom., ccliv, 33. ■• Ibid.^ cclxii, 126. * The Admiralty Court. * State Papers, Dotn., cxxxvi, 35. When the Pelican, or as she was afterwards called, the Golden Hind, returned from her famous voyage round the world she was placed in a dock, filled in with earth at Deptford, and remained there as one of the shows of London for nearly a century. There is an estimate for works to the amount of ;^37o for this purpose (^Add. MSS. 9294, f. 68), but it does not appear that this plan, which included a brick wall, roof, etc., was ever fully carried out. In the Navy accounts only £6t, 7s lod for her repairs, £ZS^ ^s 8d for a wall of earth round her, and £ii\, 13s 4d for preparing the ship for the Queen's visit are entered. Elizabeth 169 the hire remained at one shilling a ton till about 1580 when it was raised to two shillings and even then the measuring officers, we are told, usually allowed the Queen to be charged for a third more than the real tonnage.^ Besides the stimulus of general trade and the requirements of the crown for ships to serve with the fleets, there was a further encouragement to building in the action of the great chartered associations then in possession of so much of the over sea trade. The Russia Company, chartered in 1555, traded to Russia, Persia, and the Caspian, and, late in the century, commenced the whale fishery ; the Turkey, or Levant Company, founded in 1 581, to the dominions of the Sultan, the Greek Archipelago, and, indirectly, to the East Indies ; the Eastland Company trading through the Sound to Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark ; the Guinea Company to the west coast of Africa, and the Merchant Adventurers along the northern coast of continental Europe. Many of the largest ocean-going ships either belonged to, or were hired by, these corporations, and owners who had entered into the prevalent spirit of shipbuilding felt that they had a right to have their vessels hired by the companies. Olyff Burre, the speculative owner before mentioned, peti- tioned the Council in 1579 to the effect that he had obtained a living for forty years 'cheefely by the maynteyninge of shippinge and the navygacon,' that he now had a number of vessels unemployed, and that he trusted they would order the Spanish Company to hire his ships.^ In 1581 the Levant Company possessed fourteen ships varying in size from 200 to 350 tons ; they complain, in a petition, that the new import duties levied by the Venetians are destroying their trade, and that their ships are too big to be employed in any other work.^ In the five years 1583-7 this company employed nineteen vessels and 787 men in twenty-seven voyages, and paid ;{^i 1,359 in customs. In 1600 they owned thirteen of 2610 tons and hired seventeen of 2650 tons. Their agent at Con- stantinople cost ;£"iooo a year, besides presents to the Turks, and in 1591 they calculated that, first and last, they had been compelled to spend ;;^40,ooo in maintaining agents, consuls, etc.* The profits made by these companies were sometimes enormous and their risks were fewer than those of individual owners, for their large, well-armed and manned ships were less exposed to the dangers of navigation and piracy, the latter a factor to be always reckoned with. Notwithstanding piracy, warfare, and the risks of naviga- tion in little known seas, the returns show a steady increase in the size and number of English vessels. The necessities of ^ State Papers^ Dom.^ ccxxxviii, 142. ^ State Papers, Dom.y cxxxi, 61, * Ibid., cxlix, 58. * Ibid., ccxxxiii, 13, and ccxxxix, 44 170 The Administration of the Royal Navy distant trading explain the increase in size both in view of a relatively smaller cost of working and a larger number of partners interested in the cargo, and the results of successful maritime war were shown in a carrying trade which it may almost be held to have founded. But an extension of com- merce was sometimes thrust unwillingly on the English merchants. Some of them petitioned in 1571 that the trade with Portugal was of more value than that with the East Indies, and that an agreement should be come to with the King of Portugal by which Englishmen would undertake not to trade with the East if a free opening were given by that monarch in his European dominions. They said that the traffic to the East Indies ' often attempted hath taken small effect,' that in fifteen years no merchants had made any profit, ' except such as being spoiled there have made great gain by the recompense here.'^ They did not foresee the future subjects of spoliation, but although trade was pro- gressing it moved onwards tentatively and with hesitation ; and but for the cessation of trade with Portugal the formation of the East India Company might have been long deferred. If a merchantman escaped the ordinary risks of the sea as they were understood in the sixteenth century, risks that in- cluded much more than is comprised in the expression to-day, the owner's troubles were by no means over. Commerce with the East could only be carried on by constant bribery ; if he traded to Spain he had to reckon with the suspicious bigotry of Church and State, and when returned to England he had to deal with the more selfish dishonesty of custom-house officials, and sometimes of persons of higher rank. Three victims of Spanish procedure petition Burghley : — ' In this moste wofull manner sheweth unto your Honour your sup- pliantes John Tyndall and Robert Frampton of Bristowe and William Ellize of Alperton .... late marchants and the Queues Maiesties natural! subjectes late in case right good to live and nowe in state most miserable. That where your said suppliantes did trade into Spayne in the way of marchandise — soe it is Right Honourable that besydes longe and miser- able imprisonment besydes the intoUerable torment of the Strappadoe there susteyned by the authoritie of the Inquisition of Spayne your said suppliantes are there spoyled of all their goodes to the vallew of 112228 IQS 6d, to their utter undoing.' ^ Their ship was seized and they were tortured because a Cato in English was found on board — Spain and England being at peace. They go on to ask that they may have restitution out of Spanish goods in England. In 1588, of the crew of a Scotch ship just arrived at St Lucar, ' accused to be protest- antes and fleshe eaters on dayes prohibite,' three were burnt and the rest sent to the galleys, upon accusation, without any ' State Papers, Dom., Ixxxiii, 37. "^ State Papers^ Dom., cxx, 54. Elizabeth 171 trial.i As the knowledge of these and other stories spread, one does not wonder at the massacres of Smerwick and Con- naught ; it is only a matter for surprise that any Spanish prisoner received quarter. It was a usual clause in a charter-party that a merchant- man should carry ordnance and small arms. In the peaceful Bordeaux fleet of 1593, the three largest vessels carried from 17 to 21 guns, and all the others have from 3 to 16 pieces of various sizes. Owners whose vessels had escaped the perils of the voyage had to be prepared for trickery at home. Ac- cusations of dishonesty were general against the officers of the customs ; ' they alter their books leaving out and putting in what pleases them ' ; the wages of the waiters were ;^I2, i6s a year, but some of them kept large establishments, the officers were said to attend about two-and-a-half hours daily, and the chief ones seldom came at all. These latter, says the writer, appointed clerks who grew rich the same way, and these again took under clerks who made a living out of the merchants ; the chief posts were sold at high prices, while, in the country, the Queen was defrauded of half the customs.'^ Another person, writing to Robert Cecil in 1594, says ' there has been transported out of Rye within twelve months not less than ;^ 1 0,000 of prohibited wares. The customs officers not only connive but help.'^ Other examples might be cited to show that there had not been much improvement in these years, although the service had been re-organised in 1586 when the Customer, Sir Thos. Smith, who farmed some of the imposts, had been compelled to disgorge a portion of his profits. The revenue from the customs was ;^24,ooo in 1586, in 1590 ;!f5o,ooo, and ;^i 27,000 in 1603. If the merchant escaped the extortions of the custom house he might find that persons of the highest rank did not disdain to avail themselves of the organised chicane of the law. In 1586 Leicester sent a cargo to Barbary, and in the return lading, the factor thought it safer, on account of pirates and other enemies, to mark all his employers' goods with Leicester's mark. On the arrival of the ship Elizabeth's favourite claimed the whole cargo and, the law being on his side, the owners were compelled to com- pound with him for their own property.^ There are more detailed lists of merchant ships for theRetiirnsof period under review than for any other reign. By these lists, ^^'seamo^^^ equivalent to a return of vessels now built to Admiralty re- quirements, the government knew, from time to time, how many ships could be relied on as fighting auxiliaries and how many could be used as tenders and transports. They also enabled the Council to judge whether the measures taken for 1 Lansd. MSS. 142, f. 182. 2 state Papers^ Dom., cli, 6 (1581). ^ Ibid., ccxlviii, 80. * Mal3me, Lex Mercatoria p. 200, (ed. 1622). 172 The Administration of the Royal Navy the protection and encouragement of native shipping were successful. The first of these returns is for March 1560 and is incomplete since there is no entry for such a port as Bristol, and Somerset and the Welsh counties are also omitted : — ^ London Saltash Fowey Northam Plymouth Salcombe Dartmouth Cockington Kingswear Southampton Christchurch Sandwich Brightlingsea Walderswick Southwold Cley Wells Grimsby Scarborough Hull Newcastle Chester Tons 100 I I I 2 I I I 2 I I 4 12 I Tons 120 2 I I I 2 I I Tons 140 6 I I 3 Tons 160 4 I I Tons 180 3 Tons 200 2 I I Tons 260 I Tons 300 2 Here there are seventy-six ships and although some towns, such as Southampton, may not have their full com- plement given, there was probably no other port, with the exception of Bristol, possessing vessels of 100 tons or upwards. During the early years of the reign the country was impover- ished and the people little inclined to effort. Mary left the crown deeply indebted and, concurrently with an increase of national expenditure, there was, for the moment, a general decline of commerce, and a shifting of the centres of com- mercial distribution, especially felt by some of the older sea- ports. Yarmouth petitioned in 1559 for relief from payment of the tenths and fifteenths on account of loss of trade ; their harbour had cost them i^iooo a year and was not yet finished, the town walls ;^ioo a year, and the relief of their poor yet another hundred.^ In 1565 Yarmouth had 553 householders ; 7 sea-going ships, of which the largest was 140 tons ; 25 smaller ones, and 81 fishing boats together with 400 seamen.^ Doubtless the burgesses did not minimise their calamities but similar complaints came in from all quarters. Hythe had, from 80 vessels and fishing boats sunk to 8 ; Winchilsea, ' there is at this present none, and the town greatly decayed.' ^ ' State Papers, Dom., xi, 27. 2 Ibid.y viii, 36. Eventually £100 was remitted. ^ Ibid., xxxviii, 8, * Ibid., xxviii. 3. Elizabeth ^n Between 1558 and 1565 Dartmouth owners had lost four and sold eleven ships, and seemingly had no intention of replacing fifteen others worn out by service. The complaints of Chester are chronic in the same sense ; its merchants had lost ;^22,ooo in seven years from piracies and shipwrecks ; and Hull in a shorter period had lost ;^23,ooo from the same causes. The next list, of 1568,^ gives seventy-three vessels of 100 tons or more but from this many important places, such as London, Bristol, Hull, and others are wanting so that it may be assumed that a marked improvement had already com- menced. There are rnany isolated certificates of ships belong- ing to various ports scattered through the State Papers, and from one of them we find that ' Hawkyns of Plymouth ' pos- sessed, in 1570, thirteen of 2040 tons; one of them was of 500 and another of 350 tons. There is a certificate of vessels trading between September 1571 and September 1572,2 which gives eighty- six of 100 tons and upwards, including forty- nine of 6870 tons belonging to London, but this is not a complete list of ships owned in the various ports, but only of those that had been engaged in trade. For February 1577 there is a full return which yields the following results : — ^ London Bristol Chester Newport Chepstow Barnstaple Fowey Looe Plymouth Dartmouth Exmouth We)miouth Poole Southampton \ & Portsmouth Dover Harwich and \ Ipswich ) Woodbridge Orford and j Aldborough ) Walderswick Yarmouth Lynn HuU Newcastle Ton 100 Ton 110 Ton 120 Ton 130 Ton 140 Ton 150 Ton 160 Ton 180 Ton 200 Ton 220 Ton 240 Ton 260 Ton 300 Ton 350 Ton 5CX5 10 I I 2 I I I I 2 I 3 I 2 I I 7 I 3 I 4 2 3 6 6 I I I I I 7 I I I I I 2 3 3 4 I I I 4 2 I I 5 2 I I I 2 3 I I I I — 4 I I I 2 I I I I I » Ifar/. MSS., 168, f. 248. 2 Siaie Papers, Dom., Eliz. Add. xxii. ^ State Papers, Dom., xcvi, p. 267. London is described as, ' The river of Thames wherein is contained Maulden, Colchester, Bricklingsey, Lee, Feversham, Rochester, and the creekes belonging.' 174 The Administration of the Royal Navy The total is 135 and the report says that there are 656 more between 40 and 100 tons besides 'an infinite number' of small barks. Yet this return can hardly be complete as it does not correspond, in many instances, with the tonnage measurements of a list of March 1576 which is a schedule of such vessels built since 1571.^ This list is of value as showing the rapid progress now being made in the construction of comparatively large vessels, a progress which could only be the result of a demand caused by increasing trade : — London Lee Exmouth Kingsbridge Bristol Plymouth Hull Newcastle Southwold Cley Yarmouth Orwell Chester Ipswich Looe Fowey Aldborough Harwich Wells Tons 100 Tons 120 Tons no Tons 140 Tons 150 Tons 160 Tons 170 Tons 180 Tons 200 Tons 240 Tons 260 I 2 3 I I 2 2 I 3 2 I 2 3 I I I I I 2 I I I I I I I I I I I I I 2 I I I 2 In the year ending with Easter 1581 there were 413 English ships, of 20 tons and upwards ' coming from ports beyond seas ' and discharging in London, but no doubt many of the smaller of these, making short voyages, were reckoned more than once. The authorities encouraged merchants and shipowners not only by legislation but with that personal interest to which the human heart responds more promptly than to legal enact- ments however profitable the latter may promise to be. When the Levant Company was founded its promoters were called before the Council, thanked and praised for building ships of suitable tonnage for the trade, and urged to go forward ' for the kingdom's sake.' The Levant Company returned at first 300% profit to its shareholders but in the sixteenth century ' the kingdom's sake ' was a factor, always more or less present, in the action of the merchant class, nor was the commendation of the lords of the Council considered a matter of small importance. In a national as well as in a private sense it was fortunate that most of these chartered Companies were or- iginally successful. The next certificate is of 1 582 and gives : — ' State Papers, Dom., cvii, * Ibid., clvi, 45, Elizabeth 175 London Harwich Lee Cley Wiveton Blakeney Lynn Yarmouth Wells Aldborough Ipswich Southampton Bristol Hull Newcastle Poole Topsham Southwold Orford Fowey Exmouth Kenton Cockington Northam Weymouth Ton 100 Ton no Ton 120 Ton 130 Ton 140 Ton 150 Ton 160 Ton 1 80 Ton 200 Ton 220 Ton 240 Ton 250 Ton 300 Ton 500 Between 80 and 100 10 6 2 4 I I 3 4 8 3 2 2 I 2 I 5 2 I II 3 2 I 2 3 I I I 7 2 2 I 2 14 I I I I 2 6 I I I I I I I 3 I 6 I 3 I I I 3 I I 2 2 I 2 I I I I I 3 I I I I I I 23 I 2 I 2 2 I 2 3 4 6 2 2 7 8 I 2 I The number of vessels of 100 tons and upwards is therefore 177, a very respectable increase from 1577, allowing for wrecks and other sources of loss. Besides the 70 vessels between 80 and 100 tons there are 1383 measuring from 20 to 80 tons. Another return, a year later, is made out on the same system as regards division of tonnage, but by counties ; it will be observed that the results do not al- together coincide : — ^ London Essex Norfolk Suffolk Cornwall Yorkshire North Parts Lincolnshire Sussex Devonshire u> v-a a UTS S2 - s s j: rt S ■f a ° « g u ■JT^ /-. 2 g< n"2 «^« 62 25 44 9 40 145 16 80 145 27 14 60 3 2 65 II 8 36 17 I 121 5 — 20 — 65 7 3 I 109 i-rt-H H% Hl^ * g 2 & m°°2 l°- Dorsetshire 9 12 51 Bristol 9 12 327 Isle of Wight — 29 Southampton 8 7 47 Kent — — 95 Cinque Ports — — 220 Cumberland — 12 Gloucestershire — — 29 Lancaster 1 and Chester ) 72 There is a certificate, said to be of 1588,^ but it bears too close a resemblance to the Harleian MS. to be considered trustworthy. The 1582 list and the Harleian MS. differ 1 Harl. MSS. 4228, f., 45. 2 Cott. MSS., Otho. E. IX, f. 162. 176 The Administration of the Royal Navy- somewhat but they are sufficiently alike in classification and totals to show that they belong to nearly the same period ; the Cottonian MS. is the same in form and almost exactly the same in results, and must be wrongly dated. There is no other list of ships belonging to this reign, but there are occa- sional references which show that the subject was not neglected. For February 1589 there is a note of large merchantmen at sea during that month ; thirteen of 2940 tons are * in the Straights,' five in ' Barbaria ' and three bound there, five for Bordeaux, eleven for Middleburgh, and six at sea * adventur- ing.' ^ The total tonnage is 7220. Evidently the government was kept well informed of the position of the trading vessels it might possibly require for transport or warfare. Notwith- standing the various encouragements to native owners the foreign carrying trade was by no means destroyed for, in the year ending September 1596, no fewer than 646 'strangers' ships ' came to London.^ In Jan. [597 there were 197 vessels entered inwards at London ; two were from Stade, two from Tripoli, one from Venice, six from Spain, twenty-six from Bordeaux, ten from Dantzic, three from Hamburg, one from Scotland, and most of the others from the Low Countries.^ With the certificates of ships there was sometimes a return of the men available to man them. It has been noticed that there was seldom much difficulty in obtaining crews, and the table below points to a growth of the maritime population commensurate with the increase of shipping : — Cornwall ■ 1560-' 1565-6= 1570° 1582' 1703 1064 1918 Devon 1268 — 12648 2165 Dorset 255 347 318 645 Hampshire 296 167 342 470 Sussex 400 — 321 513 Cinque Ports 396 1024 — 952 Essex 565 1549 385 693 Suffolk 41S 1 161 1156 1282 Norfolk 178 975 1112 1670 Lincolnshire 229 234 — 449 Kent — — 243 Yorkshire 542 — 505 878 Cheshire » 135 — 324 Gloucestershire 203 — — 220 Pembrokeshire 392 — — — Northumberland 37 — — 851 Somerset — 63 512 London and ) River of Thames ) — — 2286"' Cumberland — — — 212 ' State Papers, Dom., ccxxii. 57. "^ Lansd. MSS. 8 1, f. 88, ' State Papers, Dom., cclxii, 21. * Ibid., xi, 27. This is a return of 'mariners and sailors' only, and does not include fishermen. London is omitted, and from the numbers, e.g., Norfolk 178, I Elizabeth 177 The certificate from which the last column is taken shows that in 1582 there were 1488 masters, 11,515 seamen, 2299 fishermen, and 957 London watermen available for service. A fleet of 24 Queen's ships required about 3700 seamen ; an auxiliary fleet of 24 armed merchantmen about 3000, so that except when exposed to the strain of a year like 1588 the resources of the country in men were fully equal to any de- mand likely to be made upon them. During the reign of Elizabeth piracy appears to have Piracy and almost attained the dignity of a recognised profession, and some notice of its extent is necessary to enable us to recognise the difficulties amid which commerce was extending. In 1563 there were some 400 known pirates in the four seas; and men of good family, who subsequently acquired official rank in the royal service — Champernounes, Killigrews, Careys, Horseys, and Oglanders — had made their earliest bids for fortune as Channel rovers. Occasionally, when an important personage was inconvenienced, a spasmodic eflbrt was made and dire punishment followed. In 1573, the Earl of Wor- cester, while travelling to France as the bearer of a christening present from Elizabeth to the infant daughter of Charles IX, was attacked between Dover and Boulogne and, although he saved the gold salver he was entrusted with, eleven or twelve of his attendants were killed and wounded and property stolen to the value of ^^500. This led to steps that resulted in the capture of some hundreds of pirates, but only three were hanged. On the whole, Elizabeth made fewer efforts to deal with the evil than either her sister or brother did ; sometimes ships were sent to sea for the purpose but there were no continuous endeavours such as they made. And although pirates were frequently taken few were executed, and their aiders and abettors on shore, a class that included merchants, country squires, and government officials, were always let off with a fine. In truth the English rover was more than half patriot ; if he injured English commerce he did infinitely more hurt to that of France and Spain, and he only differed in degree from the semi-trading, semi-marauding expeditions on a large scale, in which the Queen herself took a share, and for which she lent her shi ps. At first Elizabeth sent out even fewer ships than her predecessors had commissioned to clear the Channel; she tried, as usual, to make those principally interested do the Northumberland (with Newcastle) 37, is probably only of men at that time ashore. *3id.,xxxvm, 8, 9, 14, 23, 28,; xxxix, 17. This is also incomplete but in- cludes fishermen. ^ Jlid., Ixxi, 74 I ; Ixxiii, 1 5 I, 48. ' /did., clvi, 45. Includes seamen, fishermen, and masters of ships. • And 311 at sea. ^ Including^ Liverpool. "" Including 957 watermen. M 178 The Administration of the Royal Navy work of the crown. Commissions were granted to merchants to equip vessels to catch pirates, their reward taking the form of a permission to recoup themselves out of captured cargo. But even if pirate plunder was recaptured the owners were little better off as the men were commonly serving * for the spoyle onely without any wagies allowed them by hir Hignes,' and the spoil seldom covered their wages. In 1574 both Hull and Bristol were authorised to equip ships at their own expense to deal with the scourge, and as late as 1600 peti- tioners were cynically informed that Royal ships could not be spared for convoy duty and that the merchants interested should get together ten or twelve vessels ' by voluntary con- tributions from subjects,' 1 Proclamation followed proclama- tion without effect and it was not until 1577 that a really serious attempt was made to crush the freebooters ; Palmer and Holstock were sent to sea with a squadron, and search- ing inquiries were instituted to ascertain the persons who dealt with them ashore and helped them. Southampton was a flourishing centre ; not only did the mayor release captured men, but there were brokers in the town who made a business of negotiation between owners and pirates for the return of ships and merchandise taken by the latter.^ Among the persons fined for dealing with pirates we find the mayor of Dartmouth, the lieutenant of Portsmouth, the deputy searcher of the customs there; the deputy of the Vice- Admiral of Bristol trading with them and taking bills from them,^ the sheriff of Glamorganshire, and Wm. Wynter, a relative of the Surveyor of the Navy. Wm. Hawkyns, brother of the Navy Treasurer, and Rich. Grenville, the famous captain of the Revenge, were both up before the Council for piracy.^ A well-known pirate, Atkinson, escaped from Exeter gaol, it was supposed with the connivance of the mayor ; the mayor accused the sergeant of the Admiralty, and the evidence seems to show that they were both involved. Sometimes a pirate cargo must have been very valuable ; one was made up of 434 ' elephants' teeth,' cochineal, wine, and ' Spanish aquavitse.' If in need of supplies the pirate captain could always reckon on sympathy and assistance ashore, and Cardiff was a recognised headquarters where necessaries could be obtained. If caught by weather and in distress he could usually rely on local help. One vessel, being driven ashore, was deserted by her crew, a proceeding which, if due to fear, was unnecessarily hasty. A local magnate, Sir Rich. Rogers, got assistance, refloated the vessel, and restored her to the ' State Papers^ Dom.y cclxxiv, Feb. * State Papers, Foreign, 29th Dec. 1568, and Ibid. 1573.1279. ' ' Releasing them for bribes and billes of dette.' * Acts of the Privy Council, 29th April 1576. Elizabeth 179 captain, accepting a tun of wine and a chest of sugar in ac- knowledgment.^ Yet the government dealt tenderly with these men. Of the many names of pirate captains continually recurring in the Elizabethan papers there is not one known to have been executed although some were captured. In 1584 it was said that 'wee and the French are most infamous for our outrageous, common, and daily piracies,' and naturally the State Papers are full of petitions for redress and compensation, and with commissions of inquiry issued to the various local authorities. Claim and counterclaim from Englishman, Scotchman, Frenchman, Dane, and Hamburger, follow in endless confusion. In 1586 a correspondent wrote to Burghley . . . ' being at St Malo last month he heard that sixteen of their ships had been rifled or taken by Englishmen , . . . and that their hatred of the English was such that our merchants dared not walk about in public .... men in authority to recover their unthriftiness sell their lands, buy ships, and command the captain and company not to return without assurance of a very great sum.' - On the other hand, Bristol, in 1574, had formally complained of St Malo in that ' by common consent ' they had set forth seven vessels to prey upon Br-istol commerce. The court of Admiralty had granted Bristol merchants permission to seize St Malo ships and goods, which perhaps explains the letter to Burghley just quoted.^ In 1584 the French ambassador stated that in the preceding two years English pirates had plundered Frenchmen of merchandise to the value of 200,000 crowns ; the only answer given was the general statement that Englishmen had lost more by French pirates. There is a list, 47 pages long, of piracies committed by the English on Portuguese subjects alone. Between 1564 and 1586 Englishmen had spoiled the Scotch — who were said to ' take it unkindly ' — of goods valued at £20,717, and restitution had been made to the amount of ;!^3483. But between 158 1-5, the Scotch had plundered the English to the sum of £^26^, and had restored only ;!f 140 ; from this proportion it may be concluded that the Scot was more successful than the Frenchman in adapting himself to the fashionable pursuit of the time.* Nor were the injured persons exposed only to the loss of their property. A Bayonne ship was captured by a Bristol privateer in 1591 and the owners came to England to obtain redress, but after vainly expending 500 crowns they were, * fain to leave off their suit and return to France and save their lives.' But the Englishman did not fare better in France. In 1572 the ' State Papers, Dom., cxxxv, p. 240. "^ State Papers, Dom. Add., xxix, 1 26. ' Lansd. MSS., 148, f. 13. * Add. MSS., 1 1405, ff. 91, 103. i8o The Administration of the Royal Navy Pelican of London, belonging to alderman Wm. Bond and others, was seized by French pirates, the master and crew, twenty-three in number, murdered, and goods valued at ;£"4000 taken with her. The thieves and the receivers were both well known and the owners commenced a suit in the parliament of Brittany; but after fruitlessly expending iJ"iooo prefer to ' leave all in the hands of God rather than prosecute any more suits in France.' ^ Frequently there was little dis- guise about ownership. In 1580 three Hamburg merchants petition that their ships were despoiled by 'one called the Henry Seckforde whereof is owner, Henry Seckforde, Esq., one of the gentlemen of your Majesty's privy chamber.' 2 If business at sea was languishing, the pirate did not disdain to vary his methods ; some Dunkirkers planned, and nearly suc- ceeded in carrying out, the abduction of Sir John Spencer, known as ' rich Spencer ' on his way to his country house at Islington. Occasionally, but very rarely, the pirate changed his allegiance. Nicholas Franklin deposes : — ^ ' A year ago was with Captain Elliott when they took a flyboat of which captain ElUot made a man-of-war : they went to Helford in Cornwall and brought in a Dieppe prize .... John Killigrew, captain of the castle there, warned them to be off as he was expecting the Cra7ie one of the Queen's ships ; thereupon Elliott gave him nine bolts of Holland cloth and a chest and they sailed to Cork .... thence back to the Channel and took four Scotch and Irish ships, thence to the Isles of Bayonne.' * Here they met some Spaniards, and his crew wanted to fight, but Elliot and his officers drew their swords and forced the men to surrender. Elliot was given the command of a Spanish galleon and, from another paper, it appears that he was afterwards the cause of some Englishmen being racked. If letters of marque were given they only faintly veiled the real character of the proceedings. In 1586 letters of re- prisal were granted to Diggory Piper in the Sweepstakes of London, an appropriate name for a privateer. He was author- ised to attack Spanish and Portuguese ships ; he commenced with some Flemings, continued with two French traders, and finished with a Dane having goods worth ^3000 on board.^ In view of the fact that at various times letters of reprisal to the amount of ;^ 140,000 were issued to only a few places,^ the amount of unlicensed robbery done under cover of such letters can be imperfectly imagined. Sometimes the proceedings were straightforward enough and, as an illustration of their 1 Lansd. MSS. 148, f. i and State Papers^ Dom., cv, 18. * State Papers, Dom., cxxxix, 54. In 1603 these owners were still patiently petitioning James I. ^ State Papers, Dotn., cclxv, 13. * Near Vigo. ^ Ihid.^ cxci, 7. * Lansd. MSS., 11$, i. 196. Elizabeth i8i manner of dealing with Spanish ships and the privateersman's contempt for odds, a relation of one of these encounters is given subsequently.! In 1579 the stores, such as canvas, cordage, masts, anchors, stores. etc., at Deptford and on board the ships were valued at ;^8ooo, and it was only considered necessary to replenish the stock up to ;^ 1 4,000.2 Pqj. some time whatever was used in any given year was replaced the following year ; thus stores to ^1662, us 8d and ;^83i, us id were used in 1580 and 1581, and were ordered to be made good in 1581 and 1582. The heavy expenses caused by the war upset this arrangement, and in 1589 we find a payment of £Sg2i, 8s 8d for the balance, still owing, of stores bought in 1587. In 1602 there were at Deptford, 551 cables and hawsers, 26 bolts of canvas, 45 masts and 660 spars, 31,220 ft. of timber, 36 barrels of pitch and tar, besides compasses, flags, etc. Chatham had only 10 cables but 54 bolts of canvas, 124 masts and 1076 spars ; Woolwich had timber only.^ Masts were obtained from the Baltic and varied in length from twelve to thirty- four yards, the latter size being twenty-eight hands in cir- cumference at the partners, and eighteen and two-thirds at the top end. Anything under six hands at the partners was accounted a spar.^ In 1588 masts of twenty -nine and thirty yards were £26, and ^31. In the year of Elizabeth's ac- cession Dantzic cordage cost ^^13, 6s 8d a ton. Subsequently cables were chiefly purchased from the Russia Company and went up in price until in 1597 Russian cordage ' of perfect good stuff' was costing ;^23, los a ton.^ For the heaviest anchors the rule was to give a half inch in the circumference of the cable for every foot of beam ; a ship with thirty-eight feet of beam would therefore have some cables nineteen inches in circumference. The length was 100 fathoms, and the weight of one fourteen inches round was 34 cwt. 3 qrs. 14 lbs. in white, and 43 cwt. 35 lbs. tarred. A large number of cables, cablettes and hawsers were carried. Although in the preceding table on p. 124 the Merhonour^ like the other big ships, is allowed seven cables, there were ordered for her in 1589, two of 18 inches circumference weighing five tons ; four of 17 inches weighing nine tons ; two of 16 inches weighing four tons ; and one of 12 inches weighing one ton and a quarter.^ Until about 1585 the custom of the principal Officers themselves to sell the Queen minor stores, such as canvas, tar, etc., if it excited comment or suspicion, does not seem to have been stopped ; from Burghley's notes on the subject it ' Appendix D. * State Papers, Dom., cxxxiii, 7. ^ State Papers, Dom., cclxxxvi, II. ^ Harl MSS., 253, f. 10. * Ibid., 253, f. 18, and Exch. War. for Issues, 17th Dec. 1597. ® State Papers, Dom., ccxxviii, i. 1 82 The Administration of the Royal Navy- appears from that time to have been no longer allowed.^ Nevertheless in 1589 Hawkyns and Borough were accused of still selling to the crown through third persons, but the force of the charge is vitiated by the usual proposal of the informer, that he should act as an inspector of canvas, of course with a salary .2 The heaviest anchor made was of 30 cwt, but they were usually much smaller ; the Merhonour had one of 25 cwt., four of 22 cwt, three of 20 cwt, and one of 12 cwt.^ The price of these was £\ los per cwt as against £\ 2s in the beginning of the reign. The following is an abstract of the prices of other stores but there were many different qualities in each article which explains large variations in the price : — o r -l\ Polldavy (1558) 40s a bolt English Midrenex (1569) 28s a bolt British* do. (1569) 33s 4d a bolt British do. (1581) 28s a bolt English do. (1581) 30s a bolt Ipswich canvas (1590) 29s a bolt Compass and straight 1 (I567)8sand Oak and elm ) 9s a ton Oak (1587) iSsaload Elm (1594) 15s a load Oak knee (1594) 20s a load do. (1598) 22s to 27s a load Spanish Iron (1567) £1}, a ton English do. do. £\o a ton Spanish do. (1572)^14 a ton Rosin (1567) /8 a ton do. (1590) £% a ton Tar (1567) j^4 and £(;) a last * do. (1592) £b a last do. (1598) ;^8 a last Train oil (1567) £\i, los&;^i4aton do. (1587) ;^20 a ton do. (1590) £\T 2> ton j 12 inch (1571) IS per 100 3 <^ 36 inch (1571) 3s per 100 u I 36 inch (1590) 4s 6d per 100 Men on deck were sheltered by waistcloths of canvas above the bulwarks which were painted in oil colours ; the Merhonour required 542 yards. Sometimes the waistcloths were used for the forecastle and poop while the waist itself was protected by nettings.^ Men-of-war alone seem to have been entitled to wear a flag at the main, ' the earl's ship after the taking of the carrack very undutifully bore his flag in the main top which no subject's ship ought to presume to do.' The St George's cross was generally used; the flag shown on the ensign staff" of the Elizabethan man-of-war is of green and white, the Tudor colours, and is one that was in common use during the sixteenth century. In 1592 the Levant Com- pany was permitted to use ' the armes of Englande with the redd crosse in white over the same as heretofore they used.' ' Representations of saints on flags had ceased but other » Cott. MSS., Otho E., VIII, f. 169 2 la^isj^^ MSS., 61, f. 184. ^ State Papers^ Dont., ccx.xvii, I. * Breton. * The last was of 12 barrels of 31^ gallons (old measure). * State Papers, Dom., ccxx. Stow says that Hawkyns introduced nettings. They went out of use for a time. ' Harl. MSS. 306, f. 68. Elizabeth 183 emblems were still in use ; falcons, lions, the royal arms, and * her Maiesties badges in silver and gold,' are mentioned. We have ' sarcenets of divers colours ' for ensigns, red and blue say for banners, red say for streamers, and red and white cloth for flags,^ The Cadiz fleet of 1596 had four large flags, one white, one orange tawney, one blue, and one crimson, ' which were appointed to be so made for the distinguishing of the four squadrons of the flete.' ^ This appears to have been the earliest distinction of squadrons by flags, afterwards shown by the red, white, and blue. The salute to the flag was upheld under circumstances where it might have been more diplomatic to escape the necessity of claiming it. When Anne of Austria was expected to travel by sea to Spain to marry Philip, De Guaras wrote, * although it is quite incred- ible it is generally affirmed that when our fleet passes, the English fleet will force it to salute. This absurdity sounds like a joke but it is asserted by persons of weight who assure us that the admiral bears orders to do all manner of wonder- ful things if our fleet does not salute.' It is said, however, that they had to salute. It speaks sufficiently for the courage of the Elizabethan sailor that during the whole of the reign only two English men-of-war were captured by Spain, and then only after desperate fighting against overwhelming superiority of force.^ It speaks equally well for his seamanship afloat and the skill and good workmanship of shipwrights ashore that, with the exception of the small Lion's Whelp, no dockyard built ship was lost by stress of weather, by fire, or by running aground. During the same years, and sometimes during the same gales, that the English ships weathered successfully, whole Spanish fleets foundered at sea. ' Pipe Office Accounts^ 22lo, 2212. ^ JUd,^ 2232. ' 'Y\iQ Jesus of Lube ck and the Revenge. JAMES I 1603-1625 onheN^^?'' On 24th March 1603 the weapon forged by Henry VIII, and wielded by Elizabeth, fell into the feeble hand of James Stewart. Elizabeth left England supreme at sea ; the Royal Navy bequeathed by the Queen to her successor was by far the finest fleet of men-of-war then afloat, for it was not until the close of the sixteenth century that Spain and Holland commenced to build ships for purely fighting purposes ^ The men who manned it were renowned for hardihood, daring, and smart seamanship ; and its organisation as controlled by the great seamen of her reign was more efficient and smoother in its working than any other of the departments of state.^ Even in 1558 the days were in reality long past when Spanish fleets were to be feared, and when the Bay of Biscay could be proudly called ' the Spanish Sea ' ; but it was due to Eliza- beth's sagacity that the weapon which was to slay the Goliath threatening European civilisation was at once recognised and unhesitatingly used. Until 1558 the supremacy even of the Channel, often hardly contested, had been only occasionally gained. Elizabeth was the first of English sovereigns through- out the whole of whose reign the national flag flew supreme and triumphant in the English Channel. That she was aided by the legacy of a fleet, by the helplessness of France, by changing economic conditions at home, by the revolt of the United Provinces abroad, and possibly by the wisdom of far- seeing advisers, may have made her task easier, but these things do not detract from the praise due to her discern- ment. The student, perhaps too often reasoning with a knowledge of results, may sometimes feel anger with Eliza- > Ralegh, Discourse of Ships ; Monson, Naval Tracts ; Duro, Disq. Nauticas. - Monson says that in 1599 a fleet was prepared for sea in twelve days, and 'the Queen was never more dreaded abroad for anything she ever did.' James I . 185 beth but hardly contempt. James arouses no qualification of emotion. He commenced his reign with a fleet ' fit to go anywhere and do anything ; ' he allowed it to crumble away while spending on it more money during peace than Eliza- beth did during war ; he chose the most unfit men to manage it at home and command it abroad, and the results of his weak and purposeless rule were seen in the shameful fiasco of 1625 and the degradation of English prestige. Had not Buckingham reorganised the Admiralty in 1618 there would shortly have been no Navy to rouse the jealousy of foreign powers. The Regency of 1423 deliberately destroyed the Navy either from ignorance or from motives now unknown ; James followed the same course with the best intentions and could doubtless have justified all his actions in choice Latinity. It will be seen that he took an even keener personal interest in the Navy than did Elizabeth, but the lack of controlling capacity so disastrously shown in other affairs was equally fatal to naval administration. The naval records of his reign are but a sorry collection of relations of frauds, embezzlements, commissions of inquiry, and feeble palliatives. The first wish of the new monarch was to obtain peace with Spain, a desire for which modern historians have unani- mously praised him, although it may be at least a matter for debate whether the continuance of war until Spain was bled to death would not have been ethically justifiable, politically expedient, and commercially profitable. On 23rd June 1603, a proclamation was issued recalling all vessels which had been sent out with hostile intent, and thus ending the lucra- tive privateering speculations which, when undertaken on a small scale, had so long provided occupation and profit for English sailors and merchants. The last important prize taken by the Queen's ships was the St Valentine, a Portuguese carrack captured by Sir R. Leveson in 1602, and its cargo was sold in 1604 for upwards of ;^26,ooo.^ The improvements in construction that marked the close ^upbuilding, of the sixteenth century have already been noticed and first, among these may be placed the increase in length and decrease in height above water attributed to Sir John Hawkyns. But the greater demand for faster and more sea- worthy ships had not produced models satisfactory to the more critical experts of this generation. Shipbuilding was not yet a science and seemed in some respects to have even retrograded from the standard of the last years of Henry Vni. The subsequent tendency to overload ships, however small, with towering poop and forecastle structures, although 1 Add.MSS. 5752, f. 136. 1 86 The Administration of the Royal Navy- it can be explained by the necessity for providing increased accommodation, can scarcely be considered an improvement on the earlier type. Captain George Waymouth, who ap- pears to have been considered an authority on the theory and practice of shipbuilding and navigation, and who was several times called to report independently on the workmanship dis- played on the royal ships, was very severe on his professional contemporaries, and writes that he 'Yet could never see two ships builded of the like proportion by the best and most skilful shipwrights though they have many times under- taken the same . . . because they trust rather to their judgment than their art, and to their eye than their scale and compass.' ' He says that they are too high out of the water, crank, and cannot carry their canvas or work their guns in a seaway ; that they will not steer, and sometimes ' their sides are not of equal proportion the one to the other,' Waymouth, among other improvements, suggested a turret on the upper deck, moving on swivel and armed with ' murtherers.' In another paper he says that ' the shipwrights of England and Christen- dom build ships only by uncertain and traditional precepts and by deceiving aim of their eye,' and the resulting vessels, ' cannot bear sail nor steer readily ... for want of art in proportioning of the mould and fitting of the masts and tackling.' ^ It must, however, be borne in mind that for at least a quarter of a century English men-of-war had outsailed their antagonists, had weathered gales and fought actions, just as successfully as though they had been built on the most scien- tific modern principles. Waymouth himself was not success- ful as a commander at sea ; perhaps he knew too much. But he was not alone in his criticisms. Ralegh, in his ' Observa- tions on the Navy,' addressed to Prince Henry, says that there are six principal things required in a man-of-war, viz. : that she should be strongly built, swift, stout-sided, carry out her guns in all weathers, lie-to in a gale easily, and stay well. None of these things did the King's ships do satisfactorily and ' it were also behoofeful that his Majesty's ships were not so overpestered and clogged with great ordnance .... so that much of it serves to no better use but only to labour and overcharge the ship's sides.' As a practical illustration of the shipwrights' loose methods of calculation it may be mentioned that when the Prince Royals the largest vessel of the reign, was built, Phineas Pett and Bright estimated that 775 loads of timber would be required, whereas 1627 loads were actually used, and the general increase in her cost by this error of > Add. MSS. 19889 ; The Jewell of Artes, 1604, f. 135 et seq. 2 Harl. MSS. 309—51. James I 187 judgment was £S9oS} These laments did not lead to any great improvements in construction. Only a few of the vessels were in any way sheathed ; in 1624 Dutch men- of-war could, literally, sail round English ones,^ and their crankness was only imperfectly remedied by furring or gird- ling,^ a method says the writer of the Nomenclator Navalis^ which is * a loss to owners and disgrace to builders and de- serves punishment. . . . In all the world there is not so many furred as in England.' That the advance was slow may be judged from the fact that in 1635 the M er honour oi 1589, and rebuilt in 161 3, was still regarded as one of the fastest sailers in the Navy. The desire for more scientific construction and the growing importance of the shipbuilding industry may however be inferred from the incorporation of the Shipwrights' Company in 1605. The association had ex- isted as a fraternity from, at least, the fifteenth century, and was now of sufficient consequence to obtain a charter. An onlooker ^ said that the English were ' good sailors THe seamen, and better pirates.' Whatever their quality as seamen, or however doubtful their maritime morality, no greater care was taken now to preserve their health or improve their morals than had formerly been the case. It is true that the first article in every commission laid stress on the perform- ance of divine service at least twice a day, while the singing of psalms at a change of watch was an old custom, but such humanising details as the punctual payment of wages,^ a supply of eatable provisions, hospitals for the sick, and suit- able clothes, had not yet recommended themselves to the authorities as modes either of obtaining men or of keeping them in the service. Ralegh writes, ' They go with as great a grudging to serve in his Majesty's ships as if it were to be slaves in the galleys.' James I made no use of the Navy beyond fitting out the Algiers expedition of 1620, and com- missioning a few ships, year by year, to serve in the narrow seas ; but for these few vessels it was found equally difficult to obtain men and to retain them when caught, now that the incitements of Spanish prizes were wanting, while the mor- tality afloat was equal to that of the worst days of Elizabeth. The only occasion when a large number of men were required was for the fleet preparing in 1625, before the death of James, and then the Navy Commissioners wrote to Buckingham that ' the pressed men run away as fast as we send them down.' ^ Captain Christian of the Bonaventure, almost a new ship, serv- 1 Add. MSS. 9294, Nov. 1610. 2 State Papers, Dom.,Jas. /., cl, 83, 84. ^ Whole or partial external double planking. * Harl. MSS. 2301. ^ Paul Hentzner. ^ On 20th July 1613 a warrant was issued to pay wages owing since 1608. ' Add. MSS. 9302, f. 9. 1 88 The Administration of the Royal Navy ing on the east coast, in 1623, wrote of ' the weak, and I may truly say miserable state of this ship . . . of 160 men there are but 70 persons of all sorts that at present is either fit or able to do the least labour in the ship.' ^ There was also a great infection and mortality on board the Garland. Captain Christian complains too of the quality of the men pressed ; ' of all the whole company when they are at the best there are not twenty helmsmen and but three that can heave a lead.' These instances belong to the end of the reign but matters had not changed : they had only continued. In 1608 it was said that ' the navy is for the greatest part manned with aged, impotent, vagrant, lewd, and disorderly companions ; it is become a ragged regiment of common rogues.' 2 In the Algiers fleet one ship put ashore ninety-two sick men at Malaga at one time. A hospital ship, the Goodwill, accom- panied this fleet but she was afterwards * commanded for other purposes ' and the invalids thrust ashore on the cold chanty to be found in a Spanish port. But of course statis- tics of sickness and death are everywhere rarely referred to in comparison with salutes, state visits, and other affairs of personal dignity. Although the sailor was not properly fed and paid even if he behaved well, he suffered sufficiently severe penalties for bad conduct. Flogging was so common that ' some sailors do believe in good earnest that they shall never have a fair wind until the poor boys be duly . . . whipped every Monday morning.' Ducking, keelhauling, tongue-scraping, and tying up with weights hung round the neck ' till heart and back be ready to break' were common punishments. 'These will tame the most rude and savage people in the world,' says Monson. If these punishments were older than Elizabeth they were semi-illegal customs and if connived at were not publicly recognised. They were now part of ordinary discip- line and mark the downward progress of the sailor in self- respect and social estimation. They were easier and cheaper to apply than good government but they bore their Nemesis in the next reign. The old custom of lashing to the bowsprit a sailor who had four times slept on watch, and letting him drown or starve still existed.^ Small wonder that the men 'abhorred' '^ the employment of the crown, and that in 1625 the shipkeepers at Chatham included weavers, barbers, tailors, bakers, shoemakers, etc., ' most of whom had never been to sea.' ^ ' State Papers, Dom., cl, 20. - Ibid., xl, f. 70. ^ A Dialogical Discourse of Maj-ine Affairs, by Nath. Boteler, Harl. MSS. 1341. Partly printed in 1685 but of this period. ■• Ibid. * State Papers, Dam., clxxxii, 29. James I 189 The disorganisation of a service commonly presses most The Adminis- hardly on its weakest members; those of higher rank have NavyiOffioers, usually sufficient influence to preserve their rights or, if un- scrupulous, to help themselves to unlicensed gains in the general scramble. Nottingham was still at the head of the Navy as Lord Admiral, a post he retained till 16 1 8. English- men will always remember him with respect as the com- mander of 1588, but a perusal of the various papers relating to the naval administration of this period compels one to conclude that while always ready to do his duty en grand seigneur, to command fleets, and to accept responsibility and decide when referred to, he took but a fingertip interest in those details of which successful organisation consists, while his implicit confidence in his subordinates was a disastrous weakness. Moreover he was now growing very old and had doubtless lost much of his former clearness of mental vision. During the lifetime of Hawkyns and under the keen super- vision of the Queen and her ministers this neglect mattered little, but from 1596 onwards the conduct of the Navy Office degenerated rapidly. Langford had possessed no authority and Grevill, if weak, had not been Navy Treasurer long enough to do much good or harm, although signs were not wanting during the closing years of Elizabeth's life that the able control that had made the Navy so terrible to England's fo,es was relaxing. But the appointment in 1604^ of Sir Robert Mansell was most unfortunate. Mansell, who was an indiffer- ent seaman and an incapable and dishonest administrator, and whose only claim to the place was his relationship to, and favour with, Nottingham, remained in office until 16 18, and the greater portion of this section is practically a record of his unfitness for his important charge. Under a different Treasurer the other officers might have performed their duty sufficiently well. As it was they fell in with the prevailing spirit Trevor remained Surveyor until 161 1 when he was replaced by Sir Richard Bingley and in the same year Sir Guildford Slingsby succeeded Palmer. In the victualling branch Marmaduke Darell, now a knight, surrendered his former patent and received a fresh one, on i6th August 1603, directed to him and Sir Thomas Bludder. As the fee still remained at its original ;;^50 a year the profit came out of the provisions and was unwillingly provided by the men. In 16 12 this patent was in turn surrendered and replaced by one of 31st January appointing Sir Allen Apsley in conjunction with Darell. By this new patent all the store- houses and other buildings at Tower Hill, the dockyards, and elsewhere were henceforth attached to the department ; hither- 1 Rot. Pat, 26th April. 190 The Administration of the Royal Navy to they had been held by the crown and only lent at pleasure. Marmaduke Darell died in 1622, and a new patent of 8th January 1623 nominated his son Sampson Darell to act with Apsley. There was no change in the victualling rate until 1623, when it reached sevenpence halfpenny and eightpence, for harbour and sea rates respectively. In 161 7, shortly before they were superseded, the functions of the officers were thus defined. The Comptroller's duties were to check the accounts of the Treasurer, and Surveyor of victualling, to inspect stores and storekeepers' books. The Surveyor to inspect ship, wharves, houses, chain, and ships on return from sea, and draw out indents for ships' stores. The Clerk to keep minutes of resolutions and attend the yearly general survey. The Treasurer's duties were financial and in- volved a general superintendence.^ Mansell's delinquencies can be best treated separately, but both he and Nottingham dealt liberally with officers employed at sea or ashore. Nottingham himself obtained in 1609 and 161 1 two pensions from James I, during the supremacy of the Howard faction with the king, amounting together to £2'joo a year ; and it is characteristic of James that the larger of these pensions, of ^^1700 a year, was granted when the com- mission of 1608 was sitting and when its disclosures must have been well known. As though all ranks knew what was coming the festivities commenced with the death of Elizabeth. High festival was held on the ships and the pursers petitioned for an allowance of ;;^200, being the cost of general entertainment given by the captains for a month to all who came on board.^ When Mansell went to sea, he gave himself, as rear-admiral, thirty shillings a day, although Sir Fulke Grevill, when dis- charging the same office in 1599, received only sixteen and eightpence a day. Admirals were appointed for the north, south, east, and west coasts, for the narrow seas, and for Ireland, all at liberal rates of pay. In one year, when only seven ships were in commission, there were three admirals and four vice-admirals serving, ' so that the navy was like an army of generals and colonels.'^ In 1602, with twenty-six vessels at sea the pay of the superior officers was less than during any one of the four or five years before the storm burst on Mansell and Nottingham in 161 8. Again, 'we find .... that these admirals and vice-admirals with their twenty shil- lings and ten shillings per diem, together with the allowance of their retinue and other advantages, are .... so contented on land that they cannot brook the seas and get captains under them as substitutes in their absence.' ^ ' State Papers, Dom., xc, 98. ^ Ibid., xxii, 15. " I6id., cxii, loi. * Ibid. James I 191 Lavish travelling expenses were allowed, and even some of the inferior officers were generously permitted to benefit by the stream of wealth circulating among the higher officials. Worn out ships were put in commission both to use up stores and to provide appointments for the dependants of those in place; the only result being that they lay in harbour as a ' safe sanctuary for loose persons.' The cost of piloting the thirteen ships which took the Princess Elizabeth over to Flushing was ;i^208, and thereon it is remarked that the whole piloting charges for 286 ships during the last five years of Elizabeth did not amount to more. The Comptroller of the Navy, when he went from London to Chatham, charged ^^"9, 9s I id for travelling expenses, and the Surveyor required £ig, i6s for the same journey, ' it being the duty of his place,' the Com- missioners indignantly annotate, while even a deputy took;^8 or £10 when he went. Mansell himself was almost sublime ; he afterwards claimed ;!^ 10,000 for travelling expenses during his term of office.^ New posts -were freely created and equally freely paid. Besides the various admirals who did nothing, there were a captain-general and two vice-admirals of the narrow seas, a storekeeper at Woolwich at i^54, ' while the store not worth forty shillings,' and a surveyor of tonnage whose duty it was to survey merchant ships of 100 tons and upwards claiming the bounty, and who was accused on all sides of em- bezzling half the sums paid by the crown to the merchants. When Mansell resigned, he sent in to the Commissioners of The Adminis- 161 8, only an uncertified abstract of his payments for the pre- Robert "^ ' ceding five years. The Commissioners remarked that ' they ^^"^^^• being noways vouched or subscribed by the officers we can give no satisfaction of the state of his accounts, being only his own assertions,' ^ and the criticism fairly generalises Mansell's system of financial control even where not tainted with abso- lute fraud. Notwithstanding his defiance of the abortive order for inquiry issued in 161 3, and his consequent temporary im- prisonment, he was sufficiently in favour three years later to receive a present of ;^ 10,000 from the king on the occasion of his marriage.^ Proved dishonesty or incapacity barred no one from the favour of James I, provided the culprit was suffi- ciently good-looking or had influential friends; and although the evidence laid before the Commission of 1608 and the Com- missioners' report thereon should have amply sufficed to send Mansell to the Tower, his ascendancy with Nottingham en- abled him to continue in office for a further ten years. Shortly after his appointment he and Sir John Trevor, the Surveyor of the Navy took steps to provide all the requisite stores themselves, thus making large gains on the articles sold ' State Papers, Dom.y cxvi, 86. * Ibid., ciii, 104. * Ibid., Ixxxix, 33. 192 The Administration of the Royal Navy The Adminis- tration :— Abuses and Remedies. by them to the king, and in direct contempt of the rules made by Burleigh twenty years before. Not only was timber ordered three or four times over for the same purpose/ but on that item alone Mansell was accused of making a fraudulent profit of p^SGOO in some four years, and, in conjunction with Sir John Trevor, of obtaining upwards of ;^7000 in the same time by the differences between the prices paid for pitch, tar, masts, etc., and those charged to the crown.^ He, Pett, and Trevor, were joint owners of a ship built of government materials and furnished with government stores, which was hired to the king as a transport to go to Spain when Nottingham went there as ambassador in 1605, and for which the State paid, but 'the same ship was at that time employed in a merchant's voyage and so entered in the custom-house books.^ Hawkyns had introduced the practice of paying over money at once to merchants supplying the various requisites for the Navy on deduction of threepence in the pound, an allowance they were well pleased to make in view of the prompt pay- ment, while he had to wait long for his accounts to be settled. Mansell still deducted the threepence but did not pay. He stopped sixpence a month from the seamen's wages for the Chatham Chest, but ' falls presently into raging passions and pangs when they call for it.' ^ But Mansell was by no means the only one of the superior officers who helped himself out of this fund. Charges of embezzlement, in its crudest form, were made against him in that he certified for more wages than were actually paid — ;!^iooo in one year alone — and that he retained the proceeds of such government stores as were sold.^ It must be remembered that these accusations were not anony- mous attacks, such as were made against Hawkyns, but charges deliberately formulated by a court of inquiry which he never dared to face. It may be truer to say that he was indifferent; it is possible that a portion of his ill-earned fortune went in purchasing immunity. And it is an argument in favour of this view that his dismissal from office did not destroy his in- fluence at court. He was chosen to command the expensive and resultless Algiers expedition of 1620-21, and his subse- quent disgrace was due to causes independent of his failure as a seaman or his dishonesty as an administrator. Norreys, writing to Sir John Coke about the Navy in 1603, says *To say truth the whole body is so corrupted as there is no sound part almost from the head to the foot ; the great ones feed on the less and enforce them to steal both for themselves and 1 State Papers, Dom., xli, f. 17. 2 Ibid., xl, 87. s Cott. MSS., Julius F. Ill, f, 15. * State Papers, Dom., xli, f. 25. See also Bishop Goodman's description of Mansell's temper in Court of King James I, I, 56. * State Papers, Dom., cxii, loi. James I 193 their commanders.' ^ Abuses unknown during the lifetime of Hawkyns had sprung into existence shortly after his death, although they might have been then easily checked had Grevill been succeeded by one determined to destroy them. Delay in paying off ships, to the discontent of the men and extra expense of the government, combinations between cap- tains, pursers, and victuallers to return false musters, and the practice of selling appointments to minor posts were all, according to reliable evidence begun about 1597 or 1598.2 We know that theft was prevalent enough under Elizabeth, but it occurred in the shape of peddling offences, committed by the delinquents at their peril, that the authorities did their best to crush, instead of an organised system in which the latter took the lion's share. Under James 'the chief Officers bear themselves insolently, depending on powerful friends at court;' and 'the shipwrights and others are ordered, commanded, and countermanded in their work by chief Officers who know nothing about it, so that the meanest merchantman is better rigged and canvassed than the royal ships.' The in- solence and ignorance here described speak of conditions very different from those that had obtained under the iron hand of Elizabeth. In 1608 the scandal caused by these and other circumstances was so great as to compel inquiry, whether the determining cause was the contrivance of Sir Robert Cotton or of others. A commission was issued to the Earls of Nottingham and Northampton, Lord Zouch, Sir Ed. Wotton, Sir Julius Caesar, Cotton, and others, of whom only Nottingham was an experienced seaman, and he never at- tended their meetings.^ The sittings of the commission extended from May 1608 until June 1609; they commenced with an ' elegant ' speech from the Earl of Northampton, a voluminous report was compiled, and the only punishment the culprits experienced was that of suffering * an oration ' from James, in which he trusted that the guilty persons would behave better in future, and with that patient and saintly hope the proceedings ended. How some of his hearers must have longed for one hour of the dead Queen. Among the malpractices examined into at some length by the commissioners was the sale and purchase of places, already referred to. Hugh Lidyard was made clerk of the checque at Woolwich by Sir John Trevor, for which he was to pay Trevor * Coke MSS., Cal. Hist. MSS., Com. Report, xii, App., pt. i, 41. - Cott. MSS., Julius F., Ill, ff. 98, 249, 250, 252. ^ The report of the commissioners will be found in State Papers, Dom. Jas. /, xli ; the sworn depositions on which that report was based are preserved in Cott. MSS., Julius F III. The evidence in question is of value for to-day, and may be instructively compared with the reports of the committee of investigation of 1803-5 on the again astonishing condition of naval administration. It is to be hoped that the Navy Records Society will print the Cottonian MS. N 194 The Administration of the Royal Navy ;^20 yearly and a hogshead of wine ; another witness deposed that ' of late years the general way of preferment is by money and few that he knoweth .... come freely to their places.' Pursers paid from £yo to ^^"120 for their posts, boatswains iJ"20, and cooks ^^30. Robert Hooker gave Edward Masters, of Nottingham's household, ;^I30 for the pursership of the Repulse, this he sold for the same amount and bought that of the Quit- tance for j^ioo. His profit he made by victualling the men for sixpence a day, and he admitted that at least ten more men were carried on the books than were on board. Naturally, as promotion went by length of purse, ' the officers put in and keep in whom they list though they be never so unfit, and put out whom they list though never so fit, and woe be to him that taketh exception to any man though he be never so unruly .... it breaketh the hearts of them that are worthy.' It was equally natural that men who had paid heavily for their employments were unscrupulous in recouping themselves. ' The captains being for the most part poor gentlemen did mend their fortunes by combining with the pursers,' who were in league with the victuallers to send in returns of more men than were on board the ships. Boatswains and gunners sold their stores, shipwrights stole timber, and captains sheltered and took bribes from pirates, or turned their vessels into merchantmen to enable owners of goods to evade payment of customs. The Surveyors of victualling were accused of over- charging and of frauds to at least ;{!"4000, in four years. Tie Reorganis- James had every reason to sharply check the waste going ationofieia V ^1 j u^ u- i. 1 /- ^ i.- on, for the crown debt, which was only £400,000 at his acces- sion, had mounted to i^ 1,600,000 in 1608, while the deficit in revenue was ^^70,000 a year.^ But 'an oration' in broad Scotch from the lips of the conceited pedant staggering under the weight of the Tudor crown did not prove an effective method of reform. The old knaveries continued even as though James had not made a speech. In 161 3 Cotton at- tempted, through the intervention of Northampton and Rochester, to obtain another inquiry ; but his efforts failed through the influence of Nottingham and the intrigues of Mansell. In 161 8 the naval administration was worse than ever, and other departments were equally corrupt ; ' the house- hold was one mass of peculation, and extravagance.' 2 Even now Sir Lionel Cranfield, who was the moving spirit in the endeavour to purify the public service, might have failed had not Buckingham himself desired to occupy the post of Lord Admiral. Nottingham at last retired with a gratuity of ;!C3000 and another pension of ;^iooo a year. Mansell was succeeded, ' Gardiner, History of Eng/and, II, II. * Gardiner, History of England, III, 200. James I 195 from the loth May 161 8, by Sir William Russell, a merchant, who paid him for his place and who was wealthy enough to advance subsequently ^^30,000 towards fitting out the Cadiz expedition of 1625.^ It is probable that, from his lack of technical knowledge, Russell's direction, if more honest than Mansell's, would have been as unsuccessful had he been en- trusted with control, but his duties were financial only and con- fined to the keeping of accounts. The other officers were * se- questered from their posts ' and their business entrusted to a board of Navy Commissioners, appointed for five years and responsible to the Lord Admiral. Of the Commissioners, Sir John Coke was the leading spirit and received .2^300 a year ; one was in charge of Chatham, with a salary of ^200 a year ; another, William Burrell, a shipbuilder, was placed at Deptford to supervise all building and repairs, for which he received ;£"300 a year ; and Thomas Norreys acted as Surveyor with ;;^200 a year.2 Immediate benefit was obtained from the reform ; the fleet and dockyards were kept in repair, theft was checked, and two new ships a year were built in five con- secutive years, all for less money than Mansell had squandered in doing nothing efficiently. Buckingham appears, also, to have not only given his subordinates a loyal support but to have been honestly anxious to obtain the best men for the service, and to render officers and sailors contented. The chronic emptiness, however, of the treasury, for which he was largely answerable, made his endeavours in this last direction of less avail. The new Commissioners,^ on entering office, sent in a report J^^ Navy r t r rr • 1 r i • • • i • i Commissioners. of the state of affairs they found existmg m the various naval departments;* all the frauds of 1608 were still flourishing, with some new ones due to the lapse of time. Places were still sold, and at such high prices that the buyers ' profess openly that they cannot live unless they may steal ' ; the cost of the Navy had of late been some ;^5 3,000 a year, 'that could not keep it from decay.' For building a new ship in place of the Bonaventure ;^5700 had been allowed but, al- though ^^1700 had been paid on account of it, no new vessel had been commenced, and though this same ship 'was broken up above seven years past yet the King hath paid £6'i, yearly for keeping her.' Further, ' the Advantage was burnt about five years since and yet keepeth at the charge of ;^I04, 9s 5d ; the Charles was disposed of in Scotland two years since and costeth £60, 1 6s lod for keeping.' For repairing the Mer- 1 State Papers^ Dom., clxxxii, 28. ^ Pipe Office Accounts, 2257, 2259, 2260. ^ The Commissioners acted by Letters Patent of 12th February 1619. They were Sir Lionel Cranfield, Sir Thos. Weston, Sir John Wolstenholme, Sir Thos. Smith, Nicholas Fortescue, John Osborne, Francis Goston, Richard Sutton, Wm. Pitt, Sir John Coke, Thos. Norreys, and Wm. Burrell. * State Papers, Dom., c and ci, 3. 196 The Administration of the Royal Navy honour^ Defiance^ Vanguard, and Dreadnought, ;^23,500 had been paid ' for which eight new ships might have been built as the accounts of the East India Company do prove ; yet all this while the King's ships decayed and if the Merhonour were repaired she was left so imperfect that before her finishing she begins again to decay.' In nine years .^108,000 had been charged for cordage, and the Commissioners express their intention of reducing the expenditure on this item by two-thirds. At a later date some of the Commissioners themselves did not escape suspicion. In 1623 Sir John Coke, still the leading member, wrote to Conway that all went well until the Algiers voyage, but that he then suspected that some of his colleagues were selling their own wares to the government. They, of course, denied the allegation when Coke was frank enough to openly tax them with it, but 'ever since I carried a watch- ful eye over them and employed fit persons to discover their dealings.^ A man like Coke was probably not popular even among those with whom he was associated, still less with the gang whose deceits and illicit gains he had greatly helped to terminate. We may read something of the temper and feelings of the discarded Navy Officers in his appeal for pro- tection against Sir Guilford Slingsby, a year later, who had threatened that, unless he was restored to office by Lady day. Coke should not outlive that date.^ Slingsby was re- appointed Comptroller by Charles I and then again gave evidence of his peculiar qualifications for the exercise of authority over others. But there is no doubt that the ad- ministration of the Commissioners was pure enough compared with that of Mansell. Their failures were due to causes they were unable to deal with, such as want of money and the bad treatment of the men. So far as the latter were concerned the Commissioners did not — and probably had no power to — reverse the disposition to employ landsmen of influence as captains who were out of sympathy with their men and had no care for their feelings or interests. It was in this and the succeeding reign that there grew up that bitter hatred and contempt for gentlemen captains, to which seamen so often gave expression for a century afterwards, and of which traces are to be found in the present century. At the close of their first five years of office the Com- missioners sent in a report of the work done by them.^ They said that whereas they found in 161 8 twenty-three serviceable and ten unserviceable ships, of altogether 15,670 tons, four decayed galleys and four hoys, costing i^5 3,000 a year, they ' State Papers^ Dom., cli, 35. ^ /^/^.^ clx, 43. ' State Papets, Dom., clvl, 12. i James I 197 have now thirty-five serviceable vessels of 19,339 tons, besides the hoys and galleys, and the expense has been little more than ;^30,ooo a year, including the charges for building ten new ships. This last amount does not coincide with those given in Naval ex- the table below, from the Pipe Office Accounts, but that may be from the inclusion in the latter of extraneous expenses, such as the Algiers expedition, considered by the Com- missioners to be outside the range of their comparison : — ^ 1603 Amount received Victualling Sea Charges Total spent Stores Ordinary Extra- ordinary ^■426 1 9 ;^32920 /13247 A2271 — 1604 24000 12469 6248 24002 /9616 ^6789 — 1605 29000 16042 9760 28672 7312 — ;^22493 1606 22100 IOI56 — 18984 — — — 1607 21000 9452 2896 25200 1 1000 5242 19900 1608 38424 I2IO3 6859 36554 — — — 1609 42400 10200 43396 — — — I6I0 36607 10432 — 36358 — — — I6II 42300 8670 3428 40153 25520 8143 3I92I I6I2 34200 8672 3934 33930 — 8867 — I6I3 50355 19625 8814 55987^ 25000 lOIOO 45786 I6I4 48463 15275 7996 56848 — — I6I5 45643 15387 7764 57968 16295 8313 — I6I6 40515 12886 7800 41269 15268 4625 — I6I7 31213 I3716 — 25548 — — — I6I8 — 10465 5165 27489 8000 — — I6I9 31606 6324 32610 2355 5789 — 1620 38300 14680 2960^ 35872 5936 — I62I 54264 23369 2945' 51000 — 10723 — 1622 52385 III43 7765 45450 — I30II* — 1623 59200 23414 24000 62000* — — — 1624 26529 6430 3079 31125 — — — Seamen's wages remained unchanged till the end of the reign when the rate reached fourteen shillings a month, and the pay of the officers was raised in 16 18. Not only was it difficult to keep the men on board the ships, but the ex- pensive and wasteful system of impressment made the even- tual outlay even heavier. In 1624 an estimate was drawn up of the expenses for fitting out a fleet of twelve men-of-war : 3000 men were required, of which number the river was to supply 800 at press and conduct money of 2s 6d a man, the remaining 22CX3 being obtained from ' remote places ' at a cost of eight shillings a man. At their discharge one shilling and seven shillings a man conduct money respectively, for the ' There are few separate dockyard amounts for these years. * Includes ^^4734 for a naval pageant on the Thames at the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth. ^ Exclusive of Algiers fleet jf 6446. * Exclusive of Algiers fleet 2'i7,665. ^ Inclusive of ;!r9667 repairs to Algiers fleet. * A fleet was sent to Spain for Charles, and ;^9ioo, owing from 161 5, paid. 198 The Administration of the Royal Navy river and country districts would again have to be paid. The total estimate for twelve men-of-war for five months, and fifty merchantmen for six months, was £g4,Sy4, a sum which shows the great increase in prices since the days of Elizabeth, and partly explains the rise in the yearly expenditure.^ ^^^y- Piracy, though still a school for seamanship, was no longer the flourishing business it had been under Elizabeth ; the trade, to use a modern phrase, was ' cut up.' Spanish com- merce was almost destroyed in northern latitudes, and the Dutch was well able to protect itself, while new competitors were found in the Mediterranean rovers who hovered round the English coasts and even stretched out into the North Atlantic, and in the fast sailing Dunkirk privateers who swarmed in the Channel. In 1605 Hannibal Vivian wrote from the west country, ' let it not offend you that I inform you from time to time of the piracies and depredations daily committed on this coast.' However repugnant piracy may have been to some of the officials it commended itself still to many natives of the western counties. Out of one pirate crew, thirty-five in number, seventeen belonged to Dartmouth and Kingswear, and the mayor and others of Plymouth were accused of buying the stolen goods and favouring the escape of the men. The government appeared helpless ; if they sent ships to sea the captains ' pretend to pursue, and when well away in some distant port write up that a leak had been sprung, obtain warrants to repair in port, and so remain for the captain's benefit.' Sometimes they even took the pirates' goods on board and sheltered the criminals themselves. If any of the corsairs were caught the general opinion among them that they were only liable ' to a little lazy imprisonment,' was usually justified by results. Ireland was said to be 'the nursery and storehouse of pirates,' ^ for, besides providing its own quota of sea-rovers it offered the hospitality of its ports to those vessels belonging to the Barbary corsairs that re- quired repair.3 In 16 1 6 the weakness of the Crown was shown by a warrant being granted to two London merchants to prepare a ship to go pirate hunting with permission to retain for them- selves three-fourths of the goods seized.^ About this time there was a fleet of thirty Turkish ships in the Atlantic, and another Salleeman had recently been captured in the Thames ;5 between 1609 and 16 16 the Algerines had captured 466 British ships and reduced their crews to slavery,^ and in the latter ' Siaie Papers, Dom., clxxv, 85, 3000 hammocks were to be supplied in this fleet. 2 Coii. MSS., Otho E, VIII, f, 316. ^ /did. * SiaU Papers, Dow., Ixxxvi, loi. ^ /dtd., xc, 24. ^ R. Playfair, TAe Scourge of Christendom, p. 34. James I 199 year Sir Francis Cottington wrote to Buckingham that their strength and boldness exceeded all previous experience. Mansell's voyage of 1620-21 cost at least ;^34,ooo, and pro- bably much more, but ' such was the misgovernment of those ships,' ^ that within a few weeks of his return an Algerine - fleet was at work again in the narrow seas. The inhabitants of Swanage seem to have been especially nervous since they petition for a block-house, ' the Turks being grown exceed- ingly audacious.' Matters grew even worse towards the close of the reign. Some Weymouth merchants desired to fit out ships of their own to deal with the incubus terrorising com- merce, but permission was refused, mainly because it was in- jurious to the Lord Admiral's profits and ' dishonourable to the King.' Others, however, of the Weymouth tradesmen dealt with the robbers, and the local Admiralty officers were supposed to connive at the traffic.^ The Lizard light was objected to because ' it will conduct pirates,' and to most people it will read strangely now that it was forbidden at the instance of the Trinity Corporation. The Newfoundland Company, in asking for assistance, said that since 161 2 damage to the amount of ;^40,ooo had been committed by the marauders, and that over 1000 men had been forced or persuaded to join them.^ One of the free- booters was admiral of a large pirate fleet. In 1624 the Navy Commissioners were desired to certify how many jmen- of-war would be required to clear the southern and western coasts, just as they had often enough before been required to certify ; the process seldom proceeded further. That ' merchantmen dare hardly sail ' was scarcely a con- The Merchant dition of things conducive to commercial enterprise. Piracy ^*'^®" was becoming a more serious drawback than formerly because ships were bigger and more costly, the network of commerce more sensitive and complex, and losses could no longer be recouped by successful privateering on a small scale. Little can be said of the merchant shipping of these years, as the returns of available ships, so frequently occurring among the Elizabethan papers, are entirely absent for this period. But all the notices of trade met with, are invariably characterised by lamentation. The Dutch were said to be obtaining the carrying trade owing to the greater cheapness with which their vessels were built and worked, the difference in their favour being as much as one-third of the English owner's demand for freight. In 1620 it was stated that the number of London-owned ships had fallen to one-half of that of former years, and, as accounting for part of the decrease, we have a certificate for 161 8 of vessels belonging to the river * Monson, Naval Tracts. ^ State Papers, Dom., cli, 21. ^ State Papers, Colonial, March 1620. 200 The Administration of the Royal Navy but lately sold for want of employment.^ The list in question shows an enormous depreciation in value, since none of them could have been very old : — Neptune Paragon Martha Tons Guns Cost Sold for Industry Clement ^ and Job ) Tons Guns Cost Sold for 500 280 250 30 24 20 i 5000 3200 2400 1500 1000 500 350 300 26 24 4500 3600 2000 1000 The building price here almost certainly does not include the cost of ordnance, while it is probable that the sale price does, and it will be noticed that these merchantmen are nearly as strongly armed as men-of-war. Complaints came from all quarters : the Muscovy Company had employment for only two instead of seventeen ships, as in former days, and the Norway trade was ' in pawn to the Dutch ' ; the Levant Company found its trade destroyed by piracy, and still more by the competition of the Dutch, who now sent one hundred ships a year to the Mediterranean. The greater portion of the Newcastle coal traffic was carried on in foreign bottoms ; there were some twenty vessels trading to Spain and Portugal, and fifty or sixty to the North German ports, but in both cases the Dutch trade was now far greater than ours ; and the fisheries in English waters were entirely in the hands of the Hollanders who were reputed to make a profit of ;!^i, 000,000 a year from that which under a stronger sovereign would have been held for England. The Newfoundland and Iceland fisheries, which employed 150 and 120 sail respec- tively, were still chiefly in English hands, but the Greenland, to which fifteen sail were sent, had to face the ubiquitous Dutch competitor.^ During this reign the most flourishing association was the East India Company, although its profits were not so large as were those of its Dutch rival.^ In twenty years it had despatched eighty-six ships, of which eleven had been seized by the Dutch, and fourteen had been wrecked or worn out, and the estimation in which it was held is shown by its being more heavily assessed towards the expenses of the Algiers expedition than was any other company. This association attempted, in 1613, to start iron and shipbuilding works near Cork, but was forced, by the hostility of the natives, to dis- continue the enterprise. The largest merchantman built ' State Papers^ Dam., civ, 65. 2 England's Way to Win Wealth, Lond. 1614, and T/ie Trade's Increase, Lond. 1615. ' The Dutch Company is said to have distributed in twenty-one years, ending with 1622, dividends of 30,000,000 florins on-a capital of some 6,000,000 florins, (Irving, Commerce of India'). James I 201 during the reign of James, the Trade's Increase of 1 100 tons, was constructed for the East India Company. With a smaller ship, the Peppercorn of 250 tons, it was launched in January 16 10, and there are some curious notes by the captain of the Peppercorn describing the event.^ On Satur- day, 30th December the king came down to name the two ships, but every attempt to launch them failed, and continued efforts on the Sunday, * God made fruitless that day.' On 1st Jan. the Peppercorn was launched, and it was only then found that the dockhead was too narrow to let the Trade's Increase pass. On the Wednesday, however, she was got clear and the captain of the Peppercorn complains that 'on this ship was all the Company's pride set ; she was altogether regarded, tended and followed while the other, the Peppercorn was left in manner desolate.' The Trade's Increase was wrecked in 16 13 on her first voyage. The hire of merchant- men taken up for government service was still two shillings a month per ton ; and the bounty of five shillings a ton on new and suitable vessels ceased in 1624, only to be renewed early in the next reign for similar ships. Merchants, generally, were liable to the exactions and dis- honesty of the officials of the Customs department as much as in the previous reign. But by this time the two formerly antagonistic interests seem to have come to a working arrangement. We are told that merchants and the farmers of the customs were now in partnership, and that goods were cleared on payment of little or no duty. The importation or exportation of prohibited wares was only a matter of terms ; and, altogether, the king was frequently defrauded of 75^ of the customs.^ The collection of light dues was placed in the hands of the customs' farmers, and, when a licence to build a lighthouse at Dungeness was granted to Sir Edward Howard in 161 5, they had to receive the one penny a ton payable from all ships passing it. At Winterton there was also another light, and the receipts were ;!^iooo, of which ;^35o went in ex- penses.^ As the Trinity House claimed the control of the coast lights as a part of its privileges, there was a good deal of litigation on the subject during the reign. In the following list^ certain vessels, the Defiance, Dread- The m&vj List, nought, Merhonour, and Repulse have been admitted as rebuilt and new, although it is quite possible that, notwithstanding the large sums spent upon them, they were only more or less badly repaired. 1 Egerton MSS., 2100. 2 State Papers^ Dom., xxii, 22. ^ Ibid.., cxix, I18, I and 121. * State Papers, Dom. Jas. I cxxxiii, 70 ; Ibid., clviii, 54 > Ibid., Chas. I xiii, 56. Pipe Office Accounts ; Add. MSS., 9294 p. 505 ; Ibid., 9295, Pett's Autobiography; Ibid., 9297, p. 359. As usual all these dimensions, especially tonnage, differ some- what in the various papers. 202 The Administration of the Royal Navy No7isuch ' . A ssurance - Speedwell^ Anne Royal ^ Lions Whelp Red Lion * Due Repzdse Prince Royal Phoenix Primrose . Merhonour ® Dreadnought Defiance . Vanguard Seven Stars Convertitie ' Desire Rainbow * . Antelope . Happy Entrance Constant Reformation Victory Garland . Swiftsure . Bonaventure St George . St Andrew Triumph . Mary Rose '3 P3 '3 C 3 P3 §§ 1 a I E .5 ft. ft. ft. — 1603 636 38 88 34 15 — 1603 600 38 95 33 14.6 — 1607 400 — — — — — 1608 800 44 103 37 16 — 1608 90 — — —. — 1609 — 650 38 91 35-2 16 — I6IO 700 40 97 37 15 I6I0 1200 55 115 43-6 18 I6I2 I6I2 I6I2 250 20 70 24 II — 800 44 104 38 17 — I6I2 450 32 84 31 13 — I6I2 700 40 97 37 15 — I6I5 ■ 650 40 102 35 14 I6I5 140 14 60 20 9 I6I6 500 34 — — — I6I6 80 6 66 16 6 — I618 650 40 102 35 ^4. — I618 450 34 92 32 12.6 I6I9 437 582 32 96 32.6 14 I6I9 564 752 42 106 35.6 15 1620 656 875 42 108 35-9 17 1620 512 683 34 93 33 16 I62I 650 887 42 106 36.10 16.8 I62I 506 675 34 98 33 15-8 1622 671 89s 42 no 37 16.6 1622 671 895 42 no 37 16.6 1623 692 922 42 no 37 17 1623 288 394 26 83 27 13 Tbe New Ships. Two other third-rates, the Mercury and Spy, were built in 1620 by Phineas Pett — who went as captain of one of them — for some London merchants to go with the Algiers fleet. By a warrant of August 1622 they were ordered to be taken into the Navy, but their names do not appear in any list of James or Charles. Of the nineteen vessels added to the Navy during Man- sell's term of office two were commenced before his appoint- ment, one was bought, two of the five new ones were mere pinnaces, and of the remainder most were very expensive repairs rather than rebuildings. In 1603 James had resolved to have three ships built, but the Nonsuch and Assurance, both ordered before his accession, were the only quasi new ones. Although no real accessions ' The No7ipareil rebuilt and renamed. - The Hope rebuilt and renamed. These ships were not completed till 1605. * The Swiftsure rebuilt and renamed. * The Ark /Pojca/ rebuilt and renamed. ° The Golden Lion rebuilt and renamed. * For convenience the Merhonour^ Dreadnought^ and Defiaiice are placed under one date, but they were in hand from 1611 till 1614. ' Or Convertive. This was the Destitty built for Sir Walter Ralegh before his last voyage, and afterwards bought or confiscated into the Navy. * The Rainbow and Antelope were in dry dock some three years {^Pipe Office Accounts'). James I 203 were made for some years James took sufficient pride in his fleet to be eager to show it to visitors ; in 1606 he ordered all the available vessels 'to be rigged and put in warlike order ' preparatory to a visit from himself and the King of Denmark, which took place in August. In 1610 the Prince of Brunswick came to see the Navy. In 1608 the Ark Royal, Nottingham's flagship in 1588, was rebuilt, and her name which should have lived in popular memory with that of the Golden Hind, changed to the Anne Royal, in honour of the commonplace Queen. She was rechristened by Sir Oliver Cromwell, The Swiftsure, rebuilt and renamed the Speed- well, is noteworthy as being the first important English man- of-war lost by misadventure at sea since the Mary Rose foundered in 1545. She went ashore near Flushing in November 1624, a mischance that her captain — Chudleigh — attributed to a drunken pilot.^ He, at any rate, lost all control over his crew, whose discipline seems to have been quite unequal to the sudden strain of an unexpected accident. Of Mansell's rebuildings the most striking points are the amounts spent — nearly ;!6^6o,ooo can be traced in the Pipe Office Accounts — and the time taken, ships being usually two, three, or four years in hand. It was probably due to the express desire of James that on 20th October, 1608 the keel was laid of the Prince Royal of 1200 tons, the largest ship yet designed for the Navy. Under the new rules of measurement in force in 1632, she was certified as of 1035 net, and 1330 gross tonnage. Her con- struction was assigned to Phineas Pett, and many intrigues, reaching even the Court, centred round her. The other shipwrights were both jealous and critical, and openly ex- pressed their disapprobation both of the material used and the manner in which it was employed. In 1609, Baker, now an old man of seventy-nine years, but still in active employ- ment, William Bright, Edward Stevens, and some other ship- wrights, with Waymouth as an unofficial expert, were ordered to report on the execution of the work. Pett did not like Waymouth, whom he describes in his autobiography as * great kilcow Waymouth,' and ' a great braggadocio, a vain and idle fellow.' Baker, and perhaps some of the others must have been chosen on the governmental principle of setting personal enemies to inspect each other's performances, seeing that he had not long before stated on oath that he thought both the Petts ' simple ' and quite unfit to be entrusted with the production of a large ship.^ Pett naturally had little love for Baker, although he had years before attempted to be friendly with the veteran, begging him not to so easily credit 1 State Papers, Dom., clxxiv, 56. ^ Cott, MSS. Julius F. Ill, f. 293. 204 The Administration of the Royal Navy malicious reports, and ascribing all his knowledge of his art, * if I have any,' to the elder man.^ But the system that made it to each man's pecuniary interest to obtain as many ships as possible to build and repair, and to exert all his personal influence to that end, converted the dockyards into nests of intrigue. Pett was protected by Nottingham and Mansell, and ' he is reported to be their right hand and they cannot do without him,' said Bright, another of Pett's competitors, and who was therefore chosen to sit in judgment upon him. Nottingham, Suffolk and Worcester were then appointed to make further inquiry, and their report being satisfactory, and therefore dis- pleasing to Northampton, the latter desired another investiga- tion, which the King acceded to by naming a day when he would examine the vessel and hear the conflicting evidence himself. He and Prince Henry came to Woolwich on 8th May 1609, and after a long day of scrutiny and discussion, Pett emerged triumphant from the ordeal. Time, however, was on the side of the objectors. The Prince Royal was never subjected to any serious work, but in 1621 the Com- missioners wrote to Buckingham that she was then only fit for show, that she cost in the first instance, i^20,ooo, and would require another iJ"6ooo to make her fit for service, and that she was built of decaying timber and green unseasoned stuff.^ These were the very points on which Baker and his fellows had insisted, and on which they had been defeated in 1609. She attracted universal attention when building. The King, the Prince of Wales, Princess Elizabeth, and the French ambassador came several times to visit her when approaching completion, and ' nobles, gentry, and citizens from all parts of the country round,' resorted to Woolwich. An attempt to launch her was made on the 24th September 1610, the whole of the Royal family being present, but, as in the case of the Trades htcrease, the dockhead was too narrow to permit her to pass. A second essay was more successful. The Prince Royal was the first three-decker built for the English Navy.^ She was gorgeously decorated, according to the taste of the time, with carvings and ' curious paintings, the like of which was never in any ship before.' She was double-planked, ' a charge which was not formerly thought upon, and all the butt-heads were double bolted with iron ' Ibid.^ Otho E., VII, f. 155. Letter, Pett to Baker, loth April 1603. ■^ Coke MSS.,Q,2\.l,\\\. ' In the literal but not later sense of ' three decker.' She had two full batteries besides an upper deck armed. In 1634 the authorities of the Trinity House, who, through a long series of years appear to have always chosen the wrong view, wrote, ' The art or wit of man cannot build a ship fit for service, with three tier of ordnance.' Three years later the first ' three-decker ' was afloat. James I 205 bolts.'i There is one payment of £S68 for her painting and gilding, work done by Robert Peake and Paul Isackson, the latter of whom belonged to a family for several generations employed in decorating men-of-war. The four upper strakes were ornamented with gilt and painted badges, arms and ' mask heads,' and the Prince's cabin was ' very curiously wrought with divers histories.' Carving cost ^^441, and in- cluded fourteen ' great lions' heads for the round ports.'^ It was possibly the result of Cotton's abortive effort in The 161 3 to procure a further inquiry into the administration, thatimprovMnents. several of the old ships were rebuilt about that time, but, as the Commissioners subsequently remarked, at prices that would have more than provided new ones in their stead. It was not until the Navy Commission took control in 16 18 that the systematic production of new ships was commenced. It will be seen from the preceding list that from that date they carried out for five years their expressed intention of adding two ships a year to the Navy. They also made certain recommendations, to be kept in view by themselves and their successors, that embodied improvements, perhaps the result of the trenchant criticisms of the beginning of the reign.^ The fleet was to average thirty sea-going ships, and build- ing was to be confined to Deptford, where two vessels could be worked upon simultaneously. The length of keel was to be treble the breadth, ' but not to draw above sixteen feet because deeper ships are seldom good sailors,' besides, ' they must be somewhat snug-built, without double galleries and too lofty upperworks, which overcharge many ships and make them loom fair but not work well at sea.' It is no reproach to the Commissioners, who could but act on the best pro- fessional advice obtainable, to have to remark that their ships were nearly as crank as their predecessors, and all required to be furred or girdled to make them at all trustworthy in a seaway ; and at a later date, even the smaller stern galleries given them excited much adverse criticism. They continue, ' For strengthening the ship we subscribe to the new manner of building — ist, making three orlops, whereof the lowest being placed two feet under water, strengtheneth the ship though her sides be shot through ; 2nd, to carry this orlop end to end ; 3rd, the second or main deck to be sufficiently high to work guns in all vveathers.' From this it is evident that the orlop deck as built in the Merhonour, Garland, and Defiance of 1589 did not run the whole length of the ship, and that if the ' new manner ' is to 1 Add MSS., 9294, Nov. 1610. 2 p^pg q^^. Accounts^ 2249. ^ State Papers, Dom., ci, 4. 2o6 The Administration of the Royal Navy be accepted literally, even the Prince Royal was not a two- decker. Cooking galleys were to be placed in the forecastle, as the weights carried at each end with a comparatively empty midship section caused 'hogging,' besides wasting valuable stowage space and producing other inconveniences. Wynter had recommended this forty years before, but the new regulation remained inoperative for some time longer. The lower ports were now to be at least four and a half feet above the water line. Most of the Commissioners' ships were built with three decks, but with smaller and lower super- structures on the upper deck than had been previously customary. Bad as they were they seem to have been steadier than their predecessors. An undated State Paper, calendared under 1627, but which from its arguments in favour of a third deck — a question finally closed long before 1627 — more probably belongs to this period, gives us some particulars of the internal arrangements of a man-of-war. The lowest deck was to carry the bread and other store-rooms, the cables and officers' cabins, besides a certain number of the crew who were also to be berthed upon it. The second deck was to be laid five and a half or six feet above this, and in a ship like the Lion was to be pierced for nine ports a side, and four chase-ports fore and aft. The ports were to be at least two feet three inches square, ' and that there be built between every two ports hanging cabins to fold up to the decks for the lodging of men.' Otherwise this deck was to be kept clear instead of being hampered by the cables stowed upon it in two-decked ships. Readers desirous of technical details relating to the position and dimensions of floor, timbers, riders, butts, carlings, clamps, foot and chain waling, standing and running rigging, etc., will find much exact information in the State Papers of the next reign dealing with the surveys taken of most of the new and old ships in 1626 and 1627. The Commissioners ordered that the Elizabeth and Triumph should be sold ; £600 is entered in the accounts as received for their hulls in 161 8, although as late as 161 5, i^537 had been spent in repairing them. The Mercury had been sold in Ireland in 161 1, the Foresight condemned in 1604, the Quittance and Tremontana were to be broken up, and the hulls of the Garland and Mary Rose were to be used for a wharf in conjunction with a proposed new dock at Chatham, The Bonaventure, Charles, and Advantage had long ceased to exist, and the St Andrew and St Matthew had been given to Sir John Leigh in 1604 as being then no longer servicable. The Victory is said to have been rebuilt into the Prince Royal, but the connection is not altogether clear. In one James I 207 paper ^ of 1610, there is a distinct, and apparently conclusive statement, occurring twice over, ' The Victory now named the Prince Royal.' On the other hand Cotton, in his report of 1608,2 writes, in discussing the waste and embezzlement of material, ' Thus did the Victory for the transportation, dockinge, and breaking uppe stand the King in fower or five hundred poundes and yet noe one parte of her serviceable to any use about the buildinge of a new as was pretended for a coulour. To conclude, though we set her at the rate of 200H yet it had been better absolutely for the King to have given her away to the poor than to have bin put to the charge of bringing her from Chattam to Wollich noe other use having bin made of her than to furnish Phinees Pette (that was the only author of her preservation) with fewell for the dyette of tliose carpenters which he victualled.' This also appears conclusive. A possible explanation lies in the fact that, the Victory having ceased to exist, the Prince Royal may have been laid down in that name, and afterwards changed to the later appellation. The four galleys were a source of constant expense, one or the other being in continual need of repair, rebuilding, or shed protection from the weather. They were never used, and in 1629, having 'been long laid aside as useless vessels' were ordered to be sold. The new Antelope and Rainbow of 161 8 were not claimed by the Commissioners as among the vessels of which they should have the credit although they were both completed after their entry into office. The Happy E^itrance and Constant Reformation were launched in the presence of the King at Deptford, and were named by him with intent to commemorate Buckingham's accession to his post and the good effects to be expected from it. In 1624 no new vessels were built and the last Navy list of James I is as follows : — ^ First rank Second rank Third rank Fourth rank Prince Repulse Dreadnought Phcenix Bear Warspite A ntelope Seven Stars Merhonour Victoiy Speedwell Charles Anne Royal Assurance Adventure Desire Nonsuch Convertine Defiance Happy Entrance Lion Bonaventure Vanguard Garland Rainbow Constant \ Reformatio7i J Mary Rose Swiftsure St George St Andrew Triumph ' Pipe Office Accounts^ 2248. 2 ^^^^g Papers^ Dom., xli, f, 39. ^ liid.^ clxi, 68. The classification is that of the State Paper. 2o8 The Administration of the Royal Navy- There were also the four galleys and some hoys ; eleven of the vessels were noted as needing more or less substantial repairs and most of the old ones were broken-backed. The ten new ships cost £6 a ton for the larger and £^, 6s 8d for the smaller ones, against £\6 2. ton under Mansell's improvi- dent management, but these prices were for the hulls and spars alone.^ According to the Pipe Office Accounts the cost of the Happy Entrance and Constant Reformation was ;^885o : of the Victory and Garland £764.0, which included masts and spars, carving and painting ; of the Swiftsure and Bonaventure £gg6g., and here an additional £ii6g was paid for sails, anchors, and fittings ; of the St George and St Andrew £g6T)2, and £12,06 more for fittings down to boats and flags; and ;!^8io6 for the Triumph and Mary Rose. Taking them from Deptford to Chatham varied between £y2) a^nd £41^, doubtless depending on the number of men employed and the time occupied. Burrell's contracts for 1619 were at £7, los and £^ a ton, and the jQ$, 6s 8d and £6 quoted above were only due to the fact that the ten ships measured 1899 tons more than was expected which reduced the average.^ He appar- ently had to bear the loss ; no alteration was made in the way of calculating tonnage during the reign. There is little to be said about any improvements in rigging or canvas during this period. Fore and aft sails are still absent ; studding sails and booms are spoken of in the Noinenclator Navalisf but are not alluded to in any naval document. It may be of interest to quote from the same manuscript the rules governing the proportions of masts and yards. Mainmast three times four-fifths of the beam. Foremast four-fifths of mainmast. Bowsprit do. do. Mizenmast one-half of mainmast. Topmasts half the length of lower masts. Main yard five-sixths of length of keel. Fore yard four- fifths of mainyard. Top yard three-sevenths of mainyard. Cross-jack yard .... four-fifths of mainyard. Spritsail yard do. do. Shipwrights. Baker, Pett, and Burrell were the three chief shipwrights of the reign ; Ed. Stevens, John Adye, Wm. Bright, Clay, Hen, Goddard, and Maryott were less known men. Baker died on 31st August 1 61 3 at the age of eighty-three. As a boy and man he had seen the rise of the modern Navy, and had him- ^ State Papers.^ Dom., clviii, 56. ^ Ibid., and cviii, 58. ^ Harl. MSS., 2301. About 1625 or earlier, and by Sir Hen. Manwayring. It was printed in 1644 under the title of The Sea-mans Dictionary. There is another MS. copy among the State Papers (6". P. Dom., Chas. /, cxxvii), called A Brief Abstract . . . of all Parts and Things belonging to a Ship. The three versions differ but little from each other. James I 209 self largely helped by his skill to produce the type of ship that was found sufficient for that age. That during the whole of his long life he appears, so far as existing records show, to have quarrelled with, or spoken ill of, equals, inferiors, and superiors may be charitably attributed rather to the un- fortunate conditions governing a shipwright's position than to any natural bent of character. The writings or utterances of other shipwrights, that have come down to us, show them to have been in no way superior to Baker in these respects. The ships built by him represented sound and honest work. He died in harness while in charge of the repairs of the Merhonour which had been built under his superintendence twenty-four years previously, and he was long remembered as * the famous artist of his time.' Pett had been favoured by Nottingham and Mansell but does not appear to have experienced the same partiality from the Commissioners. They chiefly employed Burrell, who had previously been master shipwright to the East India Company, but during the next reign Pett came again into favour, and was made a principal Officer and Commissioner for the Navy shortly after Burrell's death in 1630. The master shipwrights received two shillings a day and lodging money, but all these men had extra allowances, partly dating from the last reign. Baker had a pension of £,\o a year, besides his Exchequer fee and payments from the Navy Treasurer. Bright had one shilling and eightpence a day which had been originally given to Richard Chapman for building the Ark Royal, and had been continued in whole or part to him. Pett's Exchequer fee had been retained in the family since it was first granted in the second year of Mary's reign.^ Probably the orthodox scale of wages would not alone have retained these men in the royal service and the pensions were used to make their posts more valuable. Deptford was still the principal yard, but Chatham was Dockyards, rapidly coming into greater importance ; Portsmouth is hardly mentioned. In 1610 the dry dock at Deptford was enlarged and a paling made round the yard,^ and in the same year there is a charge of ^^34, 19s for tools to make cordage at Woolwich. By 16 12 cordage was being made there at £2^ a ton, and in 1614 the ropehouse was extended at a cost of £'^6Z, and 305 tons of cordage made there in the year.3 It was, however, still far from supplying the needs of the Navy since in 16 17 cordage to ;^ 10,400 was bought. A Dutchman, Harman Branson, superintended the rope factory, at a salary of ^^50 a year. In 1619 the wooden fence at Deptford was replaced by a brick wall ; the only reference 1 Add. MSS., 9299, f, 48. 2 pjp^ Office Accounts, 2248. ^ Ibid., 2252. O 2IO The Administration of the Royal Navy to Portsmouth is for the cost, in 1623, of ' filling up the great dock there, and ramming the mouth of the said dock with rock stones for the better preserving of the yard against the violence of the sea.' ^ This was the end of the earliest dry dock in England. A dock had been frequently urged for Chatham, but it was not until the Commissioners came into power that the matter was seriously taken up. They at once devoted their attention to the Medway, for which one reason may have been the great cost attendant on the removal, backwards and forwards, of ships between Chatham and Deptford. It has been mentioned that the hulls of the Garland and Mary Rose were used to support a dock wharf at Chatham ; they were joined there by an old antagonist, the Nuestra Senora del Rosario. A sum of £61, is 3d was paid to ' Thomas Wood, shipwright, and sundry other . . . employed in digging out the old Spanish ship at Chatham, near the galley dock, clearing her of all the stubb ballast and other trash within board, making her swim, and removing near unto the mast dock where she was laid, and sunk for the defence and preservation of the wharf.' - The old Spaniard, however, was not even yet at rest. In 1622 occurs the concise entry, ' The hull of the ship called Don Pedroe broken up and taken away.' The men of the seven- teenth century were not emotional and saw no reason in a useless trophy. They did, in 1624, have a new wharf made at Sir Francis Drake's ship,' but there were fees attached to the preservation of that. In 1619 and 1620, two mast docks were made at Chatham, each 120 feet long, 60 feet broad, and five 'flowers' deep, and six acres of ground were enclosed with them.^ A further great extension followed in the shape of a lease from Sir Robert Jackson of 70 or 80 acres of land, called ' Lordslands,' on a term of 100 years at ;^I4 a year. Part of this was used for a new dock, part for a ropehouse now put up, and part for brick and lime kilns, etc.* The dock cost ^2342, and a path, 137 rods long, was made to it from Chatham church.^ From a new road having been necessary it would seem to have been quite apart from any previously existing buildings. In 1623 another dock was building under the direction of the shipwrights, and the lease of a house on Chatham Hill, for the use of the Officers, bought from the Dean and Chapter of Rochester.^ In 1614 the principal Officers were lodged at Winchester House as there is a charge of ;^I38, 8s 6d for its repair for their use, and a rent of ^^70 a year was paid ; stores were also kept there. ' Pipe Office Accounts, 2261. ^ /^,-(/_^ 2256. ^ md., 2257, 2258. ■* Ibid., 2260. * Ibid., 2258. " Ibid., 2261, 2262. James I 211 The chain, placed by Hawkyns across the Medway at Upnor, is not again referred to until 1606, when it was partly repaired and partly renewed. But some time before 1623 it must have become worn out, as in that year it was replaced by a boom made of sixteen masts and forty-three cwt. of iron with cordage proportionate, at a cost of £2^8, los 5d ; the hulls of two ships and two pinnaces were also devoted to the strengthening of the barricade. At the same time the water-way through St Mary's creek was again blocked at a cost of upwards of ;^400.^ This boom must have been very light, and its history was short and unfortunate, for in 1624 it was broken by ice and carried out to sea. It must have been quickly replaced since, from an incidental reference it existed in 1625, and in 1635 two small vessels, the Seven Stars and the Mooti, were moored at each shore end for its protection. In the latter year it was said to be causing deposits of gravel and closing the fairway, and opinions oscillated between a new boom and an iron chain. The dockyards shared the disorganisation of the other departments ; notwithstanding the exposures of 1608 ten years later the storehouses at Deptford were said to be ' full of rotten wood and bad cordage,' the scales were light by one pound in the cwt., and while bad materials were know- ingly received, the good were sold to boatswains and other ships' officers at low prices. In 1624 Chatham yard re- mained uninclosed so that strangers came and took away timber, nails, or any portable article. In 1604 the stores at Deptford included 210 masts, 322 loads of timber, 41,000 feet of plank, 171 cables, 499 hawsers, 15 serviceable and 28 un- serviceable anchors, 24 compasses, 40 bolts of canvas, 24,000 tree-nails, and many other articles down to ' a decayed pitch pot,' and it is likely that they were larger in number and better in quality at this date than at any time during the succeediug fifteen or sixteen years.^ The value of Deptford yard was estimated at ;^5000, and it was at one time pro- posed to remove the whole plant to Chatham.^ So far as the staff were concerned the 'ordinary' of a dockyard included ship-keepers and inferior officers attached to ships lying up, Upnor Castle (for Chatham), clerical work, rents, watchmen, clerks, storekeepers, and the superior officers; the ' extraordinary,' shipwrights, carpenters, joiners, pump- makers, sawyers, sailmakers, and bricklayers. In 1622 wages, per day, were : shipwrights is 2d to 2s ; caulkers yd to 2s ; carpenters is 3s to is lod ; pumpmakers is 6d to 2s ; joiners IS 4d to IS 8d ; sailmakers is 8d ; sawyers is 2d to is 4d ; bricklayers lod to is 6d ; and labourers 8d or 9d.^ All these 1 Pipe Office Accounts^ 2262. "^^Add. MSS., 9297, f. 25. ' Cott. MSS., Otho E. VII, ff. 219, 220. ■* State Papers, Dom., cxxxvi. 212 The Administration of the Royal Navy men, except the labourers, had lodging money, varying from 5s 4d in the case of the master shipwrights to so small a sum as twopence, and probably as an allowance by the week. The armament of ships was still very heavy for their tonnage and accounted in some measure for their rolling proclivities and the impossibility of obtaining a comparatively steady gun platform. Sometimes it was necessary to dis- mount some of the guns, ' The Dreadnought carries 36, yet four of them for seven 'years have been buried in her ballast, as some are also in the Answer and other ships.' * This stowage of the guns strained the vessel dangerously and caused leaks, and, as gravel ballast was still employed, an injury was a very serious matter from the difficulty in reaching the damaged part. The following gives the number of guns carried by some of the ships, and their weights : — ^ C u) .- = c c £ 12 h 'S S ''-' V. 3 "3 CO 1 rf fe ■5. 0- "5 ,. (X, Weight Tons cwts. qrs. lbs. Prince Royal . 2 6 12 18 13 — 4 — 83 8 21 White Bear 2 6 12 18 9 — 4 — 77 9 3 23 Merhonour 2 6 12 12 8 — 4 — 66 16 I Anne Royal 2 5 12 13 8 — 4 — 64 15 2 4 Victory 2 2 16 12 4 2 — 4 42 25 Swiftsiire . 2 2 16 12 4 2 — 4 46 8 19 Constant Reformation 2 2 16 12 4 2 4 — 53 2 23 St George 2 2 16 12 4 2 2 2 47 15 2 24 St A ndrew 2 2 16 12 4 2 — 4 52 2 3 20 Triumph . 2 2 16 12 4 2 — 4 50 10 I 21 Defiance . 2 2 14 12 4 2 4 — 55 17 25 Repulse 2 2 14 12 4 2 — 4 52 7 I Comparison of the rebuilt ships with the armament they carried under Elizabeth is vitiated by the fact that we do not know whether they were again of the same size. If, as is possible, they were bigger there seems to have been a tendency to reduce the weight of ordnance — there is also an inclination towards greater uniformity. The price of ordnance was from £\2 to ^^"15 a ton, and the manufacture was still retained in a few hands, its exporta- tion without licence being strictly forbidden. In 1619 orders were issued that casting was to be confined to Sussex and Kent, that guns were to be landed at or shipped from the Tower wharf only, and that East Smithfield was to be the one market place for their sale or purchase. These were practi- cally the Elizabethan regulations, now perhaps fallen into neglect, renewed. Guns could be proved only in Ratcliff ' State Papers^ Dom., cix, 139, r. Ibid., cxxxiii, 70. I James I 213 fields, and all pieces were to have on them at least two letters of the founder's name, with the year and the weight of the gun. The founders had still to give bond for ;^iooo as a surety against illegal exportation, and once a year to send in a report of the number and description of the guns cast and to whom they had been sold.^ These precautions were not unneeded, but did not prevent the secret sale to foreign buyers any more than similar restrictions had availed during the reign of Elizabeth. The royal forts themselves were turned into marts for these and other unlawful transactions. Upnor Castle is described as ' a staple of stolen goods, a den of thieves, a vent for the transport of ordnance.' The person holding the post of ' King's Gun-founder,' and therefore licensed purveyor of government ordnance, was accused of transgressing largely.^ The method was to require payment beforehand, the purchaser taking the risk of seizure ; the guns were then shipped under cover of a warrant authorising them to be sent to London, but once at sea they went to the Con- tinent instead of the river. A few stone shot were still carried and the price of iron salutes and shot varied between £io and £is ^ ton,^ and its expenditure in saluting was liberal. It was only about this time that gunners were directed to fire blank charges in these marks of respect, an order that was long disregarded. Attempts were made to check the too lavish use of munition for salutes, the amount of which depended mainly on the goodwill of the officers and the stores of the ship. Gunners were ordered not to shoot without the captain's permission, and they were for- bidden to fire at ' drinkings and feastings.' They were further directed to ' salute no passengers with more than one piece, or three at the most, except the person be of quality and the occasion very great, and that for volleys of honour no bullets be spent,' and the captain was not to fail to lock up the powder room if he went ashore. These regulations were not very effective. In 1628 the fleet lying at Plymouth 'shot away ;^ioo of powder in one day in drinking healths.' * Another writer says that salutes should be ' always of an odd number but of no particular number.' An even number signified the death of the captain, master, or master gunner at sea during the voyage. Of a kindred nature to the love of display by noise was that of display by flags. The Prince Royal was supplied with eight flags, five ancients, and fifty-seven pennants ; these however were of some use in the primitive attempts at ' State Papers^ Dom.^ Eliz. ccxxxvii, f. 119. Although calendared under Eliza- beth many of the papers in this volume are copies of documents relating to the reigns of James I and Charles I. See also M. A. Lower, Contributions to Literature^ for an article on the Kent and Sussex gun foundries. * Cott. MSS., Otho E, VII, f. 78. 3 siate Papers, Dom.,Jas. /, cxxviii, 94. * Yonge's Diary^ Camd. Soc. 214 The Administration of the Royal Navy signalling, which, however, do not appear to have advanced in complexity beyond the point reached a century before. Night signalling had progressed to a greater extent. Two lights from the flagship, answered by one from the others, was the order to shorten sail ; three lights astern, placed vertically, to make sail; a 'waving' light on the poop, to lie to; and a ship in distress was expected to hang out 'many' lights in the shrouds.i An order of 13th April 1606 authorised all ships to wear a flag containing the St George's and St Andrew's crosses in the main top ; at the fore top the flags of their respective countries were worn. Crews and^ One great alteration was made in this reign in the man- DisoipUne. ning of men-of-war. It had always been customary to place soldiers, in the proportion of one-third of the total comple- ment, on board vessels equipped for service. This practice no longer obtained ; in 1619 the Commissioners wrote : — ' Indeed till the year '88 soldiers and mariners were then usually divided but that and later experience hath taught us instead of freshwater soldiers (as they call them) to employ only seamen.' ^ This marks the completion of the change from the days when the sailors were not called upon to be more than spectators of the actual fighting. The crew as a whole was not reduced, ships being heavily armed and the spars of a man-of-war being equal to those of a merchantman of much greater tonnage. We have now the ' station list ' of the Speedwell of thirty guns which gives the following division of duties in action : eighteen gunners and forty-eight men for the battery, fifty small arms men, fifty to work the ship and man the tops, four in the powder room, four carpenters below, three trum- peters, three surgeons and mate, four stewards, three cooks, and three boys. Complaint, hov/ever, was more than once made that nearly one-third of a crew were officers or non-comba- tants. It will be noticed from this list that the vessel was only prepared to man one broadside at the time — in this resem- bling much later practice — and that the arrangements implied plenty of sea room and a stand-off fight. At this time English seamen shrank from boarding ; memories of the enormous Spanish galleons with their overpoweringly strong crews, and the tactics that had defeated them, were too fresh in the mind of the English sailor to permit him to have that confidence in his ship and himself that he subsequently obtained. It has already been noticed that when this ship, the Speedwell, was lost there was an utter absence of subor- dination among the crew, but this lack of discipline appears to have been more or less present at all times. In 1625, ' State Papers^ Dom., xvii, 103. ^ Ibid., cix, 139, I. James I 215 when we were at war with Spain, the Happy Entrance, Garland^ and Nonsuch were left lying in the Downs, with no officers and only a few men on board, because it was Christmas time and everyone was on shore merrymaking.^ At an earlier date Coke said that ships rode in the Downs or put into port while the captains went to London, or hardly ever came on board, and the men ran away.^ Fortunately the services of the Royal Navy were i^ever The Results of needed in earnest during the reign of James. How it would have broken down under the direction of Mansell may be inferred from the steady decrease in the number of seaworthy ships, and the increasing disorganisation of every department, during each year of his retention of office. The administra- tion of the Commissioners was both competent and honest, but the grievous results of Mansell's treasurership were too plainly shown during the earlier years of the next reign, when fleets were once more sent to sea. Ships might be re- placed and open peculation checked, but the deeper wounds of spirit and discipline caused by fourteen years of license among the higher officials, and fourteen years of heartless chicanery suffered by those more lowly placed were not so readily healed, and bore their fruits for long afterwards in the habitual dishonesty of officials and workmen, in the dis- loyalty and half-heartedness of the seamen, and later, in the shameless knaveries that disgraced the Navy office at 'the close of the century, many of which had their origin under Mansell's rule. The Commissioners were hampered in their efforts by want of money, an embarrassment from which Mansell suffered little. Nor can the King be absolved from the responsibility of permitting Mansell's misdeeds. He knew at least as early as 1608 of the iniquities daily occurring in every branch of the service, but he contented himself with making ' an oration.' He was ready enough to act as an amateur arbiter on technical details, to superintend launches, to visit the ships, and to give them euphuistic names, but that portion of his kingly office which involved protecting the helpless and punishing the guilty was sufficiently satisfied by ' an oration.' And had not Buckingham desired to be Lord Admiral, we have no reason to suppose that James I would have seen any cause for in- terference merely on behalf of seamen who were starved and robbed, or of the English people whose chief defence was being destroyed, and whose money went to enrich a ring of thieves. So far had the traditions of Plantagenet and Tudor kingliness degenerated into Stewart ' kingcraft' > Add. MSS., 9302. f. 9. 2 Coke MSS., Cal. I, 105. CHARLES I 1625-1649 PART I THE SEAMEN The life of Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham and Earl of Nottingham, commander of the English fleet in 1588, and for thirty-three years Lord Admiral of England, may be regarded as the link between the mediaeval and the modern navy. Born in 1536, and dying in 1624, his era connects the cogs and crayers, carracks and balingers of the Plantagenets, then hardly out of use, with the established Royal Navy of James I, a fleet divided into ratesj controlled on present principles, and differing but little in essentials from that existing up to the introduction of armour and machine guns. His period of authority included the struggle which shaped isolated maritime essays into an organised navy, and fashioned a school of seamanship of which the traditions have never since been lost. Although we cannot point to any important measure known to be directly due to his initiative, his in- fluence, during at any rate the earlier half of his time of office, must, judging by results, have been always exercised to- wards the selection of capable men for command, towards the adoption of any promising invention or improvement, and towards the encouragement and welfare of the seamen on whom the stress of work and danger must fall, and for whom he always showed a humane sympathy. At the time of trial he proved himself equal to his responsibili- ties ; and that he was so well served by his subordinates of all grades implies a confidence and respect on their part not given merely to a peer and an officer of the crown, but to one in whose skill, care, and kindliness, experience had already taught men of all ranks to confide. Then, as now, only an Charles I 217 able leader had good officers and willing men. He clung too long to office, and his old age was sullied by an eagerness for money amounting almost to avarice, and by the unwavering support given to one as unworthy of it as Mansell ; no allega- tion, however, was ever made against his own honesty, either of act or purpose, and for the rest his years are his best excuse. He has a right to be judged by his season of vigorous man- hood, when acting with the other sea heroes of the age of Elizabeth, among whom he holds an honourable place. The reign of James I may be looked upon as a maritime The new truce, during which old antagonisms remained latent while conditions, new ones were springing into life. The contest with Spain was practically terminated, that power having been vanquished not so much by English superiority of seamanship as by the national decay due to causes patent to all students of history. But now other and more dangerous rivals were to be faced in France and the United Provinces, both wealthier than Eng- land, the former temporarily strong in a centralised monarchy of which the resources were to be wielded by Richelieu, and in an army re-organised and a navy created by him, the latter spiritually strong from the same sources as had stirred English thought, with traditions of mercantile supremacy reaching back to the dawn of European commerce, and proud of a successful contest with the greatest of European states. Moreover the fresh strife was to be waged under less favourable condit4ons than heretofore. Against Spain England occupied a position of strategical advantage ; her fleets concentrated at any western port could strike at either the mother country or at the straggling, disconnected colonies of the new world. Against France and the Low Countries she was between hammer and anvil, her own harbours continually threatened, her commerce exposed to constant attack, and her fleets quite insufficient in strength for their new duties. Nor had the interval of peace been utilised in view of the approaching con- flict, although it cannot be said that warnings were wanting. The royal ships were fewer in number and of little greater strength than at the death of Elizabeth ; few improvements had been effected in their construction, while seamanship had greatly deteriorated, owing to the decay of the fishing in- dustry, the lack of enterprise and long voyages, and the bad treatment of the men. England was still greatly dependent on Russia for cordage and other naval necessaries, an ad- ministrative weakness of which Spain had endeavoured to take advantage in 1597 by negotiating with the rulers of Russia and Poland for a cessation of such exports to Eng- land and Holland,^ but a weakness which might have formid- » Cott. MSS., Otho E. VII, f. 263. 2i8 The Administration of the Royal Navy- able results with enemies planted on the line of communica- tion. The Dutch had taken the lesson to heart, for, since that year, they had made their own cordage.^ England, An examination of the comparative wealth and state Holland. revenues of the three countries would show the relative position of England to be still less favourable. Although the commerce of this country had increased during the reign of James, the royal revenue, except that drawn from the customs, had remained nearly stationary, while the admini- stration was more extravagant than that of Elizabeth, and the salaries of officials and the prices of materials and labour were higher, owing to the influx of the precious metals. The wars of France and the Netherlands had indirectly given room for expansion to English commercial and speculative activity; but, in the one case, the reign of Henry IV, and, in the other, the truce with Spain had enabled both countries to meet their rival on more equal terms. The same causes operated throughout the reign of Charles, for it may be held that the place of England as a naval power in 1642 was even relatively lower than in 1625; and this without reference to the question of good or bad government, for any attempt to maintain a maritime supremacy comparative to the last years of the sixteenth century would have entailed national bankruptcy. That strength was a temporary and, in a sense, artificial con- dition, attributable not to the actual power or resources of the country, but to the momentary cessation of the compres- sion of mercantile rivalry and competition, to the stimulus due to the increase of circulating coin, and in a lesser degree, to the wave of moral exaltation then moving the Teutonic races.2 Indeed, it may be said in favour of the ship-money writs that but for the fleets they enabled Charles to send to sea, and so present a semblance of power, the strife with France and Holland might have been precipitated by nearly half a century. That they had some such intimidating influ- ence was shown by the care taken by the French fleets, also cruising, to avoid meeting them, and the efforts of the French court to evade the question of the dominion of the narrow seas. It was fortunate for England that the troubles of the Fronde coincided with the first Dutch war, for had the strength of France been then thrown into the balance against fleets and dockyards still organised on a Tudor scale, which had undergone little expansion during two reigns, the mari- time glory of this country might have had an early end. ' Cott. MSS., Otho E. VII, f. 263. - Mr Del Mar {Hist, of the Precious Metals.^ p. 209), quoting Tooke and D'Aven- ant, estimates the stock of gold and silver coin in England and Wales in 1560 at ;^l, 100,000, and in 1600 at ;^4,ooo,ooo. Charles I 219 Even if Charles had not quarrelled with his parliaments, no grants of theirs could have kept pace with the rapid growth of French prosperity ; in 1609, after paying off an enormous amount of crown debts, the yearly revenue was 20,000,000 livres,! and in 1645 it was ;^3, 560,000.2 f^g ordinary revenue of the English crown in 1610 was ^^461,000, in 1623 i^539,ooo, in 1635 ;^6i8,ooo,^ and for the five years from 1637 to 1641 it averaged ^^895,000 a year, exclusive of ship money.^ It has been difficult to obtain any statistics for the United Provinces, but, as the trade and commercial marine on which they relied were greater than those of England, it is obvious that a contest with France alone would have overwhelmingly strained our resources during the reign of Charles I, and that an alliance of the two states would, in all probability, have been most disastrous to us. M. Lefevre Pontalis indeed, in the first chapter of his ' Vie de Jean de Witt,' states exactly that the Dutch merchant marine comprised 10,000 sail and i68;000 men ; but, as he gives no authority and may be referring to any one of the first seventy-five years of the seventeenth century, the information in that form is valueless for purposes of comparison.^ The accession of Charles led to a more active prosecution The Cadiz Fleet of the war with Spain, signalised by the Cadiz expedition of°^^^^^ 1625, and the administrative incidents of this voyage enable us to measure the decadence of seamanship and the utter collapse of the official executive during the twenty years of peace. Efforts had been made to get the fleet away during the summer, but owing to want of money, stores, and men, it did not sail till 8th October, too late in the season to do effective service. Disease raged among the soldiers and sailors assembled at Plymouth, and not a boat went ashore but some of its men deserted. Of 2000 recruits sent first to Holland and then to Plymouth only 1 500 arrived at the sea- port, of whom 500 were ill ; ^ and the few professional sea captains there, who saw the unpromising material in men and supplies being collected, continually warned the Council and Buckingham of the results to be expected from the quality of the men and provisions and the want of clothing.'^ When 1 Martin, Hist, de la France^ X, 446. ^ Kolb, Condition of Nations , p. 209. ^ Gardiner, Hist, of England., X, 222. ^ Pari. Debates., 31st Aug. 1660. ^ A writer of the reign of James I estimated that there were 37,000 Dutch sea- men engaged in the North Sea fisheries alone ; Ralegh put the number at 50,000 men. * State Papers., Dom., Charles /, vi, 23. The original purpose had been to take 2000 English veterans in the service of the States-General, leaving the re- cruits in their place ; but the men were sent before any arrangement had been come to with the Dutch, who finally refused to assent to it. The proceeding was characteristic of Buckingham's hopeful belief in the immediate acceptance of his measures. ' ' The number of lame, impotent, and unable men unfitt for actual service is very great.' (Ogle to Conway, i8th June 1625.) 2 20 The Administration of the Royal Navy the expedition finally sailed, its equipment appears to have been rather that of a defeated and disheartened fleet return- ing home after long service than of a long planned and pre- pared enterprise. The ships were leaky and their gear defective ; the Si George was fitted with sails which were used by the Triumph in 1588, while her shrouds were ' the old Garland's and all starke rattan.' The Lion was in such bad condition that she had to be left behind. The cordage supplied was rotten but ' fairly tard ovar.' An officer writes : ' There was great wrong done ... by pretending the ships were fit to go to sea.' ^ Even before they left port the casks were so faulty that beer came up in the ships' pumps, so that by November they were reduced to beverage of cider ' that stinks worse than carrion, and have no other drink.' A few days after leaving Plymouth it was already thought necessary to put five men on four men's allowance, and by December they were on half rations which ' stinks so as no dog of Paris Garden would eat it' Men ill fed and ill clothed, sent across the Bay in early winter, easily broke down, and when they arrived off Cadiz, after a twenty-one days' voyage, and before even seeing the enemy, one-fourth of the men on six of the men-of-war were on the sick list.^ The Convertine had only fifteen men in a watch. In November ' the sickness is so great that there are not seamen enough to keep the watches,'^ and a month later there were not ten men fit for duty on board the St George.'^ Sir Edward Cecil, Viscount Wimbledon, the commander- in-chief, was a soldier of only average capacity accustomed to the methodical Dutch military discipline, and he was aghast at the ways of his officers, who, besides being ignorant of their work, shared with their men what plunder there was. Many of the captains were landsmen who depended on their subordinates to handle their vessels, and these men, unaccus- tomed to large ships and to sailing in comparatively close order, were constantly in difficulties. If the subordinates were good seamen, they were mostly contemptuous of their commanders. Sir Thos. Love, captain of the Anne Royal, issued orders to the whole fleet without Cecil's knowledge; the master of the Reformation flatly refused to obey his captain's commands. It does not seem to have occurred to Cecil or his advisers that any sailing orders were necessary during the voyage out, and the result of independent management was that collisions were frequently occurring; beakheads, galleries, and bowsprits were carried away, and ' the confusion was such that some had their starboard when other had their lar- ' Ibid.^ ix, 15, Blundell to Buckingham. - There were twelve king's ships in the fleet (^Pipe Office Accounts, 2425). ^ State Papers, Dom., ix, 39, Cecil to Conway. ■• Ibid., xi, 49. Charles I 221 board tacks on board.' ^ Sometimes the ships chased each other, under the impression that they were enemies, although the differences between the English and Spanish schools of shipbuilding were almost as great as those to be observed in a cruiser of the middle of this century and a merchantman of the same time. Two transports with 300 soldiers on board, perhaps thinking that they had better prospects of success by themselves than with Cecil, deserted and turned pirates.^ The flagship was the Anne Royal, Nottingham's Ark Royal of 1588, of which he lovingly said that she was ' the odd ship of the world for all conditions,' She was handy enough for the Elizabethan seamen who built her and knew how to work a ship at sea, but she did not win favour in the eyes of Cecil and his officers, who complained that they could not make her lie to and that she rolled too much for their dainty stomachs. Nottingham's opinion of them might have been even more scathing than theirs of the Anne Royal. More justly Cecil expressed his astonishment at the amount of theft which prevailed. He could not prevent his captains pillaging the cargoes of prizes, ' a thing of such custom at sea that I cannot see how it will be remedied.' The men he con- siders the worst ever seen ; ' they are so out of order and command and so stupefied that punish them or beat them they will scarce stir.'^ Sick and starving it was not their fault . if they were dull and inefficient, but neither Cecil nor those next him in rank were the men to rouse English sailors to those efforts which, when well led, they can be moved to make under circumstances of surpassing distress. Perhaps this Cadiz expedition indicates the low water mark of English seamanship. There have been many pre- vious and subsequent occasions when fleets were sent to sea equally ill found and ill provided, but never, before or since, have we such accounts of utter incapacity in the mere every- day work of a sailor's duties. The shameful picture of that confused mass of ships crowded together helplessly, without order or plan, colliding with each other, chasing or deserting at their own will, the officers losing spars and sails from ignorance of the elementary principles of their art, is the in- dictment against the government of James I which had allowed the seamanship of Elizabeth to die out in this genera- tion. It was the first time that the new system of the com- missionership had been tried by conditions of active service, and on the side of stores and provisions, for which they were mainly responsible, the breakdown was as complete as on the side of navigation. Assuming their honesty, which was ' Levet's Relation of Cadiz Voyage^ Coke MSS. ^ State Papers^ Dom., viii, 41, Coke to Buckingham. * Voyage to Cadiz in 1625 (Camden Society). 2 22 The Administration of the Royal Navy probable, but of which some of their contemporaries hint doubts, they were mostly merchants or court officials, unac- quainted with naval matters, and evidently unable to adapt the routine peace control to which they were accustomed to the wider requirements of war time. As even the normal method of inspection was almost nominal, depending mainly on subordinate officials of little character, capacity, or re- sponsibility, such stores as were now bought, under the pressure of immediate necessity, usually proved expensive and bad. Among the higher officials the impression given by the State Papers, now and afterwards, is that their chief desire was to get money sent to them on some pretext — purchase of clothes or arms, payment of wages, etc. — and that they could then trust to their own ingenuity to account for its expenditure, possibly for the benefit of the service, certainly for their own. Not even a nominal system of inspection existed in the victualling department. The two contractors, Apsley and Darrell, appear, when the Commissioners had once given their orders, to have sent what provisions they pleased on board the ships, quite independently of any supervision or of any way of calling them to account, for supplies infinitely more deadly to our men than the steel and lead of the enemy.^ Tbe DisorganiE- Naval historians have usually considered the condition Return of tiie of the seaman, a mere pawn in the game, as of little account ^°®*' compared with graphic descriptions of sea fights and the tactics of opposing fleets. He had, however, not only exis- tence but memories, and an examination of his treatment under the government of Charles I, will systematise scattered re- ferences, and may go far to explain why the Royal Navy ' went solid' for the Parliament in 1642. We have seen that there was little demand for his services during the reign of James I, though the few men employed had reason to be mutinous and discontented under their scanty fare and uncertain wages. With Charles on the throne the sea-going population was called away from the fisheries and trading voyages to man the royal fleets, although the attitude of Parliament caused smaller resources to be available to support their cost. The sailor, being a despised and inarticulate quantity, soon felt the result. When the ships of the Cadiz fleet straggled igno- miniously home in midwinter, some to Kinsale, some to Milford, Falmouth, Plymouth, and other western ports, a cry for help went up from the captains and officials con- cerned. The Anne Royal with 130 dead and 160 sick, had scarcely fifteen men in a watch ; a vessel at Milford had ' Sir Allen Apsley, also lieutenant of the Tower, remained victualler with Sir Sampson Darrell till 1630. Charles I 223 not sufficient to man her long boat, and the dried fish remaining was ' so corrupt and bad that the very savour thereof is contagious.' ^ Pennington, who was usually more intelligible than grammatical, wrote from Plymouth that ' the greatest part of the seamen being sick or dead, so that few of them have sufficient sound men to bring their ships about,' ^ and ' a miserable infection among them, and they die very fast' St Leger told Conway that it would not be possible to move the men till they had recovered some strength, ' they stink as they go, and the poor rags they have are rotten, and ready to fall off,' and that many of the officers were in nearly as bad case as their men.^ But the government had expended all its available means in the preparation, such as it was, of the expedition, and could neither pay the men off nor provide them with clothes, victuals, or medical aid. Moreover, the attention of Buckingham was fixed rather on the equipment of another fleet than on the plight of the men, a condition which he doubtless regarded as one they should accept naturally, and a detail unworthy oi la haute politique in which he and his master intrepidly considered themselves such proficients. Pennington had orders to collect forty sail at Plymouth, but as yet had only four ships.^ There were no stores, no surgeons, and no drugs, he reported ; and everything on board the returned vessels would have to be replaced, even the hammocks being ' infected and loathsome ; ' the mayor of the town would not permit the sick men to be put ashore, so that contagion spread among the few healthy remaining. He hints that there is little hope of getting fresh men to go when they had their probable fate before their eyes. All the remedy the Council seemed to find was to order the Com- missioners to prepare estimates for fleets of various strengths, while the Anne Royal and four other ships were lying in the Downs with ' their companies almost grown desperate,' the men dying daily and the survivors mutinous. In March, Pennington, who was an honest, straightforward man and a good seaman, and who wrote to Buckingham in an indepen- dent and even reproving way, which reflects some credit on both of them in that servile age, says that he has twenty- nine ships, but neither victuals, clothes, nor men ; that those sent down run away as fast as they are pressed. * I wish you were a spectator a little, to hear their cries and exclamations ; here die eight or ten daily,' and, if something is not done 'you will break my heart.'^ Under James the men considered that the galleys were better than the royal service ; thus early in ^ State Papers, Dom.,-^\rn, 61^1. "^ Ihid.,']'^. ^ Ibid., xii, 81. * Ibid., xx, 25. February 1626. * State Papers, Dom., xxii. 33, and Coke MSS., 4th March 1626. 2 24 The Administration of the Royal Navy the reign of his son they had come to the conclusion that hanging was preferable. ^ But Buckingham was quite superior to all such particulars. Complaints had been made to him that merchantmen were chased into the Downs by Dunkirkers, while the men-of-war lying there did not even weigh anchor. He sharply censured Palmer, who was in command, but Palmer's reply was a variation of the old legal defence ; they had not been chased, and if they had been he was without victuals or necessaries enabling him to move.^ As the captain of one of his ships wrote to Nicholas that he had no sails, and that he could not obtain their delivery without cash payment, the second por- tion of his statement was probably true. The greatest stress, however, fell upon Pennington at Plymouth. It need hardly be said that there was not yet a dockyard there ; but there was not even a government storehouse, the lack of which mattered less as there were no stores, such provisions as were procured being urgently needed for the daily requirements of the crews. In April Pennington heard that there was i^2000 coming down, but he was already indebted ^^2500 for which he had pledged his own credit, and his estate ran risk of fore- closure unless the mortgage was cleared.^ He adds : * I pray you to consider what these poor souls have endured for the space of these thirteen or fourteen months by sickness, badness of victuals, and nakedness.' Official routine worked, in some respects, smoothly enough. If some of the officers and men — like those of the St Peter, a prize in the royal service — petitioned Buckingham direct, begging for their discharge, saying that they could get neither pay nor food, and would have perished from want if they had not been supplied by their friends, they were referred to the Commissioners, who suavely remarked : ' there are many other ships in the same predicament.'* If others applied direct to the Commissioners, they were told to go to those who hired them, as the Navy Board would ' neither meddle nor make ' with them, ' which answer of theirs I find strange,' says Pennington.^ One day the crew of the Swiftsure muti- nied and went ashore, intending to desert in a body. He went after them and persuaded them to return, but ' their cases are so lamentable that they are not much to be blamed for when men have endured misery at sea and cannot be re- lieved at home in their own country, what a misery of miseries is it ! ' ^ Not all the officers of rank were as kindly as Pennington ; Sir John Watts could only see in the clamour of ragged and starving men ' insolent misdemeanours.' At 1 Coke MSS., 27th February 1626. * StaU Papers^ Dom., xiii, 67 and^73. ^ Ihid.^ xxiv, 9, and Coke MSS., 1 2th April 1626. * Siate Papers, Dom., xxiv, 24. * Ibid,, XXV, 45, * Ibid., xxiv. 33. Pennington to Buckingham. Charles I 225 Harwich the mutineers vowed that they would no longer shiver on board, but would lie in the best beds in the town, all the elysium the poor fellows aspired to. It almost seemed as though the naval service was disintegrating and that such organisation as it had attained, was to be broken up, since the shipwrights and labourers at the dockyards were also unpaid, although they did not find it so difficult to obtain credit. Pennington was now almost despairing, and said that having kept the men together by promises as long as he could, only immediate payment would prevent them deserting en masse, and ' it would grieve any man's heart to hear their lamentations, to see their wants and nakedness, and not to be able to help them.' ^ There is a curious resemblance between these words and those used nearly forty years before by Nottingham in describing the condition of the men who had saved England from the Armada, and who were likewise left to starve and die, their work being done. But any comparison is, within certain limits, in favour of Charles and Buckingham. Elizabeth had money, but all through her life held that men were cheaper than gold. In 1626 the sailors were the first victims of the quarrel between King and Parliament, a struggle in which, and in its legacy of foreign wars, they bore a heavy share of the burden, and from which even to-day they have reaped less benefit than any other class of the community. The original estimate for the Cadiz fleet was under ;^300,ooo, but in 1631 it was calculated that altogether, for the land and sea forces, it had amounted to half a million,^ and as the government found it impossible to procure this or any serviceable sum they resorted to the expedient of nomin- ally raising wages all round,^ The seaman's monthly pay, ten shillings during the reign of James, had been temporarily raised to fourteen for the attack on Cadiz ; in future it was to be permanently fifteen shillings, subject to a deduction of sixpence for the Chatham chest, fourpence for a preacher, and twopence for a surgeon, and as the scale remained in force till the civil war, and was eventually paid with comparative punctuality, the full list for all ranks, per month may be appended here : * 1 State Papers^ Dom., xxiv, 65. * Ibid., cxcvi, 32. ^ Proc, April, 1626. * State Papers, Dom., xxxv, 19, and Add. MSS., 9339, f. 24. Six rates of vessels are classified. All carry trumpeters, and the first four drummers and fifers. Both lieutenants and corporals were employed in 1588, but afterwards discontinued ; the Lion had a lieutenant in 1587, and perhaps it was not un- common for a large ship on war service to carry an officer of that rank. 226 The Administration of the Royal Navy- Captain ' . . Lieutenant^ . Master . . Pilot , . . Master's mate Boatswain Boatswain's mate I Purser. . . . Surgeon . . . Surgeon's mate . Quartermaster . Quartermaster's mate . . . a { jeers g M-, J sheets S ° J tacks >< [ halliardj £ s d £ s 4 14 4 to 14 o 3 o o „ 3 10 268,, I 10 o „ I 10 o „ 3 o I 3 I 10 4 ,. o o „ 3 13 2 5 2 5 2 5 1 6 2 o 17 6 £ s Carpenter ...11 Carpenter's mate o 18 Corporal^ . . . o 18 Gunner ....13 Gunner's mate . o 18 Cook ....10 Master Trumpeter I 5 Other trumpeters i 3 Drummer ...10 Fifer 10 Armourer ...11 Gunmaker . . . i I Seaman . . . . 015 Gromet . . . . on Boy 07 d £ s o to I 17 I 5 1 10 2 o I 2 I 5 I 8 The purpose in appointing lieutenants was ' to breed young gentlemen for the sea service .... The reason why there are not now so many able sea-captains as there is use of is because there hath not been formerly allowance for lieutenants, whereby gentlemen of worth and quality might be encouraged to go to sea. And if peace had held a little longer the old sea captains would have been worn out, as that the state must have relied wholly on mechanick men that have been bred up from swabbers, and .... to make many of them would cause sea service in time to be despised by gentlemen of worth, who will refuse to serve at sea under such captains.' * According to this view the original naval lieutenant was equivalent to the modern midshipman, in which case his pay seems very high, unless it is to be explained by the tendency to favour social position. The midshipman, introduced some- what later, was at first only an able seaman with special duties. The foregoing extract is in itself a vivid illustration of the reasons for the loathing, yearly growing in intensity, the seamen, or 'mechanick men,' had for their courtier captains, ation^-'^^"'^" ^^ ^^ ^^^ time the crown was making these liberal promises Poverty of the it had not sufficient money to fit out two ships required for special service on the Barbary coast, and as vessels were being kept in nominal employment because even a few hundred pounds could not be raised wherewith to pay off their crews, it is not surprising that the men showed no renewed eagerness to die lingeringly for their country, and that the proclamation of April needed a corollary in the shape of another threatening deserters with the penalty of death. This was issued on 1 8th June, and a week later the crew of the Lion at Portsmouth, 400 or 500 strong, left the ship with the intention of marching ' According to rate of ship. ^ Only to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rates — ' a place not formerly allowed.' ^ ' Not formerly allowed' ; his duties were akin to those of a musketry instructor of to-day. •• Egerton MSS., 2 54 1, f. 13. Crown. Charles I 227 up to London. The officers read the last proclamation to them and promised to write about their grievances ; but the men, quite unappalled, replied that ' their , wives and children were starving and they perishing on board,' ^ Wives and children were neglected factors in the dynastic combinations of Charles and Buckingham, and husbands and fathers might consider themselves amply rewarded if their efforts enabled the King to restore ;the Palatinate to his nephew. The Commissioners complained despondingly that they were unable to progress with the new fleet while the back wages were unpaid, and 'the continual clamour . . . doth much distract and discourage us.' ^ The Swiftsure at Portsmouth had only 150 instead of 250 men, of whom 50 were raw boys, and all the other ships there were but half manned. Palmer, commanding in the Downs, had never suffered such extremity even in war time, he said, and his men flatly refused to work unless they were fed, a really justifiable form of strike. At this date there were six men-of-war and ten armed merchantmen at Portsmouth, but, says Gy ffard, the men ' run away as fast as they are sent ... all things so out of order as that I cannot see almost any possi- bility for the whole fleet to go to sea in a long time.'^ The intensity of Captain Gyffard's feelings somewhat obscured his clearness of expression. The lessons of the previous year appear to have taught nothing ; the victuallers were still sending in provisions of the old bad quality, and the beef sent to Portsmouth weighed only 2 lbs. the piece, instead of the 4 lbs. for which the crown was charged. The Chatham shipwrights threatened to cease work unless they were paid, and Pennington, now at Ports- mouth, wrote that after all the preparations, extending over some months, there were no hammocks and not even cans or platters to eat and drink from. All these requests and com- plaints poured in nearly daily on Buckingham who should have been an organising genius to deal with the complex dis- order, instead of merely a man of some talent and much optimism, also troubled by a refractory Parliament, perverse continental powers scornful of his ingenuous diplomacy, and the varied responsibilities of all the other departments of the government. In September the Commissioners pointed out to him that a debt of ^^4000 a month was being incurred for want of ;;^i4,ooo to pay off the men, who were now reduced to stealing their daily food ; those in the river were so dis- orderly that the Board could not meet without danger, as the sailors threatened to break the doors down on them, and the shipwrights from Chatham had besieged them for twenty days.* ^ State Papers^ Dont.^ xxx, 48, ^ Ibid., 75. ^ Ibid.^ xxxiii, 27; July 1626. "• Ibid., xxxv, 44. 228 The Administration of the Royal Navy By this time, however, as the result of requiring the coast towns to provide ships, forced loans, and other measures, Willoughby was at sea with a fleet, but one which was a third weaker in strength than had been intended. Before reaching Falmouth he found twenty tuns of ' stinking beer ' on his own ship, and the rest of the squadron was as ill off. The men were ' poor and mean ' physically, and deficient in number, the stores generally bad and insufficient, there being only enough provisions to go to the Straits of Gibraltar and back again, and the excursion being useless, because too late in the year, when all the enemies' fleets had returned home.^ The complaint of want of men was met by an order that he should take on board 500 soldiers to help in working the ships ; in two vessels intended for him two-thirds of the men had run away, being too glad to escape at the cost of forfeiting five months' wages due to them, and the Commissioners proposed to fill their places * by forcing men to work with threatenings, having no money to pay them.' 2 The artless belief of their kind in the efficacy of threats once more placed them in a foolish position. The crew of the Happy Entrance refused to sail, saying that they would rather be hanged ashore than starve at sea,^ but even the relentless egotism of Charles was not equal to hanging them. It may be said for the Commissioners that their situation was not a happy one, seeing that they were continually ordered to perform impossibilities. When they were told to provide fresh ships and men, they retorted that they were already keeping twelve vessels in pay for want of money to discharge the crews, the wages bill alone running at the rate of £\'jZ2. a month.^ Other men sent away with tickets, which could not be paid when presented, congregated round their house whenever they met for business, shouting and threatening and causing them actual personal fear. There was ;^20,ooo owing to the victuallers, and they, in December, refused any further supplies until they had some money, the result being that, at Portsmouth, ' the common seamen grew insolent for want of victuals,' wrote Sir John Watts, who, in his own person, only suffered from the insolence of a well- lined belly. Sir Allen Apsley, the chief victualling contractor, justified himself to the council and pointed out the serious consequences to be feared : ^ ' By the late mutinous carriage of those few sailors of but one of H.M. ships the Reformatmi, the humours of the rest of the fleet may be con- jectured . . . What disorder, then, may be feared if twenty times that number, having no promise of speedy payment, no victuals, fresh or salt, ^ State Papers^ Dom., xxxv, I02 and 109, 1, Willoughby to Nicholas. ^ Ibid., xxxvi, 60. ' Ibid., xxxvii, 57. * Ibid., xxxix, 78. * Ibid., xli, 56, (1626). Charles I 229 nor ground for the officers to persuade or control — for alas ! say they, when men have no money nor clothes to wear (much less to pawn), nor victuals to eat, what would you have them do ? Starve ? This is likely to be the condition of the ships now in the Downs and those at Ports- mouth, having not two days' victuals if equally divided . . . not having any victuals at all but from hand to mouth upon the credit of my deputies who are able to trust no longer, so as this great disorder may be seen bearing very near even to the point of extremity.' About 2200 men were in this plight, and matters must indeed have been bad when it was no longer to the Victualler's profit to supply the carrion beef and fetid beer useless for any other purpose than to feed seamen. Punishment and promises were becoming equally useless. An officer at Ports- mouth had to confess that punishing his men only made them more rebellious, and they revenged themselves by cutting his ship's cable, in hopes that she might drift ashore ; like Apsley, he remarked that they were only victualled from hand to mouth, but adds, ' with refuse and old stuff.'^ Charles was going to recover the Palatinate by means of his fleet, but Pennington's opinion of the armed merchantmen which made up the bulk of the royal force was not high. He considered that two men-of-war could beat the fifteen he had with him, as their ordnance was mostly useless and they had not am- munition for more than a two hours' fight.^ Nor, from in- cidental references, can the discipline on these auxiliary ships have been such as to promise success. In 1625 they had to be forced under fire at Cadiz by threats ; in 1628, at Rochelle, they fired vigorously, but well out of any useful or hazardous range. In this year the captain of one of them killed, injured, and maltreated his men, while he and five gentlemen volun- teers consumed sixteen men's allowance of food every day; and in January 1627, when some of them lying in Stokes Bay were ordered westward, they mutinied and would only sail for the Downs. In despair the Council resorted to the expedient of a atlon ?!?Tle"^" special commission^ to inquire into the state of the Navy, ^^^^^^s- nineteen in number and including eight seamen, perhaps in the hope of gaining time, but probably from sheer prescrip- tion of routine. While the naval organisation was crumbling, they took careful measurements of the dimensions of each ship, and anxiously examined whether Burrell had used his own or government barges for the conveyance of stores. When they inquired at v/hat cost ships were built, the answer came in a petition from the Chatham shipwrights that they had been twelve months, ^ State Papers^ Dom., liii, 8 and 77, Philpott to Nicholas. 2 Ibid., xlii, 100. ^ I2th Dec. 1626. 230 The Administration of the Royal Navy ' without one penny pay, neither having any allowance for meat or drink, by which many of them having pawned all they can, others turned out of doors for non-payment of rent, which with the cries of their wives and children for food and necessaries doth utterly dishearten them.' ' John Wells, storekeeper to the Navy, had 7^ years' pay owing to him, and it may be inferred that, unless he was more honest than his fellows, the crown, if it did not pay him directly, had to do so indirectly. The Treasurer of the Navy, like the Victualler, had refused to make any more advances on his own credit, but when the Chatham men marched up to London in a body, he promised to settle their claims, a pro- mise which was not fulfilled. Then the special commissioners had to deal with the crews of the Lion^ Vanguard, and Reformation. The men of the Vanguard told them that they were in want of food, clothing, firing, and lodging, ' being forced to lie on the cold decks.'^ The sailors, like the ship- wrights, came to London in the hope of obtaining some relief, but with even less success. Their ragged misery was an outrage on the curled and scented decorum of the court, and Charles perhaps feared that they might not confine themselves to mere vociferation, and, heroic as he looks on canvas, had no liking for the part of a Richard Plantagenet in face of a threatening mob. He confined himself to ordering the Lord Mayor to guard the gates and prevent them coming near the court, and Apsley, in his other capacity as lieutenant of the Tower, was directed to ' repress the insolencies of mariners ' by ' shot or other offensive ways.'^ Probably death from Apsley's ' shot ' was, even if as certain, a less painful fate than that from his victuals. As for Charles, we may suppose that the lesson in kingly honour, justice, and responsibility was not thrown away on those of his seamen who lived till 1642. Notwithstanding the financial straits of the government large schemes relating to the increase of the number of ships and the construction of new docks were being continually planned. In naval as in other affairs Buckingham's vision was fixed on the future, careless of the present. Such money and supplies as were obtained did not go far towards relieving the necessities of the sailors. In May, Mervyn found that his own crew came unpleasantly ' 'twixt the wind and his nobility,' for, ' by reason of want of clothing, they are become so loathsome and so nastily sick as to be not only unfit to labour but to live.' ^ Among the State Papers, undated but assigned to this year, occurs the first instance of a round robin yet noticed ; the men signing it refuse to weigh anchor until provisioned.^ ' State Papers^ Dom.^ xlii, 137. "State Papers, Dom., xlix, 68; January 1627. ^ Ibid., liii, 9 and 10; February 1627. ^ Ibid., Ixiv, 76, Mervyn to Buckingham. ^ Ibid., Ixxxviii, 62; 1627. Charles I 231 Despite all these drawbacks Buckingham had contrived toTheDisorganis- get together the Rhe fleet of 1627, by various means, although continuance, the pecuniar^' receipts were not nearly adequate to the re- quirements. Some 3800 seamen were employed, and when they came home were worse ofif than ever, and the monotonous sequence of complaints was continued with greater intensity. The crew of the Assurance deserted in a body ; the sailors at Plymouth were stealing the soldiers' arms and selling them to obtain bread,^ and wages were running on at the rate of ;^50oo a month, because there was no money wherewith to pay off the men.^ By December 500 sailors of the returned fleet had died at Plymouth, and both there and at Portsmouth the townspeople refused to have the sick men billeted ashore, for at Plymouth they professed to have never shaken off the infectious fever spread by the men of the Cadiz fleet. If we had any statistics at all of the death and disease on board the fleets of 1625-8, the figures would probably be ghastly in the terrible mental and physical suffering they would represent. In this century the ' wailing-place ' on the quays of Amster- dam, where the friends and relatives of Dutch sailors bid them farewell, was well known, but in another sense, and too often for a longer farewell, every royal ship was a wailing-place for English wives and mothers. Nicholas, as Buckingham's secretary, sometimes had franker communications than were sent to his master. Mervyn wrote to him that the king would shortly have more ships than men, there being commonly twenty or thirty fresh cases of sickness every day, and ' the more than miserable condition of the men, who have neither shoes, stockings, nor rags to cover their nakedness ... all the ships are so infectious that I fear if we hold the sea one month we shall not bring men enough home to moor the ships. You may think I make it worse, but I vow to God that I cannot deliver it in words . . . The poor men bear all as patiently as they can ... I much wonder that so little care be taken to preserve men that are so hardly bred. I have used my best cunning to make the Vanguard wholesome. I have caused her to be washed all over, fore and aft, every second day ; to be perfumed with tar burnt and frankincense ; to be aired 'twixt decks with pans of charcoal ; to be twice a week washed with vinegar . . . Yet if to-day we get together 200 men within four days afterwards we have not one hundred.' ^ Watts, at Portsmouth, who, in the intervals of solicitation of money for himself and preferment for his son, wrote abusively of men who asked at least food and clothing in midwinter, was a man after Charles's own heart, for he also had arranged with the governor of the town to use ' shot,' if necessary, when the seamen came showing their tattered clothes and making ' scandalous speeches.' ^ Mervyn, in the letter to Nicholas quoted above, admits that he has overdrawn his pay, but asks ^ State Papers, Dom., Ixxxv, 61, ^ J^id.^ Ixxxvi, 42, ^ Ibid., Ixxxvii, 37; December 1627. * Ibid., Ixxx, 83 and 86. 232 The Administration of the Royal Navy for another advance, and doubtless officers who had friends at court, or who could afford to bribe, had little difficulty in ob- taining their salaries. Nicholas, for instance, who subsequently developed into a knight and secretary of state, had an itching palm on occasion. On the other hand, even in later years, when the pressure was not so great, if the paymaster or pursers advanced any portion of the wages already due to the mere sailor, a discount of 20 per cent, was deducted for the favour. The merchant was also competing with the royal service, owners paying 30s a month; therefore the need for men caused boys and weakly adults to be pressed, and during the winter the mortality among them was great.^ In January 1628 Mervyn reported from Plymouth that there were no hammocks, and ' the men lodge on the bare decks . . . their condition miserable beyond relation ; many are so naked and exposed to the weather in doing their duties that their toes and feet miserably rot and fall away piecemeal, being mortified with extreme cold.' * A few days later he said that things were worse than ever, that the vessels were full "of sick men, they being refused ashore.^ Notwithstanding the refusal to have them ashore their diseases spread so rapidly on land that both Plymouth and Portsmouth were * like to perish.' A striking feature in this wretched story is the want of sympathy shown by nearly all the officials, high or low. These extracts are taken principally from the letters of those officers who felt for their men and endeavoured to obtain some alleviation of their distress, but many of the despatches con- tain only dry formal details or, as in the instances of Watts and Sir James Bagg — Eliot's defamer and, from his absorp- tive capacity in relation to government money, known as the Bottomless Bagg — are filled with cowardly gibes and threats directed at men who could not obtain even their daily bread from the crown. It has long been held a point of honour with officers to share the dangers and hardships of those under their command, but in those years the superiors to whom the men looked for guidance and support left them to suffer alone, ' the infection so strong that few of the captains or officers durst lie on board.' * The sailors in the river were somewhat better off. Perhaps their proximity to the court, and potentialities of active protest, stirred the most sensitive portion of Charles's conscience, and arrangements were made to billet them on the riverside parishes, at the rate of 3s 6d a man per week, till money could be provided to pay them. This was a plan which relieved the crown at the expense of the householder; nor does it appear to have been very suc- * Coie MSS., 17th September 1627. ^ State Papers, Dom., xc, 38. •'' /6id., 75. * Ibid., xcii, 73; February 1628. Charles I 233 cessful, since a proclamation was issued on 17th February to repress the disorderHness of such billeted mariners and warn- ing them not to presume to address the Commissioners. In March the pressed men at Plymouth armed themselves, seized the Guildhall, and there prepared to stand a siege.^ The issue is not stated, but although mutinies were continually happen- ing they usually had little result, for if the men got away from the ship or town the endeavour to reach their homes would have been almost hopeless. They were only frantic outbursts of desperation by isolated bodies of a class which has always lacked the gift of facile expression, and has never learnt to combine. An official describes plainly the causes of these mutinies, and his paper is worth quoting in full : ^ ' 1st. They say they are used like dogs, forced to keep aboard without being suffered to come ashore to refresh themselves. 2nd. That they have not means to put clothes on their backs to defend themselves from cold or to keep them in health, much less to relieve their poor wives and children. 3rd. That when they happen to fall sick they have not any allowance of fresh victuals to comfort them, or medicines to help recover them. 4th. That some of their sick fellows being put ashore in houses erected for them are suffered to perish for want of being looked unto, their toes and feet rotting from their bodies, and so smelling that none are able to come into the room where they are. 5th. That some pro- visions put aboard them is neither fit nor wholesome for men to live on. 6th. That therefore they had as lief be hanged as dealt with as they are.' Gorges suggests that some of these complaints are frivolous and some untrue, and recommends the remedy, dear to the official soul, of a commission. The commission of 1626 had hardly ceased sitting, and how far the complaints were frivolous and untrue, can be judged by the evidence brought forward here. In April, 1628, Denbigh sailed to relieve Rochelle, and^^derof^^ returned without having effected his purpose. Preparations then went on apace for the great fleet Buckingham proposed to command himself in August. The difficulty in obtaining provisions, and their quality, may be inferred from a petition of Sir Allen Apsley's addressed directly to the king. He says that he has sold and mortgaged all his property, and that he and his friends had pledged their credit to the extent of ;^iCK),ooo.3 These were unpromising conditions under which to engage to supply a fleet which was intended to be as large as that of 1625, and as the crown could not suddenly replace the mechanism organised by the Victualler and his deputies, it was practically dependent on his efforts. It was probably due to the poverty of Sir Allen Apsley that in this fleet water was, for the first time, taken from a home port as * State Papers, Dom.^ xcviii, 26. ' Ibid., 29, March 1628, Gorges to Buckingham. ' Ibid., cv, 80; 1628. 234 The Administration of the Royal Navy what may be called a primary store.i Hitherto, although water had been taken for cooking purposes, beer, as has been shown, had always been the recognised drink on ship board. In June the ships were being collected at Portsmouth, but with the usual troubles. There were two mutinies. ' God be thanked, they are quieted,' writes Coke, but the men * have no shift of clothes. Some have no shirts, and others but one for the whole year.' There were few surgeons, and those few 'haunt the taverns every day.'^ In one party of 150 pressed men sent down in July there were to be found saddlers, ploughmen, and other mechanics ; some were old and weak and the majority useless. Pettifogging tricks were employed to trap the men. In one instance Buckingham ordered that certain vessels were not to be paid off till the Swiftsure and other ships were ready, and that then Peter White was to be present to at once press the crews for further service.^ Fire ships were required, but Coke found that they could not be had without ^350 in cash, as no one would trust the Crown.* Buckingham himself did not intend to share the hardships of the beings of coarser clay under his command. A trans- port was fitted to serve as a kitchen and store ship for him, and the bill for his supplies came to £10^6, 4s. It included such items as cards and dice, £2 ; wine, etc., £\6df. ; eight bullocks and a cow, £^g ; eighty sheep, £60 ; fifteen goats, ;^io ; ten young porklings, £^ \ two sows with pig, ;^3 ; 980 head of poultry, ^^63, is. ; 2000 eggs, £2, ids ; and pickled oysters, lemons, damask tapestry, and turkey carpets.^ Then came Felton's knife, and we may hope that some of the sailors made an unwonted feast on the more perishable articles of this liberal collection. In any case, Buckingham's murder was an unmixed good for them, although had he spared to the men some of that energy and care he gave, at least with good intention, to the improvement of the materiel of the navy, the verdict might have been different. But in his neglect of their rights or welfare he was not below the standard of his age, in which the feudal feeling remained without its sense of reciprocal obligation, and in which only a very few were impelled by conscience to more than the defence of their own rights. Its Results. One result of the shuffling of the political pack which followed Buckingham's death was the appointment of Weston as Lord Treasurer. Weston, Mr Gardiner tells us, was neither honest, nor amiable, nor popular, but he was at any rate determined to re-introduce some order into the finances, and the sailors were among the first to reap the benefit. When ' State Papers, Dom., cv, 85. ^ /3/^_^ cviii, 18. 3 Add. MSS., 9297, f. 118. ' Coie MSS., 3rd June 1628. * State Papers, Dom., cxiv, 48. Charles I 235 the Rochelle fleet, which had sailed under Lindsey, returned, the men were as surprised as they were delighted to find that they were to be paid. ' The seamen are much joyed with the Lord Treasurer's care to pay them so suddenly.'^ All the same the civic authorities of Plymouth desired that the ships should be paid off somewhere else. They wrote to the Council that when the Cadiz expedition came back, 1600 of the townspeople died of diseases contracted from the soldiers and sailors, that many also perished after the return of the Rhe fleet, and that they heard that this Rochelle one was also very sickly, and if so, 'it will utterly disable this place." Either there was a relaxation of Weston's alacrity in paying, or mutinous habits had become too natural to be suddenly discarded, as in November the crews of three of the largest of the men-of-war were robbing openly, for want of victuals, they said. Nevertheless we do not hear of many difficulties in connexion with the Rochelle fleet, and the work of payment may be assumed to have progressed with unex- pected smoothness. With the cessation of ambitious enterprises the demand ^f^e^Buck- for the services of the maritime population became less, although the smaller number of men employed were treated no bett(5r than when the government had the excuse, such as it was, of large expenditure. In 1629, Mervyn, commanding in the narrow seas, wrote to the Lords of Admiralty : ' Foul winter weather, naked bodies, and empty bellies make the men voice the King's service worse than a galley slavery.' ^ It should be remarked that although hammocks were provided for over-sea service in the proportion of one for every two men, they were not yet furnished to ships stationed in home waters, a want which must have affected the health and con- tentment of the seamen even when they were properly fed. Again, Mervyn protests — ' I have -written the state of six ships here in the Downs, two of which, the Dreadnought and 3rd whelp, have neither meat nor drink. The loth whelp hath drunk water these three days. The shore affords soldiers relief or hope, the sea neither. Now with what confidence can punish- ment be inflicted on men who mutiny in these wants .? . . . These neglects be the cause that mariners fly to the service of foreign nations to avoid his majesty's . . . His majesty will lose the honour of his seas, the love and loyalty of his sailors, and his royal navy will droop.' * They were prophetic words, and as another illustration of the methods which were to secure the sailors' love and loyalty we find in October, among the notes of business to be con- sidered by the Lords of the Admiralty, ' poor men's petitions presented above six months, and never read.' Mutiny had ' State Papers, Dom., cxx, 27; November 1628. ^ Ibid., cxviii, 78. ^ Ibid., cxlix, 90; September. * Ibid., 92. 236 The Administration of the Royal Navy become merely a form of protest, and captains looked forward to it as only a sign of dissatisfaction. One of them writes to Nicholas that his crew are in ' an uproar' about their offensive beer, and that if he finds no fresh supply at Plymouth he is sure of a mutiny ; ^ another commander was forced to pawn his spare sails and anchors to buy food for his men.^ Apsley died in 1630, leaving his affairs deeply involved, the crown still owing him large sums. His coadjutor, and then sole successor. Sir Sampson Darell, did not fare better at the hands of the government, although his requirements were so much less. In June 1632 he informed Nicholas that he would be unable to continue victualling unless he was paid, having raised all the money he could on his own estate.' If he re- ceived anything on account it was evidently not enough to insure permanent improvement, since a year later we hear that the cruisers are ' tied by the teeth ' in the Downs for want of provisions.* During these years the debts incurred from the early expeditions of the reign were being slowly dis- charged, and the scantiness of the available resources for fresh efforts is shown by the way Pennington complains that six or seven weeks of preparation were needed to collect three months' victuals for four ships.^ From the absence of references in the State Papers to the nonpayment of wages it would seem as though they were now paid with comparative regularity, but the expressions of dis- gust at the quality of the provisions are as continuous and vigorous as before. Besides methods of cheating in the quantities served out, for which the victuallers and pursers were answerable, ' the brewers ' — of course with the connivance of the victuallers — ' have gotten the art to sophisticate beer with broom instead of hops, and ashes instead of malt, and (to make it look the more lively) to pickle it with salt water, so that while it is new it shall seem to be worthy of praise, but in one month wax worse than stinking water.' ^ The same writer says that the English were the unhealthiest of all ships, in consequence of the practical application of the proverb that ' nothing will poison a sailor.' Then he laments that English mariners, formerly renowned for patience and endurance, were now physically weak, impatient, and mutinous — and blames the sailor for the change. Thetihip- The first systematic issue of ship-money writs was in money . Q^^^-QJ-^g^. 16^4, and in the summer of 1635, the resulting fleet was at sea. As usual the provisions were an unfailing source of indignation, and Lindsey, who was in command, told the ' State Papers, Dom., clxxii, 42; August 1630. ^ fltid., clxxv, 75. ^ Ibid., ccxviii, 52. ♦ Ibid., ccxlvi, 85. * State Papers, Dom., cclxxii, 58; July 1 634. * Ibid.^ cclxxix, 106, Advice of a Seaman, &c., by Nath. Knott. Charles I 237 Lords Commissioners that much of the beef was so tainted that when it was moved ' the scent all over the ship is enough to breed contagion.' The crews were made up with watermen and landsmen ignorant of their work, and many were weak and sickly; three men-of-war and several of the hired merchantmen were quite disabled by the sickness on board them.^ A special matter of complaint was the large number of volunteers and their servants who went for a harmless summer cruise on Lindsey's ships. That they were useless and in the way was of less importance than that ofificers were aggrieved by finding their cabins taken from them to house these people in com- fort, and that the seamen were irritated by seeing the idlers given the first choice of food, having to wait for their own till ' the visitors were served.^ If the greater part of the beef was fetid, and the officers and volunteers had right of selection, what could have been left for the men ? Apparently the sailors had as little liking as ever for the royal service, since, in 1636, the old difficulties were renewed in obtaining seamen for the second ship-money fleet under Northumberland. In April the men were said to be continu- ally running away ; in June out of 250 men turned over from the An7ie Royal to the St Andrew 220 deserted.^ When Northumberland returned in the autumn, typhus was rife in his squadron, and Mervyn reported that the men 'in this weather fall sick for want of clothing, most of them barefoot and scarcely rags to hide their skins.' * Northumberland, not content with merely commanding in state, attacked the short- comings of the naval administration furiously when he came ashore. Many of his strictures relate to subjects to be noticed, subsequently, but concerning the men he said that they were incapable both bodily and in their knowledge of seamanship ; that out of 260 men in the James not more than twenty could steer, that in the Unicorn there was hardly a seaman besides the officers, that nearly one-third of the Entrance's crew had never been to sea, and that of 1 50 men in the last-named ship only twelve could take the helm.^ The provisions, he said, were bad and meagre, and the men defrauded of a fourth or fifth of their allowance. Moreover sick men must either be kept on board ' or turned ashore in danger of starving, not to be received into any house, so as some have been seen to die upon the strand for lack of relief Such was the tender care monarchy by divine right, with its paraphernalia of Commissioners and Lords of the Admiralty, vouchsafed to that class of its subjects which happened to be voiceless and helpless. But if the coming 1 State Papers, Dom., ccxcviii, 5 ; September 1635. 2 Add. AfSS., 9301, f. 54. ^ State Papers, Dom., cccxxvi, 10. * IMd., cccxxxvii,'l5. ^ Ibid., cccxxxviii, 39. ■o 8 The Administration of the Royal Navy- struggle between divine right and capitalist right was to render the sailor's assistance valuable, and temporarily im- prove his position, the experience of succeeding generations was to show that to him it made little difference whether life and health were sacrificed under the stately forms of mon- archical procedure, or by the more obviously sordid processes of mercantile traffic. There was no ' glorious revolution ' for men whose welfare depended on a legislature influenced by merchants and shipowners, and ignoble with the soulless ethics of the eighteenth century, victuaiung. According to official documents the victualler, Sir Samp- son Darell, must have died not long after Apsley, as his accounts for five years are passed by his executrix,^ The absence of professional control did not probably cause any extra mismanagement ; at any rate no murmurs are heard on that score. It is impossible to say now whether Apsley was a victim, or only received his deserts, in having claims for ^£^69,436 in 1626 and ^^94,985 in 1627 rejected because his books were signed by only three instead of four Commissioners and on account of insufficient particulars. As they were not finally refused until 1637 his representatives were allowed plenty of time to prove their case. In February 1637 John Crane, ' chief clerk of our kitchen,' was made Surveyor of marine victuals, his appointment dating from 20th Nov. 1635. The allowance of drink and solid food was the same as in the last century, and sugar, rice, and oatmeal were medical luxu- ries theoretically provided for sick men in the 1636 fleet, on the equipment of which Northumberland expressed such tren- chant criticisms. Crane undertook the victualling at the rate of eightpence halfpenny a man per day at sea, and seven- pence halfpenny in harbour, but in March 1638 he gave the necessary year's notice to terminate his contract.^ He found that during 1636 and 1637 he had lost a penny three farthings a month on each man, and owing to the general rise in prices, anticipated a further loss of as much as 3s 4f d a head, per month, in 1638. He entreated an immediate release from his bargain, or he would be ruined, and he had thirteen children. In all these memorials one invariably finds that the petitioner possesses an enormous family. In 1637 the Earl of Northumberland was again at sea in what Sir Thomas Roe expected would be ' one turn to the west in an honourable procession,' and the Earl himself wrote, ' No man was ever more desirous of a charge than I am to be quit of mine.' ^ He was, however, the first competent admiral among the nobility that Charles had been able to find. From the absence of any accounts of mutiny and disorder we may ' And. Off. Dec. Accounts^ s. v. 'Navy.' * State Papers, Dom.^ cccliii, f. 95. ' Ibid.., ccclxv, 28. Charles I 239 take it that either the men were better treated this year or that the superior officers were tired of complaining. In 1638 Northumberland was ill, and all the work the ship-money fleet did was to convoy two powder-laden vessels through the ships blockading Dunkirk.^ We have seen that men like Pennington and Mervyn had Discipline, not the heart to punish for insubordination under the cir- cumstances of privation which made their crews seditious and disobedient, and the normal discipline on a man-of-war was, in all likelihood, sufficiently lax. Some of the regulations, however, if they were carried out, were strict enough, although they will compare favourably with the bloodthirsty articles of war of the succeeding century, and they show some difference from previous customs. Prayer was said twice daily, before dinner and after the psalm sung at setting the evening watch, and any one absent was liable to twenty-four hours in irons. Swearing was punished by three knocks on the fore- head with a boatswain's whistle, and smoking anywhere but on the upper deck, * and that sparingly,' by the bilboes. The thief was tied up to the capstan, ' and every man in the ship shall give him five lashes with a three-stringed whip on his bare back,' This is, I think, the first mention of any form of cat. The habitual thief was, after flogging, dragged ashore astern of a boat and ignominiously dismissed with the loss of his wages. For brawling and fighting the offender was ducked three times from the yardarm, and similarly towed ashore and discharged; while for striking an officer he was to be tried for his life by twelve men, but whether shipmates or civilians is not said.^ If a man slept on watch three buckets of water were to be poured upon his head and into his sleeves, and any one except ' gentlemen or officers ' playing cards or dice incurred four hours of manacles. It is suggestive to read that * no man persume to strike in the ship but such officers as are authorised.' ^ There was no specially prepared fleet in 1639, but in October Pennington was in command of a few ships in the Downs, watching the opposed Dutch and Spanish fleets also lying there. Both he and Northumberland had pressed the King, but in vain, for instructions as to his course of action in certain contingencies. At last directions were given him that 1 The sale of gunpowder was at this time a crown monopoly (^Fcedera, xx, 107). Charles's sad and picturesque dignity of appearance did not imply such a delicate sense of honour as to prevent him turning a penny by forcing contraband of war through the fleet of a friendly power and supplying the privateers who were the scourge of English commerce. 2 In the eighteenth century he would have had a hole-and-corner trial, unde- fended and ignorant of the law, before the associates, and perhaps friends, of the man whom he had assaulted. ^ State Papers^ Dom.^ Ivi, lOl, (1627), and ccccvii, 32, (1638). 240 The Administration of the Royal Navy in the event of fighting between them he was to assist the side which appeared to be gaining the day, a manner of procedure which Charles doubtless thought was dexterous diplomacy, but which most students of the international history of his time will consider as ignominious as it was futile. The Dutch attacked the Spaniards as they were taking in 500 barrels of gunpowder, supplied with the connivance of the English government ^ — again Charles's trading instincts were too strong — drove a score of their vessels ashore, and scattered the remainder. Unfortunately Pennington, instead of also attack- ing the Spaniards, fired into the Dutch, who did not reply.^ ^dthecmi During 1640 and 1641 Charles was fully occupied with his War. Scotch and parliamentary difficulties, and naval business was again falling into disorder. In July 1641 Northumberland tells Pennington that he does not see how the insubordination the latter reports is to be remedied, as there is no money with which to pay wages.^ In October Sir William Russell, one of the Treasurers of the Navy, had been a long time out of town, and the other, Sir Henry Vane (the younger), * seeing there is no money in the office, never comes near us.' Perhaps it was not altogether displeasing to the parliamentary leaders that, in view of the arbitrament towards which King and Parliament were tending, the seamen should be rendered discontented and rebellious. In January 1642, 2000 sailors offered their services and protection to Parliament, and when, in July, the King appointed Pennington, and Parliament Warwick, to the command of the fleet, the men in the Downs, apparently with- out any hesitation, followed Warwick, although the former must have had with them the influence of a trusted and favourite officer. In several instances the crews of ships on outlying stations forced their captains to submit, or put their royalist officers ashore and themselves took charge. It is difficult to speak with absolute certainty, but an examination of the data available leads to the conclusion that only one small vessel, the Providence, adhered to the royal cause. We need not conclude that this unanimity implied any deep feeling about the general misgovernment of Charles or the important constitutional questions at issue. The sailor, contrary to the impression apparently prevailing among femi- nine novelists, is usually an extremely matter-of-fact indivi- ^ State Papers, Dom., ccccxxxi, 30. * With the exception of the Amboyna affair, a case once more of the 'prancing proconsul,' the Dutch showed, throughout this century, exemplary patience and moderation under a long course of provocation, in affairs of salutes, right of search, and seizures of ships, several instances of which there will be occasion to mention. The rulers of the United Netherlands chose to consider wider aims and more urgent needs than revenge for insults to their flag, however flagrant, but when the Navigation Act of 165 1 brought matters to a crisis the Dutch must have felt that they had a long score to settle. ^ State Papers, Dom., cccclxxxii, 13. Charles I 241 dual, with the greater portion of his attention fixed on the subjects of his pay and food. All he could associate with the crown were memories of starvation and beggary, of putrid victuals fraught with disease, and wages delayed, in payment of which, when he at last received them, he found a large pro- portion stick to the hands of minor officials. The Parliament paid him liberally and punctually, and he, on his side, served it honestly and well. For him was not necessary — perhaps he was not capable of feeling — the curious psychical exaltation of the ' New Model,' but in a steady, unimaginative way, with- out much enthusiasm but without a sign of hesitation, he kept his faith and did more to destroy royalist hopes than histor- ians, with few exceptions, have supposed. Under the admini- stration of the Navy Committee there were no recurrences of the confusion and unruliness which had before existed, and until the Rainsborow mutiny of 1648, speedily repented, the seamen showed no symptom, for six years, of discontent or of regret for the part they had chosen. Without feeling an indignation which would have been in Parliament and advance of their age at the hardships and dishonesty of which ® e^'^^^^- the sailor had been the victim, the position of the parliamen- tary^ chiefs compelled them to treat him with a discreet con- sideration. He was fed decently ; wages were raised to nine- teen shillings a month, and were given in full from the date of his joining his ship, instead of from that of its sailing ; and an attempt was made to raise a sufficient number of men with- out impressment, the officers responsible being only directed *to use their best persuasion.' ^ Seamen, however, had been too long accustomed to compulsion to enter into the principles of voluntaryism, and an act allowing pressing and punishing con- tumacy with three months' imprisonment, must have been re- ceived by them as something they could understand.^ The utter absence of difficulties or remonstrances during the years of the civil war shows how smoothly the naval administration worked, and Parliament appeared to place even more reliance on the sailors than on their officers, since on i8th Oct. 1644, Warwick issued a proclamation ordering that ' none shall obey the commands of their superior officers . . . if the same commands be tending towards disloyalty towards the Parlia- ment.' This was a dangerous power to place in the hands of the men, unless it was felt that their discipline and fidelity could be depended upon. The late Mrs Everett Green speaks of ' the inherent loyalty of the sailors to their King,'^ making this remark in connec- ' State Papers, Dom., ccccxciv, 2nd Jan. 1643. 2 Public Acts, 17th Charles I. * Preface to Calendar of State Papers, 1652-3, p. xii. In other prefaces Mrs Green refers to the same point. Q 242 The Administration of the Royal Navy tion with, and as explanatory of, the difficulty experienced by the Council of State in obtaining men in 1653. I must confess that, notwithstanding the weight justly attaching to her opinions, I am quite unable to see during these years any sign of this loyalty. Under the government of Charles they had been compelled to serve by force, and had lost no oppor- tunity of venting their anger and discontent ; when the occa- sion came they eagerly and unanimously fought against the sovereign to whom they were supposed to be inherently loyal, without one instance of desertion or dissatisfaction of sufficient mark to be noticed in the State Papers. When a mutiny did at last occur it was due to circumstances connected not with the rights of the King, but with the narrower personal jeal- ousies of naval command ; it happened when the fighting was done, and, in all probability, would not have happened at all under the stress of conflict. During the Commonwealth they continued to serve the state under conditions of great strain and trial, which might well have tried men of greater foresight and self-control than seamen, without, with perhaps one exception, more than slight and unimportant outbursts of insubordination of a character which, allowing for the looser discipline of that time, occur to-day in all large standing forces. Whatever, at any time, their momentary irritation against the Parliament, it never took the form of loyalty to Charles II. It may be suggested that a more likely explanation of the difficulties of 1653 lies in the fact that the estimates re- quired 16,000 men against the 3000 or 4000 sufficient for the fleets of Charles I.^ At the most liberal computation the returns of 1628,^ do not give, allowing for omissions, more than 18,000 men available for the royal and merchant marine; at least double that number would have been necessary to supply easily the demands of the two services in 1653. I" no case under the Commonwealth did the men show that despairing recklessness of consequences which characterised their outbreaks between 1625 and 1642. More significant still is the fact that the savage fighting of the first Dutch war, against the most formidable maritime antagonist we have ever faced, was performed in a fashion very different from the perfunctory and half-hearted service rendered to Charles I. And it is a further curious illustration of their hereditary loyalty that while they endured much hardship and privation rather than serve either under Rupert or Tromp against the Commonwealth, we are told by Pepys that they manned the Dutch ships by hundreds — perhaps thousands — during the wars of Charles II. ' The number eventually serving that year was nearer 20,000, but this included some thousands of soldiers. -Infra p. 244. Charles I 243 If, on the other hand, we are to really believe that ' in- herent loyalty ' was continuously latent in the English sailor, what words are fitting for the selfish and reckless indifference to the simplest human rights which tortured him into twenty years of consistent rebellion ? On sea as on land Charles's misdeeds followed him home. In his days of power he had been deaf to the appeals of men who perished that he might attempt to be great, and to the cries of their suffering wives and children. In 1642 the sailors were deaf to his commands. What might — in all human probability would — have been the result after Edgehill if, during the winter of 1642-3, he had been able to blockade the Thames ? Private shipowners have always paid higher wages than Merchant the crown, and for several centuries the latter offered no ^^ "' compensatory advantages. From various chance allusions the rates of merchant seamen's wages during this period are found to vary between 22s and 30s a month. The stores provided for them could not have been worse than those of a man-of-war ; but they had special difficulties, peculiar to the merchant service, to expect when in private employment. In 1628 among their grievances they complained that they were liable to make good any damage done to cargo, even after it had left the ship, until it was safely stored in the merchant's warehouse.^ In 1634 they petitioned, in view of the dulness of trade, that exportation of merchandise in foreign bottoms should be prohibited,^ but a year later a more important matter occupied their attention. All engagements were made by verbal contract, and it often happened at the end of the voyage that the owner disputed the terms, when the sailor was left helpless, having no proof to bring forward.^ Moreover, if, as frequently occurred, he was pressed out of a homeward bound vessel, his position was still more hopeless, while if he died at sea there was small chance of his family obtaining anything. In 1638 it was intended to form a Trinity House fund, on the plan of the Chatham Chest, for the benefit of merchant seamen and officers ; one shilling a month was to be deducted for this purpose, from the wages of officers, and fourpence from the pay of the men, except those belonging to coasters, who were to give sixpence.* The matter progressed so far that there was a proclamation issued in accordance with these views,^ but the scheme did not come into operation till 1694. In that year it was en- forced in connection with Greenwich Hospital at the rate of 1 Staie Papers, Dom., cii, 72. ^ /6id., cclxiv, f. 33. ^ I6zd., cccvi, 87; 1635. In another copy of this paper QAdd. MSS., 9301, f. 57), they suggest the sensible remedy of a register at each custom house, in which agreements might be entered. * State Papers, Dom., cccxcviii, 23 and 40. ^ Foedera, xx, 278; 25th November 1638. 244 The Administration of the Royal Navy The number available. sixpence a man ; in 1747 this was raised to one shilling and so continued until 1834. The whole story belongs to a later volume, but the merchant sailor never received the least bene- fit from the levy extorted from his scanty earnings, and at a moderate computation was robbed of at least ;^2,5oo,ooo during that period. But he helped to endow many fat sine- cures and to thus support the Constitution. If from one case referred to a court of law we may infer others, the form and amount of punishment on a trader was left to the discretion of the captain. On a Virginia ship an insubordinate boy was hung up by his wrists with 2 cwt. tied to his feet, with what results we are not told. The boy's com- plaint came before Sir H. Martin, judge of the Admiralty court, who refused any redress, because of the necessary ' maintenance of sea discipline.' ^ But notwithstanding hard fare, hard usage, and sometimes doubtful wages, the position of the sailor on a merchantman was infinitely preferable to his fate when compelled to exchange it for a man-of-war. We meet with no instances of mutiny on merchant ships until they are hired by the crown, and the traditional hardihood and courage of the English seaman were always evinced when he was free of the crushing burden of the royal service. Sir Kenelm Digby, when commanding a squadron in the Mediterranean in 1628, noticed that while foreigners invari- ably ran from him, the English, without knowing his nation- ality, always stopped and prepared to fight ' were they never so little or contemptible vessels.' ^ With proper organisation there were sufficient men avail- able at the beginning of the reign to have manned both the royal and merchant marine, as will be seen from the following returns made in 1628, but it is probable that the numbers did not increase much during subsequent years : — ^ London Kent Cinque Ports Essex Suffolk Norfolk Lincoln Devon Seamen Fishermen 3422 302 181 231 699 193 309 357 804 326 600 436 66 126 453 86 Northumberland Cumberland South Cornwall North „ South Wales Southampton and Isle of Wight Dorset Bristol Seamen Fishermen 33 260 72 — 731 393 154 88 753 — 321 209 958 86 823 — There were 2426 watermen in London, also liable to im- pressment. Of the seamen two-thirds were at sea, one-third at home, their favourite abiding place being Ratclifif. York- ' State Papers^ Dom., cclxxi, 12. ■^ Digby's Voyage (Camden Society), p. 9. ^ State Papers^ Dom., civ, 31 and cclxxxii, 135. Charles I 245 shire, North Wales, Chester, and some parts of Sussex are omitted, and the figures for Northumberland cannot include the Newcastle coal traffic, which in 1626 employed 300 col- liers ; ^ it may be, however, that their crews are reckoned in the London total. In various ways, during the war time, Parliament showed its satisfaction with the work done by officers and men, and occasionally rewarded them by extra gratuities of a month's pay, or presents of wine. Doubtless these donations were also in the nature of bribes on the part of a power without much historic prestige compared with its opponent, and depending for existence on the goodwill of men who served with a closer regard to pay than to sentiment ; but that the parliamentary authorities considered their relations with the Navy fairly secure is shown by the fact that in 1645 they ventured to place the service under martial law.^ In 1647 wages, per month, were raised for officers, according to rates, as follows — ^ £ s d £ J d £ s d £ s d Captain . . . 7 to 21 Pilot . . . 2 2 to 3 5 4 Lieutenant . . 3 10 » 4 4 Carpenter . • I 15 „ 3 3 Master . . . 3 18 8 „ 7 Boatswain . • I 17 4 „ 3 10 Master's mate . 2 2 „ 3 5 4 Gunner . . • I 15 ,, 3 3 The Chatham Chest, founded by Hawkyns and others in The Chatham 1590, for the relief and support of injured or disabled sailors, ^^®^*' was not of so much use to them during these years as it should have been. The original contribution was sixpence a month from able, and fourpence from ordinary, seamen, with three- pence from boys. In 16 19 the gunners joined the fund, and from 1626 all, whether able and ordinary, seamen or gunners, were to pay sixpence.* The sixpences were unfailingly de- ducted from their wages, but the distribution was more irre- gular. Every formality was employed for the safe custody of the money, and in 1625 an iron chest with five locks was ordered for this purpose, the keys to be kept by five represen- tative officers of different grades, who could only open it when together, and who were to be changed every twelve months. As an illustration of the value of these precautions the Trea- surer of the Navy, Russell, the very next year took £2600, out of the Chest with which to pay wages, subsequently excus- ing himself by the ' great clamours ' then being made and the poverty of the state. He did not commence to return this money till 163 1, and in 1636 ^^500 of it was still owing. Sir Sack- ville Crowe, when Treasurer between July 1627 and December 1629, took out ;;^3000, and this sum, with the accruing interest, is regularly carried forward as a good asset till 1644, when there is a gap of ten years in the accounts, and in 1654 it no > State Papers, Dom., xviii, 59. 3 Add. MSS., 18772. 2 But only applicable in port. State Papers^ Dom., ccclii, 78. 246 The Administration of the Royal Navy longer appears. From the character of the man it is very un- likely that he ever paid. In 1632 a commission of inquiry issued, but if any report was ever made it has not come down to us. In January 1636 the Chest had ;:^542 in hand and pos- sessed Chislett farm producing £160 a year,i but it was said that its narrow resources were further depleted by money having ' been bestowed on men that never were at sea.' Sir John Wolstenholme and others were directed, in De- cember 1635, to inquire into the administration, and their re- port was sent in by April 1637.2 The yearly receipts from land were now ^^205 ; since 1617, when there was ^3145 in hand, ;^258o had been received in rents and X 12,600 from the sixpences. Out of this £$y66 had been expended in purchas- ing land and ;^io,62i in relieving seamen ; ;!^I59 remained in the Chest, and X378o was owing to it. Of the ;^378o some of the items went back to Elizabethan days, and Roger Lang- ford, Sir Peter Buck, some of the master shipwrights, and two ladies were among the debtors. Between 1621 and 1625, in- clusive, there was paid £1^22 in gratuities and pensions, and between 1625 and 1629, £\'^'J2\^ as the first series were mostly peace, and the second war years, the men were either very successful in avoiding injury between 1625 and 1629 or, as is more likely, were defrauded of the benefits they could rightly claim. The result of the commission was that fresh rules, signed by Windebank, were shortly afterwards made, directing the Treasurer of the Navy to pay over the sixpences within one month of their deduction from wages, to make up the accounts yearly and ' publish them to all the governors/ that no pension was to exceed £6, 8s 4d a year, although an additional gratuity might be given, and that the keepers of the keys were to be changed yearly.^ As the last regula- tion was only a repetition of the one made in 1625, it is to be presumed that it had been previously ignored. Neither now nor afterwards, neither in official papers nor in the sheaves of ephemeral publications which enlightened this and the succeeding century, does it seem, with one ex- ception, to have entered into the minds of those who ruled or those who tried to teach that the cost of providing for the wants or age of men disabled by service should in justice fall upon the country they had spent their youth and health in protect- ing, instead of on an accident fund maintained from their own meagre earnings. The one government which in this, as in other matters, had a higher perception of its duties was that of Cromwell, and even here only in a limited sense. The host of pamphleteers who in the succeeding reigns lamented the condition of the royal and merchant marine, or aired their ' State Papers^ Dom,, cccxii, go. ^ Ibid., ccclii, 78. » Ibid., 81. •" Add. MSS., 9301, f. 156. Charles I 247 universal panaceas for its ills, only rang the changes on further methods for the exploitation of the seaman to the private profit of the shipowner and the general profit of the state. For him to carry the burden of empire was to be its own reward. The only consecutive accounts preserved for this reign are contained in two volumes kept in the Museum at Greenwich.^ They extend from 14th April 1637 to 23rd April 1644, and, in round figures, give the following results — Owing to chest Received Expended Received from land No. of Pensioners =■ £ £ £ £ 1637-8 3768 1545 1361 248 62 1638-9 6215 1609 1215 — 59 1639-40 5600 1849 1364 — 59 I 640- I 5200 2371 2019 — 35 I64I-2 4800 2761 2635 479 55 1642-3 4400 2108 1738 60 1643-43 4400 1238 958 — 61 1644^ 4400 845 483 32l5 — We do not know on what principle donations were allowed, but, besides being slow and uncertain, gratuities were frequently dispensed by favour rather than by merit. In 1637 a man hurt in 1628 received £2, and Apslyn, a shipwright, had £^, 3s 4d, being compensation for the. loss of his apprentice's services during 62 days, a sort of loss certainly never intended to be indemnified by the founders of the Chest. The majority of the men on the pension list, had £^ or £6 each, but most of the payments to injured men were of a donative character not involving any further responsi- bility. Medical charges relating to the dockyards were also met from the Chest, a Chatham surgeon being paid ;^43, is 4d in 1638 for attending to shipwrights injured while working on the Sovereign of the Seas. The next year has a somewhat be- lated entry of ^^3 to Wm. Adam, barber-surgeon, ' for sundry hurts and bruises received in Queen Elizabeth's service,' and again we find ;^33, i is 4d paid to a Woolwich medical man for care of shipwrights injured in rebuilding the Prince \ in 1640 surgeons were attached to the dockyards whose salaries of £dp a year were paid from the Chest money. The compensation for a bruise ranged from ^i to £2. Sometimes widows were granted burial money and a further small sum for ' present relief,' but never, apparently, pensions. A normally recurring item is a gift of £\, los a year to the almshouse founded by 1 I am indebted to the courtesy of Admiral Sir R. Vesey Hamilton, K.C.B,, President of the Royal Naval College, for permission to examine these books. ^ In receipt of yearly pensions. 3 For eight months ending 4th January 1644. * For three and a half months. ^ For a year. 248 The Administration of the Royal Navy Hawkyns at Chatham, and with equal regularity there is an annual outlay of some £$ for the governors' dinners. However open to criticism may have been the administra- tion of the Chatham Chest at this time, it was undoubtedly in a condition of ideal purity compared with the depths of organ- ised infamy to which it sank during the eighteenth century. The Eains- The reign of Charles I commenced with mutinies ; it ended borow Mutiny, jj^ 1648 with another which deserves examination, since upon it some writers have based an inference of general unfaithful- ness to the Parliament, while in reality, whatever conclusions may be deduced, that, so far as the bulk of the men were con- cerned, is not one of them. From the days of Elizabeth, when they were accustomed to be led by captains who were seamen by vocation and sometimes by descent, often of their own class, and who understood them and their wants, the men had shown an intense dislike to the landsmen who by a change of system in later years had been placed over them, who ob- tained their posts mainly by rank or influence, were ignorant of maritime matters, and were associated with a succession of disasters and years of abject misery. Manwayring, writing in the reign of James I, says that volunteers usually returned knowing as little as when they sailed, since the professional seamen hated them, and gentlemen generally, and would give no instruction. Another seaman attributed the disasters of the early years of the reign to the appointment of landsmen as captains and officers-^ The experiences of more recent ' years were not likely to have lessened that feeling. During the war, therefore,, the fleet had been commanded chiefly by admirals and captains who were trained seamen of no exceptional social position, but, judging from subsequent events, there must have been a sufficient leaven of landsmen in places of trust to keep alive the old prejudices. When, there- fore, Wm. Batten, an experienced officer of many years' stand- ing, who was vice-admiral and commanding in the Channel, and who had done good service to the state, was displaced in 1647, and his responsible charge given to Colonel Rainsborow, who began actual control in January 1648, there was doubt- less some murmuring, although no evidence of it has survived. Nothing occurred during the winter, and in May 1648 there were forty-one ships in commission, of which only three were commanded by military officers ; but the appointment of Rainsborow may have been regarded, as it actually proved to be, as the commencement of a return to the old system. Moreover the Navy, generally, was presbyterian in feeling, while Rainsborow was a fanatical Independent and, judging from one of the accusations brought against him, does not ap- ' State Papers^ Dom., cclxxix, 106. Charles I 249 pear to have exercised his authority with tact or discretion. In addition to this a certain amount of ill-feeling existed be- tween the army and the Navy, the latter not being inclined to coerce the Parliament to the extent desired by the army, and Batten, in the ' Declaration ' which explained his reasons for desertion, dwelt on the efforts of the army leaders ' to flood the ships with soldiers.' If the accusation was true, it would be a certain way, in the state of feeling between the two ser- vices, to give fresh life to the latent antagonism existing. We have no details of the workings of discontent which led up to action any more than we have of the secret cabals which pre- ceded the Spithead mutiny of 1797, but in each case the out- break was equally sudden. Towards the end of May the crews in the Downs put Rainsborow ashore, giving as their reasons — ist. The parliament of late grant commissions to the sea commanders in their own names, leaving out the King. 2nd. Several land-men made sea commanders. 3rd. The insufferable pride, ignorance, and insolency of Col. Rainsborow, the late vice-admiral, alienated the hearts of the seamen.^ Rainsborow had made his mark as a soldier, but he was not a stranger to the sea, for he had commanded a man-of-war in 1643. It is noticeable that no complaints are made about their treatment by the government, about their pay or victuals, and succeeding events showed how little the great majority of the fleet were in sympathy with the grandiloquent threats of the ringleaders on the King's behalf Warwick was at once sent to resume the command of the fleet and adjust the differences existing. Whitelocke says that the men ' sent for the Earl of Warwick' and that 'the Derby House Committee, to follow the humour of the revolters,' directed Warwick to go, so that at this stage it is evident that having rid themselves of Rainsborow, they looked to Warwick rather than to Charles. We do not know what m.easures the earl took, but, in the last days of June, the crews of nine ships,^ perhaps terrified at finding they received such slight support from the others and fearing pun- ishment, possibly also influenced by Batten, went over with him to the Prince of Wales in Holland. That so long an interval elapsed between the commencement of the revolt and their desertion shows how little the latter was at first contemplated. It has been recently said : ' While the army was so formid- able the navy scarcely existed. The sailors generally were for the King. Many had revolted and carried their ships across 1 Reasons, &c., dated 17th June. The officers who sign threaten, unless terms are made with the King, to blockade the river. 2 Various authorities give 9, 10, and 11 ships ; the discrepancies may most probably be explained by supposing that one or two of those which left the Downs turned back before reaching Holland. 250 The Administration of the Royal Navy to Charles II in Holland, while in the crews that remained disaffection prevailed dangerously.' It would be difficult to mass more inaccuracies in so many words. There were forty- one fighting-ships actually at sea, a larger number than had been collected since the days of Elizabeth, and immeasur- ably superior as a fighting machine to anything which had existed since 1588. The 'many' which had revolted were nine, and of these three were small pinnaces of an aggregate of 210 tons and 180 men ; of the others, one was a second and the rest third and fourth-rates. If disaffection prevailed dangerously,' it is strange that not only did none of the re- maining ships join the revolters, but they were known to be ready to fight them, and Batten on one occasion avoided an action on account of ' the very notable resistance ' to be ex- pected.i Instead of being disaffected, Warwick found that on board his own ship they prepared for fighting 'with the greatest alacrity that ever I saw . . . which, as the captains informed me, was likewise the general temper of the rest of the fleet.' Finally the sailors in the Downs, who ' generally were for the King ' and were actuated by ' inherent loyalty,' con- curred in December in the Army Remonstrance, requiring that Charles I, ' the capital and grand author of our troubles,' should be brought to justice for the ' treason, blood, and mischief he had caused. The after story of the revolted ships is just as instructive on the point of their disaffection to the Parliament. No sooner had they reached Holland than the men commenced to desert. By November five vessels had been brought back to England, and the ill-will manifested on the others was so pronounced that it was necessary to place strong bodies of cavaliers on board to keep the seamen in subjection.^ The outburst would have been serious had it been general. It was confined to a small section of the naval force, was due to dissensions relating to men rather than principles, and gives small countenance to the view that the Navy repented the part it had taken. The loyalty of the majority and the speedy penitence of the minority were the best tests of the temper in which the Parliament was judged by those who upheld it afloat ; and if the disaffected minority loved Rains- borow and his employers little they showed that they liked Charles Stuart less. ' Clarendon, IV, 574, ed. 1888. " Warburton, Memoirs 0/ Prince Rupert, III, 262. CHARLES I 1625-1649 PART II — ROYAL AND MERCHANT SHIPPING When Charles I inherited the crown, his fleet consisted of 4TiieRoyai first, 14 second, 8 third, and 4 fourth rates ;i of these i first, ^^*^ ^'^ ^^^^• 7 second, 6 third, and the 4 fourth rates were comparatively- new ships, the oldest being the Prince, launched in 16 10. The others were originally Elizabethan, had been repaired, rebuilt or patched up more or less effectively at various times, and of them the Lion of 1582 was the most ancient. The recent accessions were, for reasons previously noticed, more com- modious and better sea-boats than their predecessors, but the King had yet to learn that the mere possession of a naval framework in the shape of hulls, spars and guns was of little use without efficient crews, and adequate knowledge and honest effort on the part of the subordinate officials on whom fell the responsibility of preparation and equipment. Whether due to a desire to save the royal ships as much as possible, to want of men to man them properly, or to their generally inefficient state, the expeditions of 1625-7-8 included a very large proportion of armed merchantmen. In 1625 there were twelve men-of-war and seventy- three mer- chantmen ;2 in 1627 fourteen of the former, of which three were small pinnaces and eighty-two of the latter ^ ; and in 1628 the second Rochelle fleet, which Lindsey commanded, was made up of twenty-nine King's ships and thirty-one merchantmen.* But under Lindsey, ten of the royal ships * Supra p. 207. The Speedwell was lost in November 1624, after this list was drawn up. There were also some worn out Elizabethan ships remaining, the Crane, Answer, Moon, and Merlin, which the compiler did not consider of sufficient importance to include. 2 Pipe Office Accounts, 2425. 3 State Papers, Dom., Ixvii, 47. * Pipe Office Accounts, 2428. 252 The Administration of the Royal Navy were of the class known as ' whelps,' just built, and measur- ing 180 tons each, and ten were pinnaces of 50 tons or under, so that only nine vessels of the real fighting line were with him. We shall see that the owners of merchantmen, who could neither escape the calls made on their ships nor get paid for their services, by no means valued the honour thus thrust upon them. Charles, like his father, felt a keen interest in the Navy. In the case of James I it was prized more as an imposing appurtenance of his regal dignity than from any statesman- like appreciation of its importance ; in that of his son the evidence goes to show that, while vanity was sometimes a ruling motive,^ he was also fully alive to the weight a powerful fleet gave to English diplomacy. The State Papers show that he exercised a constant personal supervision in naval affairs, sometimes overruling the opinions of his officials in technical details of which he could have possessed no special knowledge. No new vessels were built during the first years of the reign. Theoretically, with the assistance of the hired merchantmen available, the Royal Navy was sufficient for the duties it was called upon to perform. Practically, it was found that even those that were sea-worthy were too slow under sail, as were also the merchantmen, to deal with the plague of Dunkirk privateers and Moorish pirates, who swarmed in the narrow seas, and who almost blockaded the coasts except for large and heavily-armed ships. A chief article of accusation brought by the Parliament against Buckingham was that he had neglected his duty in taking few or no measures against these enemies, but if all the charges made against him had as little foundation, his reputation would be higher than it now stands. The Channel squadron had been increased, two special expeditions had been sent out after them, and any prizes likely to prove fast sailers had been taken into the Royal service for the purpose of being so employed, but as the Turks and Dunkirkers, built for speed, could sail at least twice as fast as the English, it was only under exceptional circumstances that one was sometimes captured. In 1624 the Captain of one of the Com- missioners' new and improved ships indignantly reported that some Dutch men-of-war he met had deliberately and con- temptuously sailed round him. This was square rig versus square rig. Remembering that the Turks undoubtedly were lateen-rigged, that the Dunkirkers probably used some modification of it, and that this is still the most effective spread of canvas known for light vessels of moderate tonnage, we need not wonder that the lumbering English third and ^ E.g. the Sovereign of the &aj, which, until she was cut down, was the largest most ornate, and most useless ship afloat. Charles I 253 fourth rates, built for close action, could never get near them. During the Rhe voyage sixty English ships chased some Dunkirkers, but only one pinnace could overtake them, and that of course could not venture to attack.^ But there were also other causes. In 1634 Pennington wrote to the Admiralty that he had just met a fleet of seventeen Dutch ships, ' all tallowed and clean from the ground, which is a course that they duly observe every two months, or three at the most . . . which is the only cause which makes them go and work better than ours ; whereas our ships are grounded and graved two or three months before they come out, and never tallowed, so that they are foul again before we get to sea with them, and then they are kept out for eight or ten months, whereby they are so overgrown with barnacles and weeds under water that it is impos- sible that they should either go well or work yarely ... all men-of-war, of what nation soever, whether Turk or Christian, keep this course of cleansing their ships once in two or three months biit us.' ^ Therefore the first additions to the navy were small, fast- sailing vessels, built or bought with this object, and the master shipwrights were several times called upon to furnish designs of ships especially adapted for chasing the privateers. Their first suggestion, in December 1625, was for a cruiser whose length, over all, would have been nearly four-and-a- half times her breadth, and this is noticeable as a marked step in the tendency now existing to increase the proportion between length and beam.^ Again, in March 1627^ they proposed 'a nimble and forcible ship of 339 tons to meet the Dunkirkers ; ' but in this case the length was rather less than four times the beam, and eventually pecuniary necessities compelled the government to be content with vessels of a smaller model, called ' whelps,' contrived for sweeps as well as sails, and whose length was nearly two-and-a-half times the breadth. In merchantmen the keel was still only about two and a half times the beam.^ Although English ships were slow, they were strong. Nathaniel Butler, a naval captain, attributed their sluggishness as compared with the Dutch to ' State Papers^ Dom., Ixxi, 65. These remarks must be read in conjunction with those relating to the lack of victuals and stores, and want of competent and willing servnce on the part of officers and men, made in Part I, and for which Buckingham's incapacity was principally responsible. But his incapacity was, in this matter, not the only nor even the main factor, since, when in 1627 he applied to Gyffard, Sir Sackville Trevor, and Hervey for suggestions as to freeing the narrow seas from pirates, they agreed that the existing vessels were too slow to catch any but others of their own type (^State Papers, Dom., liv, 9, 11-13). In October 1625, the Channel squadron consisted of ten English men-of-war and merchantmen and four Dutch ships, a larger force than had probably ever been employed before for merely protective duties. The conditions were as bad or worse, after his death. 2 State Papers, Dom., cclxxvii, 43. ^ Ibid., xi, 62, 63. Assuming in these instances the rake, fore and aft, to have been about three-eighths of the keel length. ^ Ibid., Ivi, 56. 5 Ibid., Ivii, 42. 254 The Administration of the Royal Navy their being 'so full of timber ... we building ours for seventy years, they theirs for seven;' and Northumberland, in 1636, described some of them as 'so clogged with timber ' that there was no room for stores.^ Modern builders would probably ascribe their want of speed to faulty lines rather than to excess of material; but if it was a defect it was one of which we reaped the full benefit in the first war with Holland, when the Dutch ships, splendidly as they were fought, were riven and sunk by the more solid and more heavily armed English men-of-war long before their crews were beaten. The Navy List. xhe following vessels were added to the Navy during the reign of Charles, including such prizes as were taken into the service and remained in it until useless : — ^ Si Claude'' Prize Built Re- built Keel in ft. Beam in ft. Depth= in ft. Draught in ft. Gross tonnage Guns 162=; — — — — — 300 St Denis lb2<^ — — 104 32.5 II.9 — 528 38 St Mary^ 1626 — — — — — — — — St Anne^ 1626 — — — — — — 350 — Esperance^ 1626 — — — — — — 250 — Henrietta? — 1626 — 52 15 6.6 — 68 6 Maria' — 1626 — 52 15 6.6 — 68 6 Spy^ — 1626 — — — 20 — 10 Lions Whelps^ — 1627 — 62 25 9 — 185 14 Fortufie^" 1627 — — — — — — 300 St Esprit^^ 1627 — — — — — — — — Vanguard — 1630 112 36.4 13-10 — 750 40 Charles 1632 — 105 33-7 16.3 16.8 810 44 Henrietta Maria — 1632 — 106 35-9 15.S — 793 42 James — 1633 — IIO 37.6 16.2 17.2 875 48 Unicorn — 1633 — 107 36.4 I5-I 16.3 823 46 Leopard — ib34 — 95 33 12.4 12.9 515 34 Swallow — ife34 — qb 32.2 11.7 12.3 478 34 Swan^" 16^6 — — — — — Nicodenius^' 16.^6 — — 63 19 q.6 — 105 6 Roebuck — 1636 — 57 18. 1 6.8 — 90 10 ' Ibid., cccx3txviii, 39. ^ Other prizes, which were nominally King's ships, but which only served during one of the big expeditions or for a few weeks in the Channel, were the Maiy Roan, St George, St Peter, Pelican, Mackerel, Nightingale, St Jatnes, Little Seahorse, and Hope. Where special references are not given, the general authorities are State Papers, Dom., ccxv, 108 ; ccxxviii, f, 38 ; ccxliv, 23 ; ccclxviii, 121 ; Add. MSS., 9294, f, 505 ; 9300, f, 54 ; 9336, ff, 63, 64 ; 18,037 and 18,772. As in previous instances the measurements frequently differ in these lists, and can only be taken as approximately correct. ^ From greatest breadth to upper edge of keel. ' State Papers, Dom., X, 25. * Ibid., xxiv, 4. The St Mary was given to Sir John Chudleigh in 1629. * State Papers, Dom., xxiv, 62. ' Ibid., xxi, 72, and And. Off. Dec. Accounts, 1699, 64. >* Ibid., xxxvii, 95. " Called the 1st, 2nd-ioth whelps. Two differed slightly in size from the others. '" Aud. Off. Dec. Accounts, 1699, 66. " A Dutch-built ship bought for Richelieu's newly created fleet, but taken in the Texel (State Papers, Dom., Ixxxiii, 20 and Ixxxvi, 64). '- Captured Dunkirkers. The measurements of the Nicodemjis, Nonsuch, Phosnix, and Elizabeth, are from a paper in the Pepys MSS., quoted in Deirick's Memoirs of the Royal Navy. The Swan was lost off Guernsey in October 1638. Charles I 255 Greyhound Expedition Providence Sovereign Lion Prince Crescent^ Lily' Satisfaction Adventure Nonsuch Assurafice Constant Warwick" Phocjiix Dragon Tiger Elizabeth Old Warwick Falcon^ Harf' Dov^ Truelove^ Concord^ Dolphin^ Fellowship^ Globe'' Hecto7^ Prize Built Re- built Keel in ft. Beam in ft. Depth in ft. Draught in ft. Gross tonnage Guns 1646 1636 1637 1637 1637 1646 1646 1646 1646 1646 1647 1647 1647 1647 1640 1641 60 90 90 127 108 115 94 98 89 90 96 96 99 101.6 20.3 26 26 46.6 35-4 43 27 28.4 26.10 28 28.6 30 29.4 29.8 7.8 9.8 9-9 19.4 15-6 18 9.11 14.2 II 12 14-3 12 12 14.10 17.6 14 13 12.8 15 14.8 126 301 304 1522 717 II87 220 385 389 341 379 414 414 447 471 12 30 30 100 52 64 26 38 34 32 30 38 38 38 38 22 10 6 28 24 20 The James, Assurance, Elizabeth, Tiger, Nonsuch, Swallow, and Henrietta Maria, were built at Deptford, the first four "by- Peter Pett, who also built the Constant Warwick at Ratcliff. The Sovereign, Prince, Leopard, Greyhound, Unicorn, Roebuck, Adventure, Ph(snix, and Charles, at Woolwich; the Henrietta Maria, Vanguard, Lion, and Dragon, at Chatham. Phineas Pett, who built the Sovereign and rebuilt the Prince, was a son, by a second marriage, of the Peter Pett, master ship- wright in the reign of Elizabeth ; his son, Peter Pett, junior, built the Nonsuch, Adve?itm'e and Phoenix. The Peter Pett of Deptford was a grandson of the Elizabethan Pett. The first two pinnaces constructed, the Henrietta and the The Ten Maria, were, it is expressly stated,* to be ' carvel built,' a dis- ^ ^^' tinction which implies that hitherto such small vessels had been clinch or ' clinker built ; ' we have seen that large ones 1 Bought in 1642 {Aud. Off. Dec. Accounts.^ "i-lo^, 89). 2 Built in 1646 as a privateer, and employed as such by Warwick (half share), Pett, Swanley, and others ; bought by the Parliament from 20th Jan. 1649, when she was appraised at ;^2o8l {State Papers^ Dom., Interreg., xxiii, II9). The dimensions are from Harl. MSS., 4161. She is popularly said to have been the first frigate built in an English yard, but it will be seen from the above list that four others, of a still more pronounced frigate t3rpe, were launched in the same year. ^ The first seven vessels were prizes captured during the civil war and taken into the Navy, in which they remained long enough to be included in the Commonwealth lists ; the Globe, and Hector were merchantmen bought into the service. For the names of others see Aud. Off. Dec. Accounts.^ 18 12, 443 A. ■* State Papers, Doin., xxi, 72. 256 The Administration of the Royal Navy weremostly carvel.or flush planked,in the reign of Henry VIII.^ We do not hear that they proved satisfactory in either speed or power, and next year the contract for the ten whelps was divided among nine shipwrights, some of them private builders, ^t ;^3 Ss a ton.^ They were to be able to use sweeps, and were square rigged, with three masts, two decks and a round house, as miniature copies of the large ships; like those also they were too heavily sparred and ordnanced. Of heavy guns each was intended to carry four culverins, four demi-culverins, and two brass sakers, but subsequently two demi-cannon were added, and the strain of this armament proved too great for both their sailing and sea-going qualities. Their demi-cannon were mostly stored in hold at sea, instead of being on deck.^ They were afterwards said to have been built in haste, 'of mean, sappy timber, for particular service,' ^ and to be weakly con- structed, costing relatively large sums to maintain in service- able condition ; they were used a good deal for winter service in the four seas, and only one of them lived into the days of the Commonwealth. Two were lost returning from Rochelle; and by 163 1 the sixth and seventh whelps had disappeared from the lists, the seventh by the simple process of sending the gunner into the magazine with a naked light while she was in action with a Dunkirker. The fifth was lost in July 1637, and her experience of straining till she took in water through her closed ports, and opened her seams, was probably that under- gone by most of those that foundered.^ The fourth whelp was handed over ' for a design to be practised on by a Dutch- man's project,' and she passes out of the Navy list.^ These whelps were the first representatives, in intention, although not in form, of the regular sloop and gunboat class after- wards so largely used for minor police purposes. During the years of foreign warfare it was found easier to turn suitable prizes into men-of-war than to arrive at the money necessary for new ships, but from 1632 until the com- mencement of domestic trouble it will be seen that vessels were added in regular succession. It will be observed in the pre- ' Supra, p. 54. Mr R. C. Leslie (0/^ Sea Wings, Ways, and Words, p. 49 et seq.) believes all the smaller craft -of old, and some large ones, to have been clinker-built. - State Papers, Dom., Iviii, 25. ^ Ibid., cxxi, 41. ■» Ibid., ccclxv, 17 ; 1637. ^ State Papers, Dom., ccclxiii, 29. It is difficult even in these days of mechani- cal appliances to keep the ports completely water-tight in heavy weather. Ports were fastened by a bar of wood passed through a ring on the inside ; but this could not have been very effectual, and it was usual to drive oakum into the seams of the ports when bad weather was expected {Nomenclator Navalis~). ** The Dutchman was probably Cornelius Drebbel, who claimed to have solved the secret of perpetual motion, and to have invented a submarine boat. His name occurs several times in the State Papers as receiving rewards for various in- ventions and appliances, and in 1628 he was employed in the preparation of some especial fireships and ' engines for fireworks.' Charles I 257 ceding list of ships that a keel length of three times the beam was, roughly, the ratio in favour during the middle of the reign, while on reference to the Elizabethan Navy list, the proportion in the majority is seen to be one of about two and a half times the breadth. Whether the alteration was due to theoretical calculation or to study of the lines of foreign ships we have no means of deciding, but the increase in length is still more pronounced in the vessels launched in 1646 and 1647, their keels being sometimes nearly three and a half times their beam. According to Pepys this last improvement was due to Pett's observation of a French ship lying in the river, in which case the French designers had already obtained that superiority in the art of shipbuilding which they held until speed became a matter of engine power. The cost of the Charles and Henrietta Maria wdiS ;^io,849,ThenewShips< and of launching and taking them from Woolwich to Chatham, £1222; that of the James and Unicorn came to ;^i 2,632,1 the increased totals as compared with the St George and St Andrew, of the previous reign, being attributed to sounder workmanship and higher prices for labour and materials. A further sum of £/\0'j6, was paid on the James and Unicorn for ' rigging, launching, furnishing, and transporting ' them from Woolwich and Deptford to Chatham, work which in- cluded 65 tons of cordage at ;^35 a ton, 214 cwt. of anchors at £2 per cwt, suits of sails at ;^225 a suit, waistcloths and top armours of red cloth for both £i'^2,^ and trumpeters and pipes at their launch, £1$.^ The King and Queen were pre- sent at the launch of these vessels, and £14., 5 s 4d was spent in sweetmeats for them and their attendants, Pennington wrote to the Lords of the Admiralty that the Vanguard and the Henrietta Maria were both good ships, although the latter was ' extraordinarily housed in aloft ; ' privately, to Nicholas, he said that there had been ' great abuse both in materials and workmanship.' * When he had to try the Unicorn he in that instance gave his unfavourable report directly to the Admiralty. On joining at Tilbury he found her so crank that she could carry no sail. Three shipwrights on board — Ed. Boate, who built her, Pett, and Austin — persuaded him to take in another hundred tons of ballast, and the extra weight brought her so low that the gun-deck ports had to be caulked up, as ' in a reasonable gale of wind ' she would lay them under water. Pennington was still unwilling to venture out with the ship, ' but in regard to the poor man's disgrace that built her,' he gave her a trial at sea, and decides that she * Aud. Off. Dec. Accounts., 1703, 73- ^ The original waistcloths of the Prince were of silk ; ordinary waistcloths, the precursors of the later boarding nettings, were still of red kersey listed with canvas. * State Papers., Dom.., ccliv, 25. * Ibid.., ccxliv, 77, 78. R 258 The Administration of the Royal Navy ' is dangerous and unserviceable,' cannot work her guns, and will not live in a gale.^ Under these circumstances the authorities naturally desired to be informed by the Trinity House experts and the masters of the Shipwrights' Company why they had given a certificate approving the Unicorn. They answered that they thought she would be a failure, * but rather than disgrace any workman they put their hands, hoping the ship might prove well.'2 The defence sounds weakly benevolent, but that they were either too ignorant themselves to judge, or that the ganglionic plexus of fraud uniting most officials made them unwilling to venture on such a dangerous novelty as an honest opinion, is much more likely than that they were actuated by good-will towards each other, a feeling they always successfully suppressed where hostile criticism could be safely hazarded. ' The bruits of this disaster have spread far and wide,' wrote Edisbury, and many opinions were obtained as to the best course to take, the discussion ending in girdling her, a method which increased her stiffness at the expense of her speed. The Unicor7i's ports were intended to be 5 feet above the water line, but they proved to be but 3 feet 7 inches from it. ' The King's ships are not built as they should be, nor like merchant ships,' Pennington com- plained. 3 The Roebuck and Greyhound of 1636 were built from the waste of the Sovereigyi, then on the stocks, and the Providence and Expedition in 1637 were finished in time to join Rainsborow before Sallee, vessels of lighter draught than those he had with him, but of some force, being required. The other accessions of 1636, the Swan and Nicodemus were both Dunkirk prizes, and added to the Na\y as being the fastest vessels afloat. Pennington recommended that the Swan should be used as a model by English builders, and the Nicodemus was said to run away from everything, ' as a greyhound does from a little dog.' siupwrights' Noticing the general discrepancies between designs and results in shipbuilding, Charles II remarked a generation later of Christopher Pett, when he turned out a successful ship, ' I am sure it must be God put him in the way, for no art of his own could ever have done it' An observer of this date, Kenrick Edisbury, who succeeded Sir Thos. Aylesbury as Surveyor of the Navy, perhaps better qualified to judge, ' State Papers^ Dom., cclxvii, 55. Pennington said nothing about the crew ; he was used to such crews. But Sir Hen. Manwayring remarked that he had never seen a ship so wretchedly manned ; that, except the officers, there was scarcely a seaman on board, and that they were ' men of poor and wretched person, without clothes or ability of body, tradesmen, some that never were at sea, a fletcher, glover, or the like,' (.Add. MSS., 9294, f. 489). - /did., cclxviii, 47. ^ Hid., cclxxiii, 49, I and 50. Errors. Charles I 259 attributed part of the apparent error rather to self-interest. ' I never yet knew,' he writes to Nicholas, ' any ship built by day-work but the shipwrights have made them of greater burden than their warrants mentioned, as you may discern by this new ship now in building at Deptford, which I am per- suaded will prove 200 tons greater than was appointed.'^ Edisbur}^ was referring to either the Leopard or the Swallow, and there is an instructive paper relating to these two vessels which shows the lack of exactness, whether due to ignorance or intention. It gives the measurements as ordered by the King — the shipwrights intrusted with the work received their instructions from him personally^ — and as they actually were.^ Keel Beam inside the plank .... Depth from upper edge of keel to diame- \ ter of breadth . . . . f Depth of keel .... Rake of stem .... Rake of stem post . The flat of the floor Midship draught Distance of lower edge of port greatest breadth . Distance between ports . From deck to lower edge of ports Breadth of ports Depth of ports From the diameter of breadth to the of the waist . Between decks Gross tonnaare . from top ' Dimensions Leopard Swallow given by his majesiie ' Feet Feet Feet 95 96 93 33 32.2 31 12.4 ii.7i — 1-7 1.8 — 30.6 28.4 27 4-3 4.8 4 13 13 13 12.9 12.3 11.6 5 4-io| 5-6 8.6 and 9 8 8 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.2 2.2 2.4 13.6 12.7 — 6.6 6.7 6.8 515 478 384 In January 1626-7 we have a report on the qualities of the Report on new ships added since 161 8, and built under Burrell's superin- *^® ^^^^' tendence while he was the Commissioners' principal subordi- nate. The Constant Reformation is said to be strongly built and seaworthy, but cannot work her lower tier in a moderate sea ; the Victory weakly built and crank, as is also the Gar- land which is a slow sailer as well. The Swiftsure, Bonaven- ture, and Mary Rose are all condemned as badly built, crank, or slow under sail. The St George, St Andrew, and Triumph are awarded faint praise. It must, however, be remembered that this survey was made by Burrell's professional com- petitors, of whose envy and jealousy there is incidental evi- dence yet remaining, and that at least five of these vessels, after years of sailing and fighting round half the world, are to ^ State Papers^ Dom., ccxli, l6 ; 1633. - Ibid., ccxxviii, f. 63a. ^ Ibid., cclxxviii, 41, I. 26o The Administration of the Royal Navy- be found still fit for service in the Navy lists of Charles II. The Commissioners claimed that, with the exception of the earlier Bonavetiture, theirs were the first additions to the Navy that could carry out their guns ' in all fighting weathers.' The sovereign It is unnecessary to describe the Sovereign of the Seas, accounts of which, based on Thos. Heywood's well-known tract,^ have been several times given in various works. Some details, however, not known to Heywood, may be given here. The suggestion must have been under discussion for some time, but the first mention of her is in August 1634, when the masters of the Trinity House, apparently without being asked for it, volunteered an opinion that such a ship was an impossible dream.^ Their dogmatic statement that a three-decker was a thing ' beyond the art or wit of man to construct,' has already been quoted, but they further insisted that, if built, there was no port, ' the Isle of Wight only ' excepted, in which she could ride, and no ground tackle which would hold her. No notice seems to have been taken of their long and poetically expressed effusion, and in Janu- ary 1635 an estimate was called for of a vessel of 1500 tons, (' the king with his own hand hath set down the burden ; '), and in March, Phineas Pett was ordered to prepare a model of ' the ship royal,' and was told that ' you principally are appointed by his majesty for the building of the same.' ^ A month later Pennington, Mansell, Phineas Pett, and John Wells * met, and agreed on dimensions, which were substanti- ally those afterwards adopted, and the gross tonnage was to be by depth 1466 tons, by. draught 1661 tons, and by beam 1836 tons ; but no explanation is given of the way in which these figures are arrived at.^ Pett's estimate of the cost was ;^ 1 3,680 ; ^ perhaps he really did not know, perhaps he did not wish to frighten Charles, but the amount eventually spent on her, exclusive of guns, was ^^^40,83 3 8s i^d.^ Comparing this sum with the ;^55oo to ^^6500 which was the average cost of a forty-gun ship, there must have been, even allowing for the much larger proportion spent in decoration of various kinds, great extravagance in some respects. Before commencing work Pett desired that the principal officers, who, he said, had always shown themselves adverse, should neither provide materials nor make any payments without his signed order. ' Already I find certain extraordi- nary unnecessary charges of new building of dwelling-houses • A True Description of His Majesty s Most Royal ajid Stately Ship, etc., 2nd edit., London, 1638. - State Papers, Dom., cclxxiii, 25. ^ Ibid., cclxiv, ff. 67 a and 87 a. ^ Storekeeper at Deptford ; one v/ould suppose a most unlikely person to be consulted on such a point. ^ State Papers, Dom., cclxxxvi, 44. " Ibid., cclxxxvii, 73. ' Aud. Off. Dec. Accounts, 1703-77. Charles I 261 bestowed and employed in Woolwich yard, which I doubt not will be brought upon the charge of the ship.' ^ As this was occurring while the trees which were to form her frame were yet in leaf in Chopwell and Brancepeth woods, it gives us an interesting glimpse into the habits of the chief Officers of the Navy, and the estimation in which they were held by one who was brought into daily contact with them. The keel was laid at Woolwich, in the presence of Charles, on i6th January 1636, and she was launched in October 1637. Pett had recommended that the launching should be deferred till the spring, since the vessel would grow foul lying in the river through the winter, and would then require redocking. Pett's proposal was annotated by the king, ' I am not of your opinion.'- Charles had a dull optimism, unshaken by any number of blunders, in the value of a royal opinion, whether applied to subjects of general policy or to such a technical matter as the rate at which a ship's hull was likely to grow foul.3 The wages bill on the Sovereign amounted to ;:^20,948, and joining, painting, and carving to £66<^\ ; but in the case of this ship the large sum spent in decoration has in popular imagination, as expressed in pictures and descriptions, implied an equivalent expenditure on other ships which did not really occur. Where details are given of the cost of men-of-war, or of their repairs, the money spent on ornamental carving and painting bears a very small proportion to the total ; and it is quite likely that the conventional representations of sixteenth and earlier seventeenth century vessels are altogether wrong in this respect, and that men-of-war of these times, at any rate those of the second, third, and fourth ranks, were little more bedecked than modern merchantmen. The manner in which the adornments of the Prince and Sovereign are de- scribed and dwelt upon as out of the common points to the probability that other ships possessed few of these external attractions. The Elizabeth and Triumph, the A rk Royal and Merhonour were as relatively important in their day as the Prince and Sovereign, but, with the exceptions already noticed under the reign of Elizabeth, allusion to any special ornamentation is in their case exceptional, still less, then, would the smaller vessels be much beautified by gold, colours, and carving. Decoration, perhaps, became much more general and expensive after the Restoration ; but John Holland at- tributed the increased expenditure on it that began about now to the absence of control over the master shipwrights, ' State Papers^ Dom., ccxcviii, 20. ^ Ibid., ccclxi, 73- ^ In the Leopard and Swallow he had himself ordered that the ports should be eight feet apart {State Papers, Dom., cclx, 86,) although Pennington and other practical seamen urged that nine feet was the minimum space that should be allowed. 262 The Administration of the Royal Navy who were permitted to do much as they liked and would not be outdone by each other. The Sovereign being afloat, the next proceeding was to arm her, and for this purpose 102 brass guns were required, costing, by estimation, ;^24,753, 8s 8d.^ They were thus divided : — Number Length each Weight each Total Ft. Cwt, Tons Cwt. Lower tier — Luffs, quarters, and sides 20 cannon drakes^ 9 45) Stern chasers . 4 demi-cannon drakes I2i 53 ( 64 16 Fore chasers . 2 „ „ "* 481 Bows abaft the chase 2 10 44 j Middle tier — Luffs, quarters, and sides 24 culverin drakes H 28) Fore chase 2 culverins Hi 48' 48) 45 4 After chase . 4 III Upper tier — Sides .... 24 demi-culverin drakes 8i 18) Fore chase 2 demi-culverins 10 30 \ 27 12 After chase . )! 1) 10 30 j Forecastle .... 8 demi-culverin drakes 9 20 8 Half-deck .... 6 9 20 6 Quarter-deck 2 „_ 5J 8 16 Bulkhead abaft the forecastle 2 culverin drakes 5i II I 2 The first estimate was for 90 guns, and here again we read, ' His majesty has since altered his resolution both in respect of the number and nature of pieces.' If Pett origin- ally designed the ship for $0 lighter guns, and Charles raised the number and weight by a stroke of the pen to 102, trying to ignore, in the plenitude of his royal power, such things as metacentres and centres of gravity, it is not surprising that she proved topheavy at sea. It was one of those cases in which ignorance is bliss, but, without reading modern scien- tific knowledge into the past, we know he had professional advisers at hand whose empirical skill was sufficient to enable them to warn him of the folly of such a change. The guns were engraved — at a cost of ^^"3 each — with the rose and crown, sceptre and trident, and anchor and cable. In a com- partment under the rose and crown was the inscription, Carolus Edgari sceptrum stabilivit aquaruni, * being a scut- cheon and motto appointed by his majesty.'^ In January 1640 occurs an estimate for a sister ship to the Sovereign ; but of this, of course, nothing more was ever heard.* We have no station list for the Sovereign, as for the Henry Grace a Dieu but, as a part of ordinary discipline, ' State Papers, Dom., ccclxxiv, 30, and ccclxxxvii, 87. - Drakes were fired with full, periers with low, charges of powder. ^ State Papers, Dom., ccclxxxvii, 87. ■• Add. MSS., 9297, f. 345. Charles I 263 divisions or quarters seem to have been usual. There is a station list of this period for a vessel of 40 guns and 250 men which may be considered typical.^ The heavy guns required 136 men, and 50 more formed the small arms company. The boatswain and his mate had 40 under their command to work the ship under the orders of the master and his mate, who were attended by 2 men. The carpenter and his mates had 6 men, the cook, steward, and surgeon, each 2 for assis- tants, and 4 men were told off to steer, and 4 to remain with the trumpeters. Finally the captain and lieutenant had 2 men in attendance. The heaviest guns were allowed 5 men each ; and the number varied down to 5 men between two of the smaller guns. Of the eight vessels of 1646 and 1647 there is nothing to say beyond once more noticing the marked increase in the ratio between length and beam. There is not to be found, among the Commonwealth papers, any mention in praise or dispraise of their weatherly and fighting qualities, and from this silence we may infer that they were found to be, in essen- tials, all that was expected. Probably a sixteenth or seventeenth century ship was not - a particularly picturesque object Instead of the graceful, beautifully proportioned hulls, spars, and sails of to-day, the reader must imagine a short, squat, hull, round-bowed and square-sterned, enormously high and broad in comparison with its length, and the sides falling in towards each other till the upper deck was perhaps only two-thirds of the width on the water line. The stern was the highest part of the ship, and the bows the lowest, so that she looked as though she was always premeditating a plunge forward, and the longi- tudinal curve of the sides was broken by huge channels opposite each mast to which were fastened the shrouds. Above, the stumpy masts and spars must have looked ridicul- ously out of proportion to the ponderous hull, although they were in reality usually too heavy in relation to the badly designed and placed weights below. As for the gilt and painting, a week of rough weather would have converted the original tawdry splendour into a forlorn slatternliness. Most of the remaining Elizabethan ships passed out of the The remaining ser\dce. The hull of the Bear was sold in 1629 for £i\<>, thef^'p^^^*^^'' Answer and Crane for £\0\, and towards the end of the reign, the Dreadnought, Due Repulse, Adventure, and Assur- ance were broken up. In 1635 Charles, again exemplifying the very real interference, if not control, he exercised in naval matters, ordered, against the recommendations of the Princi- pal Officers, that the Warspite should be cut down into a lighter for harbour service at Portsmouth. But the most ^ State Papers, Dom., cclxxix, 27. 264 The Administration of the Royal Navy serious loss in this class was that of the Anne Royal, which in April 1636, when fitted as Northumberland's flagship, was bilged on her own anchor when bringing to in the river. The disaster was attributed to the pilot and master giving contradictory orders, and when she was lying on her broad- side and full of water her officers made matters worse by cut- ting holes in the upper side to recover their belongings.^ Of course nine members of the Trinity House at once certified that it was impossible to raise the Anne, just as a year before they had petitioned against the Foreland lights as 'useless and unnecessary,'^ and just as on every point referred to them they showed a persistence in being stultified by events, extra- ordinary even in a corporation. Two townsmen of Great Yarmouth offered to float the ship for ;^2000 ; the Principal Officers thought they could do it for ;^I450, and eventually they did raise her, but with the customary variation in official calculations, at a charge of ;^5355.^ She was taken to the East India Company's dock at Blackwall, aud there, being found to be too severely damaged for repair, broken up. Of the later ships, the PhcenixdsA Nonsuch were sold ; the Reformation, Antelope, Swallow, and Convertine were carried off by the mutineers of 1648 and lost to the English Navy, and most of the prizes of the earlier years were subsequently given to private individuals or to commercial associations. The King had no fleet after 1642, and seized upon any expedient likely to give him one. In November 1643 he granted a commission to Jeronimo Caesar de Caverle as Vice-admiral, De Caverle contracting to obtain, man, and fit out five ships for ;!^2000 a month, to be paid out of any prizes he might take from the supporters of the Parliament.^ This, like Rupert's commission, was a premium on piracy. The^rencii Not the least interesting of the papers of this reign are those which show what a close watch was kept on the growth of the nascent French navy. In 1625 Louis was compelled to borrow vessels from Charles, but in 1626 Richelieu bought up or confiscated local or opposing rights and constituted himself head of the navy, assisted by a conseil de marine. That which must have been the nucleus of his fleet, the purchase of four vessels built for him in the Low Countries, is duly reported to our King.^ Again in 1627 there are several notices of fresh purchases from the Dutch, and in September Mervyn was ordered to intercept and destroy them on their passage to France.^ By this time the French had ^ State Papers, Dom., cccxix, 4, 15. When ships were in commission captains were in the habit of cutting windows and scuttles in a vessel's side if it suited their convenience. ^ Ibid., cclxxxiii, I, ' Aud. Off. Dec. Accounts, I703) 78. ■■ State Papers, Dom., ccccxcviii, 48 and 51. * Ibid., xxxiii, 108 ; 1626. " Ibid., 78. Navy. Charles I 265 thirty-three ships before Rochelle, but eighteen of them were under 200 tons each, and probably most were hired merchant- men.^ In 1630 ten 'dragones' were being built at Havre in imitation of the whelps, and a correspondent, writing from Bordeaux, says that there are ' so many good ships of the King of France's navy that unless I had been an eye-witness thereof I should not have believed it possible.'^ There were forty ships ' of good force' there. In 163 1 Charles appears to have obtained a detailed list of the then existing French marine, thus classified : — ^ Brest Bordeaux Blaye Brouage St. Malo At sea 900 tons 700 tons 600 tons 500 tons and 40 guns 450 tons and 36 guns 400 tons and 34 guns 300 tons and 28 guns 250 tons and 23 guns 200 tons and 18 guns I 2 3 6 3 I I I 3 2 I I I I I 2 I I I I I I 2 I There were also two of 1400 and 700 tons, respectively, building. It must be confessed that this force, created within five years and manned by Breton and Norman seamen, was calculated to give pause to the rulers of the painfully maintained English Navy. Still more significant was the fact that only twelve were Dutch-built ; Richelieu had soon freed France from dependence on foreign artisans. The proportion of guns on French vessels was smaller than that on English vessels of corresponding tonnage, an excess of metal having been characteristic of our equipment until the eighteenth century. In 1639 their strength had so far in- creased that they had forty sail and ten fire-ships in the Channel, and there was also a powerful Dutch fleet, so that Pennington was directed to stop any suitable merchantmen and add them to his squadron. A navy, however, which was not the result of natural growth, but depended on the energy and will of one man, was predestined to decay. The French marine, as Professor Laughton has pointed out, really began with Colbert, and in 1 66 1, when he took office, it was reduced to less than 20 seaworthy vessels, against some 150 carried on the English Navy list. The rivalry still existing between the two nations commenced very early. As soon as the Sovereign was built, a similar ship was considered a necessity for France, but for ' State Papers, Dom., Elizabeth, ccxxxvii, f. 6o (list of French and Spanish ships before Rochelle). There were thirty-six Spaniards, and eleven of them were of 1000 tons apiece, the others being nearly as large. 2 State Papers, Dom., Charles /, clxiv ; 9th April 1630. ^ Ibid., cxcviii, 84, 266 The Administration of the Royal Navy some reason it was not until 1657 that their first three-decker was launched.^ Mea^ement. Closcly connected with shipping was the question of tonnage, and the discussion which raged between 1626-8 on the methods of calculating it would require a volume for its full elucidation. The existing rule was recognised as im- perfect, but the science of the time was not able to formulate anything satisfactory in its place, for exact measurement has been a matter only of the present century. The following paper, printed in full, may be regarded as representing the various views existing, and will at any rate show how little dependence can be placed on any positive statement of a ship's tonnage.2 There are three ways of measuring ships now in use : — Mr Baker s Old Way — The old way, which was established in Queen Elizabeth's time, and never questioned all King James his time, is this : The length of the keel, leaving out the false post, if there be any. Multiply by the greatest breadth within the plank, and that product by the depth taken from the breadth to the upper edge of the keel produceth a solid number which divided by 100 gives the contents in tons, into which add one third part for tonnage, so have you the tons and tonnage. The Adventure of Ipswich Length ft. 63-6 1802 7737 Breadth 26-2 1417 8037 Within ye plank. Depth ri 1041 3927 To ye upper edge of keel Divisor 100 70 — Tons . 182,80 i26r 9701 One third for tonnage 60,933 243,73 tons and tonnage. It is credibly averred by Sir H. Mervyn and Sir H. Palmer that the old way of measuring was to take the breadth without ye plank and the depth from the breadth to the lower' edge of the keel. And this was Baker's way of measuring. Second Way—T\\Q second way is assumed by the shipwrights of the river to be the old way, but it is not, which makes the ship to be 28 in the hundred greater than the former, and is this : The length of the keel taken as before, or ought to be. The breadth from outside the plank to outside. The depth or draught of water from the breadth to the bottom of the keel all multiplied together and divided by 94 (say they) give the content in tons, into which add one third for tonnage. Length ft. 63.6 1802 7737 Breadth . 26.8 1426 230 Without ye timber and plank Depth 12.3 1088 1 36 1 To ye lower edge of keel. Divisor 94 8026 8721 Tons .... 220,71 — — One third for tonnage 73,57 294,28 tons and tonnage. ' Barbou, Hist, de la Mari7ie Francaise. ^ State Papers, Dom., Iv, 39 ; 1627. By John Wells. I cannot profess to ex- plain how all the figures here given are obtained. ^ I.e., 63 J X 26J X 1 1 -^ I00:=i82 burden and 243 ton and tonnage (Cf. supra, p. 30, note 2, and p. 132. Charles I 267 If you divide this by 100 (which is said to be here done by 94) it is ye true old way, called Baker's way. Third Way — The third way was proposed by Mr Gunter, Mr Pett, Mr Stevens, Mr Lyddiard, and myself, who were required by warrant from my lord Duke of Buckingham and the commissioners for the navy (then being) to measure the Adventure of Ipswich, the greatest bilged ship in the river, and from her dimensions to frame a rule that in our best judg- ments might be indifferently applicable to all kinds of frames. This we performed and yielded our reasons for it, which, to avoid the abuse of furred sides and deep keels and standing strakes, which increaseth the burden but not the hold, was thus : the length by the keel as the first ; the depth in hold from the breadth to the seeling ; ^ the mean breadth within that seeling at half that depth multiplied together, and the product divided by 65, gives the tons, into which add one third part for tonnage. Length . ft. 63.6 1802 7737 Mean breadth . 22 1342 4227 Within the seeling Depth . 9-8 985 4265 To the seeling. Divisor . . . . 65 8187 866 Tons 207,83 2317 7095 One third for tonnage 69,27 277,10' This increaseth 12 per loo above the old rule. There is a fourth way, devised by the shipwrights and Trinity masters, but exploded for the great excess which makes the ship 30 in the hundred greater than the first, and it is thus : length of the keel as at first, middle breadth beneath the greatest, viz. the breadth at the wrunghead, depth to the outside of the plank, all multipUed together and divided by 70. . Length Middle breadth . Depth . Divisor Tons . One third for tonnage ft. 63.6 23-7 II-3 70 240,68 80,22 320,90 1372 1051 1802 8iS4 1381 5438 1525 { 7737 9019 3719 Without {i.e. outside) timber and plank. Without the plank. Although this document is quoted at length as showing the opposing views, the controversy began in May 1626, when Wells, Stevens, and others sent in an interesting paper,^ which is the one referred to in their ' third way ' of the preceding, too long to transcribe fully, but from which some extracts may be given. The main question was whether the depth and breadth should be taken from within or without board. In the second case the King paid for more tonnage in a hired ship, especially if she was furred or girdled, than he actually obtained, but the first was held to be a direct incentive to owners to build flimsily. The Adventure of Ipswich was all through the subject of experiment. They say — ■^ The planks on the inside of a ship's frame on the floor. ^ This method was adopted during the Commonwealth. ^ State Papers.^ Dom., xxvii, 67. 268 The Administration of the Royal Navy We consider the ship may be considered three ways— the first in cask, and so two butts or four hogsheads make a ton ; the second in feet, and so forty feet of timber make a ton, the third in weight and so twenty hundred weight make a ton . . . The first seems most rational to us . . . We therefore first prescribe the hold of the ship to be the cavity of the vessel contained between the hnes of her greatest breadth and depth withinboard . . . supposing the lower edge of the (deck) beams to be pitched at the breadth . . . We next consider what quantity of cask may be stowed in this hold first by drawing the bends and the form of the cask in each several bend ; but this way being subject to error we sought the true contents thereof arithmetically, allowing 4^ feet to the length of a butt, and 2 ft. 8 in. to the depth of the first tier, but 2 ft. 4 in. for the rest of the tiers. This whole body we reduce into feet, and divide the product thereof by sixty, because we find by calculation that a ton of cask stowed to the best advantage will take up as much room as sixty feet solid, and by these means we produce the whole contents of the Adventure s hold to be 207 tons. They then proceed to frame the rule they used in the ' third way' of the paper of 1627, and notice that practically the Adventure takes a cargo of about 276 tons of coal, but that this brings her midship port within a foot of the water line and renders her unfit for any service. In June the masters of the Trinity House commented on the preceding statement,^ and began by declaring that ' truly to find the contents of the cavity of the hold in cask is not possible.' They strongly maintained that vessels should be measured from without board, seeing that a furred ship could carry more than if un- furred, ignoring the fact that one object of the proposed new rule was to insure more accurate designing and building by throwing the loss on the owner. ' The old rule,' they said, ' is less true for lately built ships, which have great floors, but true for old ships with small floors.' 2 Their protest evoked a derisive reply from the government shipwrights, from which it is unnecessary to quote. ^ Finally an order was issued, 26th May 1628, that all the King's ships and those hired by him should be measured by taking ' the length of the keel, leav- ing out the false post, the greatest breadth within the plank, the depth from that breadth to the upper edge of the keel,' multiplying these and dividing by one hundred. ^ The result of the change was to make vessels apparently smaller, but whether nearer to, or further from, what we should now consider their real tonnage we have no means of decid- ing conclusively. The comparative measurements of two ships by the old and the new rules may serve as example of the others ^ — ' State Papers^ Dom., xxix, 7. - Floor, the bottom of a vessel on each side of the keelson. ^ State Papers^ Doni.^ xxix, ic. ■* Other papers relating to this question will be found in State Papers^ Dom.^ xxxii, Iig-I2l ; xxxviii, 30, I ; Iv, 36 ; Ivii, 92 ; and Hx, 75. * State Papers^ Dom., ccxxvi. 74. By the old rule the Sovereign was of 1367 net and 1823 gross tonnage (Jbid,^ ccclxi, 71). Charles I 269 Henrietta Maria Charles Keel B ;am Depth Gross tonnage Old New rule rule ft. ft. 106 106 106.4 I05-2' Old rule' ft. 36.5 36.3 New rule^ ft. 35-9 35-7 Old New rule rule ft. ft. 16.6 15.8 16.6 16.3 Old New rule rule 848 793 848 810 The extensive use made of hired ships between 1625 and The Merchant 1628 led to several lists being drawn up of the available ^^'^*°°" merchant marine. Before, however, dealing with these, there is another source from which information may be gained. The Trinity House certificates, from May 1625 to March 1638, of new ships requiring ordnance, and which were neces- sarily sent to London to be armed, have fortunately been pre- served.'* These certificates probably include every new vessel of any considerable size, and in most cases mention the ton- nage and place of construction, and from them, therefore, we can draw fairly reliable conclusions concerning the relative importance of the shipping centres where they were built, and the strength of the merchant navy. In these thirteen years some 380 ships come under notice, inclusive of fifteen prizes and twenty-two bought, mostly from the Dutch, but whether new or old is not stated. The following table gives the number each year : — 1625, 5 1626, 124 1627, 23 1630, 37 1631, 18 1632, II 1635, 24 1636, 25 1637, 24 1628, 5 1629, 55 1633, 12 1634, 12 1638, 5 (three months) The sudden increase of 1626 is probably attributable to the number of vessels taken up for the royal service, and to the proclamation of 26th April of that year, by which the bounty of 5s a ton on craft of over 100 tons, and suited for warfare, was renewed. The subsequent falling off, besides be- ing a natural reaction, may have been also due to the diffi- culty owners experienced in obtaining payment for their ships when hired by the King. An analysis of the places mentioned yields, when the port of origin is given, the results tabulated below. The expression ' River of Thames ' com- prises those from various ports, but mostly, perhaps New- castle colliers sent up for their ordnance ; it may also include those from such a place as Bristol, for which one new ship cannot be a complete return. Ships of under 300 tons are not classified, and in some instances the tonnage is not given in the certificate : — 1 From outside to outside. ^ ' Withinside the plank.' ^ Leaving out the false post, i.e.^ a piece bolted to the after edge of the main stem post. * State Papers^ Dom., xvi, and xvii. 270 The Administration of the Royal Navy 'Limehouse Wapping Horseley- \ down i Ratcliff Deptford Shadwell ^Blackwall Ipswich Yarmouth Aldborough Hull Woodbridge ■3d I'ons 500 450 400 350 300 20 I 2 3 6 21 — — — I 2 14 — — I 2 I 19 — — I 3 3 2 I — I — — I — — — — — I — — — — — 48 I - — I — 7 26 — — I — I 12 ' — — — — 2 25 — — — 12 — — I 2 3 Colchester River of i Thames ) Bristol Harwich Dartmouth Dover Southampton Shoreham Plymouth Weymouth Blakeney Exeter 1° Tons 500 450 400 350 300 7 — — — — — 102 — — — — — I 3 2 2 14 I 3 I — — — — I 5 I — — — — — — — — — — — — 2 — — — — — In July 1626, Buckingham was directed to procure returns of the number and size of the ships belonging to the port towns, and the resulting list, so far as the reports have sur- vived, is as follows : — ^ Portsmouth Gosport Isle of Wight Padstow Chester Boston Yarmouth Dartmouth and \ Tor Bay j Fowey Sandwich Lynn No. Largest ICO tons in tons upwards 5 80 — II 40 — 10 70 — 3 40 — 21 50 — 12 80 — 97 320(2) 26 65 270 15 2 50 — 30 240 12 67 160 IS No. Largest in tons 100 tons or upwards Wells 26 80 Burnham 10 50 — Blakeney Plymouth Stonehouse 14 40 6 100 120 120 I 7 I Saltash and ) vicinity ) 24 200 4 Salcombe II 50 E. and W. Looe 28 40 — Penryn Bristol 7 32 180 250 3 16 The principal point which the reader of this list will notice is the small extent of change in the maritime relation of these places which had occurred since the days of Elizabeth. In her time Dartmouth, including Totnes, was the leading southern port, and, although Plymouth and adjoining towns now run it close, it is hardly yet second. And so far as the scanty materials for comparison allow us to judge, it does not appear that the relation between the other ports had altered to any important degree, although the aggregate of ships be- longing to them is much greater. Notwithstanding the obvious omissions in this roll, it includes 100 vessels of 100 tons and upwards, against 177 in 1588 for the whole of England. In February 1628 there was a survey of such ships in the ' SiaU Papers, Dom., xxxi, 56 ; xxxii, 29, 71, 72, I ; xxxiii, 3, I, 70, I, 120, 129 ; xxxiv, 31, 98-110 ; xxxix, 28, 50, I. North Wales has nothing larger than thirty tons, and ' not six persons who can take charge of a barque as far as Dublin or the Land's End.' Charles I 271 Thames as were fit for the royal service.^ There were seven East Indiamen^ of 4200 tons and 218 guns, the largest being one of 900, one of 800, and two of 700 tons ; besides thirty- four other merchantmen of 7850 tons and 610 guns, and twenty-two Newcastle colliers of from 200 to 250 tons each. The largest of the merchantmen were one of 500 and two of 45^^ tons. A year later, in February and March 1629, there was another survey of London and other ports, but only of ships of 100 tons and upwards, and there were now in the river eight East Indiamen of 5700 tons, one being of 1000 tons, and forty-seven other merchantmen of 12,150 tons, and 906 guns ; there were also twenty-nine merchantmen of 7060 tons and 556 guns at sea, thirty Newcastle vessels belong- ing to London owners, and eighteen other ships of not more than 120 tons each and unarmed.^ The following 7lkt' on these articles, while sailors' hammocks for the same period cost of £777. For 1647 their bill for flags was ^^567, and for hammocks X307. In February 1649 the parliament ordered that men- of-war should carry a St George's cross on a white ground, similar to the present admiral's flag, which, although the St George's cross had been in general use for many centuries, may be considered to be the beginning of the present naval ensign in its special form.^ ' State Papers, Dom., cccxlvii, 85. ^ Ibid., xlviii, January 20. This, must, however, refer to some improvements as ring-bolts for the purpose are mentioned earlier. ^ Foedera, xix, 549. ^ It is possible, too, that the present navy button and cap badge may be traced back, in inception, to the parliamentary regime. Northumberland's seal consisted merely of his arms (j-everse), with (obverse") a figure on horseback with a back- ground of sea and ships ; and although earlier Lords Admirals — Southampton, Lincoln, and Buckingham — had used the anchor, none of them had combined the coronet, anchor, and wreath. Warwick's was one which differs only in the relative proportions of the details from the button and badge now in use, except that the anchor is now fouled. If it is only a coincidence it is a curious one. Pop- ham, Blake, and Deane employed a modification of Warwick's seal, omitting the crown ; and the Navy Office adopted another, consisting of three anchors, a large Charles I 301 The following prices were paid for naval necessaries at Prices, various dates : — Cordage {1625), /26, 13s 4d a ton. ,, (1629), ;^32 aton. (1631), /30 „ (1640), „ „ Tar (1631), ^8, los a last. ,. (163s), ;^io, a last. Rosin {1631), ;^I3, a ton. Train oil (1631), £20 a ton. Crooked and straight timber (1631), /"l, I OS a load. Knee timber (1631), £2, los a load. Elm „ „ £\, 6s „ „ (1640), £\, I2S „ „ plank (1626), £\^ i8s „ Oak „ „ £z, 2s „ „ (1640), ;^3, IIS „ French canvas (1635), j^22 a bale. Ipswich „ (1626), £1^ 6s a bolt. .. (1635), £'i-s los a bolt. Powder (1627), £i^ a barrel. „ (1646), £\^ los a barrel. Round shot (1627), ;^ii a ton. Musket shot (1627), ;^I4 a ton. Hammocks (1625), 2s each. „ (1642), 2s 7d each. Anchors (1626), ^^i, los to £2 per cwt. „ (1631), i"2percwt. „ (1640), £\^ 13s per cwt. Beer (1635), 28s to 34s the tun. ,, (1646), 38s the tun. Beef in 4-lb. pieces (1635), gd and lod the piece. Pork in 2-lb. pieces (1635), 5d and 6d the piece. Codfish (1635), £\^ 3s the cwt. Biscuit „ 13s and 14s the cwt. Seamen's clothes {1628) : — ^ Shirts, 3s 4d each ; caps, 2s each ; cotton breeches, 2s 8d each ; stock- ings, IS 4d a pair ; canvas suits, 6s each ; cotton waistcoats, 3s each. centre one with a smaller on each side, and ' The Seale of the Navye Office' round the edge, so that the device selected by Warwick seems, in one form or another, to have been soon widely used and continued. A reproduction of this Navy Office Seal is used on the binding, and at the foot of the Preface, of the present volume. ' These prices were paid by the government ; the cost to the sailor depended on the honesty of many intermediaries. THE COMMONWEALTH I 649- I 660 toe^nterr^e -^ AMONG the many social and political developments which num. characterised the era of the Commonwealth the most in- teresting, to the naval student, is the sudden expansion of our maritime power and the extension of its field of action. There was no previous experience to justify our rulers in sup- posing that the drain in men and money necessary to the support of a great navy — equal to that of the combined powers of Europe — could be borne by a state already ex- hausted by civil war ; and it may well be that, although the sequence of events showed the maintenance of such a force not to be beyond the national capacity, the strain on the national resources between 1649 and 1660 was a large factor in creating the popular discontent which welcomed the return of the Stewarts. Under Charles I the pecuniary resources of the crown were unequal to the construction of ships during war time, while the launch of one, or at the most two, a year in the time of peace was thought to be sufficient cause for legitimate pride and congratulation : under the Common- wealth they were ordered by tens at the time, and in one year — 1654 — twenty-two new men-of-war left the slips, besides the hired merchantmen in pay and the numerous prizes fitted out for naval service. Under Charles the preparation of a single fleet for a peaceful summer cruise in the narrow seas necessitated a previous year of preparation, while the coasts were supposed to be sufficiently protected by the occasional presence of a few small vessels : under the Commonwealth, besides a powerful reserve kept in the Downs ready for immediate action, besides the numerous cruisers patrolling the coasts, we find for the first time that Mediterranean station The Commonwealth 303 which has played so great a part in English history occupied in force, a moderately strong West Indian squadron, and the small beginning of the North American station. The rulers of the Commonwealth only did, so far as home waters were concerned, what Charles vaguely desired to do with the Navy ; but the wildest dreams of Charles never pictured the per- manent Mediterranean and West Indian fleets. It usually happens in statesmanship that administrative or executive development on any particular line is due rather to circumstances than intention, and the history of the republican Navy is an illustration of this rule. At the close of the civil war it was proposed to reduce the naval establishments, and measures were being already taken to that effect when the Rainsborow mutiny occurred. The escape of Rupert from Kinsale with the fleet, of which three of the revolted ships formed the nucleus, together with the encouragement his presence at sea gave to individual privateering, necessitated an immediate and large increase in the Navy, which then had to protect the trade routes as well as chase or blockade him. Rupert's career made it obvious that the area of the civil war had widened, and that henceforth it would be the duty of the Navy to deal with the enemies of the republic at the circum- ference of the circle, its internal foes being helpless without aid from abroad. How little those in power anticipated the changes a few years were to effect in our maritime strength, and how doubtfully they regarded the means available to contend even with Rupert, they themselves frankly tell us. In June 1649 they congratulated themselves that they had a fleet at sea such as they scarcely hoped for or their enemies expected, but ' how the Commonwealth will be able to continue the same in successive years is not easy to evidence.' ^ But the episode of Rupert was followed by the more expen- sive Dutch and Spanish wars, both of which required the existence of large fleets at sea and an ample reserve, and their sequel in the prolonged visits of Blake and his successor, Stokes, to the Mediterranean, from which we may date the reappearance of England as a European power. The crucial difficulty of finance, which had wrecked the designs of Charles I, presented fewer obstacles to .Parliament and the Protector. By means of the monthly assessments, delinquents' compositions, sale of lands, excise, and other methods, the sum of ;£'95,ooo,ooo is declared to have been raised between 1642 and 1660. ^ This gives an average of ^ State Papers^ Dom., Interreg., 22nd June 1649 ; Council to Generals of fleet. 2 Captain John Stevens, Royal Treasury of England^ 1725. He gives no authorities and his figures are very doubtful, but Mr Dowell (Jiist. of Taxes) ap- pears to quote him as trustworthy. In any case the revenues of the republic enormously exceeded those of the monarchy. The anonymous writer of a Restora- War 304 The Administration of the Royal Navy upwards of five and a quarter millions a year, against far less than a million a year raised by Charles, and, even allowing for the cost of the army and the debts incurred during the civil war, enables us to understand the comparative ease with which the heavy naval expenses were met at first by the govern- ment, and why outbreaks of discontent on the part of the men were few, and at once easily appeased by the payment of wages which had been allowed to become too long overdue. The financial system of the Commonwealth was reckless and im- provident, inasmuch as it largely consisted in living on capital by the alienation of private or corporate property which, if confiscated, should have been held to the profit of the state ; but probably no system of taxation alone could have met the demands of the army and Navy during those years. Not only the naval but every other branch of the administration was overwhelmed with debt in 1660. rae Dutch By far the most important event of the interregnum was " " the Dutch War, since our success in that struggle shaped the future course of English commercial development and, in its results, caused English fleets to be henceforward influential factors in continental politics. Although the conditions were, in reality, not at all unequal, an attack made on the richest and greatest maritime power in the world by a nearly bank- rupt state which, with the exception of the passable success of 1596, had failed in every important naval enterprise under- taken since 1588, and which in that year had only succeeded — so far as the fruits of victory were concerned — by the chance of wind and wave and the aid of the very nation now assailed, must have seemed to many contemporaries a more than hazard- ous venture. When success seemed to be definitely inclining towards this country, the Weekly Intelligencer of 7th June 1653 soberly remarked that * our generals . . . were the first who have made it known that the Dutch are to be overcome by sea.' The relative position of England and the United Provinces was very similar to that of England and France at present or recently — on the one hand a country with a great commerce and a great navy, but a navy which, in the nature of things, could only bear a percentage relation to the vast pecuni- ary interests it was required to protect and the extent of sea it was called upon to traverse ; on the other a power which, with far less at stake commercially, had for years been expending on its naval establishments a sum which must have equalled or exceeded the total value of its merchant marine,^ whose tion pamphlet {The Mystery of the Good Old Cause ^ 1 660) estimates that the Commonwealth raised ^3,000,000 a year. ^ The value, in 1894, of the English merchant navy was ;^i 22,000,000, Ad- miralty expenditure ^^18, 500,000 ; of the French merchant navy ^^10,100,000, Admiralty expenditure ^f 10,500,000. The Commonwealth 305 fleets had been yearly increased, and whose seamen had been freshly trained by ten years of warfare. How ruinous the war was to Dutch commerce may be measured from the fact that between 27th July 1652 and 8th March 1653 Dutch prize goods were sold, probably much below the normal market values, for ^^208,65 5, 3s iid.^ For Holland then, as would be the case for England now, it was not sufficient to merely hold her own, for anything short of absolute maritime suprem- acy is ruin to a nation whose existence depends on an unlimited carrying trade and the unchecked export and import of material. The Dutch did not hold their own, but their flag was by no means driven off the seas, and the Dutch navy certainly not incapable of further action, when the miseries undergone by a teeming population brought the republic to its knees in 1654. Many circumstances and conditions coincided in weakening the position of the United Provinces. Their share in the thirty years' war, being almost entirely confined to land operations, had resulted in attention being devoted to the army at the expense of the navy, which had seen little real service since the conclusion of the truce with Spain in 1609. The country was distressed by the economies rendered neces- sary by the heavy public debts, and was yet suffering from the results of a great commercial crisis experienced in 164.6-7-^ While in England faction was, for the time, crushed, in Hol- land the attempts of the stadtholder William II in 1650 and 165 1 to seize supreme power had given rise to personal and political animosities which had outlived their author, and which are said to have had a disastrous influence on the way some of the higher Dutch officers did their duty. But it was on the side of the personnel and administrative systems of the two countries that a comparison is so favourable to England. The naval organisation of the Dutch republic was directed by five distinct admiralty boards, each exercising separate control, preparing its own ships, appointing its own officers, and depending for co-ordinate action on the limited, and frequently disputed, authority of the states - general. As might have been expected, this system failed even to curb the Dunkirkers, from whom the Dutch suffered nearly as much as did the English^ Never, on the other hand, so far as administration was concerned, had England been better prepared for war. In- stead of officials who, as in the preceding half-century, owed their posts to court influence, to purchase, or to seniority, the 1 Add.MSS., 5500, f. 25. 2 De Witt, TIu True Interest of Holland, p. 227. De Witt notices the prefer- ence given to land operations during the thirty years' war. ^ Ibid., p. 218, et seq. U 3o6 The Administration of the Royal Navy work was in the hands of men chosen for business aptitude and who, in most instances, had given proof of higher quali- fications on the field of battle or in parliamentary committees. Of the latter class was the Admiralty Committee; but the Navy Commissioners, and especially those Commissioners in charge of the dockyards, on whom fell most of the duty of organisation, were officers who had been taught by actual warfare. Prompt, capable, honest, and energetic, sparing themselves neither in purse nor person, and frequently bring- ing religious fervour as a spur to their daily service, they conveyed to war on another element the same thoroughness and zeal which had made them victorious on land. Victory in the civil war had only been gained when a weak and hesitating commercialism, scared at its own audacity, and longing for a settlement that would secure its own liberties at whatever sacrifices of the hopes and con- sciences of others, had been steel-edged by Puritan vigour. The men of that stern mental and moral creed were now in authority throughout the kingdom and wielding its resources. Pitted against a nation of lower ideals, sleekly prosperous, whose national genius had for years tended more and more to take the one groove of trade, unwrought and unpurified by the searchings of soul that all thinking Englishmen must have gone through in those years, all the spiritual elements of success were on the side of England. Never, before or since, were the combatant branches of the Navy so well supported. As a rule our seamen have had to beat the enemy afloat in spite of the Admiralty ashore, but here they had every assistance that foresight and earnestness could give. As a result of the political troubles of 1650 and 165 1 many of the oldest and most experienced of the Dutch captains had been dismissed as adherents of the house of Orange, and their places filled by men of whose cowardice and incapacity bitter complaints were made by their admirals. The English captains were officers practised by years of sea experience, or soldiers who brought their traditions of hard fighting to bear in a fresh field. The United Provinces had perhaps four times as many seamen as a reserve to draw upon ; but, ill paid and ill fed,^ devoted to peaceful pursuits, and frequently discontented with the mercantile oligarchy govern- ing them, the men, although once in action they fought well, did not give that almost enthusiastic service which charac- terised the Englishmen. The news sheets of 1652-3 usually take the goodwill of the men for granted, and this silence is itself significant ; but occasionally actual references are made, and these references, ^ In the Dutch service each captain contracted to provision his own ship, and the men had meat only once a week. The Commonwealth 307 even if inventions, may be taken as indicative of the spirit with which the men were reputed to be imbued. They had for the Dutch that hatred their fathers felt for Spaniards, and, for the first time for many years, they found themselves well treated^ — comparatively punctually paid, properly clothed, well fed, cared for when sick or wounded, and promised advantages in the shape of prize money never previously allowed. What wonder they served the Commonwealth, during its earlier years, as the crown had never been served since the days of Elizabeth ? In number of ships England, even at the outbreak of the war, was not so ill-matched as has been supposed. 'You never had such a fleet as in the Long Parliament,' said Haselrig on one occasion,^ and political necessities had as yet prevented any decrease in the strength maintained up to 1648. During 1649-51 the magazines were kept well supplied and forty-one new ships were added to the Navy list, prac- tically doubling its effective ; besides these were the hired merchantmen in pay, or recently discharged, and manned by trained crews accustomed to work together. According to some accounts the Dutch navy had been allowed to fall to so low a number as fifty men-of-war, and, although merchant- men were taken into the service, their crews, hurriedly got together and new to their surroundings, were no match, so far as skill went, for their opponents. Throughout the war the Dutch, although they possessed many more ships, never succeeded in sending to sea any materially larger fleets than ours. Fifteen hundred prizes are said to have been taken from them during the war, a number at least double the whole ocean- going merchant marine of England.^ If they possessed more vessels a far larger proportion of them were unfit for battle, and if ours were slower under sail they were more solidly built and more heavily armed, advantages which told in days when tactics were elementary, and when, for the first time for a century, English seamen tried to fight yardarm to yardarm.^ 1 Relatively, that is, judged by a standard of comparison with what they had endured under the Stewarts. 2 Burton's Diary ^ III, 57, 3rd February 1658-g. There are several other refer- ences in Burton to the care the Long Parliament bestowed on the Navy. ^ Gumble, Life of Monk, p. 75. Eleven hundred according to a Dutch life of Tromp. * This is, perhaps, not literally correct ; a contemporary seaman, Gibson, tells us that the aim of the English captains was to lie on the bow or quarter of their antagonists {Add. MSS., 11,602, f. 77), but that was very different from the game of long bowls Englishmen had learnt to be the best medicine for Spaniards, and had never till now discarded. Our fleets went into action en masse, the only rule being that each captain should keep as close as possible to the flag of his divisional commander. The result at times was that while some ships were being overwhelmed by superior force others hardly fired a gun, and an officer who had closely obeyed the letter of his instructions might afterwards find himself charged with cowardice and neglect of duty. 3o8 The Administration of the Royal Navy Yet another circumstance was most fortunate for England ; for a greater part of the year the prevailing winds gave us the weather-gage and the choice of attack. Dutch merchant fleets returning from the westward had to run the gauntlet of the south coast, and some of the most desperate actions of the war were fought on account of — and hampered by — con- siderations for the safety of these convoys. If they took the long and dangerous route round Scotland, they were still liable to capture when almost within sight of home. It will be seen, if these views are correct, that almost the sole advan- tage held by the United Provinces was one of finance, and that, although it might have caused political difficulties or revolt under a monarchy, had no immediate influence in a country held down by a victorious army. Prize Money. Charles I fell, throughout his reign, into the error of supposing that, if ships and guns were provided, devotion to his person would ensure loyalty and spontaneous service on the part of the men. He found, in 1642, that seamen are not sentimental, and that their sense of duty drew them towards the best paymasters. That perception of their own best interests, which had impelled the Long Parliament throughout the civil war to treat the seamen liberally, had still stronger reasons for existence in the years following 1648 when the maintenance, possibly of the republic, cer- tainly of peace at home, depended on the action of the fleet. Throughout the history of the Navy any improvement in the position of the man-of-war's man is found to bear a direct relation to the momentary needs of the governing classes, and in 1649 the necessity of dealing with Rupert at once woke the tender conscience of the Council to some further improvements that might be made in his condition. Gibson, who was all through the war, says that 'from the year 1641 the bread and beer was of the best for fineness and goodness ;* but fresh orders were issued by the Council of State to find out and prosecute any agents supplying victuals of bad quality. Hitherto Lent had been strictly kept, being pecuni- arily advantageous to the crown as well as spiritually profit- able to the men, although physically ' of much discontent to them ; ' in future its observance was to cease, as was also the abatement of food on Fridays, ' being begotten by the covetous desires of the contractors for victuals, though coloured with specious pretence of abstinence and religion.'^ Besides raising their pay the Council also desired that * all just satisfaction be given to seamen, and that they reap all the benefit of the act passed for their encouragement in dis- ' State Papers, Dotn., 19th March 1649. There was theological bitterness in- volved as well, since the Navy Commissioners directed that any man refusing meat in Lent was to be dismissed as refractory, {Add. MSS., 9304, f. 54). The Commonwealth 309 tribution of prize goods,' and expressed themselves as anxious to appoint persons acceptable to the men as commissioners of prize goods.^ The act referred to, passed in February 1649, amplified and fixed authoritatively the merely parlia- mentary resolution of October 1642, which gave the men, beyond their wages, one -third of the value of a prize. Directed especially at Rupert's squadron and Stewart priva- teers, the new act gave the officers and men of a state's or hired ship one-half the value of a man-of-war captured ; the other half went to a fund for the relief of sick and wounded and the wives and children of those killed, while if the enemy was destroyed they were to be paid at the rate of from ^^12 to ;!^20 a gun, according to the size of the pieces it had on board. The net proceeds, after condemnation in the Admiralty Court and sale of goods, of a merchantman taken by a man-of-war were to be divided into three parts, of which one went to the officers and men, one to the fund for sick and wounded, and one to the state. If the merchantman were prize to a hired ship in the state's service, two-thirds went, as before, to the crew and the sick fund, but the remaining third was divided into two parts, of which one was taken by the owners of the ship, and the other by the state. The tenths which had formerly been a perquisite of the Lord Admiral were now to be devoted to rewards and medals ;-and owners of English ships recaptured from an enemy had to pay one-eighth of the value of vessel and cargo as salvage. Doubtless both Parliament and the executive intended to work this enactment loyally, but the needs of the treasury over- came their good intentions, and the delay in the distribution of prize money was a chronic source of discontent. Therefore from 1st January 1653 a new scheme came into operation, which gave ten shillings a ton for every ton the prize, whether merchantman or man-of-war, measured, and £6, 13s 4d for every gun she carried ; for every man-of-war destroyed, ;^io a gun ; and the Lord Admiral's tenths were to be devoted to the sick and wounded and the relief of widows and orphans.^ These distributions were to be made by the collectors of prize goods three days after payment of wages, a regulation which must have savoured of irony to those who were waiting, some- times years, for wages. For the moment, however, the sailor was considered in every possible way, and, in May, Blake and * State Papers^ Dom., I2th March 1649, Council to Generals of the fleet. John Sparrow, Rich. Blackwell, and Humphrey Blake were appointed on 17th April 1649 to hQ treasurers and collectors of prize goods ; Rich. Hill, Sam. Wilson, and Robt. Turpin were added from 8th March 1653. - Commons Journals^ 2lst Dec. 1652. The 'medium' cost of each man at sea was reckoned at ^4 a month, including wages, victuals, wear and tear of ships, stores, provision for sick and wounded, and other incidental expenses. Rawlinson MSS, (Bodleian Library), A 9, p. 176. 3IO The Administration of the Royal Navy his colleagues were ordered always to exchange prisoners if possible, ' as it will tend much to the satisfaction of the sea- men when they see that care is had of them.' ^ Matters pro- gressed smoothlyenough till the Dutch war strained our finance desperately, and from 1648 till May 1653 there are but two instances of insubordination to be found.^ When the Dutch war broke out the want of men was greater than the want of ships, and it was decided to press all seamen ' State Papers, Dom., I2th May 1649, Council to Generals at sea. ^ It is advisable to dwell on this point because the late Mrs Everett Green (Preface to Calendar of State Papers^ 1649-50, p. 24), said, speaking of the Common- wealth seamen generally, that ' disaffection and mutiny were frequent among them,' and writers of less weight have echoed this opinion. The instances of mutiny were in reality very few — seven between 1649 and 1660 — were not serious, and were, in every case but one attributable to drunkenness or to wages and prize money remaining unpaid, the single exception being due to the refusal of a crew to proceed to sea in what they held to be an unseaworthy ship. This is a very trifling number compared with the series of such events occurring during nearly every year of the reign of Charles I. Of disaffection in the sense of a leaning towards the Stewarts there is not a trace among the men, and but two or three examples among officers. The exiles in France and Holland, with that optimism peculiar to the unfortunate, were continually anticipating that ships and men were coming over to the royal cause, an anticipation never once verified in the event. The analogue of the seventeenth century seaman, if he exists to-day at all, is to be found, not in the man-of-war's man, who now has literary preferences and an account in the ship's savings bank, but in the rough milieu of a trader's forecastle, and among men of this type violence, or even an outbreak of savage ruffianism, by no means necessarily implies serious ground of discontent, but may be owing to one of many apparently inadequate causes. There were no such outbreaks among the Commonwealth seamen, and the punishments for drunkenness and insubordina- tion were not disproportionate to the number of men employed, but if that is made an argument it should also be applied to the army ; nearly every page of White- locke furnishes us with instances of- officers and men being broken, sentenced, or dismissed for theft, insubordination, and sometimes disaffection, but no one has yet suggested that the army yearned to restore the Stewarts. The two most striking examples of these mutinies usually quoted are those of the Hart in 1650 and the riotous assemblies in London in 1653. In the case of the Hart what actually happened was that, the captain and officers being on shore, 28 out of the 68 men on board seized the ship when the others were below, with the intention, according to one contemporary writer, of taking her over to Charles, according to another, of turning pirates, and according to a third, because they were drunk. Perhaps all three causes were at work, seeing that the mutineers soon quarrelled among themselves, and the loyal majority of the crew regained possession of the ship and brought her back to Harwich. Yet I have seen a serious writer quote the Hart as an example of desertion to the royalists, an error probably due to the fact that she was afterwards captured by the Dutch, and eventually sailed under a Stewart commission until she blew up at the Canaries. In October 1653 there were tumults in London, due entirely to the non-payment of prize money, and these, it is true, required to be suppressed by military force. But this riot, extending over two days, was the only instance in which the government found difficulty in dealing with the men, and does not warrant a general charge of dis- loyalty during eleven years. If a detailed examination of the remaining instances were worth the space, they could be shown to be equally due to causes remote from politics. Historically, a mutiny among English seamen has never necessarily signified disloyalty to the de facto sovereign or government; the mutineers at Spit- head and the Nore in 1797 were especially careful to declare their loyalty to the crown, and their failure at the Nore was probably due to the extent to which they carried this feeling. If the character of the service rendered to the republic is compared with that given to Charles I, it is difficult to understand how the charge of disaffection can be maintained. The Commonwealth 311 between fifteen and fifty years of age, a ticket being given to each man with his three halfpence a nmile conduct money, specifying his physical appearance, and which he was called upon to present at the port where he joined his ship.i Attempts were made to keep crews in the service by carrying forward thirty shillings of each man's wages when he was paid off; but this, wrote the Navy Commissioners, caused ' so much clamour and discontent that we are scarce able to stay in the office.' 2 Under James and Charles the men had been glad to get any pay at all, and they probably strongly objected to any proceeding which was by way of a return to old customs. Eventually, however, the government did this and more, for a couple of years later it was customary to keep three months' pay in hand if the men were turned over to another ship. A long step in advance towards the future discipline of the The Articles Navy was made in 1652, when, on 25th'December, the House" of Commons enacted the first articles of war to which the service had ever been subjected, and which were grounded on some regulations for the government of Warwick's fleet passed by the House in March 1648-9.^ These articles have escaped the notice of writers upon naval law, who begin their history of the subject with those passed in 1661 ; these latter, however, were only based upon those previously existing, which are the groundwork of all subsequent modifications and additions ex- perience has shown to be necessary down to the present day. They were thirty-nine in number, and, so far as paper penalties were concerned, were rigorous enough. No punishment was adjudged for the infraction of the first article relating to the due performance of divine service ; and the thirty-ninth is only a vague reference to offences not mentioned in the pre- ceding articles, and which were punishable according to the • State Papers^ Dom.^ 24th May 1652, Council to vice-admirals of counties. The subject of impressment belongs more fitly to the eighteenth century. Here it will be sufhcient to remark that while in many cases the government officials reported that the men were coming in willingly of their own accord, in others the press masters found great difficulty in executing their warrants, and writers of news- letters in London describe the seizure of landsmen and forcible entry of houses, in which seamen were supposed to be hiding, in a fashion which reminds the reader of the beginning of the present century. The two versions are not irreconcilable ; at all times there has been a remainder, after the best men had been obtained, difficult to reach and willing to make any sacrifice to escape a man-of-war. 2 Add. MSS., 9306, f. 85. ' Thomason Pamphlets^ ^-fA. The regulations of 1649 were only adaptations of the rules made, independently, long before by each Lord Admiral when in command of a fleet. Mr Gardiner has suggested to me that the formal enactment of the articles at that particular moment was possibly directly connected with the defeat off Dungeness in November. This view is supported by the fact that they were obviously not aimed at the men, with whose conduct no fault had been found and whose position was, if anything, improved by them, by the definition of crime and punishment and the institution of a court of eight officers ; while, on the other hand, the severest clauses are those affecting officers whose conduct, both in action and when cruising, had in many cases caused great dissatisfaction. 312 The Administration of the Royal Navy ' laws and customs of the sea.' Of the remaining thirty-seven thirteen carried the infliction of death unconditionally, and twelve that of death or lesser punishment, according to sentence of court-martial, or court of war, as it was then called. The parliamentary bark seems to have been much more ferocious than its bite since, in all the numerous courts-martial mentioned in the State Papers and elsewhere, there is no instance to be found in which the death sentence was carried out, and very few in which it was pronounced. Moreover pre- cautions were taken against the exercise of tyranny by inferior officers, inasmuch as the promulgation of the code was accom- panied by an order that the accused was only to be tried for serious offences in the presence of a flag officer, and that no finding involving life or limb was to be carried out without the approval of the Generals or the senior officer in command ; and as trifling charges were to be heard before the captain and seven officers of the ship in which the offence was committed the offender had a fair chance of an impartial trial. Very soon after the Restoration this regulation fell into abeyance and prisoners obtained justice — too often Jeddart — at the hands of the captain alone. Only one case of a really severe sentence on foremast men is to be found. In December 1653, in the middle of the war, six seamen of the Portland were found guilty of inciting to mutiny and were sentenced to death. This was commuted, so far as three were concerned, to thirty lashes apiece, and for the other three to stand one hour with their right hands nailed to the mainmast of the flagship with halters round their necks.^ There is no record of the infliction of such severe punishment by any other court-martial. As might be expected in a mercantile community the thirty- fifth article, relating to convoy duty, was the longest and most explicit. Under Henry VIII, and later, convoy money had been a legal charge; recently it had become difficult to obtain convoy protection at all, and when given owners and captains had been exposed to vexatious and illegal demands. Now, any man-of-war captains not performing such duty thoroughly and efficiently, and defending ' the ships and goods in their convoy without either diverting to other parts and occasions, or refusing or neglecting to fight in their defence if they be set upon or assailed, or running away cowardly, and submitting those in their convoy to peril and hazard,' were to make good to the owners any pecuniary loss so caused. As, in the case of a valuable cargo and a penniless naval captain, such a sent- ence might be equivalent to escaping scot-free, death was also added as a possible punishment. Any captain or officer de- manding or receiving a gratuity was to be cashiered. From ' State Papers, Dom., 31st Dec. 1653. The Commonwealth 313 19th October 1649 ^^^ House had resolved that convoy should henceforth be provided without charge, and in 1650 the east coast fishermen were gratefully acknowledging the benefits resulting. Matters, however, did not progress altogether smoothly. Sometimes merchantmen were independent, and when the government provided men-of-war for the Mediter- ranean, would not * stay half a day ' to obtain their protection.^ But when the owners belonging to Poole, Weymouth, Dart- mouth, and Plymouth united, nine months later, in begging for a stronger guard than usual to Newfoundland the Council recommended them to defer sending a fleet till next year, as a convoy could not be spared.^ From other papers the truth seems to have been that, although a vessel or two could have been found for the work, the Council desired to obtain for national purposes the men who would have manned the mer- chantmen. The option of sailing with or without convoy was not always left to the discretion of owners. In February 1653 the Council sent orders to some of the eastern ports that no vessel was to sail without protection, for which preparations were being made ; but in July the owners of three ships destined for the Mediterranean petitioned for leave to send them with- out the escort, which had been twice promised during sixteen months of delay, and of which there was still no sign. Criticism must take into account the fact that these things were happen- ing during the strain of a great war and that under ordinary circumstances, or when merely at war with Spain, there was no want of promptness in the action of the authorities. On 25th February 1656 Hull petitions for a convoy, and on the 29th it is ordered ; Newcastle on loth February 1657 obtains an order the same day. In January 1660 twenty-five ships were on convoy duty, one being sent down to St Helena to meet the returning East Indiamen (this had been for some years customary), two to the Canaries, and four to the Mediterranean. The articles of war seem in this generation to have wages, troubled the sailors but little, since, in nearly every instance, we find officers the prisoners before the court. A court- martial would not enable the Treasurer to pay wages and prize money too long over-due, or silence men of whom one, who knew them well, said that they were 'an unruly and untamed generation,' and that he found 'no hope to satisfy them without their full pay.'^ But there are signs that, notwithstanding delays in payment, the men gave heartier obedience to the Commonwealth than they had given to the crown under similar circumstances. On one occasion 180 1 State Papers^ Dom., 4th Feb. 1652. « Ibid., 15th Dec. 1652. ^ State Papers, Dom., Ix, 135, October 1653 ; Bourne to Navy Commissioners. 314 The Administration of the Royal Navy- men were sent down to join the Fairfax, but, not finding their raw shipmates already on board to their Hking, announced that they would not go to sea ' to do those men and boys' work for them.' But instead of attempting to desert they betook themselves to other ships.^ Three months afterwards the Navy Commissioners received the welcome news that the men were coming in ' cheerfully and in great numbers since the publication of the late encouragement to them,' ^ and from some places they were coming up as volunteers. From Dover and Deal came the information that the new arrange- ments were ' much liked,' and that the greater number of the men were willing to serve.^ Commissioner Peter Pett reported from Chatham that he found ' the seamen in general to be very tractable and complying, and begin to attend to their duties handsomely.' So far as wages were concerned, the encouragement spoken of related to the increased pay which took effect from 1st Jan. 1653. During the civil war the rate had been 19s a month ; in the fleets sent against Rupert it had been raised to 25s for that particular service, and it was now to be 24s for able seamen (' fit for helm and lead, top and yard '), 19s for ordinary, and 14s 3d for gromets,^ and 9s 6d for boys. Each man's capacity was to be marked on his wages ticket when paid off, the first sign of the present discharge note. As a further inducement, by an order of 29th Jan. 1653, 20 men in first-, 16 in second-, 12 in third-, 8 in fourth-, 6 in fifth-, and 4 in sixth-rates were to be rated as midshipmen, with pay from ;^i, IDS to ^2, 5s a rnonth, according to the class of ship, and ft-om 14th Dec. 1655 no one was to be so rated unless able to undertake an officer's duties, if necessary.^ Of course the increase by the government caused a corresponding rise in merchant seamen's wages ; and at Ipswich, soon afterwards, the latter were so hard to come by as to be obtaining master's pay. soidieraon It vvas estimated, although the number proved to be insufficient, that 16,000 men would be required in 1653, and many of these were untrained landsmen and boys, almost useless at sea. The remaining thousands needed were drawn from the ranks of the army. It has been suggested that ' State Papers, Dom., xxix, 57 ; October 1652. " Ibid., 6th Jan. 1653. ^ Ibid., XXX, 84, and xlv, 66. * From the Dutch Grom, or Low Latin Gromettus , one occupied in a servile office. Gromet is at least as old as the thirteenth century and then meant a ship's boy. Later it came to mean ordinary seamen ; here it is applied to a class between ordinary seamen and boys, but probably nearer, in qualifications, to the former than the latter. ^ The earliest mention of midshipmen yet noticed is in a letter of 7th Feb. 1642-3, in which a Mr Cook writes that he will not undervalue himself hy allowing his son to accept such a place. The Commonwealth 315 soldiers were sent on board to keep the sailors in subjection, but, beyond the quite adequate explanation of a war demand- ing a larger number of men than the maritime population had ever before been called upon to supply, there is not the slightest trace of ill-feeling between soldiers and sailors such as would have inevitably occurred had the latter understood it as an attempt at intimidation. The expressed purpose was ' to perform as far as they are able, all service as sea- men, and to be ordered in like capacity as the rest ; ' evidently they were expected to help in deck work and where no especial training was requisite. Altogether some 3000 or 4000 soldiers were sent on board the fleet ; and it is significant of the different discipline, or the different spirit, animating the army and the Navy, that, although the new comers suffered the same vexations as the seamen in relation to postponed pay and prize money, in addition to the hardships peculiar to the sudden change in situation and duties, they do not appear to have troubled the executive with a single complaint beyond one meek remonstrance about the absence of hammocks.^ The seamen appear to have decided that their duties Causes of began and ended on salt water. Captain Taylor, at Chatham, informed the Admiralty Commissioners that ships might be sent to sea in half the time and at one-third of the cost if the men could only be persuaded to help in their preparation ; but ' not one will help to get out ballast, or take it in, or do almost anything tending towards dispatch.' Instead of work- ing they haunted the beershops, which have always been the curse of their class. Bourne, the Commissioner at Harwich, had ' the beginning of an ugly mutiny,' attributable to drink ; but Bourne eventually succeeded in putting down the ale- houses at Harwich. At Plymouth vested interests were too strong for Hatsell, the agent there : — The men come tippling ashore, and then march away in their mad fits. . . . The abominable strong drink brewed in this town is of more prejudice to the state and to the poor men than the heads of all the brewers and alehouse keepers here are worth . . . The government here protest they cannot remedy it, as the brewers have grown so rich they contend with them at law. . . . This strong drink is from 26s to 28s a hogshead, and stronger than sack, and when a sailor has drunk one bowl of it it makes him half out of his wits.- Such a letter explains many of the so-called mutinies. The system of payment, again, exposed the men to every temptation, since a ship might be a year or two at sea and no wages were given or expected until she was ordered in for ' The pay of the privates was i8s per month ; no officer of higher rank than Serjeant was in charge. 2 State Papers, Dom., 19th April 1655. Hatsell to Col. John Gierke (an Admiralty Commissioner). 3i6 The Administration of the Royal Navy repairs or laid up, the result being that when money was extraordinarily scarce cruisers were kept unnecessarily in commission to postpone the settling day. Money was some- times borrowed when a squadron returned to port, and of ;^32,ooo obtained in this manner in 1657, ;^io,200 was still owing in 1659.^ There are numerous expostulations from officers about their long over-due pay, but, read by themselves, these lamentations are sometimes apt to leave a wrong impression. Edward Larkin, for instance, gunner of the Mayflower^ petitions in 1655 for two and a half years of his ' dearly earned wages,' of which he has only received six months ; his wife and family are turned out of doors, his goods seized, and he himself arrested for debt. This, taken alone, appears to be a pathetic indictment of the ways of the administration, but here the corrective is supplied by another paper which is an account of stores embezzled by the said Edward Larkin. There was more difficulty, so far as willingness was con- cerned, in manning the fleets during the war with Spain than during the Dutch war. The men feared tropical climates, and ' are so afraid of being sent to the West Indies that they say they would as soon be hanged.' Moreover as the years went by the Commonwealth did not pay more promptly. There is no sign, so far as their debates go, that Parliament, in improving the position of the men, had ever been moved by other than purely selfish motives, and it may have been felt that less now depended on the attitude of the Navy, or that there was less likelihood, under any provocation, of a serious outbreak. Slight ones frequently occurred and were invariably attributed, by the officers on the spot, to the non- payment of wages or prize-money, and were as invariably appeased when these claims were settled. Sometimes dis- content was rather an excuse than a cause ; when the crew of the Ruby refused to sail, alleging that they had no clothes and that the ship was defective, they were easily persuaded back to duty when withdrawn from the influence of their landladies, who ' have been the greatest instruments to hinder their going on board.' In the matter of prize money officers of high rank fared little better in dealing with the commissioners of prize goods. There are two letters on this subject addressed in August 1654 to the commissioners. The first is mild in tone; the second, signed by sixteen captains in the Downs, curtly points out that their prize money for the three last actions with the Dutch is still due and that unless it is immediately paid they will appeal to the Protector.^ If ^ State Papers y Dom.^ ccv, 54. Disborowe lent ^^5000, which he had succeeded in getting back ; seven aldermen ^19,500, of which ^f 11,700 still remained. 2 Add. MSS., 22,546, f. 185, and 18,986, f. 176. The Commonwealth 317 captains were compelled to combine and threaten we may- imagine how the sailors raged vainly against official penury or inertia.^ Poverty occasionally caused the prize money gained by one section of the naval force to be applied to the payment of wages due to another ; in October 1655 Blake's men were partly paid this way, and, vaguely, the deficiency thus made ' to be supplied some other way.' There are hints that the Admiralty Court itself was not above suspicion. Captain Kendal, of the Success, wrote, in April 1654, that sixteen months previously he had taken a Dutch ship, still uncon- demned ; 'but I suppose the bribes do appear very large in the Admiralty Court,' and, ' I fear there hath been much corruption in the Admiralty Court.' It is but fair, however, to the prize commissioners to notice that the difficulties of the position were not altogether due to themselves. In 1654 they wrote to the Admiralty Court stating that they had sold ships and goods to the value of i^70,ooo, but could not keep the proceeds, because com- pelled to meet the sums charged upon them by the Council of State, notwithstanding the decrees of the Court ordering them to hold the money. Being uneasy about their position they desired security or indemnity.^ Another source of abuse was the custom by which crews were allowed to plunder a prize, on or above the gun deck, of all articles except arms, ammunition, and ship's stores. English merchantmen recap- tured from an enemy sometimes experienced more loss from the rescuer than from the original captor. The owners of the Sarah, recaptured by the Falmouth, found that while the enemy had done five pounds of damage the Englishmen had helped themselves to the value of ;^500, and five or six other ships were similarly treated.^ While the majority of the men made protest against their The Protests, wrongs in the useless and prejudicial form of riots, there seem to have been a thinking minority who were able to apply to their own situation the principles for which they had fought, and which had sent Charles to the block and Cromwell to Whitehall. These men drew up a petition to the Protector, which, before being forwarded, was considered, on 17th October 1654, by a council of two admirals and twenty-three com- ' The methods of these gentlemen were sometimes directly ancestral to those of their successors in the prize courts of the beginning of this century. In one case a ship was condemned and its cargo sold, apparently on their own sole authority ; the Admiralty Court ordered restitution, and then the Commissioners presented a bill of ^2000 for expenses (State Papers, Dom., 26th Feb. 1655). A contemporary wrote, ' It was nothing for ordinary proctors in the Admiralty to get ^4000 or ;^5000 a year by cozening the state in their prizes till your petitioner by his discovery to the Council of State spoiled their trade for a great part of it,' (T. Violet, A True Narrative, etc., Lond. 1659, p. 8). 2 StaU Papers, Dom., xc, 2. * Ibid., i8th March 1654. 3i8 The Administration of the Royal Navy manding officers, held on board the Swiftsure in the Downs, at which it was decided that it was lawful for them to petition and that the grievances stated were real, except the one relating to foreign service.^ It was a sign of the times that admirals and captains should have acknowledged such a right in the ' common sailor,' and that they did not think them- selves warranted in striking out the portion of which they disapproved ; they decided that it should be ' so far owned by us ' as to be presented to the Generals. The petition was as much a remonstrance as a prayer, and, after claiming that they had done the country good service and borne with hard- ship, sickness, and bad food for its sake, went on to remind the Protector that Parliament had declared its intention of enlarging the liberties of the people, ' which we were in great hopes of Their hopes have scarcely yet, so far as regards seamen, been realised, but it is expressive of the vast progress the events of a few years had caused in the political educa- tion and self-respect of a class hitherto proverbially debased and unreflecting, that constitutional declarations and logical applications of the principles their rulers suited to themselves should have begun to replace the hopeless, unhelpful turbulence of the last generation. They seem to have objected to foreign service mainly because their families were left without support for a longer period than usual, and bitterly complained that, in accordance with a Council order of 6th Dec. 1652, they were not permitted to go on shore, nor visitors allowed to come on board, when in the Downs, and presumably other places, keeping them ' under a degree of thraldom and bondage.' This regulation was then new to them, but it remained in existence long enough to be one of the injustices the mutineers of 1797 desired to have redressed. The conclusion arrived at was a prayer that they may be relieved in those grievances and may reap some fruits of all their bloodshed and hardships, and that they may not be imprested to serve, they humbly apprehending it to be inconsistent with the principles of Freedom and Liberty to force men to serve in military employments, either by sea or land ; and that your petitioners may be as free as the Dutch seamen, against whom they have been such instruments in the Lord's hands for the good of their country ; but that if the Commonwealth have occasion to employ any of your petitioners they may be hired as the Dutch are, and that they, or their lawful attorney, may be paid every six months at the furthest, and that such other encouragement to their re- lations may be assured in case they are slain in the service as shall be agreeable to justice, etc., as their necessity calls for, and that all other liberties and privileges due to your petitioners as freemen of England may be granted and secured. ' Resolutions at a Council of War on hoard the Swiftsure : The humble Petition of the Seamen belonging to the Ships of the Commonwealth. These two broadsides are in the British Museum under the press mark 669 f. 19, Nos. 32 and 33. ' Great Britain and Ireland — Navy.' The Commonwealth 319 The Council of State must have felt that the world was indeed moving when English seamen called themselves free- men, demanded the rights of freemen, and no longer admitted prescription as sufficient reason for the continuance of their wrongs. The fact that there is no reference, printed or manuscript, to this petition does not, of course, prove that it was not considered and replied to, but it is certain that if any promises were made not the slightest practical result followed them. There is a paper assigned to this date which may have had an indirect connection with the affair.^ It is a report from the Admiralty to the Protector and Council dilating on the state of the naval administration and the difficulties with which they had to deal. Every sentence of their long narra- tive has reference to the want of money, and may be abstracted into the one particular that while ;^8ooo a week was allowed to the Admiralty the victualling and stores absorbed more than this amount, leaving nothing for wages and other expenses. Notwithstanding these embarrassments favourite captains and handy ships seem to have had no difficulty in obtaining crews. Referring to the Speaker and the Hind, an official writes : ' Men have been on board seven or eight days in hopes of being entered, which I have refused to do, having had very much trouble to reduce them to their complement.' ^ The Sapphire, when commanded by Heaton, was another vessel in which men were eager to serve, and to such purpose that out of 84 prizes brought into Plymouth between August 1652 and December 1655 twenty were taken by her.^ The death of Cromwell, and the intrigues which followed confusion after , . .-,,,., . ? . , „ . Crom-wells that event, mtensmed the disorder existmg m naval affairs, Death, but even before September 1658 the strong hand which had kept some sort of order seems to have been losing its grip. In July the Commissioners of the Admiralty told the Council that 'the credit of your Navy is so greatly impaired that, having occasion to buy some necessary provisions, as tallow and the like, your ministers can obtain none but for ready money,' and they complained that out of the customs and excise, nominally set apart for the Navy, half was diverted to the army, ;^2000 a week to the Protector, and judges' and other salaries taken from it.^ The navy debt on ist July was 1 State Papers^ Dom., Ixxvi, 8i ; 1645 (? Oct.). 2 State Papers^ Dom., clxxiii, 26th Oct. 1657 ; Morris to Navy Commissioners. ' Add. MSS., 9304, f. 129. The Sapphire seems to have been the crack cruiser of her time. The contrast between that which, with all its faults, was a strong administration, morally stimulating to officers and men, and the enervating Stewart regime is illustrated in the life and death — if the expression be permitted — of this ship, and exemplified in the grim entry in the burial register of St Nicholas, Deptford, under date of 26th Aug. 1670, ' Capt. John Pearse and Lieut. Logan shot to death for loosing ye Saphier cowardly.' ^ State Papers^ Dom., clxxxii, 8 ; 6th July 1658. 320 The Administration of the Royal Navy returned at ^^573,474, and of this ;;^286,ooo was due for wages, so that we can understand why some crews had been for two and three years unpaid. Yet the succession of Richard Cromwell was well received by the fleet in the Downs, and the officers and crews of vessels on outlying stations, such as the Paradox at Milford and Assurance at Scarborough, hastened to announce their satisfaction. When Montagu wrote to Stokes, commanding in the Mediterranean, for signatures to an address promising fidelity to Richard, only one officer of that squadron, Captain Saunders, of the Torrington, manifested any hesitation about signing it.^ In their address to the new Protector the officers of the fleet, in expressing their affection for the memory of Oliver, speak of ' the indulgence he showed to us who served him in his fleet ' ; but, unless they were alluding to the higher scale of pay and the arrangements, to be presently noticed, made for the care of the sick and wounded, one or both of which may or may not have been owing to his initiative, it is difficult to divine what indulgences they had to be especially grateful to him for.2 By June 1659 there was owing for wages ;!^37 1,930,^ and it may be imagined that if the men, whom it was impor- tant to conciliate, remained unpaid, merchants supplying stores, victualling agents, and dockyard workmen fared still worse. In September the crew of the Marniaduke solicited some redress ; they said they were abused by their officers, cheated of their victuals and pinch-gut money,* and had to go begging about the streets, ' scoffed and jeered at by other nations.' On ist February 1660 the wages debt was ;^3 54,000, some ships having been four years unpaid,^ and these figures, the correlatives of which existed in every other branch of the administration, form the best explanation of the equanimity with which the Restoration was viewed by the seamen and others who may have seen in the return of Charles II their only chance of payment. Care for the Under the Commonwealth occurs the earliest attempt to Wounded. afford the men some of that attention to which, when ill or wounded, they were entitled. The arrangements made in 1649 and 1652, although sufficient for ordinary needs, were ' State Papers, Dom., 15th Sept., and i6th Nov. 1658. ^ I have only noticed one instance of direct interference by Cromwell in minor details. The widow of a seaman, killed by an accident on the Fagons, had petitioned the Commissioners of sick and wounded for help, and had been refused by them. She then appealed to the Protector, and her memorial bears his holo- graph direction to the Commissioners to reconsider their decision, the case being the same ' in equity' as though the man had lost his life in action (State Papers, cxxx, 98 ; loth Nov. 1656). If this is the only surviving illustration of the character of his intervention in questions connected with the well-being of the men it is gratifying that it should be of such a nature. ^ State Papers, Dom., ccxii, 109. The revenue of England for 1659 was estimated at £i,tii'],ooo {Cotntnons Journals'). * Allowance for short victuals. ^ State Papers, Dom., ccxxii, 28. The Commonweal th 321 inadequate to the necessities of the Dutch war ; and the State was compelled to supplement the existing resources for the relief of disabled men, and to provide additional aid for widows and orphans. After the action of 28th and 29th September 1652 the Council ordered the lord mayor to provide space for the wounded in the London hospitals, and on i8th October ;;<^5oo was assigned to the mayor of Dover to meet the expense of the injured landed there. On 1 5th December the Admiralty Committee passed a formal resolution that every care was to be taken of the sick and wounded, both at sea and on shore, and that the London hospitals were to receive some, and the most suitable port towns the others. Every ship was to be allowed medical comforts — rice, oatmeal, and sugar — at the rate of ;z^5 per 100 men, every six months, and, for the first time, men invalided ashore were continued in pay till death or recovery. A special hospital was to be provided at Deal, and from 1st January 1653 half the space in all English hospitals, as they became empty, to be reserved for the seamen.^ In February and March 1653, Portsmouth, Deal and Dover were full of wounded men ; surgeons were sent down to these towns, and seven shillings a week granted for the support of each man. Judging from the returns, the death-rate among the injured was not so high as might have been expected, if the conditions existing at Portsmouth also obtained elsewhere. There the sick were mostly in private or beer houses, which were said to be small and stifling, besides exposing their occupants to the temptation of drink ; of the town itself the governor, Nath. Whetham, had nothing good to say, dwelling on ' the filthy nastiness of this place,' unpaved, un- drained, and enduring an epidemic of small-pox.^ The town must have been continually full of suffering men, since for two months alone of 1654 the cost of the sick and hurt there was ;:^2300, of which ;^58o went to the surgeons and ;^325 to the nurses.^ Knowing that they would be repaid any outlay, the civic authorities of the coast towns were attentive to the wants of the invalids, and, for a time, the government spent liberally in this direction. In August 1653 there were 1600 men at Aldborough, Ipswich, and adjacent villages, whose charges amounted to some thousands of pounds, cleared in due course, while smaller sums of £gsS, £400, and ^^1366 were sent, on account, to Dover, Weymouth, and Harwich ; at Yarmouth between 3rd August 1653 and 6th February 1655 ;^285i was expended in the town for the same purpose. In some respects the sick men were better off than their able- bodied fellows. Monk and Deane reproached the Admiralty 1 Sia/e Papers, Dom., 20th Dec. 1652. 2 Ji/id^^ 21st and 26th March 1653. ^ Ibid., 14th April 1654. X 322 The Administration of the Royal Navy Commissioners for paying the former their wages, but not the latter, and ' we think it neither in reason nor conscience to employ men who must perish for want of clothes lost in the service, and whose families are starving, and yet their pay is due, their tickets signed, and their captains satisfied they will not run away.' ^ Hitherto all the duty of superintendence had been thrown on the Navy Commissioners, but, in view of their protests that they were overwhelmed by their own more special work, a new department was created from 29th September 1653, consisting of four commissioners at ^^150 a year each and fifteen sub- ordinate officers, who divided ;^I090 a year between them. They took the title of ' Commissioners of sick and wounded at Little Britain,' where their office was situated, were to super- vise the distribution of invalided men, provide surgeons and medicines, and control the authorities of the towns. They had also to take charge of prisoners, see that the convalescent returned to their ships, and were authorised to grant gratuities up to ^10 and pensions up to £6, 13s 4d. A pension or gratuity might be augmented by appeal to the Admiralty Committee, although we may be certain that such a petition was rarely successful, but the corresponding gifts to officers' widows were on a much more liberal scale. To seven captains' widows sums ranging from ;^400 to ;^iooo were granted in April 1653, and it seems a somewhat uneven ascent from the seaman's widow at £10 to the captain's at ;^iooo. So far as applicants of inferior rank were concerned, the Commissioners must have had their time fiilly occupied if they investigated every case as closely as that of Susan Cane. They held that ^S was enough for her, as she had not lived with her husband, led a loose life, and possessed more than ordinary skill in making stockings. The institution of a new benefaction caused new rogueries, and soon some of the office clerks were levying commissions on the donations given to these women and were in partnership with people who made real or false claims on their behalf.^ In the two years ending with May 1656 some ;^i 2,000 had been disbursed on behalf of men sent on shore ill or injured ; ^ but it is apparent that, although the Commonwealth procedure compared very favour- ably with the indifference which preceded it, the tender anxiety the government displayed for the sailor's welfare, when it had urgent need of him, languished after the Dutch war and died away with the Spanish one. Later, in the year .1656, the bailiffs of Yarmouth wrote to the Admiralty Com- missioners that the Commissioners at Little Britain were now careless about paying for the men sent on shore, leaving it to the bailiffs to spend the town money and get it back how or ' Siaie Papers^ Dom.^ 5th April 1653. - Ibid.^ 31st March 1654, ' Ibid.^ cxl, 43. The Commonwealth 323 when they could. The squadron before Mardike was con- sidered very unhealthy, there being usually about ten per cent, sick, and when these were sent home they were simply laid on the ballast and shot about by the pitching and rolling of the ship ; ^ and another paper mentions the ' noisome smells ' produced by the condition of these men. Fleets must, how- ever, have been much healthier than in earlier times, since on 24th March 1659 the number of sick in nearly 3000 men under Montagu was only nineteen, and but seventy-two in 2803 under Goodson.^ In 1656 independent charities relating to the sick and maimed existed in the shape of the Chatham Chest, Ely Place, the Savoy Hospital, and the Commissioners, and it was then suggested that they should be amalgamated, both on account of economy and the prevention of fraud, but this was never done. For several years the Treasurer of the Navy paid ;^735 a week for the support of pensioners, but in what proportion this was divided among the foregoing charities is uncertain. Of these institutions the only one of which we have any The Chatham details is the Chatham Chest. For the three years 1653-5 the^^®^*" accounts stand ^ — Revenue * Revenue from Lands = Expenditure £ £ s d £ s d 1653 5653 433 6 8 10,065 0* 1654 4000^ 433 6 8 4531 18 10 1655 4000® 433 6 8 4500 ' There was thus an excess of outlay over receipts, for these three years, of more than ;,^4000, and Edward Hayward, then in charge, asks for assistance from the central authority. He ' State Papers^ Dom.^ 17th Dec, 1657. - Add. MSS., 9304, ff. 133, 135. It would not be just to pass from the subject of the aid afforded to the men in disease and suffering without some notice of Elizabeth Alkin, otherwise ' Parliament Joan,' who wore out health and life in their service. This woman appears to have nursed wounded soldiers during the civil war, for which she was in receipt of a pension, and, in February 1653, volun- teered similar help for the sailors. She was then ordered to Portsmouth, and, in view of the before noticed condition of the town, must have found very real work to which to put her hand. If £32^ went in one item to nurses there must have been plenty of a kind to be had ; but she gave her heart to her helpless patients, and in June had spent not only all the government allowance but also her own money, as ' I cannot see them want if I have it.' She was then sent to Harwich, and on 22nd Feb. 1654 returned, weak and ill, to London, with only 3s remaining. Of the last ^10 given to her she had spent £6 on the Dutch prisoners at Harwich : ' Seeing their wants and miseries so great, I could not but have pity on them though our enemies.' A week later she again appeals for at least an instalment of her pension, or to be sent to a hospital in which ' to end my days less miserably,' having been forced to sell even her bed. In May and September 1654, two warrants, each for ;^io, were made out, and her name does not occur again. Even these few data are sufficient to suggest the outline of a life of self-sacrifice, illumined by a native kindliness of heart and unsoured by religious fanaticism, of which there is not a trace in her letters. ^ State Papers, Dom., c, 139. * From seamen's wages. * By estimation. * Average for three years, less taxes. " By estimation. 324 The Administration of the Royal Navy probably obtained it, as on another occasion, Hutchinson was ordered to lend the Chest ^{^3000.^ In March 1656 a report was drawn up which made the income from land ;^382, los a year, and recommended the removal of the Chest to London to save expense and the inconveniences experienced by the men. From this report we learn that officers' widows were entitled to pensions from it, but not those of the men.^ In June 1657 there were 800 or 900 pensioners, but half the arrears were unpaid ; a year later the situation was worse and the delay had reduced the men ' to such extreme misery that I fear many of them have perished of late,' the writer, Pett, having been forced to leave Chatham to escape these out- cries. Pett adds, ' If Rochester Cathedral were given to the governors to be improved ... it might go towards paying the arrears.' There are two references in the Commonwealth papers which suggest that Hayward did not escape suspicion then of having appropriated Chest money to his own use, but in the inquiry into its management, begun in 1662, the weight of scrutiny fell upon Pett. Hayward said that he had lost all the books relating to the years 1648-55, although he after- wards produced some of them. From the interrogatories addressed to Pett we may infer that he and captain John Taylor, who was jointly responsible with him, amicably passed each other's accounts ; that the accuracy of these accounts was attested by only some of the officers who should have signed them ; that the same travelling expenses were entered three or four times over ; that he and Taylor had taken large sums from the Chest as salary, no commissioner having ever before charged for his management ; and that such items occurred as ^^^52, 13s 4d for the governor's dinners, etc., at one meeting, £10 a year salary to a 'mathematician,' and £g to Taylor ' for relief for a fall.' ^ Sifi7^*^*^" The quality of the food supplied to the men and the honesty of the victualling agents both steadily deteriorated during the Commonwealth. Complaints began to be frequent about 1650, and a fresh contract was then entered into with Colonel Pride and others to undertake the duty at eightpence per head at sea, and sevenpence in harbour, the government bearing the cost of transport to fleets on service.^ The lax ' Add. MSS., 9305, 13th Jan. 1657. ^ Staie Papers, Dom., cxxv, 39, Ii. Under Charles I, widows obtained donations from it, but no pensions. * Add. MSS., 9317, f. I et seq. We have not Pett's reply, and the full force of the accusations, as they stand, is vitiated by the fact that they were made by royalist servants inquiringf into the conduct of a Commonwealth official. The committee of inquiry in 1662 consisted of Sir J. Mennes, Sir W. Coventry, Sir W. Penn, W. Rider, S. Pepys, and R. Ford. ' Siaie Papers, Dom., 30th Nov. 1650. There were five partners joined with Pride — John Limbrey, Wm. Beak, Thos. Alderne, Dennis Gauden, and Rich. Pierce {Audit Office Dec. Accounts, 1708-96). The rates, in 1645, had been eight- The Commonwealth 325 system in force was not, however, calculated to act as a deterrent ; in May 1650 a victualling office clerk, who had embezzled £117, gave security for it, and was suspended, but, inferentially, only until the money was refunded. It may be said that, generally, the object of the Navy authorities, in cases of fraud and embezzlement by clerks or officers, was not so much to punish as to obtain restitution. Possibly they found it to be the most effective form of punishment. During 1652 the pressure caused by the necessity of supplying an unprecedentedly large number of men produced more dis- orders in this branch of the service, and in June the con- tractors were called before the Council, told that their explanations were unsatisfactory, and heard the Admiralty Commissioners directed to continually watch and inspect the victuals furnished. The story of the victualling arrangements during these eleven years brings out the most striking point of difference between the Commonwealth administration and those which were antecedent to it, in the fact that matters affecting the health and comfort of seamen were not ignored as in previous periods. This, we know, was greatly due to political neces- sity, but the letters remaining, written by officials of all ranks, show that a conscientious recognition of justice due to the sailors, and of responsibility for their welfare, widely exTisted. This sentiment is much more clearly marked among captains, admirals, and commissioners than among the ruling politicians, although members of the government were doubtless not un- affected by the prevailing spirit ; the financial straits of the country, however, first cramped, and then destroyed, reforms which otherwise might have become permanent. In 1652 new buildings for the Victualling department were built in several ports ; and from February 1650 the slaughterhouse at Deptford, standing on ' the poore's ground ' and originally devoted to the service of Greenwich Palace, was taken for that of the state. ^ In 1653 the rate rose to ninepence a head, and it may be roughly calculated that the Victuallers were called upon to provide at least some 7,500,000 lbs. of bread, 7,500,000 lbs. of beef and pork, and 10,000 butts of beer, besides cheese, butter, fish, and other necessaries. The mechanism at their command was little superior to that used by their predecessors under Charles I, and English agriculture could hardly yet have recovered from the effects of the civil war. The victualling contracts between September 165 1 and December 1652 came to ;^332,ooo,^ a pence three farthings and sevenpence ; the Victualling was then under the super- vision of the Treasurer {Ibid., 1706-90). ' State Papers, Dom., 12th Jan. 1653, and Add. MSS., 9306, f. 2. • - State Papers, Dom., xxx, 10. o 26 The Administration of the Royal Navy sum representing a drain on the food resources of the country difficult to meet, not so much, perhaps, in quantity as in suddenness, although since 1648 there had been an unbroken series of years of dearth. Remembering commissariat experi- ences of our own, happening under much more favourable conditions within living memory, the wonder is, not that there should have been complaints, but that there should have been comparatively so few under circumstances, which might al- most have excused absolute failure. Pride and his associates were condemned because they were judged by a higher stan- dard than had previously existed, but under Charles I their management would have been praised as highly successful. When complaints came in they were not officially pigeon- holed but at once inquired into, and, so far as lay with the Admiralty Committee, the wants relieved. On 17th May 1653, a captain reported that he had no medical extras; on the 19th the Navy Commissioners were ordered to examine into this and remedy it ; on i6th June the Generals of the fleet wrote about the badness of the provisions, and on the 20th the Navy Commissioners were directed to take the Victuallers to task. The beer was the most frequent subject of protest, and the difficulty was met by sending water in its place, to the extent of 500 tuns at a time, the men being allowed twopence a day to reconcile them to the change. At least one brewer laid the blame on the prices paid him, and frankly said he could give nothing better for the money. Beer and other provisions^ ' decayed and unfit for use,' were licensed for export free of customs, perhaps in the hope that such stores would go to Holland. In October 1654 Pride and his colleagues gave notice of their intention to resign their contract, and, after some debate, it was decided to con- stitute the Victualling a department under the immediate care of the Navy Commissioners, captain Thos. Alderne being made its head, with a salary of .2^500 a year.^ Alderne died loth April 1657, and was succeeded by three of the Navy Commissioners, majors Robt. Thompson, Neh. Bourne, and Fr. Willoughby, who were thenceforward styled ' Commis- sioners of Navy and Victualling,' and who received an additional ;2^250 a year each for their services. ^ Alderne and his successors may or may not have been competent, but they had little chance of doing well under the financial embarrassments amid which they worked ; they considered themselves fortunate in being able to continue supplies, of whatever quality, from hand to mouth. In June ^ State Papers, Dom., 17th Oct. 1654, 1st, 7th, 14th Aug., and 8th Sept. 1655. ^ It is said that Alderne's executors could produce neither vouchers nor assets for jf 200,000 imprested to him. But the story rests only on the authority of a royalist Comptroller of the Navy, Sir R. Slingsby (^Discourse of the Navy, i. 58). The Commonwealth 327 1655 bakers and brewers were petitioning the Admiralty Committee, that although in January they had been promised monthly cash payments, not one penny had yet been paid them. The whole of one long despatch of Blake's^ is made up of complaints about the provisions sent out, and censure of the officials at home. We, who have wider knowledge than Blake could then have, now know that the defaults were due to the situation rather than to the men. Orders might be given in London, but the local contractors were either not properly controlled, or, more probably, were defiant, knowing that the Admiralty could hardly go on provisioning the fleets without the credit they gave it. If the seamen protested to those individuals they obtained scant consideration. Some of the Tiger's crew went ashore at Harwich to show the victualling agent their bread and beer which, their captain agreed, was not fit for food. The agent sent for the baker and brewer, and the former told the men that they were ' mutinous rogues,' that it was good enough for their betters, and next time should be worse. In another port the local agent told the purser of the Maidstone, whose men had shown provisions absolutely putrid, and to whom he had promised improvement when they were before him, that the more they complained the worse they should have. This coming to the ears of the men, some of the Maidstone's crew went ashore and wrecked his house. As the end of the Commonwealth approached matters became as bad as they could well be. At Plymouth, in January 1660, the victualler reported that he had been obtaining stores hitherto on • his own credit, but would do so no longer ; that there were six ships in port with starving crews, and another six expected, and that the only way open to him was to turn the men ashore to shift for themselves.^ In February the Navy Commissioners warned their chiefs that, unless money was provided within a week, there would be a failure of provisions everywhere, and that having done their utmost by persuasion they must be acquitted of blame. Judging from the number of their letters still existing, the Navy Commissioners must, about this time, have been press- ing the Admiralty Committee for money nearly every day, either for wages or stores ; it was not their fault if any one remained unpaid. Warrants authorising revictualling were posted freely, but, as captain Heaton wrote from Plymouth, nothing was said about the money, without which they were of no use. Heaton describes graphically the cruel poverty to which some of the townspeople there, who had trusted the government, were reduced : — ^ Add. MSS., 9300, f. 330 ; igth Nov. 1656. ^ Siaie Papers, Bom., 31st Jan. 1660. 328 The Administration of the Royal Navy One cries, ' For God's sake spare me ;^2o to keep me out of prison ; ' another begs for money to buy his family meat to eat, and to-day I saw a poor women beg of Mr Addis ten shillings of her due, to buy her four poor children bread, as for alms. Not long since a baker with sad com- plaints prevailed with Mr Addis for £21, and was as glad of it as though the money had been a free gift.' ^ While this letter was travelling up to London two others, of the same date, were coming- from Hull. One, from the captain of the Bryer to the Admiralty Committee, says that he has already written nine times to them, and that his officers are compelled to buy their own food, and his men to forage for themselves on shore ; the other, from the victualling agent at Hull, acknowledges the receipt of their warrant to furnish the Bryer and Forester, but, before acting on it, desires to know how he is to be paid. Truly the pious hope of captain Harman, of the Kentish, that Lawson would ' be an instrument of bringing the victualling to its former splendour,' was one not likely to lack fulfilment for want of occasion. It had long been customary to give medals and chains to distinguished officers, but Parliament, for the first time, extended this form of distinction to the men. The first reference is a somewhat doubtful one, being an order of the House of 15th Nov. 1649, for medals for 'several mariners' who had done good service the previous year, but who may possibly have been officers. About the second, however, there is no question. In 1650 captain Wyard, of the Adventure, a hired merchantman, fought a gallant action off Harwich against greatly superior force, and he, his officers, and crew were awarded medals of different values, ranging from the one of ;^50 intended for himself down to others worth 5s for the men, each ' with the service against five ships engraved on one side and the arms of the Commonwealth on the other.' ^ There were at least 20,000 men employed during 1652-4, but the whole number of medals for the war was only 169 ; of these 79 were small ones, and may have been intended for the seamen, although, as they were all of gold, it is unlikely. Nine of the larger ones were with chains, the smaller weighed i8dwt. iigr. each, and the total cost was ;!^2o6o. One alone had ' the service done in the Triumph expressed on it.' ^ Blake and Monk had chains worth ;;^300 a piece given them, and Penn one of the value of ;^ioo. The government was never unduly liberal in dealing with naval men. Major Fr. White, for bringing the news of Dunbar to London, was given ;^300 ; capt. Young, for following the Spanish fleet for a week in 1657, and then seeking Blake with the information which enabled him to destroy it at Santa Cruz, was granted ;^ioo. ' State Papers, Dom., 6th March 1660. * Ihid., i6th Aug. 1650. This is the medal shown on the title page. ' State Papers, Dom., cxliv, 66, 68, and Add. MSS., 9305, f. 155. The Triumph medal was 'For eminent service in saving ye Triumph The Commonwealth 329 The sale of clothes to the men was not confined to any seamens one vendor, and scandals in this department, if they existed, ° ™^" do not appear to have attracted the attention of the authorities till 1655. Then an order was issued from the Navy Office that, ' upon the consideration of the several abuses done by those that serve the state's ships with clothes, by exorbitant prices and bad goods, to the prejudice of the poor seamen,' the clothiers were not to send any on board ship without the permission of the Navy Commissioners.^ Two months later prices were fixed as follows ^ : — i' d s d Canvas jackets I 10 each Shirts 2 9 each „ drawers I 8 , Shoes 2 4 a pair Cotton waistcoats 2 2 each Linen stockings 10 „ ,, drawers 2 „ Cotton ,, 10 „ This outfit, if a complete one, does not seem all that could be desired for winter service in the Channel, although it is a nearer approach to a uniform than existed much later. The Commissioners were careful to repudiate any responsibility for the clothes,^ though, as we see, they interfered when they considered it necessary, and allowed a sum, usually ^£2, to each man if his kit had been lost in action or by shipwreck. Compared with the accessions of previous reigns the The Navy List, following list of new vessels is startling in its magnitude, and the cost of building and maintenance is another item which helps to account for the chronic difficulties besetting the Treasurer of the Navy * : — fired in fight w ye Dutch in July 1653.' ' S. P. Z>., cxvii, 64; nth Dec. 1655. - Ibid., cxxxiv, 64. ^ Ibid., cxlv, 47; Sep. 1656. * This list is based on that of Dering (Archceologia, xlviii), but corrected where collation with the State Papers and other authorities points in some cases to the certainty, in others to the probability, of Dering's being in error, completed by the insertion of omitted dates, and enlarged by the addition of all such vessels as were wrecked, captured, destroyed, or sold out of the service, between 1649 and 1660 and which the Archceologia list, being only one of ships effective in 1660, does not profess to supply. Prizes, originally privateers and taken into the service, are indicated by an asterisk. Being the first attempt at a complete Commonwealth Navy list, it must almost necessarily contain some errors, but it is certain that every ship here mentioned was carried on the Navy list of the state. A few others omitted as doubtful or more than doubtful may really be entitled to a place in it ; some of the prizes assigned to 1653 may belong to 1652, and, in some instances, continuity or similarity of name renders the exact date of purchase or capture a little problematical. It has not been thought necessary to overload this list with the innumerable references that could be given, especially as the details seldom exactly agree in the various papers, but no name has been inserted except on what appears to be sufficient authority. Dering's Dolphin, Minion and Pearl Brigantine, I have been unable to place ; the Pearl is only once 'mentioned, in 1658, as being ' for use as occasion requires.' The Diver which is also given by him, was not a man- of-war at all, but a hoy temporarily hired for use in recovering the guns of wrecked ships, and the Princess, of his list, was not launched till August 1660. Some of the Dutch prizes were converted into fire ships before being sold. The use of fire ships was not new in either the English or foreign services, but they now appear to have been systematically attached to fleets and, on one or two occasions, to have been used with effect. It may be well to remark that the document of April 1660 (State Papars, ccxx, 33), which purports to be a list of ships then existing, is altogether untrustworthy. 330 The Administration of the Royal Navy Net Gross Prize Built At By ton- ton- I Fairfax nage nage 1649 Deptford 789 2 Guinea (b)1 — 1649 375 500 ^Jermyn* 1649 — — — 4 President- — 1649 Deptford P. Pett, sr. 445 593 5 speaker — 1649 Blackwall H. Johnson 778 928 6 Old Success 1649 380 506 7 Tiger s WAelp* 1649 — 8 Advice 1650 Woodbridge P. Pett, jr. 516 690 9 Amity (b) — 1650 354 472 10 Assistance — 1650 Deptford H. Johnson 521 694 II Concord (b) — 1650 12 CenturioJi — 1650 Ratcliff P. Pett, sr. 531 690 13 Z'o?/^;- — 1650 Rotherhithe Castle 571 681 14 ^flj'/i? 1650 — — 15 Elizabeth Prize'^ 1650 — 1 6 Foresight 1650 Deptford Shish 524 698 17 Great Charity 1650 — 400 553 18 Pelican — 1650 Taylor — 19 Marigold 1650 — — — TJQ Portsmouth — 1650 Portsmouth Eastwood 422 600 21 J/ary Pj'ize"^ 1650 — — — 22 Reserve — 1650 Woodbridge P. Pett, jr. 513 688 23 Antelope — 1651 — 24 Bryer* 1651 — 180 — 25 Convertine 1651 — 500 666 26 Discovery (b) — I651 — — 27 Fortune 1651 — — — 28 Gilliflower (b)^ — 1651 — — . 29 Laurel — 1651 Portsmouth — — 30 Martin Prize* 1651 31 Mayflower (b) — 1651 — — 32 Mermaid — 1651 Limehouse Graves 289 385 33 Nightingale — 1651 Horseleydown Shish 289 385 34 Peacock 1651 — — — .35 /Vfl^/ — 1651 Ratcliff P. Pett, sr. 285 380 36 0/(^ President 1651 — — 37 Z?/;'/^ President 1651 — 38 Primrose — 1651 Taylor — 39 Sapphire — 1651 Ratcliff P. Pett, sr. 442 589 40 Tresco* 1651 — 41 PFo;r^j-/ifH — 1651 Woolwich Russell 629 838 42 ^ £/«»? a«^ ^w 1652 — 200 — 43 Advantage 1652 — — — 44 Arms of Holland 1652 — — — 45 Convert 1652 — — — 46 Crow 1652 — 47 Deptford — 1652 — — 48 Diamond — 1652 Deptford P. Peti sr. 547 740 49 Dolphin 1652 — — 50 Drake — 1652 Deptford P. Pett "3 153 51 Duchess 1652 — — — 52 Endeavour 1652 — — — ' The Guinea, Amity, Concord, Discovery, Gilliflower, Mayflower, Hopewell, Accada, Nonsuch Ketch, and Marmaduke, were bought into the service in the respective years under which they are placed, and are marked (B). * Or Great President. » The Gilliflower, then called the Archangel, and the Marmaduke, The Commonwealth i3i Length of keel Beam Depth of hold Draught 3 Remarks Ft Fl Ft. Ft I 116 35-8 14.6 17.6 64 Burnt at Chatham, March 1653. 2 90 28 14 — 30 3 — — — — Disappears before 1653. 4 102.9 29.6 12.6 15.6 42 S 116 34-9 14.6 17 64 6 — — 34 7 — — — — Sold before Nov. 1658. 8 100 31-2 12.3 15-7 40 9 85 28 14 — 30 10 102 31 13 15 40 II — — — — 26 Sold, Aug. 1659. 12 104 31 13 16 40 13 100 31.8 13 16 40 14 — — — — 12 Hulk at Chatham in 1660. IS — — — — — Disappears before 1653. 16 102 31 13 14.6 40 17 106 28.6 II. 10 14 38 18 100 20.8 15-4 38 Burnt at Portsmouth, Feb. 1656. 19 — — — 30 Sold, 1658. 20 99 28.4 14.2 15 38 21 — — 36 Sold, June 1657. • 22 100 31.1 12.4 15-6 40 23 120 36 16 56 Wrecked on coast of Jutland, 30th Sept. 1652. 24 — — — — 18 25 — 40 26 — — — — 20 Burnt at Jamaica, 1655. 27 — — — — — Captured by Dutch, Aug. 1652. 28 — — — — 32 Sold, June 1657. 29 103 30.1 15 — 38 Lost on Newarp Sands, 1657. 30 — — — Sold before Sept. 1653. 31 — — — — 20 Sold, 1658. 32 86 25.2 10 12 22 33 86 25.2 10 12 22 34 — — — — Sold before Nov. 1658. 35 86 25 10 12 22 36 — — — — Sold, Aug. 1655. — — — — 12 Sold, 1657. 38 86 25.2 10 12 22 Wrecked on the Seven Stones, 1656. 39 100 28.10 11.9 13.6 38 40 — — Wrecked, 1651. 41 112 32.6 14 16 48 42 — — — — 20 Sold, June 1657. 43 . — — — — 26 Sold, August 1655. 44 — — — — 32 Blew up in West Indies, July 1656. 45 — — — — 26 Sold, 1659. 46 — — — — . 36 Sold, 1656. 47 — — — — 4 Sold, 1659. 48 105.6 31.3 13 16 40 49 — — — — 30 Disappears before 1658, SO 85 18 7 9 14 SI — — — 24 Sold, 1654. 52 — — — — 36 Sold, 1656. were two prizes taken by Rupert, recaptured at sea by their own crews, brought back to England, and taken into the service. * Usually said to have been lost in action of July 1653, but can be traced as the Dunkirk after x66o. 332 The Administration of the Royal Navy Net Gross Prize Built At By ton- ton- 53 Falmouth lage nage 1652 54 Gift Major 1652 — 480 653 55 Golden Falcon 1652 — — 56 Golden Lion 1652 57 Heartsease 1652 — — 58 Hound 1652 — — — 59 Hope 1652 — — — 60 Hopewell (B) — 1652 — — 61 Horseleydown — 1652 — — t2, Hunter 1652 — — — 63 Kentish — 1652 Deptford Johnson 601 801 64 Marmaduke (b) — 1652 400 533 65 Martin — 1652 Portsmouth Tippetts 92 124 60 Merlin — 1652 Chatham Taylor 105 141 67 Middleburgh 1652 — (^Oak 1652 — — — 69 /*««/ 1652 — 290 384 70 P^/^r 1652 — — 71 /'/oi'^;' 1652 — 72 Princess Maria 1652 — — 73 Raven 1652 — — — 74 Recovery 1652 — — — 75 i?«(5y — 1652 Deptford P. Pett, sr. 556 745 76 Sampson 1652 — — 77 Sophia 1652 — 300 400 78 6'/o?-i 1652 — — 79 «$«« 1652 — — 80 >S«j'5^« — 1652 — — 81 &«;3« 1652 — — 82 F^b/tf/ 1652 — 83 Waterhound 1652 — — 84 P7^/C0»7lf 1652 — 400 533 85 PF^jvwiOw//^* 1652 — 120 160 86 Wildman 1652 — — — 87 Augustine 1653 359 478 88 j5^-ar 1653 395 526 89 ^/ac/5 y?at/^K 1653 300 — 90 Bristol 1653 Portsmouth Tippetts 532 680 91 Cardiff 1653 — 92 Church ■1653 — 30c — 93 ^//aj 1653 — 40c 533 94 ^J5tf:«: 1653 Deptford Ph. Pett 742 989 95 Fail-fax^ — 1653 Chatham Taylor 745 993 96 Falcon Flyloat 1653 97 Fortune 1653 — — — 98 Golden Cock 1653 — — — 99 ^ar« 1653 — — — 100 Half moon 1653 — 30c ) — lOl Hampshire 1653 Deptford Ph. Pett 48] 594 102 Hector 1653 15c ) 200 103 /o-4« Baptist 1653 — — 104 Katherine 1 1653 1 - — — ' There is a model of the Bristol in the museum of the Royal Naval College of Greenwich. No confirmatory evidence is added to the bare statements of names and dates on the labels attached to these models, and the dates assigned to The Commonwealth 333 Length of keel Beam Depth of hold Draught c a a Remarks Ft. Ft. Ft. Ft. 53 — — — — 20 Sold, 1659, 54 90.8 30.8 II.6 13.6 26 55 — — — 28 Sold, 1658. 56 — — — — — Sold, 1653. 57 — — — — 36 Sold, 1656. 58 — — — — 36 59 — — — — 26 Sold, 1657. 6o — — — — 20 Sold, 1656. 6i — — — — 4 Sold, 1655. 62 — — — — Lost in action of July 1653. 63 107 32.6 13 15 40 64 — — — 32 65 64 19.4 7 — 14 66 75 18 7.8 9 14 67 — — — 32 Sold before Nov. 1658. 68 — — — — • Lost in action of July 1653. 69 S4 26 9.6 10.6 22 70 — — — 32 Sold, 1653. 71 — — — — 26 Sunk in action of Feb. 1653. 72 — — — — - 36 Wrecked on the Goodwins, 1658. 73 — — — — 36 Recaptured by Dutch, April 1654, 74 — — — — 26 Sold, 1655. 75 105.6 31.6 13 16 40 76 — — — — 32 Sold, 1658. 77 — — — — 26 78 — — — — — Hulk at Deptford in 1660. 79 — — — — . 12 Sold, 1654. 80 — — — — 46 Blew up at Portsmouth, 9th Dec. 16^3. 81 — — — — 22 Sold, 1654. 82 98 28 II 12.6 44 Hulk at Woolwich in 1660. 83 — — — 32 Sold, 1656. ^4 — — — — 36 85 — — — — 14 86 — — — — 16 Sold, 1657. 87 100 26 14 14 26 88 106 26.6 14.6 14.6 36 89 — — — — 38 Sold, 1654. 90 104 3I.I 13 15.8 44 91 — — 18 Sold before Nov. 1658. 92 — — — — 30 Hulk at Harwich in 1660. 93 lOI 27.6 II 14.6 36 94 115 33 13.8 17 48 95 120 35-2 14.6 16.6 52 96 — — — 24 Sold, 1658. 97 — — — — 26 Sold, 1654. 98 — — — — 24 Sold, 1656. 99 — — — — 12 Wrecked, 1655. ICX) — — — — 30 Sold, 1659. lOI 101.9 29.9 13 14.10 38 102 — — — — 30 103 — — — 12 Sold, 1656. 104 — — — — 36 Sold before Nov. 1658. some of them do not inspire a heedless confidence. However, from the character of the decoration, etc., the model ticketed Bristol is probably, at any rate, of this period. ^ Rebuilt. 134 The Administration of the Royal Navy Net Gross Prize Built A By ton- ton- 105 King David nage nage 1653 106 Little Chanty 1653 — — — lorj Lizard* 1653 — 100 133 108 Mathias 1653 — 500 666 109 Marigold Hoy 1653 Portsmouth Tippetts 42 — 1 10 Newcastle — 1653 Ratcliff Ph. Pett 631 841 III Orange Tree 1653 — 300 — 112 Ostrich 1653 — — — 113 Paradox* 1653 — 120 160 114 Pelican Prize 1653 — — IIS L'lover 1653 — — 116 Plymouth 1653 Woolwich Ch. Pett 741 988 117 Portland — 1653 Wapping Taylor 605 806 118 Redhart* 1653 — — — 119 Renown 1653 — — 120 Rosebush 1653 — 300 400 121 Satisfaction 1653 — 220 293 122 Sparrow 1653 — 60 80 123 Swiftsure^ 1653 Woolwich Ch. Pett 740 986 124 7«/^ 1653 — — — 125 Wester gate 1653 — 270 365 126 PPV^« 1653 — ' — 127 Yarmouth 1653 Yarmouth Edgar 608 810 128 Adviser 1654 — 129 Basing — 1654 Walderswick Shish 255 340 130 Ca^* 1654 — — — 131 Colchester 1654 Yarmouth Edgar 287 382 132 Pagans''' — 1654 Wivenhoe Page 262 349 133 Gainsborough — 1654 Wapping Taylor 543 724 134 Gloucester — 1654 Limehouse Graves 755 1006 135 Grantham — 1654 Lidney Furzer 265 323 136 Indian 1654 — — 137 /?/?)> 1654 — — 138/tfrj^^ — 1654" Maldon Starling 560 746 139 Langport — 1654 Horseleydown Bright 781 1041 140 Zj»z^ — 1654 Portsmouth Tippetts 769 1025 141 Maidstone — 1654 Woodbridge Munday 566 754 142 Marston Moor — 1654 Blackwall Johnson 734 978 143 Nantwich — 1654 Bristol Bailey 319 425 144 Newbury — 1654 Limehouse Graves 765 1020 145 Nonsuch 1 A'^/c/z (B) ) — 1654 60 80 146 Preston — 1654 Woodbridge Gary 550 642 147 Seahorse 1654 — — — 148 &% 1654 Wapping Taylor 299 398 149 Sor lings* ' 1654 — 250 333 150 Taunton 1654 Ratcliff Castle 536 714 151 Torrington — 1654 »» Ph. Pett 738 984 152 Tredagh — 1654 1) ft 771 1008 153 iyz»5i!5>' — 1654 Yarmouth Edgar 607 809 154 Bridgewater — 1655 Deptford Chamberlain 742 989 155 Cornelian* 1655 ICO ' Rebuilt. - Most of the Commonwealth ships were named after some event of the civil war. This is probably a derivative of St Pagans, near Llandaff, where there was a fight in 1647. ^ The Royal James ^ a Stewart privateer, com- The Commonwealth 335 Length of keel Beam Depth of hold Draught a a Remarks Ft. Ft. Ft. Ft. 105 — — — — 12 Sold, 1654. 106 — — — — 30 Sold, 1656. 107 — — — — 16 108 — — — — 38 109 32 14 7 7 — no 108.6 33.1 13.3 16 44 III — — — 26 Sold, 1655. 112 — — — — — Hulk at Portsmouth in 1660. "3 — — — — 12 114 — — — — 34 Sold, 1655. "5 — — — — 26 Sold, 1657. 116 116 34-8 14.6 17 54 117 105 32.11 12.10 16 44 118 — — 6 Sold, 1654. 119 — — — — 20 Sold, 1654. 120 — — — — 34 121 — — — — 26 122 — — — — 12 Sold, 1659. 123 116 37.4 14.10 18 60 124 — — — — 32 Sold, 1657. 125 86 24.6 11.6 13 34 126 — — — 12 Sold, 1657. 127 105 33 13-3 17 44 128 — — — — 8 Taken by a privateer in 1655. 129 80 24.6 10 12 22 130 — — — — 8 Retaken by a privateer in 1656. ^31 83 25.6 10 12 24 132 82 24.8 10 12 22 133 100.10 31-10 13 15 40 134 117 34.10 14.6 18 50 135 80 25 10 11.6 28 136 — — 44 Sold, 1659. 137 — — — — 22 Wrecked near Inverlochy, 24th July 1655. 138 102.10 32.2 13-2 15.6 40 139 116 35-7 14.4 17 50 140 117 35-2 14.4 18 52 141 102 31.8 13 16 40 142 116 34-6 14.2 17 52 143 85.8 26.4 10.4 12.6 28 144 117 35 14-5 17.6 52 145 27 15.6 5 3 J Taken by a privateer, March 1659; recap- 1 tured by a cruiser in the following April. 146 lOI 30 13 16 40 147 — — — — 26 Sold, 1655. 148 85.6 25.8 10 12 22 149 — — — — 28 150 100.6 31.8 13 16 40 151 116.8 34-6 14.2 17 52 152 II7-3 35-2 14-5 17 50 153 104 33-2 13 17 44 154 116.9 34-7 14.2 17 52 155 — — — — 12 manded by captain Beach, afterwards admiral Sir Richard Beach, of the Royal Navy, who during the exile gave the state's ships much trouble. Renamed from the French Les Sorlinge?, near which she was taken. 136 The Administration of the Royal Navy 156 Dartmouth 157 Eaglet 158 Fame* 159 Hawk 160 Hind 161 Naseby 162 Norwich 163 Pembroke 164 Portsmouth'^ \ shallop j 165 Redhorse Pink 166 ^0^ 167 I1^l^;r^rfi^* 168 A ccada (b) 169 Beave7-* 170 Blackmoor^ 171 Bramble 172 Cheriton 173 Chestnut 174 Dunbar 175 ^/z'ffj-- 176 Gi-iffin* Vj'j Harp 178 Hunter* Vjgjesu Maria 180 Kiiisale* 181 Zar-I* 182 London 183 Oxford 184 Raven* 185 Vulture* 186 Wakefield 187 W^o^* 188 Cygnet 189 Forester 190 Greyhound* 191 ^a;'/ 192 Zz'/v 193 Parrot 194 J?05« 195 Swallow 196 Bradford 197 Cagway* 198 Coventry* 199 /^o«* 200 Francis* 201 Gz)? Minor* •2QZ Lichfield* 210'^ Maria* 204 Richard 205 Leopard 206 M)«i 207 Towing Galley^ Net Gross Prize Buil At By ton- nage ton- nage 1655 Portsmouth Tippetts 230 306 — 1655 Horseleydown Huggins 60 80 1655 — 90 120 — 1655 Woolwich Cooper 60 80 — 1655 Waveney Page 6c 5 80 — 1655 Woolwich Ch. Pett I22C )I638 — 1655 Chatham Ph. Pett 246 > 328 1655 1655 Woolwich Raven 26c 368 1655 1655 Waveney Page 6c 80 1655 — 13c 173 1656 1656 ' 1656 Chatham Taylor 90 IIO 1656 — 112 160 — 1656 Deptford Challis 194 261 — 1656 Portsmouth Tippetts 90 IIO 1656 1656 1656 Deptford Challis 1047 1396 90 120 — 1656 Dublin 1656 1656 1656 — 50 66 — 90 120 1656 — 80 100 — 1656 Chatham Taylor 1050 — 1655 1656 1656 Deptford Challis 240 320 — 100 133 — 1656 Portsmouth Tippetts 235 313 1656 — 120 160 — 1657 Chatham Taylor 60 80 — 1657 Lidney Furzer 230 306 1657 — ISO 200 1657 Woolwich Ch. Pett 55 75 — 1657 Deptford Challis 60 80 — 1657 Chatham Taylor 60 80 — 1657 Woolwich Ch. Pett 55 75 — 1657 Deptford Challis 60 80 — 1658 Chatham Taylor 230 306 1658 — 60 80 1658 — 200 266 1658 — 120 160 1658 — 90 no 1658 — 120 160 1658 — 200 266 1658 — 120 180 — 1658 Woolwich Ch. Pett ] 108 t477 — 1659 Deptford Shish 636 847 — 1659 Portsmouth Tippetts 703 — 1659 Chatham Taylor ~ — ^ The Blackmoor and Chestnut were especially designed for service on the coast of Virginia {^State Papers^ Dom., cxli, 127). -A Spanish prize ; the earlier Elias The Commonwealth 2>Z7 Length of keel Beam Depth of hold D raught c Remarks Ft. Ft. Ft. Ft. IS6 80 25 10 12 22 'f^ — — — — 8 158 — — — 10 159 42 16 8 — 8 160 42 16 8 — 8 161 131 42 18 II 80 162 81 25 10.6 12 22 163 Si 25 11.6 12 22 164 — — — — 4 Retaken by a privateer, July 1655. ^% — — — — 10 Sold, 1658. 166 — — — — 8 167 — — — — 14 168 — — — — 10 Wrecked, 1659. 169 — — — — 6 Sold before Nov. 1658. 170 47 19 10 — 12 171 — — — — 14 172 76 24 10 II 20 173 47 19 10 — 12 174 123 46 17.2 21 64 ^11 — — — — Used as hulk at Plymouth in 1660, 176 — — — — 12 177 — — — — 8 178 — — — — 6 179 — — — — — Used as hulk at Portsmouth in 1660. x8o — — — — 10 181 — — — — 10 182 123.6 41 16.6 18 64 ' 183 72 24 10 II 22 184 — — — 6 Sold before Nov. 1658. 18S — — — — 12 186 74 23.6 9-9 II.6 26 187 — — — — 16 188 — — — — 6 189 — — — — 22 190 60 26.6 11.6 — 20 191 50 14.6 5-6 5 6 192 — — — 5 6 193 — — — 5 6 194 50 14 5-6 5 6 195 — — 5 6 196 85 25.6 10 12 28 197 — — — 8 198 — — — — 20 199 72 23 8.6 TO 14 200 — — — — 10 201 — — — 12 202 — — — — 20 203 — — — 12 204 124 41 18 20 70 205 109 33-9 15-8 17 44 206 108 35 13.11 16 52 207 — — — — I was Dutch, and remained in the effective as a cruiser, and carrying one bow gun. For use in the Medway, 338 The Administration of the Royal Navy Thus 207 new vessels were added to the Navy during these eleven years, of which 121 were on the active list in 1660 ; besides 22 others still remaining of the old Royal Navy and 17 more, originally of the same era, which had been used but had been sold, wrecked, or lost in action between 1649 and 1660. We are told that 'the principal thing the Long Parliament aimed at was to outsail the Dunkirkers,' ^ and the large number of light vessels of twenty-two guns, or under, shows how earnestly they set themselves to this task. In a few cases the names of old ships were altered — the Charles to Liberty, the Henrietta Maria to Paragon, the Prince to Resolution, and the St Andrew and St George lost their saintship. The Sovereign is, once or twice, called the Commonwealth, but here the proposed change of name never became an actual one. Alterations and In October 165 1 the Council of State were considering ™ ^ ^' * some encouragement to be given to Messrs Pett for their success in contriving and building of frigates.' The im- provements consisted, we may be certain, in moulding the under-water section on finer lines, and probably in reducing the height of the hull above water and lengthening the keel by lessening the rake, fore and aft, and so diminishing the undue proportion the length ' over all ' bore to the keel. Such alterations would have tended to abate the pitching, from which these old ships must have suffered terribly, to have given them a steadier gun platform, and to make them more weatherly, although from the journal of the Gainsborough it appears that she, at any rate, was nearly unable to beat to windward.^ At first the new frigates, of whatever class, were built without forecastles, but experience led to the conclusion that they were advisable in the larger ships, it being found necessary sometimes to run them up at sea, and eventually only fifth- and sixth-rates were still built without them. But this was an advance on the old system, which had con- structed the smallest vessels on exactly the same plan as the largest. Beyond Pett's improvements, which really belong to the period of Charles I rather than to that of the Common- wealth, there was little progress in matters relating to sails and the better adjustment of weights. Fore and aft sails are still rarely mentioned, and then only in connection with small vessels, and there is no record of the introduction of any mechanical appliances calculated to lighten or quicken the physical work necessary in handling a ship. The sail area was still small for the tonnage, nor, in view of the crankness of the ships, did it appear possible to increase it. The Sovereign, cut down in 1652, and then of 100 guns and 2072 * Add. A/SS., 11,602, f, 49. 2 Siate Papers, Dom., ccxiii, 81. The Commonwealth 339 gross tonnage,! carried 5513 yards of canvas in a complete suit of sails; 2 in 1844 the regulation equipment for a second-rate of 84 guns and 2279 tons (the Thunderer), was 12,947 yards. Of course the line-of-battle ship of 1844 would be in reality a much bigger vessel than the Sovereign, but the excess in length and breadth would not alone explain the ability to bear more than double the extent of canvas. As had been customary for at least 150 years, each ship possessed three boats — long boat, pinnace, and skiff — which were respectively 35 feet, 29 feet, and 20 feet long in those belonging to second-rates, and 33 feet, 28 feet, and 20 feet in third-rates. In no list of equipments or stores are davits mentioned. The long boat was apparently still towed astern ; it invariably was in 1625, since the Cadiz fleet of that year lost every long boat in crossing the Bay of Biscay. How the other boats were now hoisted to the ship is uncertain.^ Early in the Commonwealth administration John Holland, ^^^P'^^^^'^s- one of the Navy Commissioners, recommended that the service shipwrights should not be allowed to keep private yards, seeing that if they were dishonest there was no way of tracing govern- ment timber, or other materials, used for their own purposes, a reason which does not say much for government methods of supervision. But the state yards were obviously inadequate to the demands suddenly made upon their capacity, and recourse was necessary to the yards belonging to government shipwrights and to private builders. In 1650 and 165 1 the Pelican, Primrose, Pearl, Nightingale, and Mermaid were bought in this way, the first at £6, los, the others at £^, 8s a ton.* Vessels built in private yards were subjected to con- tinual inspection at the hands of the government surveyors, and, in many cases, the materials were supplied by the Navy Commissioners, who only desired such prices for them ' as shall be moderate and fit between man and man.' During 1651-53 Parliament was continually ordering new frigates to be commenced, and the master shipwrights who possessed building slips seem to have tried to get the work placed in their own yards rather than in the government ones. In April 1652, when two new vessels were to be commenced, * Bering's list. ^ Ed. Hajrward, The Sizes and Lengths of Rigging fen' all His Majesty's Ships, 1660. Although not printed till 1660 this was written in 1655. ^ The absence of all allusion to davits is stranger from the fact that they are found referred to, evidently as well known and in common use, in navy papers of 1496. They were then used for the anchors. It seems singular that in the intervening century and a half the principle had not been applied to hoisting in the boats. In the Nomenclator Navalis of 1625 (really Manwayring's Dictionary) he speaks of boat tackles ' wch stand one on the main mast shrowds the other on the fore mast shrowds to hoise the boat,' and this plan was identical with that in use in 1 5 14 (see Appendix A). •• Audit Office Accounts^ 1707-94. 340 The Administration of the Royal Navy- Peter Pett and Taylor recommended that they should be given out to contract, as there was not enough timber in the government stores. Whatever may have been the knowledge or sense of duty possessed by some of their subordinates, the Commonwealth Navy Commissioners were the wrong men upon whom to try finesse, more appropriate to the preceding or following administrations. All that Pett and Taylor obtained by their move was an intimation that they, at all events, would not be allowed to compete, and this was fol- lowed by an urgent recommendation to the Admiralty Committee that, as there was in reality plenty of timber available, the two men should be ordered to proceed with the work at once in the state's yards.^ On other occasions the London shipwrights combined to put pressure on the Admir- alty by refusing to tender below certain rates, and Edmond Edgar, of Great Yarmouth, based a claim to consideration on the fact that he had cut in and broken down the combination.^ There are several petitions, like this one of Edgar's, from shipbuilders, for compensation on account of vessels turned out from their yards larger than had been specified in the original contracts, and thereby exposing them to loss. As the Admiralty tried to be just rather than generous in deal- ing with contractors, we may suppose that the miscalcula- tions, like those which occurred under Charles I, were due really to ignorance rather than to a not very hopeful attempt to obtain larger profits by deliberately ignoring instructions. Country builders, moreover, sometimes worked under diffi- culties they could scarcely have anticipated when tendering. Bailey, who built two ships at Bristol, desired the government to authorise him to pay his men more than two shillings a day, and thus free him from the liability to ten days' im- prisonment and a ;^io fine incurred, according to the city ordinances, by those who paid more.^ Dacoration. In accordance with the tendency of the time the decoration of ships was reduced to a minimum. Until 1655 the use of gilding appears to have ceased, special orders being in some cases given that vessels under repair were not to have any gold used upon them, and the cost of carved work in fifth- rates was fixed at £/^^, an amount which was not passed without serious questioning. In 1655 this severe simplicity was, to a certain extent, relaxed, since, in August, Richard Isaacson undertook the gilding and painting of two second- rates at ;^I20 each. So far as the outside was concerned, the figure-head, arms on stern, and two figures on the stern gallery were to be gilt ; the hull, elsewhere, was to be ' Add. MSS., 9306, f. 68. ^ Siaie Papers, Dom., Ixxxv, 73. ' Ibid., Ixxxii, 13. The Admiralty was paying shipwrights 2s 2d a day. The Commonwealth 341 painted black, picked out in gold where carved.^ The Navy Commissioners held that the decoration ought not to cost more than £80, being unnecessary and 'like feathers in fantastic caps.' Figure heads were sometimes exuberant in style. The Nasebys consisted of Oliver on horsebackj ' trampling upon six nations.' The following table gives the equipment in offensive Relation De- weapons and stores for typical vessels of each rate ; the|nd®Gimr°*^^ scale was not implicitly adhered to, but it is the first sign of an attempt to establish a permanent relation between guns and tonnage such as became afterwards almost invariable. The paper belongs to 1655, but it is not likely that any material alteration occurred before 1660.^ The first estab- lishment of third-rates was 140, of fourth-rates 130, and of fifth-rates 100 men ; these were subsequently raised to 160, 150, and no men respectively: — ■ti C % 13 T3 0) rt c _c , c a! '0 u _J2 3 a Vessels P d c c c! 'i ID Q "3 ID > 1 i Thos. Harris Neglect of duty, 1653 Cashiered Jas. Cadman Killing one of his crew, 1653 Suspended for 12 months Neglect of convoy duty, 1653 Not known * Jas. Peacock Embezzlement, 1653 )» Sam. Dickinson 1654 i> Val. Tatnell 1654 J) J. Clarke 165s Cashiered 1655 Wages suspended Robt. Nixon Cruelty, 1655 Not known J. Seaman Drunkenness, 1655 }) Fr. Parke Theft from prizes, 1655 6 Aiex. Farley Drunkenness and embezzle- ment, 1656 " J. Jefferies Embezzlement, 1656 Fined £60 ' Thos. Sparling 1656 » /160 1 Add. MSS., 9304, f. 60. - Siaig Papers, Bom., xlviii, 81. ^ Soon afterwards Taylor and Young were placed in command of armed merchantmen ; Blake subsequently had a man-of-war. John Saltonstall and John Wadsworth were involved with the four others. Wadsworth certainly com- manded a hired merchantman ; Saltonstall's ship is doubtful. * Accused by his crew (^Adventure), who were prepared ' to spend our lives and limbs in this service for the good of our native country of England and this government.' He was in trouble again in 1656. ^ Allowed two colliers to be captured, and would not chase because they were ' only colliers.' ^ ' The prize ofhce commissioners said they thought the devil must be in that captain to sell all and bring nothing but bare hulls of ships.' ' ' The court did not think it meet to expel him, being an active and stout-fighting man.' 354 The Administration of the Royal Navy Name Accused of Name J. Lightfoot Fraud and violence, 1656 Not known ^ J. Smith Embezzlement and drunken- ness, 1656 )) Rich. Penhallow Making out false tickets, 1656 Amount to be deducted from his wages Jas. Cadman Embezzlement, 1656 Fined ^ W. Hannam Cowardice, cruelty, and in- capacity, 1656 Not known John Best Drunkenness, 1656 ,, Robt. Nixon Cruelty and embezzlement, 1657 3 Hen. Powell Embezzlement, 1657 Severely admonished Drunkenness and blasphemy, 1657 Not known J. Vasey Drunkenness, 1658 Charge withdrawn * — Davis Selling prize goods, 1658 To refund Robt. Saunders Came home without leave, 1658 Cashiered Thos. Whetstone Drunkenness and theft, 1658 Not known Rowland Bevan Embezzlement and carrying cargo, 1658 )> Carrying cargo, 1659 )i Pet. Foote. 1659 5 Robt. Kirby Drunkenness and theft, 1659 Carrying cargo, false tickets, 1660 )) It is curious to find that, in 1657, two ex-captains, Mellage and Baker, were in prison as Quakers, In cases of embezzle- ment the sentence of a court-martial, where ascertainable, appears to have been usually confined to fining the accused the value of the stores stolen, or stopping the amount from his wages. The custom was commencing of trying com- manders, who lost their ships by misadventure, before a court- martial, instead of accepting their explanations, or holding an informal investigation at Whitehall, as had previously been done ; and once a captain was sent before a court because his ship went ashore, although she came off without damage.^ This must be almost the first occurrence of that form of inquiry. Log books were now compulsory, and were sent up to the Navy Commissioners on the return of the ship ; by an order of 2nd Feb. 1653 an advocate, who conducted prosecu- tions in courts-martial, was attached to the fleets. It will be noticed how often drunkenness is an article in the foregoing charges, and this weakness seems to have been common in all ' No result appears to have been arrived at about the captain, but the court-martial found that the boatswain, he was charged with maiming had struck him, but they ' possessed no power to sentence him ' — a very strange conclusion to come to. - Second offence. He petitioned that £So might be accepted in settlement of the jC^S^ ^s was fined, as he was very poor and had a large family. His petition was granted. ^ Second offences of Best and Nixon. ■* According to Montagu, who was dissatisfied with the result, undue pressure was brought to bear on members of the crew to induce them to retract. ^ Foote refused to allow the customs officers to search his ship, saying ' it would be a dishonour to the state.' The commissioners of customs called attention to this as a ' great and growing evil.' * StaU Papers^ Dom.^ cxiv, 82. The Commonwealth 355 ranks, from captains down to ships' boys. Among these naval papers there are very few indications of the existence of Puritan fervour or even of ordinary religious feeling ; the great mass of men and officers aimed at pay and prize money, gave strenuous service when the former was punctual and the latter plentiful, and became heedless and indifferent when they failed. Sailors have been always much more interested in their material prosperity in this world than the prospects of their future welfare in the next. Nor does the rule of the saints appear to have spiritualised the proverbial hard swearing of the service. It is, however, from this period that dates that sense of inception of solidarity among officers and men which is at once the sign and consequence of an organised and continuous service. Hitherto the permanent executive force in peace time had consisted of a few subordinate officers and some 200 or 300 ship-keepers, many of whom were not even seamen. When a fleet was prepared, the ships were commanded by captains for whom sea service was only an episode, and officered and manned by men who came from, and were immediately sent back to, the merchant service on the completion of their cruise. But between 1642 and 1660 every available English sailor must have passed a large portion of those years on the state's ships ; and the captains and officers were kept in nearly con- tinuous employment, with the result of the formation of a class feeling, and the growth of especial manners and habits, characteristic of men working under conditions which re- moved them from frequent contact with their fellows. The numerous notices in Restoration literature of the particular appearance, modes of expression, and bearing, stamping the man-of-war officer — references never before made — show how rapidly the new circumstances had produced their effect. When captains showed themselves so ready to steal it^^°*^^^ might have been expected that officers of lower rank would follow, and even improve upon, the pattern set them, but this did not prove to be the case. Although, of course, there are many flagrant cases recorded, the number of officers charged with fraud or theft is not only relatively less, con- sidering the much larger aggregate employed, than under Charles I, but also absolutely smaller for any equal series of years. Experience, gained during the civil war, had led to closer inspection and the introduction of safeguards which made theft neither so easy nor so free from risk, and further precautions were taken under the Commonwealth. Em- bezzlement by a captain could not be prevented, it could only be punished : but the regulations which made it easy for him might make it difficult for his gunner or boatswain. The first step, taken in 1649, was to raise the wages of those 356 The Administration of the Royal Navy- officers who were in charge of stores, a measure recommended long before by Holland and every other reformer. In 165 1 the Navy Commissioners were directed to consider how the frauds, still numerous among officers, might be best dealt with, and this was probably the cause of an order the next year that sureties should be required from pursers, boatswains, and others for the honest performance of their duties.^ These sureties were usually entered into by two persons, and were sometimes as high as ;^6oo. That some such method was necessary, at least with the pursers, is evident from the following catalogue of their ' chief abuses, drawn up by the Navy Commissioners in 165 1 •} (i) They forge their captains' signatures ; (2) make false entries of men ; (3) falsify the time men have served ; (4) sign receipts for a full delivery of stores and compound with the victualling agents for the portion not received ; (5) do not send in their accounts for one voyage till they are again sailing ; (6) charge the men with clothes not sold to them ; and (7) execute their places by deputy while they stop on shore. The principal reforms suggested by the Commis- sioners were that bonds should be required, that stewards should be employed for the victualling, that pursers should in future sail as clerks of the check, with limited powers, and that all their papers should be countersigned by the captain. These measures were all adopted, but a further recommenda- tion that a pillory should be erected near the Navy Office for their especial use was not, apparently, acted upon. When one purser openly declared that he cared not how the seamen starved if he could ' make ^^500 or ;^6oo a year out of their bellies,' it was full time to apply to his kind the treatment exercised by governments on such dangerous idealists as constitutional reformers. The Commissioners had set themselves a hard task in the inculcation of honesty, for that sentiment which still regards lightly cheats on a government was strongly against them. When Dover was searched, in 1653, large quantities of stolen cordage, sold from the ships, were discovered, and Bourne found that 'these embezzlements are so common that the people declare that they think it no wrong to the state.' Still in the long run they were more successful than their predecessors had been, and the trials for embezzlement became fewer after 1653, Their treatment of the pursers had the best results, judging from the small number of those officers who came up for judgment ; these gentlemen did not at all like the new rules and at first mostly refused to sail as clerks of the check. For reasons unknown, unless it was that they had become more trustworthy and that the new system • Add. MSS., 9302, ff. 188, 192. 2 /^2^_^ 5306, f. 36. The Commonwealth 357 was in some respects cumbrous, the clerks were abolished in 1655 and the pursers reinstated in their old powers, pecuniary guarantees in the shape of the bonds still being required from them.^ It must have been a very new and unpleasant experience to some of these men, who many of them remem- bered the free hand they were allowed before 1640, to find themselves before a court-martial for acts they had come to look upon as natural to their places. One steward attempted to evade an accusation of embezzlement by declaring that the rats had eaten his books ; he might have improved his defence by producing some of the victuallers' ' salt horse,' and showing that his books, being tenderer and more nutritious, were more likely to tempt the rats. In the trial of another we have some account of the mode of proceeding. The prisoner, Joshua Hunt, was tried under the twenty-eighth article of war before Lawson and twelve commanding officers, and was himself sworn and examined. By the twenty-eighth article the character of the penalty is left to the decision of the court, and Hunt was given the option of making restitution or of undergoing punishment. In making his report. Monk re- marked that the prisoner had only been found out in that which most stewards did, and that he would be sent up to London to give his friends or sureties the opportunity, of making amends ; if they failed to do this he was to be returned to the fleet for corporal punishment at the decision of a further court-martial.^ This form of sentence was very frequent, and gunners, boatswains, and stewards were ordin- arily fined the value of the stores stolen, and committed to prison until it was paid. The wide discretion left to the courts-martial led to great inequality in the sentences, especially when an example could be made without losing the stores or their money value. A carpenter was tried for theft ; he confessed to the intention, and partly to the act, but returned the articles before arrest. He was, however, ordered to be taken from ship to ship in the Downs, with a paper describing his offence affixed to his breast, the paper being read at each ship's side, to be thrice ducked from the yardarm, and to be cashiered. Obviously it was more profitable and less dangerous not to stop halfway in theft. In 1653 is found a rather remarkable sentence: Wm. Haycock, carpenter's mate of the Hound, was, for ' drunken- ness, swearing, and uncleanness,' ordered, among other things, ten lashes at the side of each flagship. Haycock has the dis- tinction of being the first recorded victim of the form of punishment which afterwards developed into the devilish * State Papers, Dom., cxiv, Ii6. From 1st Oct. 1655. Five rates carried pursers ; the captains of sixth-rates also did pursers' duties. 2 /^k/., Ixii, 55, 56; 1653. 35^ The Administration of the Royal Navy torture known as ' flogging round the fleet' It became com- paratively common during the reign of Charles II. At Chatham, in 1655 the authorities appear to have dis- covered and broken up a gang of receivers, of whom one had an estate of ;^50oo obtained from thefts from the ships and yards. A hoyman, Dunning, confessed to having conveyed 500 barrels of powder from the men-of-war at Chatham and Dept- ford within four years. When pressed for particulars, he ex- claimed, ' Alas ! shall I undo a thousand families ? Shall I undo so many ? I did not think you would put me upon it to do so ! ' Finding that this appeal, instead of silencing, only whetted his examiners' curiosity, he had at last to name eighteen ships whose gunners had given him powder to re- move.i The Admiralty employed detectives of their own to find out thefts, but on more than one occasion these men turned thieves themselves. The aforesaid Dunning bought a cable from one of them ; another was found ' to have unduly abused his trust,' but a third was granted ^^15 for proving the larcenies of captain Cadman. Sometimes, when the amount was small, the Admiralty, instead of bringing offenders to trial, deducted the estimated value of their embezzlements from wages ; ^ evidently punishment was very uncertain in extent, but the practical impunity of former times could no longer be reckoned on. In some few instances the Admiralty had to deal with diffi- culties of another nature among the officers. Richard Knowl- man, a gunner, and described as a Quaker, wrote to the Commissioners that he had served by sea and land from 1641, and was still willing to continue in any other capacity, since ' I would be free to act against all deceit ... for I see most men, especially those in the navy and of most rank and quality, are corrupted.' Knowlman could not have expressed less respect for the average official had he enjoyed access to the State Papers, but on the whole his was one of the very rare eras when such doubts were unjust. Another master gunner had, for two months, refused to fire a gun, ' lest blood might be spilt,' and a third insisted on preaching to the crew of the Fame, who by no means appreciated his amateur ministrations. In three instances chaplains are found accused of drunken- ness, but their presence on board ship was not invariable, and their influence appears to have been very slight. One was tried for forging Monk's signature. The habits of half a century were not to be at once over- success, thrown, but after 1655 references to thefts became far fewer; and the Navy Commissioners could congratulate themselves on having done much to extinguish customs which had gone far to destroy the vitality of the former Royal Navy. The ' State Papers^ Dom., cv, 50, 51. ^ Ibid., cix, 69 and ex, 73. The Commis sioners The Commonwealth 359 want of trust, that long experience had shown to be justifiable in gunners, carpenters, and boatswains, who had been, and were still to a certain extent, treated as officers, may have been one reason why lieutenants were now always attached to ships, except fifth- and sixth-rates. Another may probably be found in the growing demand for scientific seamanship, an accom- plishment the former class had little opportunity of acquiring. Whatever the cause, the effect was to thrust the gunners and their compeers lower down in the social scale, to lose them that respect on shipboard they had hitherto possessed, to lessen their authority, and so quicken the downward movement. We are told that, a generation later, it was as usual to strike them as to strike the men, and that they had to * fawn like spaniels ' on the lieutenants to retain favour or position. The lieuten- ants must have been found much more satisfactory ; in the whole series of papers relating to this period there is no instance of one being tried by court-martial, and only one in which such an officer got into any trouble. His captain put him in irons, but the reason is not given. Lieutenants were occasionally appointed to the naval service in the reign of Elizabeth, but the Dutch war may be taken as the period where their position became permanent. In June 1652, Sir Wm. Penn, then vice-admiral, writing to Cromwell, gave expression to the unanimous desire of his colleagues that such a rank should be allowed in all ships carrying 1 50 men. Another difficulty the Commissioners had to contend with was the forging of seamen's tickets, an old form of crime which grew in extent with the employment of so many more men. The Navy Commissioners, in advance of their time, recognised that the only legal penalty, death, was too severe, and prac- tically prevented any punishment.^ The Navy department was not the only one which suffered from these forgers, who were all more or less connected with each other ; in the same year forgeries of public faith bills to the amount of i^i 15,000 were discovered. Some of these men were in league with clerks in the Navy and prize offices, and obtained the necessary papers and information from them. At a later date one of the gang confessed, when in prison, that the total of the public faith bill and other forgeries was nearly ;^5oo,ooo.^ In 1656 a new plan was tried : ' to prevent the many frauds and deceits formerly practised,' the Commissioners were ordered to send the Treasurer, daily or weekly, an abstract of all the bills or tickets they signed authorising payment of money. Subse- quently the Admiralty Commissioners obtained power to 1 State Papers, Dom., 27th August 1653, Navy Commissioners to Admiralty Committee, - Ibid., 9th Jan. 1655. Thirty-one persons were implicated, including four colonels. Officers' Pay. Guns and Ordnance Stores. 360 The Administration of the Royal Navy themselves commit offenders to prison. Nicholas Harnaman, for instance, was sent to Bridewell with hard labour ' till further order/ for counterfeiting tickets. ^ Officers' pay was raised in March 1649, and again in 1653, after which latter date there was no alteration.^ It then stood per month at : — I St Rate 2nd Rate 3rd Rate 4th Rate stl I Rate 6ih Rate £ s d £ s d £ s d £ s d £ s d £ s d Captain 21 16 16 14 10 8 8 7 Lieutenant 4 4 4 4 3 10 3 10 — Master 7 6 6 4 13 8 4 6 2 3 7 6 3 Master's mate or \ pilot J 3 6 3 2 16 2 2 7 10 2 2 2 2 Midshipman 2 5 2 I 17 6 I 13 9 I 10 I 10 Boatswain 4 3 10 3 2 10 2 5 2 Boatswain's mate I 15 I 15 I 12 I 10 I 8 I 6 Quartermaster I 15 I IS I 12 I 10 I 8 I 6 Quartermaster's \ mate / I 10 I 10 I 8 I 8 I 6 I 5 Carpenter 4 3 10 3 2 10 2 5 2 Carpenter's mate 2 2 I 16 I 14 I 12 I 10 Gunner 4 3 10 3 2 10 2 5 2 Gunner's mate I 15 I 15 I 12 I 10 I 8 I 6 Surgeon 2 10 2 10 2 10 2 10 2 10 2 10 Corporal I 15 I 12 I 10 I 10 I 8 I 5 Purser 4 3 10 3 2 10 2 5 2 Master Trumpeter* I 10 I 8 I 5 I 5 I 5 I 4 Cook I 5 I 5 I 5 I 5 I 5 I 4 When Parliament began the rapid construction of new ships some of its members may have had misgivings about getting the crews to man them, but few probably anticipated the future difficulties in procuring the guns wherewith to arm them, Geo. Browne, for so many years the royal gunfounder, was still almost the only maker, and his works were unequal to the increased demands, ^ In March and April 1652, when war appeared certain, 335 guns were immediately required to equip only part of the Navy,^ but the authorities were already reduced to such straits as to be compelled to send searchers about London to try to find ordnance.^ A month later some of the inland strongholds were disarmed, and 84 brass and 544 iron guns thus obtained ; the sale of ordnance taken in prizes 1 Add. MSS., 9305, f. 208 ; 1657. ^ Commons Journals, 2 1st March 165 2-3. * ' The captain the master.' The captain's pay remained the same as in 1647. ■• Trumpeters were no unimportant members of a ship's company. In 1650 Popham and Blake desired the Navy Commissioners to press trumpeters, and ' particularly a complete noise ' for their own vessel. It is to be hoped they got it. * Thos. Foley is mentioned with Browne, but he seems to have been either a partner or subordinate (see Commons Journals, 30th Dec, 1645). A Rich. Pitt is once named as a founder of brass ordnance. ^ Commons Journals, i6th April 1652 ; ' if of brass ^^67,200, if of iron ^13,520.' ' State Papers, Dom., 25th March 1652, The Commonwealth 361 was strictly prohibited, and, in the course of the year, guns were hired at ten and twelve shillings each a month. In December the ordnance officials announced that 1500 iron pieces, weighing 2230 tons, at £26 a ton, were required, the same number of carriages at from 21s to 31s 3d each, 117,000 round and double-headed shot, 5000 hand grenades at 2s 6d each, 12,000 barrels of corn powder at £a^ ios a barrel, and 150 tons of breechings and tackle at ;^50 a ton. ^ To meet these wants they had in store only 121 guns and 34,000 rounds. ^ In February 1653 the contracts were made for these guns, but, very soon after they were entered into, the officials saw that the deliveries would be at ' a vast distance from our pressing occasions,' for not only was the Tower empty but the ports were also destitute of munition, and, at Portsmouth, they were in April ' at a stand ' for powder and shot. All that Browne and Foley could promise was to deliver 140 guns in October, 190 in February 1654, 254 in June, 230 in October, and 86 in June 1655 ; but, as 500 were still to be sent in on old contracts, their engagements could hardly be relied on. Fifty tons of shot and 5000 hand grenades they promised for June, 50 tons in September, and 100 more by March 1654. In the meantime ships intended to serve as armed merchantmen were actually waiting uselessly for- 117 guns, which the Ordnance department could not procure any- where.^ The immediate outlook for powder was no better, since there was instant demand for 2780 barrels and only 500 in store, while the contractors were only bound to supply 660 barrels a month. Here, however, the further prospect was more favourable, as there were many powder-makers at work and the government could purchase quantities at Hamburg. The staff of the Ordnance office was very much larger, proportionately, than that of the Admiralty. It employed, at yearly salaries, a surveyor, ^194; clerk, £'2\^\ storekeeper, £216; clerk of the delivery, £166; master gunner of Eng- land, ;^I2I ; keeper of the small gun office, £66; messenger, £60; two furbishers, £12 each ; and twenty labourers at i^2i each.* Its management had mended considerably since 1640, but the improvement did not avail to save its inde- pendence in 1653 when it became a department of the Admiralty. In February 1654 matters were so far better that there were 2359 barrels of powder and 38,000 round and other shot in hand, but still no guns in reserve. There are no complaints about the quality of the powder supplied during the Dutch war, but, in 1655 and 1656, accusations against the makers, who were said to ' use some sleight to make it Tower- ' State Papers^ Dom., xxx, 12, 102. ^ Ibid. * Ibid., xl, 14. * Ibid., xlix, 168. 362 The Administration of the Royal Navy- proof on delivery, but it does not long continue good nor abide change of weather/ became numerous. All that the authorities could do was to call upon the manufacturers to make it good, or, if they preferred, take it back with a licence to export it abroad; 6827 out of 15,098 barrels recently furnished were defective, and, by an order of 2nd April 1656, the Council gave the contractors the choice between these courses and being committed to prison. The makers, however, had something to say on their side. Like most other naval purveyors they had not been paid, and even to get any money on account were sometimes compelled, under threats of still longer postponement, to repair Hamburg powder at 17s a barrel when the real price should have been £2, naturally with unsatisfactory results. Some attributed all the mischief to the Hamburg importations, but most of them seem to have gone into the business without any expert knowledge, simply with a view of profiting by the sudden demand for war material.^ The form of reparation exacted was manifestly unfair : instead of each maker being required to substitute good for whatever bad powder he had sent in they were called upon to replace it in proportion to their contracts. Thus Josias Devey was made liable for 461 barrels instead of the 141 which were faulty in the number he had supplied, and apparently he would have fared just as badly if his powder had been excellent down to the last pound.^ As some of the manufacturers had de- livered 50 per cent, or more, of inferior quality, the probable explanation of this not very honourable proceeding is to be found in the fear of the Council that the worst culprits would be pecuniarily unable to make amends if assessed at their full liability. Wapping seems to have been a manufacturing dis- trict, since, in July 1657, there was an explosion of powder millSj or stores, there which injured many people and damaged 846 houses to the extent of iJ^io,ooo. The Dockyards. The enlargements and improvements of the dockyards were not as considerable as might have been expected in view of the increased number of ships, and the space required for their accommodation. These requirements were partly met by the greater use made of Plymouth, and making Dover and Harwich stations where ships might obtain provisions and minor repairs. Harwich, largely used for a few years in the middle of the sixteenth century, had been found of some service during the civil war, but the movements of the fleets in the North Sea, and off the coast of Holland, brought both it and Dover into prominence. The latter port was not utilised till 1653, and was never very freely used, although the quarterly accounts sometimes reached ;^700 or £Zoo\ both it and Portsmouth were supplied with stores from Deptford. ' State Papers^ Dom., 15th April 1656. * Add. MSS., 9305, f. 112. The Commonwealth 36; Bourne, from the date of his appointment as Navy Com- missioner, took up his residence at Harwich, and remained there till March 1658, Monk's testimony to his ability and success has already been quoted, although he had none of the appliances available in the older yards. But in 1657 ground was rented from the corporation, for a permanent government yard and wharf, on a ninety-nine year lease at £$ a year.i Plymouth was employed mainl}^ for victualling the ships on the western Channel station, as Dover was for those eastwards, and, to a certain extent, for repairs, although its exposed roadstead was no favourite with captains whose vessels were fit to put to sea. Blake evidently did not like it; ' the unsafeness and hazard of this road, which to us is worse than a prison, is enough to scare us hence.' One way of gauging the relative importance of the dock- yards is to compare the stores in hand at a given date. We are enabled to do this for February and June 1659, as follows : — 2 Anchors Chatham Woolwich Deptford Portsmouth Plymouth Harwich 108 _ 129 62 17 13 Masts 356 724 269 498 95 67 Cables 106 29 272 70 42 63 Loads of timber ^ 1500 322 416 508 4 79 Tree -nails 80,000 122,000 93,000 — 2000 Compasses — 180 1445 — — Hemp 100 tons 75 tons — 63! tons — Noyals canvas — — 23,000 yds. 10,600 yds. 2000 yds. 4850 yds. Vittery „ 1800 ells — 25,000 ells — — 380 ells Ipswich „ — — 272 boltss — — 52 bolts English „ 240 bolts — — 7650 yds. 370 yds. — Tar and pitch 30 lasts — — 99 barrels 95 barrels — Hammocks 900 1200 700 2020 — — Owing to want of money the magazines were very low at this date, but the relation shown here would doubtless always exist. Harwich and Plymouth can refit ships which have suffered in spars, fittings, or canvas ; Chatham, Woolwich, and Deptford build or repair, while Portsmouth is equipped for all purposes. Hitherto all masts had been obtained from the Baltic, but in 1652 the government tried the experiment of sending two vessels to New England for them, and the re- sults were so satisfactory that henceforth a proportion of masts from the colonies is found in all the lists of dockyard stores. The English canvas is elsewhere described as west country canvas, and was principally made in Somersetshire ; > Siale Papers, Dom., 6th Dec. 1659. 2 /did., ccix, 49, 67, 68, 71-5, and ccxii, 49, 51, 64. ^ Oak, elm, ash, and beech. * Very little timber, but large stores of iron fittings. * Two-thirds meridian and one-third ordinary. * Thirty-two yards to a bolt, of 27 inches breadth, (Add. MSS., 9306, f. 37). 364 The Administration of the Royal Navy its manufacture was due to Geo. Pley, afterwards government agent at Weymouth and governor of Portland, who success- fully urged its use upon the Admiralty. It cost is yd or is 8d a yard, and was dearer than French canvas, but considered better.i In 1653 there was a double dry dock at Chatham, Woolwich, and Deptford respectively,^ and one at Blackwall, probably in the East India Company's yard ; these were the only docks directly belonging to, or available by, the state. No addition appears to have been made to Chatham yard except the purchase of a wharf and storehouse adjoining the old dock in 1656.^ In October 1653 a contractor from Chatham was either repairing an old, or constructing a new, dock at Deptford;* and in 1657 some wharves were built there along the waterside.^ A new dry dock was ordered for Woolwich in 1653 ^ and completed the next year;'' store- houses were built in 1656;^ and two years later a lease was taken from John Rymill, butcher, of London, of one acre of land, known as Chimney Marsh, on the east side of Ham Creek, ' next to the state's yard,' for ten years, at £4. a year.^ The sizes of the yards may, perhaps, be inferred from the number of watchmen attached to each — Chatham, 32 ; Dept- ford, 18 ; Woolwich, 16; and Portsmouth, 13. Portsmouth" Portsmouth, if the smallest of the chief yards, became under the Commonwealth one of the busiest and most im- portant. In June 1649 one of five new frigates was ordered to be laid down there; this vessel, the Portsmouth, was duly launched in 1650, and, with the doubtful exception of the Jennett, in 'new making' at Portsmouth in 1559, was the first man-of-war of the modern Royal Navy built at that place since the Mary Rose and Peter Pomegranate of 1509 were first floated in the harbour. ^0 xhe dry dock so often recommended and ordered under Charles I was, however, not yet existent. It was urged that one-third of the Navy ought to be permanently stationed at the port, but in 1652 the Commissioner in charge complained that there was not room for the stores required for the few ships usually there. From a survey of 1653 we obtain, so far as names go, a statement of the number of buildings in the dockyard ; they are upper and lower storehouses, upper and lower hemp houses, block loft, old rope-maker's house, office and nail loft, canvas room, hammock room, kettle room, iron loft, tar house, oil house, sail loft, and top-makers' and boat-makers' house.^^ ' State Papers^ Dom., clxvii, 62, and Add. AfSS., 9306, ff. 151, 197. 2 State Papers, Dom., Iviii, 108. ^ Add. MSS, 9305, f. 1 14. ■* State Papers, Bom., Ix, 12. * Add. MSS., 9306, f. 175. " State Papers, Dom., I2th Sept. 1653. ' Aid., Ixxxi, 194. ' /did., cxxxv, 17. " /iid., clxxx, 170, and Add. MSS., 9306, f. 197. " ' New making ' may have only meant repairs. " State Papers, Dom., xlvi, 36. The Commonwealth 365 Less than twenty years earlier Russell had found that work done at Portsmouth was 100 per cent, dearer than at the other yards, but Willoughby had altered that, and now boasted that he could build 20 per cent, cheaper than else- where, although all the skilled artisans required in naval work had to be sent down, there seeming to be as yet no population attached to or living on the dockyard. He desired that five and a half acres of adjoining ground should be purchased, a rope yard erected, and the whole yard sur- rounded by a brick wall 73 perches in length.^ Therefore in 1653 and 1654 the Navy Commissioners were directed to take a lease of an acre and a half of the ground recommended, to set up a rope-yard, and to build the wall.^ In December 1655 Willoughby put before the Commissioners the difficulty in carrying on the ordinary work, ' we wanting the benefit of a dock,' and at this time the staff, recently reduced in strength, numbered 180 men. In the following April Bourne and captain John Taylor, a shipwright of Chatham, were sent down to consult with Willoughby as to the best position for a dry dock which was to be ' forthwith made.' ^ On their report an order issued in August that one of sufficient capacity to take third-rates was to occupy the situation of the existing graving dock, and that it was not to cost more than ^3200, of which the town, presumably in the hope of attracting trade and inhabitants, was willing to contribute ;^5oo.* In November Taylor was instructed to go to Portsmouth and superintend its construction, but he energetically protested that he knew nothing about dock-building and would, under such cir- cumstances, only make himself ridiculous. It was therefore put in the hands of Nicholas Poirson, who signed the contract on 24th November, by which he undertook to complete it by the following 20th July, for ;^2ioo, the government providing the materials and the corporation ^^500 of this sum.^ There were still a sufficient number of abuses in connection Sh4)^igbts with the dockyards, but the flagrant thefts customary under Charles I had been largely diminished. Members of the Pett family occupied responsible positions in the three home yards, and either they used their power to ill purpose, or their favour with the authorities was no passport to the love of their 1 State Papers^ Dom., 1, loi, April 1653. The reading is doubtful whether the land and water fronts, or the land front alone, were meant to be walled in. The nature of the foreshore renders the latter view the most likely ; if the former, the enclosed area must have been very small. 2 Ibid., Ixii, 24 and Ixxix, 57, ^ Add. MSS., 9305, f. 119. * md., f. 155. ^ Hid., 9306, f. 153. I am informed that there is no trace in the corporation records or in the narratives of local historians of this agreement. Whether Poirson ever obtained this £s^^ n^^y be uncertain, but it is quite certain that the town volunteered the money and that the government carefully guarded itself from being called upon to pay it. 366 The Administration of the Royal Navy subordinates. In 165 1 there was what would now be adver- tised as a great scandal at Chatham ; all the chief officers, and many of the workmen, were accusing each other of mis- deeds in a way which necessitated a governmental commission of inquiry, empowered to take evidence on oath. The light in which the Petts were regarded is shown by a remark made by one man to another that he dared not speak, ' for fear of being undone by the kindred . . . they were all so knit together that the devil himself could not discover them except one impeached the other.' The result of the inquiry was a resolution that all the accused, on both sides, should retain their places, a decision more likely to be due to the impossibility of displacing experienced officers when war was imminent than to any inability to form an opinion. The yearly salary of the master shipwright at Chatham was iJ^i03, 8s 4d, Deptford the same, and Woolwich £^0. The building programme of the government naturally tempted these men to add to their salaries the profits to be made by having private yards for the construction of men-of-war. Holland pointed out that this led to the shipwright's absence from the state's yard, to the exchange of good government workmen for bad of his own, and that usually a frigate turned out from a shipwright's yard cost the country twice as much as one from a dockyard.^ Holland commented on another evil, the existence of beerhouses in the dockyards, ' necessary at first, now one of the greatest abuses in the Navy.' At least one 'searcher' was employed to prevent theft from the dockyards ; but, judging from the small number of such cases reported, the precautions taken or the higher standard induced in the men, had greatly altered former conditions for the better. In one instance, however, the want of honesty shown by two men was attributed — it is painful to have to confess here — to their habit of reading ' histrye books.' The wages of ship- wrights and caulkers were raised in April 1650 from is lod to 2s id a day, and again in 1652 to 2s 2d ; they appear to have been punctually paid to a later date than the seamen, but in 1656, when they also were beginning to suffer from the emptiness of the treasury and their wages to fall into arrear, the Council, with the dry humour of officialism, ordered ' an exact and punctual inspection and examination ' quarterly of their accounts. By 1658 they had, mostly, twelve months' wages owing, but their murmurs were not nearly so loud as those of the seamen. Frequently during 1659 they were working half-time or less, for want of materials. In March 1660 there were not 100 yards of canvas remaining at either Woolwich or Deptford, the contractors would not supply more without ready money ; and we may assume that other neces- ' State Papers, Dom,, gth Aug. 1652. The Commonwealth 367 saries were equally lacking.^ During part of 1659 there was only one forge going at Portsmouth, John Timbrell, the anchor-smith, having received no money for two years, and having been compelled to dismiss his men, being unable to procure iron on credit. Timbrell was mayor of the town in 1662, so that the Restoration apparently relieved him of his troubles. In September 1658 the Happy Entrance was destroyed by fire at Chatham, a mishap attributed to carelessness on the part of the men at work on her, and the absence of supervision of the superior officials. This caused the promulgation of an order the following month that no member of the superior dockyard staff should absent himself without leave from the Commissioner, and he only by permission of the Admiralty or Navy Commissioners, with a general penalty of dismissal for disobedience.2 This order was to be framed and hung up in each yard. White's invention of 1634 of iron mooring chains, noticed previously, was now taken up by the govern- ment, and some were laid down at Chatham, Deptford, and Woolwich for ships to ride at, two to a chain. Mooring places for the use of merchantmen were granted to White, Bourne and others at a rental of ^Q'^ a year.^ The dockyard chains weighed 2 cwt. 2 qrs. 14 lbs. to a fathom, cost fivepence a pound, and were guaranteed for two years.* In 1658 a boom was ordered to be placed across the Medway at Upnor, but there is reason to believe that the order was not carried out. Among the Commonwealth experiments was that of using Dean Forest, the wood and iron ore of Dean Forest for the manufacture of iron for the supply of the dockyards and private purchasers. As a ton of iron could be made there for ^^3, los, and a ton of shot for £a^, and sold respectively at £"] and £g, the enterprise was more profitable than most government undertakings.^ In 1656 the stock in hand was valued at £g446, which stood as net gain, all expenses being cleared ; ^ but, as Major Wade, who was in charge, thought that one or two hundred tons of iron thrown upon the market 'would surfeit the whole country,' it was rather a book profit than an actual one. However, from September 1654 to March 1659 Dean Forest supplied the Navy with 701 tons of shot and 88 tons of iron fittings ; and from Sept. 1656 to April 1660 with 2300 tons of timber and 123,000 tree-nails,^ the saving thus effected being alone a sufficient justification of the new department. The plentiful yield of timber suggested the advisability of building frigates on the spot, and the Grantha^n was launched at » Add. MSS., 9302, f. 99. - State Papers, Dom., gth Oct. 1658. ^ ^^^^^ Papers, Dom., clxiii, 41 ; 27th May 1658 ; and cxcii, 98. * Add. MSS., 9306, f. 176. * Ibid., 9305, f. 176, and State Papers, Dom., loth Sept. 1653, and Ixxxi, 4. * State Papers, Dom., cxix, 102. ' State Papers, Dom., 8th April 1659, and ccxxiv, 38. 368 The Administration of the Royal Navy Naval Expen- diture. Lidney in 1654; she was followed by the /^^r^j/^r, and then the Princess remained long in hand, since Furzer, the master shipwright, was receiving only £2 a week of the £1^ neces- sary to meet expenses. In October 1659 he wrote to the Navy Commissioners that instead of attending to his duties he was forced to be away two or three days in the week trying to borrow money. The following table, drawn up from the Audit Office De- clared Accounts, shows the general expenditure for this period in round figures : — Amounts received Already Victualling Dept- Wool- Chat- Ports- Wages and paid by owing ford' wich ham mouth Treasurer £. £ i i £ £ £ £ 16492) 1650 J 432,000 233,500 149,000 8700^ 8786 23,768 5292 I65I 446,000 129,000 51,000 10,163 7776 19,089 3783 — 1652 629,000 238,000 88,000 10,900 8381 22,744 6860 304,000 1653^ 1,445,000 335,000 269,000 12,600 12,500 29,000 13,700 227,000 1654 1,117,000 450,000 230,000 11,700 13,500 22,500 15,700 225,000 1655 587,000 466,000 70,000 8700 7600 21,800 7700 — 1656 791,000 473,000 209,000 ^ 8000 7000 20,000 7000 — 1657 746,000 506,000 — 9000 10,300 19,400 6200 311,000^ 1658') 1660 1 1,442,000 714,000 — 11,800 18,000 25,000 9000 447,000 1660 — 1,056,000^ — — — — — — The Commonwealth began its naval administration ham- pered by a debt of ;!{^23 3,000, and it will be seen that, with the exception of 1650, during which year the arrears were partly paid off, it steadily grew in amount. But comparing the national revenue, which had also to support a standing army, with the sums devoted to the Navy, the wonder seems to be that the debt was not larger. For the financial year ending 29th September 1657 the total public income was ;^i,o5o,ooo, and of this ^^^809,000 was assigned to naval purposes; for 1658 iJ"95 1,000, of which the Navy took ^^"624,000.^ The receipts for 1659 were put at i^ 1,5 17,000,^° and the Navy estimates at i:848,oooii. The strain began to be most seriously felt from 1653, when, in September, the Navy Commissioners warned their chiefs that i^i,ii5,ooo was required before 31st December, without including the cost of the vessels on the stocks or that of the ' The dockyard expenses include the rope yards. ^ Covering the period from 13th May 1649 to 31st Dec. 1650. ^ From ist Jan. 1649 at Deptford, 24th Aug. at Woolwich, 24th June at Chatham, and 12th June at Portsmouth. ■• ' Oliver, in the year when he spent ;^i, 400,000 in the navy, did spend in the whole expense of the kingdom ;^2, 600,000.' (Pepys, Diary ^ iv, 52, ed. Wheatley). * Includes many arrears. * Amount owing for wages in September (^Add. MSS., 9300, f. 343). ' Covering the period from 1st Jan. 1658 to 7th July 1660. 8 Owing on 7th July. " Add. MSS., 32, 471, ff. 2, 15. '» /did., f. 6. " Commons Journals, 20th May 1659. 1 The Commonwealth 369 winter fleet ; no provision, they said, had been made for this and * we find it necessary to lay before you the daily clamours we undergo for want thereof.' ^ In October 1654 the Admiralty Commissioners apprised the Protector that the credit of the Government was so greatly impaired that stores could not be ob- tained except for ready money; yet ;^i, 117,000 in cash passed through the Treasurer's hands in this year. This sum was procured from many sources — excise, ;^262,ooo ; treasurer-at- wars, ;;^424,ooo ; customs, ;^ 1 62,000 ; 'profits arising by pro- bate of wills,' ;^i 163; commissioners for Dutch prizes, ;^2029; commissioners for prize goods, ^44,000 ; treasurer at Drury House, £16,000;^ Col. Barkstead,^ i^44,ooo ; from the ex- chequer, i^ 1 3 1 ,000 ; and defalcations and sale of stores, £t, i ,000. Notwithstanding these receipts the Admiralty Commissioners wrote in April 1655 to the Council that they had only been able to pay seamen's wages, that all other debts remained un- paid, and that the yards were exhausted of stores.* Straitened as they were, the Council, two months later, were not deterred from ordering 2000 Bibles for the soldiers in the West Indies, although the fact that the commissioners of the treasury had to ' consider ' how they could be paid for seems to imply that Bibles were no more to be obtained on credit than cordage. On at least one occasion Oliver appears to have himself ad- vanced ;^ 1 0,000 to the Navy Office.^ The debt increased, but the revenue did not show the same elasticity ; all that the Admiralty Commissioners could do, themselves almost daily invoked by the Navy Commissioners, was to carry on the appeal to the Council, ' finding every day a sad increase of the just complaints of several persons for money long since due.' This was in 1658, but in March of the following year they wrote bitterly to the Council that, while such large debts were contracted and they were struggling with difficulties, it made them ' exceeding unhappy ' to see that even their assignments on the customs were not handed over to them in fulL^ In May 1659, among other items, ;i^3 30,000 was owing for seamen's and ;^43,000 for dockyard wages, and the £7SS 3- week paid by the Navy Treasurer to the Savoy and Ely House hospitals was six months overdue.^ In Sep- tember the army commissioners were directed to hand over ;^6o,ooo for naval purposes, although the soldiers' pay was months in arrear. When the Commonwealth accounts close on 7th July 1660 the debt was ^^1,056,000.^ For this large sum every year from 1640 furnished its quota, thus detailed: — 1640-9, i^io,200; 1650, ;^7i,ooo; 165 1, ;^25,ooo; 1652, ' State Papers, Dom., 1st Sept. 1653. - Department for the sale of delinquents' lands. In 1653 ^136,000 was received, by the Navy Treasurer, from this office. ^ Governor of the Tower. * State Papers, Dom., 2nd April 1655. ^ Ibid., cxliv, 140. ^ Ibid., 15th March 1659. ^ Ibid., ccxii, 24. * According to Commons Journals (3rd March 1660) it was ;^694,ooo to 1st A 2 370 The Administration of the Royal Navy £16,000; i6s3, £11,000; 1654, ^^5000; 1655,^^50,000; 1656, ;^229,ooo; 1657, ;^2i8,ooo ; 1660, ;!^42i,ooo. That the earlier amounts were not merely book debts carried forward for want of claimants is shown by the existence of a petition, of April 1658, begging for the settlement of a bill for freight incurred between 1643 and 1651.^ These liabilities, belonging to only one branch of the public service, help to explain why many classes of society, not actively royalist, may have welcomed a restoration which promised a settlement of debts and a more stable financial system. Flags When the St George's cross was made the national flag in February 1648-9, it was also ordered that an escutcheon should be carried on the stern of each man-of-war, containing a red cross in one compartment and a harp in another. In 1653 the three Generals at sea used, besides their stan- dards, a pendant of red, white, or blue, at the main, and their vice- and rear-admirals their respective colours at the fore and and mizen. From i8th May 1658 the standard of the General of the fleet was to bear the arms of England, Scot- land, and Ireland, ' with his Highnes' escutcheon of pretence according to the great seal of England.' The jack flag for admirals was to consist of the arms of England and Scotland united, ' according to the ancient form,' with the harp added, The Salute. 'according to a model now shown.' ^ All saluting, whether from ships or forts, was strictly forbidden in 1652, except in honour of ambassadors ; but the salute to the flag from foreigners was firmly upheld under all circumstances. By the treaty of 5th April 1654, the Dutch formally acknow- ledged the English right to the salute in the 'British seas.' In 1657 Opdam, with thirty Dutch sail, passing Dover struck his flag and saluted the castle ; shortly afterwards he met the Dragon and the Colchester, whose captains ordered him again to strike. He refused, saying that he was not expected to pay this mark of respect to every ship he met, whereupon they replied that if he did not they would engage him till they sank alongside. Then ' he struck in a great rage,' and kept his flag down till out of sight of the Englishmen. Man- of-war captains sometimes displayed the same feeling of pride in their position at the expense of English ships. In 1654 a Virginiaman was run down and sunk in the Channel by the Ruby. In the subsequent inquiry the master of the mer- chantman held that the Ruby should have gone astern of his vessel, to which her captain retorted by asking, * How many men-of-war have you known go under a merchantman's stern ?' Prices. The prices of naval stores varied greatly, according to the Feb. ; the State Papers (ccxxiii, 165) make it ;^788,ooo to March. But the figures in the Audit Office Accounts are circumstantial and minute, and the bureau- cracy is frequently better informed than Parliament, ' Add. MSS., 9302, f. 66. * I.e., the old Union Jack with the harp at the centre. I The Commonwealth 371 confidence felt in the treasury and conditions of peace or war ; the following are the rates for some of the principal articles : — Iron Ordnance 1650, ;^2o a ton 1653,^26 „ Canvas Noyals, 1652, ;^I5 to £1"] a bale' Noyals, 1654, ^19, 7s a bale Vitery, 1654, is a yard Vitery, 1655, is 4d an ell Ipswich, 1654, ^i, I2S a bolt Ipswich, 1655, £i, 7s gd a bolt Hemp 1653, ;^32 a ton (Eng- lish) 1655, £i^, los a ton (Riga) 1657, ^44 a ton (Riga) 1658, ^46 a ton (Riga) 1658, ;^33 a ton (Eng- lish) 1658, ^38 a ton (Rus- sia) Anchors 1656, /34 a ton „ ^37 „ Powder 1650,^3, i6s a barrel 1652, £^ 1653, £A, los „ Plank 1653, £2^ i8s a load 1655, /3, 7s 1657, ^^3, 5s „ (oak) 1659, ^"3, 15s „ „ Small Arms Snaphaunces, 1658, lis 6d each Matchlocks, 1658, los 6d each Carbines, 1658, lis each Pistols, 1658, 14s a pair Black Rosin 1655, ^10, los a ton 1657, j^io a ton (Mar.) 1657, £9^ 5s „ (Aug.) Compass Timber 1656, £2, 5s a load 1658, £Z Cordage 1649, j^30a ton 1656, ;^44 ,, 1657, ;^48 „ 1658, ^44 „ Shot 1652, ^11, los a ton 1653, ^14 a ton Tar 1654, £"^1 15s a barrel 1655, ^10, I2s a last 1656, ^12 a last 1657, ;^I2, los a last 1658, ^13 a last Pitch 1654, ^i, i6s a barrel 1655, 2"I5, 5s a last Beer 1654, /I, 15s a tun 1659, £2, 5s ., Sprutia^ deals 1656, I2S 6d each 1659, 14s Ordinary deals 1657, /4> 3s per 100 of six score Whale Oil 1659, /26, 15s a ton English Tallow 1658, £2, 3s per cwt. Lignum vit^ for blocks 1656, £6, 15s a ton Examples of that incongruity of expression usually asso- ciated with Puritan fervour are not frequent among the Navy papers, but they do occasionally occur. On one occasion Lawson writes, 'All that look towards Zion should hold Christian comm.union — we have all the guns aboard.' Major Robert Sedgwick, starting for the West Indies, asks the Navy Commissioners, after official details, for ' your prayers that we may be sent out with a blessing and be a blessing where we go.' Major Sedgwick's duties were to kill Spaniards, plunder their property, and annex their territory. These men were too grimly earnest in the work they set their hands to do to trouble themselves about fine phrases. They lacked humour, and the court of Charles II was, we are taught, very witty; but when, in 1667, the roar of foreign guns was, for the only time in English history, heard in London, even that majority which always loves a royal jest must have begun to appreciate the distinction underlying Stewart wit and Puritan dulness. ' There were three qualities of Noyals canvas. A bale contained 282 yards. 2 Prussia. APPENDIX A CHAPTER HOUSE BOOK Vol. XHI Here ensuyth An Inventorie or boke of All such Stuff, tacle, apparell, Ordynaunce, Artillarie and habillamentes for the warre as Remayned in our soveraigne lord the kynges shippes the xxvij day of July the yj'^ yere ^ of his reign, By a vewe taken by Sir Henry Wyat, Sir Andrewe Wyndsore, knightes, George Dalyson, and Thomas Tamworth, commissioners in that behalf appoynted, Whuch Stuff, tacle, apparell, Ordynaunce, Artillaries, and habilla- mentes for the warre Was delyvered into the charge and kepyng of severall persons hereaftyr particlerly named to our seid sover- aigne lord the kynges use by Indentures thereof made and also billes signed with the handes of the seid commissioners in the custodie of the seid persones remaynyng. That is to Sey The kynges Shippe called the Henry Grace de Dewe : — Stuff, Tacle, and apparell of the seid shippe delyvered by the seid Commissioners into the charge of John Hopton by Indenture, that is to sey ffyrst the foremast of the seid shippe . Shrowdes to the same . Dedemens hyes ^ to the same . Tacies to the foremast . Doble polles ^ with Shy vers * of Brasse Single polles with Shyvers of Bi-asse . Single polles with a colk ^ of Brasse . Sw3'-fters to the foremast Doble polles with colkes of Brasse polles whuth Shyvers of wode . polles with V colkes of Brasse and oone of wode Garnettes to the foremast with iiij poles ^ J xvj xvj iiij iiij iij J vj iij iij vj ij ^1514. 2 Deadeyes. ^ Pulleys, or blocks. ^ The wheel of a pulley or block. 5 Later the bushing of the wheel-pin ; here apparently the pin itself, Cf. ' colkes of brasse grete and small . . . xxviii — Inventory of the Grace Dieu in i486. ® Pulle)'s, or blocks. The Henry Grace a Dieu \n Inventorie continued Garnet with ij polles aud shyvers of Brasse . Garnet with a shever of Brasse and another of tymbre Trusses to the foremast Dr}'nges > to the same .... Doble polles for the trusses with colkes of brasse Single poles of tymbre .... Dr3^nges with a doble pole with a colk of brasse and oone single pole of wode halyers to the foremast Shyvers of Brasse to the brest ^ of the forecastell Ramehedes with ij shevers of Brasse . Shetes to the foresayle .... poUies with shevers of Brasse to the same lyftes to the foresayle .... Doble polies with shyvers of Brasse to the same Single polies with colkes of Brasse Shetes to the toppe Sayle Single polies with woden pynnes to the same Tackes to the foresayle Stodynges ^ to the foreyerd poUies to the same with woden pynnes cranelynnes to the foremast . Single poles with shyver of Brasse ■ . Bowelynnes to the foreyerd with the poleis and dedemanes hies and oone doble pole with a shever of brasse Stayes to the foreyerd with iiij dedemens heies Sprete sayle yerdes ..... halyers to the same ..... Single poleis with shyvers of Brasse to the same lyftes to the Sprete Sayle with iij single polies and woden pynnes ....... Grapilles^ with the cheyne hangyng apon the bowspret with a pole havyng a colk of brasse . knyghtes^ longyng to the lyftes of the foresayle with ij shevers of brasse The fore topmast .... Shrowdes to the same .... halyers with a doble polie and a colk of brasse ij single poleis with woden pynnes .... Bowlynes to the foretop Sayle yerd with pawes ^ and de demens hyes to the same .... Brasses " for the foretop sayle yerd ij Single poles with pynnes of wode .... lyftes to the foretopsayle yerd with iiij poleis with wooden pynnes ..... Shetes to the foretopsayle with ij woden poles J J ij J xij ij ij ij ij ij ' Halliards. 2 Perhaps the main beam or head piece across it (Cf. breast-summer^ Halliwell, Dictionary). ^ Some sort of rope gear, but the exact use is unknown. ■■ Grappling-irons, or hooks. * Piece of timber carrying blocks and used with various ropes. ® See p. 374, where it is written 'power.' Probably used in the sense of 'bowline bridle ' (See p. 375), and from the old English /owi?, a claw, or something which holds. ' Braces. 374 The Administration of the Royal Navy Inventorie continued Steyes to the foretopmast ..... j Sayle yerdes to the foretop ..... j Toppe Galant apon the foretopmast . . . . j mastes to the same . . ... . . j Shrowdes to the same ...... viij halyers with ij single poles with woden pynnes . . ij Brasses to the same with ij single poleis and wodepynnes and dedemens hyes to the same . . . ij Bowlynes to the topgalant yerd the power and dedemens hies to the same ..... ij lyftes to the foretopgalant yerd with iiij single polies with woden pynnes ...... ij Shetes with ij single poles with woden pynnes . . ij Stayes to the foretopgalant mast . . . . j Shevers of Brasse for the cattes in the forecastell . • iiij Davettes ^ with iiij shevers of Brasse . . . . ij Smale davettes with oone shever of Brasse . . . j The mayne mast ^ ...... j Shrowdes with cheynes of yron and dedemenes hies to the same ....... xl Bote tacles of sterebord syde with iiij doble poles and viii single poleis with xvj shyvers of Brasse * . . iiij Swifters on the same syde with vij doble poleis and vii single polees with colkes of Brasse and ij poles of tymbes^ pynnes ...... viij Garnettes with ij single poles with shivers of Brasse . . j Garnettes with ij single polies with colkes of Brasse . . j Garnettes with oone single pole with a shever of Brasse and j an other pole with a colk of Brasse Stodynges with a single polie with a Shever of Brasse . j Bote tacles oon ladbord syde with iiij doble polies and viij single polies with xvj Shevers of Brasse . . iiij Bretayn tacles^ with ij single polies and Shevers of Brasse to the same ...... j Swyfters with vij doble polies with colkes of Brasse and viij single poles with colkes of Brasse . . viij Garnettes whereof oone with ij single polies and ij shevers of Brasse an other with ij single poleis with ij colkes of Brasse and an other with a shever of Brasse . iij Stodynges with a shever of Brasse . . . . j tymber polies for the Shuts •* . . . . ij The mayne yerde with the mayne parell . . . j Single poleis with a shever of Brasse to wynde up the mayne parell ....... j Trusses with iiij doble poUeis and iiij single polies with xij shevers of Brasse . . . . .iij Drynges with ij doble polies and iiij shevers of Brasse . ij Single poleis of tymbre to the same . . . . ij Tyes ....... j payer ' The davit was a movable beam of wood fitted with blocks, and used to raise the fluke of the anchor. - The main mast was a ' made ' mast, e.g. ' a grete mast to be the spyndell of the mayne mast to the Heriry Grace a Dieii.' ^ The Sovereign had ' bote tacles of both syds the mast x.' It appears therefore to have been customary to hoist one or two out of the three boats. ' Timber. * Now known as a ' burton tackle.' ® Wooden blocks for the sheets. The Henry Grace a Diezc 375 Inventorie continued Whele Ropes' ....... Geers with vj single poleis whereof iiij with shevers of Brasse and ij of tymbre knyghtes belonging to the same with iij Shevers of Brasse Single poles for the topsayle .... Shutes with iiij shevers of Brasse knyghtes with ij shevers of Brasse The mayne yerd ..... lyftes with ij doble poleis and ij single with vj Shevers of Brasse to the same .... Knyghtes with ij Shevers of Brasse . Shutes ....... Tackes ....... bowlynes with Brydelles and Dedemens hies . poleis to the ma3me Bowlyne with ij Shevers of Brasse mayne Stayes with viij dedemens hies Brasses with ij single poles and colkes of Brasse The mayne top ...... The mayne top mast and a coler of yron Shrowdes to the same with dedemens hies The mayne top Sayle yerd . . . . Tyes ....... halyers with a doble and a single polie with ij shevers of Brasse Brases with iiij poles lyftes with iiij polies and colkes of Brasse Cranelynnes with a single pole and a colk of Brasse . Steyes to the mayne top mast .... bowlynes with dedemens hies .... The top Galant apon the mayne topmast mastes for the same ..... Rynges of yron for the same .... Shrowdes to the same with dedemens hies Sayle yerdes to the same .... Stayes to the same ..... Bowlynes . . . . . . Brases with ij poles to the same Shutes ....... GrabuUes with che3mes to the same . poleys apon the mayne yerd for the grabulles Spare knyghtes standyng by the mast with ij shevers of Brasse The mayne meson mast .... Shrowdes with xj doble poles and xj single poles, a doble and single polee with colkes of Brasse . Swyftyers with vj doble poles and vj single poles with colkes of Brasse ..... Tacles with ij doble poles of tymbre . Single poles oone of tymbre the other with a colk of Brasse Steyes ....... Shutes ....... Single poles oon of tre- the other with a colke of Brasse for the same Shutes .... cranelynes with a single polie and a colk of Brasse Brases with ij single poles .... Teyes^ ....... "J iiij ij ij J xij ' Used in connection with the main sail. ^ Tyes. 2 Wood. 376 The Administration of the Royal Navy Inventorie continued halyers .... The Rame hede knyghtes with iij Shevers of Brasse The yerd to the meson Sayle . lyftes with iij poles and dedemens hies Trusses with a double and a single polie with colkes of Brasse Toppe . Topmast to the same . Rynges of yron . Shrowdes with dedemens hies The Sayle yerd Tyes poles to the same lyftes with iij poles and dedemens hies The top Galant of the mayne meson The mast to the same . Shrowdes to the same . lyftes with iij poleis and dedemens hies The Sayle yerd . Tyes to the same halyers . The boneaventure mast Shrowdes with x Doble poles and x syngle polei Sayle yerdes Tyes .... halyers with a doble pole knyghtes with iiij Shevers of Brasse Shutes with ij poleis to the same The boneaventure top . mastes to the same Sayle yerdes Shrowdes Steyes . In the storehouse of the Shipp viij single pendaunt polies with shevers of Brasse Smale single garnet poleis with shevers of Br Doble lyft poleis with shevers of Brasse Doble poleanker ' poleis with shevers of Brasse Snach poUeis with gret Shevers of Brasse Single poleis with Shevers of Wode Doble poleis with Shevers of Wode Doble poleis with a colk of Brasse Single poleis with a colk of Brasse pottes called piche pottes ketilles to melt in pyche boyes for ankers boy Ropes Shevers of Brasse without poleis leddern ^ bokettes ..... xij love ^ hokes lynch ^ hokes iir iiii iir xiii i X X iij dossen iiij ' Blocks of a particular kind ; from French palan, palanc^ a combina- tion of puUies, or palanquer, to hoist or haul. ^ Leathern. ^ Luff. ■* Or Leche hooks, probably broad hooks, from old French, leec/ie, leesche. The Henry Grace a Dieu 111 Inventorie continued Copper ketill not sett in furnes 5 weying by estimacon ccc > . j CABLES AND a\BLETTES OF xiij ynch compas .... xvij ynch compas .... ij XV ynch compas .... • ^J ix ynch compas .... • J viij ynch compas .... • J vij HAWSERS OF iiij ynch compas iiij \-i ynch compas . iij vj ynch di - compas V ynch compas . viij ynch compas iiij ynch compas iij ynch compas . V ynch compas . iiij ynch compas vij iij ynch compas . iij ynch di compas j xxij Smale lyne ij peces Bygger lyne for lanyers ^ ij peces Brayle Ropes with iij poles to the same j Grete doble Blockes ether of them ij Shyvers of Brasse ...... ij Single blokes with ij Shavers of Brasse ij long Ores for the Grete bote . . . . Ix Tarre .... ij barelles Ores for the Cocke bote xxiij Standart Staves * lix Stremers • viij lytle flagges c Top Armours . vii Targettes . XX dossen large fflagges . Ix To the mayne Sayle Acorse ^ a nd ij bonettes doble . j mayne sayle mayne topsayles . j Topgalant Sayle j The meson Sayle j The boneaventure Sayle J The foresayle Acorse and a bonet doble and bonet single an other corse and iij bonettes single in all . ij foresayles The fore topsayle . . . . . j The foretopgalant Sayle . . . . J The Bowspret Seyle . . . . . j The mayne Sayle for the gret Bote, a corse and ij bonettes single . . . , . j sayii The foreseyle acorse and ij bonettes single . j Top Seyle ...... j The meson Seyle .... j The boneaventure Sayle . . . . j An old corse of a hulk Sayle . . j 300 lbs. ^ Six and a half inches. ^ Laniards. ■* Flag staves. * The body or main portion of the sail. '^yZ The Administration of the Royal Navy Inventorie continued ANKERS CALLED Sterbord bowers . , . . ij ladbord bowers . ij Destrelles ' of Sterbord ij Destrelles on ladbord . ij Shot - ankers j Caggers ^ J Spare ankers ix xix Trene ■■ platters iiij dossen Trene cuppes . V dossen Tankerdes iij dossen lantrons ^ vj grete lantrons . ■» middellantrons ij Copper ketilles in furnes iij lede in oone pece by estimacon »! Grete belles in the seid Ship of Brasse J The grete botes mayne mast . Shrowdes to the same . xiiij polles to the same • . xxviij eis single poleis doble poleis Tacles oone with a doble pole and colkes of Brasse the other with a single pole and a Shever of tymbre Single poles with a shever of Brasse .... niayne yerdis and the parell ..... Trusses with ij poleis and Shevers of tymbre Tyes ........ halyers with a doble pole and Shever of Brasse Single poleis on of them with a Shever of brasse and other of tymbre Shutes Tackes bowlynes with a pole and Shever of tymbre lyftes with ij Single pok Topsayle Shotes with ij yerde Ropes The meyne Stey with ij The toppe The topmast Shrowdes to the same Sayle yerdes Tyes parell to the sayle yerd Bowlynes lyftes Cranelynes Brases . The foremast Shrowdes to the same The Sayle yerd . The parell Teyes Syngle halyers with a polie to the same Shetes ..... ' Perhaps from the Catalan destre, to bridle. ^ Sheet anchors. ^ Kedge anchors. ■* Wooden. * Lanterns. ^ Five hundredweight. The Henry Grace a Dieu 379 Inventorie contiimed tackes lyftes with ij poleys Steyes . bowlynes with a poHe . Single Trusses with a polie Bowspretes mayne meson mast Shrowdes to the same . The Sa3^1e yerd . the parell to the same . The Tye Single halyers with a pole Trusses with ij poles . lyftes with iij poles Erases with ij poles Steys with ij Smale poles The boneaventure mast Shrowdes to the same . Tyes Single halyers with oone pole The sayle yerd . The parell to the same . Ankers for the said bote Cablettes of v ynch compas Cocke bote mastes to the same Sayle yerdes Shevers of Brasse Ores to the same bote hokes The skyff otherwise called Jolywatt mastes to the same Sayles . Ores to the same Shevers of Brasse Shevers of Brasse called a Wyndyng Shever for the Rame hede . . . . , hawsers of v ynch compas . . ... hawsers of vj ynch di compas . ' . hawsers of v ynch compas .... Cables of ix ynch compas .... hawsers of vj ynch compas Soundyng ledes ..... di hawser ^ iij . di hawser vj Ordynaunce Artillarie and habillamentes for warr de- lyvered to the charge and custodie of Thomas Spert, master, and WilHam Bonython, purser of the seid shipp by In- denture as aforeseid, that is to sey Serpentynes ofyron with miches^ boltes and forelockes . cxxij Chambers to the same ..... ccxliiij Stone gonnes of yron Apon trotill wheles and all other Apparell ...... in; Chambers to the same ..... iii Serpentynes of Brasse apon wheles shod with yron * Half a hawser. 2 Linstocks. }8o The Administration of the Royal Navy Inventorie continued Serpentynes of Brasse apon wheles unshodd . . j Grete peces of yron of oon makyng and bygnes . . xij Chambers to the same ..... xxiiij Grete yron gonnes of oone sort that come owt of fflaunders with myches bolts and forelockes . . . iiij Chambers to the same ..... viij Grete Spanysh peces of yron of oone sorte . . ij Chambers to the same ..... iiij Stone gonnes apon Trotill wheles with miches boltes and forelockes to the same .... xviij Chambers to the same ..... xxxiiij Smale vice peces of Brasse apon shodd wheles of Symondes makyng ..... j long vice peces of Brasse of the same makyng . . iij ffawcons of Brasse apon Trotill wheles ... vj a fayre pece of Brasse of Arragows makyng . . j A Slyng of yron Apon Trotill wheles ... j Chambers to the same with other apparell . . j grete Stone gonnes of yron .... ij chambers to the same ..... iiij Grete culverynes of Brasse apon unshodd wheles of Symondes makyng ..... ij Grete bumberdes of Brasse apon iiij trotill wheles of herberd ' makyng ..... j Grete curtalles of Brasse apon iiij wheles and of the same makyng 2 ...... j hakebusshes of yron hole ..... clxxxxiij hakbusshes of yron broken ..... vjj Shott of yron of Dy verse Sortes . . . .Dclxshott Stone Shott of Dyverse Sortes in the balist of the ship A grete nomber not told .... In the Grete Bote of the seid ship Remaynyng fyrst Serpentynes of yron with myches boltes and forelockes . viij Chambers to the same ..... xxv Serpentynes of Brasse apon shodd wheles . . j ffawcons of Brasse apon Shodd wheles ... ij In the Storehouse of the shipp .... Bowes of Ewe ...... cxxiiij chestes for the same ..... ij hole chestes of Arrowes . . . . . iij Billys ....... cxliiij moryspykes ....... Ixxx Backes and Brestes of Almyne Ryvettes of ether . cc Splentes ^ . . . . . . clxxxxviii payer Salettes* ....... cc ' Herbert. '^ Another document {Letters and Papers of Henry VIII ^ i-4968) gives the distribution of these guns : — Forecastle — 33 iron serpentines, I brass serpentine, 4 stone guns. Waist — 29 iron serpentines, 4 great guns of iron, 2 great Spanish pieces. By the rudder — 7 iron serpentines. Lower deck — 20 iron serpentines. Second deck — 33 iron serpentines, 3 brass serpentines, 18 stone guns, 4 vice pieces of brass, 6 brass fawcons, 2 great stone guns of iron, I sling of iron, 2 brass culverins, i curtow of brass, i ' fryre ' piece ; and 9 brass serpentines and 2 fawcons in the great boat. ^ Armour composed of overlapping plates working on rivets. ■* Headpieces. The Henry Grace ct Dieu 381 Inventorie continued Standardes of mayle cc chargyng ladylles for Goiines with staves vj staves withowt ladelles viij Spare miches for Gonnes xiiij Spare boltes ij Javelyns . ix dossen Dartes Ivij dossen hamers for Gonnes . xiiij Crowes of yron iiij Stokepykes of yron xiiij lynch pynnes iiij APPENDIX B THE MUTINY OF THE GOLDEN LION On the 19th April 1587, Drake with the Bonavenhire^ Lion, Dreadnought, Rainbow, and Spy, of the Queen's, and some twenty armed merchantmen attacked Cadiz, with results disastrous to Spain. Borough was vice-admiral and in command of the Lion. The fleet left Cadiz harbour on 21st April, and on the 30th Borough addressed a long and vigorously worded letter to Drake ^ protesting that the councils of war called were only nominal con- sultations where the admiral declared his will, or else merely entertained his visitors who departed ' without any consultacyon or counsell holden.' Drake's answer was to supersede him. All we know further is that on 27th May the Lion^s company put their new captain, Marchant, on the Spy, and sailed away for Eng- land with Borough who afterwards declared that he was in daily fear of his life, and therefore had no great reason to try and stop their action. If Borough did not incite them to mutiny the men of the Lion must have been for some time full of discontent and ready to desert. The chase of the Bark of Lyme, which took them from under the guns of the rest of the fleet, gave them their oppor- tunity. On 30th May, Drake constituted a court-martial on the Bonaventure, of himself and the other superior officers, at which most of the mutineers were condemned to death in their absence. The account of this inquiry gives a vivid picture of the modes of thought among the men, and their ideas of their rights and duties. Although time has settled the historical perspective in which we view Drake and Borough, it must be said for the latter that, in 1587, the admiral was only to him, one of half-a-dozen great seamen with whom Borough, and doubtless his contemporaries, thought he could claim equality. He was an experienced commander and one of the four Principal Officers of the Navy ; he was, here, second in command to Drake, and it was contrary to. all the traditions of the service that the admiral should undertake any enterprise without the advice and consent of his captains. In this matter Drake was one of the first expedition leaders to ' Printed in full in Barrow's Life of Drake ^ p. 242. The Mutiny of the Golden Lion 383 strike out a line of his own, and Borough, tenacious of custom and what he considered his rights, at once came into collision with him. It was long before Drake's principle of accepting sole responsibilit}^ was generally followed. In a private note of fare- well to Burghley in 1596, and perhaps with this incident in his mind; Howard, when leaving for the Cadiz voyage wrote, 'I have no meaning to ronne any rash or unadvysed course nor to settell any thyng for Her Maiesties servyce upon my own jugment but to yeald to those that shall show best reson.' ' After their return an inquiry was held at which the vice-admiral was charged with neglect of duty at Cadiz.^ No actual result followed, but Borough came off with the honours of war since he was not disgraced, and remained one of the chief Officers of the Navy. Burghley appears to have been on his side, and Borough wrote subsequently an effusive letter thanking ihim ardently for his support.^ From one passage in this letter in which he says that he had hoped that after the inquiry his innocence would be proclaimed, but that ' I have suppressed my greefe in respect of the comandment and charge given me,' it may be inferred that the finding was actually favourable to Borough but not made public, perhaps from a desire not to offend Drake. One other point is worth noticing : if the crew of the Lion voiced the general feeling among English seamen, Drake was certainly not loved by them. ADD. MSS., 12,505, f., 241.4 A generall courte holden for the service of her Matie abourde the Elizabeth Bonaventure the xxxth day of Maye before Sir Ffrauncis Drake, knighte, generall of Her Maties fleete ; Thomas Fennard, Vice-Admirall ; Anthony Plotte, Leivetenant-generall ; John Marchant, serjant-major, and the reste of the captaines and masters of the fleete as foUoweth, The generall, att this courte, called in question and judiciallye demaunded of Captayne Merchaunt howe he colde discharge him- selfe to answere the departure of Her Ma^'^'' shippe the Golden Lyon which he latelye gave him in charge ? Captayne Marchaunt protestinge, with all earnest affeccon, his innocencye alledged and declared, — That there was a great Mutynie growen amonge the Company of the Lyon the 27 of this month ; as sone as we had given over the chase undertaken, understandinge that she was the Barke of Lyme,^ when I requyred the Master that we mighte lye close by the wynde to recover our generall, the Master answered, ' Well, Captaine, we will.' But presentely one of the quartermasters came and delivered me a lettere in the behalfe of the whole company as followeth : — ' Captayne Marchaunt, Captayne of the Golden Lyon ap- ' Lansd, MSS., 115, f. 22. * Siate Papers, Dom., Eliz. cciii, I. ^ Ibid., ccviii, 77. ^ A volume of the Caesar papers. Modern punctuation has been added, aipd contractions are extended, s Infra, p. 388. 384 The Administration of the Royal Navy poynted by Sir Ffrauncis Drake, generall of this fleete, — Wee, the Quenes, and yours at this tyme desyre that, as you are a man and beare the name of a captayne over us, so to weighe of us Hke men, and lett us not be spoyled for wante of foode, for our allow- aunce is so smale we are not able to lyve any longer of it ; for when as three or foure were wonte to take a charge in hande, nowe tenne at the leaste, by reason of our weake victuallinge and filthie drinck, is scarce able to discharge it, and yet growe rather weaker and weaker ; which suerly if it be not loked into, will growe to greate dishonour on your parte, and to a lastinge shame on our sydes, by reason of the moste worthie and the moste honorable challendge of our generall at Caste Galleys ^ in daringe the kinges deputie, or the kinge himselfe if he were in place, or the proudest champyon he had to come fourthe and chaunge a Bullett with him ; but none durste once adventure to come forthe unto him, but the Cowardlike knightes sayde they were not readye for him : a moste worthye enterprise, deservinge lastinge fame to come to the gates of his Courte, yea the strongest holde of his lande, and dare him fourthe. Our hartes were then so boldened and our stomackes so coragiouslye bente, that if theye had byn Tenne to one we rather wished to fighte than to goo to dynner. But nowe, most unfortunate and unluckie chaunce fallen amongest us by weakeninge of our Lymes, and feblenes of our bodyes, we are not able to abyde the force of them as nowe, and thoughe they be but one to one, the more is our greife; for what is a piece of Beefe of halfe a pounde amonge foure men to dynner or halfe a drye Stockfishe for foure dayes in the weeke, and nothing elles to helpe withall — Yea, wee have helpe, a litle Beveredge^ worse than the pompe water. Wee were preste by her Ma^'^s presse to have her allowaunce, and not to be thus dealt withall, you make no men of us, but beastes. And therefore wee are not determyned to goe any further, but as we broughte the Lyon^ with our Master's helpe, fourth, so wee will carye her home agayne by the helpe of God, for as the wynde is faire and home we will. And thus Captayne Marchaunt thinke of us as you will and lett us have more victualles to bringe us home, for as longe as it please God this wynde to blowe we will not alter our corse, but home straighte and so thinck of us as you please. The Quenes men and yours homewardes to our powers.' And there withall came the Master unto me sayinge. That there was not a man that wolde sett his handes to the saylles. Noe Master, quoth I, what is it you can not comaunde them to doe, beinge Master of the shippe ! Strike the sayles, but it colde not be don for the yeardes weare alonge^ before hande, and the Toppes and Shrowdes manned, and the Master sayde they wolde doe nothinge for him. To appease this Mutanie I came amonge them myselfe saying, ^ Cascaes, near Lisbon. "^ Any abnormally diluted drink, as beer and water, or cider and water. ' Peaked or slanted. The Mutiny of the Golden Lion 385 My masters, what soden Mutaine is this amonge you ? colde not this have byn spoken of when we were neare the general!, yf any thinge had byn amj^s there yt had byn redressed ; I wolde wishe you take a better corse then this for yt will not be answered. Where- with for the whole company spake one Crowe, that they wolde not loose the wynde which was fayre and further theye wolde not goe. I showed them also that for theire victualles there was in the shippe by the confession of the Pursur sufficient for 30 dayes, assuringe them also on my life that as sone as they came to the generall the}^ sholde have a monthes victuall put abourde them presentlye.^ But theye cryed alowde they wolde all home, excepte some xii or xvi gentlemen and officers. To perswade them the rather to staye I said moreover unto them, My Masters, I will no we imparte unto you a matter which I thoughte to have secreyted untill another tyme, That there is an Island of greate ritches promysed to be delivered to our generall without the losse of one man, I praye you therefore staye and talke with him, and he will laye you downe such reason as shalbe to the contentacon of you all. Whereat one Cornelius one of the gunners said, Well, Captayne, at your requeste we will sta3-e till nighte to speake with the generall, for the which I thanked them all hartylie j howbeit they presentely layde theire heades togither agayne and came with one voyce sayinge, the wynde is good, we will not staye, we will awaye, all ! all ! all ! When I sawe the Mutaine so farre growen I requested .Mr Boroughes that he wolde worke a meane with them to cause them staye, untill they cam to the generall that they might acknow- ledge him and departe in good order from him. They answered presentely that they wolde not staye for the generall for they knewe what order he wolde take with them. In the moste of their mutanie I saide unto them, What ! is there no honest man will acknowledge their generall, and there- with willed as many as wolde so doe to holde up their hands, which aboute xii or xvi gentlemen and officers did; the reste cryed, home ! home ! Then I said, My masters, this plate^ hath byn layde before now by the principalles, not by the common sorte which will not be answered. Why, quoth Mr Boroughes, howe speake you that, meane 3^ou me ? I answered, I wolde I knewe it were you, then wolde I sone tell you of it, but I am suer it is don by the principalles. Whereupon I requested then I mighte be sett aborde the Quenes pinnis. They tolde me, Noe, that they colde carye me as safe into England as Sir Ffrauncis Drake colde. I answered I wolde never be caryed into England by such a company of unhonest persons as theye were. Then I requested Mr Borughes that he wolde deale with the Company that I mighte departe for I knewe he might do it. My masters, said he, what unreasonable men are you, will you neither ' Immediately. ^ Plot. B 2 386 The Administration of the Royal Navy staye for the admyrall nor lett the man departe ! Lett him departe for shame or elles staye for the admyrall, doe one of the two. Then said Crowe, well Captayne, if you saye the worde you shall goe; with that theye were contente. Then once more I requested Mr Borughes as he was a gentleman and tendred the accon^ that he wolde deale once more with the company, for I knewe he might doe it, and promysed as I was a Christian that there sholde not one here of theire heddes perishe, Soe as theye wolde staye and speake with the generall. He retorned to me agayne this answere, Captaine Marchaunt I have talked with them and theire answere is this. They have had many promises and little performance, therefore they will staye noe longer. When I sawe them so bent I called to Captaine ClifForde who was in the Queues pynnis desyringe him to take me in and bringe me to the generall, for that I wolde not be caried into England by a company of such unruly persons. He cryed unto me that he wolde have me in or elles come abourde for me himself, but theye manned theire Boate and sett me aboarde, which, when one of those in the toppe perceaved, he cryed with an othe, What ! will you let him goe ! Yf he fetche up the Admyrall before nighte he will overtake us and then you shall see what worke he will make with us. In the middest of the mutinie I callid the Pursur unto me and demaunded of him for what cause the company had stinckinge beveredge to drincke, as there were in the shippe 15 tounes of beare, sayinge, that if theye had any such theye sholde have it in thende and drincke the beare as longe as it lasted. Where- upon the company with one voyce cryed. Yea, Captaine, God save your life, yt is your will we knowe that we sholde have it ; but we have it not. The daye before theis matters brake forthe I ymparted my mynde to Mr Borughes, tellinge him that scince the generall is bounde for the Ilandes the next fayre daye that cometh, I will goe abourde him and geve him to understand in what case we stande for victualles that we maye be the better provyded whatsoever befall. Nay, said he, the pursur hath byn with him and he understandeth it alreadye for that wilbe a meane yf he be not mynded to goe for the Ilandes to make him goe thither. And therefore if he will runn into the Indies lett him run, he knoweth alreadye what we want, never goe to him at all for any thinge. Then, I said, when the Pursur was with him he was so busie as he cold not have any leasure and therefore willed him to resorte unto him at another tyme. He^ answered as he did at the firste. The same tyme that the Raynebowe had her mayne sayle taken from the yearde by weather the Captaine of her desired me to beare up with the generall to give him to understand of his distres. Then quoth Mr Boroughes, The generall seeth in what case he is and beareth all the sayle he can and stayeth not for him, let us staye by him and helpe him. But ' Regarded the action. '' Borough. The Mutiny of the Golden Lion 387 his desyre is, quothe I, that the generall sholde knowe it presentlye and that his foremast is spent. Thereto Mr Boroughes answered, The Captaine is a foole and he knoweth not what belongeth to it so well as I doe. Captaine Clififord sayth and testifieth that a such tyme as he came nere the Golden Lyon to take in Captaine Marchaunte he callid to the master of the same shippe, wishinge him to have care of himselfe, to bringe backe the shippe to the generall and to appease the companye, for that he knewe he was a man colde doe much amonge them, addinge further that he was not able to answere it at his cominge home. He answered he colde not doe withall and the company were resolved to goe home. The master of the same pinnisse spake unto him in like manner, or a greate deale more. Then Captaine Clifforde called to the company and tolde them that if theye wente awaye with her Maiesties Shippe some of them wolde be hanged, upon which wordes Captayne Marchaunt hard them call Capteine Clifforde, Arrant villane. Upon dewe consideracon whereof the generall sayde : — Al- thoughe I am not dobtefull what to doe in this case, or yet want any aucthoritie, but myselfe have from Her Maiestie sufficient Jurisdiccon to correcte and punnishe with all severitie as to me in discretion shalbe meete, Accordinge to the Qualitie of the offences, all those sceditious persons which sholl be in the whole fieete, yet for the confidence I have in your discretions, as also to wytnes our agreament in Judgement in all matters, I praye you lett me heare your severall opynions touching this facte which hath byn declared in your hearinge this daye ; In my judgement it was as fowle and untollerable a mutanye as ever I have knowne. Captyne Marchant hath discharged his dutie faythefull as a true servitor unto her Maiestie ; all the rest of that shippe, exceptinge only those 12 or 16 which helde up theire handes to wytnes theire wyllingnes to retorne to our company have deserved a shamfull deathe in that theye have forsaken her Maiesties standerd and conyssyon and forsaken her Maiesties Shippes Royal beinge dis- tressed, and as much as in them lyeth hindreth the service in hande for the honor and safiFetye of her Maiesties realmes and domynyons. And therefore my fiynall and diffinityve sentence is this — That the master of the said Shippe, the boteswaine, and Mr Boroughe, and Crowe, the pryncipall contryvers and workers of this mutanie, shall, assone as I come by them, wheresoever I find them within my power, abyde the paynes of Death ; yf not theye shall remayne as deade men in lawe. All the rest shall remayne also at her Maiesties mercye as accessaryes to this treacherous defection. And thoughe it shall please her Majestic to looke upon them with mercye, yett my sentence is theye shall all come to the Corte gate with halters aboute theire neckes for an example of all such offendours. The whole Councell approved this sen- tence as iuste and necessarye for avoydinge the like hereafter, 388 The Administration of the Royal Navy which elles muste needes growe to the utter dissolucon of all her Maiesties service for the sea hereafter. God save the Quene. The next paper (f. 243, et seq.), is endorsed ' The voluntary confession of William Bigatt, Master of the Zwm, under Captain Wm. Burrowes, June 1587.' Bigatt, of course, desired to clear himself and Borough ; but the paper is of interest from the side-lights it throws on naval customs and discipline. Modern punctuation has been inserted where necessary. The xxvii of Maye 1587 beinge Satterdaye assone as yt was dayelighte wee sawe a sayle a heade of us, which was north north- easte from us as farr as wee coulde well see her ; unto the which we gave chase by the comaundement of our captaine, captaine Marchaunte, for that wee thought her to be a Spanierd or Portingall, the winde beinge at weste southweste, our generall with those shipps which were with hime beinge then in sighte of us, and not then farr from us ; but the generall kepinge nearer the winde then wee did, for that wee followed chase after the sayle which we sawe as aforesayd, wee lost the sight of the generall with the reste of those that were with him, then beinge abovvte eighte of the clocke in the morninge, then beinge with us in companie the Spie of her Maiesties, both of us still followinge the chase. And abowte eleven of the clock before none, beinge then but three houres after wee had lost sight of the generall, wee sett up the sayle and spake with him, yt was one of our owne companie, a Barke of Lyme, but shee departed from us a five dayes before with others for to come home for England. As sone as wee had spoken with this Barke I called unto the companye as yt is the use of sea menu for to doe, and willed them to take in our sprett sayle but they awnswered me not that I hearde anie thinge att all at that time ,• but I thinkinge that it had bin doun according as I willed them which was that they should gett yt in. A little while after I came forewardes againe to the mayne maste, and asked, What ? is your sprett seyle in ? but none awnswered, neither that yt was in, nor that it was not in, and John Terrye, beinge one of our quartermasters, walkinge afore the maste, I called unto him and willed that the Sprett Sayle shoulde be got in that wee might kepe our loofe -^ he awnswered me that the companie said theye would not take yt in. No ! said I, what is the cawse ? Whoe be they that saye they will not ? He awnswered, they all in generall saye soe ; I demaunded, Whie will they not ? he awnswered that the captaine, captaine Marchaunt, knew the cawse, and that the cawse whie was delivered him in writinge. Then I went unto the captaine, he, with his lieftenaunte Mr Nicholls, beinge then readinge the letter which was delivered the captaine ; I also ' LuC The Mutiny of the Golden Lion 389 seinge parte of the bill read, wente forwarde againe to the maste and called unto them and willed them that they should gett in theire sprett sayle and haile afte our shoowtes ^ that wee might goe unto our generall and the reste of the fflete, but none of them would goe abowte to doe yt by anie sayinge that I coulde saye unto them. Then I wente unto the captaine, captaine Marchaunte, and toulde him that I had willed the companie to gett in the Sprett Sayle and hale after our showttes, but I could gett none of them to doe yt by anie meanes ; he himself then goinge forwarde to the mayne maste, demaunded, whie they did not as the master comaunded them, and, as yt will be proved he comaunded them in her maiesties name to doe yt. The moste parte of them awnswered hime that they would not, but that they would goe for England, for the winde is nowe good, and that they would not goe backe againe and be starved for wante of victualls; the captaine awnsweringe them againe sayd, Contente yourselves, what victualls soever are in the shipp you shall have yt, and therefore holde yourselves contente untill wee mete with our generall. They said againe, they have had manye faire woordes, but nothing performed in dedes. Then I myself, perswaded them that theye would contente themselves and that they woulde hale afte the showttes, that wee might tarrye and not goe home, but that the generall shoulde knowe of theire goinge, and not for to goe awaye in that sorte, not makinge him acqueinted of the departure of the shipp, and soe likewise did captaine Marchaunte requeste them that if theye woulde nedes goe that they would stay but untill nighte to see yf wee coulde possible mete with the generall, yf not that then they might doe as they thought good; and Mr Burrowes did likewise intreate with them that they, would staye and not goe awaye in that order; then Cornelius the Gonner intreated with the reste of the Gonners and parte of the companie to tarrie untill nighte to see yf wee could mete with the generall, and with mutch adoe had almoste gott them to staye. And then I willed them to hale afte our showttes, and willed hime to putt the healme to Lee, and keep his Loofe, but yt was not donn as I willed them; then I wente afte to see yf the helme were a Lee as I willed hime to putt y t, and looked downe at the Skuttle, and there I sawe one bearinge the helme on the contrarye syde which was on the weather syde which was one Crowe. Then, I called unto him and willed him to putt on the Lee, but he would not doe yt by anie meanes; then I called unto him againe and asked him, Whie doest thou not as I bidd thee, you wilbe Master belike, will you ! said I unto him, whoe awnswered me, Yea, that I will, and Captaine to for a tyme, untill there be other order taken ! so that neither the helme was putt alee not yet I coulde gett the showttes haled afte. Then I wente and certified the Captaine what awnswer was made me by Crowe : and then saide the companie we will not staye to speake with the generall; the cawse was asked by me whie ' Sheets. 390 The Administration of the Royal Navy the would not staye, (of Cornelius the gonner because he did saye unto the captaine that he would perswade them to tarrye untill nighte to speake with the General), then Cornelius awnswered that they said theye would not staye for feare that the generall would take them owte 'of the Lyon, and shifte them into other shipps, and then use suche punishemente unto them as he thought good, and therefore they would not tarrie but go home for England, for they would rather truste to the Quenes mercye then unto the curte- seye of the generall, and that they would awnswer yt at home that they had donn. When Captaine Marchaunte sawe that by no perswasioun they would alter there mynds he was verye angrye, and said that this was no newe matter begonn, but that yt bin begoon to have bin practised before this tyme by somme of the beste and not of the worste. Then I replied againe and said that I, for my part, am ignoraunte and never knewe of the matter before this tyme, nether did I ever knowe whoe did beginn yt, and therefore Sir I praye you doe not chardge me with anie suche thinge, ffor tryall whereof I called the companie and certified them of the woorde that Captaine Marchaunte spake, and they generallie (I meane those men that were at this broyle) confessed and saide that as God shoulde iudge them that neither I nor Mr Burrowes was ever consentinge unto the matter, but that yt was theire owne doinge and that theye would awnswer yt. Then Captaine Marchaunt and I fell to perswadinge them again to tarrie but by no meanes they woulde at our requeste yelde unto yt ; then the captaine tolde them that he would not goe for England but that he would rather leape into the sea then goe home. Then John Tippett standinge by the mayne maste drewe oute his kniflfe and cutt the halliardes of the mayne Topp- sayle that yt might commedowne but theye had slonge the yarde alofte soe that the sayle coulde not comme downe. Then Captaine Marchaunte prayed them that yf by noe meanes theye would staye for the Generall untill nighte that theye would sett him aboorde of the Spie her Maiesties pinnase who was all this while with us, and with mutche adoe gott them at the laste to doe yt, and I myself did offer the captaine to goe with hime aboord the generall but he was not willinge that I shoulde, and yett I offered to goe with hime twise. And Captaine Clefforde, captaine of the Spie sawe all this broyle in our shipp ; he called unto me and said. Master, have a care of your creditt ; I awnswered him againe. Alack sir ! I am but one mann, I have donn as muche as I can to perswade them but by noe intreatye can make them to tarrie. Then Captaine Clefforthe called unto them and saide. Take hede what you doe for you wilbe hanged all of you ! Then one of our gouners standing uppon our poope awnswered Captaine Clefforthe againe, and saide, Cutt hose ! cutt hose ! where were you when the Samaritane was aground uppon the rock ? And one of our quartermasters did saye, I thancke you Sir for your sharpe judgmente, yt is a harde fought feeld were none escapethe ! And when our captaine was in the boate at shipp sterne Mr Burrowes fell to perswadinge I The Mutiny of the Golden Lion 391 them againe to' staye untill nighte but theye would not in anie case staj'-e. Then our captaine, captaine Marchaunte went aboord of the Spie and soe she went awaye from us, and wee laye by the Lee for our boate ; and in the meane tyme, whyle the boate was awaye, I said unto them. Sirs, what have you donn, you have donn you knowe not what, you care not, but I knowe that I and Mr Burrowes shalbe brought to be in all the faulte ; yf you would have donn thus and goe awaye in this order, whie did you not tell neither the captaine nor me the other daye when as we spake with the Generall, that wee might have given him to understand that you woulde goe for England, that he might have provided more victualls for you yf that you shoulde staye, and not thus to goe awaye ? But noe perswasiouns woulde serve but home they would and soe they haled abowte the sayles and homewards theye came. And this was not the doinge of one or twoe of them but the consente of them in generall, or the moste parte of them, as well souldiers as maryners excepte those that were sicke at that tyme ; and this is the trewithe and nothinge but the trewithe as yt shalbe proved. APPENDIX C SIR JOHN HAWKYNS The question whether Hawkyns was dishonest is not in one sense of much importance, since it is admitted that he was skilful as a seaman, and efficient as an administrator. In another sense the good or ill fame of a national worthy is of the highest import- ance as interwoven with national history, and therefore a factor in the memories which make for the self-respect of a nation. As in the Dictionary of National Biography^ a work which will be the standard authority for posterity, Hawkyns is considered to have been guilty, it is fitting that, in a study of Elizabethan naval administration, the charges should be examined somewhat min- utely. His memory has suffered from his reputed introduction of the slave trade into English commerce, and from the cumulative effects of accusations brought against him, which have been ac- cepted without investigation- of their nature or of the character of the accusers. His reputation has also suffered from the indiscrimi- nate praise lavished upon him by ill-advised panegyrists. In view of his environment it must be admitted there is a strong prima facie probability that he or any other Elizabethan official was a thief ; * the spacious times of Great Elizabeth ' included much more than literary excellence, colonising genius, and naval success. Sufficient evidence has been given in this work to show the low standard existing among all ranks of naval officials, and more, relating to other classes of society, could be extracted from the State Papers. The court was proverbially corrupt, and a recent writer^ gives striking illustrations of the lax morality characterising all grades of the Elizabethan social system. It was said that Hawkyns neither built nor repaired the ships according to his contract, that he used old cables and rotten oakum, that he blackmailed shipwrights and workmen, and that he was in partnership with a private builder, in whose yard he built ships for himself with government timber, and fitted them out with government stores. If these things were true the whole naval administration must have been in a state in which the least strain would have brought it down in ruin, but the more ' H. Hall, Society in the Elizabethan Age. Sir John Hawkyns 393 serious allegations are sufficiently disproved^ by the fact that when the fate of England depended on the condition of the fleet, it was found, in the hour of need, to be absolutely efficient in all the many details for which Hawkyns was responsible. If, how- ever, we are to suppose that he confined his malpractices to matters not lik.ely to injure the materiel of the Navy, it can only be remarked that they can have been but very small in extent, and that fraudulent officials are not usually so considerately and judiciously patriotic. In considering what may or may not have been true, it is only fair to Hawkyns to emphasise the fact that these anonymous indictments — and many of those urged against him were anonymous — were levelled against nearly every person holding an administrative position in the service of the crown ; delation, whether religious, political, or social, was a recognised occupation requiring no capital, offering the possibility of large rewards, and welcome to the government and the Queen, Hawkyns, when he was appointed, made a clean sweep of many naval abuses of long standing, and had certainly made enemies in Sir William Wynter^ and others, with whom at least one informer, ^ who also had personal reasons for disliking the Treasurer, appears to have been on very friendly terms. Hawkyns not only received no help from his brother Officers, but had to contend with their open or secret hostility.* Wynter was the person to whom everyone who had a grievance against Hawkyns, went for help and advice ; and if we may judge of Wynter's hopes and intentions by his capacity for treachery he niust have been a dangerous antagonist. In 1 585, he wrote to Burghley, of Hawkyns and his work, ' As I desier compfort in Gods handes there is nothinge in it but cunninge and crafte to maynteine his pride and ambision and for the better fillinge of his purse ... he careth not to whom he speaketh nor what he sayeth, blushe he will not.'^ But in 1587, he wrote,^ ' Wee are thorowlye perswaded in our conscience that he hath for the time since he took that bargained expended a farre greater somme in carpentrie uppon her Majesties shippes then he hath had eny wage allowance for ; ' the moorings, shipkeepers', and clerks' wages, ' have byn payde and sufficientlye done by him.' As a commentary on this last letter, we have a statement of the same year, not it is true, by Wynter, but by Wynter's servant, that the friendship now shown was only a pretence, and that ' You knowe howe many wayes my master hath sought against him and could never prevaile and there- fore he closeth with him to catch him at a suer advantage.'^ As Surveyor Wynter was a brother Officer of equal rank, and nearly equal power, with whom Hawkyns had to work. But putting aside any criticism of the code of honour here shown, it may fairly be asked why should Wynter have displayed this eagerness to ruin Hawkyns, at all costs and by any means. There could be only one of two reasons; either an honest desire to save the Queen and ^ As is admitted by the writer in the Dictionary. ^ Cf. Lansd. MSS., 113 f. 45. 3 Lansd. MSS., 52 f. 117. * State Papers, Bom., Eliz., clxx, 57, and clxxviii, 12. ^Add.MSS.,^2^ifi.t<:). ^ State Papers, Dom., Eliz., ccv\, 15. Wynter and Borough to Burghley. ^ Of 1585, see supra, p. 162. « Lansd. MSS., 52 f. 117. 394 The Administration of the Royal Navy- state from deceit and robbery, or a selfish desire to regain the posi- tion and perquisites of which the reforms initiated by Hawkyns, and the latter's masterful personality had deprived him. I do not think that any student of Elizabethan history will hesitate as to which reason moved him. As for Borough, he wrote to Burghley, in 1584, that Hawkyns deserved hanging; but that did not prevent his joining Wynter in the letter of 1587, doubtless with the same intentions.^ In another paper of 1587, and endorsed by Burghley as being by Thos. Allen, the writer, after a long arraignment, kindly offers to undertake Hawkyns' duties.^ It is an extremely important fact that most of these men obviously hoped to gain some personal advantages by displacing him. Allen was ' Queen's merchant,' or purchaser of Dantzic cordage and, according to another informer, had been so friendly with Hawkyns as to receive a bribe of £60 from him out of the first contract of 1579.' He even- tually quarrelled with the other Officers he was now supporting, and in 1592, complained of them to Burghley. The internal history of the Navy Office at this period is a perfect maze of intrigue, and there was not one of these men who, at some time, was not doing his best to supplant others with whom before and afterwards he was, or became, friendly, perhaps to quarrel again in due course. No doubt the appointment of Hawkyns was regarded as a piece of family jobbery, and, as a fact, was very likely more due to in- fluence than merit. By both seniority and reputation Wynter had, in 1578, a much better claim to such an important post. That Hawkyns used his official position to obtain discounts, commission on contracts, and other such emoluments, is quite possible ; such things are not unknown even now, are distinct from deliberate embezzlement, and would hardly be condemned by public opinion in the sixteenth century. It can hardly be made an article of accusation against him that he became a wealthy man, even if there were much left after the expenses were paid of his jlast unlucky voyage. The yearly fee of the Treasurer was not large — £220, iSs 4d, out of which he had to pay his travelling expenses when on the Queen's service — and it was expected and permitted, in both his contracts, that he should keep any outstanding balance as profit, provided the work was properly done; and there was nothing in the ethics of his posi- tion, as then understood, debarring him from shipping and other mercantile transactions. The best proof that both Elizabeth and Burghley were satisfied that his gains were not too great lies in the fact that both contracts were determined at his own request, and that, notwithstanding his supposed peculations, their know- ^ Hawkyns was more generous to Borough. In 1582 he wrote on his behalf to Walsyngham, ' Mr Borough is a man of great virtew and judgment.' (State Papers, clvi, 34). In fact he very seldom indulged in recriminations even in the thick of the attacks on himself, usually contenting himself with defending his procedure. 2 State Papers, Dom. Eliz., cciv, 18. Burghley 's usual way of writing Allen — the name only occurs in one other instance in his writing — was Ally, with a con- traction mark over the last letter. In this case he omitted the contraction dash but, from internal evidence, there is no doubt of the identity. 3 Lansd. MSS.,c,2 f. 117. Sir John Hawkyns 395 ledge of them, and the efforts made to remove him, he held his post till the day of his death. He is accused of being in partner- ship with Richard Chapman, the master shipwright. Chapman appears to have had a private yard, but there is no warrant for the precise statement beyond the words of another anonymous writer that he ' used Richard Chapman's yard.' ^ There is no guide to the year or years in which he is said to have had work done by Chapman. This man did not become a crown ship- wright till about 1582, and it may very well be that Hawkyns employed him before he was taken into the service of the crown. Another reflection is that in these transactions with Chapman there must have been witnesses, in the shape of workmen and others, not one of whom was ever brought forward. In all these papers we are only given the statements of the writers; there is never a suggestion of corroborative evidence. The anonymous writer just quoted says, among many other things, that the ships are in such bad condition that 'they are brought to their last end and danger- ous state.' This was in October 1587, and the events of the next year proved that to be a peculiarly unfortunate assertion. This parti- cular delator was ignorant of that necessity for verisimilitude which is one of the first requirements of his business. He charges Hawkyns with illicit profits on the remains of victuals returned from sea, not apparently knowing that the Navy Treasurer had as little connection with, and as little control over, the victualling as over Westminster Abbey. Again, he goes on to say, ' the shipwrights are his instruments to serve his purpose and cloak for his dissembling,' and thereupon it is to be observed that some of these writers represent him as sharing dishonest gain with the shipwrights, while others pathetically deplore the shipwrights' hard fate in being subjected to his terrorism; some represent him as quarrelling with the men with whom others maintain he was secretly in league for underhand purposes. We know, however, that Hawkyns possessed vessels of his own and the circumstance that he had them repaired in a private yard, when he might have used the government slips is really a strong point in his favour, although used by his enemies as the basis of truth on which to build up the liberal superstructure of ' unjust and deceitful dealings.' It is said that, although there was no formal inquiry made into the truth of the allegations against Hawkyns, Burghley satisfied himself that they were not unfounded, and drew up a set of strin- gent regulations intended to prevent their recurrence, noting on the rough draft, ' Remembrance of abuses past, John Hawkyns was half in the bargain with Peter Pett and Mathew Baker,' Nothing exists but this rough draft 2 which includes notes relating to the other Officers as well as to Hawkyns, to shipwrights, and a memorandum on the increased scale of wages recently come into operation. There is no evidence that any inquiry was held, other than which took shape in the explanations Hawkyns offered in his numerous letters to Burghley still existing. Moreover if » StaU Papers^ Dom. Eliz., cciv, 17. 2 Cott. AfSS., Otho E VIII, f. 169. 396 The Administration of the Royal Navy these regulations were issued with an especial reference to Haw- kyns it is to be noticed that it would be his duty as the chief administrative Officer of the Navy to enforce them and apply them to himself. Was Burghley usually so confiding ? In January 1587-8 Pett and Baker were called upon to report on the second contract and how far it had been accomplished.^ Their report was unfavourable, but it will be remembered that, by this second ' bargain,' Hawkyns had undertaken, at a cheaper rate, the work they did under the first one, and reduced them from an independent to a subordinate position.^ Their feeling in the matter is shown by the way they dealt with the third article, on the repair of ships, which Hawkyns had taken out of their hands. They remarked that it was done better before — that is when they were doing it — ' for before the master shipwrights did direct but now they are to be directed.' This was the grievance. Not only were they both displaced competitors, but Baker had long been connected with the Wynter faction ; and Pett and Hawkyns had, in 1587, fallen 'at variance upon accomptes.' In 1585 Pett had joined Hawkyns in condemning Baker ; now his interests brought him into line with Baker.^ Burghley cannot have believed that, in 1587 at any rate, Hawkyns was in confederacy with these two men, or it is hardly likely that they would immediately afterwards have been chosen to sit in judgment upon him, especially as Burghley must have known that Pett was a new, and Baker an old enemy. Further, there is a curious similarity between Burghley's note and a passage in Allen's attack before referred to, — ' Mathew Baker sayeth that when Peter Pett and he did the repayringe of her Maties Shippes Hawkyns would needes be hallfe with them.' The resemblance between Burghley and Allen sug- gests the possibility that the former paraphrased his note from the latter without independent inquiry; but, in any case, it may be pointed out that it is an indirect report of what Baker said, that according to this account Baker permitted himself to be blackmailed although he had for years been at enmity with Hawkyns, and that he concealed his woes from all his superiors until he poured them into the sympathetic ear of Mr Allen. There was nothing to prevent his petitioning Burghley as everyone else did; and it is still more strange that, so far as we know, he was never called up and examined on this statement made to Allen. The two lines in Burghley's handwriting comprise in truth the only evidence of any weight against Hawkyns, but they are mysterious as they stand for they imply that he put himself in the power of avowed enemies, and we are left quite ignorant of the proofs — if there were any — on which they are based, or how far Burghley subse- quently modified his opinion. That he did so modify it, or perhaps altogether change it, is, I think, proved by the letter quoted supra p. 147. There is significance in the fact that, so far as rivals and inferiors were concerned, these attacks practically ceased after 1588; it must have become known that Burghley no longer received them trustingly. ' State Papers^ Dom. Eliz., ccviii, 18. ^ Cf. p. 162. ' State Papers, Dom. EHx.^ clxxviii, 12. Sir John Hawkyns 397 The supervision Elizabeth exercised over his accounts, the ' mystrust ' of which he complained, has been attributed to the good reason she had for doubting his integrity. That Elizabeth haggled over his accounts proves nothing by itself, for it would be difficult to name any one of her officials whose figures were not subjected to the same suspicions and distrustful scrutiny. But it has yet to be shown that his contemporaries, other than the subordinates whose perquisites he had extinguished, and the rivals whom he had displaced, doubted his integrity. Sir Robert Mansell is quoted as saying that Hawkyns combined ' malice in dissimulation, rudeness in behaviour, and was covetous in the last degree.' Hawkyns may have been rude — he was not so suc- cessful at court as Mansell, though he was more successful at sea. But, without going into Mansell's value, as a witness — and he, on evidence of a very different order, has been shown to have stolen hugely as Treasurer — it will be noticed that, although moved by evident animus, he makes no accusation of dishonesty. Again, Sir Robert Cotton in his report (1608) on the then abuses of naval administration has, in referring to previous conditions, oc- casion to mention Hawkyns frequently, and invariably takes the period of his control as a standard during which the business of the Navy was well and honestly done. Monson's opinion is im- portant as that of an undoubtedly competent and trustworthy observer, and one of unstained repute as a commander. He com- menced his naval career in 1588, so that it was in part con- temporaneous. He desires, Avhen criticising the Navy Office of the reign of Charles I, to ' bring it to the state of Hawkyn's and Burrough's time who were perfect and honest men in their places, the one Treasurer and the other Comptroller.' ^ There is matter for further consideration in the circumstance that all the men who depose against Hawkyns — Peter Pett, Baker, Wynter, Mansell, Sir Peter Buck, the writers in the State Papers and the Lansdowne MSS. — are persons of tarnished honesty, or interested motives, and at least four of them known to have been his personal enemies ; while on the other side we have Cotton, Monson, Not- tingham, and — after 1588 — Burghley, witnesses of very different force. In the absence of a verdict proceeding from a judicial inquiry, their evidence must be allowed more weight than that made up of the stabs of anonymous slanderers, jealous rivals, and envious subordinates. Hawkyns was doubtless a rough, masterful man, readier with the iron hand than with the velvet glove, more popular with the seamen whose ranks he had left than with the officials whose ranks he had joined. He was not a great man, but his services to England were great, and entitle him to kindly consideration at the hands of all Englishmen. But, before branding his memory with the stain of systematic fraud, it is well to examine closely the doubtful shreds and tatters of scandal on the strength of which he is to be condemned, or — worse still — offered the con- temptuous charity of condonation. ' Naval Tracts : ChurchilVs Voyages^ III, 371, ed. 1704. APPENDIX D A PRIVATEER OF 1592 The two prizes taken by the Amity were the St Francisco of 130, and the St Peter of 150 tons, laden with 112 tons of quicksilver, and 28 tons of Bulls, 1,458,000 in number, for ' lyvinge bodyes ' and ' dead bodyes,' which were to be sold in New Spain at two reals apiece. The ships also carried some wine, and the freightage paid to the owners was 40 ducats a ton. The armament of the St Peter is not given, but was probably little more than that of the St Francisco which carried ^ three iron guns, two copper pieces of 20 quintals 2 each, and one of 14 quintals. There were 90 round, and 40 chain shot for these guns with nine quintals of powder. Twenty muskets, and other arms of oifence and defence, were also carried. Her crew numbered 28 men and two boys and she was licensed to take twenty passengers; if therefore 126 living persons were found in the two ships after the action, the St Peter must have furnished a much larger proportion or there must have been, as was common enough, a number of unlicensed passengers.^ If a loss of two killed and three wounded, in an action lasting five hours and with two antagonists, was an ordinary one, fighting at sea cannot be considered, in view of the normal mortality from disease on shore in the sixteenth century, to have added materi- ally to the risks of life. According to Malyne* these Bulls were laded by Sixtus V. When they came to England Dr Lopez, the Queen's physician, who was afterwards executed on a charge of being concerned in a plot to murder her, obtained them by purchase or as a gift. He and a partner started them again for the West Indies but the Pope's agent stopped their sale, alleging that they had lost their ^ Lansd. MSS., 70, f. 231. -The quintal varied from loi^ to 155 lbs; ordinarily it was the former. ^ A tiaveller to the Spanish colonies had to produce satisfactory evidence that he was a native of the peninsula, a good Catholic, not only in present belief but bj' descent, and that he was sailing with the knowledge and consent of his wife. There was a flourishing trade, at Seville, in forged certificates to meet these re- quirements ; there was also a trade in smuggled passengers outwards as well as in smuggled goods homewards. ■■ Lex Mercaioria. A Privateer of 1592 399 virtue by having been in heretic possession. The factor repre- senting Lopez, not to be outdone, said that they had been miraculously saved, but the speculation was a failure. LANSDOWNE MSS., 70-23 The ordre and mannour of the takinge of the twoo Shippes laden with Quicksilver and the Pope's bulles bound for the West Indas by the Amitie of London, Master, Thomas Whytte. The 26th of July 1592 beinge in 36 degrees^ or thereaboutes, about 4 of the clocke in the morninge, wee had sight of the said Shippes beinge distaunte ffrom us about 3 or 4 leagues ; by 7 of the cloke we ffeatched them up and were within goonn shotte whose boldnes (havinge the kinges armes dysplaide) did make us conceave them rather to be ships of warr then laden with mer- chandize. And as yt dothe appeare by some of theire owne Speeches they made full accompte to have taken us, and was Question amongst them whyther they should carrye us to St Lucar or Lishebonn. Wee wayfed eche other amaine,^ they havinge placed themselves in warlyke ordre, thone a cabolles lenght before thoother, we begonne the fight in the which we continued so faste as we were able to chardge and dyschardge the space of fyve fioures, being never a cabells lenght dystaunte eyther of us the one from the other, in which tyme wee receaved divers shottes both in the hull of our ship, mastes and sayles, to the number of xxxii greate shotte which we told after the ffighte, besydes fyve hundreed muskett shotte and harquebuye acroke'^ at the least. And for that wee perceaved they were stoute, we thought good to boorde the byskaine * which was a heade the other, where lyinge aboord aboute an houre plyinge our orden- aunce and small shotte with the which we stowed ^ all his men ; now they in the flybotte makinge accompte that wee had entreed our menn, bare Roome ^ with us, meaninge to have laide us aboorde, and so to have entrapped us betwene them both, which we perceavinge, made redy ordenaunce and fytted us, so as wee quitted ourselves of him, and he boorded his ffelowe, by which meanes they both fell from us. Then presently we kepte our looffe,^ hoysed our topsayles, and weathered them, and came hard aboord the flibotte with our ordenaunce prepared, and gave her our whole broadeside with the which wee slewe divers of theire menn, so as wee might perceave the bloud to Runne out at the Scoopers; after that wee caste aboute, and new chardged all our ordenaunce and came upon them againe and wylled them Amaine, or else wee would synke them, whereupon the one would have 1 About the latitude of the Straits of Gibraltar. " Spanish, Amainar las velas, to lower the sails ; the summons to strike. ^ Harquebus a croc, a musket fired from a rest. * Biscayan ; the St Francisco. ^ Silenced their fire or drove them off the deck. ^ Going large from the wind ; to leeward. ' Came up close to the wind. 400 The Administration of the Royal Navy yelded which was shotte betweene wind and watter, but the other called him traytour ; unto whom we mad answere that if he wold not yeld presently also we would synke him first. And thereupon he undrestaundinge our determinacon, presently put out a whyt fflagg and yelded, howbeyt they refused to stryke theire owne Sayles, for that they were sworne never to stryke to any Englishmann. Wee then commaunded the captaines and masters to come aboorde of us which they dyd and after examina- con and stowinge them, wee sent aboord them, strooke theire sayles and manned theire shipps, findinge in them bothe one hundreed and twenty and six soules lyvinge, and eight deade, besides those which they themselves had caste overboorde, so yt pleased God to geve us the victorye, being but 42 menn and a boye, of the which ther were two killed and three wounded, ffor which good succeasse wee geve the onely prayse to Allmightye God. INDEX Men-of-war not especially indexed under their names will he found in the lists of ships of the various periods. 112,367. Administration, disorganisation of, 189-194, 222-229. excellence of, 305, 306. regulations for, ill, re-organisation of, 194-197. Adventure^ 328. Admiral of England, office of, 65. Admirals of thirteenth century, 4. Admirals, the Lords, 64-66, 86, 104, III, 112, 148, 166, 189, 194, 195, 199, 215, 240, 279, 280 and «., 283, 288, 300, 346. Admiralty, Commissioners of (of Charles I), 235, 237, 279 and «. (of Com- monwealth), 306, 319, 327, 328, 346, 347. Court of, 317 and n. Lieutenant of, 85, 86, 104. Secretary of, 3, 4. Alderne, Thomas, 324 «., 326. Alkin, Elizabeth, 323 n. Allen, Thomas, 150, 394 and «., 396. Ambassadors, Spanish, reports of, 59, 133- Venetian, — 60, 90, 133. Anchors, 15, l8l, 182, 257, 371. Anne Gallant^ 49 and «., 66, 68. Anne Royal, 202, 203, 212, 220, 221, 223, 237, 264. Antelope (of Henry VIII), 51, 58. (of Mary), no. (of James I), 202, 264. Anthony, Anthony, 56, 58, Apprentices, 284. Apsley, Sir Allen, 189, 228, 230, 233, 236, 238. Ark Royal, 121 and «., 123, 129, 158, 160, 203, 221. Armament, see Ships, armament of. Armies, foreign, 47. Army, the English, 47. Articles of war, 311, 312. Artillery, Garden, 96, 158. Artillery, Henry VIII and, 56. Artisans, 73, 211. Aylesbury, Sir Thomas, 258, 281, Audley, Sir Thomas, 63 and n. Baeshe, Edward, 103, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144- Bagg, Sir James, 232. Baker, James, 73. Baker, Mathew, 132, 151, 152, 162, 163, 203, 204, 208, 209, 266, 267, 395, 396. Ballast, 127, 128, 257. Ballinger, 13 and «., 15. Baltimore, sack of, 275. Banastre, Nicholas, 16. Barges, 13. Barlow, Thomas, 282 and n. Barton, John, 70, 72. Batten, William, 249, 250, 281, 288. Battles, sea (of 1340 and 1350), 5, 7. — (of 1416 and 1417), 13. (of 1458), 27. (of 1512-13), 63. Beaufort, John, Earl of Somerset, 65 n. Thomas, 65 k. Bedford, John Plantagenet, Duke of, 65 «. Beer, 83, 138, 140, 220, 236, 315, 371. Berd, Robert, 14. Berg, Christopher van, 274. C3 402 The Administration of the Royal Navy Beverage, 220, 384 and n. Bigatt, William, 388. Bingley, Sir Richard, 189. Bitakyll, 15. Blake, Robert, 327, 328, 363. Bludder, Sir Thomas, 189. Boats, 80, 339 and n. Boat tackles, 339 «., 374 and n. Bonaventure (of Elizabeth), 1 19, 120 and «., 123, 131, 140, 195, 206. (of James I), 187, 202, 208, 259, 344. Bonnets, 14, 127, 377. Borough, Stephen, 149. William, 126, 129, 149, 152, 167, 382-391, 393, 394, 397- Boughton, Sir Edward, 70. Bounty system, English, 19, 37, 38, 88, 89, 107, 167, 168, 201, 269. Spanish, 37 and «., 53. Bourne, Nehemiah, 315, 326, 347, 348, 349, 363, 365- Bowman, Piers, 31. Bray, Sir Reginald, 36. Brewhouses, 69. Bribery, 194, 280, 282, 286, 317. Bristol^ 332 and n. Brittany, 46. Brooke, Richard, 78. William, 85. Browne, John, 213, 288. Sir Weston, 79. Brygandine, Robert, 36, 39, 53, 83. Buck, Peter, 149, 246, 397. Buckingham, Duke of. See Villiers, George, Duke of Buckingham. Build. See Ships, build of. Bull, 58. Bull, Richard, 73. Bulmer, John, 274. Burghley, William Cecil, Lord, 113, 137, 141, 142, 146-148, 179, 394-7. Burre, Olyff, 167, 169. Burrell, William, 195 and «., 208, 209, 229, 259, 282, Burton, William, 349. Butler, Nathaniel, 253. Cabins, 23, 129, 206. Cadiz voyage of 1625, 219-222, 225, 251. Cannon perier, 54 w., 156, 157, 212. petro, 56 and «., 155-157. Canvas, 15, 98, 103, 181, 182, 363, 371. Capstan, 80 and «., 127. Captains, 26, 77, 146, 152, 154, 226, 229, 232, 285, 287, 312, 352-354- servants of, 154. Carew, Sir George, 80. Carvel build, 54, 255, 256. Cat, the, 239. Catton, William, 12. Caverle, Jeronimo Caesar de, 264. Cecil, Edward, Viscount Wimbledon, 220. Cecil, Sir Robert, 166, 171. Channel, English, command of, 2, 16, 18, 31, 32, 37, 68, loi, 105, 184, 302, 343. lordship of, 6, 291 n. Chapman, Richard, 151, 152, 209, 395. Charles, 254, 257, 269, 338, 344. Charles I, political conditions under, 217-219. and the seamen, 242, 243. interference of, in naval affairs, 252, 261 and «., 263. as a naval organiser, 295 n. Chatham Chest, 145, 192, 245-247, 323, 324- Chips, 73, 285 Christ, 49 and «., 66. Cinque Ports, 2 and «., 7, 26. Civil War, seamen and the, 240-242. Clere, Sir Thomas, 85, 86, 104. Clerk of the Ships. See Ships, Clerk of. Clerks of the check, 349, 356. Clifton, Gervays, 26. Clinker build, 54, 255, 256. Clynton, Edward, Lord, 104, III, I48. Clyvedon, Richard, 24, 31. Coast defences, 92, 289. line of France, 3, 24, 46. Coke, Sir John, 192, 195 and «., 196, 234, 279 n. Colours, Tudor, 41, 62, 182. Combresale, Wm., 33, 36. Commissions of Inquiry, 147, 162, 191, 193, 229, 246, 324and«._ Commissioners, see Admiralty, and Navy. Commonwealth, increase of Navy under, 302, 303, 338. finance of, 303 and n. Conductmoney, 72, 164, 197, 311. Constant Reformation, 202, 207, 208, 228, 230, 259, 264. Constant Warwick, 255 and «. Contracts, registration of, 134, 135, 243- Convoys, 68, 139, 312, 313, 342. Cook-room, 128, 206. Cordage, 15, 92, 113, 150, 181, 182, 209, 217, 257, 363, 371. Corporals, 154, 225 and «., 226. Cotton, Sir Robert, 193, 194, 397. Council of State, 319, 346, 348. Courts-martial, 311 «., 312, 354, 357, 382, 391. Cox, Owen, 345. Crane, John, 238. Cranfield, Sir Lionel, 194, 195 «. Cranley, Richard, 288. Crews, character of, 188, 221, 223, 227, 228, 231, 237, 314. I Index 403 Crews, proportions of, 56 and n., 1 24, 134, 214, 341- Cromwell, Oliver, 318, 319, 320 and «. Richard, 320. Crossbar shot, 57, 289. Crowe, Sir Sackville, 245, 281 and n. Culverins, 55, 155-157, 212, 341, 380. Curtails, 55, 157 «., 380- Customs Department, 171, 201. Darell, Marmaduke, 144, 189. -' Sampson, 190. Darts, 57. Davis, John, 152. Davits, 339 «., 374 n. Dead Shares, 75, 152. Dean Forest, 288, 367. Debts, Commonwealth, 294, 319, 351, 368, 369, 370. crown, 21, 27, 108, 194, 227, 228, 236, 288, 294, 298. Decoration, see Ships, Decoration of. Defiance (of Elizabeth), 121, 129, 131, 158, 344- Demi cannon, 55, 56, 155-157, 212, 262, 341- culverin, 55, 56, 155-157, 212, 262, 341. Denbigh, Wm. Fielding, Earl of, 233. Desertion, 223, 224, 227, 228, 237, 242. Digby, Sir Kenelm, 244, 282. Discipline, 3, 79, 188, 214, 220, 221, 229, 239, 307 «•, 312, 349, 367. Disease, see Fleets, disease on board. Docks (under Henry VI), 29, 30. (under Henry VHI), 68, 72. Deptford, 14, 285. Dry, 39, 4°, 210, 297, 364, 365. Southampton, 23. Dockyard expenditure, 102, 103, 113, 149, 294, 299, 368. Dockyards, Chatham, loi, 102, 113, 149-151, 209, 210, 297, 298, 299, 348, 364. Deptford, 70, 71, 102, 103, 113, 119, 149, 150, 209, 211, 299, 364. Erith, 71, 72. Harwich, 102, 315, 348, 362, 363. — Portsmouth, 39, 40, 68, 69, 102, 103, 113, 119, 210, 296, 297, 348, 364, 365- Rouen, 9. Woolwich, 69, 70, 102, 103, 113, 119, 150, 209, 297, 364. Downing, Joshua, 284. Dragon, (of Henry VHI), 51, 58, 59, lOI. Drake, Sir Francis, 129, 136, 140, 143, 145, 164, 165, 167, 168 and «., 382- 391. Dreadnought (of Elizabeth), 1 1 9, 120, 126, 131, 235, 263, Drebbel, Cornelius, 256 n. Dryngs, 80 and w., 373. Ducat, value of, 37 w. Dudley, John, Lord Lisle, 64, 66, 77, 93, 104. Dudley, Robert, Earl of Leicester, 139, 171. Duro, C. Fernandez, referred to, 1 3 w., 37 «., 46, 53 «., 116 «., 154 «. Dutch War of 1652-4, 240 and n., 242, 304-308. Dyse of iron, 57, 96. ECHYNGHAM, Sir Edward, 61. Eden, Alexander, 26. Edisbury, Kenrick, 258, 274, 28 1. Edward HI, commercial policy of, 7. fighting ships under, 9. general policy of, 5. gold noble of, 6, 7. Edward IV, commercial policy of, 34. naval policy of, 31. navy of, 33. Edward VI, maintenance of navy under, 100, 108. Elizabeth, naval policy of, 11 5- 11 8. ships in commission under, 118. Elizabeth Jonas ^ 120, 122, 131, 132, 133 and «., 135, 137, 206. Elton, Richard, 349. Elyot, Hugh, 38. Embezzlements. See Thefts. Enriquez, Alonso, 65 n. Equipment. See Ships, equipment of. Evelyn, George, 160. ■ John, 160. Ewe, Sir William, 26. Exeter, Henry Holland third Duke of, 65 n. John Holland, second Duke of, 65 «. Expeditions under Edward IV, 31. Henry VIII, 74, 77. Elizabeth, 117, 136, 137, 140, 160, 164. James I, 187. Charles I, 219-222, 228, 231, 233, 251, 277, 278. Expenditure, dockyard. See Dockyard. naval, under Henry VI, 22, 23, 24. - Henry VII, - Henry VIII, 93, 94. Edward VI, 102, 103, 108. - Mary, iii, 35- 112, 113. 404 The Administration of the Royal Navy Expenditure, naval, under, Elizabeth, 117, 160-165. James I, 195, 197 and n. 293-295- Charles I, during Interreg- num, 303, 304, 368-370. F Fauconberg, Bastard of, 32. Ferrers, Walter Devereux, Lord, 77. Figure heads, 6r, 131, 341. Fisheries, 42, 89, 92, 107, 108, 167, 200. Fitzwalter, Lord, 27. Fitzwilliam, Wm., Earl of Southampton, 52, 61, 66. Flags, 15, 41, 62 and «., 182, 183, 213, 214, 300, 370, 377. Fleming, Denis, 282, 283 n. Fleet of 1588, cost of, 163. epidemic in, 137, 138. formations, 59, 307 n. regulations, 3, 63, 64. Fleets, armament of, 155. Cinque Ports, 2, 26. contracted for, 24, 27, 28, 31. cost of, 26, 163, 164, 197 and «., 198, 225, 295. disease in, 77, 114, 136, 137, 183, 219, 220, 228, 231, 235, 237, 321, 323. division of, 64, 183, 307 n. during Civil war, 264, 295. during Commonwealth, 302, 303, 307, 323, 341, 342. maintenance of, 5. manning of, 74, 242, 311, 314. merchantmen in, 35, 118, 163, 251, 295,. 342. of Richard i, 3. — John, 3. —Edward III, 6. — Edward VI, loi. — Mary, no, III, — Elizabeth, 164. — James I, 188. — Charles I, 219, 222, 225, 231, 233, 235, 237, 238, 239, 251, 252, 276, 277. Foresight (of Elizabeth), 120, 122, 166 and «., 206. Forests, 288, 367, Foster, Edward, 79. France, Navy of, 9, 21, 264-266, 304. Freight, cost of, 343. from Spain to America, 398. Frigates, 255 «., 338. Furring, 187 and n. Gabriel Royal, 49 and «., 70, 77. Galleasses, 57, 58, 128 and «. Galley Blancherd, 78. Galley oarsmen, 5, 78, 126. Galley Subtylle^ 51 and «., 59, 78, loO. Galleys, English, 5 and «., 12, 41, 57- 60, 78, loi, 121, 123, 125 and«., 126, 207. foreign, 5, 9, 60, 78, 126. Garland (of Elizabeth), 121, 129, 131, 205, 206, 210. (of James I), 188, 202, 208, 344- Gibbs, Stephen, 274. Gibson, Richard, 307 «., 308. Gillingham. See Dockyards, Chatham. Girdling, 187 and w., 258, Gloucester, Richard, Duke of, 65 n. Golden Hind. See Pelican. Golden Lion. See Lion (of Elizabeth). Gonson, Benjamin, 85, 86, 104, 108, 112, 144, 145. ■Junior, 149. William, 81, 84, 85, 93. Grace Dieu (pi Henry V), 12 w., 13, 14, 15, 19, 23, 29. (of Edward IV), 33, 36, (merchantman), 19, 37. Grand Mistress, 51 and n., 55, 58, 59, loi, 109. Great Barbara, 49 and «., 55. Great Christopher , 51 and «., 122, 123. Gi-eat Elizabeth, 49 and n., 54, 66. Great Michael, /\.'J. Great Nicholas, 49 and «., 71, Green, Mrs J. R., referred to, II. Grenades, 361. Grent, Thomas, 274. Grevill, Sir Fulke, 149, 189. Greyhound {ol Henry VIII), 51, 55, 58, 59, no, 123. Greyle, Richard, 21. Gromets, 314 and n. Guldeford, Sir Richard, 35, 36. Gun carriages, 96, 157, 361. Gun founders, 96, 159, 213, 289, 360 and n., 361. Gunners, 56, 57, I57-I59. 290, 358. Gunpowder, 33, 56, 97 and n., 155, 158, 159, 160, 239 and «., 240, 288, 289, 361, 362. H * H.M.S.,' its equivalents, 9 n. Hamble, the river, 14, 23. Hammocks, 134, 235, 300. Hansa League, 11. Steelyard, 150. Happy Entrance, 202, 207, 208, 237, 344- Harbours, 92. Hart (of Henry VIII), 51, 58. (of Mary), no. (of Commonwealth), 310 n. Hatsell, Henry, 349. 228, I Indej 405 Hawkyns, Sir John, 91, 129, 134, 135, 144, 145-148, 150, 162-164, 167, 173, 392-397. Sir Richard, 136. William, 91. Henrietta Maria, 254, 269, 344. Henry III, 4. IV, 10, II. V, naval policy of, II. ships of, 12. will of, 16. VI, naval policy under, 24, 25. VII, commercial policy of, 42. general policy of, 37. VIII, as designer, 48, 59. as naval organiser, 98, 99. causes of increase of navy under, 45-4 — embarkation of, at Dover, 57. artillery 56. personal interest of, in shipping, 48, 60, 62. Henry Grace a Dieic, 47, 49, 53, 55, 6r, 62, 69, 70, 73, 75, 80, 91, 109. inventory of. 372- 381. Heron, John, 26, 81. Heywood, Thomas, 260. Hoggekyn, John, 15. Holborn, Robert, 73- Holigost, 12, 13, 15, 22, 23. Holland, Navy of, 219, 253, 305, 307. Holland, Edmund, Earl of Kent, 65 w. Henry. See Exeter, Duke of. John. See Exeter Duke of. 261, 284, 286, 347 and n., 348 n. Holstock, William, 85, 104, 105, 140. 149. Hopton, John, 70, 71, 83, 84, 372. Hospitals, 321. Hospital ships, 188. Howard, Lord Thomas, 65. Sir Edward, 61, 63, 64, 65, 74, 76, 81. Sir John, 32. ■of Effingham, Charles, Lord, 117, 135, 137, 138, 148, 166, 189, 190, 193, 194, 204, 209, 216, 383, 397. William, Lord, Hewlett, Richard, 85, 149. Hull, Sir WiUiam, 26. Hutchinson, Richard, 296 n., 351, 352. I Impressment, 164, 197, 234, 241, 311 and n. Improvements and inventions, 128, 274, 367. See also Shipbuilding, improve- ments in. James, 237, 254, 257. James I, Navyat accession of, 184, 185, — retrogression of navy under, 215. Duke of York, xi, /k»2/^' 5^ J. MILLER AND SON, PRINTERS EDINBURGH BOSTON COLLEGE ^ 3 9031 01490047 6 480S94 VB 57 OPPENHEIM, Michael. A history of the administration of the royal navy. VB 57 .0'62 OPPENHEIM. Bapst Library Boston College Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02167