History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce, Volume 2 (of 4)

Henry VIII. resolves to establish a permanent Royal Navy—Derives his first supply of men from English fishermen—Royal fleet equipped and despatched from Portsmouth—Its first engagement—Increase of the French fleets—Extraordinary exertions of the English to meet the emergency—The rapidity with which they supplied men and vessels—Outfit of the ships—The _Great Harry_—Number and strength of the fleet at the death of Henry VIII., 28 Jan., 1547—The _Great Michael_—Trade monopolies—Mode of conducting business—Mistaken laws—The Bridport petition—Chartered companies—Prices regulated by law, and employment provided—The petition of the weavers—State of the currency, A.D. 1549—Its depreciation—Corruption of the government—Recommendation of W. Lane to Sir W. Cecil, who acts upon it, A.D. 1551, August—The corruption of the council extends to the merchants—Accession of Elizabeth, A.D. 1558—War with Spain—Temporary peace with France, soon followed by another war—Demand for letters of marque—Number of the royal fleet, A.D. 1559—The desperate character of the privateers—Conduct of the Spaniards—Daring exploits and cruelty of Lord Thomas Cobham, and of other privateers or marauders—Piratical cruises of the mayor of Dover—Prompt retaliation of the king of Spain—Reply of Elizabeth—Elizabeth attempts to suppress piracy, 29th Sept., 1564—Her efforts fail, but are renewed with increased vigour, though in vain—Opening of the African slave trade—Character of its promoters—John Hawkins’ daring expedition—Fresh expeditions sanctioned by Elizabeth and her councillors—Cartel and Hawkins—They differ and separate, 1565—Hawkins reaches the West Indies with four hundred slaves, whom he sells to much advantage, and sails for England—Fresh expeditions, 1556—They extend their operations, 1568—The third expedition of Sir John Hawkins departs, October 1567, and secures extraordinary gains—Attacked by a Spanish fleet and severely injured—Reaches England in distress—Prevails on the Queen to make reprisals—Questionable conduct of Elizabeth—Vigorous action of the Spanish ambassador—Prompt retaliation—Injury to English trade less than might be supposed—Hatred of the Catholics—Increase of the privateers, 1570—Their desperate acts, 1572.

[Sidenote: Henry VIII. resolves to establish a permanent Royal Navy.]

Beyond the encouragement afforded by Henry VIII. to the development of the maritime commerce of his own people, England is mainly indebted to that monarch for her first organised Royal Navy. Though her merchants’ ships had hitherto been her chief means of defence from foreign invasion, and had played a conspicuous part in all her naval engagements, they were frequently dangerous instruments during periods of peace. Commissioned in war “to burn, plunder, and destroy,” they were with difficulty restrained from following similar avocations on their own account when peace had been restored. The patriot of to-day too often became the pirate of to-morrow.

[Sidenote: Derives his first supply of men from English fishermen.]

In his attempts, however vain, to suppress the lawless acts of his own people, as well as to clear the English Channel of foreign buccaneers, Henry, soon after his accession, saw the necessity of forming a standing royal navy. Among his many and varied abilities, he was his own engineer, and with workmanlike understanding, he likewise planned improvements in the mode of shipbuilding, conducting experiments in the construction of the hulls, and in plans for rigging and sailing. The few ships the government then possessed had fallen into decay, and a royal cruiser carrying the flag of England was rarely seen in the Channel. Ample materials, however, to man a fleet were to be found in the vast numbers of her own fishermen, and especially from among those employed in Iceland, which, before the discovery of Newfoundland, had become the chief rendezvous for these hardy men. Taught by necessity the arts of war as well as of peace, they, in following their usual peaceful employments, were always armed. Yet, though a fleet worthy of the name was built and equipped, the process, from the want of the requisite funds, was necessarily tedious, and the first result far from satisfactory.

In the meantime the war between Charles and Francis had broken out. French and Flemish cruisers captured prizes, or fought battles, in the mouths of English rivers or under the windows of English towns, and both belligerents too frequently made what they deemed lawful prey of the ships of England. Even when the courts of Brussels and Paris were making professions of good-will, the cruisers of both governments openly seized English traders, and Henry had for a time to submit, and to leave those of his subjects who resided on the coasts to such inadequate defences as they could themselves provide. So daring were the acts of these piratical cruisers that two French ships attempted even to cut out two merchantmen from the harbour of Dartmouth, and only failed in this exploit through the bravery of the mayor and inhabitants of that town, who attacked them with their boats; nay, more, the rival fleets of France and Spain did not scruple to test their strength in deadly combat in the harbour of Falmouth,[97] and not unfrequently placed, at other times, embargoes on vessels entering the Thames.

[Sidenote: Royal fleet equipped and despatched from Portsmouth.]

[Sidenote: Its first engagement.]

[Sidenote: Increase of the French fleets.]

The London merchants declared that, although the country was nominally at peace, their ships could not venture out of port; but every remonstrance, though made in no measured terms at the courts of Paris and Brussels, and received with courtesy and verbal apologies, was practically ineffectual in suppressing these wanton depredations. Unfortunately, at this juncture, Henry could not afford to declare war, as his exchequer was very poorly furnished; but the country itself had not sunk so low as to be unable to defend its own coasts and its own traders. Sufficient money having, through the aid of the London merchants, been at last found for their immediate purposes, a small but admirably equipped fleet was silently fitted out at Portsmouth, secrecy being observed as far as possible, in the hope of taking the offenders by surprise. Sweeping out into the Channel, this fleet soon fell across four French ships of war which had been plundering English merchant vessels in the vicinity of Mount’s Bay, and closing against heavy odds, sunk one of them and drove the other three from the coast.[98] The time had, indeed, arrived when it became essential to the independence of England that a fleet sufficient to command the Channel should be permanently maintained. France, having resolved on open war, was straining every nerve to humiliate her old and inveterate rival. One hundred and fifty of her ships of war and twenty-five swift galleys had assembled at the mouth of the Seine ready to convoy transports with sixty thousand troops on board; the intention being to occupy the Isle of Wight as a prelude to a further attack on Portsmouth, and the destruction of the small English fleet collecting at Spithead.

[Sidenote: Extraordinary exertions of the English to meet the emergency.]

[Sidenote: The rapidity with which they supplied men and vessels.]

To meet this imposing force Henry VIII., warmly backed by his people, made extraordinary exertions. One hundred and forty thousand English soldiers, with a few German contingents, supported his efforts; but there were only sixty available ships of all sorts, though of these several were larger than any of the French. The requisite number was, however, soon supplied. Indeed, throughout the whole history of England there is no instance on record in which her people were not prepared to make any sacrifices to provide a fleet for the protection of their shores, or to redress their wrongs; and now the fact that France was attempting to rival England on her own element, at once supplied all that was wanting. But on this, as on many previous occasions, the royal squadron, that is the ships actually the property of the Crown, formed only a small part of the naval strength of the country. So thoroughly, however, did the English people throw themselves into the scale, that they relinquished in numerous cases their ordinary occupations, and though the Iceland and Irish fishing fleets were about to sail, nearly all the fishermen who had previously been employed in these vessels entered for the navy, their wives and daughters taking their places, and keeping up the necessary supply of fish for the markets, though frequently driven into harbour by the French cruisers.[99] Numerous vessels of various sizes, belonging to Plymouth, Dartmouth, Falmouth, Fowey, Truro, Dittisham, Totnes, Poole, Rye, Bristol, and other places, which, during the winter, had been cruising as privateers, joined the royal fleet, under the Admiral at Spithead, the two services absorbing the whole of the effective male inhabitants of the seaports, amounting to sixteen thousand hands, distributed over one hundred sail of fighting vessels of one sort and another. Some of the best families in England sought employment in this fleet, and in the long muster roll there will be found, either in command of the King’s ships or of privateers equipped by themselves, names which will ever be remembered as famous in the history of their country. On the first occasion when England possessed an organised navy, we find a Russell, a Berkeley, a Clinton, a Seymour, a Dudley, a Willoughby, a Chichester, and a St. Clair proudly rejoicing to occupy their places as leaders.

It is not our province to narrate the desperate actions which ensued on the waters of the Solent, the chief scene of the struggle, or how, after terrible slaughter and numerous engagements, the French were repulsed. It is rather our object to ascertain, so far as is possible, of what nature were the vessels of which the fleets were composed.

[Sidenote: Outfit of the ships.]

Previously to the reign of Henry VIII. no reliance can be placed on any details with respect to English ships; indeed it was only when in his reign the royal navy became a regular and permanent branch of the government service, that any careful record was kept of the fittings of vessels so employed. Happily one of these accounts has been preserved in the Cottonian collection at the British Museum, and this document derives further elucidation from another manuscript in the Harleian collection, explaining, as this does, many antiquated or obsolete words in the former. In Appendix (3) will be found the substance of the ‘Inventory of the Great Barke,’ which is the oldest account extant of the details of an English ship; but whatever antiquaries may have written about this ‘Great Barque,’ she appears to have been simply a large merchant ship of the period, which on the sixth day of October, in the twenty-third year of the reign of Henry VIII. (A.D. 1531), was viewed or inspected by Christopher Morris, a government officer, for the purpose of being employed in the public service.