lip the Second, King of Spain, ultimately gave fo decifive a blow to its Haval power, that it never, even fince its emancipation from that foreign yoke, has recovered any of its former luftre. As a proof of the great extent to which Marine Architecture had been carried by them, even in after times, a Portuguese carrack was captured by Sir John Barrough, an Eng. lith Naval Officer, in the year 1592, which is thus defcribed. "This car rack was in burthen no less than 1600 tons, whereof 900 were merchandife; the carried thirty-two pieces of brafs ordnance, and between fix and feven bundred pallengers; was built with decks, feven ftorey, one main aflope, three clofe decks, one forecastle, and a fpare deck, of two floors a piece. According to the observations of Mr. Robert Adams, an excellent geometri. cian, it was in length, from the beak head to the itern, 165 feet, in breadth near 47 feet; the length of her keel 100 feet; of the main-maft 121 feet; its circuit at the partners near 11 feet; and her main-yard 106 feet." But though the Portuguefe ftill poffeffed a number of commercial veffels of this clafs, its fun of maritime glory appears to have fet with the deftruc. tion of the whole Spanish Armada, of which a fquadron of twelve Portuguese galleons formed a confiderable part. The Spaniards, in their turn, became mafters of the Seas, and of immenfe wealth, from the difcovery and conquest of South America; but their power was not fuffered to be of long duration; opulence produced indo lence, and luxury enervated the cruel fubverters of the empires of Mexico and Peru. "But the temporary fuccefs of the Portuguese, and the immenfe riches acquired by the Spaniards, were closely watched with a jealous and politi cal eye, by another nation rifing gradually into confequence, ordained by Providence to surpass both, and, in procefs of time, to acquire a permanent fuperiority of naval power, a more perfect knowledge of the fcience of Marine Architecture, and a more decided genius for maritime affairs, than any of its predeceffors." The enterprifing fpirit of the English began to expand itself in the reign of Henry the Seventh, which forms a new and very diftinguished era in our naval history, for the ferious attention," fays our Author, "of a few years only railed Britain to an equal weight and credit in the naval world with thofe who had been labouring, with the ut molt affiduity, to effect the fame purpofe, nearly as many centuries." His fecond Chapter comprifes a narrative of the principal naval transactions of the reigns of Henry the Seventh, and his fucceffor Henry the Eighth. The invention and ufe of gunpowder, and the introduction of cannon into fhips, were of no ancient date; when Henry the Seventh afcended the throne, and fifteen years afterwards, the contrivance of port holes was another improvement, attributed to Def charges, a French fhip-builder at Breft, which, in addition to the above-mentioned, rendered very material alterations in the constructions of ships built for the purposes of war effentially necellary; more especially, an enlarge ment of their dimenfions. Previous to the commencement of this new fyitem, no distinguishing line of fepa ration existed between those few vellels which had been built for the King's fervice, and fuch as were used for mer cantile purposes; but from this time, about fix or seven ships that belonged immediately to the King formed a distinct and fecluded class; and from this feeble origin fprang the Royal Navy, and the first regulations for the adminiftration of its affairs in the next reign. The largest ship in the time of Henry the Seventh was called La Grace de Dieu, which our Author calls the Parent of the British Navy, concerning the identity of which much difpute has arifen amongit antiquaries, fome contending, that there was but one fhip of this name built by Henry the Eighth, whilft others maintain, with Mr. Char nock, that the first becoming, through age and decay, unfit for fervice, a fucceffor was built, to which the fame name was transferred; and he ob ferves, that the custom of tranfmitting the name of the principal hip of the Navy became the practice; fo in the reign of Charles the Firit it was called the Sovereign; and in our time the Royal George. The Harry Grace a Dieu, from a drawing preferved in the Pepyfian collection at Cambridge, of which an elegantly-engraved plate by Newton is given to front p. 32 of this volume, our Author fuppofes was the original ship built by Henry the Seventh, and not that of later conftruction. She is I defcribed George, his ftreams, wherefore they had de ferved to die by the law, and to be hanged at low water mark. Then faid the Scots, • We acknowledge our offence, and afk mercy, and not the law.' Then faid a Prieft,We appeal from the King's juftice to his mercy. Then the Bishop afked the Prieft, if he were authorifed by them to fay fo; and they all cried, 'Yea, yea.' Then, faid the Prelate, you shall find the King's mercy above his juftice, for where you were dead by the law, yet by his mercy he will revive you ; wherefore ye thall depart out of this realm within twenty days, upon pain of death if ye be found here after twenty days-and pray for the King,' and fo they passed into their own country. defcribed as having five mafts, but only four are upright, the fifth is fixed obliquely, and in modern times received the name of the boltsprit. This number of mafts for first-rates conti nued, without alteration, till nearly the end of the reign of Charles the Firft. "On the acceffion of Henry the Eighth, he applied himself, with the utmost earnestnefs, to improve and augment that inconsiderable force which his father had lived long enough to fee the neceffity of; and that neceffity fully manifefted itfelf in the third year of the young King's reign, when Andrew Barton, a Scottish man, under the pretext that the Scots had war with the Portingales (the Portuguese), with only two thips, had the audacity to rob the fhips of all nations, and fo ftopped the King's ftreams (the British" The King of Scotland hearing of Seas) that no merchant veffel almost the death of Barton, and the capture of could pafs. Henry, on receiving in his two fhips, was much incenfed, and telligence of thefe depredations, in- fent letters to the King of England ftantly ordered Sir Edward Howard, requiring reftitution, according to the Lord Admiral of England, and Lord league of amity between them. Henry Thomas Howard, fon and heir to the wrote with brotherly falutation to the Earl of Surry, to get ready two thips, King of the Scots, recounting the roband put to fea in all hafte; this was beries and evil doings of Andrew Bardone accordingly, and they were fepa- ton, and that it became not one Prince rated by ftrefs of weather. Lord to lay a breach of a league to another Howard lying in the Downs difcovered Prince, in doing juftice upon a pirate Barton making for Scotland in his fhip and a thief, and that all the other Scots the Lion, and chafed him fo closely, had deferved to die by justice, if he had that he came up with him, and a very not extended his mercy: and with this fevere battle enfued. The Englishmen anfwer the Scottish hirault departed were fierce, and the Scots defended home." themselves manfully; but in the end, the Lord Howard and his men entered the main-deck, and Andrew Barton was taken prifoner, being, however, fo forely wounded that he died there, and the remnant of his crew with the ship were captured. All this while was the Lord Admiral in chace of the bark of Scotland called Jenny Perwyn, which used to fail in company with the Lion, which he boarded, and flew many, making the reft prifoners. Thus were the two fhips taken and brought to Blackwall, on the fecond day of Auguft, in the year 1512. "After this, the King fent the Bifhop of Winchefter, and certain of his Council, to the Archbishop of York's Palace, where the Scots prifoners were kept; and the Bishop rehearsed to them, "Whereas peace is yet between England and Scotland, that they contrary thereunto, as thieves and pirates, had robbed the King's fubjects within Thus, from a fimple circumftance, an unexpected event, did the Royal Navy of England derive its first regular formation into a national establishment, for Henry was too ahle a politician to fuffer fuch injuries to pafs unpunished in future, for want of a fufficient naval force to prevent them in the first inftance, and to guard against the refentment of any weak or imprudent Sovereign or State that might take upon them to countenance or fupport their fubjects in fuch practices. He, therefore, formed an agreement with the fame Sir Edward Howard, to maintain a certain number of mariners, foldiers, and others, for the fervice of the Royal Navy. The conditions and different particulars are clear and extremely curious; the whole comprising not only a very concife account of the internal regulations at that time adopted in the fervice, but a lift, which muit undoubt. edly be confidered as complete and authentic authentic, of all the fhips and veffels at that time compofing the English Navy Royal. Here follows a copy, page 36, Vol. II. of the indenture; the title in Latin runs thus: Henry VIII. anno regni tertio, anno Dom. 1512. "Indentura inter Dominum Regem et Edwardum Howard, Capitaneum Generalem Armata fuper Mare, wituelleth, that the faid Sir Edward is retained towards our Sovereign Lord, to be his Admiral in Chief, and General Captain of the Army, which his Highness hath propofed and ordained, and now fetteth to the Sea, for the safe-guard and fure paffage of his fubjects, friends, allies, and confederates." The conditions annexed may be regarded as the outlines, or fketch of the conftitution of the Admiralty in fubfequent times. Many curious documents follow, concerning the famous first rate called Henrye Grace de Dieu, which puts it out of doubt, that the fhip bearing that name was the fhip delineated in the ancient picture preferved at Windfor Cattle, on board of which King Henry VIII. is reprefented ftanding on the main richly dreffed in a garment of cloth of gold, edged with ermine, the fleeves crimson, and the jacket and breeches the fame: his round bonnet is covered with a white feather laid on the upper fide of the brim. She is reprefented as juft failing out of the harbour of Dover, May 31, 1520. "We now come in reality," fays our Author, "to the fhip which has occafioned fo much controverfy. It is truly faid to have been built in confequence of the destruction of The Regent, and we may naturally fuppofe was launched in the fixth year of the King's reign, that is to fay, in 1515, as we find the following entry concerning it in a very curious MS. now preferved in the Augmentation Office. This document gives the particulars of the cost of building, equipment, &c. of the faid ship. "The Regent was fet on fire, and totally destroyed, in a clofe engagement with a French caricke that her people had boarded, which the French gunner obferving, fet fire to the gunpowderroom, and both fhips being grappled together, so that they could not feparate, were entirely confumed." Mr. VOL. XLII. Aug. 1802, Charnock is of opinion, that this was the fecond hip called the Henrye Grace a Dieu, and was built by Henry VII. in lieu of the first, which was worn out; and on the acceffion of Henry VIII. her name was changed for that of Regent. The next step taken by this Founder of the British Navy for its improvement and augmentation was, the forming a Navy Office, and establishing re gular arfenals at Portfmouth, and other places, as Woolwich and Deptford, for its fupport and better equipment. Thefe appointments facilitated the King's defign of acquiring a formidable Navy, which he accomplished_about the year 1544, when the fleet of England is faid to have amounted to one hundred and fixty fail, all great thips; but as this fleet was fitted out for an expedition against France, our Author fuppofes it included feveral veffels hired of the merchants for the occa fion; for the highest authentic enumeration of Henry's Navy raises it to no more than seventy-one vessels of different forts, the aggregate burthen of which amounted to 10,550 tons. A short time before the death of Henry, a peace being concluded with France, the neceffity of any further naval exertions ceafed; the youth of Edward the Sixth, his fucceffor, and the turbulent reign of the bigoted tyrant Mary, tended to deprefs, rather than advance, the active fpirit of improvement: under thefe circumstances the Royal Navy was reduced to fortyfix fhips, many of which were of inferior rates. Refpecting the ftate of the naval force in 1578, twenty years after the acceffion of Queen Elizabeth, we apprehend there is fome mistake, which we recommend to the confideration of the Author, for we cannot conceive by what means it could have been reduced ftill further, in that period, fo low as twenty-four fhips of different forts, the largest of which was The Triumph, burthen a thousand tons, and the smalleft The George, not quite fixty; efpecially as he lays, after animadverting on the neglect of the marine department in the two preceding reigns, "Far otherwife was the cafe after the acceffion of Elizabeth; for though the augmentation did not take place the instant the was feated on the throne, the immediately found it expedient, and neceffary to the fafety of her kingdom, to equip a fleet for the protection of the Seas," R &c. &c. See Chap. III. p. 54. Her attention once fixed upon this great national object, and being then in poffeffion of forty-fix fhips left her by Queen Mary, how is it reconcileable with her enterprising and active difpofition, that the fhould have fuffered a diminution, instead of an augmentation, of her naval frength, for fo long a fpace of time as the first twenty years of her glorious reign! Be this as it may, after the expedition of Sir Francis Drake, which provoked the refentment of Philip the Second against the Queen and the English nation, the found it neceflary to make every poffible exertion to refift the invincible Armada, which had been long preparing for the invafion, and hoped-for, fubjugation of her dominions to the Spanish yoke. Her vigilance and activity upon this occafion muft have been beyond all example, fince the lift of the fhips opposed to the Armada confifts of one hundred and ninety-feven veffels of different defcriptions, their burthen amounting to nearly thirty thousand tons. But it must be remembered, that a confiderable part of this fleet confifted of fhips fitted out by the city of London, and other fea-ports, for the occafion, which belonged either to corporate bodies, or to particular opulent merchants concerned in foreign commerce; fome of them being hired by Government, and others volunteering their services. Some improvements took place at this period, which are properly noticed; fuch as the introduction of the ftriking or jointed top-mafts, which is difcernible in the engraving by Tomkins, of a British man of war, from the tapeftry in the House of Lords, reprefenting the memorable defeat and dif. perfion of the Spanish Armada. Page 65. Alfo, the firft ufe of the chainpump; and with refpect to feamen, it must not be omitted, that either before or after the engagement, her Majefty founded that benevolent charity called The Cheft at Chatham, for the benefit of wounded feamen, which bears the date of 1588. In the year 1590, the Queen made feveral new arrangements and regulations for the improvement of her Navy, in order to put it on a much fuperior footing to what it had previously been. Asa preliminary flep to this put pofe, the regular yearly fum of 8970l. was affigned for repairs a fum then deemed "fully equivalent to fo : great a purpose. From hence may be inferred the high value of money in thofe days, the economy and care used in the difbursement, and the cheap rate at which all naval ftores were then fold. The total number of the Queen's actual Navy at her death was forty-two, of which twenty-four remained ferviceable in the year 1618, the 15th of James the Firft. The Crown of England on the demife of Elizabeth paffed into a new family, new meafures were adopted, and the whole political ftate of public affairs appeared in one inftant totally changed. The fufpenfion, therefore, for a confiderable time, of naval armaments and expeditions from England, on the acceffion of the pacific James, gives the Author an opportunity to devote Chapter IV. to the history of the internal or civil regulations adopted by foreign ftates in the management of their Marine, and of the various improvements and inventions used by them, as well for defence againft, as in annoyance of, their enemies. The fundry particulars of this Chapter are very curious, and demonstrate the great pains the Author must have taken to collect fuch extraordinary materials, including the naval tranfactions of all the maritime Powers of Europe from the middle of the fifteenth to the end of the fixteenth century. Amongst other hiftorical anecdotes, the earliest claim of the Dominion of the Seas particularly attracted our notice, as it ferves to prove that this claim, which in procefs of time was generally recognized as due to the valour and fuperior maritime power of Britain, was fucceffively contended for by the Venetians, and, in 1478, acknowledged by Frederick the Third, Emperor of the Weft, who wrote to the Doge of Venice, requesting, as a fpecial favour, that he would grant him permiffion to transport corn from Apuleia through the Adriatic Sea. The Genoese exerted the fame authority in the Ligurian Sea, or Gulph of Genoa, and interdicted the commerce of any State or Prince they thought proper. Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and even the Mufcovites, all laid claim (and most of them maintained that claim with effect) to a fovereignty over particular parts of the Ocean, which their refpeftive territories furrounded, and in fome inftances on which they only bordered, Chapter Chapter V. contains a retrofpect of the civil economy, or internal manage ment of the Royal Navy during the reigns of Henry the Seventh and Eighth; and here we are once more under the neceiity to arraign the Au. thor's diftribution of his fubjects; as the principal contents of this Chapter might have been incorporated with, and more properly belongs to, the maritime hiftory of thofe reigns in the fecond Chapter. A further continuation of the fame fubjects through the reigns of Edward VI. Mary, and Elizabeth, recapitulating the number of fhips composing the Royal Navy in their times; comparative statements; the pay of Admirals, Officers, and Seamen, &c. and fimilar eltimates relative to the marine department, occupy Chapter VI. In Chapter VII. we have an account of the condition of the Venetian, Genoefe, Spanish, French, and Dutch Marine, from the commencement to the middle of the feventeenth century. Of the principles adopted by European nations in the fcience of hip building; together with their variation in respect to decoration and ornament. A ftatement of the principal dimenfions and force of the different claffes of thips of war belonging to the maritime Powers of Europe; and a defcription of the improvements in Marine Architecture, propofed by Sir Robert Dudley, commonly called Duke of Northumberland, about the year 1594; they confift of feven different fpecies of construction, and are reprefented in four large prints drawn by the Author, and engraved by New ton. The eighth Chapter carries on the hiftory of the British Navy, in the fame manner as in the preceding eras, through the reign of King James I. and extends the account of the allowances and pay to Flag Officers from 1591 to 1663. The fame fubject is continued in Chapters IX. and X. and contains the report of the Commiffioners appointed by his Majefty to enquire into the itate of the Navy, the reduced number, and bad condition of many, forms part of the report; the waste of stores another; the creation of ufelefs offices a third; and propofals for improving the state, and lefening the expences of the naval department, by the introduction of a set of new regulations. In Chapter XI. an account is given of the fquadrons fitted out against the Algerines in 1618 and 1620, and of the additions made to the Royal Navy towards the close of this King's reign. It appears also that Charles I. from the time of his acceffion, beftowed the fame attention on the naval force of his kingdom, which had been given to it latterly by his father. A variety of prudent measures were adopted, among which was that of reftraining hipwrights, or any other artificers connected with the naval branch, from paffing beyond the Seas, and entering into the fervice of foreign Potentates. In the year 1637, The Sovereign, a first rate, was built at Woolwich," to the great glory of the Seas of the English nation, and not to be paralleled in the whole Chriftian world." An extract from the defcription of this ship, by Thomas Heywood, and an exact reprefentation, will be found in this Chapter, from p 281 to 285; the engraved plate is copied from Heywood by Greig. Another reprefentation of the fame fhip, taken from a picture painted by Vandervelde immediately after the reftoration of Charles the Second, is placed between p. 286 and 287, without any name of the engraver. It is remarkable, that this celebrated hip, known afterwards by the name of The Royal Sovereign, was in almoft all the great engagements that had been fought in the reign of Charles the Firit and Second, that the continued in the fervice after the glorious Revolution, and was not laid up at Chatham, in order to be rebuilt, till the beginning of the year 1696, when he was fet on fire in the Dock, and totally confumed. "The wonderful ftride made towards the improvement of hip-building in general, and more particularly of velleis intended for purposes of war, appeared to promife a rapid afcenfion to what should experimentally be confidered as the ne plus ultra of perfection. Amidit every furrounding foible, and improvident mark of conduct, the attention of Charles I. to this great naval concern was apparent in every action of his regal life, fo long as he was permitted to exercife the functions of a King, uncontaminated, and with. out reftraint. The civil war put an end to his exertions for the national benefit. After the Restoration, the tide of improvement appeared to keep a perfect level throughout the whole R 2 |