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diff --git a/19849.txt b/19849.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..585def2 --- /dev/null +++ b/19849.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8776 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Flag and Fleet, by William Wood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Flag and Fleet + How the British Navy Won the Freedom of the Seas + +Author: William Wood + +Release Date: November 17, 2006 [EBook #19849] +Last updated: March 3, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLAG AND FLEET *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + + THE SEA IS HIS + + + _Thy way is in the sea, and + Thy path in the great waters, + and Thy footsteps are not known. + --Psalm LXXVII. v. 19._ + + + + The Sea is His: He made it, + Black gulf and sunlit shoal + From barriered bight to where the long + Leagues of Atlantic roll: + Small strait and ceaseless ocean + He bade each one to be: + The Sea is His: He made it-- + And England keeps it free. + + By pain and stress and striving + Beyond the nations' ken, + By vigils stern when others slept, + By lives of many men; + Through nights of storm, through dawnings + Blacker than midnights be-- + This sea that God created, + England has kept it free. + + Count me the splendid captains + Who sailed with courage high + To chart the perilous ways unknown-- + Tell me where these men lie! + To light a path for ships to come + They moored at Dead Man's quay; + The Sea is God's--He made it, + And these men made it free. + + Oh little land of England, + Oh mother of hearts too brave, + Men say this trust shall pass from thee + Who guardest Nelson's grave. + Aye, but these braggarts yet shall learn + Who'd hold the world in fee, + The Sea is God's--and England, + England shall keep it free. + + --R. E. VERNEDE. + + + +[Frontispiece: VIKING MAN-OF-WAR.] + + + + +FLAG AND FLEET + +HOW THE BRITISH NAVY WON THE + FREEDOM OF THE SEAS + + + +BY + +WILLIAM WOOD + + +Lieutenant-Colonel, Canadian Militia; Member of the Canadian Special +Mission Overseas; Editor of "The Logs of the Conquest of Canada"; +Author of "All Afloat: A Chronicle of Craft and Waterways"; +"Elizabethan Sea Dogs: A Chronicle of Drake and his Companions"; and +"The Fight for Canada: A Naval and Military Sketch." + + + +WITH A PREFACE BY + +ADMIRAL-OF-THE-FLEET SIR DAVID BEATTY + G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., Etc., Etc. + + + + +TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + +OF CANADA, LTD., AT ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE + +1919 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, CANADA, 1919, BY + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED + + + + +To + +_Admiral-of-the-Fleet_ + +_Lord Jellicoe_ + + + _In token of deep admiration + And in gratitude for many kindnesses during the Great War + I dedicate this little book, + Which, published under the auspices of + The Navy League of Canada + and approved by the Provincial Departments of Education, + Is written for the reading of + Canadian Boys and Girls_ + + + + +PREFACE + +BY + +Admiral-of-the-Fleet Sir David Beatty, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., etc. + +In acceding to the request to write a Preface for this volume I am +moved by the paramount need that all the budding citizens of our great +Empire should be thoroughly acquainted with the part the Navy has +played in building up the greatest empire the world has ever seen. + +Colonel Wood has endeavored to make plain, in a stirring and attractive +manner, the value of Britain's Sea-Power. To read his _Flag and Fleet_ +will ensure that the lessons of centuries of war will be learnt, and +that the most important lesson of them all is this--that, as an empire, +we came into being by the Sea, and that we cannot exist without the Sea. + +DAVID BEATTY, + +2nd of June, 1919. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +Who wants to be a raw recruit for life, all thumbs and +muddle-mindedness? Well, that is what a boy or girl is bound to be +when he or she grows up without knowing what the Royal Navy of our +Motherland has done to give the British Empire birth, life, and growth, +and all the freedom of the sea. + +The Navy is not the whole of British sea-power; for the Merchant +Service is the other half. Nor is the Navy the only fighting force on +which our liberty depends; for we depend upon the United Service of sea +and land and air. Moreover, all our fighting forces, put together, +could not have done their proper share toward building up the Empire, +nor could they defend it now, unless they always had been, and are +still, backed by the People as a whole, by every patriot man and woman, +boy and girl. + +But while it takes all sorts to make the world, and very many different +sorts to make and keep our British Empire of the Free, it is quite as +true to say that all our other sorts together could not have made, and +cannot keep, our Empire, unless the Royal Navy had kept, and keeps +today, true watch and ward over all the British highways of the sea. +None of the different parts of the world-wide British Empire are joined +together by the land. All are joined together by the sea. Keep the +seaways open and we live. Close them and we die. + +This looks, and really is, so very simple, that you may well wonder why +we have to speak about it here. But man is a land animal. Landsmen +are many, while seamen are few; and though the sea is three times +bigger than the land it is three hundred times less known. History is +full of sea-power, but histories are not; for most historians know +little of sea-power, though British history without British sea-power +is like a watch without a mainspring or a wheel without a hub. No +wonder we cannot understand the living story of our wars, when, as a +rule, we are only told parts of _what_ happened, and neither _how_ they +happened nor _why_ they happened. The _how_ and _why_ are the flesh +and blood, the head and heart of history; so if you cut them off you +kill the living body and leave nothing but dry bones. Now, in our long +war story no single _how_ or _why_ has any real meaning apart from +British sea-power, which itself has no meaning apart from the Royal +Navy. So the choice lies plain before us: either to learn what the +Navy really means, and know the story as a veteran should; or else +leave out, or perhaps mislearn, the Navy's part, and be a raw recruit +for life, all thumbs and muddle-mindedness. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +BOOK I + +THE ROWING AGE + +WHEN SOLDIERS FOUGHT ROWBOAT BATTLES BESIDE THE SHORES + OF THE OLD WORLD + +From the Beginning of War on the Water to King Henry VIII's + First Promise of a Sailing Fleet + 1545 + +CHAPTER + + I THE VERY BEGINNING OF SEA-POWER + (10,000 years and more B.C.) + II THE FIRST FAR WEST (The last 5,000 years B.C.) + III EAST AGAINST WEST (480 B. C.-146 B.C.) + IV CELTIC BRITAIN UNDER ROME (55 B.C.-410 A.D.) + V THE HARDY NORSEMAN (449-1066) + VI THE IMPERIAL NORMAN (1066-1451) + VII KING OF THE ENGLISH ERA (1545) + + + +BOOK II + +THE SAILING AGE + +WHEN SAILORS FOUGHT ON EVERY OCEAN AND THE ROYAL NAVY + OF THE MOTHER COUNTRY WON THE BRITISH COMMAND + OF THE SEA BOTH IN THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW + +DRAKE TO NELSON + +1585-1805 + +PART I--THE SPANISH WAR + + VIII OLD SPAIN AND NEW (1492-1571) + IX THE ENGLISH SEA-DOGS (1545-1580) + X THE SPANISH ARMADA (1588) + +PART II--THE DUTCH WAR + + XI THE FIRST DUTCH WAR (1623-1653) + XII THE SECOND AND THIRD DUTCH WARS (1665-1673) + +PART III--THE FRENCH WAR + + XIII THE FIRST WAR AGAINST LOUIS XIV (1689-1697) + XIV THE SECOND WAR AGAINST LOUIS XIV (1702-1713) + XV WAR AGAINST FRANCE AND SPAIN (1739-1748) + XVI PITT'S IMPERIAL WAR (1756-1763) + XVII THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1775-1783) + XVIII NELSON (1798-1805) + XIX "1812" + + + +BOOK III + +THE AGE OF STEAM AND STEEL + +WHEN THE BRITISH COMMAND OF THE SEA SAVED THE WORLD + FROM GERMAN SLAVERY IN THE GREATEST OF ALL WARS + +1914-1918 + +PART I--A CENTURY OF CHANGE (1814-1914) + + XX A CENTURY OF BRITISH-FRENCH-AMERICAN PEACE (1815-1914) + XXI A CENTURY OF MINOR BRITISH WARS (1815-1914) + +PART II--THE GREAT WAR (1914-1918) + + XXII THE HANDY MAN + XXIII FIFTY YEARS OF WARNING (1864-1914) + XXIV WAR (1914-1915) + XXV JUTLAND (1916) + XXVI SUBMARINING (1917-1918) + XXVII SURRENDER! (1918) + XXVIII WELL DONE! + + + +POSTSCRIPT THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS + + + + +[Transcriber's note: The following two errata items have been applied +to this e-book.] + +ERRATA + +Page XIII. For "Henry VII's" read "Henry VIII's." + +Page 254. L. 20 for "facing the Germans" read "away from Scheer," + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VIKING MAN-OF-WAR. . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"DUG-OUT" CANOE + +ROMAN TRIREME--A vessel with three benches of oars + +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR'S TRANSPORTS + +Eddystone Lighthouse, 1699. The first structure of stone and timber. +Build for Trinity House by Winstanley and swept away in a storm. +Eddystone Lighthouse, 1882. The fourth and present structure, erected +by Sir J. N. Douglass for Trinity House. + +The _Santa Maria_, flagship of Christopher Columbus when he discovered +America in 1492. Length of keel, 60 feet. Length of ship proper, 93 +feet. Length over all, 128 feet. Breadth, 26 feet. Tonnage, full +displacement, 233. + +DRAKE + +One of Drake's Men-of-War that Fought the Great Armada in 1588. + +ARMADA OFF FOWEY (Cornwall) as first seen in the English Channel. + +SIR FRANCIS DRAKE ON BOARD THE _REVENGE_ receiving the surrender of Don +Pedro de Valdes. + +SAILING SHIP. The Pilgrim Fathers crossed in a similar vessel (1620). + +LA HOGUE, 1692. + +H.M.S. _Centurion_ engaged and took the Spanish Galleon _Nuestra +Senhora de Capadongo_, from Acapulco bound to Manila, off Cape Espiritu +Santo, Philippine Islands, June 20, 1743. + +The _ROYAL GEORGE_ + +NELSON + +FIGHTING THE GUNS ON THE MAIN DECK, 1782. + +THE BLOWING UP OF _L'ORIENT_ DURING THE BATTLE OF THE NILE. + +THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN, APRIL 2nd, 1801. (Note the British line +ahead.) + +The _VICTORY_. Nelson's Flagship at Trafalgar, launched in 1765, and +still used as the flagship in Portsmouth Harbour. + +TRAFALGAR. 21st October, 1805. + +MODEL OF THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. (Reproduced by permission from the +model at the Royal United Service Institution.) + +THE _SHANNON_ AND THE _CHESAPEAKE_. + +THE _ROYAL WILLIAM_. Canadian built; the first boat to cross any ocean +steaming the whole way (1833), the first steamer in the world to fire a +shot in action (May 5, 1836). + +BATTLESHIP. + +Seaplane Returning after flight. + +DESTROYER. + +A PARTING SHOT FROM THE TURKS AT GALLIPOLI. + +JELLICOE. + +BEATTY. + +LIGHT CRUISER. + +H.M.S. _Monmouth_, Armoured Cruiser. Sunk at Coronel, November 1st, +1914. + +BATTLESHIP FIRING A BROADSIDE. + +Jellicoe's Battle Fleet in Columns of Divisions. 6.14 P.M. + +THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND--PLAN II. Jellicoe's battle line formed and +fighting. 6:38 P.M. + +British Submarine. + +Minesweeper at work. + +H.M. KING GEORGE V. + + + + +FLAG AND FLEET + + +BOOK I + +THE ROWING AGE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE VERY BEGINNING OP SEA-POWER + +(10,000 years and more B.C.) + +Thousands and thousands of years ago a naked savage in southern Asia +found that he could climb about quite safely on a floating log. One +day another savage found that floating down stream on a log was very +much easier than working his way through the woods. This taught him +the first advantage of sea-power, which is, that you can often go +better by water than land. Then a third savage with a turn for trying +new things found out what every lumberjack and punter knows, that you +need a pole if you want to shove your log along or steer it to the +proper place. + +By and by some still more clever savage tied two logs together and made +the first raft. This soon taught him the second advantage of +sea-power, which is, that, as a rule, you can carry goods very much +better by water than land. Even now, if you want to move many big and +heavy things a thousand miles you can nearly always do it ten times +better in a ship than in a train, and ten times better in a train than +by carts and horses on the very best of roads. Of course a raft is a +poor, slow, clumsy sort of ship; no ship at all, in fact. But when +rafts were the only "ships" in the world there certainly were no trains +and nothing like one of our good roads. The water has always had the +same advantage over the land; for as horses, trails, carts, roads, and +trains began to be used on land, so canoes, boats, sailing ships, and +steamers began to be used on water. Anybody can prove the truth of the +rule for himself by seeing how much easier it is to paddle a hundred +pounds ten miles in a canoe than to carry the same weight one mile over +a portage. + +Presently the smarter men wanted something better than a little log +raft nosing its slow way along through dead shallow water when shoved +by a pole; so they put a third and longer log between the other two, +with its front end sticking out and turning up a little. Then, wanting +to cross waters too deep for a pole, they invented the first paddles; +and so made the same sort of catamaran that you can still see on the +Coromandel Coast in southern India. But savages who knew enough to +take catamarans through the pounding surf also knew enough to see that +a log with a hollow in the upper side of it could carry a great deal +more than a log that was solid; and, seeing this, they presently began +making hollows and shaping logs, till at last they had made a regular +dug-out canoe. When Christopher Columbus asked the West Indian savages +what they called their dug-outs they said _canoas_; so a boat dug out +of a solid log had the first right to the word we now use for a canoe +built up out of several different parts. + +[Illustration: "DUG-OUT" CANOE] + +Dug-outs were sometimes very big. They were the Dreadnought +battleships of their own time and place and people. When their ends +were sharpened into a sort of ram they could stave in an enemy's canoe +if they caught its side full tilt with their own end. Dug-out canoes +were common wherever the trees were big and strong enough, as in +Southern Asia, Central Africa, and on the Pacific Coast of America. +But men have always been trying to invent something better than what +their enemies have; and so they soon began putting different pieces +together to make either better canoes or lighter ones, or to make any +kind that would do as well as or better than the dug-out. Thus the +ancient Britons had coracles, which were simply very open basket-work +covered with skins. Their Celtic descendants still use canvas coracles +in parts of Wales and Ireland, just as the Eskimos still use +skin-covered kayaks and oomiaks. The oomiak is for a family with all +their baggage. The kayak--sharp as a needle and light as a feather--is +for a well-armed man. The oomiak is a cargo carrier. The kayak is a +man-of-war. + +When once men had found out how to make and use canoes they had also +found out the third and final principle of sea-power, which is, that if +you live beside the water and do not learn how to fight on it you will +certainly be driven off it by some enemy who has learnt how to fight +there. For sea-power in time of war simply means the power to use the +sea yourself while stopping the enemy from using it. So the first duty +of any navy is to keep the seaways open for friends and closed to +enemies. And this is even more the duty of the British Navy than of +any other navy. For the sea lies between all the different parts of +the British Empire; and so the life-or-death question we have to answer +in every great war is this: does the sea unite us by being under +British control, or does it divide us by being under enemy control? +United we stand: divided we fall. + +At first sight you would never believe that sea-power could be lost or +won as well by birchbarks as by battleships. But if both sides have +the same sort of craft, or one side has none at all, then it does not +matter what the sort is. When the Iroquois paddled their birch-bark +canoes past Quebec in 1660, and defied the French Governor to stop +them, they "commanded" the St. Lawrence just as well as the British +Grand Fleet commanded the North Sea in the Great War; and for the same +reason, because their enemy was not strong enough to stop them. +Whichever army can drive its enemy off the roads must win the war, +because it can get what it wants from its base, (that is, from the +places where its supplies of men and arms and food and every other need +are kept); while its enemy will have to go without, being unable to get +anything like enough, by bad and roundabout ways, to keep up the fight +against men who can use the good straight roads. So it is with navies. +The navy that can beat its enemy from all the shortest ways across the +sea must win the war, because the merchant ships of its own country, +like its men-of-war, can use the best routes from the bases to the +front and back again; while the merchant ships of its enemy must either +lose time by roundabout voyages or, what is sure to happen as the war +goes on, be driven off the high seas altogether. + +The savages of long ago often took to the water when they found the +land too hot for them. If they were shepherds, a tyrant might seize +their flocks. If they were farmers, he might take their land away from +them. But it was not so easy to bully fishermen and hunters who could +paddle off and leave no trace behind them, or who could build forts on +islands that could only be taken after fights in which men who lived +mostly on the water would have a much better chance than men who lived +mostly on the land. In this way the water has often been more the home +of freedom than the land: liberty and sea-power have often gone +together; and a free people like ourselves have nearly always won and +kept freedom, both for themselves and others, by keeping up a navy of +their own or by forming part of such an Empire as the British, where +the Mother Country keeps up by far the greatest navy the world has ever +seen. + +The canoe navies, like other navies, did very well so long as no enemy +came with something better. But when boats began to gain ground, +canoes began to lose it. We do not know who made the first boat any +more than we know who made the first raft or canoe. But the man who +laid the first keel was a genius, and no mistake about it; for the keel +is still the principal part of every rowboat, sailing ship, and steamer +in the world. There is the same sort of difference between any craft +that has a keel and one that has not as there is between animals which +have backbones and those which have not. By the time boats were first +made someone began to find out that by putting a paddle into a notch in +the side of the boat and pulling away he could get a stronger stroke +than he could with the paddle alone. Then some other genius, thousands +of years after the first open boat had been made, thought of making a +deck. Once this had been done, the ship, as we know her, had begun her +glorious career. + +But meanwhile sails had been in use for very many thousands of years. +Who made the first sail? Nobody knows. But very likely some Asiatic +savage hoisted a wild beast's skin on a stick over some very simple +sort of raft tens of thousands of years ago. Rafts had, and still +have, sails in many countries. Canoes had them too. Boats and ships +also had sails in very early times, and of very various kinds: some +made of skins, some of woven cloth, some even of wooden slats. But no +ancient sail was more than what sailors call a wind-bag now; and they +were of no use at all unless the wind was pretty well aft, that is, +more or less from behind. We shall presently find out that tacking, +(which is sailing against the wind), is a very modern invention; and +that, within three centuries of its invention, steamers began to oust +sailing craft, as these, in their turn, had ousted rowboats and canoes. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE FIRST FAR WEST + +(The last 5000 years B.C.) + +This chapter begins with a big surprise. But it ends with a bigger one +still. When you look first at the title and then at the date, you +wonder how on earth the two can go together. But when you remember +what you have read in Chapter I you will see that the countries at the +Asiatic end of the Mediterranean, though now called the Near East, were +then the Far West, because emigrants from the older lands of Asia had +gone no farther than this twelve thousand years ago. Then, as you read +the present chapter, you will see emigrants and colonies moving farther +and farther west along the Mediterranean and up the Atlantic shores of +Europe, until, at last, two thousand years before Columbus, the new Far +West consisted of those very shores of Spain and Portugal, France and +the British Isles, from which the whole New Western World of North and +South America was to be settled later on. The Atlantic shores of +Europe, and not the Mediterranean shores of Asia and of Egypt, are +called here "The First Far West" because the first really Western +people grew up in Europe and became quite different from all the +Eastern peoples. The Second Far West, two thousand years later, was +America itself. + +_Westward Ho!_ is the very good name of a book about adventures in +America when this Second Far West was just beginning. "Go West!" was +the advice given to adventurous people in America during the nineteenth +century. "The Last West and Best West" is what Canadians now call +their own North-West. And it certainly is the very last West of all; +for over there, across the Pacific, are the lands of southern Asia from +which the first emigrants began moving West so many thousand years ago. +Thus the circuit of the World and its migrations is now complete; and +we can at last look round and learn the whole story, from Farthest East +to Farthest West. + +Most of it is an old, old story from the common points of view; and it +has been told over and over again by many different people and in many +different ways. But from one point of view, and that a most important +point, it is newer now than ever. Look at it from the seaman's point +of view, and the whole meaning changes in the twinkling of an eye, +becoming new, true, and complete. Nearly all books deal with the +things of the land, and of the land alone, their writers forgetting or +not knowing that the things of the land could never have been what they +are had it not been for the things of the sea. Without the vastly +important things of the sea, without the war fleets and merchant fleets +of empires old and new, it is perfectly certain that the world could +not have been half so good a place to live in; for freedom and the sea +tend to go together. True of all people, this is truer still of us; +for the sea has been the very breath of British life and liberty ever +since the first hardy Norseman sprang ashore on English soil. + +Nobody knows how the Egyptians first learnt ship-building from the +people farther East. But we do know that they were building ships in +Egypt seven thousand years ago, that their ninth king was called Betou, +which means "the prow of a ship", and that his artists carved pictures +of boats five hundred years older than the Great Pyramid. These +pictures, carved on the tombs of the kings, are still to be seen, +together with some pottery, which, coming from the Balkans, shows that +Betou had boats trading across the eastern end of the Mediterranean. A +picture carved more than six thousand years ago shows an Egyptian boat +being paddled by fourteen men and steered with paddles by three more on +the right-hand side of the stern as you look toward the bow. Thus the +"steer-board" (or steering side) was no new thing when its present name +of "starboard" was used by our Norse ancestors a good many hundred +years ago. The Egyptians, steering on the right-hand side, probably +took in cargo on the left side or "larboard", that is, the "load" or +"lading" side, now called the "port" side, as "larboard" and +"starboard" sounded too much alike when shouted in a gale. + +Up in the bow of this old Egyptian boat stood a man with a pole to help +in steering down the Nile. Amidships stood a man with a +cat-o'-nine-tails, ready to slash any one of the wretched slave +paddlers who was not working hard. All through the Rowing Age, for +thousands and thousands of years, the paddlers and rowers were the same +as the well-known galley-slaves kept by the Mediterranean countries to +row their galleys in peace and war. These galleys, or rowing +men-of-war, lasted down to modern times, as we shall soon see. They +did use sails; but only when the wind was behind them, and never when +it blew really hard. The mast was made of two long wooden spars set +one on each side of the galley, meeting at the head, and strengthened +in between by braces from one spar to another. As time went on better +boats and larger ones were built in Egypt. We can guess how strong +they must have been when they carried down the Nile the gigantic blocks +of stone used in building the famous Pyramids. Some of these blocks +weigh up to sixty tons; so that both the men who built the barges to +bring them down the Nile and those who built these huge blocks into the +wonderful Pyramids must have known their business pretty well a +thousand years before Noah built his Ark. + +The Ark was built in Mesopotamia, less than five thousand years ago, to +save Noah from the flooded Euphrates. The shipwrights seem to have +built it like a barge or house-boat. If so, it must have been about +fifteen thousand tons, taking the length of the cubit in the Bible +story at eighteen inches. It was certainly not a ship, only some sort +of construction that simply floated about with the wind and current +till it ran aground. But Mesopotamia and the shores of the Persian +Gulf were great places for shipbuilding. They were once the home of +adventurers who had come West from southern Asia, and of the famous +Phoenicians, who went farther West to find a new seaboard home along +the shores of Asia Minor, just north of Palestine, where they were in +the shipping business three thousand years ago, about the time of the +early Kings of Israel. + +These wonderful Phoenicians touch our interest to the very quick; for +they were not only the seamen hired by "Solomon in all his glory" but +they were also the founders of Carthage and the first oversea traders +with the Atlantic coasts of France and the British Isles. Their story +thus goes home to all who love the sea, the Bible, and Canada's two +Mother Lands. They had shipping on the Red Sea as well as on the +Mediterranean; and it was their Red Sea merchant vessels that coasted +Arabia and East Africa in the time of Solomon (1016-976 B.C.). They +also went round to Persia and probably to India. About 600 B.C. they +are said to have coasted round the whole of Africa, starting from the +Red Sea and coming back by Gibraltar. This took them more than two +years, as they used to sow wheat and wait on shore till the crop was +ripe. Long before this they had passed Gibraltar and settled the +colony of Tarshish, where they found silver in such abundance that "it +was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon." We do not know +whether it was "the ships of Tarshish and of the Isles" that first felt +the way north to France and England. But we do know that many +Phoenicians did trade with the French and British Celts, who probably +learnt in this way how to build ships of their own. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +EAST AGAINST WEST + +(480-146 B.C.) + +For two thousand years Eastern fleets and armies tried to conquer +Europe. Sometimes hundreds of years would pass without an attack. But +the result was always the same--the triumph of West over East; and the +cause of each triumph was always the same--the sea-power of the West. +Without those Western navies the Europe and America we know today could +never have existed. There could have been no Greek civilization, no +Roman government, no British Empire, and no United States. First, the +Persians fought the Greeks at Salamis in 480 B.C. Then Carthage fought +Rome more than two hundred years later. Finally, the conquering Turks +were beaten by the Spaniards at Lepanto more than two thousand years +after Salamis, but not far from the same spot, Salamis being ten miles +from Athens and Lepanto a hundred. + +Long before Salamis the Greeks had been founding colonies along the +Mediterranean, among them some on the Asiatic side of the Aegean Sea, +where the French and British fleets had so much to do during the +Gallipoli campaign of 1915 against the Turks and Germans. Meanwhile +the Persians had been fighting their way north-westwards till they had +reached the Aegean and conquered most of the Greeks and Phoenicians +there. Then the Greeks at Athens sent a fleet which landed an army +that burnt the city of Sardis, an outpost of Persian power. Thereupon +King Darius, friend of the Prophet Daniel, vowed vengeance on Athens, +and caused a trusty servant to whisper in his ear each day, "Master, +remember Athens!" + +Now, the Persians were landsmen, with what was then the greatest army +in the world, but with a navy and a merchant fleet mostly manned by +conquered Phoenicians and Greek colonists, none of whom wanted to see +Greece itself destroyed. So when Darius met the Greeks at Marathon his +fleet and army did not form the same sort of United Service that the +British fleet and army form. He was beaten back to his ships and +retired to Asia Minor. But "Remember Athens!" was always in his mind. +So for ten years he and his son Xerxes prepared a vast armada against +which they thought no other force on earth could stand. But, like the +Spanish Armada against England two thousand years later, this Persian +host was very much stronger ashore than afloat. Its army was so vast +that it covered the country like a swarm of locusts. At the +world-famous pass of Thermopylae the Spartan king, Leonidas, waited for +the Persians. Xerxes sent a summons asking the Greeks to surrender +their arms. "Come and take them," said Leonidas. Then wave after wave +of Persians rushed to the attack, only to break against the dauntless +Greeks. At last a vile traitor told Xerxes of another pass (which the +Greeks had not men enough to hold, though it was on their flank). He +thus got the chance of forcing them either to retreat or be cut off. +Once through this pass the Persians overran the country; and all the +Spartans at Thermopylae died fighting to the last. + +Only the Grecian fleet remained. It was vastly out-numbered by the +Persian fleet. But it was manned by patriots trained to fight on the +water; while the Persians themselves were nearly all landsmen, and so +had to depend on the Phoenicians and colonial Greek seamen, who were +none too eager for the fray. Seeing the Persians too densely massed +together on a narrow front the Greek commander, Themistocles, attacked +with equal skill and fury, rolled up the Persian front in confusion on +the mass behind, and won the battle that saved the Western World. The +Persians lost two hundred vessels against only forty Greek. But it was +not the mere loss of vessels, or even of this battle of Salamis itself, +that forced Xerxes to give up all hopes of conquest. The real reason +was his having lost the command of the sea. He knew that the +victorious Greeks could now beat the fighting ships escorting his +supply vessels coming overseas from Asia Minor, and that, without the +constant supplies of men, arms, food, and everything else an army +needs, his army itself must wither away. + +Two hundred and twenty years later the sea-power of the Roman West beat +both the land- and sea-power of the Carthaginian East; and for the very +same reason. Carthage was an independent colony of Phoenicians which +had won an empire in the western Mediterranean by its sea-power. It +held a great part of Spain, the whole of Sardinia, most of Sicily, and +many other islands. The Romans saw that they would never be safe as +long as Carthage had the stronger navy; so they began to build one of +their own. They copied a Carthaginian war galley that had been +wrecked; and meanwhile taught their men to row on benches set up +ashore. This made the Carthaginians laugh and led them to expect an +easy victory. But the Romans were thorough in everything they did, and +they had the best trained soldiers in the world. They knew the +Carthaginians could handle war galleys better than they could +themselves; so they tried to give their soldiers the best possible +chance when once the galleys closed. They made a sort of drawbridge +that could be let down with a bang on the enemy boats and there held +fast by sharp iron spikes biting into the enemy decks. Then their +soldiers charged across and cleared everything before them. + +[Illustration: ROMAN TRIREME--A vessel with three benches of oars] + +The Carthaginians never recovered from this first fatal defeat at Mylae +in 260 B.C., though Carthage itself was not destroyed for more than a +century afterwards, and though Hannibal, one of the greatest soldiers +who ever lived, often beat the Romans in the meantime. All sorts of +reasons, many of them true enough in their way, are given for +Hannibal's final defeat. But sea-power, the first and greatest of all, +is commonly left out. His march round the shores of the western +Mediterranean and his invasion of Italy from across the Alps will +remain one of the wonders of war till the end of history. But the mere +fact that he had to go all the way round by land, instead of straight +across by water, was the real prime cause of his defeat. His forces +simply wore themselves out. Why? Look at the map and you will see +that he and his supplies had to go much farther by land than the Romans +and their supplies had to go by water because the Roman victory over +the Carthaginian fleet had made the shortest seaways safe for Romans +and very unsafe for Carthaginians. Then remember that carrying men and +supplies by sea is many times easier than carrying them by land; and +you get the perfect answer. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CELTIC BRITAIN UNDER ROME + +(55 B.C.-410 A.D.) + +When Caesar was conquering the Celts of Western France he found that +one of their strongest tribes, the Veneti, had been joined by two +hundred and twenty vessels manned by their fellow-Celts from southern +Britain. The united fleets of the Celts were bigger than any Roman +force that Caesar could get afloat. Moreover, Caesar had nothing but +rowboats, which he was obliged to build on the spot; while the Celts +had real ships, which towered above his rowboats by a good ten feet. +But, after cutting the Celtic rigging with scythes lashed to poles, the +well-trained Roman soldiers made short work of the Celts. The Battle +of the Loire seems to have been the only big sea fight the Celts of +Britain ever fought. After this they left the sea to their invaders, +who thus had a great advantage over them ashore. + +The fact is that the Celts of the southern seaports were the only ones +who understood shipbuilding, which they had learnt from the +Phoenicians, and the only ones who were civilized enough to unite among +themselves and with their fellow-Celts in what now is France but then +was Gaul. The rest were mere tribesmen under chiefs who were often +squabbling with one another, and who never formed anything like an +all-Celtic army. For most of them a navy was out of the question, as +they only used the light, open-work, basket-like coracles covered with +skins--about as useful for fighting the Romans at sea as bark canoes +would be against real men-of-war. The Roman conquest of Britain was +therefore made by the army, each conqueror, from Caesar on, winning +battles farther and farther north, until a fortified Roman wall was +built across the narrow neck of land between the Forth and Clyde. +Along these thirty-six miles the Romans kept guard against the Picts +and other Highland tribes. + +The Roman fleet was of course used at all times to guard the seaways +between Britain and the rest of the Roman Empire, as well as to carry +supplies along the coast when the army was fighting near by. This gave +the Romans the usual immense advantage of sea-transport over +land-transport, never less than ten to one and often very much more. +The Romans could thus keep their army supplied with everything it +needed. The Celts could not. Eighteen hundred years after Caesar's +first landing in Britain, Wolfe, the victor of Quebec, noticed the same +immense advantage enjoyed by King George's army over Prince Charlie's, +owing to the same sort of difference in transport, King George's army +having a fleet to keep it well supplied, while Prince Charlie's had +nothing but slow and scanty land transport, sometimes more dead than +alive. + +The only real fighting the Romans had to do afloat was against the +Norsemen, who sailed out of every harbour from Norway round to Flanders +and swooped down on every vessel or coast settlement they thought they +had a chance of taking. To keep these pirates in check Carausius was +made "Count of the Saxon Shore". It was a case of setting a thief to +catch a thief; for Carausius was a Fleming and a bit of a pirate +himself. He soon became so strong at sea that he not only kept the +other Norsemen off but began to set up as a king on his own account. +He seized Boulogne, harried the Roman shipping on the coasts of France, +and joined forces with those Franks whom the Romans had sent into the +Black Sea to check the Scythians and other wild tribes from the East. +The Franks were themselves Norsemen, who afterwards settled in Gaul and +became the forefathers of the modern French. So Rome was now +threatened by a naval league of hardy Norsemen, from the Black Sea, +through the Mediterranean, and all the way round to that "Saxon Shore" +of eastern Britain which was itself in danger from Norsemen living on +the other side of the North Sea. Once more, however, the Romans won +the day. The Emperor Constantius caught the Franks before they could +join Carausius and smashed their fleet near Gibraltar. He then went to +Gaul and made ready a fleet at the mouth of the Seine, near Le Havre, +which was a British base during the Great War against the Germans. +Meanwhile Carausius was killed by his second-in-command, Allectus, who +sailed from the Isle of Wight to attack Constantius, who himself sailed +for Britain at the very same time. A dense fog came on. The two +fleets never met. Constantius landed. Allectus then followed him +ashore and was beaten and killed in a purely land battle. + +This was a little before the year 300; by which time the Roman Empire +was beginning to rot away, because the Romans were becoming softer and +fewer, and because they were hiring more and more strangers to fight +for them, instead of keeping up their own old breed of first-class +fighting men. By 410 Rome itself was in such danger that they took +their last ships and soldiers away from Celtic Britain, which at once +became the prey of the first good fighting men who came that way; +because the Celts, never united enough to make a proper army or navy of +their own, were now weaker than ever, after having had their country +defended by other people for the last four hundred years. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE HARDY NORSEMAN + +(449-1066) + +The British Empire leads the whole world both in size and population. +It ended the Great War with the greatest of all the armies, the +greatest of all the navies, and the greatest of all the mercantile +marines. Better still, it not only did most towards keeping its +own--which is by far the oldest--freedom in the world, but it also did +most towards helping all its Allies to be free. There are many reasons +why we now enjoy these blessings. But there are three without which we +never could have had a single one. The first, of course, is sea-power. +But this itself depends on the second reason, which, in its turn, +depends upon the third. For we never could have won the greatest +sea-power unless we had bred the greatest race of seamen. And we never +could have bred the greatest race of seamen unless we ourselves had +been mostly bred from those hardy Norsemen who were both the terror and +the glory of the sea. + +Many thousands of years ago, when the brown and yellow peoples of the +Far South-East were still groping their way about their steamy Asian +rivers and hot shores, a race of great, strong, fair-haired seamen was +growing in the North. This Nordic race is the one from which most +English-speaking people come, the one whose blood runs in the veins of +most first-class seamen to the present day, and the one whose +descendants have built up more oversea dominions, past and present, +than have been built by all the other races, put together, since the +world began. + +To the sturdy Nordic stock belonged all who became famous as Vikings, +Berserkers, and Hardy Norsemen, as well as all the Anglo-Saxons, Jutes, +Danes, and Normans, from whom came most of the people that made the +British Empire and the United States. "Nordic" and "Norse" are, +therefore, much better, because much truer, words than "Anglo-Saxon", +which only names two of the five chief tribes from which most +English-speaking people come, and which is not nearly so true as +"Anglo-Norman" to describe the people, who, once formed in England, +spread over southern Scotland and parts of Ireland, and who have also +gone into every British, American, or foreign country that has ever +been connected with the sea. + +When the early Nordics outgrew their first home beside the Baltic they +began sailing off to seek their fortune overseas. In course of time +they not only spread over the greater part of northern Europe but went +as far south as Italy and Spain, where the good effects of their +bracing blood have never been lost. They even left descendants among +the Berbers of North Africa; and, as we have learnt already, some of +them went as far east as the Black Sea. The Belgians, Dutch, and +Germans of Caesar's day were all Nordic. So were the Franks, from whom +France takes its name. The Nordic blood, of course, became more or +less mingled with that of the different peoples the Nordic tribes +subdued; and new blood coming in from outside made further changes +still. But the Nordic strain prevailed, as that of the conquerors, +even where the Nordic folk did not outnumber all the rest, as they +certainly did in Great Britain. The Franks, whose name meant "free +men", at last settled down with the Gauls, who outnumbered them; so +that the modern French are a blend of both. But the Gauls were the +best warriors of all the Celts: it took Caesar eight years to conquer +them. So we know that Frenchmen got their soldier blood from both +sides. We also know that they learnt a good deal of their civilization +from the Romans and passed it on to the empire-building Normans, who +brought more Nordic blood into France. The Normans in their turn +passed it on to the Anglo-Saxons, who, with the Jutes and Danes, form +the bulk, as the Normans form the backbone, of most English-speaking +folk within the British Empire. The Normans are thus the great bond of +union between the British Empire and the French. They are the +Franco-British kinsfolk of the sea. + +We must not let the fact that Prussia borders on the North Sea and the +Baltic mislead us into mistaking the Prussians for the purest offspring +of the Nordic race. They are nothing of the kind. Some of the finest +Nordics did stay near their Baltic home. But these became Norwegians, +Swedes, and Danes; while nearly all the rest of the cream of this +mighty race went far afield. Its Franks went into France by land. Its +Normans went by sea. Others settled in Holland and Belgium and became +the Dutch and Flemings of today. But the mightiest host of hardy +Norsemen crossed the North Sea to settle in the British Isles; and from +this chosen home of merchant fleets and navies the Nordic British have +themselves gone forth as conquering settlers across the Seven Seas. + +The Prussians are the least Nordic of all the Germans, and most Germans +are rather the milk than the cream of the Nordic race; for the cream +generally sought the sea, while the milk stayed on shore. The +Prussians have no really Nordic forefathers except the Teutonic +Knights, who killed off the Borussi or Old-Prussian savages, about +seven hundred years ago, and then settled the empty land with their +soldiers of fortune, camp-followers, hirelings, and serfs. These gangs +had been brought together, by force or the hope of booty, from anywhere +at all. The new Prussians were thus a pretty badly mixed lot; so the +Teutonic Knights hammered them into shape as the newer Prussians whom +Frederick the Great in the eighteenth century and Bismarck in the +nineteenth turned into a conquering horde. The Kaiser's newest +Prussians need no description here. We all know him and them; and what +became of both; and how it served them right. + +The first of the hardy Norsemen to arrive in England with a regular +fleet and army were the two brothers, Hengist and Horsa, whom the Celts +employed to defend them against the wild Picts that were swarming down +from the north. The Picts once beaten, the Celts soon got into the +same troubles that beset every people who will not or can not fight for +themselves. More and more Norsemen kept coming to the Isle of Thanet, +the easternmost point of Kent, and disputes kept on growing between +them and the Celts over pay and food as well as over the division of +the spoils. The Norsemen claimed most of the spoil, because their +sword had won it. The Celts thought this unfair, because the country +was their own. It certainly was theirs at that time. But they had +driven out the people who had been there before them; so when they were +themselves driven out they suffered no more than what they once had +made these others suffer. + +Presently the Norsemen turned their swords on the Celts and began a +conquest that went on from father to son till there were hardly any +Celts left in the British Isles outside of Wales, the Highlands of +Scotland, and the greater part of Ireland. Every place easily reached +from the sea fell into the hands of the Norsemen whenever they chose to +take it; for the Celts never even tried to have a navy. This, of +course, was the chief reason why they lost the war on land; because the +Norsemen, though fewer by far at first, could move men, arms, and +supplies ten times better than the Celts whenever the battlefields were +anywhere near the sea. + +Islands, harbours, and navigable rivers were often held by the +Norsemen, even when the near-by country was filled with Celts. The +extreme north of Scotland, like the whole of the south, became Norse, +as did the northern islands of Orkney and Shetland. Scapa Flow, that +magnificent harbour in the Orkneys, was a stronghold of Norsemen many +centuries before their descendants manned the British Grand Fleet there +during the recent war. The Isle of Man was taken by Norsemen. Dublin, +Waterford, and other Irish cities were founded by them. They attacked +Wales from Anglessey; and, wherever they conquered, their armies were +based on the sea. + +If you want to understand how the British Isles changed from a Celtic +to a Nordic land, how they became the centre of the British Empire, and +why they were the Mother Country from which the United States were +born, you must always view the question from the sea. Take the sea as +a whole, together with all that belongs to it--its islands, harbours, +shores, and navigable rivers. Then take the roving Norsemen as the +greatest seamen of the great seafaring Nordic race. Never mind the +confusing lists of tribes and kings on either side--the Jutes and +Anglo-Saxons, the Danes and Normans, on one side, and the Celts of +England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, on the other; nor yet the +different dates and places; but simply take a single bird's-eye view of +all the Seven Seas as one sea, of all the British Norsemen as one +Anglo-Norman folk, and of all the centuries from the fifth to the +twentieth as a single age; and then you can quite easily understand how +the empire of the sea has been won and held by the same strong +"Hardy-Norseman" hands these fifteen hundred years. + +There is nothing to offend the Celts in this. They simply tried to do +what never can be done: that is, they tried to hold a sea-girt country +with nothing but an army, while their enemy had an army and a fleet. +They fought well enough in the past on many a stricken field to save +any race's honour; and none who know the glorious deeds of the really +Celtic Highland, Welsh, or Irish regiments can fail to admire them now. +But this book is about seamen and the sea, and how they have changed +the fate of landsmen and the land. So we must tell the plain truth +about the Anglo-Norman seamen without whom there could be no British +Empire and no United States. The English-speaking peoples owe a great +deal to the Celts; and there is Celtic blood in a good many who are of +mostly Nordic stock. But the British Empire and the American Republic +were founded and are led more by Anglo-Normans than even Anglo-Normans +know. For the Anglo-Normans include not only the English and their +descendants overseas but many who are called Scotch and Irish, because, +though of Anglo-Norman blood, they or their forefathers were born in +Scotland or Ireland. Soldiers and sailors like Wellington, Kitchener, +and Beatty are as Anglo-Norman by descent as Marlborough, Nelson, and +Drake, though all three were born in Ireland. They are no more Irish +Celts than the English-speaking people in the Province of Quebec are +French-Canadians. They might have been as good or better if born Irish +Celts or French-Canadians. But that is not the point. The point is +simply a fact without which we cannot understand our history; and it is +this: that, for all we owe to other folk and other things than fleets, +our sea-girt British Empire was chiefly won, and still is chiefly kept, +by warriors of the sea-borne "Hardy-Norseman" breed. + + + +THE SEA-FARER + + Desire in my heart ever urges my spirit to wander, + To seek out the home of the stranger in lands afar off. + There is no one that dwells on earth so exalted in mind, + So large in his bounty, nor yet of such vigorous youth, + Nor so daring in deeds, nor to whom his liege lord is so kind, + But that he has always a longing, a sea-faring passion + For what the Lord God shall bestow, be it honour or death. + No heart for the harp has he, nor for acceptance of treasure, + No pleasure has he in a wife, no delight in the world, + Nor in aught save the roll of the billows; but always a longing, + A yearning uneasiness hastens him on to the sea. + +_Anonymous_. + +_Translated from the Anglo-Saxon_. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE IMPERIAL NORMAN + +(1066-1451) + +The Celts had been little more than a jumble of many different tribes +before the Romans came. The Romans had ruled England and the south of +Scotland as a single country. But when they left it the Celts had let +it fall to pieces again. The Norsemen tried, time after time, to make +one United Kingdom; but they never quite succeeded for more than a few +years. They had to wait for the empire-building Normans to teach them +how to make, first, a kingdom and then an empire that would last. + +Yet Offa, Edgar, and Canute went far towards making the first step by +trying to raise a Royal Navy strong enough to command at least the +English sea. Offa, king of Mercia or Middle England (757-796) had no +sooner fought his way outwards to a sure foothold on the coast than he +began building a fleet so strong that even the great Emperor +Charlemagne, though ruling the half of Europe, treated him on equal +terms. Here is Offa's good advice to all future kings of England: "He +who would be safe on land must be supreme at sea." Alfred the Great +(871-901) was more likely to have been thinking of the navy than of +anything else when, as a young man hiding from the Danes, he forgot to +turn the cakes which the housewife had left him to watch. Anyhow he +tried the true way to stop the Danes, by attacking them before they +landed, and he caused ships of a new and better kind to be built for +the fleet. Edgar (959-975) used to go round Great Britain every year +inspecting the three different fleets into which his navy was divided; +one off the east of England, another off the north of Scotland, and the +third in the Irish Sea. It is said that he was once rowed at Chester +on the River Dee by no less than eight kings, which showed that he was +following Offa's advice by making his navy supreme over all the +neighbouring coasts of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. + +After Edgar's death the Danes held command of the sea. They formed the +last fierce wave of hardy Norsemen to break in fury on the English +shore and leave descendants who are seamen to the present day. Nelson, +greatest of all naval commanders, came from Norfolk, where Danish blood +is strongest. Most of the fishermen on the east coast of Great Britain +are of partly Danish descent; and no one served more faithfully through +the Great War than these men did against the submarines and mines. +King George V, whose mother is a Dane, and who is himself a first-rate +seaman, must have felt a thrill of ancestral pride in pinning V.C.'s +over their undaunted hearts. Fifty years before the Norman conquest +Canute the Dane became sole king of England. He had been chosen King +of Denmark by the Danish Fleet. But he was true to England as well; +and in 1028, when he conquered Norway, he had fifty English vessels +with him. + +Meanwhile another great Norseman, Leif Ericsson, seems to have +discovered America at the end of the tenth century: that is, he was as +long before Columbus as Columbus was before our own day. In any case +Norsemen settled in Iceland and discovered Greenland; so it may even be +that the "White Eskimos" found by the Canadian Arctic Expedition of +1913 were the descendants of Vikings lost a thousand years ago. The +Saga of Eric the Red tells how Leif Ericsson found three new countries +in the Western World--Helluland, Markland, and Vinland. As two of +these must have been Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, which Cabot +discovered with his English crew in 1497, it is certain that Canada was +seen first either by Norsemen or by their descendants. + +The Norse discovery of America cannot be certainly proved like the +discoveries made by Cabot and Columbus. But one proved fact telling in +favour of the Norsemen is that they were the only people who built +vessels "fit to go foreign" a thousand years ago. All other people +hugged the shore for centuries to come. The Norsemen feared not any +sea. + +Some years ago a Viking (or Warrior's) ship, as old as those used by +Ericsson, was found in the "King's Mound" in Gokstad, Southern Norway. +Seated in her was the skeleton of the Viking Chief who, as the custom +used to be, was buried in his floating home. He must have stood well +over six foot three and been immensely strong, judging by his deep +chest, broad shoulders, and long arms fit to cleave a foeman at a +single stroke. This Viking vessel is so well shaped to stand the +biggest waves, and yet slip through the water with the greatest ease, +that she could be used as a model now. She has thirty-two oars and a +big square sail on a mast, which, like the one in the old Egyptian boat +we were talking of in Chapter II, could be quickly raised or lowered. +If she had only had proper sails and rigging she could have tacked +against the wind. But, as we shall soon see, the art of tacking was +not invented till five centuries later; though then it was done by an +English descendant of the Vikings. + +Eighty foot long and sixteen in the beam, this Viking vessel must have +looked the real thing as she scudded before a following wind or dashed +ahead when her thirty-two oars were swept through the water by +sixty-four pairs of the strongest arms on earth. Her figure-head has +gone; but she probably had a fierce dragon over the bows, just ready to +strike. Her sides were hung with glittering shields; and when mere +landsmen saw a Viking fleet draw near, the oars go in, the swords come +out, and Vikings leap ashore--no wonder they shivered in their shoes! + +It was in this way that the Normans first arrived in Normandy and made +a home there in spite of Franks and Gauls, just as the Danes made +English homes in spite of Celts and Anglo-Saxons. There was no navy to +oppose them. Neither was there any fleet to oppose William the +Conqueror in 1066, when he crossed the Channel to seize the English +Crown. Harold of England had no great fleet in any case; and what he +had was off the Yorkshire coast, where his brother had come to claim +the Crown, backed by the King of Norway. The Battle of Hastings, which +made William king of England, was therefore a land battle only. But +the fact that William had a fleet in the Channel, while Harold had not, +gave William the usual advantage in the campaign. From that day to +this England has never been invaded; and for the best of all +reasons--because no enemy could ever safely pass her fleet. + +[Illustration: WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR'S TRANSPORTS] + +The Normans at last gave England what none of her other Norsemen gave +her, the power of becoming the head and heart of the future British +Empire. The Celts, Danes, Jutes, and Anglo-Saxons had been fusing +together the iron of their natures to make one strong, united British +race. The Normans changed this iron into steel: well tempered, +stronger than iron could be, and splendidly fit for all the great work +of imperial statesmen as well as for that of warriors by land and sea. + +The Normans were not so great in numbers. But they were very great in +leadership. They were a race of rulers. Picked men of Nordic stock to +start with, they had learnt the best that France could teach them: +Roman law and order and the art of founding empires, Frankish love of +freedom, a touch of Celtic wit, and the new French civilization. They +went all over seaboard Europe, conquerors and leaders wherever they +went. But nowhere did they set their mark so firmly and so lastingly +as in the British Isles. They not only conquered and became leaders +among their fellow-Norsemen but they went through most of Celtic +Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, founding many a family whose descendants +have helped to make the Empire what it is. + +William the Conqueror built a fleet as soon as he could; for only a few +of the vessels he brought over from Normandy were of any use as +men-of-war. But there were no great battles on the water till the one +off the South Foreland more than a century after his death. He and the +kings after him always had to keep their weather eye open for Danes and +other rovers of the sea as well as for the navy of the kings of France. +But, except when Henry II went to Ireland in 1171, there was no great +expedition requiring a large fleet. Strongbow and other ambitious +nobles had then begun conquering parts of Ireland on their own account. +So Henry recalled his Englishmen, lest they should go too far without +him, and held a court at which they promised to give him, as their +liege overlord, all the conquests they either had made or might make. +Henry, who understood the value of sea-power, at once granted them +whatever they could conquer, except the seaports, which he would keep +for the Crown. + +When Henry died Richard the Lion-Hearted and Philip Augustus of France +agreed to join in a great Crusade. Zeal for the Christian religion and +love of adventure together drew vast numbers of Crusaders to the Holy +Land. But sea-power also had a great deal to do with the Crusades. +The Saracens, already strong at sea in the East, were growing so much +stronger that Western statesmen thought it high time to check them, +lest their fleets should command the whole Mediterranean and perhaps +the seas beyond. + +In 1190 Richard joined his fleet at Messina, in Sicily, where roving +Normans were of course to be found as leaders in peace and war. +Vinesauf the historian, who was what we should now call a war +correspondent, wrote a glowing account of the scene. "As soon as the +people heard of his arrival they rushed in crowds to the shore to +behold the glorious King of England, and saw the sea covered with +innumerable galleys. And the sound of trumpets from afar, with the +sharper blasts of clarions, resounded in their ears. And they saw the +galleys rowing near the land, adorned and furnished with all kinds of +arms, with countless pennons floating in the breeze, ensigns at the +tops of lances, the beaks of the galleys beautified by painting, and +glittering shields hanging from the prows. The sea looked as if it was +boiling from the vast number of oar blades in it. The trumpets grew +almost deafening. And each arrival was greeted with bursts of +cheering. Then our splendid King stood up on a prow higher than all +the rest, with a gorgeously dressed staff of warriors about him, and +surveyed the scene with pleasure. After this he landed, beautifully +dressed, and showed himself graciously to all who approached him." + +The whole English fleet numbered about two hundred and thirty vessels, +with stores for a year and money enough for longer still. A southerly +gale made nearly everybody sea-sick; for the Italian rowers in the +galleys were little better as seamen than the soldiers were, being used +to calm waters. Some vessels were wrecked on the rocks of Cyprus, when +their crews were robbed by the king there. This roused the +Lion-Hearted, who headed a landing party which soon brought King +Comnenus to his senses. Vinesauf wrote to say that when Comnenus sued +for peace Richard was mounted on a splendid Spanish war-horse and +dressed in a red silk tunic embroidered with gold. Red seems to have +been a favourite English war colour from very early times. The red St. +George's Cross on a white field was flown from the masthead by the +commander-in-chief of the fleet, just as it is today. On another flag +always used aboard ship three British lions were displayed. + +After putting Comnenus into silver chains and shutting him up in a +castle Richard set two governors over Cyprus, which thus became the +first Eastern possession of the British Crown. Seven centuries later +it again came into British hands, this time to stay. Richard then +sailed for the siege of Acre in Palestine. But on the way he met a +Turkish ship of such enormous size that she simply took Vinesauf's +breath away. No one thought that any ship so big had ever been built +before, "unless it might be Noah's Ark", Richard had a hundred galleys. +The Turkish ship was quite alone; but she was a tough nut to crack, for +all that. She was said to have had fifteen hundred men aboard, which +might be true, as soldiers being rushed over for the defence of Acre +were probably packed like herrings in a barrel. As this was the first +English sea fight in the Crusades, and the first in which a King of all +England fought, the date should be set down: the 7th of June, 1191. + +The Turk was a very stoutly built vessel, high out of the water and +with three tall masts, each provided with a fighting top from which +stones and jars of Greek fire could be hurled down on the galleys. She +also had "two hundred most deadly serpents, prepared for killing +Christians." Altogether, she seems to have been about as devilish a +craft as even Germans could invent. As she showed no colours Richard +hailed her, when she said she was a French ship bound for Acre. But as +no one on board could speak French he sent a galley to test her. As +soon as the Englishmen went near enough the Turks threw Greek fire on +them. Then Richard called out: "Follow me and take her! If she +escapes you lose my love for ever. If you take her, all that is in her +will be yours." But when the galleys swarmed round her she beat them +off with deadly showers of arrows and Greek fire. There was a pause, +and the galleys seemed less anxious to close again. Then Richard +roared out: "If this ship escapes every one of you men will be hanged!" +After this some men jumped overboard with tackle which they made fast +to the Turkish rudder. They and others then climbed up her sides, +having made ropes fast with grapnels. A furious slashing and stabbing +followed on deck. The Turks below swarmed up and drove the English +overboard. Nothing daunted, Richard prepared to ram her. Forming up +his best galleys in line-abreast he urged the rowers to their utmost +speed. With a terrific rending crash the deadly galley beaks bit home. +The Turk was stove in so badly that she listed over and sank like a +stone. It is a pity that we do not know her name. For she fought +overwhelming numbers with a dauntless courage that nothing could +surpass. As she was the kind of ship then called a "dromon" she might +be best remembered as "the dauntless dromon." + +King John, who followed Richard on the throne of England, should be +known as John the Unjust. He was hated in Normandy, which Philip +Augustus of France took from him in 1204. He was hated in England, +where the English lords forced him to sign Magna Charta in 1215. False +to his word, he had no sooner signed it than he began plotting to get +back the power he had so shamefully misused; and the working out of +this plot brought on the first great sea fight with the French. + +Looking out for a better king the lords chose Prince Louis of France, +who landed in England next year and met them in London. But John +suddenly died. His son, Henry III, was only nine. So England was +ruled by William Marshal, the great Earl of Pembroke, one of the ablest +patriots who ever lived. Once John was out of the way the English +lords who had wrung from him the great charter of English liberties +became very suspicious of Louis and the French. A French army was +besieging Lincoln in 1217, helped by the English followers of Louis, +when the Earl Marshal, as Pembroke is called, caught this Anglo-French +force between his own army and the garrison, who joined the attack, and +utterly defeated it in a battle the people called the Fair of Lincoln. +Louis, who had been besieging Dover, at once sent to France for another +army. But this brought on the battle of the South Foreland, which was +the ruin of his hopes. + +The French commander was Eustace the Monk, a Flemish hireling who had +fought first for John and then for Louis. He was good at changing +sides, having changed from monk to pirate because it paid him better, +and having since been always up for sale to whichever side would pay +him best. But he was bold and skilful; he had a strong fleet; and both +he and his followers were very keen to help Louis, who had promised +them the spoils of England if they won. Luckily for England this +danger brought forth her first great sea commander, Hubert de Burgh: +let his name be long remembered. Hubert had stood out against Louis as +firmly as he had against John, and as firmly as he was again to face +another bad king, when Henry III tried to follow John's example. +Hubert had refused to let Louis into Dover Castle. He had kept him out +during the siege that followed. And he was now holding this key to the +English Channel with the same skill and courage as was shown by the +famous Dover Patrol throughout the war against the Germans. + +Hubert saw at once that the best way to defend England from invasion +was to defeat the enemy at sea by sailing out to meet him. This is as +true today as ever. The best possible way of defending yourself always +is to destroy the enemy's means of destroying you; and, with us of the +British Empire, the only sure way to begin is to smash the enemy's +fleet or, if it hides in port, blockade it. Hubert, of course, had +trouble to persuade even the patriotic nobles that his own way was the +right one; for, just as at the present day, most people knew nothing of +the sea. But the men of the Cinque Ports, the five great seaports on +the south-east coast of England, did know whereof they spoke when they +answered Hubert's call: "If this tyrant Eustace lands he will lay the +country waste. Let us therefore meet him while he is at sea." + +Hubert's English fleet of forty ships sailed from Dover on the 24th of +August, 1217, and steered towards Calais; for the wind was +south-south-east and Hubert wished to keep the weather gage. For six +hundred years to come, (that is, till, after Trafalgar, sails gave way +to steam), the sea commanders who fought to win by bold attack always +tried to keep the weather gage. This means that they kept on the +windward side of the enemy, which gave them a great advantage, as they +could then choose their own time for attacking and the best weak spot +to attack, while the enemy, having the wind ahead, could not move half +so fast, except when running away. Hubert de Burgh was the first +commander who understood all about the weather gage and how to get it. +Even the clever Eustace was taken in, for he said, "I know these clever +villains want to plunder Calais. But the people there are ready for +them." So he held his course to the Forelands, meaning to round into +the mouth of Thames and make for London. + +Then Hubert bore down. His fleet was the smaller; but as he had the +weather gage he succeeded in smashing up the French rear before the +rest could help it. As each English vessel ranged alongside it threw +grappling irons into the enemy, who were thus held fast. The English +archers hailed a storm of well aimed arrows on the French decks, which +were densely crowded by the soldiers Eustace was taking over to conquer +England. Then the English boarded, blinding the nearest French with +lime, cutting their rigging to make their vessels helpless, and +defeating the crews with great slaughter. Eustace, having lost the +weather gage, with which he had started out that morning, could only +bring his fleet into action bit by bit. Hubert's whole fleet fought +together and won a perfect victory. + +More than a century later the unhappy Hundred Years War (1336-1431) +broke out. All the countries of Western Europe took a hand in it at +one time or another. Scotland, which was a sort of sub-kingdom under +the King of England, sided with France because she wished to be +independent of England, while the smaller countries on the eastern +frontier of France sided with England because they were afraid of +France. But the two great opponents were always France and England. +The Kings of England had come from Normandy and other parts of what is +now France and what then were fiefs of the Crown of France, as Scotland +was a fief of the Crown of England. They therefore took as much +interest in what they held in France as in their own out-and-out +Kingdom of England. Moreover, they not only wanted to keep what they +had in France but to make it as independent of the French King as the +Scotch King wanted to make Scotland independent of them. + +In the end the best thing happened; for it was best to have both +kingdoms completed in the way laid out by Nature: France, a great +land-power, with a race of soldiers, having all that is France now; and +England, the great sea-power, with a race of sailors, becoming one of +the countries that now make up the United Kingdom of the British Isles. +But it took a hundred years to get the English out of France, and much +longer still to bring all parts of the British Isles under a single +king. + +In the fourteenth century the population of France, including all the +French possessions of the English Crown, was four times the population +of England. One would suppose that the French could easily have driven +the English out of every part of France and have carried the war into +England, as the Romans carried their war into Carthage. But English +sea-power made all the difference. Sea-power not only kept Frenchmen +out of England but it helped Englishmen to stay in France and win many +a battle there as well. Most of the time the English fleet held the +command of the sea along the French as well as along the English coast. +So the English armies enjoyed the immense advantage of sea-transport +over land-transport, whenever men, arms, horses, stores, food, and +whatever else their armies needed could be moved by water, while the +French were moving their own supplies by land with more than ten times +as much trouble and delay. + +Another and most important point about the Hundred Years War is this: +that it does not stand alone in history, but is only the first of the +two very different kinds of Hundred Years War which France and England +have fought out. The first Hundred Years War was fought to decide the +absolute possession of all the lands where Frenchmen lived; and France, +most happily, came out victorious. The second Hundred Years War +(1689-1815) was fought to decide the command of the sea; and England +won. When we reach this second Hundred Years War, and more especially +when we reach that part of it which was directed by the mighty Pitt, we +shall understand it as the war which made the British Empire of today. + +The first big battle of the first Hundred Years War was fought in 1340 +between the French and English fleets at Sluys, a little seaport up a +river in the western corner of what is Holland now. King Philip of +France had brought together all the ships he could, not only French +ones but Flemish, with hired war galleys and their soldiers and slave +oarsmen from Genoa and elsewhere. But, instead of using this fleet to +attack the English, and so clear the way for an invasion of England, he +let it lie alongside the mudbanks of Sluys. Edward III, the future +victor of Cressy, Poitiers, and Winchelsea, did not take long to seize +so good a chance. The French fleet was placed as if on purpose to +ensure its own defeat; for it lay at anchor in three divisions, each +division with all the vessels lashed together, and the whole three in +one line with a flank to the sea. The English officers who had landed +to look at it saw at once that if this flank was properly attacked it +could be smashed in on the next bit of the line, and that on the next, +and so on, before the remaining bits could come to the rescue. On the +turn of the tide Edward swooped down with his best ships, knocked this +flank to pieces, and then went on till two divisions had been rolled up +in complete confusion. Then the ebb-tide set out to sea; and the +Genoese of the third division mostly got away. + +Ten years later (1350) the English for the first time fought a Spanish +fleet and won a battle sometimes called Winchelsea and sometimes +Espagnols-sur-mer or Spaniards-on-the-sea. Edward III had sworn +vengeance against the Basque traders from the coast of Spain who had +plundered the English vessels coming in from France. So he made ready +to attack the Spanish Basques sailing home from Antwerp, where they had +hired Flemings and others to join the fray. This time each fleet was +eager to attack the other; and a battle royal followed. On the fine +afternoon of the 28th of August King Edward sat on the deck of his +flagship listening to Sir John Chandos, who was singing while the +minstrels played. Beside him stood his eldest son, the famous Black +Prince, then twenty years of age, and his youngest son, John of Gaunt, +then only ten. Suddenly the lookout called down from the tops: "Sire, +I see one, two, three, four--I see so many, so help me God, I cannot +count them." Then the King called for his helmet and for wine, with +which he and his knights drank to each others' health and to their +joint success in the coming battle. Queen Philippa and her ladies +meanwhile went into Winchelsea Abbey to pray for victory, now and then +stealing out to see how their fleet was getting on. + +The Spaniards made a brave show. Their fighting tops (like little +bowl-shaped forts high up the masts) glinted with armed men. Their +soldiers stood in gleaming armour on the decks. Long narrow flags gay +with coloured crests fluttered in the breeze. The English, too, made a +brave show of flags and armoured men. They had a few more vessels than +the Spaniards, but of a rather smaller kind, so the two fleets were +nearly even. The King steered for the Spaniards; though not so as to +meet them end-for-end but at an angle. The two flagships met with a +terrific crash; and the crowded main-top of the Spaniard, snapping from +off the mast, went splash into the sea, carrying its little garrison +down with all their warlike gear. The charging ships rebounded for a +moment, and then ground against each others' sides, wrecked each +others' rigging, and began the fight with showers of arrows, battering +stones from aloft, and wildfire flying to and fro. The Spanish +flagship was the bigger of the two, more stoutly built, and with more +way on when they met; so she forged ahead a good deal damaged, while +the King's ship wallowed after, leaking like a sieve. The tremendous +shock of the collision had opened every seam in her hull and she began +to sink. The King still wanted to follow the Spanish flagship; but his +sailors, knowing this was now impossible, said: "No, Sire, your Majesty +can not catch her; but we can catch another." With that they laid +aboard the next one, which the king took just in time, for his own ship +sank a moment after. + +The Black Prince had the same good luck, just clearing the enemy's deck +before his own ship sank. Strange to say, the same thing happened to +Robert of Namur, a Flemish friend of Edward's, whose vessel, grappled +by a bigger enemy, was sinking under him as the two were drifting side +by side, when Hanekin, an officer of Robert's, climbed into the Spanish +vessel by some entangled rigging and cut the ropes which held the +Spanish sails. Down came the sails with a run, flopping about the +Spaniards' heads; and before the confusion could be put right Robert +was over the side with his men-at-arms, cutting down every Spaniard who +struggled out of the mess. The Basques and Spaniards fought most +bravely. But the chief reason why they were beaten hand-to-hand was +because the English archers, trained to shooting from their boyhood up, +had killed and wounded so many of them before the vessels closed. + +The English won a great victory. But it was by no means complete, +partly because the Spanish fleet was too strong to be finished off, and +partly because the English and their Flemish friends wanted to get home +with their booty. Time out of mind, and for at least three centuries +to come, fleets were mostly made up of vessels only brought together +for each battle or campaign; and even the King's vessels were expected +to make what they could out of loot. + +With the sea roads open to the English and mostly closed to the French +and Scots the English armies did as well on land as the navy did at +sea. Four years before this first great battle with the Spaniards the +English armies had won from the French at Cressy and from the Scots at +Neville's Cross. Six years after the Spanish fight they won from the +French again at Poitiers. But in 1374 Edward III, worn out by trying +to hold his lands in France, had been forced to neglect his navy; while +Jean de Vienne, founder of the regular French Navy, was building +first-class men-of-war at Rouen, where, five hundred years later, a +British base was formed to supply the British army during the Great War. + +With Shakespeare's kingly hero, Henry V, the fortunes of the English +armies in France revived. In 1415 he won a great battle at Agincourt, +a place, like Cressy, within a day's march of his ships in the Channel. +Harfleur, at the mouth of the Seine, had been Henry's base for the +Agincourt campaign. So the French were very keen to get it back, while +the English were equally keen to keep it. Henry sent over a great +fleet under the Duke of Bedford. The French, though their fleet was +the smaller of the two, attacked with the utmost gallantry, but were +beaten back with great loss. Their Genoese hirelings fought well at +the beginning, but made off towards the end. In 1417 Henry himself was +back in France with his army. But he knew what sea-power meant, and +how foolish it was to land without making sure that the seaways were +quite safe behind him. So he first sent a fleet to make sure, and then +he crossed his army, which now had a safe "line of communication," +through its base in France, with its great home base in England. + +Henry V was not, of course, the only man in England who then understood +sea-power. For in 1416, exactly five hundred years before Jellicoe's +victory of Jutland, Henry's Parliament passed a resolution in which you +still can read these words: "that the Navy is the chief support of the +wealth, the business, and the whole prosperity of England." Some years +later Hungerford, one of Henry's admirals, wrote a _Book of English +Policy_, "exhorting all England to keep the sea" and explaining what +Edward III had meant by stamping a ship on the gold coins called +nobles: "Four things our noble showeth unto me: King, ship, and sword, +and power of the sea." These are themselves but repetitions of Offa's +good advice, given more than six centuries earlier: "He who would be +safe on land must be supreme at sea." And all show the same kind of +first-rate sea-sense that is shown by the "Articles of War" which are +still read out to every crew in the Navy. The Preamble or preface to +these Articles really comes to this: "It is upon the Navy that, under +the providence of God, the wealth, prosperity, and peace of the British +Empire chiefly depend." + +Between the death of Henry V in 1422 and the accession of Henry VII in +1485 there was a dreary time on land and sea. The King of England lost +the last of his possessions in the land of France. Only the Channel +Islands remained British, as they do still. At home the Normans had +settled down with the descendants of the other Norsemen to form one +people, the Anglo-Norman people of today, the leading race within the +British Empire and, to a less extent, within the United States. But +England was torn in two by the Wars of the Roses, in which the great +lords and their followers fought about the succession to the throne, +each party wanting to have a king of its own choice. For the most +part, however, the towns and seaports kept out of these selfish party +wars and attended to their growing business instead. And when Henry +VII united both the warring parties, and these with the rest of +England, he helped to lay the sure foundations of the future British +Empire. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +KING OF THE ENGLISH SEA + +(1545) + +England needed good pilots to take the ship of state safely through the +troubled waters of the wonderful sixteenth century, and she found them +in the three great Royal Tudors: Henry VII (1485-1509), Henry VIII +(1509-1547), and Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). All three fostered +English sea-power, both for trade and war, and helped to start the +modern Royal Navy on a career of world-wide victory such as no other +fighting service has ever equalled, not even the Roman Army in the +palmy days of Rome. It was a happy thought that gave the name of Queen +Elizabeth to the flagship on board of which the British +Commander-in-chief received the surrender of the German Fleet. Ten +generations had passed away between this surrender in 1918 and the +defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. But the British Royal Navy was +still the same: in sea-sense, spirit, training, and surpassing skill. + +Henry VII was himself an oversea trader, and a very good one too. He +built ships and let them out to traders at a handsome profit for +himself besides trading with them on his own account. But he was never +so foolish as to think that peaceful trade could go on without a +fighting navy to protect it. So he built men-of-war; though he used +these for trade as well. Men-of-war built specially for fighting were +of course much better in a battle than any mere merchantman could be. +But in those days, and for some time after, merchantmen went about well +armed and often joined the king's ships of the Royal Navy during war, +as many of them did against the Germans in our own day. + +English oversea trade was carried on with the whole of Europe, with +Asia Minor, and with the North of Africa. Canyng, a merchant prince of +Bristol, employed a hundred shipwrights and eight hundred seamen. He +sent his ships to Iceland, the Baltic, and all through the +Mediterranean. But the London merchants were more important still; and +the king was the most important man of all. He had his watchful eye on +the fishing fleet of Iceland, which was then as important as the fleet +of Newfoundland became later on. He watched the Baltic trade in timber +and the Flanders trade in wool. He watched the Hansa Towns of northern +Germany, then second only to Venice itself as the greatest trading +centre of the world. And he had his English consuls in Italy as early +as 1485, the first year of his reign. + +One day Columbus sent his brother to see if the king would help him to +find the New World. But Henry VII was a man who looked long and +cautiously before he leaped; and even then he only leaped when he saw +where he would land. So Columbus went to Ferdinand and Isabella of +Spain, who sent him out to discover America in 1492, the same year that +they conquered the last Eastern possession in Western Europe, the +Moorish Kingdom of Grenada, which thenceforth became a province of +Spain. Five years later Henry sent John Cabot out from Bristol in the +little _Matthew_ with only eighteen men "to sayle to all Partes, +Countreys, and Seas, of the East, of the West, and of the North; to +seeke out, discover, and finde, whatsoever Iles, Countreyes, Regions, +or Provinces, of the Heathennes and Infidelles" and "to set up Our +banners and Ensigns in every village, towne, castel, yle, or maine +lande, of them newly found." Cabot discovered Canada by reaching Cape +Breton in 1497, three years before Columbus himself saw any part of the +mainland. But as he found nobody there, not even "Heathenries and +Infidelles," much less "villages, castels, and townes," as he lost +money by his venture and could not pay the king the promised "royalty" +of twenty per cent., we need not laugh too loudly over what the king +gave him: "To Hym that founde the new Isle--10 pounds," which was worth +more than a thousand dollars would be now. Cabot went again and his +son Sebastian after him; but there was no money to be made in this +venture. True, Sebastian said the fish off Newfoundland were so thick +that he could hardly force his vessels through the water. But fish +stories and travellers' tales were as hard to believe then as now; and +the English thought America was worth very little after all. Indeed, +the general opinion in Europe was that America was more of a nuisance +than anything else, because it seemed to block the way to the Golden +East. Once people were persuaded that the world was round they wanted +to find a short cut to Cathay, the land of fabled wealth in silks and +spices, gold and jewels; and they expected to find it by sailing due +West till they reached the Far East. So, finding instead that America +had no such riches on its own shores and that these shores spoilt the +short cut to Cathay, and knowing that fish were plentiful in Europe, +most people never bothered their heads about America for another fifty +years. + +[Illustrations: Eddystone Lighthouse, 1699. The first structure of +stone and timber. Built for Trinity House by Winstanley and swept away +in a storm. Eddystone Lighthouse, 1882. The fourth and present +structure, erected by Sir J. N. Douglass for Trinity House.] + +We shall soon see what wonderful changes took place when the Old World +at last discovered the riches of the New, and all the European +sea-powers began fighting for the best places they could find there. + +When Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509 his first thought was for +the "Broade Ditch," as he called the English Channel. In 1546, only a +little before he died, he appointed a Navy Board, which answered its +purpose so well that it looked after the pay, food, stores, docks, and +ships of the Royal Navy for nearly three hundred years; and then became +part of the Admiralty, which now does everything for the Navy that can +be done from the land. In one word, this Board took care of everything +except the fighting part of the Navy's work. That part was under the +Lord High Admiral or a body of men appointed to act for him. This body +still exists; and the old Board of Henry VIII works with it under +different names. One branch of the Admiralty, as the whole management +is now called, supplies the other with the means to fight. This other +orders everything connected with the fighting fleets. The fighting +fleets themselves are then left to do the best they can. + +Henry never forgot for a moment that England could not live a day if +she was not a mighty sea-power. He improved the dockyards founded by +his father at Deptford and Portsmouth. He founded Trinity House, which +still examines pilots and looks after the lights and buoys all round +the British Isles. He put down pirates with a strong hand. And he +brought the best ship-builders he could get from Italy, where the +scientific part of shipbuilding and navigation was then the best in the +world, because the trade routes of Asia, Africa, and Europe mostly met +at Venice. But he always kept his eyes open for good men at home; and +in one of his own shipbuilders, Fletcher of Rye, he found a man who did +more than anybody else to make the vastly important change from the +ancient age of rowing fleets to the modern age of sailing ones. + +From the time when the first bit of a wild beast's skin was hoisted by +some pre-historic savage, thousands and thousands of years ago, nobody +had learnt how to tack, that is, to sail against the wind. The only +way any ship could go at all well was with the wind, that is, with the +wind blowing from behind. So long as men had nothing but a single +"wind-bag" of skin or cloth the best wind was a "lubber's wind," that +is, a wind from straight behind. When more and better sails were used +a lubber's wind was not the best because one sail would stop the wind +from reaching another one in front of it. The best wind then, as ever +since, was a "quartering wind," that is, a wind blowing on a vessel's +quarter, half way between her stern and the middle of her side. Ships +with better keels, sails, and shape of hull might have sailed with a +"soldier's wind," that is, a wind blowing straight against the ship's +side, at right angles to her course. But they must have "made leeway" +by going sideways too. This wind on the beam was called a soldier's +wind because it made equally plain sailing out and back again, and so +did not bother landsmen with a lot of words and things they could not +understand when ships tacked against head winds. + +Who first "tacked ship" is more than we can say. But many generations +of seamen must have wished they knew how to sail towards a place from +which the wind was blowing. Tacking probably came bit by bit, like +other new inventions. But Fletcher of Rye, whom Henry always +encouraged, seems to have been the first man who really learnt how to +sail against the wind. He did this by tacking (that is, zigzagging) +against it with sails trimmed fore and aft. In this way the sails, as +it were, slide against the wind at an angle and move the ship ahead, +first to one side of the straight line towards the place she wants to +reach, and then, after turning her head, to the other. It was in 1539 +that Fletcher made his trial trip, to the great amazement of the +shipping in the Channel. Thus by 1545, that year of naval changes, the +new sailing age had certainly begun to live and the old rowing age had +certainly begun to die. The invention of tacking made almost as great +a change as steam made three hundred years later; for it shortened +voyages from months to weeks, as steam afterwards shortened them from +weeks to days. Why did Jacques Cartier take months to make voyages +from Europe and up the St. Lawrence when Champlain made them in weeks? +Because Champlain could tack and Jacques Cartier could not. Columbus, +Cabot, and Cartier could no more zigzag towards a place from which the +wind was blowing dead against them than could the ships of Hiram, King +of Tyre, who brought so many goods by sea for Solomon. But Champlain, +who lived a century later, did know how to tack the _Don de Dieu_ +against the prevailing south-west winds of the St. Lawrence; and this +was one reason why he made a voyage from the Seine to the Saguenay in +only eighteen days, a voyage that remained the Canadian record for +ninety years to come. + +The year 1545 is coupled with the title "King of the English Sea" +because the fleet which Henry VIII then had at Portsmouth was the first +fleet in the world that showed any promise of being "fit to go foreign" +and fight a battle out at sea with broadside guns and under sail. + +True, it had some rowing galleys, like those of other old-fashioned +fleets; and its sailing men-of-war were nothing much to boast of in the +way of handiness or even safety. The _Mary Rose_, which Henry's +admiral, Sir Edward Howard, had described thirty years before as "the +flower of all the ships that ever sailed," was built with lower +portholes only sixteen inches above the water line. So when her crew +forgot to close these ports, and she listed over while going about +(that is, while making a turn to bring the wind on the other side), the +water rushed in and heeled her over still more. Then the guns on her +upper side, which had not been lashed, slid across her steeply sloping +decks bang into those on the lower side, whereupon the whole lot +crashed through the ports or stove her side, so that she filled and +sank with nearly everyone on board. + +No, the Royal Navy of 1545 was very far from being perfect either in +ships or men. But it had made a beginning towards fighting with +broadsides under sail; and this momentous change was soon to be so well +developed under Drake as to put English sea-power a century ahead of +all its rivals in the race for oversea dominion both in the Old World +and the New. A rowing galley, with its platform crowded by soldiers +waiting to board had no chance against a sailing ship which could fire +all the guns of her broadsides at a safe distance. Nor had the other +foreign men-of-war a much better chance, because they too were crowded +with soldiers, carried only a few light guns, and were far less handy +than the English vessels under sail. They were, in fact, nothing very +much better than armed transports full of soldiers, who were dangerous +enough when boarding took place, but who were mere targets for the +English guns when kept at arm's length. + +The actual Portsmouth campaign of 1545 was more like a sham battle than +a real one; though the French fleet came right over to England and no +one can doubt French bravery. Perhaps the best explanation is the one +given by Blaise de Montluc, one of the French admirals: "Our business +is rather on the land than on the water, where I do not know of any +great battles that we have ever won." Henry VIII had seized Boulogne +the year before, on which Francis I (Jacques Cartier's king) swore he +would clear the Channel of the English, who also held Calais. He +raised a very big fleet, partly by hiring Italian galleys, and sent it +over to the Isle of Wight. There it advanced and retired through the +summer, never risking a pitched battle with the English, who, truth to +tell, did not themselves show much more enterprise. + +Sickness raged in both fleets. Neither wished to risk its all on a +single chance unless that chance was a very tempting one. The French +fleet was a good deal the bigger of the two; and Lisle, the English +commander-in-chief, was too cautious to attack it while it remained in +one body. When the French were raiding the coast Lisle's hopes ran +high. "If we chance to meet with them," he wrote, "divided as they +should seem to be, we shall have some sport with them." But the French +kept together and at last retired in good order. That was the queer +end of the last war between those two mighty monarchs, Francis I and +Henry VIII. But both kings were then nearing death; both were very +short of money; and both they and their people were anxious for peace. +Thus ended the Navy's part of 1545. + +But three other events of this same year, all connected with English +sea-power, remain to be noted down. First, Drake, the hero of the +coming Spanish War, was born at Crowndale, by Tavistock, in Devon. +Secondly, the mines of Potosi in South America suddenly roused the Old +World to the riches of the New. And, thirdly, the words of the +National Anthem were, so to say, born on board the Portsmouth fleet, +where the "Sailing Orders" ended thus:--"The Watchword in the Night +shall be, 'God save King Henrye!' The other shall answer, 'Long to +raign over Us!'" The National Anthems of all the other Empires, +Kingdoms, and Republics in the world have come from their armies and +the land. Our own springs from the Royal Navy and the sea. + + + + + This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, + This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, + This other Eden, demi-paradise; + This fortress built by Nature for herself + Against infection and the hand of war; + This happy breed of men, this little world; + This precious stone set in the silver sea, + Which serves it in the office of a wall, + Or as a moat defensive to a house, + Against the envy of less happier lands; + This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. + + _Shakespeare_. + _King Richard II, Act II, Scene I_. + + + + TO SEA + + To sea, to sea! the calm is o'er; + The wanton water leaps in sport, + And rattles down the pebbly shore; + The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort, + And unseen Mermaids' pearly song + Comes bubbling up, the weeds among. + Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar; + To sea, to sea! the calm is o'er. + + To sea, to sea! our wide-winged bark + Shall billowy cleave its sunny way, + And with its shadow, fleet and dark, + Break the caved Tritons' azure day, + Like mighty eagle soaring light + O'er antelopes on Alpine height. + The anchor heaves, the ship swings free, + The sails swell full: To sea, to sea! + --_Thomas Lovell Beddoes_. + + + + A HYMN IN PRAISE OF NEPTUNE + + Of Neptune's empire let us sing, + At whose command the waves obey; + To whom the rivers tribute pay, + Down the high mountains sliding: + To whom the scaly nation yields + Homage for the crystal fields + Wherein they dwell: + And every sea-god pays a gem + Yearly out of his wat'ry cell + To deck great Neptune's diadem. + + The Tritons dancing in a ring + Before his palace gates do make + The water with their echoes quake, + Like the great thunder sounding: + The sea-nymphs chant their accents shrill, + And the sirens, taught to kill + With their sweet voice, + Make ev'ry echoing rock reply + Unto their gentle murmuring noise + The praise of Neptune's empery. + --_Thomas Campion_. + + + + EVENING ON CALAIS BEACH + + It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, + The holy time is quiet as a Nun + Breathless with adoration; the broad sun + Is sinking down in its tranquillity; + The gentleness of heaven is on the sea: + Listen! the mighty Being is awake, + And doth with his eternal motion make + A sound like thunder--everlastingly. + --_Wordsworth_. + + + + BERMUDAS + + Where the remote Bermudas ride + In the ocean's bosom unespied, + From a small boat that row'd along + The listening winds received this song: + + 'What should we do but sing His praise + That led us through the watery maze + Unto an isle so long unknown, + And yet far kinder than our own? + Where He the huge sea-monsters wracks, + That lift the deep upon their backs, + He lands us on a grassy stage, + Safe from the storms' and prelates' rage: + He gave us this eternal Spring + Which here enamels everything, + And sends the fowls to us in care + On daily visits through the air: + He hangs in shades the orange bright + Like golden lamps in a green night, + And does in the pomegranates close + Jewels more rich than Ormus shows: + + He makes the figs our mouths to meet + And throws the melons at our feet; + But apples plants of such a price, + No tree could ever bear them twice. + With cedars chosen by His hand + From Lebanon He stores the land; + And makes the hollow seas that roar + Proclaim the ambergris on shore. + He cast (of which we rather boast) + The Gospel's pearl upon our coast; + And in these rocks for us did frame + A temple where to sound His name. + O, let our voice His praise exalt + Till it arrive at Heaven's vault, + Which thence (perhaps) rebounding may + Echo beyond the Mexique bay!' + + Thus sung they in the English boat + A holy and a cheerful note: + And all the way, to guide their chime, + With falling oars they kept the time. + --_Andrew Marvell_. + + + + +BOOK II + +THE SAILING AGE + + +PART I + +THE SPANISH WAR + +(1568-1596) + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OLD SPAIN AND NEW + +(1492-1571) + +Just as Germany tried to win the overlordship of the world in this +twentieth century so Spain tried in the sixteenth; and just as the +Royal Navy was the chief, though by no means the biggest, force that +has won the whole world's freedom from the Germans now, so the Royal +Navy was the chief force that won world-freedom from the Spaniards then. + +Spaniards and Portuguese, who often employed Italian seamen, were the +first to begin taking oversea empires. They gained footholds in places +as far apart as India and America. Balboa crossed the Isthmus of +Panama and waded into the Pacific, sword in hand, to claim it for the +King of Spain. A Portuguese ship was the first to go right round the +world. The Spaniards conquered all Central and great parts of North +and South America. The Portuguese settled in Brazil. + +While this was going on abroad France and England were taken up with +their own troubles at home and with each other. So Spain and Portugal +had it all their own way for a good many years. The Spanish Empire was +by far the biggest in the world throughout the sixteenth century. +Charles V, King of Spain, was heir to several other crowns, which he +passed on to his son, Philip II. Charles was the sovereign lord of +Spain, of what are Belgium and Holland now, and of the best parts of +Italy. He was elected Emperor of Germany, which gave him a great hold +on that German "Middle Europe" which, stretching from the North Sea to +the Adriatic, cut the rest in two. Besides this he owned large parts +of Africa. And then, to crown it all, he won what seemed best worth +having in Central, North, and South America. + +[Illustration: The _Santa Maria_, flagship of Christopher Columbus when +he discovered America in 1492. Length of keel, 60 feet. Length of +ship proper, 93 feet. Length over all, 128 feet. Breadth, 26 feet. +Tonnage, full displacement, 233.] + +France and England had something to say about this. Francis I wrote +Charles a pretty plain letter. "Your Majesty and the King of Portugal +have divided the world between you, offering no part of it to me. Show +me, I pray you, the will of our father Adam, so that I may see if he +has really made you his universal heirs." Nor did the two Henrys +forget the claims of England. Henry VII claimed most of the eastern +coast of what are now Canada and the United States, in virtue of the +Cabot discoveries. In the Naval Museum at Madrid you can still see the +bullock-hide map of Juan de la Cosa, which, made in the year 1500, +shows St. George's Cross flying over these very parts. + +But it was not till after 1545, when the mines of Potosi made Europe +dream of El Dorado, the great new Golden West, that England began to +think of trying her own luck in America. Some of the fathers of +Drake's "Sea-Dogs" had already been in Brazil, notably "Olde Mr. +William Hawkins, a man for his wisdome, valure, experience, and skill +in sea causes much esteemed and beloved of King Henry the Eight." +Hawkins "armed out a tall and goodlie ship called the Pole of +Plimmouth, wherewith he made three long and famous voyages into the +coast of Brasil." He went by way of Africa, "where he trafiqued with +the Negroes, and took of them Oliphants' teeth; and arriving on the +coast of Brasil, behaved himself so wisely, that he grew into great +friendship with those savages"--very different from the vile cruelty +with which the Spaniards always treated the poor natives. These +voyages were made about 1530; and the writer says that they were "in +those days very rare, especially to our Nation." + +In 1554 Charles V planned to make all such voyages work for the glory +of Spain instead of England. But, thanks chiefly to the English +Sea-Dogs, everything turned out the other way. Charles saw that if he +could only add England to his vast possessions he could command the +world; for then he would have not only the greatest land-power but the +greatest sea-power too. Queen Mary seemed made for his plan. Her +mother, Katharine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife, was a Spaniard, +and she herself cared less for England than for Spain. She was only +too ready to marry Charles's heir, Philip, of Armada fame. After this +Charles would leave his throne to Philip, who would then be King of +England as well as King of Spain. + +Philip sailed for England with a hundred and sixty ships, and came up +the Channel with the Spanish standard at the main (that is, at the tip +top of the main, or highest, mast). Lord Howard of Effingham sailed to +meet him and answer Philip's salute. But Philip and his haughty Dons +thought it was nonsense for the Prince of Spain to follow the custom of +the sea by saluting first when coming into English waters. So the +Spanish fleet sailed on and took no notice, till suddenly Howard fired +a shot across the Spanish flagship's bows. Then, at last, Philip's +standard came down with a run, and he lowered topsails too, so as to +make the salute complete. Howard thereupon saluted Philip, and the two +fleets sailed on together. But there was no love lost between them. +Neither was the marriage popular ashore. Except for the people at +court, who had to be civil to Philip, London treated the whole thing +more as a funeral than a wedding. Philip drank beer in public, instead +of Spanish wine, and tried to be as English as he could. Mary did her +best to make the people like him. And both did their best to buy as +many friends at court as Spanish gold could buy. But, except for his +Queen and the few who followed her through thick and thin, and the +spies he paid to sell their country, Philip went back with even fewer +English friends than he had had before; while the Spanish gold itself +did him more harm than good; for the English Sea-Dogs never forgot the +long array of New-World wealth that he paraded through the streets of +London--"27 chests of bullion, 99 horseloads + 2 cartloads of gold and +silver coin, and 97 boxes full of silver bars." That set them asking +why the whole New World should be nothing but New Spain. + +But seventeen years passed by; and the Spanish Empire seemed bigger and +stronger than ever, besides which it seemed to be getting a firmer hold +on more and more places in the Golden West. Nor was this all; for +Portugal, which had many ships and large oversea possessions, was +becoming so weak as to be getting more and more under the thumb of +Spain; while Spain herself had just (1571) become the victorious +champion both of West against East and of Christ against Mahomet by +beating the Turks at Lepanto, near Corinth, in a great battle on +landlocked water, a hundred miles from where the West had defeated the +East when Greeks fought Persians at Salamis two thousand years before. + + + + THE FAME OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE + + Sir Drake, whom well the world's end knew, + Which thou didst compass round, + And whom both poles of heaven once saw, + Which north and south do bound. + + The stars above would make thee known, + If men here silent were; + The sun himself cannot forget + His fellow-traveller. + --_Anonymous_. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE ENGLISH SEA-DOGS + +(1545-1580) + +The daring English sailors who roved the waters to prey on Spanish +vessels were given the name of Sea-Dogs because they often used to hunt +together like a pack of hounds. Their Norse forefathers were often +called sea-wolves; and sometimes there was not so very much difference +between the two. War to the knife was the rule at sea when Spaniards +and Englishmen met, even in time of peace (that is, of peace between +the sovereigns of Spain and England, for there was no such thing as +real peace at sea or in any oversea possession). Spain was bound to +keep Englishmen out of the New World. Englishmen were bound to get in. +Of course the Sea-Dogs preyed on other people too, and other peoples' +own Sea-Dogs preyed on English vessels when they could; for it was a +very rough-and-tumble age at sea, with each nation's seamen fighting +for their own hand. But Spanish greed and Spanish cruelty soon made +Spain the one great enemy of all the English Sea-Dogs. + +[Illustration: DRAKE] + +Sea-Dogs were not brought up on any bed of roses. They were rough, and +their lives were rougher. They were no gentler with Spaniards than +Spaniards were with them when both were fighting. But, except by way +of revenge, and then very seldom, they never practised such fiendish +cruelty as the Spaniards practised the whole time. "Captain John +Smith, sometime Governor of Virginia and Admiral of New England" (whom +the Indian girl Pocahontas saved from death) did not write _The +Seaman's Grammar_ till after most of Queen Elizabeth's Sea-Dogs were +dead. But he was a big boy before Drake died; so one of his +_Directions for the Takying of a Prize_ may well be quoted here to show +that there was a Sea-Dog code of honour which would pass muster among +the rules of war today. What's more, the Sea-Dogs kept it. "Always +have as much care to their wounded as to your own; and if there be +either young women or aged men, use them nobly." + +Some of the other _Directions_ show that Smith knew how to fight like a +lion as well as how to treat his captives well. "Out with all your +sails! A steadie man at the helm! Give him (the enemy) chace! Hail +him with trumpets! Whence is your ship? Of Spain!--whence is yours? +Of England! Be yare at the helm! Edge in with him! Give him a volley +of small shot, also your prow and broadside as before! With all your +great and small shot charge him! Make fast your grapplings. Board +him!" Then, after giving much good advice as to how the rest of a sea +fight should be managed, Smith tells his pupils what to do in case of +fire. "Captaine, we are foul of each other and the ship is on fire!" +"Cut anything to get clear and smother the fire with wet clothes." +Here he adds this delightful little note: "In such a case they will +presentlie bee such friends as to help each other all they can to get +clear; and if they bee generous, and the fire bee quenched, they will +drink kindly one to the other, heave their canns overboard, _and begin +again as before_." The duties of a good crew after the fight are +carefully laid down: "Chirurgeon (surgeon) look to the wounded and wind +up the slain, and give them three guns (volleys) for their funerals" +(as we do still). "Swabber, make clean the ship! Purser, record their +names! Watch, be vigilant! Gunners, spunge your ordnance! Souldiers, +scour your pieces! Carpenters, about your leaks! Boatswain and the +rest, repair sails and shrouds! Cook, see you observe your directions +against the morning watch!" The first thing in this "morning watch" +the captain sings out, "Boy, hallo! is the kettle boiled?"--"Ay, ay, +Sir!" Then the captain gives the order: "Boatswain, call up the men to +prayer and breakfast." The victory won, and the Spanish ship once safe +in the hands of an English crew, the _Directions_ end with a grand +salute: "Sound drums and trumpets: Saint George for England!" ("Saint +George for England!" is what Sir Roger Keyes signalled to the fleet he +led against the Germans at Zeebrugge on St. George's Day in 1918, three +hundred years after Smith's book was written.) + +Sea-Dogs worked desperately hard for all they got, ran far more than +the usual risks of war, and were cheated by most of the traders ashore. +As for the risks: when Shakespeare speaks of a "Putter-out of five for +one" he means that what we now call insurance agents would bet five to +one against the chance of a ship's ever coming back when she was going +on a long voyage through distant seas full of known and unknown +dangers, such as pirates, cannibals, shipwreck, and deadly diseases. +As for cheats: Sea-Dogs were not perfect themselves, nor were all +landsmen quite so bad as those in the old sailors' song: + + For Sailours they bee honest men, + And they do take great pains. + But Land-men and ruffling Ladds + Do cheat them of their gains. + +All the same, the "Land-men" often did cheat sailors so much that +sailors might well be excused for poking fun at "Land-men" who were +seasick. Yet, at a time when even the best crews had no means of +keeping food and water properly, a land-lubber might also be excused +for being not only seasick but sick in worse ways still. The want of +fresh food always brought on scurvy; and the wonder is that any one +lived to tell the tale when once this plague and others got a foothold +in a ship. + +But the Norse blood tingling in their veins, the manly love of +wonderful adventure, and, by no means least, the gamble of it, that +dared them to sail for strange outlandish parts with odds of five to +one against them, these, quite as much as the wish to make a fortune, +were the chief reasons why Sea-Dogs sailed from every port and made so +many landsmen mad to join them. And, after all, life afloat, rough as +it was, might well be better than life ashore, when men of spirit +wanted to be free from the troubles of taking sides with all the ups +and downs of kings and courts, rebels and religions. + +Whether or not the man who wrote _The Complaynt of Scotland_ was only a +passenger or off to join the Sea-Dogs is more than we shall ever know; +for all he tells us is that he wrote his book in 1548, and that he was +then a landsman who "heard many words among the seamen, but knew not +what they meant." In any case, he is the only man who ever properly +described the daily work on board a Sea-Dog ship. The Sea-Dogs +themselves never bothered their heads about what they thought such a +very common thing; and whatever other landsmen wrote was always wrong. +A page of this quaint old book, which was not printed till two hundred +and fifty years after it was written, will show us how much the work +aboard a Sea-Dog ship was, in some ways, like the work aboard any other +sailing ship, even down to the present day; and yet how much unlike in +other ways. Some of the lingo has changed a good deal; for English +seamen soon began to drop the words King Henry's shipwrights brought +north from the Mediterranean. Many of these words were Italian, others +even Arabic; for the Arabs, Moors, and Turks haunted the Mediterranean +for many centuries, and some of their sea-words passed current into all +the northern tongues. We get _Captain_ from the Italian _Capitano_, +and _Admiral_ from the Arabic _Amir-al-bahr_, which means +Commander-of-the-sea. + +"I shall report their crying and their call," says our author. "Then +the boatsman" (who was the officer next to the captain) "cried with an +oath: 'I see a great ship.' Then the master (that is, the captain) +whistled and bade the mariners lay the cable to the windlass to wind +and weigh (that is, heave the anchor up). Then the mariners began to +wind the cable in with many a loud cry; and, as one cried, all the +others cried in that same tune, as it had been an echo in a cave. +'Veer, veer; veer, veer; gentle gallants, gentle gallants! Wind, I see +him! Wind, I see him! _Pourbossa, pourbossa_! Haul all and one!'" +When the anchor was hauled above the water they cried: "_Caupon, +caupon; caupon, cola; caupon holt; Sarrabossa_!" When setting sail +they began with the same kind of gibberish. "_Hou_! _Hou_! _Pulpela, +Pulpela_! Hard out strife! Before the wind! God send! God send! +Fair weather! Many Prizes! Many Prizes! Stow! Stow! Make fast and +belay--Heisa! Heisa! One long pull! One long pull! Young blood! +More mud! There, there! Yellow hair! Great and small! One and all!" +The "yellow hair" refers to the fair-haired Norsemen. What the master +told the steersman might have been said by any skipper of our own day: +"Keep full and by! Luff! Con her! Steady! Keep close!" But what he +told the "Boatswain" next takes us back three hundred years and more. +"Bear stones and limepots full of lime to the top" (whence they would +make it pretty hot for an enemy held fast alongside). The orders to +the artillery and infantry on board are equally old and very odd when +we remember modern war. "Gunners, make ready your cannons, culverins, +falcons, sakers, slings, head-sticks, murdering pieces, passevolants, +bazzils, dogges, arquebusses, calivers, and hail shots! Souldiers, +make ready your cross-bows, hand-bows, fire-spars, hail-shot, lances, +pikes, halberds, rondels, two-handed swords, and targes!" Yet, old as +all this was, the artillery seems to have made a good many noises that +would have been familiar to those of us who heard the noises of the +Great War. "I heard the cannons and guns make many hideous cracks" +(like the stabbing six-inchers). "The bazzils and falcons cried +_tir-duf, tir-duf, tir-duf_" (like the anti-aircraft "Archies"). Then +the small artillery cried _tik-tak, tik-tak, tik-tak_ (something like +the rattle of machine-guns, only very much slower). + +The cannons of those days seem like mere pop-guns to those who knew the +British Grand Fleet that swept the Germans off the sea. But the best +guns Drake used against the Spanish Armada in 1588 were not at all bad +compared with those that Nelson used at Trafalgar in 1805. There is +more change in twenty years now than there was in two hundred years +then. The chief improvements were in making the cannon balls fit +better, in putting the powder into canvas bags, instead of ladling it +in loose, and in fitting the guns with tackle, so that they could be +much more easily handled, fired, and aimed. + +The change in ships during the sailing age was much greater than the +change in guns. More sails and better ones were used. The old +forecastle, once something really like a little castle set up on deck, +was made lower and lower, till it was left out altogether; though the +name remains to describe the front part of every ship, and is now +pronounced fo'c's'le or foxle. The same sort of top-hamper (that is, +anything that makes the ship top-heavy) was cut down, bit by bit, as +time went on, from the quarter-deck over the stern; till at last the +big British men-of-war became more or less like the _Victory_, which +was Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, and which is still kept in +Portsmouth Harbour, where Henry VIII's first promise of a sailing fleet +appeared in 1545, the year that Drake was born. + +Drake was a first-rate seaman long before he grow up. His father, also +a seaman, lived in a man-of-war on the Medway near where Chatham +Dockyard stands today; and Drake and his eleven sturdy brothers spent +every minute they could in sailing about and "learning the ropes." +With "the master of a barque, which used to coast along the shore and +sometimes carry merchandise into Zeeland (Holland) and France" Drake +went to sea at the age of ten, and did so well that "the old man at his +death bequeathed his barque to him by will and testament." + +But the Channel trade was much too tame for Drake. So in 1567, when he +was twenty-two, he sailed with Hawkins, who was already a famous +Sea-Dog, to try his fortune round the Spanish Main, (that is, the +mainland of northern South America and of the lands all round Panama). +Luck went against them from start to finish. Hawkins, who founded the +slave trade that lasted till the nineteenth century, was attacked this +time by the negroes he tried to "snare" in Africa. "Envenomed arrows" +worked havoc with the Englishmen. "There hardly escaped any that had +blood drawn, but died in strange sort, with their mouths shut some ten +days before they died." As everybody who sailed to foreign parts used +slaves in those days Hawkins and Drake were no worse than the rest; and +less bad than those whites who kept them three hundred years later, +when people knew better. But Hawkins' complaint against the negroes +for not coming quietly is just the same sort of nonsense as any other +complaint against anything alive for being "vicious" when we want to +take or kill it. "This animal," said a Frenchman who made wise fun of +all such humbug, "is very wicked. When you attack it, it defends +itself!" + +With what he could get--some four or five hundred negroes--Hawkins did +a roaring trade in those parts of the Spanish Main where King Philip's +subjects were not too closely watched by Governors and troops. But new +troubles began when Hawkins, trying to leave the West Indies, was blown +back by a hurricane into Vera Cruz, then known as San Juan de Ulua. +Hawkins still had a hundred negroes left; so, hoping for leave from +Mexico City to trade them off, he held the Kind's Island, which +entirely commanded the entrance to the harbour, where he saw twelve +Spanish treasure ships. But it was four hundred miles to the City of +Mexico and back again; and meanwhile a great Spanish fleet was expected +out from Spain. Hawkins had this fleet completely at his mercy; for it +could no more get past the King's Island if he chose to stop it than +the fleet inside could get out. Moreover, the stormy season was +beginning; so the fleet from Spain might easily be wrecked if Hawkins +kept it at bay. + +The very next morning the fleet arrived. Hawkins was terribly tempted +to keep it out, which would have made his own fleet safe and would have +struck a heavy blow at Spain; for all the Spanish vessels together were +worth many millions. But he feared the wrath of Queen Elizabeth, who +did not want war with Spain; so he let the Spaniards "enter with their +accustomed treason" after they had agreed not to attack him. + +For a few days everything went well. Then suddenly the Spaniards set +on the English, killed every Englishman they could catch ashore, and +attacked the little English fleet by land and sea. Once the two +Spanish fleets had joined they were in overwhelming force and could +have smothered Hawkins to death by sheer weight of numbers. But he +made a brave fight. Within an hour the Spanish flagship and another +vessel had been sunk, a third was on fire, and every English deck was +clear of Spanish boarding parties. But the King's Island, to which +Hawkins had moored his vessels, now swarmed with Spaniards firing +cannon only a few yards off. To hearten his men he drank their health +and called out, "Stand by your ordnance lustily!" As he put the goblet +down a round shot sent it flying. "Look," he said, "how God has +delivered me from that shot; and so will He deliver you from these +traitors." Then he ordered his own battered ship to be abandoned for +the _Minion_, telling Drake to come alongside in the _Judith_. In +these two little vessels all that remained of the English sailed safely +out, in spite of the many Spanish guns roaring away at point-blank +range and of two fire-ships which almost struck home. + +Drake and Hawkins lost each other in the darkness and gale outside. +Drake's tiny _Judith_, of only fifty tons, went straight to England, +with every inch of space crowded by her own crew and those she had +rescued from the other vessels. Hawkins was so overcrowded in the +_Minion_ (which then meant "darling") that he asked all who would try +their luck ashore to go forward, while all who would stand by the +_Minion_ stayed aft. A hundred went forward, were landed south of the +Rio Grande, and died to a man, except three. One of these walked all +round the Gulf of Mexico and up the Atlantic sea-board, till he reached +the mouth of the St. John in New Brunswick, when a Frenchman took him +home. The other two were caught by the Spaniards and worked as slaves, +one in Mexico, the other as a galley-slave in Europe. Both escaped in +the end, one after fourteen, the other after twenty-two, years. The +Spaniards found their own hostages all safe and sound aboard the +flagship that Hawkins had abandoned at the King's Island. This +surprised them very much; for they had kept all the English hostages +Hawkins had sent them in exchange for theirs when they had made the +agreement never to attack him, and they knew that by the laws of war he +had the right to kill all the Spaniards who were in his power when the +other Spaniards broke their word. + +The treason of Ulua took place in 1568, just twenty years before the +Great Armada. During those fateful twenty years the storm of English +hatred against the Spanish tyrants grew and grew until it burst in fury +on their heads. + +Nothing daunted, Drake and his dare-devils went, three years running, +to the Spanish Main. The third year, 1572, brought him into fame. He +had only two tiny vessels, the _Pasha_ and the _Swan_, with +seventy-three men, all told. But with these faithful few he sailed +into a secret harbour, intending to seize the whole year's treasure +chest of Spain. To his surprise the found this letter from a scout on +the coast: "Captain Drake! If you fortune to come to this port, make +haste away! For the Spaniards have betrayed the place and taken away +all that you left here." The date was fourteen days before. He soon +saw that others knew his secret harbour; for in came Rance, an +Englishman, who then joined forces. Stealing quietly along the coast, +the hundred and twenty English lay in wait off Nombre de Dios, the +place on the Atlantic coast of the Isthmus of Panama where the treasure +was put aboard for Spain. An hour before dawn Drake passed the word +along the waiting line: "Shove off!" Bounding into the bay he saw a +Spanish rowboat, which at once saw him and pulled hard-all for the +shore. The English won the desperate race, making the Spaniards sheer +off to a landing some way beyond the town. Then they landed and +tumbled the Spanish guns off their mountings on the wharf, to the +amazement of the sleepy Spanish sentry, who ran for dear life. + +No time was to be lost now; for the news spread like wildfire, and the +alarm bells were ringing from every steeple in the town. So Drake made +straight for the Governor's palace, while his lieutenant, Oxenham, (the +hero of _Westward Ho_!), went by a side street to take the enemy in +flank. The Spaniards fired a volley which killed Drake's trumpeter, +who had just sounded the _Charge_! On went the English, swords +flashing, fire-pikes blazing, and all ranks cheering like mad. When +their two parties met each other the Spaniards were in full flight +through the Treasure Gate of Panama, which Drake banged to with a will. +The door of the Governor's Palace was then burst open, and there, in +solid gleaming bars, lay four hundred tons of purest silver, enough to +sink the _Pasha_ and the _Swan_ and all Drake's boats besides. But +Drake would not touch a single bar. It was only diamonds, pearls, and +gold that he had room for now; so he made for the King's great Treasure +House itself. But a deluge of rain came on. The fire-pikes and +arquebusses had to be taken under cover. The immensely strong Treasure +House defied every effort to break it in. The Spaniards, finding how +very few the English were, came on to the attack. Drake was wounded, +so that he had to be carried off the field. And the whole attack ended +in failure, and dead loss. + +The game seemed up. Rance and his men withdrew, and Drake was left +with less than fifty. But he was determined to be revenged on Spain +for the treachery to Hawkins at Ulua (the modern Vera Cruz); and +equally determined to get some Spanish treasure. So, keeping out of +sight for the next five months, till the rainy season was over and the +next treasure train was ready, he went wide of Nombre de Dios and made +for Panama (the Pacific end of the trail across the Isthmus). He had +nineteen picked Englishmen and thirty-one Maroons, who, being the +offspring of Negro slaves and Indians, hated Spaniards like poison and +knew the country to a foot. + +On the 7th of February, 1573, from the top of a gigantic tree that +stood on the Divide, Drake first saw the Pacific. Vowing to sail an +English ship across the great South Sea he pushed on eagerly. Three +days later his fifty men were lying in wait for the mule train bringing +gold from Panama. All had their shirts on over their coats, so as to +know one another in the night attack. Presently the tinkle of mule +bells told of the Spanish approach. When the whole line of mules had +walked into his trap Drake's whistle blew one long shrill blast and his +men set on with glee. Their two years of toil and failure seemed to +have come to an end: for they easily mastered the train. But then, to +their intense disgust, they found that the Spaniards had fooled them by +sending the silver train this way and the gold one somewhere else. + +Without losing a moment Drake marched back to the Atlantic, where he +met Tetu, a very gallant Frenchman, who, with his own seventy men, +gladly joined company; for Spain hated to see the French there quite as +much as she hated to see the English. The new friends then struck +inland to a lonely spot which another Spanish train of gold and jewels +had to pass on its way to Nombre de Dios. This time there was no +mistake. When Drake's whistle blew, and the leading mules were +stopped, the others lay down, as mule trains will. Then the guard was +quickly killed or put to flight, and all the gold and jewels were +safely seized and carried to the coast. Here again disaster stared +Drake in the face; for all his boats were gone, and not one of the men +left with them was in sight. But once more Drake got through, this +time by setting up an empty biscuit bag as a sail on a raft he quickly +put together. With one other Englishman and two Frenchmen he soon +found his boats, divided the treasure with the French, put the English +share on board ship, and, after giving many presents to the friendly +Maroons, sailed for home. "And so," says one of his men, "we arrived +at Plymouth on Sunday, the 9th of August, 1573, at what time the news +of our Captain's return did so speedily pass over all the church that +very few remained with the preacher, all hastening to see the evidence +of God's love towards our Gracious Queen and Country." + +The plot kept thickening fast and faster after this. New Spain, of +course, was Spanish by right of discovery, conquest, and a certain kind +of settling. But the Spaniards wanted to keep everyone else away, not +only from all they had but from all they wished to have. Their +Governor-General plainly showed this by putting up in his palace the +figure of a gigantic war-horse pawing at the sky, and by carving +underneath, "_The Earth itself is not enough for Us_." Nor was this +the worst. No whites, not even the Germans, have ever been so +fiendishly cruel to any natives as the Spaniards were to those they had +in their power. They murdered, tortured, burnt alive, and condemned to +a living death as slaves every native race they met. There were brutal +Belgians in the Congo not so very long ago. American settlers and +politicians have done many a dark deed to the Indians. And the British +record in the old days of Newfoundland is quite as black. But, for +out-and-out cruelty, "the devildoms of Spain" beat everything bad +elsewhere. Moreover, while English, French, and Spaniards all wanted +gold when they could get it, there was this marked difference between +the two chief opponents, that while Spain cared mostly for tribute +England cared mostly for trade. Now, tribute simply means squeezing as +much blood-money as possible out of an enslaved country, no matter at +what cost of life and liberty to the people there; while trade, though +often full of cheating, really means an exchange of goods and some +give-and-take all round. When we consider this great difference, and +remember how cruel the Spaniards were to all whom they had made their +enemies, we can understand why the Spanish Empire died and why the +British lives. + +One day Queen Elizabeth sent for Drake and spoke her mind straight out. +"Drake, I would gladly be revenged on the King of Spain for divers +injuries"; and, said Drake, "she craved my advice; and I told Her +Majesty the only way was to annoy him by the Indies." Then he told her +his great plan for raiding the Pacific, where no outsider had ever +been, and where the Spaniards were working their will without a thought +of danger. Elizabeth at once fell in with Drake's idea and "did swear +by her Crown that if any within her Realm did give the King of Spain to +understand hereof they should lose their heads therefor." The secret +had to be very well kept, even from Burleigh, who was then more or less +like what a Prime Minister is now. Burleigh was a very cautious man, +afraid of bringing on an open war with Spain. Elizabeth herself did +not want open war; but she was ready to go all lengths just short of +that. In those days, and for the next two centuries, a good deal of +fighting could go on at sea and round about oversea possessions without +bringing on a regular war in Europe. But for Elizabeth to have shown +her hand now would have put Philip at least on his guard and perhaps +spoilt Drake's game altogether. So the secret was carefully hidden +from every one likely to tell Mendoza, the lynx-eyed ambassador of +Spain. That Elizabeth was right in all she did is more than we can +say. But with enemies like Philip of Spain and Mary Queen of Scots +(both ready to have her murdered, if that could be safely done) she had +to hit back as best she could. + +"The Famous Voyage of Sir Francis Drake into the South Sea, and +therehence about the whole Globe of the Earth, begun in the Yeare of +our Lord 1577" is the greatest raid in history. His fleet was small +enough, compared with what we know of fleets today. But it did +wonderful work for all that. The flagship _Golden Hind_ was of only a +hundred tons. The four others were smaller still. There were less +than two hundred men, all told. Yet with these Drake sailed off to +raid the whole Pacific seaboard of New Spain. He took "great store of +wildfire, chain-shot, harquebusses, pistols, corslets, bows, and other +weapons. Neither had he omitted to make provision for ornament and +delight, carrying with him expert musicians, rich furniture, and divers +shows of curious workmanship, whereby the magnificence of his native +country might amongst all nations be the more admired." + +Sou'sou'west went Drake until he reached the "Land of Devils" in South +America, northeast of Montevideo. Terrific storms raised tremendous +seas through which the five little vessels buffeted their toilsome way. +The old Portuguese pilot, whom Drake had taken for his knowledge of +that wild coast, said the native savages had "sold themselves to the +Devil, because he was so much kinder than the Spaniards; and the Devil +helped them to keep off Spanish vessels by raising these awful storms." +The frightful Straits of Magellan (through which the British ship +_Ortega_ led the Germans such a dance of death) took Drake seventeen +squally days to clear. But he was out of the frying-pan into the fire +when he reached the Pacific, where he struck a storm fifty-two days +long. One of his vessels sank. Two others lost him and went home. +But the _Golden Hind_ and the little pinnace _Benedict_ remained safe +together off Cape Horn, which Drake was now the first man to discover. + +Carried too far south of his course, and then too far west by trusting +the bad Spanish maps, Drake only reached Valparaiso in the north of +Chili at the end of 1578. Thinking he must be a Spaniard, as no one +else had ever sailed that sea, the crew of the _Grand Captain of the +South_ opened a cask of wine and beat a welcome on their drums. Before +the Spaniards knew what was happening gigantic Tom Moone had led the +English boarders over the side and driven the crew below. Half a +million was the sum of this first prize. The news spread quickly, +scaring the old Governor to death, heartening the Indians, who had just +been defeated, and putting all Spanish plans at sixes and sevens. +Messengers were sent post-haste to warn the coast. But Drake of course +went faster by sea than the Spaniards could by land; so he overhauled +and took every vessel he met. Very few showed fight, as they never +expected enemies at sea and were foolish enough not to be ready for +those that were sure to come sooner or later. Even ashore there was +little resistance, often, it is true, because the surprise was +complete. One day some Spaniards, with half a ton of silver loaded on +eight llamas, came round a corner straight into Drake's arms. Another +day his men found a Spaniard fast asleep near thirteen solid bars from +the mines of Potosi. The bars were lifted quietly and the Spaniard +left peacefully sleeping. + +Sailing into Lima Drake cut every single Spanish ship adrift and then +sailed out again, leaving the harbour a perfect pandemonium of wrecks. +Overhauling a ship from Panama he found that the King's great treasure +ship, _Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion_, the "chiefest glory of the +whole South Sea," had such a long start of him that she might unload at +Panama before he could come up with her. The Spaniards, a lubberly +lot, brave soldiers but never handy sailors, were afraid of the Straits +of Magellan and knew nothing of Cape Horn; so they always sent their +treasure across the Isthmus of Panama. + +Drake set every stitch of canvas the _Golden Hind_ could carry, taking +four more prizes by the way and learning that he was gaining on the +treasure ship. After clearing the prizes he sent them back with no one +on board hurt, plenty to eat and drink, and presents for all ranks and +ratings--very much to the amazement of the Spaniards. "Only a day +ahead," was the news the last prize gave him. But they were nearing +Panama; so Drake strained every nerve anew, promising a chain of solid +gold to the first look-out who saw the chase. Next midday his cousin, +young Jack Drake, yelled out "Sail-ho!" and climbed down on deck to get +the golden chain. + +Panama was now so close that Drake was afraid of scaring the treasure +ship into making a run for it; so he trailed twelve empty wine casks +over the stern to slacken the speed of the _Golden Hind_ and make her +look more like a lubberly Spaniard. As the evening breeze came up and +reached him first he cut the casks adrift, set every sail, and +presently ran alongside. "Who are you?" asked the Spanish captain. "A +ship of Chili!" answered Drake. But when Don Anton looked down on the +_Golden Hind_ he saw her decks crowded with armed men from whom a +thundering shout of triumph came--"English! English! Strike sail!" +Then Drake blew his whistle, at which there was perfect silence while +he called, "Strike sail, Senor Anton! or I must send you to the +bottom!" Anton, however, was a very brave man, and he stoutly replied, +"Strike sail? Come and do it yourself!" At once the English guns cut +down his masts and rigging, while a perfect hail of arrows prevented +the Spaniards from clearing the wreckage away. Don Anton's crew began +running below, and when, in despair of making sail, he looked overside, +there was gigantic Tom Moone, at the head of the boarders, climbing out +of the pinnace. Then Anton struck his flag, was taken aboard the +_Golden Hind_, and, with all his crew, given a splendid banquet by his +English foes. After this the millions and millions of treasure were +loaded aboard the _Golden Hind_, and the Spaniards were given handsome +presents to soften their hard luck. Then they and their empty treasure +ship were allowed to sail for Panama. + +Throwing the Spaniards off the scent by steering crooked courses Drake +at last landed at what is now Drake's Bay, near the modern San +Francisco, where the Indians, who had never even heard of any craft +bigger than canoes, were lost in wonder at the _Golden Hind_ and none +the less at the big fair-haired strangers, whom they took for gods. +Drake, as always, was very kind to them, gave them rich presents, +promised them the protection of his Queen, whose coins he showed them, +and, pointing to the sky while his men were praying, tried to make them +understand that the one true God was there and not on earth. They then +crowned him with a head-dress of eagle's feathers, while he made them a +speech, saying that he would call their country New Albion. California +thus became the counterpart of Cape Breton, over which John Cabot had +raised St. George's Cross eighty-two years before. + +Leaving the Indians in tears at his departure Drake crossed the Pacific +to the Moluccas, where a vile Portuguese, with the suitable name of +Lopez de Mosquito, had just killed the Sultan, who was then his guest, +chopped up the body, and thrown the pieces into the sea, to show his +contempt for the natives. Drake would have gladly helped the Sultan's +son, Baber, if he had only had a few more men. But having no more than +fifty-six left he could not risk war with the Portuguese among their +own possessions. He did, however, make a treaty with Baber which was +the foundation of all the English Far-Eastern trade. And here, as +everywhere, he won the hearty good-will of the natives. + +After a narrow escape from being wrecked on an unknown reef, and other +escapes from dangers which alone would fill a story book, the gallant +_Golden Hind_ sailed into Plymouth Sound with ballast of silver and +cargo of gold. "Is Her Majesty alive and well?" asked Drake of a +fishing smack. "Ay, ay, that she is, my Master." So Drake wrote off +to her at once and came to anchor beside what is now Drake's Island. +He wished to know how things were going at Court before he went to +London. The Queen wrote back to say she wished to see him, and that +she would "view" some of the wonderful things he had brought back from +foreign parts. Straight on this hint he went to town with jewels +enough to soften any woman's heart. The Spanish ambassador was beside +himself with rage; but in London "the people were swarming daily in the +streets to behold their Captain Drake and vowing hatred to all that +misliked him." + +To crown everything, the _Golden Hind_ came round to London, where she +was the wonder of the day, and when the Queen herself went aboard to a +state banquet at which she knighted the hero of the sea: "I bid thee +rise, Sir Francis Drake!" + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE SPANISH ARMADA + +(1588) + +By 1580, the year of Drake's return, Spain and England were fast moving +toward the war that had been bound to come ever since the Old World had +found the riches of the New. + +The battle grounds of rival sea-powers had been shifting farther and +farther west since history began. Now the last step was to come. We +have seen already that the centre of the world's sea trade had moved +for thousands of years from south-eastern Asia toward north-western +Europe, and that in the fifteenth century it was pretty well divided +between Venice and the Hansa Towns. This was only natural, because +Venice was in the middle of southern Europe and the Hansa Towns were in +the middle of northern Europe. The two were therefore well placed to +receive, store, and distribute the bulk of the oversea trade. In a +word, Venice (on the Adriatic) and the Hansa Towns (mostly on what is +now the German coast) were the great European central junctions of +oversea trade; while the Atlantic states of Spain and Portugal, France +and England were only terminal points, that is, they were at the end of +the line; for the Atlantic ended the world to the west. + +The discovery of a rich New World changed all that. Venice and the +Hansa Towns became only stations by the way; while the new grand +central junction of the world was bound to be somewhere among the +Atlantic states of England, France, Portugal, and Spain. When these +four countries became rivals for this junction England won, partly +because she had the advantage of being an island, and thus safe from +invasion by land, but mostly because her men were of the fighting +kindred of the sea. Yet she had to fight hard to win; she had to fight +hard to keep what she won; and we all know how hard she has just had to +fight again for the real "Freedom of the Seas." + +Her first great rival, Spain, was stronger than ever in 1580, because +it was then that Philip II added Portugal, as well as all the oversea +possessions of Portugal to his own enormous empire. He felt that if he +could only conquer England, then the dream of his father, Charles V, +would certainly come true, and he would be the master of the world. +France also stood in his way, but only by land; and if he had England +and England's sea-power he could make short work of France. His having +Portugal gave him much that he needed for his "Invincible Armada": +plenty of ships, sailors at least as good as his own, new ports and new +islands, like the Azores, and the "wealth of All the Indies"--for he +now had the Portuguese trade with the Indies as well as his own with +the West. + +Luckily for England, Philip was a landsman, no soldier, and very slow. +So England struck first, but at New Spain, not, Old, because Elizabeth +would not have open war if she could help it. She had enemies in +Scotland, enemies in France, a few at home, and millions in Spain. +Besides, she was cleverer at playing off one against the other than in +managing a big war; and, like most people everywhere, even in our own +sea-girt Empire now, she never quite understood how to make war at sea. + +In 1585 London was all agog about Sir Francis Drake again; for he was +to command the "Indies Voyage" against New Spain, with Frobisher, of +North-West-Passage fame, as his Vice-Admiral, and Knollys, the Queen's +own cousin, as Rear-Admiral. There were twenty-one ships and +twenty-three hundred men; with Carleill, a first-class general, to +command the soldiers ashore. Drake's crew of the _Golden Hind_ came +forward to a man, among them gigantic Tom Moone, the lion of the +boarding parties. It is quite likely that Shakespeare went down with +the crowds of Londoners who saw the fleet set sail from Woolwich; for +the famous London vessel, _Tiger_, which he mentions both in _Macbeth_ +and in _Twelfth Night_, was one of Drake's fleet. + +Drake's written plan proves that he was not only a daring raider but a +very great admiral as well. It marked down for attack all the places +in New Spain the taking of which would knock the sea trade there to +pieces, because they were the same by sea as railway junctions are by +land. More than this, he planned to hold Havana, so that the junctions +he destroyed could not be made to work again, as from there he could +pounce on working parties anywhere else. + +Drake first swooped down on San Domingo in Hayti, battering the walls +from the sea while Carleill attacked them by land. The Spaniards had +been on their guard, so no treasure was found. Drake therefore put the +town to ransom and sent his Maroon servant to bring back the Spanish +answer. But the Spanish messenger ran his lance into the Maroon and +cantered away. The Maroon dragged himself back and fell dead at +Drake's feet. Drake sent word to say he would hang two Spaniards a day +till the one who had killed his Maroon was hanged himself. No answer +having come in next morning, two Spanish friars were strung up. Then +the offender was brought in and hanged by the Spaniards in front of +both armies. After this Drake burnt a fresh bit of the town each day +till the Spaniards paid the ransom. + +The next dash was for Cartagena on the mainland of South America. The +Spaniards felt safe from a naval attack here, as the harbour was very +hard to enter, even with the best of Spanish pilots. But Drake did +this trick quite easily without any pilot at all; and, after puzzling +the Spaniards by his movements, put Carleill ashore in the dark just +where the English soldiers could wade past the Spanish batteries under +cover at the weakest spot. When Carleill reached the barricade his +musketeers fired into the Spaniards' faces and wheeled off to let the +pikemen charge through. After a fierce hand-to-hand fight the +Spaniards ran. The town gave in next day. Having been paid its ransom +Drake sailed for the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine in Florida and +utterly destroyed it, then went on to Sir Walter Raleigh's colony of +Roanoke, in what is now North Carolina, and thence home. + +He had missed the yearly treasure fleet by only half a day. He had +lost so many men by sickness that he had no chance of taking and +holding Havana. And the ransoms were less than he had hoped for. But +he had done enough to cripple New Spain for the next few years at any +rate. Arrived at Plymouth he wrote to London, saying, "There is now a +very great gap opened, very little to the liking of the King of Spain." + +But the King, stung to the quick, went on with his Armada harder than +before, and in 1587 had it more than half ready in Lisbon and Cadiz. +Then Drake "singed King Philip's beard" by swooping down on Cadiz and +smashing up the shipping there; by going on to Cape St. Vincent, which +he seized and held with an army while his ships swept off the fishing +craft that helped to feed the great Armada; and by taking "the greatest +ship in all Portugal, richly laden, to our Happy Joy." This was the +best East Indies treasure ship, loaded with silks and spices, jewels +and gold, to the value of many millions. But, better than even this, +Drake found among her papers the secrets of the wonderful trade with +the East, a trade now taken over by the Spaniards from the conquered +Portuguese. With these papers in English hands the English oversea +traders set to work and formed the great East India Company on the last +day of the year 1600. This Company--founded, held, and always helped +by British sea-power--went on, step by step, for the next two hundred +and fifty-seven years, after which India, taken over by the British +Crown, at last grew into the present Indian Empire, a country +containing three times as many people as the whole population of the +United States, and yet a country which is only one of the many parts of +the British Empire all round the Seven Seas. + +Crippled by English sea-power both in New Spain and Old, threatened by +English sea-power in his trade with the Far East, and harassed by +English sea-power everywhere between Spain and the Spanish Netherlands, +where the Duke of Parma was preparing an army for the invasion of +England, King Philip kept working on with murder in his heart. At +last, in the summer of 1588, his Great Invincible Spanish Armada seemed +to be as Great, Invincible, and Spanish as he could ever hope to make +it. All the landlubbers, even in England, thought it very great +indeed; and most of them think so still. The best Spanish soldiers, +like all the few really good Spanish sailors, had very grave doubts. +Those who knew the English Navy best expected nothing but disaster: +their letters still remain to prove it. But most people, then as now, +knew nothing about navies; and so the Armada went on collecting ships +and men together, heartening the landsmen of Spain, and disheartening +far too many landsmen in England. + +The fatal weakness of the Great Armada was its being out of date. +Though little better than an ancient floating army, it had to fight +what then was the one really modern fleet; and this was its undoing. +Time out of mind, as we have seen already, battles on the water had +always been made as much like battles on the land as the wit of man +could make them. They were fought by soldiers under generals, not by +sailors under admirals. They were fought mostly on the platforms of +huge rowboats called galleys; and the despised galley-slaves were +almost the only seamen. Even the officers and men who handled the +clumsy old sailing craft, or the still clumsier sail aboard a galley, +were thought to be next door to nobodies; for their only work was to +fit their craft together like so many bits of land in order that the +soldiers might have the best imitation of a "proper field." The main +bodies of these floating armies drew up in line-abreast (that is, side +by side) charged each other end-on, and fought it out hand-to-hand on +the mass of jammed-together platforms. No such battle was ever fought +far from the land; for a good breeze would make the platforms wobble, +while no galley could survive a gale. + +These ancient rowboat battles on calm coastal waters lasted till +Lepanto in 1571. Guns, muskets, and sailing craft were all used at +Lepanto. But the main fighting was done on galley platforms, and not +so very differently done from the way the Greeks and Persians fought at +Salamis twenty _centuries_ before. Then, after less than twenty +_years_, the Armada, though better than the Spaniards at Lepanto, was +sent across the open sea to fight a regular sea-going fleet, whose +leaders were admirals, whose chief fighting men were sailors, whose +movements were made under sail, and whose real weapon was the +shattering broadside gun. It was ancient Spanish floating army against +modern English Sea-Dog fleet. + +Philip's silly plan was that the Armada should make for the Straits of +Dover, where it would see that Parma's Spanish army had a safe passage +from Flanders into England. Philip had lost his best admiral, Santa +Cruz, and had put the Armada in charge of Medina Sidonia, a seasick +landlubber, whom he ordered not to fight any more than could possibly +be helped until Parma had reached England. Parma, who was a good +soldier, saw at once what nonsense it was to put the army first and +navy second in the fighting, because, even if he could get into +England, his lines of communication with the bases in Flanders and +Spain could never be safe until Drake's fleet had been beaten. He +knew, as all soldiers and all sailors know, that unless you have a safe +road over which to bring your supplies from your base to your front +your fleets and armies must simply wither away for want of these +supplies--for want of men, arms, food, and all the other things a fleet +and army need. Therefore he wanted the fleet to fight first, so as to +clear, or try to clear, safe roads across the sea. After these roads, +or "lines of communication" between the bases and the front, had been +cleared he would try to conquer England with his Spanish army. + +But Philip went his own silly way; and Elizabeth, his deadly enemy, +nearly helped him by having some silly plans of her own. She and her +Council (all landsmen, and no great soldier among them) wanted to +divide the English fleet so as to defend the different places they +thought the Armada might attack. This would also please the people; +for most people do like to see ships and soldiers close in front of +them, even when that is quite the wrong place for the ships and +soldiers to be. Of course this plan could never have worked, except in +favour of the Spaniards, who might have crushed, first, one bit of the +English fleet, and then another, and another, though they had no chance +whatever against the united whole. + +Drake's own perfect plan was to take the whole fleet straight to Lisbon +and beat the Armada as it tried to get out. This would have given him +an enormous advantage; first, because he would have found the Armada at +once, instead of having to search for it after it had sailed; secondly, +because he could have crushed it ship by ship as it came out of the +Tagus; and, thirdly, because this defeat of the Armada off the coast of +Portugal would certainly prevent Parma from taking his army from +Flanders into England. On the 30th of March, 1588, a day to be forever +remembered in the history of sea-power, Drake wrote all this from +Plymouth to the Queen and her Councillors. One civilian, Sir Francis +Walsingham, saw at once that Drake was right. But the others shook +their heads; while even those who thought Drake knew better than they +did were afraid to let the fleet go so far away, because the people +liked the comfort of seeing it close beside the coast. Drake's way was +the way of Nelson, Jellicoe, Beatty, and all the greatest seamen. But +he was not allowed to try it till the 7th of July, when the Armada had +left Lisbon and was in the harbour of Corunna at the northwest corner +of the Spanish coast. And even then the Queen kept him so short of +stores that he could not have waited there to take the best chance. + +When almost in sight of Spain a roaring sou'wester blew up; so, being +unable to wait, he had to come back to Plymouth on the 12th. Then for +a week the English fleet was taking in stores as hard as it could. +Lord Howard of Effingham, the Lord High Admiral of England, was in +command as the Great Officer of State who represented the Queen. But +he was a very sensible man, who, knowing that Drake was the greatest +seaman in the world, let him do the fighting in the proper way. + +[Illustration: One of Drake's Men-of-War that Fought the Great Armada +in 1588.] + +The southwest wind that blew Drake back brought the Armada out and up +the English Channel. Howard and Drake, their desperate week of taking +in stores at last quite done, were playing a game of bowls on the green +when Captain Fleming, of the ever famous _Golden Hind_, rushed up to +say the Spaniards were in sight of the Lizard, only sixty miles west. +Drake, knowing perfectly well what time there was to spare, and how +best to calm the people looking on, said, "There's time to finish the +game first and the Spaniards after." But the fleet got its sailing +orders on the spot; and all that fateful night the ships were working +out of Plymouth Sound. The Queen and her politicians, though patriotic +as any Sea-Dog, had, by keeping Drake so short of stores, very nearly +got their own fleet caught in just the same way as Drake had wished to +catch the Great Armada, that is, coming out of port, ship by ship, +against a united fleet outside. But Philip's silly plan, the +clumsiness of the Armada, and, above all, the supreme skill of the +English Sea-Dogs, put everything to rights again. + +Next morning Drake was safely out at sea in the Channel, with +fifty-four ships, when he sighted a dim blur toward the west. This was +the Great Invincible Armada. Rain killed the wind, and the English lay +under bare poles, unseen by the Spaniards, who still left some of their +idle sails swinging to and fro. The great day had come at last. +Philip's Armada had drunk to _Der Tag_ (the day) of England's overthrow +just as the Germans did three centuries later; and nearly all the +Spaniards thought that thirty thousand Spaniards on the water were more +than a match for fifteen thousand English. But the Spaniards were six +thousand short, through sickness and desertion, and of the remaining +twenty-four thousand little more than a quarter were seamen. The rest +were soldiers, with many camp-followers. The fifteen thousand English, +on the other hand, were nearly all on board; and most of them had been +trained to sea fighting from their youth up. The Spaniards were +one-quarter seamen and three-quarters landsmen. The English were +three-quarters seamen and one-quarter landsmen; and most of these +landsmen were like the Marines of the present day, "soldier and sailor +too." Nor was this the only difference that helped to seal the fate of +the doomed Armada. For not only were the English seamen twice as many +and twice as good as the Spanish seamen, but in the numbers of their +trained seamen-gunners the English beat the Spaniards no less than ten +to one: and guns were the weapons that decided the issue of the day, +just as they did at Jutland in our recent war against the Germans. + +A little before sunset the mist lifted, and the Spaniards, to their +intense surprise, saw the whole English fleet together. Every big ship +in the Armada sent boats hurrying off to know what orders Sidonia had +to give them. But Sidonia had none. That the Sea-Dogs had worked out +of Plymouth so quickly and were all together in a single fleet was +something he had not reckoned on, and something Philip's silly plan had +not provided for. Still, the Armada had one advantage left, the +weather-gage; for the southwest wind was piping up again, blowing from +the Armada to the English. Yet even this advantage was soon lost, not +by any change of wind, but by English seamanship. For while eight +English vessels held the attention of the Armada, by working about +between it and the shore, the rest of Drake's fleet stole off to sea, +got safely out of sight, tacked to windward with splendid skill, edged +in toward the Armada when sea-room west of it was gained, and then, +next morning, to the still more intense surprise of the Armada, came +down to attack it, having won the weather-gage by sailing round behind +it in the night. + +This was the decisive stroke. The fight itself was simply the +slaughter of a floating army by a fleet. The Spaniards fought like +heroes, day after slaughterous day. But their light guns, badly served +by ill-trained crews, fired much too high to hull the English ships +"'twixt wind and water," that is, to smash holes in their sides along +the water-line. On the other hand, the English had more and better +guns, far more and far better seaman-gunners, and vessels managed by +the sea's own "handy men." They ran in with the wind, just near enough +to make their well-aimed cannon-balls most deadly on the Spanish +water-line, but never so near that the Spaniards could catch them with +grappling hooks and hold them fast while the Spanish soldiers boarded. +Another way the skilful English had was to turn their broadside against +the enemy's end-on. This, whether for a single ship or for a fleet, is +called "crossing the T"; and if you will look at a T you will see that +guns firing inward from the whole length of the cross-stroke have a +great advantage over guns firing back from the front of the up-stroke. +In other words, the broad front converges on the narrow front and +smashes it. + +The crowded Spaniards sailed on, the whole week long, before the +pursuing English in the "eagle formation," with the big ships forming +the body and the lighter ones the wings: good enough for ancient +battles like Lepanto, but of no use against a modern fleet like +Drake's. Most of them could hardly have been more nearly useless if +they had been just so many elephants fighting killer whales at sea. Do +what they could, they could not catch the nimble Sea-Dogs who were +biting them to death. But they still fought on. Their crowded +soldiers were simply targets for the English cannon-balls. Sometimes +the Spanish vessels were seen to drip a horrid red, as if the very +decks were bleeding. But when, at the end of the week, Sidonia asked +Oquendo, "What are we to do now?", Oquendo, a dauntless warrior, at +once replied: "Order up more powder!" + +The Spaniards at last reached Calais and anchored in the Roads. But, +when the tidal stream was running toward them full, Drake sent nine +fire-ships in among them. There was no time to get their anchors up; +so they cut their cables, swung round with the tide in horrible +confusion, dashing into one another in the dark, and headed for the +shallows of the Flemish coast. This lost them their last chance of +helping Parma into England. But it also saved Parma from losing the +whole of his army at sea. Once more the brave, though cruel, Spaniards +tried to fight the English fleet. But all in vain. This was the end. +It came at Gravelines, on the 29th of July 1588, just ten days after +Captain Fleming of the _Golden Hind_ had stopped Drake's game of bowls +at Plymouth. North, and still north, the beaten Armada ran for its +life; round by the stormy Orkneys, down the wild waters of the Hebrides +and Western Ireland, strewing the coasts with wreckage and dead men, +till at last the few surviving ships limped home. + +[Illustration: ARMADA OFF FOWEY (Cornwall) as first seen in the English +Channel.] + +There never was a better victory nor one more clearly gained by greater +skill. Nor has there ever been a victory showing more clearly how +impossible it is to keep sea empires safe without a proper navy. + +But, after all, it is the whole Sea-Dog war, and not any single battle +or campaign, that really made those vast changes in world-history which +we enjoy today. For we owe it to the whole Sea-Dog breed that the fair +lands of North America are what they are and not as Spain might +otherwise have made them. The Sea-Dogs won the English right of entry +into Spain's New World. They, strange as it may seem, won French +rights, too; for Spain and France were often deadly enemies, and Spain +would gladly have kept the French out of all America if she had only +had the fleet with which to do it. Thus even the French-Canadians owe +Drake a debt of gratitude for breaking down the great sea barriers of +Spain. + +"The Invincible Armada" could not, of course, have been defeated +without much English bravery. And we know that the Queen, her +Councillors, and the great mass of English people would have fought the +Spanish army bravely enough had it ever landed. For even Henry V, +calling to his army at the siege of Harfleur, + + Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; + Or close the wall up with our English dead! + +was no braver than Queen Elizabeth addressing her own army at Tilbury +Fort, the outwork of London, when the Armada was sailing up the +Channel: "I am only a poor weak woman. But I have the heart of a king; +and of a King of England too." + +There can be no doubt whatever that both leaders and followers must +have good hearts, and have them in the right place too; and that the +heart of England beat high throughout this great campaign. But good +heads, rightly used, are equally needed in war. Sea-Dog courage +counted for much against the Great Armada; but Sea-Dog skill for more. + +If you want a fight in which the Sea-Dog hearts might well have quailed +against appalling odds, then turn to the glorious end of Drake's old +flagship, the _Revenge_, when her new captain, Sir Richard Grenville, +fought her single-handed against a whole encircling fleet of Spain. + +[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE ON BOARD THE _REVENGE_ receiving the +surrender of Don Pedro de Valdes.] + +Grenville, Drake, and Sir Philip Sidney had been among those members of +Parliament who had asked Queen Elizabeth to give Sir Walter Raleigh a +Royal Charter to found the first of the English oversea Dominions--the +colony on Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina. Grenville +himself went out to Roanoke. He was a born soldier of fortune and +"first-class fighting man"; an explorer, scout, and pioneer; but not a +colonist at all. On his return from founding Raleigh's colony his +boats were swept away in a storm just before he saw a Spanish treasure +ship. But he made his carpenter put together some sort of boat with +bits of boxes; and in this he boarded the Spaniard, just reaching her +deck before his makeshift craft went down. + +On the 1st of September, 1591, the _Revenge_, with Grenville in command +of her less than two hundred men, was at "Flores in the Azores" when +Don Alonzo de Bazan arrived with fifty-three ships of Spain. The +little English squadron under Lord Thomas Howard had no chance against +this overwhelming force. So it put to sea just in time to escape +destruction. But when Howard saw that the _Revenge_ was being +surrounded he gallantly came back and attacked the Spaniards in rear; +while the little _George Noble_ of London ran alongside the _Revenge_, +offering to stand by through thick and thin. Grenville ordered her +off, and Howard himself also retired, seeing no chance whatever of +helping the _Revenge_ and every chance of losing all his own ships. + +Then, at three in the afternoon, the whole Spanish fleet closed in on +the _Revenge_, which had only one hundred men really fit for duty. The +rest were sick. Grenville, who had sworn he would cut down the first +man who touched a rope while there still seemed a chance to escape, now +refused the Spanish summons to surrender and prepared to fight to the +last. Trimming his sails as carefully as if for a yacht race he ran +down close-hauled on the starboard tack, right between the two +divisions of the Spanish fleet, till the flagship, three times the size +of the _Revenge_, ranged up on his weather side, thus blanketing his +canvas and stealing the wind. As the _Revenge_ lost way the ships she +had passed on the other side began ranging up to cut her off +completely. But meanwhile her first broadside had crashed into the +flagship, which hauled off for repairs and was replaced by two more +ships. The fight raged with the utmost fury all that sunny afternoon +and far into the warm dark night. Two Spaniards were sunk on the spot, +a third sank afterwards, and a fourth could only be saved by beaching. +But still the fight went on, the darkness reddened by the flaming guns. + +Maddened to see one English ship keeping their whole fleet of +fifty-three at bay the Spaniards closed in till the _Revenge_ was +caught fast by two determined enemies. In came the Spanish grapplings, +hooking fast to the _Revenge_ on either side. "Boarders away!" yelled +the Spanish colonels. "Repel Boarders!" shouted Grenville in reply. +And the boarders were repelled, leaving a hundred killed behind them. +Only fifty English now remained. But they were as defiant as before, +giving the Spaniards deadly broadsides right along the water-line, till +two fresh enemies closed in and grappled fast. Again the boarders +swarmed in from both sides. Again the dauntless English drove them +back. Again the English swords and pikes dripped red with Spanish +blood. + +But now only twenty fighting men were left, while Grenville himself had +been very badly wounded twice. Two fresh enemies then closed in, +grappled, boarded, fought with fury, and were barely driven back. +After this there was a pause while both sides waited for the dawn. +Four hundred Spaniards had been killed or drowned and quite six hundred +wounded. A hundred Sea-Dogs had thus accounted for a thousand enemies. +But they themselves were now unable to resist the attack the Spaniards +seemed unwilling to resume; for the first streak of dawn found only ten +men left with weapons in their hands, and these half dead with more +than twelve hours' fighting. + +"Sink me the ship, Master Gunner!" was the last order Grenville gave. +But meanwhile the only two officers left alive, both badly wounded, had +taken boat to treat for terms; and the terms had been agreed upon. Don +Bazan promised, and worthily accorded, all the honours of war. So +Grenville was carefully taken on board the flagship, laid in Don +Bazan's cabin, and attended by the best Spanish surgeon. Then, with +the Spanish officers standing before him bareheaded, to show him all +possible respect, Grenville, after thanking them in their own language +for all their compliments and courtesies, spoke his farewell to the +world in words which his two wounded officers wrote home: + +"'Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind; for that +I have ended my life as a true soldier ought to do, that hath fought +for his Queen and Country, honour and religion.' And when he had said +these and other such like words he gave up the ghost with a great and +stout courage." + + + + THE REVENGE + + _A Ballad of the Fleet_ + + At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, + And a pinnace, like a flutter'd bird, came flying from far away: + "Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty three!" + + * * * * * * + + He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and to fight, + And he sailed away from Flores till the Spaniard came in sight, + With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the weather bow. + + "Shall we fight or shall we fly? + Good Sir Richard, tell us now, + For to fight is but to dip! + There'll be little of us left by the time this sun be set." + And Sir Richard said again: "We be all good Englishmen. + Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children of the devil, + For I never turn'd my back upon Don or devil yet." + + * * * * * * + + Sir Richard spoke and he laugh'd, and we roar'd a hurrah, and so, + The little _Revenge_ ran on sheer into the heart of the foe, + With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below; + For half of their fleet to the right and half to the left were seen, + And the little _Revenge_ ran on thro' the long sea-lane between. + + Thousands of their soldiers look'd down from their decks and laugh'd, + Thousands of their seamen made mock at the mad little craft + Running on and on, till delay'd + By their mountain-like _San Philip_ that, of fifteen hundred tons, + And up-shadowing high above us with her yawning tiers of guns, + Took the breath from our sails, and we stay'd. + + And while now the great _San Philip_ hung above us like a cloud + Whence the thunderbolt will fall + Long and loud, + Four galleons drew away + From the Spanish fleet that day, + And two upon the larboard and two upon the starboard lay, + And the battle-thunder broke from them all. + + But anon the great San Philip, she bethought herself and went, + Having that within her womb that had left her ill content; + And the rest they came aboard us, and they fought us hand to hand, + For a dozen times they came with their pikes and musqueteers, + And a dozen times we shook 'em off as a dog that shakes his ears + When he leaps from the water to the land. + + And the sun went down, and the stars came out far + over the summer sea, + But never a moment ceased the fight of the one + and the fifty-three. + Ship after ship, the whole night long, their + high-built galleons came, + Ship after ship, the whole night long, with her + battle-thunder and flame; + Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back + with her dead and her shame. + For some were sunk and many were shatter'd, and so + could fight us no more-- + God of battles, was ever a battle like this + in the world before? + + For he said "Fight on! fight on!" + Tho' his vessel was all but a wreck; + And it chanced that, when half of the short summer night was gone, + With a grisly wound to be drest he had left the deck. + But a bullet struck him that was dressing it suddenly dead, + And himself he was wounded again in the side and the head, + And he said 'Fight on! fight on!' + + And the night went down, and the sun smiled out far + over the summer sea, + And the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay round us + all in a ring; + But they dared not touch us again, for they fear'd that + we still could sting, + So they watch'd what the end would be. + And we had not fought them in vain, + But in perilous plight were we, + Seeing forty of our poor hundred were slain, + And half of the rest of us maim'd for life, + + In the crash of the cannonades and the desperate strife; + And the sick men down in the hold were most of them + stark and cold, + And the pikes were all broken or bent, and the powder + was all of it spent; + And the masts and the rigging were lying over the side; + But Sir Richard cried in his English pride, + "We have fought such a fight for a day and a night + As may never be fought again! + We have won great glory, my men! + And a day less or more + At sea or ashore, + We die--does it matter when? + Sink me the ship, Master Gunner--sink her, split her in twain! + Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!" + + And the gunner said, "Ay, ay," but the seamen made reply: + "We have children, we have wives, + And the Lord hath spared our lives. + We will make the Spaniard promise, if we yield, to let us go; + We shall live to fight again, and to strike another blow." + And the lion there lay dying, and they yielded to the foe. + + And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore him then, + Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir Richard caught at last, + And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign grace; + But he rose upon their decks, and he cried: + "I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valiant man and true; + I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do: + With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die!" + And he fell upon their decks, and he died. + + And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and true, + And had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheap + That he dared her with one little ship and his English few; + Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught they knew, + But they sank his body with honour down into the deep, + And they mann'd the _Revenge_ with a swarthier alien crew, + And away she sail'd with her loss and long'd for her own; + When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from sleep, + And the water began to heave and the weather to moan, + And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew, + And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew, + Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their + masts and their flags, + And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter'd + navy of Spain, + And the little _Revenge_ herself went down by the island crags + To be lost evermore in the main. + + --_Alfred, Lord Tennyson_. + + + + +PART II + +THE DUTCH WAR + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FIRST DUTCH WAR + +(1623-1653) + +The Dutch Wars, which lasted off and on for fifty years (1623-1673), +were caused by rivalry in oversea trade. In the sixteenth century the +Dutch and English had joined forces against the Portuguese, who had +tried to keep them out of the East Indies altogether. But when once +the Portuguese were beaten the allies fell out among themselves, the +Dutch got the upper hand, and, in 1623, killed off the English traders +at Amboyna, one of the Moluccas. War did not come for many years. But +there was always some fighting in the Far South East; and Amboyna was +never forgotten. + +The final step toward war was taken when the British Parliament passed +the famous Navigation Act of 1651. By this Act nothing could be +brought into England except in English ships or in ships belonging to +the country from which the goods came. As the Dutch were then doing +half the oversea freight work of Europe, and as they had also been +making the most of what oversea freighting England had lost during her +Civil War, the Act hit them very hard. But they did not want to fight. +They had troubles of their own at home. They also had a land frontier +to defend. And they wanted to keep their rich sea freight business +without having to fight for it. But the British were bent on war. +They remembered Amboyna. They did not see why the Dutch should keep +other shippers out of the East Indies. And it angered them to see the +Dutch grow rich on British trade taken away while the British were busy +with a war. + +When things are in such a state the guns almost go off by themselves. +Captain Young, with three ships, met three Dutch men-of-war in the +Channel and fired at the first that refused to salute according to the +Custom of the Sea. Then the great British admiral, Blake, fired at the +great Dutch admiral, van Tromp, for the same reason. A hot fight +followed in each case; but without a victory for either side. At +Dungeness, however, van Tromp with eighty ships beat Blake with forty, +and swept the Channel throughout the winter of 1652-3. But in +February, when the fleets were about equal, the British got the better +of him in the Straits of Dover, after a running fight of three days. +Blake being wounded, Monk led the fleet to another victory in May. But +the dogged Dutch were not yet beaten; and it was not till the last of +July that the final battle came. + +Monk made straight for the Dutch line at six in the morning. For nine +hours the fight went on, the two fleets manoeuvring with great skill +and fighting furiously every time they came together. Each time they +separated to manoeuvre again some ships were left behind, fighting, +disabled, or sinking. The British attacked with the utmost courage. +The Dutch never flinched. And so noon passed, and one, and two o'clock +as well. Van Tromp's flag still flew defiantly; but van Tromp himself +was dead. When the fleets first met he had been killed by a +musket-shot straight through his heart. When they first parted the +flag for a council of war was seen flying from his ship. The council +of Dutch admirals hurriedly met, decided to keep his flag aloft, so as +not to discourage their men, took orders from his second-in-command, +and met the British as bravely as before. But after nine hours +fighting their fleet broke up and left the field, bearing with it the +body of van Tromp, the lion of the Dutch, and by far the greatest +leader who had as yet withstood the British on the sea. + +[Illustration: SAILING SHIP. The Pilgrim Fathers crossed in a similar +vessel (1620).] + +This great battle off the coast of Holland made the Dutch give in. +They were divided among themselves; the merchants keeping up a republic +and a navy, but the nobles and inland people wishing for a king and +army to make the frontier safe. The British, though also divided among +themselves, had the advantages of living on an island, of having +settled what kind of government they would obey for the time being, and +of having at the head of this government the mighty Cromwell, one of +the greatest masters of the art of war the world has ever seen. + +Cromwell understood warfare on the sea, though his own magnificent +victories had been won on land. He also understood the three things +Britain needed then to make and keep her great: first, that she should +be strong enough to make foreigners respect her; secondly, that her +oversea trade should be protected by a strong navy; and thirdly, that +she should begin to found a British Empire overseas, as foreigners +always tried to shut the British out of their own oversea dominions. + +In 1654 a fleet and army were sent against the Spanish West Indies; +for, though there was no war with Spain in Europe, there never was any +peace with Spaniards overseas. Cromwell's orders, like those of Pitt a +hundred years later, were perfect models of what such orders ought to +be. He told the admiral and general exactly what the country wanted +them to do, gave them the means of doing it, and then left them free to +do it in whatever way seemed best on the spot. But the admiral and +general did not agree. King's men and Cromwell's men had to be mixed +together, as enough good Cromwellians could not be spared so far away +from home. The leaders tried to stand well with both sides by writing +to the King; and every other trouble was made ten times worse by this +divided loyalty. Jamaica was taken. But the rest was all disgraceful +failure. + +A very different force sailed out the same year under glorious Blake, +who soon let Spaniards, Italians, and Barbary pirates know that he +would stand no nonsense if they interfered with British vessels in the +Mediterranean. The Italian princes were brought to book, as the +Spaniards had just been brought to book at Malaga. Then Blake swooped +down on the Moorish pirates' nest at Tunis, sinking every vessel, +silencing the forts, and forcing the pirates to let their Christian +slaves go free. After this the pirates of Algiers quickly came to +terms without waiting to be beaten first. + +Meanwhile the frightened Spaniards had stopped the treasure fleet of +1655. But next year they were so short of money that they had to risk +it; though now there was open war in Europe as well as in New Spain. +Running for Cadiz, the first fleet of treasure ships fell into British +hands after very little fighting; and Londoners had the satisfaction of +cheering the thirty huge wagon-loads of gold and silver booty on its +way to safekeeping in the Tower. + +All that winter Blake was cruising off the coast of Spain, keeping the +seaways open for friends and closed to enemies, thus getting a +strangle-hold under which the angry Spaniards went from bad to worse. +In the spring his hardy vigil met with its one reward; for he learnt +that the second treasure fleet was hiding at Santa Cruz de Teneriffe in +the Canary Islands, within a hundred miles of north-western Africa. +Teneriffe was strongly fortified, as it was a harbour of refuge between +Spain and her oversea possessions, both East and West. It was also +very strong by nature, being surrounded by mountains, subject to dead +calms and sudden storms, and lying snugly at the inner end of a big +deep bay. But Blake knew the brave Spaniards for the lubbers they have +always been at sea. So, on the 20th of April, 1657, he ran in with +wind and tide, giving the forts at the entrance more than they +bargained for as he dashed by. Next, ranging alongside, he sank, drove +ashore, or set on fire every single Spanish vessel in the place. Then +he went out with the tide, helped by the breeze which he knew would +spring up with the set of the sun. + +This perfect feat of daring skill, though sometimes equalled by the +Navy, has never been surpassed; and when Blake died on his way home the +people mourned their sudden loss as they have never mourned except for +Nelson and for Drake. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SECOND AND THIRD DUTCH WARS + +(1665-1673) + +The Dutch quickly took up the East India trade dropped by the beaten +Spaniards, started their general oversea freighting again, and were +soon as dangerous rivals as before. The Dutch at home were very much +afraid of war, because their land frontier was threatened by France, +while their seaways were threatened by England. But they could not +make the Dutch East India Company keep its promises; for oversea +companies in those days were mostly a law to themselves; and, in this +case, the Dutch at home, though afraid to say so, quite agreed with the +Dutch overseas in wishing to shut out the British from all the rich +trade with the East. The new British Government, under sly and selfish +Charles II, was eager to show that it would care as much for British +sea trade as great Cromwell had. So it did not take long to bring on a +war. + +The first battle was fought on the 3rd of June, 1665, and won by the +British, who broke through the Dutch line. The Dutch retreat, however, +was magnificently covered by van Tromp's son, Cornelius; and the Duke +of York (brother to Charles II and afterwards himself King James II) +flinched from pressing home a finishing attack. Next year Monk, a +really great commander, fought the famous Four Days Battle in the +Downs, (11-14 June 1666). He was at first weaker in numbers than de +Ruyter, the excellent Dutch admiral; but he skilfully struck one part +of the Dutch line very hard before the rest could support it. On the +second and third days the Dutch, do what they could, were quite unable +to crush him. Both sides had some bad ships and bad crews; but as the +Dutch had more of these than the British had they suffered the greater +loss by flinching. + +On the fourth day Monk was helped by gallant Prince Rupert, cousin to +Charles II and by far the best of all the Stuarts. The Government of +Charles, afraid that Louis XIV would send the French to join the Dutch, +had just done one of those foolish things that are always done when +scared civilians try to manage fleets and armies for themselves. They +had sent Rupert off to guard against the French, thus risking a double +defeat, by weakening Monk in front of the Dutch and Rupert in front of +the French (who never came at all) instead of leaving the whole fleet +together, strong enough to fight either enemy before the two could +join. Rupert came in the nick of time; for, even with his fresh ships +to help Monk through this last and most desperate day, de Ruyter and +van Tromp were just enough stronger to win. But the fighting had been +so deadly to both sides that the Dutch were in no condition to go on. + +Again there was some very bad behaviour on both sides, especially among +the court favourites. But Charles never thought of punishing these men +for deserting Monk, any more than he thought of honouring the memory of +Sir Christopher Myngs, Rupert's second-in-command, who fell, mortally +wounded, at the end of the fight, after having done all that skill and +courage could possibly do to turn the fortune of the day. Myngs was +one of those leaders whom men will follow anywhere; and in the diary of +Samuel Pepys, a good official at Navy headquarters in London, we may +see the shame of Charles shown up by the noble conduct of the twelve +picked British seamen who, after following Myngs to the grave, came +forward, with tears in their eyes, to ask this favour: "We are here a +dozen of us who have long served and honoured our dead commander, Sir +Christopher Myngs. All we have is our lives. But if you will give us +a fire-ship we will do that which shall show how we honour his memory +by avenging his death on the Dutch." + +Even the King did his best for the fleet now, as he was afraid to meet +Parliament without a British victory. After immense exertions Monk and +Rupert met de Ruyter and van Tromp, with almost equal forces, on the +25th of July, at the mouth of the Thames, and closed in so fiercely +that there was hardly any manoeuvring on either side. Locked together +in a life-or-death struggle the two fleets fought all day long. Next +morning the British again closed in, and again the desperate fight +began. But several Dutch captains flinched this time; and so de +Ruyter, hoping the next shot would kill him, retired defeated at last. + +The following year (1667) the Dutch came back and sank a British fleet +at Chatham; for Charles and his vile favourites were doing for the +British Navy what de Ruyter's flinching captains had been doing for the +Dutch. + +The Peace of Breda ended this second Dutch war in disgrace. But the +Treaty of Dover, in 1670, brought on the third Dutch war with even +greater shame; for Charles now sold himself to Louis XIV, who thus +bought the Royal Navy for an attack on the Dutch, by which he and +Charles were to benefit at the expense of all the rest. The French and +British fleets, worked by the hidden hands of their two kings, grew +suspicious of each other and failed to win a victory. The Dutch fought +with the courage of despair and came through with the honours of war. +But, worn out by their efforts, and unable to defend themselves by both +land and sea, they soon lost their position as one of the Great Powers, +and have never won it back. + + + +THE MOAT + +It may be said now to England, _Martha, Martha_, thou art busy about +many things, but one thing is necessary. To the Question, What shall +we do to be saved in this World? there is no other Answer but this, +Look to your Moat. + +The first Article of an _Englishman's_ Political Creed must be, That he +believeth in the Sea. . . . We are in an Island, confined to it by God +Almighty, not as a Penalty but a Grace, and one of the greatest that +can be given to Mankind. Happy Confinement, that hath made us Free, +Rich, and Quiet. + +_George Savile, Marquis of Halifax_, 1633-95. + + + + +PART III + +THE FRENCH WAR + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE FIRST WAR AGAINST LOUIS XIV + +(1689-1697) + +In Chapter VI we saw how French and English once fought a Hundred Years +War to decide the French possession of all the land of France, and how +the French, having the greater army, won. Now, in these next seven +chapters we shall learn how they fought another Hundred Years War to +decide the command of the sea, and how the English, grown into a +British Empire and having the greater navy, won in their turn. Both +victories proved to be for the best. France and England both gained by +the first war; because the natural way for France to grow was all over +the land that is France now, while the natural way for England to grow +was not on the continent of Europe but in the British Isles. The +British Empire gained more than the French by the second war; but as +France could never have held an oversea Empire without a supreme navy, +and as she could never have a supreme navy while she had two land +frontiers to defend with great armies, she really lost nothing she then +could have kept. Besides, in the nineteenth century she won a great +empire in northern Africa, where her Mediterranean sea-power keeps it +safe. The British Empire, on the other hand, being based on world-wide +sea-power, is rightly placed as it is. So neither French nor British +are tempted to envy each other now; while their Hundred Years Peace, +followed by their glorious Alliance in the Great War, should make them +friends for ever. + +The Franco-British wars which began in 1689 and ended on the field of +Waterloo in 1815 are not called the Second Hundred Years War in books. +But that is what they were in fact. The British Navy was the chief +cause of British victory all through, and, as French and British always +took opposite sides, we may also call the whole of these seven wars by +the one name of "The French War," just as we have called the other wars +against our chief opponents "The Spanish War" and "Dutch War"; and just +as we might call "The Great War" by the name of "The German War." + +Two more points must be well understood, or else we shall miss the real +meaning of our imperial history and the supreme importance of the Royal +Navy. + +First, there have been four attempts made in modern times by Great +Powers on the continent of Europe to seize the overlordship of the +World; and each time the Royal Navy has been the central force that +foiled the attack upon the freedom of mankind. These four attempts +have been made about a century apart from one another. The Spanish +attempt was made at the end of the sixteenth century. The first French +attempt was made by Louis XIV at the end of the seventeenth. The +second French attempt was made by Napoleon at the beginning of the +nineteenth. The German attempt was made at the beginning of the +twentieth. Though alike in the ambitions of their makers, these +attempts were most unlike in the way the wars were carried on; for, +while the Spaniards and Germans were monsters of cruelty, the French +were foemen worthy of the noblest steel. + +Secondly, as we shall see in Chapter XVI, the middle of this long +French War was marked by the marvellous growth of the British Empire +under the elder Pitt; a man whose like the world had never seen before +and may not see again; orator, statesman, founder of empire, champion +of freedom, and one of the very few civilians who have ever wielded the +united force of fleets and armies without weakening it by meddling with +the things that warriors alone can do. + +Louis XIV liked to be called the Sun King (_Roi Soleil_) and Great +Monarch (_Grand Monarque_). His own France was easily the first Great +Power in Europe. She was rich and populous. The French army was the +most famous in the world. French became the language of diplomacy. +Whenever two nations speaking different languages wrote to each other +about affairs of state or made treaties they did so in French, as they +do still. But all this was not enough for Louis. He wanted to be a +conqueror in Europe and beyond the seas. His people did not need +oversea trade and empire in the same way as the Dutch and British, did +not desire it half so much, and were not nearly so well fitted for it +when they had it. France was a kingdom of the land. But, no matter, +Louis must make conquests wherever he could. + +Hoping to get England under his thumb he befriended James II, the last +Stuart king, whom the English drove out in 1688. James, less bad but +less clever than his vile brother Charles, had a party called +Jacobites, who wanted French help to set him on the throne again, but +no French interference afterwards. Most of Great Britain favoured the +new king, William III; most of Ireland the old one, James. This +greatly endangered British sea-power; for the French fleet had been +growing very strong, and an enemy fleet based on Ireland would threaten +every harbour in Great Britain from Bristol to the Clyde. More than +this, a strong enough fleet could close the Channel between the south +of Ireland and the north of France. There would then be no way out of +Great Britain on to the Seven Seas except round the north of Scotland. +But an enemy fleet strong enough to shut off Great Britain from the +short cuts north and south of Ireland would certainly be strong enough +to command the roundabout way as well; for it would be close to its +base on the west coast of Ireland, while ships coming round by the +north of Scotland would be far from their own. Thus Ireland, then as +now, was the key to the sea-door of Great Britain. Luckily for Great +Britain then, and for our Empire and Allies throughout the Great War, +keys are no good unless you have the hand to turn them. And, then as +now, the strong right hand that holds the key of Ireland was and is the +Royal Navy. + +In 1689 William III had at last succeeded in forming the Grand Alliance +against Louis XIV, who now had enemies all round him except in little +Switzerland. But France was easily the strongest of all the Great +Powers, and she was under a single command; while Spain and Austria +were lukewarm and weak against her, the many little German countries +could not act well together, and Great Britain had many Jacobites at +home besides still more in Ireland. Thus the Dutch and British friends +of King William were the only ones to be depended on through thick and +thin. + +Moreover, the Navy had grown dangerously weak under the last two Stuart +kings; and some of its men were Jacobites who knew the French king +wished to put the Stuarts on the British throne again. So, when the +great French admiral, Tourville, defeated the Dutch and British fleets +off Beachy Head in 1690, the British fought far more feebly than the +Dutch, who did as well as the best of them had done when led by the +immortal van Tromp. Luckily for the British, Louis XIV did not want to +make them hate him more than he could help, because he hoped to use +them for his own ends when he had brought them under James again. +Better still, William beat James in Ireland about the same time. Best +of all, the Royal Navy began to renew its strength; while it made up +its mind to stop foreign invasions of every kind. Even Jacobite +officers swore they would stop the French fleet, even if James himself +was on board of it. Then the tide of fortune turned for good and all. + +In the spring of 1692 Louis and James, with a French and a +Jacobite-Irish army, were at La Hogue, in the north-west corner of the +Normandy peninsula, ready for the invasion of England. They had to +wait for Tourville to clear the Dutch and British fleets away. But +they thought these fleets had not joined company and that the British +fleet would be so full of Jacobites as to be easily defeated again. At +the first streak of dawn on the 19th of May Admiral Russell was off +Harfleur, at the north-east corner of the Normandy peninsula. His own +British ships of the line (that is, the ships of the biggest and +strongest kind) numbered sixty-three; while his Dutch allies had +thirty-six. Against these ninety-nine Tourville had only forty-four. +Yet, having been ordered to attack, and not getting the counter-order +till after the battle was over, he made for the overwhelming Dutch and +British with a skill and gallantry beyond all praise. + +[Illustration: LA HOGUE, 1692.] + +The fury of the fight centred round the _Soleil Royal_, Tourville's +flagship, which at last had to be turned out of the line. Then, as at +Jutland in the Great War, mist veiled the fleets, so that friend and +foe were mixed together. But the battle went on here and there between +different parts of the fleets; while a hot action was fought after dark +by Admiral Carter, who, though a Jacobite, was determined that no +foreign army should ever set foot in England. Mortally wounded, he +called to his flag captain, "Fight the ship as long as she swims," and +then fell dead. All through the foggy 20th the battle was continued +whenever the French and Allies could see each other. Next morning the +_Soleil Royal_ became so disabled that she drifted ashore near +Cherbourg. But Tourville had meanwhile shifted his flag to another +ship and fought his way into La Hogue with twelve of his best +men-of-war. Some of the other French ships escaped by reaching St. +Malo through the dangerous channel between La Hogue and the island of +Alderney. Five others escaped to the eastward, and four went so far +that they rounded Scotland before getting home. + +On the 23rd and 24th Admiral Rooke, the future hero of Gibraltar, +sailed up the bay of La Hogue with his lighter vessels; then took to +his boats and burnt Tourville's men-of-war, supply ships, and even +rowboats, in full view of King Louis and King James and of their whole +army of invasion. No other navy has seen so many strange sights, +afloat and ashore, as have been seen by the British. Yet even the +British never saw a stranger sight than when the French cavalry charged +into the shallow water where the Dutch and British sailors were +finishing their work. A soldier-and-sailor rough-and-tumble followed, +sabres and cutlasses slashing like mad, and some of the horsemen being +dragged off their saddles by well-handled boat-hooks. + +La Hogue was not a glorious victory, like Trafalgar, because the odds +were nine to four in favour of the Dutch and British. But it was one +of the great decisive battles of the world, because, from that time on, +the British Isles, though often threatened, were never again in really +serious danger of invasion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SECOND WAR AGAINST LOUIS XIV + +(1702-1713) + +King Charles II of Spain, having no children, made a will leaving his +throne to Philip V, a grandson of Louis XIV, whose wife was sister to +Charles. Louis declared that "the Pyrenees had ceased to exist"; by +which boast he meant that he would govern the Spanish Empire through +his grandson, turn the Mediterranean into "a French lake," and work his +will against British sea-power, both mercantile and naval. + +The war that followed was mostly fought on land; and the great British +hero of it was the famous Duke of Marlborough, who was a soldier, not a +sailor. But the facts that England, as usual, could not be invaded, +and that her armies, also as usual, fought victoriously on the +continent of Europe, prove how well British sea-power worked: closing +the sea to enemies, opening it for friends, moving armies to the best +bases on the coast, and keeping them supplied with all they needed at +the front--men, munitions, clothing, food, and everything else. + +The great naval feat of this war was the daring attack Rooke made on +Gibraltar in 1704 with the help of some very gallant Dutch. Landing +all the Marines ("Soldier and Sailor too") on the narrow neck of ground +joining the famous Rock of Gibraltar to the mainland of Spain, and +ranging all his broadsides against the batteries on the seaward front, +Rooke soon beat the Spaniards from their guns and forced them to +surrender a place which, if properly defended, should have kept out a +fleet ten times as strong. No sooner had Gibraltar fallen than a +French fleet came to win it back. But, after a fierce battle off +Malaga, with over fifty ships a side, the French gave up the idea; and +from that day to this Gibraltar has been British. + +British sea-power won many advantages by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. +France and Spain agreed that one king should never rule both countries. +The British kept Gibraltar and Minorca, which together made two +splendid bases for their fleet in the Mediterranean; while France gave +up all her claims to Newfoundland and the Territory of Hudson Bay, +besides ceding Acadia (Nova Scotia), to the British Crown. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +WAR AGAINST FRANCE AND SPAIN + +(1739-1748) + +Though the same king did not reign over both countries the same family +did. So the French and Spanish Bourbons made a Family Compact against +British sea-power. Spain promised to take away from the British all +the trading rights she had been forced to grant them in America, while +France promised to help Spain to win Gibraltar back again. + +When the secret began to leak out the feeling against the Bourbons ran +high; and when a merchant skipper called Jenkins paraded London, +showing the ear he said the Spaniards had cut off him in South America, +the people clamoured for immediate war. Admiral Vernon became +immensely popular when he took Porto Bello in the Spanish Main. But he +was beaten before Cartagena. He was a good admiral; but the Navy had +been shamefully neglected by the government during the long peace; and +no neglected navy can send out good fleets in a hurry. + +Still, the Navy and mercantile marine were good enough to enable +British sea-power to turn the scale against Prince Charlie in Scotland +and against the French in Canada. The French tried to help the last of +the Stuarts by sending supply ships and men-of-war to Scotland. But +the British fleet kept off the men-of-war, seized the supply ships, and +advanced along the coast to support the army that was running the +Jacobites down. Prince Charlie's Jacobites had to carry everything by +land. The British army had most of its stores carried fen times better +by sea. Therefore, when the two armies met for their last fight at +Culloden, the Jacobites were worn out, while the British army was quite +fresh. In Canada it was the same story when the French fortress of +Louisbourg was entirely cut off from the sea by a British fleet and +forced to surrender or starve. In both cases the fleets and armies +worked together like the different parts of one body. At Louisbourg +the British land force was entirely made up of American colonists, +mostly from enlightened Massachusetts. + +A fleet sent against the French in India failed to beat that excellent +French admiral, La Bourdonnais. But Anson's famous four years voyage +round the world (1740-44) was a wonderful success. The Navy having +been so much neglected by the government for so many years before the +war, Anson had to put up with some bad ships and worse men. Even poor +old pensioners were sent on board at the last minute to make up the +number required. Of course they soon died off like flies. But his +famous flagship, the _Centurion_, got through, beat everything that +stood up to her, and took vast quantities of Spanish gold and silver. +Yet this is by no means the most wonderful fact about the _Centurion_. +The most wonderful thing of all is, that, though she was only a +one-thousand-tonner (smaller than many a destroyer of the present day) +she had no fewer than eight officers who rose to high and well-won rank +in after years, and three--Anson, Saunders, and Keppel--who all became +First Lords of the Admiralty, and thus heads of the whole Navy. + +[Illustration: H.M.S. _Centurion_ engaged and took the Spanish Galleon +_Nuestra Senhora de Capadongo_, from Acapulco bound to Manila, off Cape +Espiritu Santo, Philippine Islands, June 20, 1743.] + +Three years after his return Anson won a victory over the French off +Cape Finisterre, while Hawke won another near the same place a few +months later. In both the French fought very well indeed; but, with +less skill in handling fleets and smaller numbers than the British, +they had no chance. One of Hawke's best captains was Saunders. Thus +twelve years before Pitt's conquest of Canada the three great admirals +most concerned with it had already been brought together. + +The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, which ended the war in 1748, settled +nothing and satisfied nobody. It was, in fact, only a truce to let the +tired opponents get their breath and prepare for the world-wide +struggle which was to settle the question of oversea empire. + +The British in America were very angry with the Mother Country for +giving back Louisbourg. But they were much too narrow in their views; +for their own fate in America depended entirely on the strength of the +Royal Navy, which itself depended on having a safe base in the Mother +Country. Now, France had conquered those parts of the once Spanish but +then Austrian Netherlands which included the present coast of Belgium; +and Britain could no more allow the French to threaten her naval base +from the coast of Belgium then than she could allow the Spaniards +before or the Germans in our own time. Therefore both she and her +colonists won many points in the game, when playing for safety, by +giving up Louisbourg, from which there could be no real danger, and so +getting France out of Belgium, from which the whole Empire might some +day have been struck a mortal blow. + +CHAPTER XVI + +PITT'S IMPERIAL WAR + +(1756-1763) + +The British part of the Seven Years War was rightly known as The +Maritime War, because Pitt, the greatest of British empire-builders, +based it entirely on British sea-power, both mercantile and naval. +Pitt had a four-fold plan. First, it is needless to say that he made +the Navy strong enough to keep the seaways open to friends and closed +to enemies; for once the seaways are cut the Empire will bleed to death +just as surely as a man will if you cut his veins and arteries. This +being always and everywhere the Navy's plainest duty it need not have +been mentioned here unless each other part of Pitt's fourfold plan had +not only depended on it but helped to make it work. The second part of +his plan was this: not to send British armies into the middle of +Europe, but to help Frederick the Great and other allies to pay their +own armies--a thing made possible by the wealth brought into Britain by +oversea trade. The third part was to attack the enemy wherever British +fleets and armies, acting together in "joint expeditions," could strike +the best blows from the sea. The fourth was to send joint expeditions +to conquer the French dominions overseas. + +But lesser men than Pitt were at the head of the Government when the +fighting began; and it took some time to bring the ship of state on to +her proper course even after his mighty hand began to steer. + +In 1754 "the shot heard round the world" was fired by the French at +Washington's American militiamen, who were building a fort on the spot +where Pittsburg stands today. The Americans were determined to stop +the French from "joining hands behind their backs" and thus closing +every road to the West all the way from Canada to New Orleans. So they +sent young George Washington to build a fort at the best junction of +the western trails. But he was defeated and had to surrender. Then +Braddock was sent out from England in 1755. But the French defeated +him too. Then France sent out to Canada as great a master of the art +of war on land as Drake had been by sea. This was the gallant and +noble Montcalm, who, after taking Oswego in 1756 and Fort William Henry +in 1757, utterly defeated a badly led British army, four times the size +of his own, at Ticonderoga in 1758. + +Meanwhile war had been declared in Europe on the 18th of May, 1756. On +one side stood France, Austria, Saxony, Russia, and Sweden; on the +other, Great Britain, Prussia, and a few smaller German states, among +them Hanover and Hesse. Things went as badly here as overseas; for the +meaner kind of party politicians had been long in power, and the Fleet +and Army had both been neglected. There was almost a panic in England +while the French were preparing a joint expedition against Minorca in +the Mediterranean lest this might be turned against England herself. +Minorca was taken, a British fleet having failed to help it. Hawke and +Saunders were then sent to the Mediterranean as a "cargo of courage." +But the fortunes of war could not be changed at once; and they became +even worse next year (1757). The Austrians drove Frederick the Great +out of Bohemia. The French took Hanover. And, though Frederick ended +the year with two victories, Pitt's own first joint expedition failed +to take Rochefort on the west coast of France. Clive's great victory +at Plassey, which laid the foundation of our Indian Empire, was the +only silver lining to the British clouds of war. + +But in 1758 Pitt was at last managing the war in his own perfect way; +and everything began to change for the better. + +The enemy had already felt the force of British sea-power in three +different ways. They had felt it by losing hundreds of merchant +vessels on the outbreak of war. They had felt it in Hanover, where +they were ready to grant the Hanoverians any terms if the surrender +would only be made before a British fleet should appear on their flank. +And they had felt it during the Rochefort expedition, because, though +that was a wretched failure, they could not tell beforehand when or +where the blow would fall, or whether the fleet and army might not be +only feinting against Rochefort and then going on somewhere else. + +There is no end to the advantages a joint fleet and army possesses over +an army alone, even when the army alone has many more men. It is ten +times easier to supply armies with what they need in the way of men, +guns, munitions, food, clothes, and other stores, when these supplies +can be carried by sea. It is ten times easier to keep your movements +secret at sea, where nobody lives and where the weaker sea-power can +never have the best of lookouts, than it is on land, where thousands of +eyes are watching you and thousands of tongues are talking. So, if +your army fights near a coast against an enemy who commands the sea, +you can never tell when or where he may suddenly attack your line of +supply by landing an army to cut it. The French generals, though they +had the best army in the world, were always looking over their +shoulders to see if some British joint expedition was not hovering +round the flank exposed to the coast. The French Navy, though very +gallant, could only help French shipping here and there, by fits and +starts, and at the greatest risk. So, while the British forces used +the highways of the sea the whole time, the French forces could only +use them now and then by great good luck. Thus British sea-power +hampered, spoilt, or ruined all the powers of the land. + +The French wanted to save Louisbourg, the fall of which they knew would +be the first step to the British conquest of Canada. But they could +not send a fleet through the English Channel right under the eyes of +the British naval headquarters, from which they were themselves +expecting an attack. So they tried one from the Mediterranean. But +Osborne and Saunders shut the door in their faces at Gibraltar and +broke up their Toulon fleet as well. Then the French tried the Bay of +Biscay. But Hawke swooped down on the big convoy of supply vessels +sheltering at Aix and forced both them and their escorting men-of-war +to run aground in order to save themselves from being burnt. Meanwhile +large numbers of French farmers and fishermen had to be kept under arms +to guard the shores along the Channel. This, of course, was bad for +the harvest of both sea and land, on which the feeding of the men at +the front so greatly depended. But there was no help for it, as the +British fleet was watching its chance to pounce down on the first point +left unguarded, and the French fleet was not strong enough to fight it +out at sea. St. Malo and Cherbourg were successfully attacked. The +only failure was at St. Cast, where a silly old general made mistakes +of which a clever French one quickly took advantage. + +Thus harassed, blockaded, and weakened on every coast, France could do +nothing to save Louisbourg, the first link in the long, thin chain of +French posts in America, where the fortunes of war were bound to follow +the side that had the greater sea-power. No army could fight in +America if cut off from Europe; because the powder and shot, muskets +and bayonets, cannons and cannon-balls, swords and pistols, all came +out from France and England. More than this, the backbone of both +armies were the French and British regulars, who also came from France +and England. Most of all, fleets were quite as important at Quebec and +Montreal as at Louisbourg, for ocean navigation went all those hundreds +of miles inland. Beyond these three great points, again, sea-power, of +a wholly inland kind, was all-important; for the French lived along +another line of waterways--from Montreal, across the Great Lakes, and +down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. You might as well expect +an army to march without legs as to carry on a war in America without +fleets of sea-going ships and flotillas of inland small craft, even +down to the birchbark canoe. + +Pitt's plan for 1758 was to attack Canada on both flanks and work into +place for attacking her centre the following year. Louisbourg on the +coast of Cape Breton guarded her sea flank. Fort Duquesne (now +Pittsburg) at the forks of the Ohio guarded her land flank and her door +to the Golden West. Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain guarded her gateway +into the St. Lawrence from the south. Here the British attack, though +made with vastly superior numbers, was beaten back by the heroic and +skilful Montcalm. But Fort Duquesne, where Washington and Braddock had +been defeated, was taken by Forbes and re-named Pittshurg in honour of +the mighty Minister of War. Louisbourg likewise fell. So Canada was +beaten on both wings, though saved, for the moment, in the centre. + +Louisbourg never had the slightest chance; for Boscawen's great fleet +cut it off from the sea so completely that no help the French could +spare could have forced its way in, even if it had been able to dodge +past the British off the coast of France. The British army, being well +supplied from the sea, not only cut Louisbourg off by land as well as +the fleet had cut it off by sea but was able to press the siege home +with such vigour that the French had to surrender after a brave defence +of no more than eight weeks. The hero of the British army at +Louisbourg was a young general of whom we shall soon hear more--Wolfe. + +If we ever want to choose an Empire Year, then the one to choose, +beyond all shadow of a doubt, is 1759; and the hero of it, also beyond +all shadow of a doubt, is Pitt. Hardwicke, Pitt's chief civilian +adviser, was a truly magnificent statesman for war. Anson was a great +man at the head of the Navy. Ligonier was equally good at the head of +the Army, with a commission as "Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's +Forces in Great Britain and America," which showed how much Pitt +thought of the Canadian campaigns. The silent Saunders was one of the +best admirals that even England ever had. And when people drank to +"the eye of a Hawke, and the heart of a Wolfe!" they showed they knew +of other first-rate leaders too. But by far the greatest head and +heart, by far the most inspiring soul, of this whole vast Empire War +was Pitt. In many and many a war, down to our own day, the warriors +who have led the fleets and armies have been greater and nobler than +the statesmen who managed the government. But Pitt was greater, though +even he could not be nobler, than any of the warriors who served the +Empire under him; for he knew, better than any one else, how to make +fleets and armies work together as a single United Service, and how to +make the people who were not warriors work with the warriors for the +welfare of the whole United Empire. Of course he had a wonderful head +and a wonderful heart. But his crowning glory as an Empire-maker is +that he could rise above all the petty strife of party politicians and +give himself wholly to the Empire in the same spirit of self-sacrifice +as warriors show upon the field of battle. + +In choosing commanders by land and sea Pitt always took the best, no +matter who or what their friends or parties were; and no commander left +Pitt's inspiring presence without feeling the fitter for the work in +hand. In planning the conquest of Canada, Pitt and Ligonier agreed +that Amherst and Wolfe were the men for the army, while Pitt and Anson +agreed that Saunders and Holmes were the men for the fleet. This was +all settled at the beginning of Empire Year--1759. + +But this was only a part, though the most important part, of Pitt's +Imperial plan. No point of vantage, the whole world round, escaped his +eagle eye. The French and Dutch were beaten in India; though both +fought well, and though the French fleet fought a drawn battle with the +British off Ceylon. On the continent of Europe our allies were helped +by a British army at the decisive victory of Minden, which drove the +French away from Hanover. And in the West Indies the island of +Guadaloupe was taken by a joint expedition of the usual kind; but only +after the French had made a splendid resistance of over three months. + +Stung to the quick by these sudden blows from the sea France planned a +great invasion of the British Isles. She did not hide it, hoping +thereby to make the British keep their fleets at home in self-defence. +But though, as always happens, there were people weak enough to want to +keep the Navy close beside the coast and stupidly divided up, so that +plenty of timid folk could see the ships in front of them, just where +the enemy with one well handled fleet could beat them bit by bit, Pitt +paid no attention at all to any silly nonsense of the kind. He and +Anson knew, of course, that, when you have the stronger fleet, the only +right way is to defend yourself by attacking the enemy before he can +attack you. So, instead of wasting force at home, Pitt sent joint +expeditions all over the seaboard world, wherever they were needed to +guard or make the Empire overseas; while he sent fleets to beat or +blockade the French fleets off their own, not off the British, coasts. + +The dreaded invasion never came off; and the only two French fleets +that did get out were destroyed: the one from the Mediterranean off +Lagos in the south of Portugal, and the one from the west coast of +France in Quiberon Bay. + +Boscawen's fleet was refitting and taking in stores at Gibraltar when +one of his look-out frigates signalled up to the Governor's house, +where Boscawen was dining, that the French were slipping through the +Strait by hugging the African shore under cover of the dark. The +British flagship had her sails unbent (that is, unfastened altogether). +Every vessel had her decks and hold lumbered up with stores. Half the +crews were ashore; and if a spy had taken a look round he would have +thought the enemy could never have been overhauled. But the Navy is +never caught napping. In the twinkling of an eye Gibraltar was full of +British blue-jackets racing down to their ships, leaping on board, and +turning their skilful hands to the first job waiting to be done. +Within two hours Boscawen was off hotfoot after the French, hoisting in +boats, stowing the last of the lumbering stores, and clearing decks for +action. Overhauling La Clue near Lagos, off the coast of Portugal, he +ranged up alongside, flagship to flagship. But the French, fighting +with equal skill and courage, beat him off. Falling astern he came +abreast of the gallant _Centaure_, which had already fought four +British men-of-war. Being now a mere battered hulk she surrendered. +Then Boscawen, his damage repaired, pushed ahead again. La Clue, whose +fleet was the smaller, seeing no chance of either victory or escape, +chose shipwreck rather than surrender, and ran his flagship straight on +the rocks, with every stitch of canvas drawing full and his flag kept +flying. + +[Illustration: The _ROYAL GEORGE_] + +Quiberon and Quebec go together, like "the eye of a Hawke and the heart +of a Wolfe"; for Hawke's victory at Quiberon made it certain that +Wolfe's victory at Quebec could not be undone. The French were trying +to unite their west-coast fleets at Morbihan for an invasion of England +or at least a fight to give some of their own shipping a breathing +spell free from blockade. Their admiral, Conflans, was trying to work +his way in under very great difficulties. He was short of trained men, +short of proper stores, and had fewer ships than Hawke. Hawke's +cruisers had driven some of Conflans' storeships into a harbour a +hundred miles away from Brest, where Conflans was trying hard to get +ready for the invasion of England. The result was that these stores +had to be landed and carted across country, which not only took ten +times longer than it would have taken to send them round by sea but +also gave ten times as much trouble. At last Conflans managed to move +out. But he had about as much chance of escape as a fly in a spider's +web; for Hawke had cruisers watching everywhere and a battle fleet +ready to pounce down anywhere. Conflans had been ordered to save his +fleet by all possible means till he had joined the French fleet and +army of invasion. So he is not to be blamed for what he tried to do at +Quiberon. + +On the 20th of November he was sailing toward Quiberon Bay when he saw +the vanguard of Hawke's fleet coming up before a rising gale. With +fewer ships, and with crews that had been blockaded so long that they +were no match for the sea-living British, he knew he had no chance in a +stand-up tight in the open, and more especially in the middle of a +storm. So he made for Quiberon, where he thought he would be safe; +because the whole of that intricate Bay is full of rocks, shoals, +shallows, and all kinds of other dangers. + +But Hawke came down on the wings of the wind, straight toward the +terrific dangers of the Bay, and flying before a gale which in itself +seemed to promise certain shipwreck; for it blew on-shore. Conflans +ran for his life, got into the Bay, and had begun to form his line of +battle when some distant shots told him that his rear was being +overhauled. Then his last ships came racing in. But the leading +British, like hounds in full cry, were closing on them so fast that +before they could join his line they were caught in the fury of the +fight. Within a few desperate minutes two French ships were so badly +battered that they had to surrender, while three more were sent to the +bottom. Then the gale shifted and blew Conflans' own line out of +order. He at once tried to move into a better place. But this only +made matters worse. So he anchored in utter confusion, with wrecking +rocks on one side and Hawke's swooping fleet on the other. Once more, +however, he tried a change--this time the bold one of charging out to +sea. But Hawke was too quick for him, though the well-named +_Intrepide_ rushed in between the two racing flagships, the _Royal +George_ and _Soleil Royal_. This was the end. The gale rose to its +height. Darkness closed in. And then, amid the roaring of the battle +and the sea, the victorious British anchored beside all that was left +of the French. + +There were no such sea fights on the coasts of Canada, where the +British were in overwhelming naval strength. But never was there a +joint expedition which owed more to its fleet than the one that took +Quebec this same year (1759). The fact that the battles were fought on +the land, and that Wolfe and Montcalm both fell in the one which +decided the fate of Quebec, has made us forget that sea-power had more +to do with this and the other American campaigns than all the other +forces put together. The army did magnificently; and without Wolfe's +and the other armies the conquest could never have been made. But the +point is this, that, while each little army was only a finger of the +hand that drew the British sword in Canada, the fleet which brought the +armies there and kept them going was part and parcel of the whole vast +body of British sea-power united round the world. + +Pitt planned to give French Canada the knockout blow in Empire Year. +So, holding the extreme east and west at Louisbourg and Fort Duquesne, +he sent a small force to cut the line of the Lakes at Niagara, a much +larger one to cut into the line of the St. Lawrence from Lake +Champlain, and the largest and strongest of all up the St. Lawrence to +take Quebec, which, then as now, was the key of Canada. Niagara was +taken; and the line of Lake Champlain was secured by Amherst, who, +however, never got through to the St. Lawrence that year. But the +great question was, who is to have the key? So we shall follow +Saunders and Wolfe to Quebec. + +Wolfe's little army of nine thousand men was really a landing party +from Saunders' big fleet, which included nearly fifty men-of-war +(almost a quarter of the whole Royal Navy) and well over two hundred +transports and supply ships. The bluejackets on board the men-of-war +and the merchant seamen on board the other ships each greatly +outnumbered the men in Wolfe's army. In fact, the whole expedition was +made up of three-quarters sea-power and only one-quarter land. + +Admiral Durell, who had been left at Halifax over the winter, was too +slow in getting the advance guard under way in time to cut off the +twenty-three little vessels sent out from France to Montcalm in the +spring. But this reinforcement was too small to make any real +difference in the doom of Quebec when once British sea-power had sealed +the St. Lawrence. Saunders took Wolfe's army and the main body of his +own fleet up the great river in June: a hundred and forty-one vessels, +all told, from the flagship _Neptune_ of ninety guns down to the +smallest craft that carried supplies. It was a brave sight off the +mouth of the Saguenay, where the deep-water estuary ends, to see the +whole fleet, together at sunset, with its thousand white sails, in a +crescent twenty miles long, a-gleam on the blue St. Lawrence. + +The French-Canadian pilots who had been taken prisoners swore that no +fleet could ever get through the Traverse, a tricky bit of water thirty +miles below Quebec. But, in the course of the summer, the British +sailing masters, who had never been there before, themselves took two +hundred and seventy-seven vessels right through it with greater ease in +squadrons than any French-Canadian could when piloting a single ship. +The famous Captain Cook, of whom we shall soon hear more, had gone up a +month ahead with Durell, and, in only three days, had sounded, +surveyed, and buoyed the Traverse to perfection. + +When once the fleet had reached Quebec Montcalm was completely cut off +from the outside world, except for the road and river up to Montreal. +His French-Canadian militia more than equalled Wolfe's army in mere +numbers. But his French regulars from France, the backbone of the +whole defence, were not half so many. Vaudreuil, the French-Canadian +Governor, was a fool. Bigot, the French Intendant, was a knave. They +both hated the great and honest Montcalm and did all they could to +spite him. The natural strength of Quebec, "the Gibraltar of America," +was, with his own French regulars, the only defence on which he could +always rely. + +The bombardment of Quebec from across the narrows of the St. Lawrence +("Kebec" is the Indian for "narrows") went on without much result +throughout July; and Wolfe's attempt to storm the Heights of +Montmorency, five miles below Quebec, ended in defeat. During August a +squadron under Holmes, third-in-command of the fleet, kept pushing up +the St. Lawrence above Quebec, and thus alarming the French for the +safety of their road and river lines of communication with Montreal, +the only lines left. They sent troops up to watch the ships, and very +wearing work it was; for while the ships carried Wolfe's landing +parties up and down with the tide, the unfortunate Frenchmen had to +scramble across country in a vain effort to be first at any threatened +point. + +From the 3rd of September to the famous 13th Wolfe worked out his own +splendid plan with the help of the fleet. Three-fourths of the French +were entrenched along the six miles of North Shore below Quebec, to +please Vaudreuil, who, as Governor, had power to order Montcalm. The +rest were in or above Quebec; and mostly between Cap Rouge, which was +seven miles, and Pointe-aux-Trembles, which was twenty-two miles, +above. Wolfe's plan was to make as big a show of force as possible, up +to the very last minute, against the entrenchments below Quebec and +also against the fifteen miles of North Shore between Cap Rouge and +Pointe-aux-Trembles, while he would really land at what we now call +Wolfe's Cove, which is little more than one mile above Quebec. If he +could then hold the land line west to Montreal, while Holmes held the +river line, Montcalm would be absolutely cut off in every direction and +be forced to fight or starve. Montcalm's secret orders from the King +being to keep any other foothold he possibly could if Quebec was taken, +he had to leave stores of provisions at different points toward the +West and South, as he intended to retire from point to point and make +his last stand down by New Orleans. + +Quebec was, however, to be held if possible; and everything that skill +and courage could do was done by Montcalm to hold it. He even foresaw +Wolfe's final plan and sent one of his best French battalions to guard +the Plains of Abraham. But Vaudreuil withdrew it four days before the +battle there. Again, on the very eve of battle, Montcalm ordered the +same battalion to ramp for the night in defence of Wolfe's Cove. But +Vaudreuil again counter-ordered, this time before the men had marched +off, thus leaving that post in charge of one of his own friends, a +contemptible officer called Vergor. + +Wolfe knew all about Vergor and what went on in the French camp, where +Vaudreuil could never keep a secret. So he and Saunders and Holmes set +the plan going for the final blow. The unfortunate Frenchmen above Cap +Rouge were now so worn out by trying to keep up with the ships that +Wolfe knew they would take hours to get down to Quebec if decoyed +overnight anywhere up near Pointe-aux-Trembles, more than twenty miles +away. He also knew that the show of force to be made by Saunders the +day before the battle would keep the French in their trenches along the +six miles below Quebec. Besides this he knew that the fire of his +batteries opposite Quebec would drown the noise of taking Vergor's post +more than a mile above. Finally, the fleet kept him perfectly safe +from counter-attack, hid his movements, and took his army to any given +spot far better and faster than the French could go there by land. + +With all this in his favour he then carried out his plan to perfection, +holding the French close below and far above Quebec by threatening +attacks from the ships, secretly bringing his best men together in +boats off Cap Rouge after dark, dropping them down to Wolfe's Cove just +before dawn, rushing Vergor's post with the greatest ease, and forming +up across the Plains of Abraham, just west of Quebec, an hour before +Montcalm could possibly attack him. Cut off by water and land Montcalm +now had to starve or fight Wolfe's well-trained regulars with about +equal numbers of men, half of whom were militia quite untrained for +flat and open battlefields. Wolfe's perfect volleys then sealed the +fate of Quebec; while British sea-power sealed the fate of Canada. + +The rest of the war was simply reaping the victories Pitt had sown; +though he left the Government in 1761, and Spain joined our enemies the +following year. The jealous new king, George III, and his jealous new +courtiers, with some of the jealous old politicians, made up a party +that forced Pitt out of the Government. They then signed the Treaty of +Versailles in 1763 without properly securing the fruit of all his +victories. + +But Canada had been won outright. The foundations of the Indian Empire +had been well and truly laid. And the famous Captain Cook, who +surveyed the Traverse for Saunders and made the first charts of British +Canada, soon afterwards became one of the founders of that British +Australasia whose Australian-New Zealand-Army-Corps became so justly +famous as the fighting "Anzacs" throughout our recent war against the +Germans. + + + +ON THE LOSS OF THE _ROYAL GEORGE_ + +Written when the news arrived (September, 1782). + +The _Royal George_, Hawke's flagship at the Battle of Quiberon Bay, the +battle which confirmed the conquest of Canada, was a first-rate +man-of-war of 100 guns. On the 29th of August, 1782, while at anchor +off Spithead, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, her guns broke +loose with the rolling and she went down with all hands. + + Toll for the brave-- + The brave that are no more: + All sunk beneath the wave, + Fast by their native shore. + Eight hundred of the brave, + Whose courage well was tried, + Had made the vessel heel + And laid her on her side; + A land-breeze shook the shrouds, + And she was overset; + Down went the _Royal George_, + With all her crew complete. + + Toll for the brave-- + Brave Kempenfelt is gone, + His last sea-fight is fought, + His work of glory done. + It was not in the battle, + No tempest gave the shock, + She sprang no fatal leak, + She ran upon no rock; + His sword was in the sheath, + His fingers held the pen, + When Kempenfelt went down + With twice four hundred men. + + Weigh the vessel up, + Once dreaded by our foes, + And mingle with your cup + The tears that England owes; + Her timbers yet are sound, + And she may float again, + Full charg'd with England's thunder, + And plough the distant main; + But Kempenfelt is gone, + His victories are o'er; + And he and his eight hundred + Must plough the wave no more. + --_Cowper_. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION + +(1775-1783) + +The rights and wrongs of this Revolution are not our business here. +But British sea-power is. So we should like to tell the whole story of +the Navy in that unhappy time; because most books say little about it +and do not say that little well. But, as we have no time for more than +the merest glance, all we can do is to ask those who want to learn the +truth in full to read _The Influence of Sea-Power on History_, by that +expert American, Admiral Mahan. + +The Revolution was not a fight between British and Americans, as we and +they are apt to think it now, but a British civil war that divided +people in Britain as well as in America. In both countries there were +two parties, the Government and Opposition, each against the other; the +only difference, though a very great one, being that while the +Opposition in America took up arms the Opposition in Britain did not. +Both countries were then parts of the same British Empire; and so this +war was really the link between the other two great civil wars that +have divided the English-speaking peoples. Thus there were three civil +wars in three successive centuries: the British Civil War in the +seventeenth, between Roundhead and Cavalier in England; the +British-American Civil War in the eighteenth, between the King's Party +Government and the Opposition on both sides of the Atlantic; and the +American Civil War in the nineteenth, between the North and South of +the United States. + +The American Opposition had no chance of winning their Independence, +however much they might proclaim it, so long as the Royal Navy held the +sea against them. Washington knew this perfectly well; and his written +words are there to prove it. The Revolutionists fought well on land. +They invaded Canada and took the whole country except the walls of +Quebec. They also fought well at sea; and Paul Jones, a Scotsman born, +raided the coasts of Great Britain till nurses hushed children by the +mere sound of his name. + +But no fleet and army based on the New World could possibly keep up a +war without help from the Old; because, as we have seen all through +Pitt's Imperial War, the Old World was the only place in which enough +men, ships, arms, and warlike stores could be found. Stop enough +supplies from crossing the Atlantic, and the side whose supplies were +stopped would certainly lose. And more than that: whichever side +commanded the sea would soon command the land as well. Quebec held out +under Carleton till relieved by a fleet in the spring. But, even if +Quebec had fallen, the American invaders would have been driven out +again by the mere arrival of the fleet. For whichever side lost the +use of the St. Lawrence lost the only means of moving, feeding, arming, +and reinforcing an army in Canada well enough to stand the strain. + +The turn of the tide of fortune came, and only could come, when all the +foreign navies in the world took sides against the King's party in this +British civil war. France, Spain, and Holland were thirsting for +revenge. So when they saw a vile creature like Lord George Germain +bungling through a war Pitt never would have made; when they saw +British generals half-hearted because belonging to the party that +opposed the King's; when they saw how steadfastly Washington fought; +and, most of all, when they saw how much the Royal Navy was weakened by +the Opposition in Parliament, who stopped a great deal of money from +being voted for the Army and Navy lest the King should be too strong +against the Americans; when foreigners whose own navies had been beaten +by the British saw such a chance, they came in with navies which they +had meanwhile been strengthening on purpose to get their revenge. + +France, Spain, and Holland all fought on the side of the Revolution, +their big navies joining the little one formed by Paul Jones; while +Russia, Sweden, Denmark (which then included Norway), Prussia, and the +Hansa Towns, all formed the Armed Neutrality of the North against the +weakened British Navy. The King's Party Government thus had nine +navies against it--four in arms and five in armed neutrality; and this +checked the British command of the Atlantic just long enough to make +Independence safe for the American Revolutionists. + +It did, not, however, stop the Navy from saving the rest of the Empire; +for Pitt and the Opposition in the Mother Country, who would not +strengthen the Navy against the Americans, were eager to strengthen it +against foreign attack. In 1782 Rodney beat the French in the +Atlantic, and Hughes beat them in the Indian Ocean; while Gibraltar was +held triumphantly against all that France and Spain could do by land +and sea together. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +NELSON + +(1798-1805) + +Nelson and Napoleon never met; and Wellington the soldier beat Napoleon +ten years after Nelson was killed at Trafalgar. Yet it was Nelson's +victories that made Napoleon's null and void, thus stopping the third +attempt in modern times to win the overlordship of the world. As Drake +stopped Philip of Spain by defeating the Armada, as Russell stopped Louis +XIV by the battle of La Hogue, as Jellicoe in our own day stopped the +Kaiser off the Jutland Bank, so Nelson stopped Napoleon by making British +sea-power quite supreme. Century by century the four mightiest warlords +of the land have carried all before them until their towering empires +reached the sea. But there, where they were strangers, they all met the +same Royal Navy, manned by sailors of the only race whose home has always +been the sea, and, meeting it, they fell. + +[Illustration: NELSON] + +Able men all, and mighty warlords, the might of three was much more in +their armies than in themselves. Cruel Philip was not a warrior of any +kind. Ambitious Louis and the vainglorious Kaiser were only second-rate +soldiers, who would never have won their own way to the highest command. +But Napoleon was utterly different. He was as great a master of the art +of war on land as Nelson was by sea; and that is one reason why Nelson, +who caused his downfall, stands supreme. But there are other reasons +too. Nelson, like Drake, fought three campaigns with marvellous skill; +but he also fought more seamanlike foes. Like Russell, he completely +destroyed the enemy fleet; but he never had Russell's advantage in +numbers. We might go on with other reasons yet; but we shall only give +two more: first, that magic touch of his warm heart which made his +captains "like a band of brothers," which made the bluejackets who +carried his coffin treasure up torn bits of the pall as most precious +relics, and which made the Empire mourn him as a friend; secondly, the +very different kind of "Nelson touch" he gave his fleet when handling it +for battle, that last touch of perfection in forming it up, leading it +on, striking hardest at the weakest spot, and then driving home the +attack to the complete destruction of the enemy. + +Nelson was not the first, but the fifth, great admiral to command fleets +in the last French War (1793-1815). Howe, Hood, St. Vincent, Duncan, +Nelson: that is the order in which the victors came. Howe, Hood, St. +Vincent, and Duncan were all men who had fought in Pitt's Imperial War; +and each was old enough to have been Nelson's father. Howe was the hero +of the relief of Gibraltar in 1782, at the time that all the foreign +navies in the world were winning American Independence by taking sides in +a British civil war. Howe was also the hero of "the Glorious First of +June" in 1794, when he defeated the French off the north-west coast of +France. + +But it was under Hood, not Howe, that Nelson learnt the way fleets should +be used; and it was under St. Vincent that he first sprang into fame. + +[Illustration: FIGHTING THE GUNS ON THE MAIN DECK, 1782.] + +St. Vincent, with fifteen ships of the line (that is, big battleships) +was sailing south to stop a Spanish fleet from coming north to join the +French, when, on the 14th of February, 1797, the look-out reported "enemy +in sight." St. Vincent was walking up and down the quarter-deck with his +flag-captain, Hallowell, as the reports came in. "Ten ships of the line +in sight." Then "fifteen," the same number that he had himself. Then +"twenty" . . . "twenty-five" . . . and at last "twenty-seven." When this +total of twenty-seven was reported, the officer reporting said, in a +questioning way, "Pretty long odds, Sir?" But, quick as a flash, St. +Vincent answered, "Enough of that, Sir! the die is cast; and if they are +fifty I will go through them!" And he did. This victory, which broke up +the plans the French and Spaniards had made against Britain, was thought +so important that Jervis, as he then was called, was made Lord St. +Vincent, taking his title from the place near which he won the battle, +Cape St. Vincent, the south-west corner of Europe. + +In October Admiral Duncan was made Lord Camperdown for destroying the +Dutch fleet which was trying to help the French into Ireland. He caught +it off Camperduin (on the coast of North Holland) and smashed it to +pieces after a furious battle, in which the Dutch, with a smaller fleet, +showed that they too were of the Viking breed. This victory stopped the +danger from the north, just as St. Vincent's stopped it from the south. +Both were fought in the only proper way to defend the British Empire on +the sea when the enemy comes out, that is, by going to meet him in his +own waters, instead of waiting to let him choose his own point of attack +against the British coast. + +Next year, 1798, Nelson was also made a peer for a glorious victory won +on his own account. He had learnt from Lord Hood the first principle of +all defence--that the real aim is not so much to stand on guard or even +to win a victory as to destroy the enemy's means of destroying you. This +chimed in with his own straight-forward genius; and he never forgot his +old chief: "the best officer that England has to boast of." Hood had the +misfortune never to have been in supreme command during a great battle. +But, in Nelson's opinion, he stood above all other commanders-in-chief of +his own time; and, as we look back on him now, we see that Nelson alone +surpassed him. + +Napoleon, like the Germans of today, hoped to make land-power beat +sea-power in the East by stirring up rebellion against the British rule +in India and making Egypt his bridge between Europe and Asia. With +daring skill he crossed the Mediterranean and conquered Egypt. But his +victory proved worse than useless; for Nelson followed the French fleet +and utterly defeated it in the Bay of Aboukir at the mouth of the Nile on +the 1st of August, 1798. The battle was fought with the utmost firmness +on both sides, each knowing that the fate of Egypt, of the East, and of +Napoleon's army as well as of his fleet, hung trembling in the scales. +The odds were twelve British battleships to thirteen French. The French +sailors, as usual, were not such skilled hands as the British, partly +because France had always been rather a country of landsmen than seamen, +but chiefly because the French fleets were, as a rule, so closely +blockaded that they could not use the open sea for training nearly so +much as their British rivals did. Still, the French fleet, though at +anchor (and so unable to change its position quickly to suit the changes +of the fight) looked as if it could defy even Nelson himself. For it was +drawn up across the bay with no spot left unguarded between it and the +land at either end of the line; and it was so close in shore that its +admirals never thought anybody would try to work his way inside. + +But that is just what Nelson did. He sent some of his ships between the +van of the French and the Aboukir shoal, where there was just room to +scrape through with hardly an inch to spare; and so skilful was the +British seamanship that this marvellous manoeuvre took the French +completely by surprise. Then, having his own fleet under way, while the +French was standing still, he doubled on their van (that is, he attacked +it from both sides), held their centre, and left their rear alone. By +this skilful move he crushed the van and then had the centre at his +mercy. The French gunners stuck to their work with splendid courage, +driving the _Bellerophon_ off as a mere battered hulk and keeping most of +the rest at bay for some time. But the French flagship, Orient, which +the _Bellerophon_ had boldly attacked, was now attacked by the +_Swiftsure_ and _Alexander_; and the French admiral, Brueys, already +wounded twice, was mortally hit by a cannon ball. He refused to be +carried below, saying that "a French admiral should die on deck in a +fight like this." His example encouraged the crew to redouble their +efforts. But, just after he died, fire broke out on board the _Orient_ +and quickly spread fore and aft, up the rigging, and right in toward the +magazine. The desperate battle was now at its fiercest, raging all round +this furious fire, which lit the blackness of that warm Egyptian night +with devils' tongues of flame. The cannonade went on. But even the +thunder of two thousand guns could not drown the roar of that seething +fire, now eating into the very vitals of the ship, nearer and nearer to +the magazine. Every near-by ship that could move now hauled clear as far +as possible; while the rest closed portholes and hatchways, took their +powder below, sent all hands to fire stations, and breathlessly waited +for the end. Suddenly, as if the sea had opened to let Hell's lightning +loose, the _Orient_ burst like a gigantic shell and crashed like Doomsday +thunder. The nearest ships reeled under the terrific shock, which racked +their hulls from stem to stern and set some leaking badly. Masts, boats, +and twisted rigging flew blazing through the air, fell hissing on the +watered decks, and set two British vessels and one French on fire. But +the crews worked their very hardest, and they saved all three. + +[Illustration: THE BLOWING UP OF _L'ORIENT_ DURING THE BATTLE OF THE +NILE.] + +For a few awed minutes every gun was dumb. Then the _Franklin_, the +French ship that had taken fire, began the fight again. But the +_Defence_ and _Swiftsure_ brought down her masts, silenced nearly all her +guns, and forced her to surrender. By midnight the first seven ships in +that gallant French line had all been taken or sunk; every man who could +be saved being brought on board the victorious British men-of-war and, of +course, well treated there. The eighth Frenchman, the _Tonnant_, still +kept up the fight, hoping to stop the British from getting at the five +astern. Her heroic captain, Thouars, had, first, his right arm, then his +left, and then his right leg, smashed by cannon balls. But, like Brueys, +he would not leave the deck, and calmly gave his orders till he died. + +Dawn found the _Tonnant_ still trying to stem the British advance against +the French rear, and the French frigate _Justice_ actually making for the +disabled British battleship, _Bellerophon_, which she wished to take. +But the light of day soon showed the remaining French that all they could +do for their own side now was to save as many ships as possible. So the +rear then tried to escape. But one blew up; two ran ashore; and, of all +the fleet that was to have made Napoleon's foothold sure, only four +escaped, two from the line of battle and two from the frigates on the +flank. + +Nelson had won a victory which was quite perfect in reaching his great +aim--the complete destruction of Napoleon's power in Egypt and the East. +Napoleon himself escaped to France, after a campaign in Palestine +followed by a retreat to Egypt. But his army was stranded as surely as +if it had been a wrecked ship, high and dry. Three years after the +Battle of the Nile the remnant of it was rounded up and made to +surrender. Moreover, Malta, the central sea base of the whole +Mediterranean, had meanwhile (1800) fallen into British hands, where, +like Egypt, it remains to this day. + +The same year (1801) that saw the French surrender in Egypt saw Nelson +win his second victory, this time in the north. Napoleon (victorious, as +usual, on land, and foiled, as usual, at sea) had tried to ruin British +shipping by shutting it out of every port on the continent of Europe. +This was his "Continental System." It hurt the Continent; for British +ships carried most of the goods used in trade not only between Europe, +Asia, Africa, and America, but also between the different ports on the +European continent itself. Napoleon, however, had no choice but to use +his own land-power, no matter what the cost might be, against British +sea-power. He was encouraged to do this by finding allies in those +countries which had formed the anti-British Armed Neutrality of the North +twenty years before. Russia, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, Prussia, and +the Hansa Towns of Germany, were all glad to hit British sea-power in the +hope of getting its trade for themselves. So the new Alliance arranged +that, as soon as the Baltic ports were clear of ice, the Russian, +Swedish, Danish and Norwegian fleets would join the French and Spanish. + +But Nelson was too quick for them. On the 1st of April he led a fleet +along the channel opposite Copenhagen, which is the gateway of the +Baltic. After dark, his trusty flag-captain, Hardy, took a small rowboat +in as close as possible and tried the depths with a pole; for the boat +was so close to the Danish fleet that the splash of the sounding lead on +the end of a line would surely have been heard. By eleven o'clock Nelson +had found out that he could range his own fleet close enough alongside +the Danes. So he sat up all night planning his attack. At seven next +morning he explained it to his captains, and at nine to the pilots and +sailing-masters. Half an hour later the fleet began to move into place. +Three big ships grounded in the narrow, shallow, and crooked channel. +But the rest went on, closing up the dangerous gaps as best they could. +Just, after ten the first gun was fired; but it was another hour and a +half before the two fleets were at it, hard all. At one o'clock a Danish +victory seemed quite as likely as a British one. Very few Danish gnus +had been silenced, while two of the grounded British men-of-war were +flying signals of distress, and the third was signalling to say she could +do nothing. In the meantime the few British men-of-war that were trying +to work into the channel from the other end under Sir Hyde Parker were +being headed off by the wind so much that they could hardly do more than +threaten their own end of the Danish line. Parker was the +Commander-in-chief; though Nelson was making the attack. + +[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN, APRIL 2nd, 1801. (Note the +British line ahead.)] + +It was at this time of doubt and danger that Parker, urged by a nervous +staff officer, ordered up signal No. 39, which meant "Discontinue action" +(that is, stop the fight if you think you ought to do so). The story +commonly told about this famous signal is wrong; as most stories of the +kind are pretty sure to be. Signal 39 did not order Nelson to break +away, no matter what he thought, but meant that he could leave off if he +thought that was the right thing to do. As, however, he thought the +chance of winning still held good, he told his signal lieutenant simply +to "acknowledge but not repeat No. 39." Then he added, "and keep mine +flying," his own being the one for "close action." These two signals +then gave Nelson's captains the choice of going on or breaking off, +according to which seemed the better. All went on except "the gallant, +good Riou," a man who, if he had lived today, would certainly have won +the Victoria Cross. Riou was in charge of a few small vessels which were +being terribly mauled by the Trekroner batteries without being able to do +any good themselves. So he quite rightly hauled off, thus saving his +division from useless destruction. Unluckily he was killed before +getting out of range; and no hero's death was ever more deeply mourned by +all who knew his career. Good commanders need cool heads quite as much +as they need brave hearts. + +Shortly after Riou had left the scene the Danes began to fire more +slowly, while the British kept up as well as ever. But, the Trekroner +forts that had hammered Riou now turned their guns on the _Monarch_ and +_Defiance_, making the battle in that part of the line as hot as before; +while some Danes so lost their heads as to begin firing again from ships +that had surrendered to the British. This was more than Nelson could +stand. So he wrote to the Danish Crown Prince: "Lord Nelson has been +commanded to spare Denmark when she no longer resists. The line of +defence which covers her shores has struck to the British flag. Let +firing cease, then, that he may take possession of his prizes, or he will +blow them into the air along with the crews who have so nobly defended +them. The brave Danes are the brothers, and should never be the enemies, +of the English." + +Nelson refused the wafer offered him to close up the letter, saying, +"this is no time to look hurried"; and, sending to his cabin for a +candle, wax, and his biggest seal, he folded and sealed the letter as +coolly as if writing in his house at home instead of in a storm of shot +and shell. After arranging terms the Danes gave in; and the whole Armed +Neutrality of the North came to nothing. For the second time Nelson had +beaten Napoleon. + +This defeat did not really harm the Northern Powers; for, though they +liked their own shipping to do all the oversea trading it could, they +were much better off with the British, who _could_ take their goods to +market, than with Napoleon, who could _not_. Besides, the British let +them use their own shipping so long as they did not let Napoleon use it; +while Napoleon had to stop it altogether, lest the British, with their +stronger navy, should turn it to their advantage instead of his. In a +word: it was better to use the sea under the British navy than to lose it +under Napoleon's army. + +Both sides now needed rest. So the Peace of Amiens was signed in March +1802. With this peace ended Napoleon's last pretence that he was trying +to save the peoples of the world from their wicked rulers. Some of them +did need saving; and many of the French Revolutionists were generous +souls, eager to spread their own kind of liberty all over Europe. But +British liberty had been growing steadily for a good many hundreds of +years, and the British people did not want a foreign sort thrust upon +them, though many of them felt very kindly toward the French. So this, +with the memory of former wars, had brought the two countries into strife +once more. All might then have ended in a happy peace had not Napoleon +set out to win the overlordship of the world, like Philip and Louis +before him and the German Kaiser since. France, tired of revolutionary +troubles and proud of the way her splendid army was being led to victory, +let Napoleon's dreams of conquest mislead her for twelve years to come. +Hence the new war that began in 1803 and ended on the field of Waterloo. + +Napoleon had used the peace to strengthen his navy for a last attempt to +bring the British to their knees. Villeneuve, the admiral who had +escaped from the Nile, was finally given command of the joint fleets of +France and Spain in the south, while Napoleon himself commanded the great +army of invasion at Boulogne, within thirty miles of England. "Let us," +said Napoleon, "be masters of the Channel for six hours and we shall be +the masters of the world." But he knew that the only way to reach London +was to outwit Nelson. + +Napoleon's naval plans were wonderfully clever, like all his plans. But +they were those of a landsman who failed to reckon with all the troubles +of bringing the different squadrons of the French and Spanish fleets +together in spite of the British blockade. Moreover, they were always +changing, and not always for the better. Finally, toward the end of +August, 1805, when he saw they were not going to work, he suddenly began +a land campaign that ended with his stupendous victory over the Austrians +and Russians at Austerlitz early in December. + +But meanwhile the French and Spanish fleets had remained a danger which +Nelson wished to destroy at its very source, by beating Villeneuve's main +body wherever he could find it. At last, on the 21st of October, after +two years of anxious watching, he caught it off Cape Trafalgar, at the +northwest entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. Directly he saw he could +bring on a battle he ran up the signal which the whole world knows, and +which we of the Empire will cherish till the end of time: "England +expects that every man will do his duty." That he had done his own we +know from many an eye-witness, as well as from this entry in his private +diary three months before Trafalgar: "I went on shore for the first time +since the 16th of June 1803; and, from having my foot out of the +_Victory_, two years wanting ten days." During all this long spell of +harassing duty he kept his fleet "tuned up" to the last pitch of +perfection in scouting, manoeuvring, and gunnery, so as to be always +ready for victorious action at a moment's notice. + +[Illustration: The _VICTORY_. Nelson's Flagship at Trafalgar, launched +in 1765, and still used as the flagship in Portsmouth Harbour.] + +Villeneuve had thirty-three battleships, Nelson only twenty-seven. But +these twenty-seven all belonged to one navy and were manned by crews who +had been drilled for battle on the open sea without a single spell of +mere harbour work, like the French and Spaniards. Still, the enemy were +brave, and Nelson remarked that "they put a good face on it." But he +quickly added, "I'll give them such a dressing as they never had before." +It was a lovely day of light west wind and bright sunshine as the British +bore down to the attack in two lines-ahead ("follow-my-leader"), the port +(or left) one led by Nelson in the immortal _Victory_, flying the battle +signal "Engage the enemy more closely," and the starboard one by +Collingwood in the _Royal Sovereign_. The first shot was fired on the +stroke of noon, or at "eight bells," as they say on board. Nelson's +plan, as usual, was to strike hardest at the weakest spot, which he knew +he could reach because his fleet was so much better trained. He and +Collingwood went through the enemy's long line at two spots about half a +mile apart, crushing his centre, and separating his front from his rear. +The double-shotted British guns raked the enemy vessels with frightful +effect as their muzzles passed close by the sterns. The enemy fired back +bravely enough; but with much less skill and confidence. The Spaniards +were already beginning to feel none too friendly toward Napoleon; while +the French had already lost their trust in Spanish help. + +[Illustration: TRAFALGAR. 21st October, 1805.] + +Yet the Spaniards were a proud people, not to be beaten without a hard +struggle; while the French were bound to do their best in any ease. So +the fight was furious and fought at the closest quarters. The gunners +could often see every feature of their opponents' faces and were +sometimes scorched by the flashes from opposing guns. The _Victory_ was +fighting a terrific duel with the French _Redoutable_, and Nelson was +pacing the deck with his flag-captain, Hardy, when, at 1.25, he suddenly +sank on his knees and fell over on his side, having been hit by a +musket-shot fired from the enemy's mizzentop, only fifteen yards away. +"They've done for me at last," said Nelson, as Hardy stooped over him. A +Sergeant of Marines and two bluejackets ran forward and carried him +below. Though in great agony he pulled out his handkerchief and, with +his one hand, carefully covered his face, in the hope that the men +between decks would not see who was hit. + +While Nelson lay dying below, the fight raged worse than ever round the +_Victory_. The _Redoutable's_ tops were full of snipers, who not only +plied their muskets to good effect but also used hand grenades (something +like the bombs of the present day). The _Victory's_ deck was almost +cleared by the intense fire of these men, and the crew of the +_Redoutable_ got ready to board. But on the word "_Repel boarders_!" so +many marines and blue-jackets rushed up from below that the French gave +up the attempt. The musketry fire was still very hot from one ship to +another; and the French snipers were as bad as ever. But those in the +mizzentop from which Nelson was hit were all sniped by his signal +midshipman, young Jack Pollard, who, being a dead shot, picked off the +Frenchmen one by one as they leaned over to take aim. In this way +Pollard must have hit the man who hit Nelson. + +[Illustration: MODEL OF THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. (Reproduced by +permission from the model at the Royal United Service Institution.)] + +An hour after Nelson had fallen the _Victory_ had become so battered, so +hampered by a maze of fallen masts and rigging, and so dangerously holed +between wind and water, that Hardy was glad of her sheering off a bit, +out of the thick of the fight. He then ran below to see Nelson, who at +once asked, "Well, Hardy, how goes the battle?" "Very well, my Lord," +said Hardy, "we have twelve of the enemy's ships." "I hope," said +Nelson, "that none of ours have struck." "There's no fear of that," said +Hardy. Another hour passed before Hardy could come back to say, "I am +certain that fourteen or fifteen have struck." "That's well," said +Nelson, "but I bargained for twenty." Then, rousing himself to give his +last order, he said, "Anchor, Hardy, anchor!" for he knew a storm was +coming and that Cape Trafalgar was a bad lee shore (that is, a shore +toward which the wind is blowing). A few minutes later he died, +murmuring with his latest breath, "Thank God, I've done my duty." + +Trafalgar was so complete a victory that Napoleon gave up all attempts to +conquer the British at sea. But he renewed his "Continental System" and +made it ten times worse than before. Having smashed the Austrian and +Russian armies at Austerlitz, and the Prussian one at Jena, he wrote the +Berlin Decrees, ordering every port on the continent of Europe to be shut +against every single British ship. This was blockade from the land. The +British answered with a blockade from the sea, giving notice, by their +Orders-in-Council, that their Navy would stop the trade of every port +which shut out British vessels. Napoleon hoped that if he could bully +Europe into obeying his Berlin Decrees he would "conquer the sea by the +land." But what really happened was quite the other way round; for +Napoleon's land was conquered by the British sea. So much of the trade +of the European ports had been carried on by British vessels that to shut +these out meant killing the trade in some ports and hurting it in all. +Imagine the feelings of a merchant whose country's army had been beaten +by Napoleon, and whose own trade was stopped by the Berlin Decrees, when +he saw the sea open to all who were under the care of the British Navy +and closed to all who were not! Imagine also what he thought of the +difference between Napoleon's land-power, which made him a prisoner at +home, and British sea-power, which only obliged him to obey certain laws +of trade abroad! Then imagine which side he thought the better one for +trade, when he saw Napoleon himself being forced to choose between +letting British vessels into France with cloth or letting his army go +bare! + +Slowly, at first, but very surely, and faster as time went on, the +shutting of the ports against British vessels roused the peoples of +Europe against Napoleon. They were, of course, roused by his other acts +of tyranny--by the way he cut up countries into new kingdoms to suit +himself first and the people of these countries last or not at all, by +his ordering foreigners about like slaves, and by his being a ruthless +conqueror wherever he could. But his shutting of the ports added a kind +of slow starvation in the needs and arts of life to all his other sins; +while the opening of the ports to British fleets and armies, and to the +British trade that followed, meant the bread of life and liberty. Thus +Trafalgar forced Napoleon either to give in at once or else to go on +raising those hosts of enemies which sapped his strength in Spain and +Russia and caused his fall at Waterloo. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"1812" + +The fight between Napoleon's land-blockade and Britain's sea-blockade +divided not only the people of Europe into friends and foes but also +divided the people of the United States into opposing parties, one in +favour of Napoleon, the other in favour of the British. The party +favouring Napoleon wanted war against the British. The other party +wanted peace. + +The War Party hated the British, coveted Canada, and wished to break +the British blockade. The Peace Party said that Napoleon was a tyrant, +while the British were on the side of freedom, and that Napoleon was +rougher with American ships which broke the land-blockade than the +British were with those which broke the sea-blockade. The War Party +answered that, for one ship Napoleon could catch, the British caught +twenty. This was true. But it showed that the War Party would rather +make money on Napoleon's side than lose it on the side of freedom. + +The War Party's last argument was that British deserters should be safe +under the American flag when on the high seas. The high seas meant the +sea far enough from any country to be a "no-man's-land," where, as all +the other peoples of the world agreed, any navy could enforce the laws +of war against any one who broke them. The War Party, however, said +"no," and went on tempting British seamen to desert, by offering +"dollars for shillings," a thing they could well afford, because they +were making a great deal of money out of the war, while the British +were forced to spend theirs in fighting the tyrant Napoleon. + +The War Party won the vote in Congress; and war was declared in 1812, +just when Napoleon was marching to stamp out resistance in Russia. + +This war sprang a double surprise on the British. First, the Americans +failed badly on land against Canada, though they outnumbered the +Canadians fifteen to one, and though the Imperial garrison of Canada +was only four thousand strong. Secondly, the little American Navy gave +the big British Navy a great deal of trouble by daring cruises on the +part of small but smart squadrons against the British trade routes, +and, as there were no squadron battles, by what counted for very much +more than squadron cruises in the eyes of the world, five ship duels +won without a break. Ship for ship of the same class the Americans had +the larger and smarter vessels of the two, and often the better crews. +Twenty years of war had worn out the reserves of British seamen. +"Dollars for shillings" had tempted many of the British who survived to +desert the hard work against Napoleon for the easier, safer, and better +paid work under the Stars and Stripes; while the mere want of any enemy +to fight for the command of the sea after Trafalgar had tended to make +the British get slack. + +But, even after making all allowances in favour of the British and +against the Americans, there is no denying that the Yankee ships fought +exceedingly well. Their skilful manoeuvres and shattering broadsides +deserved to win; and the U.S. SS. _Constitution_, _Hornet_, _Wasp_, and +_United States_ richly deserve their place of honour in the story of +the sea. The turn of the tide came on the 1st of June, 1813, when the +U.S.S. _Chesapeake_ sailed out of Boston to fight H.M.S. _Shannon_. +These two frigates were about equal in size and armament. The +_Chesapeake_ carried fifty more men; but her captain, the very gallant +Lawrence, was new to her, like his officers and men, and the crew as a +whole were not nearly such veterans as the _Shannon's_, whom Broke had +trained to perfection for seven years. The duel lasted only fifteen +minutes. Every single British shot struck home; and when Broke led his +boarders on to the _Chesapeake's_ deck the fight had been won already. + +[Illustration: THE _SHANNON_ AND THE _CHESAPEAKE_.] + +The British government, never wanting this war, and doing all they +could to avoid it without endangering the side of freedom against +Napoleon, had not even now put forth their real naval strength. But in +1814 they blockaded all the ports in the United States that the War +Party could shut against them; whereupon, so far as these ports were +concerned, American sea trade simply fell dead. They also burnt the +American Government buildings at Washington as a reprisal for the +Canadian Government buildings the Americans had burnt at Newark and +Toronto. + +Those two splendid Americans, Commodores Perry and Macdonough, than +whom the British never met a better or more generous foe, won the +command of Lakes Erie and Champlain, thus partly offsetting British +victories elsewhere. The American peace delegates were, however, still +more favoured by the state of Europe at the end of 1814, when they were +arranging the Treaty of Ghent with the British; for, while they had no +outside trouble to prevent them from driving a hard bargain, the +British had half the other troubles of the world on their shoulders as +well. + +The end of it all was that things were left as before. The Treaty said +nothing about the claims and causes for which the United States had +made the war. + + + + HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA + + Nobly, nobly Cape Saint Vincent to the North-west died away; + Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay; + Bluish 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay; + In the dimmest North-east distance dawn'd Gibraltar grand and gray; + "Here and here did England help me: how can I help England?"--say, + Whoso turns as I, this evening, turn to God to praise and pray, + While Jove's planet rises yonder, silent over Africa. + --_Robert Browning_. + + + + This England never did, nor never shall, + Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, + But when it first did help to wound itself. + Now these her princes are come home again, + Come the three corners of the world in arms, + And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue, + If England to itself do rest but true. + --_Shakespeare._ + _King John, Act V, Scene VII._ + + + + YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND + + Ye Mariners of England + That guard our native seas! + Whose flag has braved a thousand years + The battle and the breeze! + Your glorious standard launch again + To match another foe; + And sweep through the deep, + While the stormy winds do blow! + While the battle rages loud and long, + And the stormy winds do blow. + + The spirit of your fathers + Shall start from every wave; + For the deck it was their field of fame, + And Ocean was their grave: + Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell + Your manly hearts shall glow, + As ye sweep through the deep, + While the stormy winds do blow! + While the battle rages loud and long, + And the stormy winds do blow. + + Britannia needs no bulwarks, + No towers along the steep; + Her march is o'er the mountain-waves, + Her home is on the deep. + With thunders from her native oak + She quells the floods below, + As they roar on the shore, + When the stormy winds do blow! + When the battle rages loud and long, + And the stormy winds do blow. + + The meteor flag of England + Shall yet terrific burn; + Till danger's troubled night depart + And the star of peace return. + Then, then, ye ocean warriors! + Our song and feast shall flow + To the fame of your name, + When the storm has ceased to blow! + When the fiery fight is heard no more, + And the storm has ceased to blow. + --_Thomas Campbell._ + + + + SEA-FEVER + + I must go down to the seas again, + to the lonely sea and the sky, + And all I ask is a tall ship and + a star to steer her by, + And the wheel's kick and the wind's song + and the white sail's shaking, + And a grey mist on the sea's face + and a grey dawn breaking. + + I must go down to the seas again, + for the call of the running tide + Is a wild call and a clear call + that may not be denied; + And all I ask is a windy day + with the white clouds flying, + And the flung spray and the blown spume, + and the sea-gulls crying. + + I must go down to the seas again, + to the vagrant gypsy life, + To the gull's way and the whale's way, + where the wind's like a whetted knife; + And all I ask is a merry yarn from + a laughing fellow-rover, + And quiet sleep and a sweet dream + when the long trick's over. + --_John Masefield._ + + + + O, FALMOUTH IS A FINE TOWN + + O, Falmouth is a fine town with ships in the bay, + And I wish from my heart it's there I was to-day; + I wish from my heart I was far away from here, + Sitting in my parlour and talking to my dear. + + For it's home, dearie, home--it's home I want to be, + Our topsails are hoisted, and we'll away to sea; + O, the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree, + They're all growing green in the old countrie. + + In Baltimore a-walking with a lady I did meet + With her babe on her arm, as she came down the street; + And I thought how I sailed, and the cradle standing ready + For the pretty little babe that has never seen its daddy. + + And it's home, dearie, home, &c. + + O, if it be a lass, she shall wear a golden ring; + And if it be a lad, he shall fight for his king: + With his dirk and his hat and his little jacket blue + He shall walk the quarter-deck as his daddie used to do. + + And it's home, dearie, home, &c. + + O, there's a wind a-blowing, a-blowing from the west, + And that of all the winds is the one I like the best, + For it blows at our backs, and it shakes our pennon free, + And it soon will blow us home to the old countrie. + + For it's home, dearie, home--it's home I want to be, + Our topsails are hoisted, and we'll away to sea; + O, the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree, + They're all growing green in the old countrie. + --_Old Song._ + + + +"FAREWELL AND ADIEU" + +This famous song was sung in the Navy all through the Sailing Age; and +it is not yet forgotten after a century of Steam and Steel. Gibraltar, +Cadiz, and many other places on the coast of Spain, were great ports of +call for the Navy as well as great ports of trade for the Mercantile +Marine. So, what with music, dance, and song in these homes of the +South, there was no end to the flirtations between the Spanish ladies +and the British tars in the piping times of peace. + + Farewell, and adieu to you, gay Spanish ladies, + Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain! + For we've received orders for to sail for old England, + But we hope in a short time to see you again. + + We'll rant and we'll roar like true British heroes, + We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas, + Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England; + From Ushant to Scilly is thirty-five leagues. + + Then we hove our ship to, with the wind at sou'-west, boys, + We hove our ship to, for to strike soundings clear; + We got soundings in ninety-five fathom, and boldly + Up the channel of old England our course we did steer. + + The first we made it was called the Deadman, + Next, Ramshead off Plymouth, Start, Portland, and Wight; + We passed by Beechy, by Fairleigh, and Dungeness, + And hove our ship to, off the South Foreland light. + + Then a signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor, + All in the downs, that night for to sleep; + Then stand by your stoppers, let go your shank-painters, + Haul all your clew-garnets, stick out tacks and sheets. + --_Old Song._ + + + + +BOOK III + +THE AGE OF STEAM AND STEEL + + +PART I + +A CENTURY OF CHANGE + +(1814-1914) + +CHAPTER XX + +A CENTURY OF BRITISH-FRENCH-AMERICAN PEACE + +(1815-1914) + +Germany made 1914 a year of blood; but let us remember it as also being +the hundredth year of peace between the British, Americans, and French, +those three great peoples who will, we hope, go on as friends +henceforward, leading the world ever closer to the glorious goal of +true democracy: that happier time when every boy and girl shall have at +least the chance to learn the sacred trust of all self-government, and +when most men and women shall have learnt this lesson well enough to +use their votes for what is really best. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A CENTURY OF MINOR BRITISH WARS + +(1815-1914) + +During the hundred and nine years between Trafalgar and the Great War +against the Germans the Royal Navy had no more fights for life or +death. But it never ceased to protect the Empire it had done so much +to make. It took part in many wars; it prevented many others; it +helped to spread law and justice in the world; and, at the end of all +this, it was as ready as ever to meet the foe. + +Sometimes it acted alone; but much oftener with the Army in joint +expeditions, as it had for centuries. And here let us remind ourselves +again that the Navy by itself could no more have made the Empire than +the Army could alone. The United Service of both was needed for such +work in the past, just as the United Service of these and of the Royal +Air Force will be needed to defend the Empire in the future. Nor is +this all we must remember; for the fighting Services draw their own +strength from the strength of the whole people. So, whenever we talk +of how this great empire of the free was won and is to be defended, let +us never forget that it needed and it needs the patriotic service of +every man and woman, boy and girl, whether in the fighting Services by +sea and land and air or among those remaining quietly at home. One for +all, and all for one. + +The Navy's first work after the peace of 1815 was to destroy the +stronghold of the Dey of Algiers, who was a tyrant, enslaver, and +pirate in one. This released thousands of Christian slaves and broke +up Algerian slavery for ever. A few years later (1827) the French and +British fleets, now happily allied, sank the Turkish fleet at Navarino, +because the Sultan was threatening to kill off the Greeks. Then the +Navy sent the Pasha of Egypt fleeing out of Beirut and Acre in Syria, +closed in on Alexandria, and forced him to stop bullying the people of +the whole Near East. + +By this time (1840) steam had begun to be used in British men-of-war. +But the first steamer in the world that ever fired a shot in action, +and the first to cross any ocean under steam the whole way, was built +at Quebec in 1831. This was the famous _Royal William_, which steamed +from Pictou (in Nova Scotia) to London in 1833, and which, on the 5th +of May, 1836, in the Bay of San Sebastian, fired the first shot ever +fired in battle from a warship under steam. She had been sold to the +Spanish Government for use against the Carlists, who were the same sort +of curse to Spain that the Stuarts were to Britain, and was then +leading the British Auxiliary Steam Squadron under Commodore Henry. +(The American _Savannah_ is often said to have crossed the Atlantic +under steam in 1819. But her log (ship's diary) proves that she +steamed only eighty hours during her voyage of a month.) + +[Illustration: THE _ROYAL WILLIAM_. Canadian built; the first boat to +cross any ocean steaming the whole way (1833), the first steamer in the +world to fire a shot in action (May 5, 1836).] + +In 1854 French and British were again allied, this time against Russia, +which wanted to cut Europe off from Asia by taking Constantinople. The +Allies took Sebastopol in the Crimea because it was the Russian naval +base in the Black Sea. The Czar never thought that "bleeding his big +toe" could beat him. But it did. He had to supply his army by land, +while the Allies supplied theirs by sea; and though theirs fought +thousands of miles from their bases at home, while his fought in Russia +itself, within a few hundred miles of its bases inland, yet their +sea-power wore out his land-power in less than two years. + +Russia was at that time a great world-power, stretching without a break +from the Baltic to Alaska, which she owned. What, then, kept Canada +free from the slightest touch of war? The only answer is, the Royal +Navy, that Navy which, supported by the Mother Country alone, enabled +all the oversea Dominions to grow in perfect peace and safety for this +whole hundred years of British wars. Moreover, Canada was then, and +long remained, one of the greatest shipping countries in the world, +dependent on her own and the Mother Country's shipping for her very +life. What made her shipping safe on every sea? The Royal Navy. But, +more than even this, the Mother Country spent twenty-five hundred +millions of her own money on keeping Canada Canadian and British by +land and sea. And here, again, nothing could have been done without +the Navy. + +The Navy enabled the Mother Country to put down the Indian Mutiny, a +mutiny which, if it had succeeded, would have thrown India back a +thousand years, into the welter of her age-long wars; and these wars +themselves would soon have snuffed out all the "Pacifist" Indian +Nationalists who bite the British hand that feeds them, though they +want Britain to do all the paying and fighting of Indian defence. The +Navy enabled the Mother Country to save Egypt from ruin at home, from +the ruthless sword of the Mahdi in the Soudan, and from conquest by the +Germans or the Turks. The Navy also enabled the Mother Country to +change a dozen savage lands into places where people could rise above +the level of their former savage lives. + +All this meant war. But if these countries had not been brought into +the British Empire they could only have had the choice of two +evils--either to have remained lands of blood and savagery or to have +been bullied by the Germans. And if the British do not make friends of +those they conquer, how is it that so many Natives fought for them +without being in any way forced to do so, and how is it that the same +Boer commander-in-chief who fought against the British in the Boer War +led a Boer army on the British side against the Germans? The fact is +that all the white man's countries of the British Empire overseas are +perfectly free commonwealths in which not only those of British blood +but those of foreign origin, like Boers and French-Canadians, can live +their lives in their own way, without the Mother Country's having the +slightest wish or power to force them to give a ship, a dollar, or a +man to defend the Empire without which they could not live a day. She +protects them for nothing. They join her or not, just as they please. +And when they do join her, her Navy is always ready to take their +soldiers safe across the sea. No League of Nations could ever better +this. + +Nor is this the only kind of freedom that flourishes under the White +Ensign of the Navy. The oversea Dominions, which govern themselves, +make what laws they please about their trade, even to charging duty on +goods imported from the Mother Country. But the parts of the Empire +which the Mother Country has to rule, (because their people, not being +whites, have not yet learnt to rule themselves), also enjoy a wonderful +amount of freedom in trade. And foreigners enjoy it too; for they are +allowed to trade with the Natives as freely as the British are +themselves. Nor is this all. During the hundred and nine years +between Trafalgar and the Great War most of the oversea colonies of +Holland, Spain, and Portugal could have easily been taken by British +joint expeditions. But not one of them was touched. + +There never was the slightest doubt that the Navy's long arm could +reach all round the Seven Seas. When the Emperor of Abyssinia +imprisoned British subjects wrongly and would not let them go, the Navy +soon took an army to the east coast of Africa and kept it supplied till +it had marched inland, over the mountains, and brought the prisoners +back. When the Chinese Mandarins treated a signed agreement like a +"scrap of paper" (as the Germans treated the neutrality of Belgium) +they presently found a hundred and seventy-three British vessels coming +to know the reason why, though the Chinese coast was sixteen thousand +miles from England. No, there is no question about the Navy's strong +right arm. But it has no thievish fingers. + +The Empire has grown by trade rather than by conquest. There have been +conquests, plenty of them. But they have been brought on either by the +fact that other Powers have tried to shut us out of whole continents, +as the Spaniards tried in North and South America, or by fair war, as +with the French, or by barbarians and savages who would not treat +properly the British merchants with whom they had been very glad to +trade. Of course there have been mistakes, and British wrongs as well +as British rights. But ask the conquered how they could live their own +lives so much in their own way under a flag of their own and without +the safeguard of the Royal Navy. + +These things being so, the Empire, which is itself the first real +League of Nations the world has ever seen, would be wrong to give up +any of the countries it holds in trust for their inhabitants; and its +enormous size is more a blessing than a curse. The size itself is more +than we can quite take in till we measure it by something else we know +as being very large indeed. India, for instance, has three times as +many people as there are in the whole of the United States; though +India is only one of the many countries under the British Crown. So +much for population. Now for area. The area added to the British +Empire in the last fifty years is larger than that of the whole United +States. Yet we don't hear much about it. That is not the British way. +The Navy is "The Silent Service." + + + + +PART II + +THE GREAT WAR + +(1914-1918) + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE HANDY MAN + +We have not been through the Sailing Age without learning something +about the "Handy Man" of the Royal Navy, whether he is a ship's boy or +a veteran boatswain (bo's'n), a cadet or a commander-in-chief, a +blue-jacket or a Royal Marine ("soldier and sailor too"). But we must +not enter the Age of Steam and Steel without taking another look at +him, if only to see what a great part he plays in our lives and +liberties by keeping the seaways open to friends and closed to enemies. +Without the Handy Man of the Royal Navy the Merchant Service could not +live a day, the Canadian Army could not have joined the other British +armies at the front, and the Empire itself would be all parts and no +whole, because divided, not united, by the Seven Seas. United we +stand: divided we fall. + +The sea is three times bigger than the land, but three hundred times +less known. Yet even our everyday language is full of sea terms; +because so much of it, like so much of our blood, comes from the Hardy +Norsemen, and because so much of the very life of all the +English-speaking peoples depends upon the handy man at sea. Peoples +who have Norse blood, like French and Germans, but who have never lived +by sea-power, and peoples who, like the Russians and Chinese, have +neither sea-power nor a sea-folk's blood, never use sea terms in their +ordinary talk. They may dress up a landsman and put him on the stage +to talk the same sort of twaddle that our own stage sailors talk--all +about "shiver my timbers," "hitching his breeches," and "belaying the +slack of your jaw." But they do not talk the real sea sense we have +learnt from the handy man of whose strange life we know so little. + +When we say "that slacker's not pulling his weight" we use a term that +has come down from the old Rowing Age, when a man who was not helping +the boat along more with his oar than he was keeping her back with his +weight really was the worst kind of "slacker." But most of the sea +terms we use in our land talk come from the Sailing Age of Drake and +Nelson. To be "A1" is to be like the best class of merchant ships that +are rated A1 for insurance. "First-rate," on the other hand, comes +from the Navy, and means ships of the largest size and strongest build, +like the super-dreadnoughts of to-day. If you make a mess of things +people say you are "on the wrong tack," may "get taken aback," and find +yourself "on your beam ends" or, worse still, "on the rocks." So you +had better remember that "if you won't be ruled by the rudder you are +sure to be ruled by the rock." If you do not "know the ropes" you will +not "keep on an even keel" when it's "blowing great guns." If you take +to drink you will soon "have three sheets in the wind," because you +will not have the sense to "steer a straight course," but, getting +"half seas over," perhaps "go by the board" or be "thrown overboard" by +friends who might have "brought you up with a round turn" before it was +too late. Remember three other bits of handy man's advice: "you'd +better not sail so close to the wind" (do not go so near to doing +something wrong), "don't speak to the man at the wheel" (because the +ship may get off her course while you are bothering him), and, when a +storm is brewing, mind you "shorten sail" and "take in a reef," instead +of being such a fool as to "carry on till all is blue." When you are +in for a fight then "clear the decks for action," by putting aside +everything that might get in your way. The list could be made very +much longer if we took the whole subject "by and large" and "trimmed +our sails to every breeze" when we were "all aboard." But here we must +"stow it," "make everything ship-shape," trust to the "sheet-anchor," +and, leaving the age of mast and sail, go "full steam ahead" into our +own. + +"Full steam ahead" might well have been the motto of Nelson's +flag-captain, Hardy, when he was First Sea Lord of the Admiralty; +because, twenty years before the first steam armoured ship was +launched, he wrote this opinion: "Science will alter the whole Navy. +Depend on it, steam and gunnery are in their infancy." There were just +a hundred years between Trafalgar and laying the keel of the first +modern _Dreadnought_ in 1905. But Hardy foresaw the sort of change +that was bound to come; and so helped on toward Jellicoe and Jutland. +That is one reason why foreigners cannot catch the British Navy napping. + +Another is because the British "handy man" can "turn his hand to +anything"; though even his worst enemies can never accuse him of being +"jack of all trades and master of none." He is the master of the sea. +But he knows the ropes of many other things as well; and none of the +strange things he is called upon to do ever seem to find him wanting. +When a British joint expedition attacked St. Helena the Dutch never +dreamt of guarding the huge sheer cliffs behind the town. But up went +a handy man with a long cord by which he pulled up a rope, which, in +its turn, was used to haul up a ladder that the soldiers climbed at +night. Next morning the astounded Dutchmen found themselves attacked +by land as well as by sea and had to give in. + +One day the admiral (Sir William Kennedy) commanding in the Indian +Ocean a few years ago heard that two Englishwomen had been left on a +desert island by a mail steamer from which they had landed for a +picnic. The steamer was bound to go on. The women were not missed +till too late. So the captain telegraphed to the Admiral from the next +port. The Admiral at once went to the island in his flagship, found +the women with their dresses all torn to ribbons on the rocks, measured +them for sailor suits himself, and had them properly rigged out by the +ship's tailor, just like the bluejackets, except for the skirts--white +jerseys, navy blue serge uniforms, with blue jean collars and white +trimmings, straw hats with H.M.S. _Boadicea_ on the ribbon in gold, +knife and lanyard, all complete. + +To beat this admiral in turning his hand to anything at a moment's +notice we must take the bluejacket whom Captain Wonham saw escaping +from a horde of savages on the West Coast of Africa during the Ashanti +War of 1874. This man knew the natives well, as he had been the +Governor's servant there for several years before the niggers swarmed +out of the bush to kill off the whites. Every one seemed to be safe in +the boats, when Captain Wonham suddenly spied Jack running for his life +on top of a long spit of high rocks that jutted out like a wharf. The +natives, brandishing their spears and climbing the rocks, were just +going to cut Jack off when he, knowing their craze for the white man's +clothes, threw his cap at them. Immediately there was a scramble which +held up their advance. As they came on again he threw them his serge, +and so on, taking a spurt after each throw. At last he took off his +trousers, which set all the niggers fighting like mad round two big +chiefs, each of whom was hanging on to one leg. Then he took a neat +header and swam off to the boats, which had meanwhile pulled in to his +rescue. + +When the battleship _Majestic_ was sunk in the Dardanelles a bluejacket +ran along her upper side as she rolled over, then along her keel as she +turned bottom upwards. Finally, seeing that she was sinking by the +stern, and knowing both her own length and the depth of the water, he +climbed right up on the tip-top end of her stem, from which he was +taken off as dry as a bone. Meanwhile a very different kind of rescue +was being made by Captain Talbot, who, having gone down with the ship, +rose to the surface and was rescued by a launch. He had barely +recovered his breath when he saw two of his bluejackets struggling for +their lives. He at once dived in and rescued both at the very great +risk of his own. + +From East to West, from the Tropics to the Poles, the Navy has gone +everywhere and done nearly everything that mortal man can do. Think of +the Admiralty "rating" Newfoundland, a country bigger than Scotland and +Wales put together, as one of His Majesty's Ships and putting a captain +in command! Yet that was done in the early days; and it worked very +well. Think of the naval brigades (that is, men landed for service +ashore) which have fought alone or with the Army, or with many foreign +armies and navies, all over the world for hundreds of years. Drake, as +we have seen, always used naval brigades, and they have always been the +same keen "first-class fighting men" wherever they went. The only +trouble was in holding them back. At the siege of Tangier in North +Africa in the seventeenth century Admiral Herbert "checked" Captain +Barclay "for suffering too forward and furious an advance, lest they +might fall into an ambush"; whereupon Barclay said, "Sir, I can lead +them on, but the Furies can't call them back." A naval brigade +man-handled the guns on the Plains of Abraham the day of Wolfe's +victory, and took forty-seven up the cliff and into position before the +army had dug itself in for the night. Nelson lost his right arm when +leading a naval brigade at Teneriffe in 1797. Peel's naval brigade in +the Indian Mutiny (1857-9) man-handled two big guns right up against +the wall that kept Lord Clyde's army from joining hands with the +British besieged in Lucknow, blew a hole in it, though it was swarming +with rebels, and so let the Marines and the Highlanders through. + +In Egypt (1882) Lord Fisher, of whom we shall soon hear more, rigged up +a train like an ironclad and kept Arabi Pasha at arm's length from +Alexandria, which Lord Alcester's fleet had bombarded and taken. +Lieutenant Rawson literally "steered" Lord Wolseley's army across the +desert by the stars during the night march that ended in the perfect +victory of Tel-el-Kebir. Mortally wounded he simply asked: "Did I lead +them straight, Sir?" + +The Egyptian campaigns continued off and on for sixteen years +(1882-1898) till Lord Kitchener beat the Mahdi far south in the wild +Soudan. British sea-power, as it always does, worked the sea lines of +communication over which the army's supplies had to go to the front +from England and elsewhere, and, again as usual, put the army in the +best possible place from which to strike inland. Needless to say, the +naval part of British sea-power not only helped and protected the +mercantile part, which carried the supplies, but helped both in the +fighting and the inland water transport too. + +At one time (1885) the little Naval Brigade on the Nile had to be led +by a boatswain, every officer having been killed or wounded. In the +attempt to rescue the saintly and heroic General Gordon from Khartoum, +Lord Beresford rigged up the little Egyptian steamer _Safieh_ with +armour plates and took her past an enemy fort that could easily have +sunk her as she went by, only eighty yards away, if his machine-gunners +had not kept such a stream of bullets whizzing through every hole from +which an Egyptian gun stuck out that not a single Egyptian gunner could +stand to his piece and live. + +Lord Beresford was well to the fore wherever hard work had to be done +during that desperate venture; and it was he who performed the +wonderful feat of getting the Nile steamers hauled through the Second +Cataract by fifteen hundred British soldiers, who hove them up against +that awful stream of death while the blue-jackets looked after the +tackle. Beresford's Naval Brigade used to tramp fifteen miles a day +along the river, sometimes work as many hours with no spell off for +dinner, haul the whaleboats up-stream to where the rapids made a big +loop, and then, avoiding the loop, portage them across the neck of land +into the river again. Handling these boats in the killing heat would +have been hard enough in any case; but it was made still worse by the +scorpions that swarmed in them under the mats and darted out to bite +the nearest hand. Beresford himself had to keep his weather eye on +thirty miles of roaring river, on hundreds of soldiers and sailors, and +on thousands of natives. Yet he managed it all quite handily by riding +about on his three famous camels: Bimbashi, Ballyhooly, and Beelzebub. + +But let no one imagine that dozens of joint expeditions ever make the +Navy forget its first duty of keeping the seaways clear of every +possible enemy during every minute of every day the whole year round. +When the Russian fleet was going out to the Sea of Japan during the +Russo-Japanese War (1904-5) it ran into the "Gamecock Fleet" of British +fishing vessels in the North Sea, got excited, and fired some shots +that killed and wounded several fishermen. Within a very few hours it +was completely surrounded by a British fleet that did not interfere +with its movements, but simply "shadowed" it along, waiting for orders. +There was no fight; and the Russians were left to be finished by the +Japanese. But the point is, that, although the British Empire was then +at peace with the whole world, the British Navy was far readier for +instant action than the Russian Navy, which had been many months at war. + + + +THE HAPPY WARRIOR + +Wordsworth's glorious poem is not in praise of war but of the +self-sacrificing warriors who try to save their country from the +horrors of war. No wise people, least of all the men who know it best, +ever sing the praise of war itself. They might as well sing the +praises of disease. But, while those who, like the Germans, force a +wicked war upon the world are no better than poisoners of wells and +spreaders of the plague, those, on the other hand, who, like the +Allies, fight the poisoners of wells and spreaders of the plague are +doing the same kind of service that doctors do when fighting germs. +Therefore, as doctors to disease, so is the Happy Warrior to war. He +no more likes war than doctors like the germs of deadly sickness; and +he would rid the world of this great danger if he could. But while war +lasts, and wars are waged against the very soul of all we hold most +dear, we need the Happy Warrior who can foresee the coming war and lead +a host of heroes when it comes. And leaders and followers alike, when +faithful unto death, are they not among the noblest martyrs ever known? +_For greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for +his friends_. + + Who is the Happy Warrior? Who is he + That every man in arms should wish to be? + --It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought + Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought + Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought: + Whose high endeavours are an inward light + That makes the path before him always bright: + Who, with a natural instinct to discern + What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn; + Abides by this resolve, and stops not there, + But makes his moral being his prime care; + Who, doomed to go in company with Pain, + And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train! + Turns his necessity to glorious gain; + In face of these doth exercise a power + Which is our human nature's highest dower; + Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves + Of their bad influence, and their good receives: + By objects, which might force the soul to abate + Her feeling, rendered more compassionate; + Is placable--because occasions rise + So often that demand such sacrifice; + More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure, + As tempted more; more able to endure, + As more exposed to suffering and distress; + + * * * * * * + + Thence, also, more alive to tenderness. + But who, if he be called upon to face + Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined + Great issues, good or bad for human kind, + Is happy as a Lover; and attired + With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired; + And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law + In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw; + + * * * * * * + + Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth + For ever, and to noble deeds give birth, + Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame, + And leave a dead unprofitable name-- + Finds comfort in himself and in his cause; + And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws + His breath in confidence of Heaven's applause: + This is the Happy Warrior; this is He + That every Man in arms should wish to be. + --_William Wordsworth_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FIFTY YEARS OF WARNING + +(1864-1914) + +In 1864 the Fathers of Confederation met at Quebec, while the Germans +took from the Danes the neck of land through which they cut the Kiel +Canal to give the German Navy a safe back way between the North Sea and +the Baltic. At first sight you cannot understand why Canadian +Confederation and the German attack on Denmark should ever be mentioned +together. But, just as the waters of two streams in the same river +system are bound to meet in the end, so Canada and Germany were bound +to meet on the same battlefield when once Canada had begun to grow into +a nation within the British Empire and Germany had begun to grow into +an empire for whose ambitions there was no room without a series of +victorious wars. After beating Austria in 1866, to win the leadership +of Central Europe, Germany beat France in 1870, took Alsace and +Lorraine, and made herself the strongest land-power in the world. Even +then two such very different Englishmen as Cardinal Newman and John +Stuart Mill foresaw the clash that was bound to come between the new +empire of the Germans and the old one of the British. But most people +never see far ahead, while many will not look at all if the prospect +seems to be unpleasant. + +Thirty years before the war (1884) Germany began to get an empire +overseas. Taking every possible chance she went on till she had a +million square miles and fifteen million natives. But she neither had +nor could get without victorious war any land outside of Germany where +she could bring up German children under the German flag. Even +including the German parts of Austria there was barely one +quarter-million of square miles on which German-speaking people could +go on growing under their own flags; while the English-speaking people +of the British Empire and the United States had twenty times as much +land, fit for whites, on which to grow bigger and bigger populations of +their own blood under their own flags. This meant that the new, +strong, and most ambitious German Empire was doomed to an +ever-dwindling future as a world-power in comparison with the British +Empire. The Germans could not see why they should not have as good a +"place in the sun" of the white man's countries as the British, whom +they now looked on very much as our ancestors looked upon the oversea +Spaniards about the time of the Armada. "Why," they asked, "should the +British have so much white man's country while we have so little?" + +There are only three answers, two that the Germans understand as well +as we do, and one that, being what they are, they could hardly be +expected to admit, though it is the only one that justifies our case. +The two answers which the Germans understand are of course these: that +we had the sea-power while they had not; and that, because we had it, +we had reaped the full benefit of "first come, first served." But the +third answer, which is much the most important, because it turns upon +the question of right and wrong, is that while the Germans, like the +Spaniards, have grossly abused their imperial powers, we, on the whole, +with all our faults, have not. + +There are so many crimes for which the Germans have to answer that this +whole book could not contain the hundredth part of them. But one crime +in one of their oversea possessions will be enough to mention here, +because it was all of a piece with the rest. In German South-West +Africa the Herreros, a brave native people, were robbed if they worked +hard for the German slave-drivers, flogged till their backs were flayed +if they did not, and killed if they stood up for their rights. There +are plenty of German photographs to prove that the modern Germans are +very like the Spaniards of Philip II and utterly unlike the kindly +modern French, Italians, Americans, and British. The world itself is +witness now, and its conscience is the judge. So there we shall leave +our case and turn to follow the ever thickening plot of coming war. + +In 1889 Britain spent an extra hundred million dollars on building new +men-of-war. Next year Germany got Heligoland from Britain in exchange +for Zanzibar. Heligoland is only a tiny inland off the North Sea coast +of Germany. But it was very useful to the Germans as one of the main +defences of the great naval base there. + +In 1897 the Kaiser said, "I shall not rest till I have made my fleet as +strong as my army." A year later he said, "Our future is on the +water." And in 1900 the German Navy Bill passed by the German +Parliament began by saying, "The German Navy must be strong enough to +endanger the supremacy of even the mightiest foreign navy." What +"foreign navy" could that be if not the British? In 1908 the Kaiser +tried to steal a march on the too pacific British Government by writing +privately to Lord Tweedmouth, the feeble civilian First Lord of the +Admiralty. The First Lord represents the Navy in Parliament; and +Parliament represents the People, who elect its members. So when a +First Lord is a real statesman who knows what advice to take from the +First Sea Lord (who is always an admiral) everything goes well; for +then Parliament and the Navy work together as the trusted servants of +the whole People. But Tweedmouth, feeble and easily flattered, was +completely taken in by the sly Kaiser, who said Germany was only +building new ships in place of old ones, while she was really trying to +double her strength. It was therefore a very lucky thing that the +Kaiser also tried to fool that wonderful statesman, wise King Edward, +who at once saw through the whole German trick. + +Meanwhile (1898) the Americans had driven the Spaniards out of their +last oversea possessions, much to the rage of the Germans, who had +hoped to get these themselves. The German admiral at Manilla in the +Philippines blustered against the American fleet under Admiral Dewey; +but was soon brought to book by Sir Edward Chichester, who told him he +would have to fight the British squadron as well if he gave any more +trouble about things that were none of his business. + +The same year the Germans tried to set the French and British by the +ears over Fashoda. A French expedition came out of French Africa into +the Sudan, where Kitchener's army was in possession after having freed +Egypt from the power of the Madhi's wild Sudanese. French and British +both claimed the same place; and for some years Fashoda was like a red +rag to a bull when mentioned to Frenchmen; for Kitchener had got there +first. Luckily he had fought for France in 1870, spoke French like a +Frenchman, and soon made friends with the French on the spot. More +luckily still, King Edward the Wise went to Paris in 1903, despite the +fears of his Ministers, who did all they could to make him change his +mind, and then, when this failed, to go there as a private person. +They were afraid that memories of Fashoda and of all the anti-British +feeling stirred up by Germans in Europe and America over the Boer War +(1899-1902) would make the French unfriendly. But he went to pay his +respects to France on his accession to the British Throne, showed how +perfectly he understood the French people, said and did exactly the +right thing in the right way; and, before either friends or foes knew +what was happening, had so won the heart of France that French and +British, seeing what friends they might be, began that _Entente +Cordiale_ (good understanding of each other) which our glorious +Alliance in the Great War ought to make us keep forever. Paris named +one of her squares in his honour, _Place Edouard Sept_; and there the +wise king's statue stands to remind the world of what he did to save it +from the German fury. + +Next year Lord Fisher went to London as First Sea Lord (1904-10) to get +the Navy ready for the coming war. He struck off the list of fighting +ships every single one that would not be fit for battle in the near +future. He put "nucleus crews" on board all ships fit for service that +were not in sea-going squadrons for the time being; so that when the +Reserves were called out for the war they would find these nucleus +crews ready to show them all the latest things aboard. He started a +new class of battleships by launching (1906) the world-famous +_Dreadnought_. This kind of ship was so much better than all others +that all foreign navies, both friends and foes, have copied it ever +since, trying to keep up with each new British improvement as it +appeared. + +But the greatest thing of all was Fisher's new plan for bringing the +mighty British fleets closer together and so "handier" for battles with +the Germans. The old plan of posting British squadrons all over the +world takes us back to the Conquest of Canada; for it was the work of +St. Vincent, to whom Wolfe handed his will the night before the Battle +of the Plains (1759). St. Vincent's plan of 1803 was so good that it +worked well, with a few changes, down to Fisher's anti-German plan of +1904, about which time the French and British Navies began talking over +the best ways of acting together when the Germans made their spring. +In 1905--the centenary of Trafalgar--a British fleet visited France and +a French fleet visited England. It was a thrilling sight to see that +noble Frenchman, Admiral Caillard, whose example was followed by all +his officers, stand up in his carriage to salute the Nelson statue in +Trafalgar Square. + +In 1908, when Canada was celebrating the Tercentenary of a life that +could never have begun without Drake or been saved without Nelson, the +French and British Prime Ministers (Clemenceau and Campbell-Bannerman) +were talking things over in Paris. The result was that the British +left the Mediterranean mainly in charge of the French Navy, while the +French left the Channel mostly and the North Sea entirely in charge of +the British. There was no treaty then or at any other time. Each +Government left its own Parliament, and therefore its own People, whose +servant it was, to decide freely when the time came. But the men at +the head of the French and British fleets and armies arranged, year by +year, what they would do when they got the word _GO_! At the same time +(six years before the war) that the Prime Ministers were in conference +in Paris Lord Haldane, then Secretary of State for War, was warning +Lord French in London that he would be expected to command the British +army against the Germans in France, and that he had better begin to +study the problem at once. + +A great deal of sickening nonsense has been talked about our having +been so "righteous" because so "unprepared." We were not prepared to +_attack_ anybody; and quite rightly too; though we need not get +self-righteous over it. But our great Mother Country's Navy was most +certainly and most rightly prepared to _defend_ the Empire and its +allies against the attack that was bound to come. If France and Great +Britain had not been well enough prepared for self-defence, then the +Germans must have won; and wrong would have triumphed over right all +over the world. There is only one answer to all this "Pacifistic" +stuff-and-nonsense--if you will not fight on the side of right, then +you help those who fight on the side of wrong; and if you see your +enemy preparing to attack you wrongfully, and you do not prepare to +defend yourself, then you are a fool as well as a knave. + +All the great experts in statesmanship and war saw the clash coming; +and saw that it was sure to come, because the German war party could +force it on the moment they were ready. Moreover, it was known that +the men of this war party would have forced it on at once if a peace +party had ever seemed likely to oust them. The real experts even +foresaw the chief ways in which the war would be fought. Lord Fisher +foresaw the danger of sea-going submarines long before submarines were +used for anything but the defence of harbours. More than this, ten +years before the war he named all the four senior men who led the first +British army into Flanders. In Lord Esher's diary for the 17th of +January, 1904, ten years before the war, is the following note about +Fisher's opinion on the best British generals: "French, because he +never failed in South Africa, and because he has the splendid gift of +choosing the right man (he means Douglas Haig). Then Smith-Dorrien and +Plumer." In the same way Joffre and Foch were known to be the great +commanders of the French. Again in the same way (that is, by the +foreknowledge of the real experts) Lord Jellicoe, though a junior +rear-admiral at the time, was pointed out at the Quebec Tercentenary +(1908) as the man who would command the Grand Fleet; while Sir David +Beatty and Sir Charles Madden were also known as "rising stars." + +The following years were fuller than ever of the coming war. In 1910 +the Kaiser went to Vienna and let the world know that he was ready to +stand by Austria in "shining armour." Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, and +Greece were all to be used for the grand German railway from Berlin to +Bagdad that was to cut Russia off from the rest of Europe, get all the +trade of the Near East into German hands, and, by pushing down to the +Persian Gulf, threaten the British oversea line between England and +Asia. + +During the next three years the Italian conquest of Tripoli (next door +to Egypt) and the two wars in the Balkans hurt Germany's friends, the +Turks and Bulgarians, a great deal, and thus threatened the German +Berlin-to-Bagdad "line of penetration" through the Near East and into +the Asiatic sea flank of the hated British. With 1914 came the +completion of the enlarged Kiel Canal (exactly as foretold by Fisher +years before); and this, together with the state of the world for and +against the Germans, made the war an absolute certainty at once. The +murder of the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand, was only an +excuse to goad the gallant Serbians into war. Any other would have +done as well if it had only served the German turn. + + + HYMN BEFORE ACTION + + The earth is full of anger, + The seas are dark with wrath, + The Nations in their harness + Go up against our path: + Ere yet we loose the legions-- + Ere yet we draw the blade, + Jehovah of the Thunders, + Lord God of Battles, aid! + + * * * * + + E'en now their vanguard gathers, + E'en now we face the fray-- + As Thou didst help our fathers, + Help Thou our host to-day! + Fulfilled of signs and wonders, + In life, in death made clear-- + Jehovah of the Thunders, + Lord God of Battles, hear! + --_Rudyard Kipling_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +WAR + +(1914-1915) + +No one who has had a look behind the scenes will ever forget the three +War Wednesdays of 1914, the 22nd and 29th of July and the 5th of +August; for during that dire fortnight the fate of the whole world hung +trembling in the scales of life and death. + +On the first the King reviewed the Grand Fleet, when twenty-two miles +of fighting ships steamed by, all ready for instant battle with the +High Sea Fleet of Germany: ready not only for battles _on_ the water +but _under_ the water and _over_ the water as well. No king, even of +sea-girt Britain, was ever so good a judge of what a fleet should be as +was King George on that momentous day; for, till the death of his elder +brother made him Heir to the Throne, he had spent the whole of his keen +young life as a naval officer who did his work so well that he must +have risen to a place among the best of British Admirals. Just as it +was a great thing to have had King Edward the Wise to make (as he alone +could make) the _Entente Cordiale_ with France, so it was a great thing +to have had King George the Sailor standing by the helm of the ship of +state when the fated war had come. British to the backbone, knowing +the Empire overseas as no other king had known it, George V was born to +distrust the Germans, being the son of the Danish Princess Alexandra, +who had seen all the country round the Kiel Canal torn from the Crown +of Denmark within a year of her marriage to King Edward. The Kaiser's +lying letter to Lord Tweedmouth in 1908 was the last straw that broke +King George's little patience with the German plotters headed by Grand +Admiral von Tirpitz. "What," he exclaimed, "would the Kaiser say, if +the King wrote a letter like that to Tirpitz?" + +The chief kinds of fighting craft in the Grand Fleet can be told off on +the fingers of one hand. First, the Battleships and Battle Cruisers. +These are to our own fleets what ships-of-the-line-of-battle were to +Nelson's, that is, they are the biggest and strongest, with the biggest +and strongest guns and the thickest armour. The battle cruiser is +faster than the battleship, and therefore not so strong; because to be +faster you must thin your heavy armour to let you put in bigger +engines. All the ships of this first kind were either Dreadnoughts or +super-Dreadnoughts; that is, they were classed according to whether +they had been built during the five years after the _Dreadnought_ +(1905-10), or during the five years just before the war (1910-14). +Each year there had been great improvements, till ships like the _Queen +Elizabeth_ had eight gigantic guns throwing shells that weighed nearly +a ton each and that could be dropped on an enemy twenty miles away. + +[Illustration: BATTLESHIP.] + +The second kind is Cruisers, made up of Armoured Cruisers and Light +Cruisers, the Armoured being the bigger and stronger, the Light being +the smaller and faster, and both being too small for the line of +battle. Cruisers are used in at least a dozen different ways. They +scout. They attack and defend oversea trade. They "mother" flotillas +("little fleets") of destroyers, which are much smaller than +themselves. They attack and defend the front, flank, and rear of the +great lines of battle, clearing off the enemy's cruisers and destroyers +and trying to get their own torpedoes home against his larger vessels. +They are the eyes and ears, the scouts and skirmishers, the outposts +and the watchdogs of the Fleet--swift, keen, sinewy, vigilant, and able +to hit pretty hard. + +Thirdly come Destroyers. This was the way in which they got their +name. Navies had small gunboats before torpedoes were used. Then they +had torpedo-boats. Then they built torpedo-gunboats. Finally, they +built boats big enough to destroy gunboats, torpedo-boats, and +torpedo-gunboats, without, however, losing the handy use of guns and +torpedoes in vessels much smaller than cruisers. As battleships and +cruisers are arranged in "squadrons" under admirals so destroyers are +arranged in "flotillas" under commodores, who rank between admirals and +captains. + +A new kind of light craft--a sort of dwarf destroyer--grew up with the +war. It is so light that it forms a class of its own--the +featherweight class. Its proper name is the Coastal Motor Boat, or the +C.M.B. for short. But the handy man knows it simply as the Scooter. +The first scooters were only forty feet long, the next were fifty-five, +the last were seventy. Everything about them is made as light as +possible; so that they can skim along in about two feet of water at an +outside speed of nearly fifty (land) miles an hour. They are really +the thinnest of racing shells fitted with the strongest of lightweight +engines. They are all armed with depth charges, which are bombs that +go off under water at whatever depth you set them for when attacking +submarines. The biggest scooters also carry torpedoes. The scooters +did well in the war. Whenever the hovering aircraft had spotted a +submarine they would call up the scooters, which raced in with their +deadly depth charges. Even destroyers were attacked and torpedoed. +One day a German destroyer off Dunkirk suddenly found itself surrounded +by scooters which came in so close that a British officer had his cap +blown off by the blast from a German gun. He and his scooter, however, +both escaped and his torpedo sank the Hun. + +Fourthly, come the submarines, those sneaky vipers of the sea that seem +made on purpose for the underhand tricks of ruthless Germans. Deadly +against unarmed merchantmen, and very dangerous in some other ways, the +submarine is slow under water, no match for even a destroyer on the +surface, and "tender" to attack by gunfire, to bombs dropped from +aircraft, to "sea-quaking" depth charges, and, of course, to ramming. +We shall presently hear more about these inventions of the devil. + +[Illustration: Seaplane Returning after flight.] + +Fifthly, come the seaplanes, that is, aircraft which can light on the +water as well as fly. We began the war with a fair number of +comparatively small planes and ended it with a great number of large +ones, a few of which could drop a ton-weight bomb fit to sink most +battleships if the shot went home. But these monsters of the air were +something more than ordinary seaplanes. For out of the seaplane there +gradually grew a regular flying boat which began to make it hot for +German submarines in 1917. Commander Porte, of the Royal Navy, went on +inventing and trying new kinds of flying boats for nearly three years +before he made one good enough for its very hard and dangerous work. +He had to overcome all the troubles of aircraft and seacraft, put +together, before he succeeded in doing what no one had ever done +before--making a completely new kind of craft that would be not only +seaworthy but airworthy too. Porte's base was at Felixstowe, near the +great destroyer and submarine base at Harwich on the east coast of +England. Strangely enough, Felixstowe was a favourite summer resort of +the Kaiser whenever he came to the British Isles. Felixstowe is within +a hundred miles of the Belgian coast, where the Germans had submarines +at Ostend and Zeebrugge. It is only fifty from the Dutch lightship on +the North Hinder Bank, where German submarines used to come up so as to +make sure of their course on their way between the English Channel and +their own ports. The neighbourhood of this lightship naturally became +a very favourite hunting ground of the new flying boats, which used to +bomb the Huns whenever one of their submarines was sighted either on or +below the surface. Forty flying boats were launched in 1917, and +forty-four submarines were bombed. The "Porte Baby," as the flying +boat of '17 was called, measured a hundred feet across the wings and +carried a small aeroplane, complete with its own airman, on top. The +"Porte Super-Baby" of 1918 could lift no less than fifteen tons and was +easily the strongest aircraft in the world. The "Baby's" crew was +four--pilot, navigator, wirelesser, and engineer. The "Super-Baby" +carried more. Two gigantic Zeppelins and several submarines were +destroyed by the "Babies." The "Super-Babies" had no proper chance of +showing what they could do, as the Armistice came (11 November 1918) +before they were really at work. Porte had many Canadians in his +crews; and Canadians brought down the first Zeppelin and sank the first +submarine. + +But the five chief kinds of fighting craft are only half the battle. +There are five more to be told off on the fingers of the other hand. +First, the Auxiliary Cruisers, which are swift merchant liners quickly +armed and manned by trained Reservists, who are mostly merchant seamen +and fishermen in time of peace. These cruisers do scouting and escort +duty, and sometimes have a hard fight with the enemy; though they are +not strong enough for regular battles between great men-of-war. +Secondly, the Supply Vessels of every size and every kind, which keep +the Fleet supplied with food and fuel, munitions and repairs, and +everything else a great fleet needs. So vast is British sea-power of +every kind, compared with the sea-power of any other people, that +foreign fleets and joint expeditions generally have to get British +shipping to help them through their troubles when the British are +either neutral or allied. The Russian fleet could not have gone to the +Far East in 1904-05 without the supply ships of the British. The +American fleet that went round the world in 1908-09 had to depend on +British colliers. And over three-fifths of all the American soldiers +that went to France to fight the Germans went in British transports. +Transports are any ships that can be used to carry troops, horses, +motors, stores, munitions, guns, and all the other things an army +needs. They come third on this list. Fourthly, come those Merchantmen +which are not used by the Army or Navy because they carry on the +regular oversea trade as best they can. Fifthly, comes the Fishing +Fleet, many of whose best men and vessels have to be used to fish for +mines and submarines, but much of which must still be left to help out +the food supply. The merchantmen and fishing craft which carried on +their peace-time trade throughout the Great War had many an adventure +quite as thrilling and many a hero quite as glorious as any in the +fighting fleets. So there was no kind of British sea-power which did +not feel the awful stress of war; and none, we may be proud to add, +that failed to do its duty. + +On the second War Wednesday (July 29th) the British Foreign Minister +warned the German Ambassador that the British could not be so base as +not to stand by their friends if Germany attacked them without good +reason. All through that night the staff of the Foreign Office were +wonderfully cheered up in their own work by looking across the famous +Horse Guards Parade at the Admiralty, which was ablaze with lights from +roof to cellar. The usual way, after the Royal Review that ended the +big fleet manoeuvres for the year, was to "demobilize" ships that had +been specially "mobilized" (made ready for the front) by adding Reserve +men to their nucleus crews. But this year things were different. War +was in the very air. So the whole fleet was kept mobilized; and the +wireless on top of the Admiralty roof was kept in constant touch with +every ship and squadron all round the Seven Seas. By Friday night, the +31st, the whole Grand Fleet had steamed through the Straits of Dover +into the grim North Sea and on to Scapa Flow, where it was already +waiting when, four days later, it got the midnight call to arms. + +By the third War Wednesday (August 5th) the Germans had invaded Belgium +and France; that great soldier and creator of new armies, Lord +Kitchener, had replaced the civilian, Lord Haldane, at the head of the +War Office; Lord French's immortal first army had just got the word +_GO!_ and a German mine-layer was already at the work which cost her +own life but sank the cruiser _Amphion_. + +Years before the first shot was fired the French and British Navies had +prepared their plans for blockading the Austrians in the Adriatic and +the Germans in the North Sea. The French were more than a match for +the Austrians, the British more still for the Germans. But the +Austrians had their whole navy together, while the Germans also had at +least nine-tenths of their own. So the French and British, in their +efforts to keep the seaways open for friends and closed to enemies, had +to reckon with the chances of battle as well as with those of blockade. +The Austrians never gave much trouble, except, like the Germans, with +their submarines; and after the Italians had joined us (May 1915) the +Austrian Navy was hopelessly outclassed. + +But the Germans were different. By immense hard work they had passed +every navy in the world except the British; and they were getting +dangerously close even to that. Their Navy did not want war so soon; +and no Germans wanted the sort of war they got. Their Navy wanted to +build and build for another ten or twenty years, hoping that our +Pacifist traitors (who were ready for peace at any price, honour and +liberty of course included) would play the German game by letting the +German Navy outbuild the British. Then _Der Tag_ (the day) would come +in the way the Germans hoped when they drank to it with shouts of _Hoch +der Kaiser!_ (which really meant, _The Kaiser on top, the British +underneath!_ though that is not the translation). To get this kind of +_Tag_ the Germans needed to strike down their victims one by one in +three quite separate wars: first, France and Belgium, Russia and the +Southern Slavs; a thing they could have done with Austria, Bulgaria, +and Turkey on their side and the rest of Europe neutral. Then, having +made sure of their immensely strengthened new position in the world, +_Der Tag_ would come against the British Empire. Last of all, they +would work their will in South America, being by that time far too +strong for the United States. A nightmare plan, indeed! But, with +good luck and good management, and taking us one by one, and always +having our vile Pacifists to help them, this truly devilish plot might +well have been worked out in three successive generations during the +course of the twentieth century. + +As it was, we had trouble enough to beat them; for they fought well by +sea and land and air, though more like devils than like men. The +charge of cowardice against our enemies, especially the Turks and +Germans, is nonsense. Besides, it takes away our own men's glory if +they had nothing more than cowards to put down. Of course the enemy +had cowards, as other peoples have; but they had plenty of brave men +too; and what, that unsurpassable hero of the air, McCudden, said of +one brave German will do for many more. "I shall never forget my +admiration for that German pilot who, single-handed, fought seven of us +for ten minutes, and also put some bullets through all our machines. +His flying was wonderful, his courage magnificent." + +The Germans had not only the advantage of being able to mass nearly all +their navy together but of training it all together on the same North +Sea practice ground, and of building battle squadrons on purpose for +one kind of fight close at home: a single tiger-spring and that was +all. The British, on the other hand, had to build a good many ships +"fit to go foreign" thousands of miles away, and so had to give up much +space to the men's quarters and to fuel; while the Germans could save +half this space for increased power in armour, engines, guns, and other +things suited to one short cruise and tiger-spring near home. Not the +least of the many British triumphs was winning against an enemy who was +so brave, so skilful, so strong in many ways, and so very devilish in +all. + +Now that we know what we are about, let us clear the decks for action +and go full steam ahead right through the fight at sea. + +The British Navy had to help the British Army into France and take care +that the Army's ever-growing forces there, as well as on a dozen +different fronts elsewhere, always had the sea-roads kept open to many +different bases over half the world. The Seven Seas are ten times +bigger than the whole of North and South America. Yet the Navy watched +or kept in touch with every part of all of them. So much for space. +Now for time. Time was needed to get Kitchener's vast new armies +ready. Millions sprang to arms. But it would have been sheer murder +to send them to the front without many months of very hard training. +So the enemy had to be kept at arm's length for a very long time--for +the whole war, indeed, because reinforcements and supplies were always +needed in vast and ever vaster quantities, both from the Mother Country +and from the Empire, Allies, and Neutrals overseas. In addition to +this the British oversea trade routes had to be kept open and the +German ones closed; fisheries protected on one side, attacked on the +other; and an immense sea service carried on for our Allies as well. + +Some staggering facts and figures will be given in the chapter called +"Well done!" Here we shall only note that the Navy, with all its +Reserves and Auxiliaries, grew from two and a half million tons of +shipping to eight millions before the war was over. This means that +the Navy, in spite of all its losses, became bigger than any other +country's navy, mercantile marine, fishing fleet, river steamers, and +all other kinds of shipping, put together, since the world began. When +we add the British mercantile marine, British shipbuilding, the British +fishing fleets, and all the shipping interests of the Empire overseas, +we shall find that British sea-power of all kinds equalled all the +sea-power of all the rest of the world together. Destroy that +sea-power and we die. + +Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands off the north of Scotland was a +perfect base for the Grand Fleet, because it was well placed to watch +the way out of the North Sea through the two-hundred-mile gap between +Norway and the Shetlands, and also because the tremendous tidal +currents sweeping through it prevented submarines from sneaking about +too close. Six hundred miles south-east was the German Fleet, near the +North Sea end of the Kiel Canal. Between lay a hundred and twenty-five +thousand square miles of water on which, taking one day with another +the whole year round, you could not see clearly more than five miles. +This "low average visibility" accounts for all the hide-and-seek that +suited German tricks so well. + +Within three hours of the British Declaration of War two British +submarines were off for Heligoland, where they spied out the enemy's +fleet. From that time on every German move was watched from under the +water, on the water, or over the water, and instantly reported by +wireless to the Admiralty in London and to the Grand Fleet based on +Scapa Flow. + +Then, when the first British army began to cross into France, the Fleet +covered its flank against the Germans, and went on covering it for +fifty-one months without a break, through cold and wet, through +ceaseless watching, and through many fights. + +The first fight was off Heligoland, when British light cruisers and +destroyers went into the Bight on a scouting cruise planned by the +Admiralty, not the Grand Fleet. The German destroyers fell back to +lure the British within range of the enormous guns on Heligoland. That +failed. But suddenly, out of the morning mist, came a bunch of German +shells throwing up water-spouts that almost splashed aboard. Instantly +the British destroyers strung out, farther apart, and put on full +racing speed as the next two bunches crept closer in. _Whirrh!_ went +the fourth, just overhead, as the flotilla flagship _Arethusa_ +signalled to fire torpedoes. At once the destroyers turned, all +together, lashing the sea into foam as their sterns whisked round, and +charged, faster than any cavalry, straight for the enemy. When the +Germans found the range and once more began bunching their shells too +close in, the British destroyers snaked right and left, threw out the +range-finding, and then raced ahead again. In less than ten minutes +they had made more than five miles, fired their torpedoes, and were on +their way back. Then up came the British cruisers and converged on the +_Mainz_, which went down fighting. "The _Mainz_," wrote one of the +British officers who saw her, "was immensely gallant. With her whole +midships a fuming inferno she kept one gun forward and another aft +still spitting forth fury and defiance like a wild cat mad with +wounds." In the mean time Jellicoe, rightly anxious about leaving +British light craft unsupported by heavier vessels so close to the +German Fleet, urged the Admiralty to change their plan by sending on +the battle cruisers. Then up came Beatty's four lordly giants--_Lion, +Queen Mary, Invincible, New Zealand_--and the outclassed Germans +retired. + +[Illustration: DESTROYER.] + +The destroyer _Defender_, having sunk a German, had lowered a whaleboat +to pick up survivors, when she was chased by a big German cruiser. So +there, all alone, was her whaler, a mere open boat, on the enemy's part +of the battlefield. But, through a swirl alongside, up came Submarine +E4, opened her conning tower, took the whole boat's crew aboard, dived +down again before the Germans could catch her, and landed safe home. + +E9 crept in six miles south of Heligoland a fortnight later and sank +the German cruiser _Hela_. But within a week the German von Weddigen +had become the most famous of submarine commanders, for sinking no less +than three British armoured cruisers with the loss of fifteen hundred +men. The _Aboukir_, having been hit first, was closed by the _Hogue_ +and _Cressy_ in order to save her crew. But they were themselves +torpedoed before they could either see their enemy or save their +friends. + +Meanwhile the only German squadron overseas had been doing some +daringly clever work under its first-class admiral, Graf von Spee. +Leaving his worst vessels at Tsing-tao (the German port in China which +was taken by the Japanese and British later on) he sailed into the vast +Pacific with his seven best. On his way south he sent the _Koenigsberg_ +to raid the east coast of Africa and the _Emden_ to raid the Indian +Ocean. The _Koenigsberg_ did a good deal of damage to merchantmen and +sank the much weaker British light cruiser _Pegasus_, which was caught +refitting at Zanzibar and was pounded into scrap iron with the loss of +half her crew. But when the _Koenigsberg_ made off, probably fearing +the arrival of some avenging British, the _Pegasus_ still had her +colours flying, not from the mast, for that was shot away, but in the +steadfast hands of two undauntable Marines. + +The _Emden_ was the most wonderful raider of modern times; and her +captain, von Mueller, behaved much better than the general run of +Germans. Arrived in the Indian Ocean he bagged six ships in five days, +sending all the crews into Calcutta in the sixth after sinking the +rest. But he soon beat this by twice taking no less than seven ships +in a single day! Then he dashed into Penang and sank the unready +Russian cruiser _Jemchug_ on his way in and the ready little French +destroyer _Mousquet_ on his way out. The _Mousquet_ hadn't the ghost +of a chance. But she went straight for the _Emden_ and fought till she +sank; her heroic captain, with both legs blown off, commanding her to +the very last gasp. By this time, however, the net was closing in; and +twelve days later the big Australian cruiser _Sydney_ finished the +_Emden_ on Cocos Island Reef. + +Meanwhile von Spee's five cruisers had been pressed south by the clever +network of Japanese warships working over the vast area of the Pacific +under the orders of a staff officer watching every move from his desk +at Tokyo. Sir Christopher Cradock was waiting to catch the Germans. +But his slow battleship _Canopus_ had not yet joined him when (November +1), with only three cruisers and one armed merchantman, he attacked +them off Coronel on the coast of Chili; though they were very hard to +see, being against the mountains, while his own ships were clearly +outlined against a brilliant sunset. Ordering the armed merchantman +away he began the fight between the armoured cruisers: _Good Hope_ and +_Monmouth_ against _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_. The German ships +were newer, faster, better armed, and the best shooting vessels of the +German fleet. The first of their salvoes (volleys) to get home set the +_Good Hope_ blazing fore and aft. There was a gale blowing and big +seas running; so the end soon came. Cradock's last signal was for the +light cruiser _Glasgow_ to save herself, as she could do no further +service. But she stood by the _Monmouth_, whose own captain also +ordered her away with the signal that, being too hard hit to escape +himself, he would try to close the enemy so as to give the _Glasgow_ a +better chance. Suddenly, like a volcano, the _Good Hope_ was rent by a +shattering explosion. Then the _Monmouth_ began sinking by the head, +and her guns ceased firing. No boat could live in those mountainous +seas. So the _Glasgow_, now under the fire of the whole German +squadron, raced away for her life. + +Von Spee then swept the coast; and British vessels had to take refuge +in Chilean harbours. But Captain Kinnear, a merchant skipper, ran the +gauntlet with a skill and courage which nothing could surpass. Off the +dreaded Straits of Magellan a German cruiser chased him at twenty-one +knots, his own _Ortega's_ regular full speed being only fourteen. But +he called for volunteers to help the stokers, whereupon every one of +the two hundred Frenchmen going home to fight at once stepped forward, +stripped to the waist, and whacked her up to eighteen. Yet still the +cruiser kept closing up. So Kinnear turned into Nelson's Channel, the +very worst channel in the very worst straits in the world, unlit, +uncharted, and full of the wildest currents swirling through pinnacle +rocks and over hidden reefs. The cruiser stopped, dumbfounded. The +_Ortega_ then felt her way ahead, got through without a scratch, and +took her Frenchmen safe to France. + +Von Spee presently rounded the Horn and made for the Falkland Islands, +the British naval base in the South Atlantic. But, only a month after +the news of Coronel had found Sir Doveton Sturdee sitting at his desk +in London as the Third Sea Lord of the Admiralty, his avenging squadron +had reached the Falklands more than eight thousand miles away. Next +morning von Spee also arrived; whereupon Sturdee's much stronger +squadron sprang out of Port Stanley and began a chase which could only +have one ending. Von Spee turned to fight, with his two armoured +cruisers against the two over-powering battle cruisers of the British, +so that his three light cruisers might "star away" at their utmost +speed, on three divergent courses, in an effort to escape. Vain hope! +Sturdee's battle cruisers sank the _Scharnhorst_ and _Gneisenau_, while +his other cruisers sank two of the three German cruisers. All the +Germans went down with colours flying and fighting to the very last. +Only the little _Dresden_ escaped; to be sunk three months later by two +British cruisers at Robinson Crusoe's island of Juan Fernandez, four +hundred miles off the coast of Chili. + +From this time forward not a single enemy warship sailed the outer +seas. The Austrians were blockaded in the Adriatic, the Germans in the +North Sea, and the Turks at the east end of the Mediterranean. Now and +then a German merchantman would be armed in the German colonies or in +some friendly neutral harbour and prey on British trade routes for a +time. But very few of these escaped being sunk after a very short +career; and those that did get home never came out again. So 1914 +closed with such a British command over the surface of the sea as even +Nelson had never imagined. The worst of the horrible submarine war was +still to come. But that is a different story. + +The joint expedition of French and British against the Turks and +Germans in the Dardanelles filled 1915 with many a deed of more or less +wasted daring. Victory would have meant so much: joining hands with +Russia in the Black Sea, getting the Russian wheat crop from Odessa, +driving the Turks from Constantinople, and cutting right through the +Berlin-to-Bagdad line. But, once the Allied Governments had given the +enemy time to hold the Dardanelles in full force, the only right way to +reach Constantinople was the back way round by land through Greece and +Turkey, combined with attacks on the Dardanelles. This, however, +needed a vastly larger army than the Governments could spare. So, +despite the objections of Fisher, their naval adviser, they sent fleets +and armies to wear themselves out against the Dardanelles, till +Kitchener, their military adviser, got leave to take off all that were +left. + +[Illustration: A PARTING SHOT FROM THE TURKS AT GALLIPOLI.] + +The politicians had blundered badly over the whole campaign. But the +French and British soldiers and sailors, after fighting gloriously +against long odds, managed their retirement in a way which might serve +as the perfect model of what such retirements should be. The Turks and +Germans, though eager to crown their victorious defence by smashing the +fleet and army which had so long attacked them, were completely +hoodwinked. The French and British kept up the cleverest show of force +till the last streak of daylight had died away. Then, over the worst +of broken ground, down terrific slopes, and across the puzzling +beaches, the gallant armies marched, silent as the grave and regular as +clock-work. The boats were loaded and taken off to their appointed +places as skilfully as Wolfe's were brought down the St. Lawrence the +night before the Battle of the Plains. Next morning the astounded +enemy found an empty land in front of them; while the sea was swarming +with crowded transports, safe beyond the retiring men-of-war. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +JUTLAND + +(1916) + +At four o'clock in the morning of the 4th of August, 1914, Lord +Jellicoe opened the secret orders appointing him Commander-in-chief of +the Grand Fleet, which was then ready waiting in Scapa Flow, the great +war harbour in the Orkney Islands off the far north coast of Scotland. +Twenty-two months later, off the Jutland Bank of Denmark, he fought +that battle of the giant navies for which the Germans had so long +prepared. Of course the Germans did not want Jutland at the time it +came. For, as we have seen already, they wished to have two quite +separate wars, the first against the French and Russians, the second +against the British; and, if the British had only kept out for as many +months as the Americans did years, the Germans and their allies would +certainly have won this first war, besides gaining an immensely better +chance of winning the second war as well. Even as it was, they were +not only very strong on land but also very strong at sea. They were +easily the second sea-power in the world, in regard to both their navy +and their merchant shipping. Moreover, they had many advantages, even +over the British. This is so little known, and it is so important for +a proper understanding of what took place at Jutland, that we must +begin by looking a little more closely into the strong and weak points +of the two great rival navies. + +[Illustration: JELLICOE.] + +So far as fitness for battle depended on the officers and men of the +Navy itself the Grand Fleet was as nearly perfect as anything could be. +Sprung from the finest race of seamen in the world, trained for a +longer time than any foreigners, and belonging to what everyone for +centuries has known to be the first of all the navies, the British +bluejackets formed the handiest crews you could have found in any age +or country. Their officers knew how to handle men, ships, and fleets +alike; and every one had been long "tuned up" for instant action. The +gunnery stood every test, as the Germans know to their cost; and it +actually got better as the fight grew worse, partly because the British +keep so cool, and partly because length of expert training tells more +and more as the storm and stress increase. It was the same in the +engine room, the same in everything, right up to the supreme art of +handling a fleet at racing speed in the midst of a battle on which the +fate of freedom hung. + +But when we come to those things that depended on the Government there +is a very different tale to tell, because no government can get money +for the Navy without votes in Parliament, and men cannot become Members +of Parliament without the votes of the People, and most people will not +spend enough money to get ready for even a life-or-death war unless +they see the danger very close at hand, right in among the other things +that press hard upon their notice. Looking after the country's safety +needs so much time, so much knowledge, and so much thinking out that it +has to be left, like all other kinds of public service, to the +Government, which consists of a few leaders acting as the agents of +Parliament, which, in its turn, consists of a few hundred members +elected by the People in their millions. Whatever government is in +power for the time being can, as the trusted agent of the People's +chosen Parliament, do whatever it likes with the Army and Navy. The +great soldiers and sailors, who know most about war, can only tell the +Government what they think. The Government can then follow this expert +advice or not, just as it pleases. Now, even in time of approaching +danger, the trouble is that governments are always tempted to say and +do what costs the least money and gives the least cause for alarm, +because they think the People like that best. This was the case with +the British governments in power during the fourteen years before the +war, when Germany was straining every nerve to get the better of the +British Navy. They were warned again and again. But they saw that +most of the People, who were not watching the coming German storm, +wanted most of the money spent on other things. So they did not like +to hear the expert truth; they feared to tell the People; and they +hoped the worst would never happen. But it did happen; and it found +many a weak spot due to the Government; though not one that was due to +the Navy itself. "Well, it's all going just as we expected," said Sir +Charles Madden to Lord Jellicoe in the conning tower of the _Iron Duke_ +in the middle of the Jutland battle. So it did. Everything that +really mattered was foreseen by the real naval experts. You never +catch the Navy napping. + +But you do catch governments, parliaments, and people napping very +often. Yet here we should not be unjust either to governments in +general or to those of our Mother Country in particular. Governments +of free countries depend upon the People; so we must all take our share +of the blame for what our own elected agents do wrong or fail to do +right. And as for the Mother Country; well, with all her faults, she +did the best of any. We cannot fairly compare her with the +self-governing Dominions, like Canada and Australia, because she had so +very much more to do. Her war work was more than twice as hard as +theirs, even in proportion to her strength; and she led the whole +Empire in making the greatest efforts and by far the greatest +sacrifices. But we can compare her with our Allies; and, if we do, we +shall find her stand the test. For if her Government made mistakes +before the war, so did that French Government whose Prime Minister, +Caillaux, had to be tried as a traitor during the war. So, too, did +that party in Italy which favoured the Germans against the true Italian +patriots. And how about the Peace Party in the United States that kept +the Americans out of all but the end of the war, gaining a whole world +of money and almost losing the nation's soul? + +Great Britain gave the Navy what most voters think are needed for a +war, especially such things as the papers talked of most, like +dreadnoughts, guns, and torpedoes. But there was a lack of light +cruisers and destroyers to fight off the same kind of German craft, +guard the seaways, and kill the sneaking submarines. The docks in +which ships are built and mended make little show for the money spent +on them; so the Government never asked Parliament for enough till the +war broke out, which meant that some dreadnoughts had to be more or +less cramped so as to fit into the old-fashioned docks. The decks of +the battle cruisers were not strong enough to keep out armour-piercing +shells; so two of them were sunk at Jutland that might have otherwise +been saved. The means of guarding the big ships against mines and +submarines wore not nearly good enough at the start. There were +fishing craft enough, and fishermen who were as good sailors as the +world has ever seen, and dockyard hands enough to build new boats to +fish for the deadly mines and spread the nets for nosing submarines. +But they were not used in time. + +Now look at the Germans. Their officers knew their navy had no chance +in a fair stand-up fight with Jellicoe's Grand Fleet. But even these +officers hoped that their mines and submarines, with a streak of good +luck, might make the odds more even. Apart from their naval experts +the Germans had no doubt at all. Their bluejackets and the German +people as a whole thought everything German the best in the world; and +long before the war the million members of the German Navy League had +been persuading the people to vote most of the money the Kaiser wanted +for his fleet. The Kiel Canal let the German High Sea Fleet play +hide-and-seek between the North Sea and the Baltic without the +slightest risk on the way. The British, on the other hand, could only +get into the Baltic by going round between Denmark and Sweden, both +being neutrals whose territories could not be touched. The way through +is so narrow that the water is all "territorial," that is, it belongs +to the countries beside it, and was, therefore, as neutral as they +were. But even if Denmark and Sweden had let the Grand Fleet go +through, it would have gone to certain defeat; for a weaker navy inside +the Baltic could have crushed the British as they came through one by +one--the only possible way. + +Now look at the North Sea, which was the real battleground. The area +is about a hundred and twenty-five thousand square miles. But the +average distance you can see clearly, taking one day with another all +the year round, is only five miles. This was very nice for lurking +mines, sneaking submarines, and sudden cruiser raids against the +British coasts. The coastline of the British Isles is more than twenty +times as long as the North Sea coast of Germany, much easier to +navigate and very much harder to defend--another advantage for the +Germans. The Grand Fleet could not attack the German coast, which has +only three good seaways into it, which has a string of islands off it, +and which, difficult for foreign ships in time of peace, is impossible +in time of war. The whole of the shore and off-shore islands were full +of big guns in strong forts--and remember that you can sink a fleet, +though you can't sink a coast--while the waters were full of mines and +submarines. + +Moreover, in destroyers, which are as dangerous out at sea as they are +round a base, the German "High Sea Fleet" began with no less than +eighty-eight against the forty-two in the British "Grand Fleet." The +British had so many narrow seaways to defend that they could not spare +Jellicoe nearly enough light cruisers or destroyers. It was only after +Jutland that the Grand Fleet became so very much stronger than the High +Sea Fleet. Before Jutland the odds in favour of the British battle +squadrons were only about four to three; and the Germans had special +advantages in searchlights that showed up everything except the +position of the ships that carried them, in wonderfully bright and +bewildering star-shells, in the gear for bringing all the quick-firing +guns of the big ships to bear at once on light craft trying to torpedo +them, and in very cleverly made delay-shells, which could go through +all but the thickest armour and then burst inside the vitals of a ship. +It was one of these shells that blew up the _Queen Mary_, the finest of +all the British battle cruisers. + +Then, as we have seen already, another German advantage, and a very +great advantage, was that, while most British men-of-war had to be +built for general service all round the world, the German High Sea +Fleet (which meant nine-tenths of all the German Navy) could be built +specially for one great battle close at home. Not nearly so much room +was needed for the men to live in, because they were always near the +naval barracks at Wilhelmshaven; and not nearly so much space was +required for fuel. The weight and space saved in these two ways could +all be used for extra shells, thicker armour, and other kinds of +special strength. Thus the Germans were even stronger than the number +of their men-of-war would lead you to think; and they were strongest of +all for battles at night or in misty weather near their own base. The +battle of Jutland seemed to have been made on purpose to suit them. + +In 1914 the Germans had been very much encouraged by the sinking of the +three British cruisers, _Hague_, _Cressy_, and _Aboukir_ in the North +Sea, by the _Emden's_ famous raid in the Indian Ocean, by von Spee's +victory at Coronel in the Pacific, and by the way the Kaiser and all +the German papers boasted. In 1915 they were encouraged by the French +and British failure against the Turks and Germans at the Dardanelles. +In 1916, however, they began to feel the pinch of the British blockade +so badly that they were eager for a sea-fight that would ease it off. +If they had the finest navy in the world, why didn't it wipe the Grand +Fleet off the North Sea altogether? At the same time the British +public and the Allies wanted to know why the Grand Fleet didn't wipe +the Germans off. + +We have just seen why the Grand Fleet could not force on a battle round +the German base. But the reason why the Germans could not try to +snatch a victory out of some lucky chance at the beginning of the war, +when the odds were least against them, was of quite a different kind. +The fact was that thousands of their trained seamen were hopelessly cut +off from Germany by the British Navy. Nearly every German merchant +ship outside of the North Sea or the Baltic was either taken by the +British or chased into some neutral port from which it never got out. +The crews were mostly reservists in the German Navy. They were ready +for the call to arms. But they could not answer it. So new men had to +be trained. Meanwhile the one good chance slipped away; for by the +time these recruits had been trained the Grand Fleet had grown much +stronger than before. + +On the 31st of May, 1916, Jellicoe's whole force was making one of its +regular "drives" across the North Sea in two huge but handy fleets. +The Battle Cruiser Fleet under Beatty was fifty miles south of the +Battle Fleet, which was under Jellicoe himself. Jellicoe and Beatty, +the chosen leaders of the greatest fleet of the greatest navy in the +greatest war in the world, had long been marked men. They were old +friends, having fought side by side against the Boxer rebellion in +China in 1900, the year the German Navy Bill was passed by the German +Parliament on purpose to endanger the "mightiest" of foreign +navies--that is, the British. They had both been wonderfully keen +students of every branch of naval warfare, from the handling of a +single gun or ship to the supreme art of handling this "mightiest" of +fleets; and both they and Sir Charles Madden, the Chief of Staff, were +looked upon as being the very fittest of the fit. + +But even the best of men and ships will not make the best fleet unless +trained and "tuned up" to act together; and here, in its combined +manuoeuvres, lay the crowning glory of the vast Grand Fleet. One day a +visitor was watching it fight a sham battle against an enemy firing big +guns at long range, when up came a real enemy, in the form of a German +submarine, much closer than the sham. Of course the visitor turned his +glasses on the "sub" and on the destroyers racing after it, like +greyhounds slipped from the leash. But when, a few minutes later, he +looked round at the fleet, he could hardly believe his eyes; for there +it was, moving, mile upon mile of it, in a completely new formation, +after a sort of magic "general post" that had made light craft and +battle-line entirely change places, over an area of a hundred square +miles, without a moment's slackening of speed. Hundreds of vessels had +been in the best formation to fight each other on the surface. Now +they were in the best formation to fight submarines. Then came four of +those "sea-quakes" that make you feel as if your own ship had been +torpedoed, but which really were depth-charges dropped round the +submarine. Then an anxious pause, quickly followed by "all clear," and +that by another fleet order which changed the whole formation back +again as easily as if the lines of wheeling ships had been a single +piece of clockwork and their two million tons of steel had simply +answered to the touching of a single spring. + + +_First Round of the Great Fight: 2.30 to 4.38 P.M. Beatty and Hipper +with their Battle Cruisers._ + +At noon on the fateful 31st the Grand Fleet turned north and the German +Fleet turned south, each having come to the end of its "drive," and +neither knowing that the other one was there. The weather had been +very warm and fine; but the North Sea mists had risen in time to veil +the fleets from Zeppelins and other aircraft. Jellicoe's Battle Fleet +was going north within a hundred miles of southern Norway, and von +Scheer's Battle Fleet was going south within a hundred miles of the +Jutland coast of Denmark, when the two Battle Cruiser Fleets under +Beatty and von Hipper suddenly saw each other's smoke, half way between +Jellicoe and Scheer, and a hundred miles west of the Skager Rack. +Jellicoe and Scheer were then more than a hundred miles apart. But the +_Galatea's_ wireless report to Beatty, that there was smoke to the +eastward, was caught by the wireless receivers aboard the _Iron Duke_, +Jellicoe's flagship; whereupon Jellicoe ordered steam to be raised for +full speed. + +Beatty at once turned east and made straight for Hipper, to cut him off +from his base, force him to fight, and lure Scheer back to save him. +This would give Jellicoe time to come up and get in the knock-out blow +for which he prepared by ordering the Battle Fleet to clear for action +at 3.10. At 3.30 a British seaplane, sent up by Beatty, and flying +within two miles of the nearest German craft, reported five battle +cruisers steaming south. At the same moment Jellicoe thrilled his own +command by signalling that a battle was expected. Hipper was hurrying +to join Scheer's battle fleet, which now was racing north as Jellicoe's +was racing south. Beatty then formed his six battle cruisers in +line-ahead ("follow-my-leader") while his four fast _Queen Elisabeth_ +battleships followed as hard as they could. He thus had ten +dreadnoughts to fight Hipper's five. But he and Hipper were racing +south toward Scheer and away from Jellicoe. Yet that could not be +helped. Hipper must not be allowed to escape; and Scheer must first be +found and then lured on toward Jellicoe. + +At twelve minutes to four both sides began firing at a range of eight +miles and a speed of nearly thirty (land) miles an hour. Jutland was a +gunner's battle, just as the naval experts had foretold; though +torpedoes played their part. It was much too fast and furious for +submarines; and the thickening mist made aircraft useless. Hipper's +five ships hit hard at Beatty's six; and one big German shell reached +the vitals of the _Indefatigable_, which blew up like a mine. There +was a shattering crash, an enormous spurt of flame, a horrid "flurry" +on the water; and ship and crew went down. That left five all. But, +after the battle cruisers had been at it for twenty minutes, the four +_Queen Elizabeths_ (that is, battleships of the same kind as the +"Q.E.") began heaving shells from eleven miles astern. Ten minutes +later the central German dreadnought turned out of line a mass of +seething fire. But, after five minutes more, the magnificent _Queen +Mary_, Beatty's champion shooting battle cruiser, was simply torn in +two by the explosion of her magazine. This left four all in battle +cruisers, with the four fast British battleships straining their last +turn of speed to come up. + +[Illustration: BEATTY.] + +Meanwhile fifteen German and twelve British destroyers charged out +together to try their torpedoes, met in the middle, and had a fierce +fight. Two Germans went down; but the British formation was broken, +and only three closed the German battle cruisers, which received them +with a perfect hurricane of shells from their quick-firing guns, +sinking one, disabling another, and forcing the third to retire. +Commander Bingham, who won the V.C. by leading this skilful and gallant +attack, had his destroyer, the _Nestor_, sunk under him. But he was +saved, as if by a miracle, and taken prisoner aboard a German +man-of-war. + + +_Second Round: Beatty luring Scheer and Hipper on towards Jellicoe: +4.38 to 5.50 P.M._ + +Commodore Goodenough's splendid light cruisers went scouting ahead till +they met Scheer racing north. Then they turned north themselves, under +a tremendous outburst of fire, to rejoin Beatty, who now, changing from +pursuer to pursued, also turned north to join Jellicoe. The Germans, +with their twenty-two dreadnoughts, now hoped _Der Tag_ had really come +for Beatty's eight. But Beatty hit hard and drove a German battle +cruiser out of the line very badly mauled. Shortly afterwards the +destroyer _Moresby_ fired a torpedo which hit a German battleship. +There was a tremendous burst of steam and smoke; and, when this had +cleared off, the German was seen to be on fire. But Beatty's strong +point was speed. His battle cruisers and four fast _Queen Elizabeth_ +battleships could do a good bit more than the slowest Germans; and as +the Germans now had to keep together, in case Jellicoe came up, their +whole line could go no faster than its slowest ship. Starting with a +lead and putting on a spurt Beatty turned gradually more to the +eastward, that is, toward the German line, which then had to turn and +keep parallel or else let him cross its T. If you will separate the +crosspiece from the upright of a T--for big ships fight some miles +apart--you will see quite plainly that ships in a line like the upright +of the T have no chance at all against ships in a line like the +crosspiece of the T. The crosspiece line can converge all its +broadsides on the leading ship of the upright, smash it utterly, and +then do the same to the next, and the next. So the Germans, having to +keep together and having to keep parallel to Beatty, were gradually +forced eastwards, which would give Jellicoe the best chance to come +into line against them. + + +_The Third and Greatest Round: Jellicoe forms his Victorious Line of +Battle: 5.50 to 6.38 P.M._ + +For three hours and a half Jellicoe, with his twenty-four dreadnought +battleships, had been racing south to reach the scene of action. He +had gained at first, when Beatty was going east to find von Hipper. He +had lost when Hipper and Beatty were racing south to meet von Scheer. +But now the whole battle was coming north to meet him. As the +battlefield kept shifting about, and the fortunes of the fight kept +changing, he shaped his course accordingly. But he never slackened +speed, racing along under every pound of steam the straining ships +could carry, thanks to the skill of those quiet heroes of the +engine-room, who, seeing nothing of either friend or foe, never know +anything of either defeat or victory, life or death, till all is over +either with the battle or themselves. + +As the great Battle Fleet came rushing from the north every eye was +strained to catch the first sight of Beatty and the Germans. The +thunder of a thousand guns rolled far across that summer sea. It was +heard along the coast of Jutland a hundred miles away; and the main +body of the Grand Fleet knew _The Day_ had come long before they +reached the battlefield. Presently the flashes began sparkling into +view; and then the ships themselves loomed up, dimly made out through +mist and smoke. + +Jellicoe did not yet know exactly where the Germans were, and Beatty +could not tell what they would do now Jellicoe had come. But Beatty +turned sharp east immediately he sighted Jellicoe, and the Germans soon +turned too, fearing to have him cross their T while Jellicoe was +rounding on them. They wanted to escape, seeing the fight was +hopeless. But they could not take the quickest way, that of turning +all together--each ship turning right round where she was and making +off as hard as she could--because this would have changed the places of +the admirals and put the battle cruisers in the rear as well. Nor +could they safely turn right back on their course, while keeping the +same line-ahead, because some ships would then be masking the fire of +others till the whole line had been reversed; and they sorely needed +every gun they had. So the only way left was to keep parallel with +Beatty till a chance came to turn sharply enough to get away, but not +sharply enough to mask any of their own fire. + +Imagine the whole enormous battlefield as something like a target, with +the Germans circling round the bull's-eye, Beatty round the inner, and +Jellicoe just coming into the outer. From Beatty's reports and his own +observation Jellicoe could not know even that before six. So he sent +out his own battle cruiser squadron under Admiral Hood to lengthen +Beatty's line and overlap the Germans. Hood then sent one of his light +cruisers, the _Chester_, speeding ahead to scout. But three German +light cruisers held her up in a furious fight of twenty minutes. The +_Chester_ fought desperately, losing more than half her men, but +getting her scout work done in spite of the fearful odds against her. +How well she fought may be found out from the story of Jack Cornwell; +for he was only one of her many heroes. Ship's boy, first class, and +sixteen years of age, Jack Cornwell would have been the youngest V.C. +in the world had he lived to wear it. With every man in the gun's crew +round him dead or dying, and with the gun-shield shot away, he stood +there, under a terrific fire, mortally wounded, with the receivers at +his ears, reporting exactly what had happened to everyone except +himself, and calmly waiting for orders how to carry on. + +When the battered _Chester_ told Hood he was too far south-east he +turned back north-west till he sighted Beatty coming toward him at full +speed. On Beatty's orders he then carried out Jellicoe's plan by +turning back so as to lengthen Beatty's line of battle cruisers at the +forward end, thus overlapping the Germans. This splendidly skilful and +most daring move so alarmed the Germans that they trained every gun +they could on him in a furious effort to wipe out the deadly overlap. +He led the gallant line, "bringing his squadron into action ahead in a +most inspiring manner, worthy of his great naval ancestors." (He was +the great-great-grandson of the Lord Hood whom Nelson always called the +best of naval officers.) His flagship, the _Invincible_, hit back with +all her might, helped by the ships astern. "Keep it up," called Hood +to his gunnery officer, Commander Dannreuther, one of the six +survivors, "every shot is hitting them." But the converging fire of a +hundred giant guns simply smashed the _Invincible_ from stem to stern. +At last a huge shell reached her magazine, and she blew up like a +volcano; sheets of flame leaping higher than her masts, boats and loose +gear whirling higher still, like leaves in an autumn gale, and then one +sickening belch of steamy smoke to tell that all was over. After this +Hood's two remaining battle cruisers took station astern of Beatty's +four. + +[Illustration: LIGHT CRUISER.] + +Meanwhile another light cruiser of Hood's, the _Canterbury_, was trying +to protect three destroyers, led by the _Shark_, that were fighting +German light cruisers and destroyers. Hipper and Scheer were doing +their very utmost to keep Beatty and Jellicoe at arm's length till they +could complete the German turn round the bull's-eye and make an effort +to get off the deadly target altogether. For if Jellicoe could range +round the inner, at higher speed and with an overlap, they would +certainly be rounded up and crushed to death. The German light +cruisers and destroyers therefore attacked the British light craft with +the greatest fury, hoping to destroy the screen behind which Jellicoe +would form his line of battle in safety from torpedoes. As the _Shark_ +charged down at the head of her line she suddenly found two lines of +German destroyers charging towards her. Nothing daunted, she went +straight on, her pulsing engines making her quiver with the thrilling +race for life or death between them. Once abreast of them she fired +her guns and torpedoes right and left, sinking two German destroyers, +one on each side, and giving the rest as good as she got, till, hit by +torpedoes on both sides together, she sank like a stone. Her +commander, Loftus Jones, was awarded the second posthumous V.C. for the +wonderfully gallant way he fought her till she went down with colours +flying. Her last torpedo, when just on the point of being fired, was +hit by a German shell and exploded, killing and wounding everybody +near. Then another shell took Jones's leg off. But he still fought +the one gun left in action, firing its last round as the waters closed +above him. + +About the same time the destroyer _Onslow_ made for a German light +cruiser that was trying to torpedo Beatty's flagship, _Lion_. Hitting +the light cruiser with every gun at short range she then passed on to +try her own torpedoes on the German battle cruisers, when a big shell +scooped out most of her midships above the water-line. Retiring slowly +she again met the light cruiser and this time finished her with a +torpedo. Finding he had two torpedoes left Commander Tovey then made +for the German battle line with the last ounce of steam the _Onslow's_ +engines could work off. He fired them both, and probably hit the +dreadnought that was seen to reel out of line about three minutes +later. The _Defender_, though herself half wrecked by several hits, +then limped up and took the _Onslow_ in tow till one o'clock the next +afternoon, when tugs had come to the rescue. + +[Illustration: H.M.S. _Monmouth_, Armoured Cruiser. Sunk at Coronel, +November 1st, 1914.] + +The strongest of all the lighter ships that cleared the way for +Jellicoe's battle fleet were the armoured cruisers, which are about +half way between the light and battle cruisers. Sir Robert Arbuthnot's +First Armoured Cruiser Squadron, speeding ahead of Jellicoe, swooped +down on the German light cruisers in grand style, sank one, lamed two, +and was driving the rest before it, helter-skelter, when, without a +moment's warning, the huge hulls of the German battle line loomed out +of the mist at almost point-blank range! In his eagerness to make +short work of all the German light craft in the way Sir Robert had lost +his bearings in the baffling mist and run right in between the two +great battle lines. Quick as a flash he fought the German giants with +every gun that he could bring to bear while turning back to take his +proper station on the flank. But he was doomed and knew it. Yet, even +at that fatal moment, his first thought was for the men whom, through +no fault of his own, he had led into this appalling death-trap; and +besides the order to turn back he signalled the noble apology to all +hands under his command: "I beg your pardon." The end came soon. A +perfect tornado of gigantic shells had struck his flagship, the +_Defence_, at the very first salvo. She reeled under the terrific +shock and had hardly begun to right herself before her sides were +smashed in by another. At the third she crumpled up and sank with +every soul aboard of her. Her next astern and second, the _Black +Prince_, and the _Warrior_, managed to crawl away under cover of the +mist. But both went down; though the battered _Black Prince_ survived +to be sunk by German battleships during the night. + +[Illustration: BATTLESHIP FIRING A BROADSIDE.] + +About this time, just after six, the fight was at its very fiercest, +especially between the opposing light craft. It was a question of life +or death for the Germans to keep the British light craft away and use +their own to the utmost while their battle line was turning toward the +west in a desperate effort to keep ahead of Jellicoe. This was not +cowardice, but a desire to save the German fleet from utter ruin once +victory was seen to be impossible. Not all the brave deeds were on one +side. How much the Grand Fleet's honour would be dimmed if its +opponents had been cowards or if its own commander had failed to give +the enemy his due! "The enemy," said Jellicoe in his dispatch, "fought +with the gallantry that was expected of him, and showed humanity in +rescuing officers and men from the water. I particularly admired the +conduct of those on board a disabled German light cruiser which passed +down the British line under a heavy fire that was returned by the only +gun still left in action." But of course this was well matched by many +a vessel on the British side, in a fight so fierce and a turmoil so +appalling that only men of iron training and steel nerves could face +it. Light craft of all kinds were darting to and fro, attacking, +defending, firing guns and torpedoes, smashing and being smashed, +sinking and being sunk, and trying to help or hinder the mighty lines +of battle whose own gigantic guns flashed and thundered without a +moment's pause. + +As Jellicoe closed in to get the strangle-hold his mighty battle fleet +had, in very truth, to go through fire and water: the racing ships, +their slashing bows and seething wakes; the pall of smoke, stabbed by +ten thousand points of fire, together making the devil's +colours--yellow, red, and black; the leaping waterspouts thrown up by +shells that missed; the awful crashings when the shells struck home; +the vessels reeling under well-aimed, relentless salvoes; the ships on +fire beyond the reach of human aid; the weirdness of the mist that +veiled these dreadful horrors, or made them ghastlier still, or +suddenly brought friend and foe together either to sink or swim; the +summer sea torn into the maddest storm by ships and shells; while, +through and round the whole of this inferno, there swelled and +thundered the stunning roar of such a giant fight as other navies had +never seen or even dreamt of. So deafening was this roar, and so +absorbing were the changes of the fight, that when a ton-weight shell +swept overboard every atom of the bridge aboard the leading ship of a +flotilla--with compass, chart-house, engine-room-telegraph, steering +wheel, and every soul on duty there--the men on "monkey's island," just +above the bridge, never knew their ship was even hit till she began to +run amuck and rammed another British vessel! + +This was the battle into which Jellicoe had to fit his own vast force +of twenty-four dreadnoughts without checking Beatty, without letting +the Germans get a clear run home, and without risking the loss of his +own best battleships by making one false move. At four minutes to six +Jellicoe sighted Beatty. Five minutes later he asked him for the +position of the German line. Nine minutes later he asked again. The +smoke and mist were so bad at first that it was not till 6.14 that +Beatty could say exactly. At 6.16--just two minutes later--Jellicoe's +plan was made and his orders had gone out. There, in the conning tower +of the _Iron Duke_, within those two short minutes, he had calmly +thought out every chance and change and way of going into action under +conditions which could not have been worse for him or better for the +Germans. + +His twenty-four battleships were in six divisions, side by side, each +division in line ahead, and all numbered off from port (left) to +starboard (right). The leading ship of the 1st, or port wing, division +was the _King George V_. The leading ship of the 6th, or starboard +wing division, was the _Marlborough_. His own flagship, the _Iron +Duke_, led the 3rd division. + +[Illustration: Jellicoe's Battle Fleet in Columns of Divisions. 6.14 +P.M.] + +The supreme moment had now arrived. There was not a second to lose; +for the fleets were covering more miles in an hour than armies do in a +whole day. But if he formed line on the starboard wing, the nearer to +the Germans, he would have had to wait some time till Beatty's battle +cruisers had drawn clear. During this dangerous pause, while his own +fire would have to be blanketed by Beatty, the German battle line would +have had a double British target to make hits on, and the German light +craft would have had the best chance of catching him with their +torpedoes while he was in the act of forming line. Moreover, the +German line might have concentrated on the starboard wing before the +port had taken station, and might have overlapped the whole line +afterwards. Jellicoe therefore decided to form on the port wing, +giving his own line the chances of the overlap, and then fit in astern +of Beatty. But, being ready by the time Beatty's battle cruisers were +drawing ahead, he fitted in his own line between these and the four +fast _Queen Elizabeths_ that formed the rear of Beatty's line. Thus, +in the very worst of this gigantic battle, the twelve miles of the +final British line were formed. Three battle cruisers had been sunk: +the _Indefatigable_, _Invincible_, and _Queen Mary_. One fast +battleship, the _Warspite_, had fallen astern with a damaged helm. But +six battle cruisers still led the van. Twenty-four fresh battleships +followed. And three fast _Queen Elizabeths_ brought up the rear. +Jellicoe then personally commanded a single line-ahead twelve miles +long and dreadnoughts all. Every part of every change was made as +perfectly as if at the King's review. You could not have made the line +straighter with a ruler, nor placed it better if the Germans had been +standing still. For as Beatty's overlap kept turning them from north +to east and east to south, to save their T from being crossed, +Jellicoe's whole line had now worked to the landward side of them, that +is, between them and their great home base on the German coast. + + +Fourth Round: Jellicoe Victorious: 6.50 to 9.00 P.M. + +Driven to desperation by being overlapped and turned away from Germany, +the Germans made a supreme effort to escape toward the south-west, thus +completing their circle round the bull's-eye, as Jellicoe began to +round them up from the inner. Their destroyers spouted forth an +immense grey smoke screen; the mist helped them to hide; and the sun +went into a bank of clouds. As they ran they fired shoals of +torpedoes, which are much deadlier for the chasers, who go toward them, +than for the chased, who go from them. The battleship _Marlborough_, +flagship of Sir Cecil Burney, Jellicoe's Second-in-Command, was hit and +began to list over. But she was so strong and so well handled that +within ten minutes she was at it again. She had already fought two +battleships and a cruiser while the British line was forming. Now she +caught another German battleship with fourteen salvoes running and +drove her out of line. + +[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND--PLAN II. Jellicoe's battle line +formed and fighting. 6:38 P.M.] + +The Germans fired every torpedo they could bring to bear; and nothing +but Jellicoe's supreme skill, backed by the skill of all his captains, +saved his battleships from losing at least a third of their number. +Observers aloft watched the enemy manoeuvring to fire and then reported +to Jellicoe, who, keeping in line as long as possible for the sake of +the guns, turned the fleet end-on, away from Scheer, just in time to +prevent the torpedoes catching it broadside on, and then left each +captain free to work his own ship till that shoal of torpedoes had +passed. The torpedoes arrived at about thirty miles an hour, shoals of +them together, and showing no sign but the little line of bubbles from +their screws. But most of them were spotted and not one got home. The +_Revenge_ worked her perilous way between a couple, one just missing +her rudder and the other almost grazing her bows. + +During the whole of this fourth round the fight went on by fits and +starts. Whenever any part of the enemy's line showed up through the +thickening mist the British guns turned on it with shattering salvoes. +The _Iron Duke_, whose gunnery was simply perfect, caught a big German +battleship for a few minutes only. But by the time the mist had shut +down again the German was like a furnace, seething with a mass of +flame. Meanwhile the battle cruisers were crumpling up their opposite +numbers in the German line, which thus became shorter and more +overlapped than ever. The _Lion_ and _Princess Royal_ each set their +opponent on fire, while the _New Zealand_ and _Indomitable_ drove +another clean out of line, heeling over, and burning furiously fore and +aft. (The _Indomitable_ was King George's Flagship at the Quebec +Tercentenary in 1908, and the _New Zealand_ was Jellicoe's flagship on +his tour of advice round the oversea Empire in 1919.) + +At 8.20, somewhere behind the mist which then veiled the German line, +there was a volcanic roar that shook every keel for miles around. +Scheer was losing heavily, running for his life, and doing his best to +hold Jellicoe back by desperate light craft attacks with hundreds of +torpedoes. But Jellicoe countered this with his own light craft, which +sank four enemy destroyers before the night closed in. + + +_Fifth and Last round: The Germans in Full Flight: 9.00 P.M. 31st of +May, to 4 P.M. 1st of June, 1916._ + +Jellicoe now had another hard question to answer, a question, indeed, +to which there could not be a perfect answer. The Germans were broken +and flying. But they still had many light craft with hundreds of +torpedoes; they were not far from home and near a swarm of their best +submarines; and their whole coast was full of mines for many miles off +shore, while the shore itself and the string of off-shore islands were +defended by a regular chain of gigantic forts armed with enormous guns. +Following them home was therefore out of the question altogether; for +you _can_ sink a fleet, while you _can't_ sink a coast. But even +trying to run them down at night was out of the question too; for their +strongest point was night fighting, which is much fuller of risks and +chances than day battles are. Besides, there was the chance of missing +them and losing the best position between them and their base. So +Jellicoe and Beatty separated again and steamed, parallel to each +other, south-south-east to within a hundred miles of the German coast. +They could not possibly cover more than a quarter of the whole way into +the Danish and German coasts; and so most of the Germans managed to +slip in behind them, round by the north. + +The night fighting was done by the light craft; and it was here that +Jellicoe had so much need of Tyrwhitt's flotillas from Harwich. +Harwich was very handy to the battlefield and Tyrwhitt's light craft +were as keen and ready as any one could be. But the Government were +afraid to let them go, for fear lest some Germans might raid the +English coast. There was very little chance of a raid at all. It +could not have been a bad one in any case. No mere raid can change the +course of a war. The best way to stop raids is to win the war by +destroying the enemy's means of destroying you. The best way to do +this is to smash his main force wherever it happens to be. And the +best way to smash it is to throw all your own forces against it once +you get a hold on it. But people who are scared in one place will not +think about the war as a whole, though that is the way to save these +very people as well as all the rest. So they ask for some defence they +can actually see. It was much the same as in the days of the Spanish +Armada. Drake and Jellicoe wanted to do the right thing. But Queen +Elizabeth's Council and King George's Government wanted to humour the +people concerned. The only comfort is that, with all our faults, we of +the British Empire make fewer naval mistakes than other people do. + +The light craft that did reach that famous battlefield could not have +done more to guard the British battle lines and harass the flying +Germans. There was many a weird sight as scurrying cruisers and +destroyers suddenly showed up, ominously black, against the ghastly +whiteness of the searchlit sea. Hunters and hunted raced, turned, and +twisted without a moment's pause. "We couldn't tell what was +happening," said the commander of a dashing destroyer. "Every now and +then out of the silence would come _Bang! bang!! boom!!!_ as hard as it +could for ten minutes on end. The flash of the guns lit up the whole +sky for miles and miles, and the noise was far more penetrating than by +day. Then you would see a great burst of flame from some poor devil, +as the searchlights switched on and off, and then perfect silence once +more." + +_Next Day_. Dawn comes early on the 1st of June at 55 degrees North. +But the mist veiled everything more than three or four miles off. At +3.30 A.M. a huge Zeppelin flew across the British battle line, +wirelessing down to any Germans still to the westward the best way to +get home. By nine the light craft had all come in after scouring the +sea for Germans. At a quarter past one it was plain that not a German +ship remained to challenge the Grand Fleet. So Jellicoe made for his +base; took in fuel, stores, and ammunition; and at half-past nine next +evening was ready for another battle. + +_The News_. Very different was the plight of the flying Germans, who +lost more ships than the British (eighteen, and perhaps six more, to +fourteen British) and who left the field for good and all. But Germany +sorely needed a victory just then. So the Kaiser proclaimed one, and +all the German papers echoed his words. The German lie got two days +start of the British truth, and was eagerly repeated by every one who +hated the British or Allies. On the other hand, the British Government +simply said that there had been a battle and that fourteen British +ships were down. They shrank from proclaiming the victory, because +they thought that most people, knowing nothing of modern naval war and +making no allowance for the weather and other German advantages, would +not believe in a victory which let any of the German ships escape. And +so the lie went round the world much faster than the truth. Yet it was +only believed by those who wanted to believe it. Even some Italian +mountaineers who had never seen a ship said, "That's a lie," when +Italian traitors told them the Grand Fleet had been sunk. + +After waiting a month to examine the whole case thoroughly the Board of +Admiralty, which has always been most sparing in its praise, wrote +Jellicoe an official letter, saying that "the Grand Fleet has known +both how to study the new problems and how to turn the knowledge to +account. The expectations of the country were high. They have been +well fulfilled. My Lords (the Members of the Board) desire to convey +to you their full approval of your proceedings in this action." + +What Jellicoe himself thought of those who fought so well under his +inspiring leadership cannot be said better than in his own words. "The +conduct of officers and men throughout the day and night actions was +entirely beyond praise. No words of mine could do them justice. On +all sides it is reported to me that the glorious traditions of the past +were worthily upheld. Officers and men were cool and determined, with +a cheeriness that would have carried them through anything. The +heroism of the wounded was the admiration of all. I cannot express the +pride with which the spirit of the Grand Fleet filled me." + +_Results_. Jutland taught the German Navy what every one should have +known before: that whenever tyrants have tried to lord it over all the +world they have always had to reckon with the British Navy first, and +that this Navy has never failed to lay them low. More things were +wrought by Jutland than the British Empire thinks, and more, far more, +than other people, for lack of knowledge, can imagine. There was a +regular, unbreakable chain of cause and effect, and Jutland was the +central link. + +To conquer their bully's "place in the sun" of the white man's empire +overseas the Germans built their Navy. But the Grand Fleet blockaded +it so well that the Germans clamoured for a fight to wipe the British +off the sea and to let the German merchant ships get out. Jutland +settled that. From Jutland on to the end of the war the German +bluejackets could never again be led against the British on the surface +of the sea. So the murderous German submarine campaign was tried +instead. This forced even the American Peace Party to change their +minds and save their country's honour by joining the War Party in armed +defence both of American rights and of the freedom of the world. + +After another two years the Germans failed under water as they had upon +the surface; and when, in wild despair, the Kaiser ordered the whole of +his High Sea Fleet to try another fight, the final mutiny began. This +broke out at 5 A.M. on the 3rd of November, 1918, eight days before the +Armistice. It was not the German Army, nor yet the German people, that +began the Revolution, but the German Fleet, which knew that a second +Jutland could only mean the death of every German there. In its own +turn the Revolution brought on the great surrender, a thing unheard-of +in the story of the sea. + +Thus, like the immortal Battle of the Marne on land, Jutland was not +only itself a mighty feat of arms but one on which the whole war turned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SUBMARINING + +(1917-1918) + +Jutland proved to all hands in the German Navy that they had no chance +whatever against Jellicoe's Grand Fleet. But the great mass of the +German people never heard this truth; and even their navy hoped to win +under the water a victory it had found impossible on top. So, for the +last two years of the war, the Germans worked their hardest at what +they called the "Submarine Blockade." As this "Blockade" forced the +United States into war, and as its failure showed the Germans that, in +the end, they had no more chance under water than on top, we can all +see now that Jutland turned the scale. + +The British fleets blockading Germany of course seized and kept for the +Government, as spoils of war, whatever warlike stores (guns, shells, +and so on) they could lay their hands on. But all the other goods the +Navy stopped the Government bought, paying fair market prices. So the +American and other neutrals trying to trade with the enemy had really +nothing to complain of; for a blockade at sea is very like a siege on +land, and nobody has ever pretended that a besieging army has not a +perfect right to stop any supplies of any kind from reaching the +besieged. Moreover, the crews of the ships trying to break the British +blockade were always very kindly treated, though their ships were +trying to help the enemy and make fortunes for their owners at the +expense of freedom. + +But when we turn to the German "Submarine Blockade" of the British +Isles we find something quite different; for the German submarines sank +every ship they could, and they generally were as utterly careless +about the lives of the crews as they were about the cargo, no matter +what the cargo was. In short, Germany tried everything, no matter how +wrong, that could possibly hurt the hated British. She did let some +neutral ships go by without attacking them. But that was only because +she did not want to turn all the neutrals into enemies; and nothing +proves better what a fiendish crime her "Submarine Blockade" really was +than the fact that it forced even the Peace Party in the United States +to change its mind about the war. + +For thirty-two months this Peace Party kept the United States out of a +war waged by Germany against the freedom of the world. There were a +good many reasons why. Most Americans knew next to nothing about the +affairs of Europe; and Germans had long been busy poisoning their minds +against the French and British. Then, Washington and other Presidents +had often advised them not to meddle with anything outside of America; +and President Wilson had even said there was such a thing as being "too +proud to fight." + +Of course the Pacifists were against all war, even when their refusing +to fight on the side of right forced them to help the side of wrong. +They had plenty of money, some of it German, and they made almost as +much trouble as the Germans and pro-Germans themselves. Then, the +Germans, pro-Germans, and Pacifists raised the bogey of trouble for the +United States at home, while there did not seem to be much danger of +getting hurt from abroad. Finally, business was booming as it had +never boomed before. The Americans made twelve-and-a-half thousands of +millions of dollars out of the war, clear net profit up to the end of +1918. + +The War Party said the whole war was about a question of right and +wrong, and that the French and British were right, while the Germans +were wrong. They said that Americans were safe because the British +Navy barred the way, that all the British oversea Dominions had fought +from the first, though not obliged to send a ship, a dollar, or a man +except of their own free will. They said that every American patriot +should be very proud to fight for the freedom of the world and very +much ashamed to let the French and British uphold the cause of right +alone. They said that the German submarines had already murdered many +Americans, that many other Americans, ashamed to see their country +hanging back, were already enlisting in Canada, England, and France, +and that although business was certainly booming, beyond the wildest +dreams of the keenest money-makers before the war, yet this vast wealth +was too much like blood-money, since the French and British were +suffering immense losses in lives and money and in everything but +honour, while the Americans, losing nothing in lives, were making vast +hoards of money out of a cause that really was their own--the cause of +right and freedom. + +Slowly but surely the War Party gained, as more and more members of the +Peace Party began to see the truth. But still, after twenty-seven +months, the most popular cry among those who voted President Wilson in +for a second term was "he kept us out of war." Three months later the +German "Submarine Blockade" began (February 1917). Then, two months +later still, most of the Peace Party, seeing that their own ships would +be sunk just as readily as French or British ships, gave their vote for +war. + +It was a glorious moment in world-history when British, French, and +Americans at last stood side by side. The American Navy led the way, +joining the hunt for German submarines with a keenness whetted by +having been held back so long. The Army followed, bit by bit, until +two million men had gone to Europe, thanks chiefly to the British ships +that took them there. The Nation backed both Army and Navy with vast +sums of money, which it could so easily afford, and with patriotic work +of every splendid kind. + +But the war lasted only nineteen months longer; and in that time the +Americans were not able to do anything like what the Allies had done +before and still were doing. The entire American loss in men (killed, +wounded, and prisoners) was over one-quarter million. But Canada's +loss of over two hundred thousand was ten times as great in proportion; +for there are twelve-and-a-half times as many people in the United +States as there are in Canada. In the same way the losses of France +and Great Britain were each more than twenty times greater than that of +the United States. In ships and money the difference is far more +striking still. The British alone lost one-and-a-half times as many +ships as all the rest of the world put together. But the Americans +have actually gained, owing to the number of interned German vessels +they seized in their ports. As for money: the British, the French, and +all the Allies have spent so much in fighting for the freedom of the +world that neither they nor their children, nor their children's +children, can ever pay the vast debt off; while the United States have +made, on their own showing, the twelve-and-a-half "billions" mentioned +already. + +These few facts (there are hundreds more) will show you a little of +what the Great War means to the world, what the British Navy meant to +the war, and what Jutland meant to both the war and the world, by +sweeping the German Navy off the surface of the sea, and so bringing on +the "Submarine Blockade" that itself forced the American Government to +fight in self-defence. + +[Illustration: British Submarine.] + +The Germans, wishing to kill off their victims one at a time, were +ready for the French and Russian Navies, but not for the British. They +had less than forty sea-going submarines when the war began. But +nearly four hundred took part, or were ready to take part, before the +war was over, while many more were building. + +We have already noted the weak points of submarines. They are "tender" +because they must be thin. An old collier that couldn't steam faster +than you could walk sank a submarine by barging into it, end-on--one +can hardly call it ramming. Submarines are slower on the surface than +dreadnoughts, cruisers, and destroyers; and, after doing a total of ten +or twelve hours under water, they have to recharge their batteries; for +they run by oil engines on the surface and by electricity submerged, +and the crew would be smothered if the oil engines tried to charge +batteries without coming up. + +Then, firing torpedoes is not at all like firing big guns. At a range +of five miles a shell will still be making 2000 feet a second or 1400 +miles an hour. At the same range a torpedo like those used at Jutland +would be making only 50 feet a second or 35 miles an hour. Thus shells +whizz through the air forty times faster than torpedoes sneak through +the water. A torpedo, in fact, is itself very like a submarine, more +or less cigar-shaped, and with its own engine, screw, and rudder. +Hitting with a torpedo really means arranging a collision between it +and the ship you are aiming at. When you and the ship and your torpedo +and the water are all moving in different ways you can see that hitting +is not so easy. The shorter the range the better. But you cannot see +at all unless your periscope, with its little mirror, is high and dry +out of the water; and periscopes are soon spotted by a sharp look-out +at very short range. The best torpedoes are over twenty feet long and +as many inches through, and they will go ten miles. But the longer the +range the slower the pace and the less the chance of hitting. The +engine is driven by air, which is compressed so hard into the middle of +the torpedo that it actually bulges out the steel a tiny fraction of an +inch. You may set the air-valve fast or slow, and the torpedo will go +accordingly. But if you want to make pretty sure you must get within +less than a mile, with the ship's broadside toward you, set the torpedo +for the right depth, the right pace to keep it going as fast as +possible just long enough to hit, and of course the right aim. Then, +if all goes well, the cap, or "war head" of the torpedo, on hitting the +ship, will set off the fuse that sets off the tremendous charge of high +explosive; and this may knock a hole in the side big enough to drive a +street car through. But there are many more misses than hits. + +Yet the German and Austrian raiders, mines, and submarines sank fifteen +million tons of shipping, which is not far short of a third of all the +merchant tonnage in the world; and the submarines sank more than the +mines and raiders sank together. (Ships are measured by finding out +how many cubic feet of space they contain and counting so many feet to +the ton. Thus you get a much better idea of how much shipping a +country has by counting in tons rather than by the number of ships; for +twenty-five ships of one thousand tons each have only half as much +sea-power as one ship of fifty thousand tons.) The British loss was +nine millions, half as much again as was lost by all the rest of the +world put together. Raiders like the cruiser _Emden_, or the armed and +disguised merchant vessel _Moewe_, did a great deal of harm at the +beginning of the war, as we have seen already. Mines did even more +harm, and did it all through. But submarines did most. + +Our title "Submarining" means any kind of underwater attack, by mines +as well as by torpedoes, so we must take a glance at the mines before +coming to the submarines. + +Most mines are somewhat like big buoys with little horns all over the +top. Each horn ends in a cap which, when hit, sets off the charge. +Mines coupled together by a steel rope are more dangerous than two +separate mines would be, as they are bound to be drawn in against any +ship that strikes any part of the rope. The only safeguard a ship +could carry was a paravane. A paravane is made up of a strong steel +hawser (rope) that serves as a fender, and of two razor-edged blades +that serve to cut the mine-moorings free. It is altogether under water +and is shaped like a V, with the point jutting out on the end of steel +struts ahead of the bows, the two strokes running clear of the sides, +and their ends well winged out astern, where the two sharp blades stand +straight up, one from each end. The lines by which mines are anchored +were thus guided clear of the ship till they reached the blades, where +they were cut. The mines then rose to the surface, where they could be +set off at a safe distance. Dragging a paravane through the water made +the ship go slow. But that was better than being blown up. + +Minefields cannot, of course, be crossed at all. You might as well try +to walk over armies of porcupines in your bare feet. Some minefields +were very big. One British field ran from the Orkneys right across to +Norway, to stop the German submarines from getting out round the north +of Scotland. The American Navy did magnificent work at this field, the +greater part of which was laid by American, not by British, vessels at +the latter end of 1917 and earlier part of 1918. Other minefields +blocked the Channel. But here the Germans once played a very clever +trick which might have cost the British dear. A British minefield had +been laid, some fifty feet deep, to catch submarines without being in +the way of vessels on the surface. Two days after it had been secretly +laid at night the _Nubian_, a British destroyer, had her bows blown off +on the very same spot. The German submarine mine-layers had crept in +by night and laid a shallow German minefield, exactly over the deep +British minefield, to catch those who were trying to catch them. That, +however, is not the end of the story. Just after the _Nubian_ had been +towed into Portsmouth with her bows blown off, the _Zulu_, a destroyer +of the same class, was towed in with her stern blown off. So perfectly +were both these vessels built that, when they had each been cut in +half, the good halves made an absolutely perfect new destroyer, which, +under her compound name of _Zubian_, did excellent work against the +Germans during the famous fights at Zeebrugge and Ostend. + +A mine laid by a German submarine blew up the cruiser _Hampshire_ that +was taking Kitchener to Russia by way of the Orkneys on the 5th of +June, 1916. Kitchener was drowned and only twelve men, who floated in +on a raft, were saved. Submarines lurking about at night would +sometimes put mines right in the track of vessels. And sometimes swift +mine-laying ships on the surface would do even more deadly harm, +rolling a hundred mines off a little railway on deck. At other times +mines would be loosed from the shore or from ships at anchor, so as to +float in among vessels with the tide or down the current of a stream. +One of these was tried against the British in West Africa by a German +missionary. Others were sent against the French and British vessels in +the Dardanelles, sometimes blowing them up. + +But the enemy never had it all his own way. British submarines did +wonderful work in spite of the mines. Commander Holbrook won the V.C. +by feeling his perilous way through five lines of Turkish mines, though +the currents were very tricky, and more than once the side of his "sub" +actually touched the steel ropes holding the mines to their anchors. +When he reached Constantinople he torpedoed and sank the Turkish +battleship that was supposed to be guarding these very mines! Then he +dived back through the five rows of mines and rejoined the fleet +without a scratch. + +Another British submarine stole into the Sea of Marmora with a couple +of land mines to blow up the railway near Constantinople. Lieutenant +D'Oyley-Hughes then swam ashore, pushing a little raft to which the +mines were lashed. He was quite alone, but armed with a bayonet ground +like a razor and an automatic seven-shooter. He also carried a +flash-light and whistle. He shouldered first one mine and then the +other, each the weight of a big man, took them up the hill, and put +them under a little brickwork bridge within a hundred and fifty yards +of the Turkish sentries, who were talking round their fire. Though he +muffled the fuse pistol it was heard by the Turks, who came running +toward him, firing as hard as they could. He let them have his first +clip of seven shots slap in the face and then raced a mile along the +line, doubled back a bit down the cliff, and swam off toward the +submarine. His whistle was not heard at first, as the submarine was in +the next bay; and he had to swim a mile before he came across her +backing out under fire from the Turks. But he slipped into her conning +tower safely, and no one on the British side was hurt. + +So great is the danger from mines, unless they are watched and tackled +the whole time, that thousands of mine-sweeping vessels were always at +work, manned by British fishermen who had been handling gigantic nets +and mile-long steel hawsers (ropes) ever since they had gone afloat as +boys. These North Sea fishermen, in whom the Viking blood runs strong, +had always put in eleven months sea time every year of their lives. So +storm and fog and clammy numbing cold had no terrors for them as they +worked their "sweepers" to and fro, fishing for the deadly mines. +Sometimes, for all their skill and care, a mine would foul their tackle +and blow them to pieces. But usually they could "gentle" a mine to the +surface and set it off by rifle shots at a safe distance. Sometimes, +however, a hitch would happen and the mine would come close alongside. +Once a mine actually came aboard, caught fast in the tackle. The +skipper (captain) ordered all hands into the boats, and then himself +cut it clear after a whole hour's work, during which one false touch or +even the slightest jolt would have blown his ship to smithereens. The +wonder of it is that more men were not killed in keeping the seaways so +carefully swept, night and day, all the year round, for tens of +thousands of miles, during the fifty-one months of the war. + +[Illustration: Minesweeper at work.] + +Still more dangerous was the fishing for those vilest of devil-fish, +the German submarines. The fishermen "shot" enormous steel nets just +as you shoot a fishing net, letting them hang a bit slack so as to be +the more entangling. Then, just as you feel your rod quiver when a +fish takes your fly, so these anglers for Germans would feel the quiver +from a nosing submarine caught in the toils. Very few submarines ever +escaped; for the slack of the waving net was apt to foul the screw, and +there they were held till the last struggle ceased and the last man was +smothered inside. + +The fishermen would sometimes have rescued their ruthless enemies if +they could have disentangled them in time. But this could rarely be +done; and the Germans met a just fate. One day a submarine came up +alongside a British trawler which was engaged in its regular fishing, +was quite unarmed, and had a crew of old men and young boys. The +Germans took all the fresh fish they wanted, sank the trawler, smashed +up her boats, and put the fishermen on the submarine's deck. Then they +slammed-to the hatch of the conning tower and sank very slowly, washing +the fishermen off. Then they rose again to laugh at them drowning. An +avenging destroyer came racing along and picked up the sole survivor. +But the German jokers, seeing it coming, had gone. No wonder the +seafaring British sometimes "saw red" to such a degree that they would +do anything to get in a blow! And sometimes they did get it in, when +the Germans least thought it was coming. When a skipper suddenly found +a German U-boat (_Unterseeboot_ or under-sea-boat) rising beside him, +just as his engine-room mechanic had come up with a hammer in his hand, +he called out, "look sharp and blind her!" Without a moment's +hesitation the mechanic jumped on her deck and smashed her periscope to +pieces, thus leaving her the blinded prey of gathering destroyers. + +The Germans put their wits to work with hellish cunning. They wanted +to surround Great Britain with a sea of death so full of mines and +submarines that no ship could live. The mines were not placed at +random, but where they would either kill their victims best or make +them try another way where the lurking submarines could kill them. The +sea-roads into great ports like London and Liverpool converge, just as +railway tracks converge toward some great central junction. So +submarines lying in wait near these crowded waters had a great +advantage in the earlier part of the war, when people still believed +that the Germans would not sink unarmed merchantmen on purpose, +especially when women and children were known to be on board. + +On the 7th of May, 1915, the _Lusitania_, from New York for Liverpool, +was rounding the south of Ireland, when the starboard (right-hand) +look-out in the crow's nest (away up the mast) called to his mate on +the port side, "Good God, Frank, here's a torpedo!" The next minute it +struck and exploded, fifteen feet under water, with a noise like the +slamming of a big heavy door. Another minute and a second torpedo +struck and exploded. Meanwhile the crew had dashed to their danger +posts and begun duties for which they had been carefully drilled, +though very few people ever thought the Germans would torpedo a +passenger steamer known to be full of women and children, carrying many +Americans, and completely unarmed. The ship at once took a list to +starboard (tilt to the right) so that the deck soon became as steep as +a railway embankment. This made it impossible to lower boats on the up +side, as they would have swung inboard, slithered across the steeply +sloping deck, and upset. The captain, cool and ready as British +captains always are, gave his orders from the up end of the bridge, +while the other officers were helping the passengers into the boats. +The sea soon came lapping over the down side of the deck, and people +began slipping into it. The full boats shoved off; but not half of +them on the down side were clear before the gigantic ship, with an +appalling plunge, sank head first. It all happened so quickly that +many had not been able to get on deck before this final plunge. They +must have been crushed by the hurtling of all loose gear when the ship +stood on her bows going down, then smothered and drowned, if not +smashed dead at the first. The captain stood on the bridge to the +last, went down with the ship, came up again among the wreckage, and +was saved after hours in the water. He will never forget the long, +piercing wail of despair from hundreds of victims as the gallant ship +went down. + +This made it clear to all but those who did not want to understand that +Germany was going to defy the laws of the sea, at least as far as she +could without changing President Wilson's Government into an enemy. So +things went on, getting worse and worse, for another two years. The +British, French, and Italians had never prepared for a war like this. +They were ready to fight submarines that fought their own men-of-war, +as well as those that tried to sink transports carrying soldiers and +arms to the many different fronts. But who would have thought that +even the Germans would sink every merchantman without the least care +for the lives of the crew? The rest of the world thought the days of +pirates and cut-throats were over among all civilized nations. But the +Germans did not. So the Allies, the British especially, built more and +more destroyers to fight the German submarines. The Germans, of +course, built more and more submarines; and so the fight went on, +growing ever fiercer. + +It was up-hill work for the British to guard thousands of ships over +millions of miles against the hidden foe, who sometimes struck without +being seen at all. A ship is a small thing on millions of square +miles. A slinking submarine is very much lower and harder to see on +the surface. A periscope is far harder still. The ordinary periscope +is simply a tube, a few inches in diameter, with a mirror in the upper +end reflecting the outside view on the corresponding mirror at the +lower end, where the captain watches his chance for a shot. No wonder +the Germans got on well for so long. It was over two years before +British merchantmen were armed. There was a shortage of guns; and the +neutral American Government would not allow any armed merchantmen into +their ports, though many and many a life was lost because a vessel was +unarmed. But, bit by bit, the merchantmen were forced to arm or die +like sheep before the German wolves; and once they had a gun they soon +learnt how to use it. + +One gun over the stern was all that most ships had. It was mounted +astern because the best chance of escape was to turn away and go full +speed, zig-zagging every which way as you went, firing at the chasing +submarine; This made vessels harder for submarines to hit, not only on +account of the zig-zags, but because the ship, going the same way as +the torpedo, made fast and short shots harder to get; also because the +backwash of the screw helped to put torpedoes off their course; and +finally because the target was itself firing back at the submarine. +Even so, however, it was often touch-and-go; and very few people ever +enjoyed the fun of being fired at as much as that little Canadian girl +of six, who, seeing a torpedo shimmering past the ship's side, called +out, "Oh, Mummy, look at the pretty fish!" Once a fast torpedo was hit +and exploded by a shell from the vessel its submarine was chasing. But +this was a perfect fluke. + +More to the point was the readiness of the merchantman _Valeria_ and of +Commander Stockwell's destroyer to turn happy accidents to the best +account on the spur of the moment. The _Valeria_ bumped over a rising +submarine at three o 'clock one summer morning off the coast of +Ireland. Instantly all hands ran to "action stations," when the gunner +saw, to his delight, that the periscope had been broken off and so the +submarine was blind. His first shot hit the hull. His second was a +miss. But his third struck the base of the conning tower; on which the +submarine sank, nothing but bubbles and oil remaining to mark the spot +where she went down. Stockwell's adventure was rather different. He +had marked a submarine slinking round in the early dawn, and, knowing +the spot the Germans liked best outside of Liverpool, watched his +chance over it. Suddenly he felt his destroyer being lifted up, tilted +over, and slid aside. The "sub" had risen right under it! Swinging +clear in a moment he let go a depth charge; and the sea-quake that +followed had plenty of signs to show that the "sub" had gone down. + +1917 was the great year of submarine war: the Germans straining every +nerve to kill off all the ships that went to or from the Allied ports, +the Allies trying their best to kill off all the submarines. The +Mediterranean was bad, the North Atlantic was worse, the west coasts of +the British Islands worst of all. The American Navy came in and did +splendid service off the south coast of Ireland, in the Bay of Biscay, +and along the North Atlantic seaways between French and British and +American ports. More and more destroyers were put into service, aided +by "chasers"--very much smaller vessels with only one gun and a few +men, but so cheap and easily built that they could be turned out in +swarms to help in worrying the submarines to death. The "scooters" and +"Porte's babies," as we saw in Chapter XXIV, were, however, even better +than these swarming "chasers." + +The enormous steel nets were also used more than ever. You can fancy +what they were like by thinking of a gigantic fishing-net many miles +long, with armed steamers instead of floats. In the entrances to some +harbours there were sea-gates made by swinging open a bit of the net by +means of its steamers to let traffic go through, and then swinging it +back again. The mine-fields were made bigger than ever; it was then +that the vast one, mostly laid by the Americans, was begun from the +Orkneys to Norway. Mines were also laid by British submarines and by +daring fast surface mine-layers round Heligoland and other places off +the German coast. In this way the waters in which submarines could +work were made narrower and narrower and were better and better guarded. + +But more and more submarines were launched, and they still sneaked out +to sea along the Dutch and Norwegian coasts where the Navy could not +stop them because they used to slink through "territorial waters," that +is, within three miles of the coast, where the sea belonged to the +nearest country, just the same as the land. The Navy, however, had +lines of patrols always on the watch from the Orkneys to the Shetlands, +on to Iceland, over to Norway, and north to the Arctic ice. The narrow +waters of the English Channel were watched by the famous Dover Patrol +under Sir Roger Keyes. From Folkestone to Cap Griz Nez in France there +was an unbroken line of the strongest searchlights on vessels anchored +to ride out the biggest gales. Seven miles west was another line. +Between were hundreds of patrol boats always ready, night or day, to +fire at anything on the surface or to drop depth charges on anything +that dived. A depth charge is a sort of mine that can be set to go off +at a certain depth, say thirty to sixty feet down, when it makes a +sea-quake that knocks the submarine out of gear and sinks it, even if +it does not actually hit it. Besides all these guards on the surface +there were nets and mines underneath. That is why the British army in +France never had its line of communication with England cut for one +single day all through the war. + +Now and then the Germans tried a destroyer raid from their ports on the +Belgian coast, or even from their own coast; for they would sneak +through Dutch waters within the three-mile limit as well as through the +Danish or Norwegian. They played a game of tip-and-run, their gunners +firing at any surface craft they saw (for they knew no Germans could be +anywhere but underneath) and their captains streaking back home at the +first sign of the British Navy. On the night of the 20th of April, +1917, they were racing back, after sinking some small craft, when an +avenging flotilla of British destroyers began to overhaul them. Seeing +that one of the Germans might escape in the dark, the _Broke_ (named +after Captain Broke of the _Shannon_ in the War of 1812) turned and +rammed her amidships. The Germans fought well, swarming aboard the +_Broke_ and fighting hand to hand, as in the days of boarding. But +Midshipman Giles stood up to the first of them, who was soon killed by +a bluejacket's cutlass; and then, after a tremendous tussle with swords +and pistols and anything else that was handy, every German was either +driven overboard or killed on the spot, except two that surrendered. + +A year later (on St. George's Day) the _Vindictive_ led the famous raid +on Zeebrugge under Captain Carpenter, V.C. The idea was to destroy the +principal German base in Belgium from which aircraft and submarines +were always starting. For weeks beforehand the crews that had +volunteered to go on this desperate adventure were carefully trained in +secret. The plan was to block the mouth of the Bruges Canal, by +sinking three vessels filled with concrete, while the _Vindictive_ +smashed up the batteries on the mole (long solid wharf) guarding the +entrance, and an old submarine, loaded like a gigantic torpedo, blew up +the supports for the bridge that connected the mole with the land. +Twice the little expedition sailed and had to put back because the wind +had shifted; for the smoke screen would not hide the block ships, +unless the wind had just the proper slant. At last it started for the +real thing; a great night of aircraft going ahead to bomb the defences +and a squadron of monitors staying some miles astern to pour in shells +at the same time. The crash of air bombs and the thudding of the +distant monitors were quite familiar sounds to the German garrison, +whose "archies" (anti-aircraft guns) barked hoarsely back, while the +bigger guns roared at where they thought the monitors might be. +(Monitors are slow, strong, heavy, and very "bargy" craft, useful only +as platforms for big guns against land defences.) + +Suddenly, to the Germans' wild astonishment, Zeebrugge harbour was full +of a smoke screen, of concrete-loaded block-ships, and of darting motor +boats; while the old cruiser _Vindictive_ made straight for the mole. +Instantly the monitors and aircraft were left alone, while every German +gun that could be brought to bear was turned on to this new and far +more dangerous enemy at hand. But the British won through. The three +block-ships were sunk. The submarine used as a torpedo blew up the +bridge joining the mole to the land; and the smoke screen worked fairly +well. Still, the tornado of German shells was almost more than flesh +and blood could stand. Meanwhile the old _Vindictive_ ran alongside +the mole and dropped her eighteen special gangways bang against it. In +a moment her forlorn hope--her whole crew was one great forlorn +hope--swarmed on to the mole, over the splintering gangways, while her +guns roared defiance at the huge German batteries. The ground swell +made the _Vindictive_ roll and racked her breaking gangways terribly. +The storm of German shells and the hail of machine-gun bullets seemed +almost to be sweeping everything before them. An officer awaiting his +turn on deck asked, "What are all those men lying down for?" and was +answered, "All dead, Sir"; killed before they had started. Several +gangways were smashed to pieces, the men on them falling between the +_Vindictive_ and the mole. The Germans on the mole fired furiously to +keep the storming party back. But, with an eager courage no Viking +could have beaten, and with a trained skill no Viking could have +equalled, every seaman and Marine in that heroic party who was not +killed or disabled pressed on till the flaming battery was silenced. +Then the survivors swarmed back with all the wounded they could find, +climbed over the few broken gangways still holding together, and turned +to the work of getting clear. At last the _Vindictive_, though a mere +mangled wreck, got off and limped home victorious with all that was +left of the equally daring flotilla of small craft. + +Zeebrugge was the bigger base on the Belgian coast. But Ostend +remained; and both were connected by canals with Bruges, which stood +several miles inland. The whole formed a triple base shaped like the +letter V, with Bruges at the bottom, Zeebrugge (sea-Bruges) to the +right, and Ostend to the left. To close only Zeebrugge was to leave +the back door open. So Ostend was raided, and smashed later on, the +old _Vindictive_, now past her fighting days, being sunk full of +concrete. From all that remained of her still above water the +hero-king, Albert, was cheered into Ostend after the Armistice by the +Belgian Boy Scouts, as he steamed past with Sir Roger Keyes to land, +with his heroine-queen, on the soil so long fouled by German pirates. + +These raids spoilt German chances from the nearest ports to Britain. +But they did not stop the submarine campaign; and there was still +plenty of work for camouflage, convoys, and "Q" ships. + +Camouflage at sea is a very different thing from camouflage on land. +On land camouflage is meant to make one thing look like something else +or to hide it altogether. But no kind of camouflage will hide a ship. +Nor is there any point in making a boat look like anything else; for +everybody knows that ships are the only things at sea. Camouflage +afloat was therefore meant to confuse the submarine commander's aim by +deceiving his eye as to his target's speed and course. By painting +cunning arrangements of stripes and splashes of different colours a +ship's course and speed could be so disguised that the torpedoist was +puzzled in getting his sights on her and in working out the range and +speed. If an old-fashioned sailor could have suddenly been dropped on +to the deck of a transport in the midst of a convoy of camouflaged +ships he would have thought all their helmsmen were drunk or stark, +staring mad; for they would have seemed to be steering every which way +at large and not one on any proper course at all. + +When this was added to their other troubles the submarines thought +twice before risking an attack on a convoy of ships guarded by +cruisers, as well as by destroyers ahead and on both sides, zig-zagging +about on the hunt for submarines, much as a good sporting dog quarters +likely ground for game. A "mothering" cruiser would keep station +astern, where she could have her weather eye on every one. In narrow +waters like the English Channel there would also be an airship +overhead, a little in advance, with seaplanes on the flanks. These +aircraft could spot a submarine almost a hundred feet down in fair +weather, just as seabirds spot fish. If a submarine did show up, it +was kept in sight till the destroyers charged near enough to ram, +shell, or torpedo it on the surface, or sea-quake it to death with a +depth bomb if submerged. Three hundred and seven ships brought wheat +from different parts of America to Britain, France, and Italy under +special convoy in the summer of 1918, and only one was lost. + +"Q" ships, those ships of mystery and such strange romance as former +navies never dreamt of, were meant to lure the German devils to their +doom. One Q ship was a dirty old collier so well disguised as a common +tramp (steamer belonging to no regular line) that she completely took +in a British cruiser, whose boarding officer was intensely surprised to +find her skipper was one of his own former shipmates. After five +months of thrashing to and fro in the wintry North Atlantic a torpedo +sped across her bows and she knew her chance had come. Instantly her +alarm signals, quietly given, brought all hands to action stations, +some in deck-houses, others in hen-coops, but each with his finger on +the trigger or his hand on a ready spare shell. Presently the +submarine broke surface and fired a shot across the Q ship's bow. On +this the well-trained crew ran about in panic, while the captain +screeched at them and waved his arms about like mad. Then the +submarine came up within three cables (ten to the nautical mile of 2000 +yards); whereupon the captain blew his whistle, just as Drake did long +ago, the Navy's White Ensign fluttered up to the masthead, the +hen-coops and deck-houses fell flat, and a hurricane of shells and +Maxim bullets knocked the "sub" out in three minutes' firing. + +But, as the war went on, still better Q dodges had to be invented. One +day an old Q tramp, loaded chock-a-block with light-weight lumber, +quietly let herself be torpedoed, just giving the wheel a knowing touch +to take the torpedo well abaft the engine-room, where it would do least +harm. The "panic-party" then left the ship quite crewless so far as +anybody outside of her could see. But the "sub" was taking no risks +that day. She circled the Q, almost grazing her, but keeping fifteen +feet under. The Q captain, only ten yards off, was sorely tempted to +fire. But shells striking water play queer tricks. So he held his +fire; though the quarterdeck was awash instead of nearly twenty feet +clear, and the ship's lucky black cat, blown overboard by the +explosion, swam straight on to it out of the sea. Then the sub came +up, little more than a cable's length away; and the Q captain at last +sent a wireless call for help in case he should sink too soon. When +the conning tower rose clear the German commander opened the hatch and +smiled at his work. He was still cautious; for his gun crew began to +appear. But the Q caught him; knocking his head off with the very +first shot, and riddling the whole sub in no time. + +The same Q captain, Gordon Campbell, V.C., went out again in another Q +ship which was also disguised as a tramp. When a submarine attacked +her she zig-zagged away in wild alarm, firing only her one +merchantman's gun, and slowing down so as to get overhauled. Knowing +the sub would catch his message Campbell wirelessed "Help! Come quick! +Submarine chasing and shelling." Presently the Q stopped, done up, and +the "panic-party" left her to her fate. This fate really did seem, and +might have been, certain; for she was on fire from the shelling and her +after magazine blew up with terrible force, killing the stern gun's +crew and blowing the gun overboard. Moreover, the jar of this +explosion set off the alarm; so down came all disguises and out came +the guns. But Campbell, still determined to kill off that sub, +wirelessed in the secret code to keep all vessels off the horizon, lest +the sub should get scared and run away. Meanwhile she was diving, not +liking the explosions; and she presently sent a torpedo straight home. +Then the second "panic-party" left; and the Q ship lay wallowing in the +trough of the sea, with two holes in her side, a big fire blazing, and +ammunition boxes blowing up every few minutes. For nearly an hour the +sub hovered round, a good distance off, and ended by rising astern to +shell this obstinate Q ship to death. But even then the dauntless Q +men still aboard never gave a sign of life. The wounded lay in their +agonizing pain without making a sound, and stiff as soldiers at +_Attention!_ The rest stood by their guns and torpedoes, ready for +anything. In the meantime another dangerous fire was blazing, more +ammunition was blowing up, and the engulfing sea was creeping ever near +and nearer yet. At last the submarine, quite satisfied, ceased firing. +Then she closed, and Campbell fired two torpedoes, but missed with +both. After this he wirelessed for help. But when British and +American destroyers came tearing up they found him, cool as ever, +arranging for a third "panic-party" to jump overboard and leave him +alone with three men to try one more shot with the only gun left free +by the fire. He failed this time. But two of his men earnt the V.C. +as well as any men have ever earnt it; and his gallant Q herself went +down with colours flying. + +The news soon passed round the underworld of "sub-dom"; and the Germans +swore they would never be caught again. So when another sub chased and +shelled an old tub of a sailing ship her commander took good care to +make sure he had not caught another Q. First and second panic parties, +or what he thought were panic parties, did not satisfy him. But at +last, when he had seen the ship's papers and had counted the crew, he +laughed at his own mistake and came close alongside, ordering the boats +away in spite of the skipper's entreaties to be allowed to go back and +get his wife, who was crying her eyes out on deck with her baby in her +arms. When the boats rowed off the poor woman went mad, rushing about +wildly, with piercing shrieks, and finally, just as the German was +coming on board, throwing her baby straight into his conning tower. +What the Germans thought of this will never be known; for the baby was +made of rubber filled with high explosive, and it blew the sub to +smithereens. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +SURRENDER! + +(1918) + +As Jutland broke the spirit of the Germans who fought on the surface so +minefields, netting, convoys, patrolling, and Q boats broke the spirit +of those who fought in submarines. Drake's Sea-Dogs would take their +chance of coming home alive when the insurance on their ships used to +be made by men whom Shakespeare calls the "putters-out of five for +one." As we say now, the chances were five to one against the Sea-Dog +ship that went to foreign parts in time of war. But, when the odds +reached four to one against the German subs, the German crews began to +mutiny, refusing to go aboard of what they saw were fast becoming just +new steel coffins of the sea. A Belgian maid, compelled to slave for +officers of German submarines at Zeebrugge, kept count of those who +returned alive. The same number, twenty, always boarded in the house. +But, before the British came and drove the Germans out, no less than +sixteen of her twenty masters had stepped into dead men's shoes. + +Finally, in the early morning of November the 3rd, when, in wild +despair, the Kaiser ordered the whole Fleet out for one last fight, the +men of aircraft, surface craft, and submarines alike refused point +blank to go; and the German Revolution then and there began. It was +the German Navy that rose first, brought to its senses by the might of +British sea-power. The Army followed. Then the people. + +At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month (the +11th of November, 1918) the _Cease fire!_ sounded on every front by sea +and land and air; for that supremely skilful hero, Marshal Foch, had +signed the Armistice as Commander-in-Chief of all the Allied Armies on +the Western Front. One of the terms of this famous Armistice was that +Germany should surrender her Fleet to the Allies in the Firth of Forth, +where the British Grand Fleet was waiting with a few French and +American men-of-war. Never in the whole world's history had such a +surrender taken place. But never in the whole world's history had any +navy broken the laws of war so shamefully as the German Navy had. And +never in the whole world's history had any navy been more truly great +or so gloriously strong as the British Navy had become. + +On Friday the 15th of November the German cruiser _Koenigsberg_ steamed +into the Firth of Forth and anchored near Inchcape, which, aptly +enough, is famous in Scottish song as the death-place of a murderer and +pirate. "Beatty's destroyer," H.M.S. _Oak_, unlike all other craft in +her gala coat of gleaming white, then took Admiral von Meurer aboard +the British flagship, _Queen Elizabeth_, where Beatty sat waiting, with +the model of a British lion on the table in front of him (as a souvenir +of his former flagship, _Lion_) and a portrait of Nelson hanging on the +wall behind. + +The hundred and fifty surrendered submarines went slinking into +Harwich, the great British North Sea base for submarines. But the +seventy-four surface craft came into the Firth of Forth on the 21st of +November: sixteen dreadnoughts, eight light cruisers, and fifty +destroyers. + +"09.40 Battle Fleet meet German Fleet" was the unique order posted up +overnight in the _Queen Elizabeth_. But long before that hour the +stately procession began filing out to sea. H.M. SS. _Canada_, +_Australia_, _New Zealand_, and _South Africa_, were there to remind us +that "United we stand, divided we fall." Admiral Grasset was there in +the _Aube_ to remind us that the French and British had been +brothers-in-arms for fifty-one months of furious war. Admirals Rodman +and Sims were there in the U.S.S. _New York_ to remind us that during +the last nineteen of these fifty-one months the three greatest +self-governing peoples of the world had made common cause against the +barbarous Hun. Finally, and clinchingly, the main body of the whole +Grand Fleet was there, drawn up in two enormous lines-ahead, six miles +apart, and sixteen miles from front to rear, with eighteen flagships +leading its different squadrons, and scores of destroyers ahead, +astern, and on the flanks, not one of which was counted in the +thirty-two long miles of lines-ahead. + +Before it had gone eight bells at four o'clock that morning, the +_Revenge_, flagship of Sir Charles Madden, Second-in-Command of the +Grand Fleet, led the way out to the appointed rendezvous: "X position, +latitude 56, 11 North, longitude 1, 20 West." The present _Revenge_, a +magnificent super-dreadnought, is the ninth of her name in the Navy; +and, besides her name, has three curious links to recall the gallant +days of Drake. In her cabin is a copy of the griffin which, being +Grenville's crest, the first _Revenge_ so proudly bore in the immortal +fight of "The One and the Fifty-Three." Then, had the German Fleet +come out again, Madden and this ninth _Revenge_ would have taken +exactly the same place in action as Drake and the First _Revenge_ took +just three hundred and thirty years before against the Great Armada. +Thirdly (but this, alas, was too good to come true!) Sir Charles told +his Canadian guest one day in Scapa Flow that he and Sir David Beatty +had agreed to be caught playing a little game of bowls on the Grand +Fleet clubhouse green the next time the German Fleet appeared. "And," +he added, "we'll finish the game first, and the Germans after"--just +what Drake had said about the Spaniards. + +Nearing the rendezvous at nine the bugles sounded _Action Stations!_ +for though the German ships were to come unarmed and only manned by +navigating crews it was rightly thought wiser not to trust them. You +never catch the Navy napping. So, when the two fleets met, every +British gun was manned, all ready to blow the Germans out of the water +at the very first sign of treachery. Led captive by British cruisers, +and watched by a hundred and fifty fast destroyers, as well as by a +huge airship overhead, the vanquished Germans steamed in between the +two victorious lines, which then reversed by squadrons, perfect as a +piece of clockwork, and headed for the Firth of Forth. Thus the vast +procession moved on, now in three lines-ahead, but filling the same +area as before: a hundred square miles of sea. In all, there were over +three hundred men-of-war belonging to the four greatest navies the +world has ever known. + +At eight bells that afternoon all hands were piped aft by the +boatswains' whistles, the bugles rang out the _Sunset_ call, and down +came every German flag, never again to be flown aboard those vessels of +the High Sea Fleet. For Germany _Der Tag_ had gone. For the British +_The Day_ had come; and they hailed it with a roar of British-Lion +cheers. + +Most regrettably, the Allies, headed by President Wilson, decided that +the German men-of-war should be interned, not surrendered, when sent to +Scapa Flow. If these ships, after being surrendered to the Allies, had +been put in charge of the British, or any other navy, as "surrenders," +guards would have been put on board of them and all would have been +well. But interned ships are left to their own crews, no foreign +guards whatever being allowed to live on board. The result of this +mistake, deliberately made against the advice of the British, was that, +on the 21st of June, the Germans, with their usual treachery, opened +the sea-cocks and sank the ships they had surrendered and the Allies +had interned. + +A week later, on the 28th of June, 1919, in the renowned historic +palace of Versailles, the Allies and Germany signed the Treaty of Peace +by which they ended the Great War exactly five years after the +assassination of Franz Ferdinand had given the Austro-German empires +the excuse they wanted to begin it. + + + +RULE, BRITANNIA! + +Thomson's famous verses and Arne's famous air (in which Wagner said he +could see the whole character of the English people) were sung for the +first time during the Royal fete held at Clieveden, a celebrated +country residence beside "the silver Thames." This was on the 1st of +August, 1740. The 1st of August was the day on which Nelson won his +first great victory just fifty-eight years later; and Clieveden is +where the Duchess of Connaught's Canadian Hospital was established +during the Great War. + + When Britain first, at Heaven's command, + Arose from out the azure main, + This was the charter of the land, + And guardian angels sung this strain: + "Rule, Britannia! Britannia rule the waves! + Britons never will be slaves." + + The nations not so bless'd as thee + Must in their turn to tyrants fall; + While thou shall flourish great and free, + The dread and envy of them all. + "Rule, Britannia, &c." + + Still more majestic shalt thou rise, + More dreadful from each foreign stroke; + As the loud blast that tears the skies + Serves but to root thy native oak. + "Rule, Britannia, &c." + + Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame; + All their attempts to bend thee down + Will but arouse thy generous flame, + And work their woe and thy renown. + "Rule, Britannia, &c." + + To thee belongs the rural reign; + Thy cities shall with commerce shine; + All thine shall be the subject main, + And every shore it circles thine. + "Rule, Britannia, &c." + + The Muses, still with freedom found, + Shall to thy happy coast repair; + Bless'd isle! with matchless beauty crown'd, + And manly hearts to guard the fair. + "Rule, Britannia! Britannia rule the waves! + Britons never shall be slaves!" + --_James Thomson._ + + +GOD SAVE THE KING! + +The words we now sing with such hearty British loyalty all round the +Seven Seas originated in the parole and countersign on board the famous +Portsmouth Fleet of 1545, when the parole was _God save the King!_ and +the answering countersign was _Long to reign over us!_ The National +Anthems of all the other Empires, Kingdoms, and Republics in the world +come from their armies and the land. Our own comes from the Royal Navy +and the Sea. + + God save our gracious King, + Long live our noble King, + God save the King. + Send him victorious, + Happy and glorious, + Long to reign over us, + God save the King. + + O Lord our God, arise, + Scatter his enemies, + And make them fall. + Confound their politics, + Frustrate their knavish tricks, + On Thee our hopes we fix, + God save us all. + + Thy choicest gifts in store, + On him be pleased to pour; + Long may he reign. + May he defend our laws, + And ever give us cause + To sing with heart and voice, + God save the King. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +WELL DONE! + +The day the Armistice was signed (the 11th of November, 1918) King George +sent this Royal Message to the Navy: + + +Now that the last and most formidable of our enemies has acknowledged the +triumph of the Allied arms on behalf of right and justice, I wish to +express my praise and thankfulness to the officers, men, and women of the +Royal Navy and Marines, with their comrades of the Fleet Auxiliaries and +the Mercantile Marine, who, for more than four years have kept open the +seas, protected our shores, and given us safety. Ever since that fateful +Fourth of August, 1914, I have remained steadfast in my confidence that, +whether fortune frowned or smiled, the Royal Navy would once more prove +the sure shield of the British Empire in the hour of trial. Never in its +history has the Royal Navy, with God's help, done greater things for us +or better sustained its old glories and the chivalry of the sea. With +full and grateful hearts the peoples of the British Empire salute the +White, the Red, and the Blue Ensigns, and those who have given their +lives for the Flag. I am proud to have served in the Navy. I am prouder +still to be its Head upon this memorable Day. + +GEORGE, R.I. + + +[Illustration: H.M. KING GEORGE V.] + +(The "women" to whom the King referred were the famous "Wrens," so called +because the initials of the Women's Royal Naval Service--W.R.N.S.--can +easily be turned into "Wrens." Everything that women could do they did; +and did it well.) + +(The White Ensign is the flag of the Navy: white, divided into four by +the red St. George's Cross, and with the Union Jack in the upper inside +quarter. The Red Ensign is for the Mercantile Marine. The Blue Ensign +is for any Government service except the Navy. The Red and Blue Ensigns +have the Union Jack in their upper inside quarters, but no St. George's +Cross.) + +The Mercantile Marine lost nearly fifteen thousand men killed; we ought +to say murdered; for while a blockader can take ships and cargoes that +try to run contraband (that is, whatever the blockader can rightfully +proclaim to be forbidden) he must not kill the crews. The British +merchant seamen fought; and the Germans said that was why they had to +kill them. But it was the Germans who forced them to fight in +self-defence. And that makes all the difference. When our enemies, +Germans or others, can prove one case of such murder against the British +Navy we shall punish the murderer ourselves. But they have not found +that one case yet, while we have found close on fifteen thousand, not +counting soldiers, passengers, women, or children. The Germans aimed at +scaring off the sea those merchant seamen whom they could not kill, +disable, or make prisoners. But not a man refused to go to sea again, +even when his last ship had been torpedoed and his chums been killed. +That is the first glory of the Mercantile Marine. But there are many +more. And not the least is the pluck with which the British, who did +most and lost most, started the race for oversea trade again, though at +an enormous disadvantage compared with those who did least and gained +most. + +All kinds of British sea-power did magnificent work in the war, whether +building ships, sailing them with passengers and cargoes, or fighting +them. The Navy and Mercantile Marine gained eleven million tons during +the war, exactly half each. But as the Mercantile Marine lost nine +millions sunk, it ended three-and-a-half to the bad, a terrible handicap +in the race with the shipping of countries which, like the United States +have made stupendous fortunes by the war, besides gaining enormously in +shipping and oversea trade. Norway, Japan, and the States gained most. +The States came out of the war three and three-quarter million tons to +the good, thus gaining over seven millions as compared with the British. + +The case of the Navy was one of life or death for us and all our Allies; +so the merchant fleet, fishing fleet, and shipbuilding yards had to let +the Navy come first, no matter what the cost might be. But we must never +forget that the Navy is only one-half of our British sea-power, that the +Mercantile Marine is the other half, and that all kinds of British +sea-power must work together or be lost. So we cannot separate one kind +from another here; and we would not if we could. + +Nor should we forget that British sea-power was itself only one of the +many kinds of war-power put forth by Britain in the cause of freedom. +Britain raised by far the largest force of volunteers ever raised by any +country in any age or for any war--five million and forty-one thousand +men for the Army alone. This takes no account of conscripts, or of +naval, air force, or civilian Services; nor does it include one man +belonging to any part of the British Empire overseas. + +Then she forced into the ranks those that could but would not go as long +as they got others to do their fighting for them. In the meantime her +whole population, except those slackers every country had, had put its +strenuous hand to war work of one kind or another. So, whether by sea or +land or air, whether as warriors or as civilians, the people of Great +Britain gave their united all to the noblest cause on earth. And, when +the war ended, Great Britain had the biggest army as well as the biggest +navy in the world--biggest not only in absolute numbers but also biggest +in proportion to the whole number of men fit to bear arms. Nor was this +in any way due to her having lost less than others; for she had the +greatest total loss in killed and wounded of all the Allies--greatest on +land, greatest by sea, and greatest in the air. + +Besides all we have seen before, in following the more purely naval +fortunes of the war, the Navy did priceless work in October 1914, when +the huge German armies, beaten by the heroic French at the immortal +Battle of the Marne, tried to take the North-East coast of France with +the ports of Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne. Held by Joffre further +south, they found more than their match in the north, when French's +little British army fought them to a standstill, while the Navy simply +burnt them away from the coast by a perfect hurricane of fire. + +Better still was the way the Navy finished off the submarine blockade. +Of the 203 enemy submarines destroyed 151 were finished by the British +Navy. The French, Americans, and Italians killed off the rest. All the +150 submarines surrendered came slinking into Harwich, the great British +base for submarines. All the 170 submarines the Germans were building +when the war was stopped were given up to the Allied Naval Commission +headed by a British admiral and backed by a British fleet. + +But even more wonderful than this was the oversea transport done by all +kinds of British sea-power working together as one United Service. The +British carried nearly half of all the imports into Italy and France. +They repaired more than a thousand ships a month. They ferried nearly +two-thirds of all the Americans that crossed the Atlantic. They took to +the many different fronts more than half a million vehicles, from +one-horse carts to the biggest locomotives; more than two million +animals--horses, mules, and camels; and more than twenty-two millions of +men. Add to this well over a couple of hundred million tons of oil, +coal, and warlike stores; remember that this is by no means the whole +story, and that it takes no account of the regular trade; and you may +begin to understand what British sea-power meant in this war. In the +mere transportation of armies alone it meant the same thing as taking the +entire population of Canada, three times over, with all its baggage three +times over, and with its very houses three times over, across thousands +of miles of dangerous waters in the midst of the worst war ever known. +And yet, out of the more than twenty-two millions of men, less than five +thousand were killed on the way; and many of these were murdered in +hospital ships marked with the sacred Red Cross. The chances of safety +from murder and fair risks of war put together were nearly five thousand +to one. The chances of safety from fair risks of war by themselves were +nearly ten thousand to one. + +No war, no navy, no sea-power since the world began, has any record to +compare with this. + + + + "Let us be backed with God and with the seas, + Which He hath given for fence impregnable, + And with their helps, only, defend ourselves: + In them, and in ourselves, our safety lies." + --_Shakespeare._ + _King Henry VI, Part III, Act IV, Scene I._ + + + + +POSTSCRIPT + +THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS + +Landsmen are many while seamen are few. So the world thinks more of +armies than of fleets. Our enemies hate all British sea-power, while +our friends never know the half of what it means. So friend and foe +alike are apt to side against us by making the laws against blockading +fleets very much harder than those against besieging armies. + +All we can do is to stand firmly on our perfect rights and show the +world the five good reasons why:-- + +1. The sea and land have equal rights. Blockading fleets are like +besieging armies. So if besieging armies have the right to stop +supplies from reaching the places they besiege, why should blockading +fleets be told to let supplies go through? + +2. All parts of our great Empire are joined together, not by land, but +sea. So if we lose our rights of self-defence at sea we lose the very +breath of life. + +3. We claim no rights we will not share with others. When the American +blockade of the South during the Civil War (1861-5) ruined the British +cotton trade we never interfered, though we had by far the stronger +navy. + +4. We have never used the British Navy to bully weak nations out of +their oversea possessions. Who could have stopped our taking the +Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese possessions in Africa and Asia? + +5. British sea-power has always been on the side of freedom; and every +time a tyrant has tried to fight his way to world-dominion the Royal +Navy has been the backbone of all the forces that have laid him low. + + + + THE CANADIAN + + I never saw the cliffs of snow, + The Channel billows tipped with cream, + The restless, eddying tides that flow + About the Island of my dream. + I never saw the English downs + Upon an April day, + The quiet, old Cathedral towns, + The hedgerows white with may. + + And still the name of England, + Which tyrants laugh to scorn, + Can thrill my soul. It is to me + A very bugle-horn. + + A thousand leagues from Plymouth shore, + In broader lands I saw the light. + I never heard the cannon roar, + Or saw a mark of England's might; + Save that my people lived in peace, + Bronzed in the harvest sun, + And thought that tyranny would cease, + That battle-days were done. + + And still the flag of England + Streamed on a friendly breeze, + And twice two hundred ships of war + Went surging through the seas. + + I heard Polonius declaim + About the new, the golden age, + When Force would be the mark of shame, + And men would curb their murderous rage. + "Beat out your swords to pruning-hooks," + He shouted to the folk, + But I--I read my history books, + And marvelled as he spoke. + + For it was glorious England, + The mother of the Free, + Who loosed that foolish tongue, but sent + Her Admirals to sea. + + And liberty and love were ours, + Home, and a brood of lusty sons, + The long, North sunlight and the flow'rs, + How could we think about the guns, + The searchlights on a wintry cloud, + The seamen stern and bold, + Since we were hurrying with the crowd + To rake the hills for gold? + + But it was glorious England + Who scanned the threatening morn. + To me the very name of her + Is like a bugle-horn. + + --_J. E. Middleton._ + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Flag and Fleet, by William Wood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLAG AND FLEET *** + +***** This file should be named 19849.txt or 19849.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/8/4/19849/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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