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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75616 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes:
+
+
+This is Volume I of a two-volume set. Volume II is available at Project
+Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75617.
+
+Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Boldface text is enclosed in
+=equals signs=. Additional notes will be found near the end of this
+ebook.
+
+
+
+
+THE BRITISH BATTLE FLEET
+
+[Illustration: SUBMARINES IN THE CHANNEL.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  THE
+                             BRITISH BATTLE
+                                 FLEET
+
+                        ITS INCEPTION AND GROWTH
+                        THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES
+                           TO THE PRESENT DAY
+
+
+                                   BY
+                              FRED T. JANE
+
+        AUTHOR OF “FIGHTING SHIPS,” “ALL THE WORLD’S AIRCRAFT,”
+                  “HERESIES OF SEA POWER,” ETC., ETC.
+
+                      WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+                 FROM ORIGINAL WATER-COLOUR DRAWINGS BY
+
+                           W. L. WYLLIE, R.A.
+
+                  AND NUMEROUS PLANS AND PHOTOGRAPHS.
+
+
+                                VOL. I.
+
+
+                                 London
+                       The Library Press, Limited
+                         26 Portugal St., W.C.
+                                  1915
+
+
+
+
+                                TO THOSE
+                   WHO IN ALL AGES BUILT THE SHIPS OF
+                            THE BRITISH NAVY
+                         AND TO THE UNKNOWN MEN
+                      WHO HAVE WORKED THOSE SHIPS
+                        AND SO MADE POSSIBLE THE
+                         FAME OF MANY ADMIRALS.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+This book is not intended to be a “history” of the British Navy in the
+generally accepted sense of the term. For this reason small space is
+devoted to various strategical and tactical matters of the past which
+generally bulk largely in more regular “naval histories”--of which a
+sufficiency already exist.
+
+In such histories primary interest naturally attaches to what the
+admirals did with the ships provided for them. Here I have sought
+rather to deal with how the ships came to be provided, and how they
+were developed from the crude warships of the past to the intricate
+and complicated machines of to-day; and the strictly “history” part
+of the book is compressed with that idea principally in view. The
+“live end” of naval construction is necessarily that which directly or
+indirectly concerns the ships of our own time. The warships of the past
+are of special interest in so far as they were steps to the warships of
+to-day; but, outside that, practical interest seems confined to what
+led to these “steps” being what they were.
+
+Thus regarded, Trafalgar becomes of somewhat secondary interest as
+regards the tremendous strategical questions involved, but of profound
+importance by reason of the side-issue that the _Victory’s_ forward
+bulkhead was so slightly built that she sustained an immense number
+of casualties which would never have occurred had she been designed
+for the particular purpose that Nelson used her for at Trafalgar. The
+tactics of Trafalgar have merely a literary and sentimental interest
+now, and even the strategies which led to the battle are probably of
+little utility to the strategists of our own times. But the _Victory’s_
+thin forward bulkhead profoundly affected, and to some extent still
+affects, modern British naval construction. Trafalgar, of course,
+sanctified for many a year “end-on approach,” and so eventually
+concentrated special attention on bulkheads. But previous to Trafalgar,
+the return of the _Victory_ after it for refit, and Seppings’
+inspection of her, the subject of end-on protection had been ignored.
+The cogitations of Seppings helped to make what would have very much
+influenced history had any similar battle occurred in the years that
+followed his constructional innovations.
+
+Again, at an earlier period much naval history turned upon the
+ventilation of bilges. Improvements in this respect (devised by men
+never heard of to-day) enabled British ships to keep the seas without
+their crews being totally disabled by diseases which often overmastered
+their foes. The skill of the admirals, the courage of the crews, both
+form more exciting reading. Yet there is every indication to prove that
+this commonplace matter of bilges was the secret of victory more than
+once!
+
+Coming back to more recent times, the loss of the _Vanguard_, which
+cost no lives, involved greater subsequent constructional problems than
+did the infinitely more terrible loss of the _Captain_ a few years
+before. Who shall say on how many seeming constructional failures of
+the past, successes of the yet unborn future may not rest?
+
+A number of other things might be cited, but these suffice to indicate
+the particular perspective of this book, and to show why, if regarded
+as an orthodox “history” of the British Navy, it is occasionally in
+seemingly distorted perspective.
+
+To say that in the scheme of this book the ship-builder is put in
+the limelight instead of the ship-user, would in no way be precisely
+correct, though as a vague generalisation it may serve well enough.
+In exact fact each, of course, is and ever has been dependent on the
+other. Nelson himself was curtailed by the limitations of the tools
+provided for him. Had he had the same problems one or two hundred years
+before he would have been still more limited. Had he had them fifty or
+a hundred years later--who shall say?
+
+With Seppings’ improvements, Trafalgar would have been a well-nigh
+bloodless victory for the British Fleet. It took Trafalgar, however, to
+inspire and teach Seppings. Of every great sea-fight something of the
+same kind may be said. The lead had to be given.
+
+Yet those who best laboured to remove the worst disabilities of “the
+means” of Blake, contributed in that measure to Nelson’s successes
+years and years later on. Their efforts may surely be deemed worthy of
+record, for all that between the unknown designer of the _Great Harry_
+in the sixteenth century and the designers of Super-Dreadnoughts of
+to-day there may have been lapses and defects in details. There was
+never a lapse on account of which the user was unable to defeat any
+hostile user with whom he came into conflict. The “means” provided
+served. The creators of warships consistently improved their creations:
+but they were not improved without care and thought on the part of
+those who produced them.
+
+To those who provided the means and to the rank and file it fell that
+many an admiral was able to do what he did. These admirals “made
+history.” But ever there were “those others” who made that “history
+making” possible, and who so made it also.
+
+In dealing with the warships of other eras, I have been fortunate in
+securing the co-operation of Mr. W. L. Wyllie, R.A., who has translated
+into vivid pictorial obviousness a number of details which old prints
+of an architectural nature entirely fail to convey. With a view to
+uniformity, this scheme, though reinforced by diagrams and photographs,
+has been carried right into our own times.
+
+Some things which I might have written I have on that account left
+unrecorded. There are some things that cold print and the English
+language cannot describe. These things must be sought for in Mr.
+Wyllie’s pictures.
+
+In conclusion, I would leave the dedication page to explain the rest of
+what I have striven for in this book.
+
+                                                            F. T. J.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO NEW EDITION
+
+
+This book was originally written three years ago. Since it was first
+published the greatest war ever known has broken out. To meet that
+circumstance this particular edition has been revised and brought to
+date in order to present to the reader the exact state of our Navy when
+the fighting began.
+
+Modern naval warfare differs much from the warfare of the past; at any
+rate from the warfare of the Nelson era. But if men and _matériel_ have
+altered, the general principles of naval war have remained unchanged.
+Indeed, there is some reason to believe that the wheel of fortune has
+brought us back to some similitude of those early days when to kill the
+enemy was the sole idea that obtained, when there were no “rules of
+civilised war,” when it was simply kill and go on killing.
+
+To these principles Germany has reverted. The early history of the
+British Navy indicates that we were able to render a good account of
+ourselves under such conditions. For that matter we made our Navy under
+such training. It is hard to imagine that by adopting old time methods
+the Germans will take from us the Sea Empire which we thus earned in
+the past.
+
+                                                            F. T. J.
+
+  _18th June, 1915._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER                                                           PAGE
+
+     I. THE BIRTH OF BRITISH NAVAL POWER                               1
+
+    II. THE NORMAN AND PLANTAGENET ERAS                               10
+
+   III. THE TUDOR PERIOD AND BIRTH OF A REGULAR NAVY                  35
+
+    IV. THE PERIOD OF THE DUTCH WARS                                  59
+
+     V. THE EARLY FRENCH WARS                                         88
+
+    VI. THE GREAT FRENCH WAR                                         133
+
+   VII. FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS TO THE FINAL FALL OF NAPOLEON       165
+
+  VIII. GENERAL MATTERS IN THE PERIOD OF THE FRENCH WARS             194
+
+    IX. THE BIRTH OF MODERN WARSHIP IDEAS                            211
+
+     X. THE COMING OF THE IRONCLAD                                   229
+
+    XI. THE REED ERA                                                 264
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+                               IN COLOUR
+                  FROM PICTURES BY W. L. WYLLIE, R.A.
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+  SUBMARINES IN THE CHANNEL                       _Frontispiece_
+
+  WARSHIP OF THE TIME OF KING ALFRED                                   3
+
+  RICHARD I. IN ACTION WITH THE SARACEN SHIP                          13
+
+  BATTLE OF SLUYS                                                     25
+
+  PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR, 1912                                            31
+
+  THE “GRACE DE DIEU,” 1515                                           39
+
+  THE SPANISH ARMADA, 1588                                            51
+
+  THE END OF A “GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER”                                 55
+
+  BLAKE AND TROMP--PERIOD OF THE DUTCH WARS                           77
+
+  BATTLESHIPS OF THE WHITE ERA AT SEA                                117
+
+  THE “FOUDROYANT,” ONE OF NELSON’S OLD SHIPS                        143
+
+  BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, 1805                                          173
+
+  THE END OF AN OLD WARSHIP                                          191
+
+  A TRAFALGAR ANNIVERSARY                                            205
+
+  THE OLD “INVINCIBLE,” 1872                                         293
+
+
+                           SHIP PHOTOGRAPHS
+
+  “SALAMANDER,” PADDLE WARSHIP                                       217
+
+  OLD SCREW WOODEN LINE-OF-BATTLESHIP “LONDON”                       221
+
+  “WARRIOR”                                                          251
+
+  “ACHILLES” (WITH FOUR MASTS)                                       259
+
+  “MINOTAUR” (AS A FIVE-MASTER)                                      261
+
+  “BELLEROPHON”                                                      269
+
+  “ROYAL SOVEREIGN”                                                  273
+
+  “WATERWITCH”                                                       277
+
+  “CAPTAIN”                                                          289
+
+  “VANGUARD”                                                         297
+
+  “HOTSPUR” AS ORIGINALLY COMPLETED                                  309
+
+  “DEVASTATION” AS ORIGINALLY COMPLETED                              313
+
+
+                               PORTRAITS
+
+  PHINEAS PETT                                                        67
+
+  SIR ANTHONY DEANE                                                   93
+
+  GENERAL BENTHAM                                                    155
+
+  JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL                                                 245
+
+  SIR E. J. REED                                                     265
+
+
+                         PLANS, DIAGRAMS, ETC.
+
+  PHINEAS PETT’S “ROYAL SOVEREIGN”                                    71
+
+  POSITIONS OF THE FLEETS AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR                     167
+
+  EARLY BROADSIDE IRONCLADS                                          255
+
+  REED ERA BROADSIDE SHIPS                                           281
+
+  REED ERA TURRET SHIPS                                              285
+
+  RAMS OF THE REED ERA                                               301
+
+  BREASTWORK MONITORS                                                305
+
+
+
+
+THE BRITISH BATTLE FLEET.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE BIRTH OF BRITISH NAVAL POWER.
+
+
+The birth of British naval power is involved in considerable obscurity
+and a good deal of legend. The Phœnicians and the Romans have both been
+credited with introducing nautical ideas to these islands, but of the
+Phœnicians there is nothing but legend so far as any “British Navy” is
+concerned. That the Phœnicians voyaged here we know well enough, and
+a “British fleet” of the B.C. era _may_ have existed, a fleet due to
+possible Phœnicians who, having visited these shores, remained in the
+land. Equally well it may be mythical.
+
+Whatever share the ancient Britons may have had in the supposed
+commercial relations with Gaul, it is clear that no fleet as we
+understand a fleet existed in the days of Julius Cæsar. Later, while
+England was a Roman province, Roman fleets occasionally fought
+upon British waters against pirates and in connection with Roman
+revolutions, but they were ships of the ruling power.
+
+Roman power passed away. Saxons invaded and remained; but having
+landed they became people of the land--not of the sea. Danes and other
+seafarers pilaged English shores much as they listed till Alfred the
+Great came to the throne.
+
+Alfred has been called the “Father and Founder of the British Fleet.”
+It is customary and dramatic to suppose that Alfred was seized with the
+whole modern theory of “Sea Power” as a sudden inspiration--that “he
+recognised that invaders could only be kept off by defeating them on
+the sea.”
+
+This is infinitely more pretty than accurate. To begin with, even at
+the beginning of the present Twentieth Century it was officially put on
+record that “while the British fleet could prevent invasion, _it could
+not guarantee immunity from small raids_ on our great length of coast
+line.” In Alfred’s day, one mile was more than what twenty are now;
+messages took as many days to deliver as they now do minutes, and the
+“raid” was the only kind of over-sea war to be waged. It is altogether
+chimerical to imagine that Alfred “thought things out” on the lines of
+a modern naval theorist.
+
+In actual fact,[1] what happened was that Alfred engaged in a naval
+fight in the year 875, somewhere on the South Coast. There is little
+or no evidence to show where, though near Wareham is the most likely
+locality.
+
+In 877 something perhaps happened to the Danes at Swanage, but the
+account in Asser is an interpolated one, and even so suggests shipwreck
+rather than a battle.
+
+In 882 (possibly 881) two Danish ships sank: “the rest” (number not
+recorded) surrendered later on.
+
+[Illustration: WARSHIP OF THE TIME OF KING ALFRED.]
+
+In 884 occurred the battle of the Stour. Here the Saxon fleet secured a
+preliminary success, in which thirteen Danish ships were captured. This
+may or may not have been part of an ambush--at any rate the final
+result was the annihilation of King Alfred’s fleet.
+
+In 896 occurred the alleged naval reform so often alluded to as the
+“birth of the British Navy”--those ships supposed to have been designed
+by Alfred, which according to Asser[2] were “full nigh twice as long as
+the others ... shapen neither like Frisian nor the Danish, but so as it
+seemed to him that they would be most efficient.”
+
+Around these “early Dreadnoughts” much has been weaved, but there is no
+evidence acceptable to the best modern historians that Alfred really
+built any such ships--they tend to reject the entire theory.
+
+The actual facts of that “naval battle of the Solent” in 897 from which
+the history of our navy is popularly alleged to date, appear to be as
+follows:
+
+There were nine of King Alfred’s ships, manned by Frisian pirates, who
+were practically Danes. These nine encountered three Danish vessels in
+a land-locked harbour--probably Brading--and all of them ran aground,
+the Danish ships being in the middle between two Saxon divisions. A
+land fight ensued, till, the tide rising, the Danish ships, which were
+of lighter draught than the Saxon vessels, floated. The Danes then
+sailed away, but in doing so two of them were wrecked.
+
+All the rest of the story seems to be purely legendary. Our real
+“island story”--as events during the next few hundred years following
+Alfred clearly indicate--is not that of a people born to the sea; but
+the story of a people forced thereto by circumstances and the need of
+self-preservation.
+
+It is a very unromantic beginning. There is a strange analogy between
+it and the beginning in later days of the Sea Power of the other
+“Island Empire”--Japan. Japan to-day seeks--as we for centuries have
+sought--for an historical sequence of the “sea spirit” and all such
+things as an ideal islander should possess. Neither we nor they have
+ever understood or ever properly realised that it was the Continentals
+who long ago first saw that it was necessary to command the sea to
+attack the islanders. The more obvious contrary has always been
+assumed. It has never been held, or even suggested, that the Little
+Englander protesting against “bloated naval armaments,” so far from
+being a modern anachronism, an ultra-Radical or Socialist exotic, may
+really claim to be the true exponent of “the spirit of the Islanders”
+for all time. That is one reason why (excluding the mythical Minos
+of Crete) only two island-groups have ever loomed big in the world’s
+history.
+
+When Wilhelm II of Germany said: “_Unsere Zukunft liegt auf dem
+Wasser_,” he uttered a far more profound truth than has ever been fully
+realised. Fleets came into being to attack Islanders with.
+
+The Islanders saw the sea primarily as a protection existing between
+them and the enemy. To the Continental the sea was a road to, or
+obstacle between him and the enemy, only if the enemy filled it with
+ships. The Islanders have ever tended to trust to the existence of the
+sea itself as a defence, except in so far as they have been taught
+otherwise by individuals who realised the value of shipping. Those
+millions of British citizens who to-day are more or less torpid on the
+subject of naval defence are every whit as normal as those Germans
+who, in season and out, preach naval expansion.
+
+The explanation of all this is probably to be found in the fact that
+the earliest warfare known either to Continentals or to Islanders was
+_military warfare_. The ship as at first employed was used entirely as
+a means of transport for reaching the enemy--first, presumably, against
+outlying islands near the coast, later for more over-sea expeditions.
+
+Ideas of attack are earlier than ideas of defence, and the primary idea
+of defence went no further than the passive defensive. King Alfred,
+merely in realising the offensive defensive, did a far greater thing
+than any of the legendary exploits associated with his history. The
+idea was submerged many a time in the years that followed, but from
+time to time it appeared and found its ultimate fruition in the Royal
+Navy.
+
+Yet still, the wonder is not that only two Island Empires have ever
+come into existence, but that any should have come into existence at
+all. The real history of King Alfred’s times is that the Continental
+Danes did much as they listed against the insular Saxons of England,
+till the need was demonstrated for an endeavour to meet the enemy on
+his own element.
+
+In the subsequent reigns of Athelstan and Edmund, some naval
+expeditions took place. Under Edgar, the fleet reached its largest.
+Although the reputed number of 3,600 vessels is, of course, an
+exaggerated one, there was enough naval power at that time to secure
+peace.
+
+This “navy” had, however, a very transient existence, because in the
+reign of Ethelred, who succeeded to the throne, it had practically
+ceased to exist, and an attempt was made to revive it. This attempt
+was so little successful that Danish ships had to be hired for naval
+purposes.
+
+A charter of the time of Ethelred II exists which is considered by many
+to be the origin of that Ship Money which, hundreds of years later, was
+to cause so much trouble to England. Under this, the maintenance of
+the Navy was made a State charge on landowners, the whole of whom were
+assessed at the rate of producing one galley for every three hundred
+and ten hides of land that they possessed.
+
+This view is disputed by some historians, who maintain that the charter
+is possibly a forgery, and that it is not very clear in any case.
+However, it does not appear to have produced any useful naval power.
+
+That naval power was insufficient is abundantly clear from the ever
+increasing number of Danish settlements. In the St. Bride’s Day
+massacre, which was an attempt to kill off the leading Danes amongst
+the recent arrivals, further trouble arose; and in the year 1013,
+Swain, King of Denmark, made a large invasion of England, and in the
+year 1017, his son Canute ascended to the throne.
+
+Under Canute, the need of a navy to protect the coast against Danish
+raids passed away. The bulk of the Danish ships were sent back to
+Denmark, forty vessels only being retained.
+
+Once or twice during the reign of Canute successful naval expeditions
+were undertaken, but at the time of the King’s death the regular fleet
+consisted of only sixteen ships. Five years later, an establishment was
+fixed at thirty-two, and remained more or less at about that figure,
+till, in the reign of Edward the Confessor trouble was caused by Earl
+Godwin, who had created a species of fleet of his own. With a view to
+suppressing these a number of King’s ships were fitted out; but as the
+King and Godwin came to terms the fleet was not made use of.
+
+Close following upon this came the Norman invasion, which of all the
+foolhardy enterprises ever embarked on by man was theoretically one
+of the most foolish. William’s intentions were perfectly well known.
+A certain “English fleet” existed, and there was nothing to prevent
+its expansion into a force easily able to annihilate the heterogeneous
+Norman flotilla.
+
+How many ships and men William actually got together is a matter upon
+which the old chroniclers vary considerably. But he is supposed to have
+had with him some 696 ships[3]; and since his largest ships were not
+over twenty tons and most of them a great deal smaller, it is clear
+that they must have been crowded to excess and in poor condition to
+give battle against anything of the nature of a determined attack from
+an organised fleet.
+
+No English fleet put in appearance, however. Harold had collected a
+large fleet at Sandwich, but after a while, for some unknown reason,
+it was dispersed, probably owing to the lateness of the season. The
+strength of the fleet collected, or why it was dispersed, are, however,
+immaterial issues; the fact of importance is that the fleet was
+“inadequate” because it failed to prevent the invasion. A neglected
+fleet entailed the destruction of the Saxon dominion.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE NORMAN AND PLANTAGENET ERAS.
+
+
+William the Conqueror’s first act on landing was to burn all his
+ships--a proceeding useful enough in the way of preventing any of his
+followers retiring with their spoils, but inconvenient to him shortly
+after he became King of England. Fleets from Denmark and Norway raided
+the coasts, and, though the raiders were easily defeated on shore,
+the pressure from them was sufficient to cause William to set about
+recreating a navy, of which he made some use in the year 1071. In 1078
+the Cinque Ports were established, five ports being granted certain
+rights in return for policing the Channel and supplying ships to the
+King as required. But the amount of naval power maintained was very
+small, both in the reign of William the First and his successors.
+
+Not until the reign of Henry II was any appreciable attention paid to
+nautical matters. Larger ships than heretofore were built, as we assume
+from records of the loss of one alleged to carry 300 men. It was Henry
+II who first claimed the “Sovereignty of the British Seas” and enacted
+the Assize of Arms whereby no ship or timber for shipbuilding might be
+sold out of England.
+
+When Richard I came to the throne in 1189, fired with ambition to
+proceed to the Crusades, he ordered all ports in his dominions to
+supply him with ships in proportion to their population. The majority
+of these ships came, however, from Acquitaine. The fleet thus collected
+is said to have consisted of nine large ships, 150 small vessels,
+thirty galleys, and a number of transports. The large ships, which
+have also been given as thirteen in number, were known at the time as
+“busses.” They appear to have been three-masters. The fleet sailed
+in eight divisions. This expedition to the Holy Land was the first
+important over-sea voyage ever participated in by English ships, the
+greatest distance heretofore traversed having been to Norway in the
+time of Canute. This making of a voyage into the unknown was, however,
+not quite so difficult as it might at first sight be supposed to
+be, because there is no doubt whatever that the compass was by then
+well-known and used. Records from 1150 and onwards exist which describe
+the compass of that period. A contemporary chronicler[4] wrote of it:--
+
+    “This [polar] star does not move. They [the seamen] have an art
+    which cannot deceive, by virtue of the _manite_, an ill brownish
+    stone to which iron spontaneously adheres. They search for the
+    right point, and when they have touched a needle on it, and fixed
+    it to a bit of straw, they lay it on water, and the straw keeps it
+    afloat. Then the point infallibly turns towards the star; and when
+    the night is dark and gloomy, and neither star nor moon is visible,
+    they set a light beside the needle, and they can be assured that
+    the star is opposite to the point, and thereby the mariner is
+    directed in his course. This is an art which cannot deceive.”
+
+The compass would seem to have existed, so far as northern nations were
+concerned, about the time of William the Conqueror. Not till early in
+the Fourteenth Century did it assume the form in which we now know it,
+but its actual antiquity is considerably more.
+
+In connection with this expedition to the Holy Land, Richard issued
+a Code of Naval Discipline, which has been described as the germ of
+our Articles of War. Under this Code if a man killed another on board
+ship, he was to be tied to the corpse and thrown into the sea. If the
+murder took place on shore, he was to be buried alive with the corpse.
+The penalty for drawing a knife on another man, or drawing blood from
+him in any manner was the loss of a hand. For “striking another,”
+the offender was plunged three times into the sea. For reviling or
+insulting another man, compensation of an ounce of silver to the
+aggrieved one was awarded. The punishment for theft was to shave the
+head of the thief, pour boiling pitch upon it and then feather him.
+This was done as a mark of recognition. The subsequent punishment was
+to maroon a man upon the first land touched. Severe penalties were
+imposed on the mariners and servants for gambling.
+
+Of these punishments the two most interesting are those for theft and
+the punishment of “ducking.” This last was presumably keel-hauling,
+a punishment which survived well into the Nelson era. It is to be
+found described in the pages of Marryat. It consisted in drawing the
+offender by ropes underneath the bottom of the ship. As his body was
+thus scraped along the ship’s hull, the punishment was at all times
+severe; but in later days, as ships grew larger and of deeper draught,
+it became infinitely more cruel and heavy than in the days when it was
+first instituted.
+
+The severe penalty for theft is to be noted on account of the fact
+that, even in the early times, theft, as now, was and is recognised
+as a far more serious offence on ship board than it is on shore--the
+reason being the greater facilities that a ship affords for theft.
+
+[Illustration: RICHARD 1ST IN ACTION WITH THE SARACEN SHIP.]
+
+On his way to the Holy Land, Richard had a dispute at Sicily with the
+King of France, out of which he increased his fleet somewhat. Leaving
+Sicily, somewhere between Cyprus and Acre he encountered a very large
+Saracen ship, of the battle with which very picturesque and highly
+coloured accounts exist. There is no doubt that the ship was something
+a great deal larger than anything the English had ever seen heretofore,
+although the crew of 1,500 men with which she is credited by the
+chroniclers is undoubtedly an exaggeration.
+
+The ship carried an armament of Greek fire and “serpents.” The
+exact composition of Greek fire is unknown. It was invented by the
+Byzantines, who by means of it succeeded in keeping their enemies at
+bay for a very long time. It was a mixture of chemicals which, upon
+being squirted at the enemy from tubes, took fire, and could only be
+put out by sand or vinegar. “Serpents” were apparently some variation
+of Greek fire of a minor order, discharged by catapults.
+
+In the first part of the attack the English fleet was able to make
+no impression upon the enemy, as her high sides and the Greek fire
+rendered boarding impossible. Not until King Richard had exhilarated
+his fleet by informing them that if the galley escaped they “should
+be crucified or put to extreme torture,” was any progress made. After
+that, according to the contemporary account, some of the English jumped
+overboard and succeeded in fastening ropes to the rudder of the Saracen
+ship, “steering her as they pleased.” They then obtained a footing
+on board, but were subsequently driven back. As a last resource
+King Richard formed his galleys into line and rammed the ship, which
+afterwards sank.
+
+The relation of Richard’s successor, King John, to the British Navy, is
+one of some peculiar interest. More than any king before him he appears
+to have appreciated the importance of naval power, and naval matters
+received more attention than heretofore. In the days of King John
+the crews of ships appropriated for the King’s service were properly
+provisioned with wine and food, and there are also records of pensions
+for wounds, one of the earliest being that of Alan le Walleis, who
+received a pension of sixpence a day for the loss of his hand.[5]
+
+King John is popularly credited with having made the first claim to
+the “Sovereignty of the Seas” and of having enacted that all foreign
+vessels upon sighting an English one were to strike their flags to
+her, and that if they did not that it was lawful to destroy them.
+The authenticity of this is, however, very doubtful; and it is more
+probable that, on account of various naval regulations which first
+appeared in the reign of King John, this particular regulation was
+fathered upon him at a later date with the view to giving it an
+historical precedent.
+
+In the reign of King John the “Laws of Oleron” seem to have first
+appeared, but it is not at all clear that they had any specific
+connection with England. They appear rather to have been of a general
+European nature. The gist of the forty-seven articles of the “Laws
+of Oleron,” of which the precise date of promulgation cannot be
+ascertained, is as follows:--[5]
+
+    “By the first article, if a vessel arrived at Bordeaux, Rouen, or
+    any other similar place, and was there freighted for Scotland, or
+    any other foreign country, and was in want of stores or provisions,
+    the master was not permitted to sell the vessel, but he might with
+    the advice of his crew raise money by pledging any part of her
+    tackle or furniture.
+
+    “If a vessel was wind or weather bound, the master, when a change
+    occurred, was to consult his crew, saying to them, “Gentlemen, what
+    think you of this wind?” and to be guided by the majority whether
+    he should put to sea. If he did not do this, and any misfortune
+    happened, he was to make good the damage.
+
+    “If a seaman sustained any hurt through drunkenness or quarrelling,
+    the master was not bound to provide for his cure, but might
+    turn him out of his ship; if, however, the injury occurred in
+    the service of his ship, he was to be cured at the cost of the
+    said ship. A sick sailor was to be sent on shore, and a lodging,
+    candles, and one of the ship’s boys, or a nurse provided for him,
+    with the same allowance of provisions as he would have received on
+    board. In case of danger in a storm, the master might, with the
+    consent of the merchants on board, lighten the ship by throwing
+    part of the cargo overboard; and if they did not consent, or
+    objected to his doing so, he was not to risk the vessel but to
+    act as he thought proper; on their arrival in port, he and the
+    third part of the crew were to make oath that it was done for the
+    preservation of the vessel; and the loss was to be borne equally by
+    the merchants. A similar proceeding was to be adopted before the
+    mast or cables were cut away.
+
+    “Before goods were shipped the master was to satisfy the merchants
+    of the strength of his ropes and slings; but if he did not do so,
+    or they requested him to repair them and a cask were stove, the
+    master was to make it good.
+
+    “In cases of difference between a master and one of his crew, the
+    man was to be denied his mess allowance thrice, before he was
+    turned out of the ship, or discharged; and if the man offered
+    reasonable satisfaction in the presence of the crew, and the master
+    persisted in discharging him, the sailor might follow the ship to
+    her place of destination, and demand the same wages as if he had
+    not been sent ashore.
+
+    “In case of a collision by a ship undersail running on board one at
+    anchor, owing to bad steering, if the former were damaged, the cost
+    was to be equally divided; the master and crew of the latter making
+    oath that the collision was accidental. The reason for this law
+    was, it is said, ‘that an old decayed vessel might not purposely
+    be put in the way of a better.’ It was specially provided that all
+    anchors ought to be indicated by buoys or ‘anchor-marks.’
+
+    “Mariners of Brittany were entitled only to one meal a day,
+    because they had beverage going and coming; but those of Normandy
+    were to have two meals, because they had only water as the ship’s
+    allowance. As soon as the ship arrived in a wine country, the
+    master was, however, to procure them wine.
+
+    “Several regulations occur respecting the seamen’s wages, which
+    show that they were sometimes paid by a share of the freight. On
+    arriving at Bordeaux or any other place, two of the crew might go
+    on shore and take with them one meal of such victuals as were on
+    board, and a proportion of bread, but no drink; and they were to
+    return in sufficient time to prevent their master losing the tide.
+    If a pilot from ignorance or otherwise failed to conduct a ship
+    in safety, and the merchants sustained any damage, he was to make
+    full satisfaction if he had the means to; if not, he was to lose
+    his head; and, if the master or any one of the mariners cut off
+    his head, they were not bound to answer for it; but, before they
+    had recourse to so strong a measure, ‘they must be sure he had not
+    wherewith to make satisfaction.’
+
+    “Two articles of the code prove, that from an ‘accursed custom’ in
+    some places, by which the third or fourth part of ships that were
+    lost belonged to the lord of the place--the pilots, to ingratiate
+    themselves with these nobles, ‘like faithless and treacherous
+    villains,’ purposely ran the vessel on the rocks. It was therefore
+    enacted that the said lords, and all others assisting in plundering
+    the wreck, shall be accursed and excommunicated, and punished as
+    robbers and thieves; that ‘all false and treacherous pilots should
+    suffer a most rigorous and merciless death,’ and be suspended to
+    high gibbets near the spot, which gibbets were to remain as an
+    example in succeeding ages. The barbarous lords were to be tied to
+    a post in the middle of their own houses, and, being set on fire
+    at the four corners, all were to be burned together; the walls
+    demolished, its site converted into a marketplace for the sale only
+    of hogs and swine, and all their goods to be confiscated to the use
+    of the aggrieved parties.
+
+    “Such of the cargoes as floated ashore were to be taken care of
+    for a year or more; and, if not then claimed, they were to be
+    sold by the lord, and the proceeds distributed among the poor, in
+    marriage portions to poor maids and other charitable uses. If, as
+    often happened, ‘people more barbarous, cruel, and inhuman than mad
+    dogs,’ murdered shipwrecked persons, they were to be plunged into
+    the sea till they were half-dead, and then drawn out and stoned to
+    death.”
+
+Those laws, unconnected though they appear to be with strictly naval
+matters, are none the less of extreme interest as indicating the
+establishment of “customs of the sea,” and the consequent segregation
+of a “sailor class.” It has ever to be kept very clearly in mind that
+there was no such thing as a “Navy” as we understand it in these days.
+When ships were required for war purposes they were hired, just as
+waggons may be hired by the Army to-day; nor did the mariners count
+for much more than horses. The “Laws of Oleron,” however, gave them a
+certain general status which they had not possessed before; and the
+regulations of John as to providing for those engaged upon the King’s
+service--though they in no way constituted a Royal Navy--played their
+part many years later in making a Royal Navy possible, or, perhaps, it
+may be said, “necessary.” Necessity has ever been the principal driving
+force in the naval history of England.
+
+To resume. The limitations of the powers of the master (_i.e._ captain)
+in these “Laws of Oleron” deserve special attention. “Gentlemen,
+what think you of this wind?” from the captain to his crew would be
+considered “democracy” carried to extreme and extravagant limits in
+the present day; in the days when it was promulgated as “the rule” it
+was surely stranger still! Little wonder that seamen at an early stage
+segregated from the ordinary body of citizens and became, as described
+by Clarendon in his “History of the Rebellion” a few hundred years
+later, when he wrote:--
+
+    “The seamen are a nation by themselves, a humorous and fantastic
+    people, fierce and rude and resolute in whatsoever they resolve or
+    are inclined to, but unsteady and inconstant in pursuing it, and
+    jealous of those to-morrow by whom they are governed to-day.”
+
+To this, to the earlier things that produced it, those who will may
+trace the extreme rigour of naval discipline and naval punishments,
+as compared with contemporaneous shore punishments at any given time,
+and the extraordinary difference at present existing between the
+American and European navies. The difference is usually explained on
+the circumstance that “Europe is Europe, and America, America.” But
+“differences” having their origin in the “Laws of Oleron” may play a
+greater part than is generally allowed.
+
+The year 1213 saw the Battle of Damme. This was the first real naval
+battle between the French and English. The King of France had collected
+a fleet of some “seventeen hundred ships” for the invasion of England,
+but having been forbidden to do so by the Pope’s Legate, he decided to
+use his force against Flanders. This Armada was surprised and totally
+destroyed by King John’s fleet.
+
+After the death of John the nautical element in England declared for
+Henry III, son of John, and against Prince Louis of France, who had
+been invited to the throne of England by the barons. Out of this came
+the battle of Sandwich, 1217, where Hubert de Burgh put into practice,
+though in different form, those principles first said to have been
+evolved by Alfred the Great--namely, to attack with an assured and
+complete superiority.
+
+Every English ship took on board a large quantity of quick-lime and
+sailed to meet the French, who were commanded by Eustace the Monk. De
+Burgh manœuvred for the weather gauge. Having gained it, the English
+ships came down upon the French with the wind, the quick-lime blowing
+before them, and so secured a complete victory over the tortured and
+blinded French. This is the first recorded instance of anything that
+may be described as “tactics” in Northern waters.
+
+The long reign of Henry III saw little of interest in connection with
+nautical matters. But towards the end of Henry’s reign a private
+quarrel between English and Norman ships, both seeking fresh water off
+the Coast of Bayonne, had momentous consequences. The Normans, incensed
+over the quarrel, captured a couple of English ships and hanged the
+crew on the yards interspersed with an equal number of dead dogs. Some
+English retaliated in a similar fashion on such Normans as they could
+lay hands on, and, retaliation succeeding retaliation, it came about
+that in the reign of Edward I, though England and France were still
+nominally at peace, the entire mercantile fleets of both were engaged
+in hanging each other, over what was originally a private quarrel as to
+who should be first to draw water at a well.
+
+Ultimately the decision appears to have been come by “to fight it out.”
+Irish and Dutch ships assisted the English. Flemish and Genoese ships
+assisted the Normans and French. The English to the number of 60 were
+under Sir Robert Tiptoft. The number of the enemy is placed at 200,
+though it was probably considerably less. In the battle that ensued the
+Norman and French fleets were annihilated.
+
+This battle, even more than others of the period, cannot be considered
+as one of the battles of “the British fleet.” It is merely a conflict
+between one clique of pirates and traders against another clique. But
+it is important on account of the light that it sheds on a good deal of
+subsequent history; for the fashion thus started lasted in one way and
+another for two or three hundred years.
+
+Nor were these disputes always international. Four years later than
+the fight recorded above, in 1297, the King wished to invade Flanders
+with an army of 50,000 men. The Cinque Ports being unable to supply the
+requisite number of ships to transport this army, requisitions were
+also made at Yarmouth. Bad blood soon arose between the two divisions,
+with the result that they attacked each other. Thirty of the Yarmouth
+ships with their crews were destroyed and the expedition greatly
+hampered thereby.
+
+Two events of importance in British naval history happened in the reign
+of Edward I. The first of these, which took place about the year 1300,
+arose out of acts of piracy on foreigners, to which English ships were
+greatly addicted at that time. In an appeal made to Edward by those
+Continentals who had suffered most from these depredations, the King
+was addressed as “Lord of the Sea.” This was a definite recognition of
+that sea claim first formulated by Henry II and which was afterwards
+to lead to so much fighting and bloodshed.
+
+The second event was the granting of the first recorded “Letters of
+Marque” in the year 1295. These were granted to a French merchant who
+had been taking a cargo of fruit from Spain to England and had been
+robbed by the Portuguese. He was granted a five year license to attack
+the Portuguese in order to recoup his loss.
+
+In the reign of Edward II the only naval event of interest is, that
+when the Queen came from abroad and joined those who were fighting
+against the King, the nautical element sided with her.
+
+The reign of Edward III saw some stirring phases in English history.
+With a view to carrying on his war against France, Edward bestowed
+considerable attention on naval matters, and in the year 1338, he got
+together a fleet stated to have consisted of 500 vessels. These were
+used as transports to convey the Army to France, and are estimated to
+have carried on the average about eighty men each.
+
+Meanwhile, the French had also got together a fleet of about equal
+size, and no sooner had the English expedition reached the shores of
+France than the whole of the south coast of England was subjected to
+a series of French raids. Southampton, Plymouth and the Cinque Ports
+were sacked and burned with practical impunity. These raids continued
+during 1338 and 1339; the bulk of the English fleet still lying idle
+on transport service at Edward’s base in Flanders. A certain number of
+ships had been sent back, but most of these had been as hastily sent on
+to Scotland, where their services had been urgently needed. Matters
+in the Channel culminated with the capture of the two largest English
+ships of the time. A fleet of small vessels hastily fitted out at the
+Cinque Ports succeeded in destroying Boulogne and a number of ships
+that lay there, but generally speaking the French had matters very much
+their own way on the sea.
+
+Towards the end of 1339, Edward and his expedition returned to England
+to refit, with a view to preparing for a fresh invasion of France
+during the following summer.
+
+As Edward was about to embark, he learned that the French King had got
+together an enormous fleet at Sluys. After collecting some additional
+vessels, bringing the total number of ships up to 250 or thereabouts,
+Edward took command and sailed for Sluys, at which port he found the
+French fleet. He localised the French on Friday, July 3rd, but it was
+not until the next day that the battle took place.
+
+The recorded number of the enemy in all these early sea fights requires
+to be accepted with caution. For what it is worth the number of French
+ships has been given at 400 vessels, each carrying 100 men. The French,
+as on a later occasion they did on the Nile, lay on the defensive at
+the mouth of the harbour, the ships being lashed together by cables.
+Their boats, filled with stones, had been hoisted to the mast-heads.
+In the van of their fleet lay the _Christopher_, _Edward_, and various
+other “King’s ships,” which they captured in the previous year.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF SLUYS--1340.]
+
+The English took the offensive, and in doing so manœuvred to have the
+sun behind them. Then, with their leading ships crowded with archers
+they bore down upon the main French division and grappled with them.
+The battle, which lasted right throughout the night, was fought with
+unexampled fury, and for a long time remained undecisive, considerable
+havoc being wrought by the French with the then novel idea of dropping
+large stones from aloft. The combatants, however, were so mixed up
+that it is doubtful whether the French did not kill as many of their
+own number as of the enemy; whereas, on the other side, the use of
+English archers who were noted marksmen told only against those at whom
+the arrows were directed. Furthermore, the English had the tactical
+advantage of throwing the whole of their force on a portion of the
+enemy, whom they ultimately totally destroyed.
+
+This Battle of Sluys took place in 1340. In 1346, after various truces,
+the English again attacked France in force, and the result was the
+Battle of Cressy. A side issue of this was the historic siege of
+Calais, which held out for about twelve months. 738 ships and 14,956
+men are said to have been employed in the sea blockade.
+
+Up to this time the principal English ship had been a galley, _i.e._,
+essentially a row boat. About the year 1350 the galley began to
+disappear as a capital ship, and the galleon, with sail as its main
+motive power, took its place. Also a new enemy appeared; for at that
+time England first came into serious conflict with Spain.
+
+To a certain extent the galleon was to the fleets of the Mid-Fourteenth
+Century much what the ironclad was to the last quarter of the
+Nineteenth Century, or “Dreadnoughts” at the end of the first decade of
+the Twentieth Century.
+
+The introduction of this type of vessel came about as follows:--
+
+A fleet of Castillian galleons, bound for Flanders, whiled away the
+monotony of its trip by acts of piracy against all English ships that
+it met. It reached Sluys without interference. Here it loaded up with
+rich cargoes and prepared to return to Spain. The English meanwhile
+collected a fleet to intercept it, this fleet being in command of King
+Edward himself, who selected the “cog _Thomas_” as his flagship.
+
+The English tactics would seem to have been carefully thought out
+beforehand. The Castillian ships were known to be of relatively vast
+size and more or less unassailable except by boarding. The result was
+that when at length they appeared, the English charged their ships into
+them, sinking most of their own ships in the impact, sprang aboard and
+carried the enemy by boarding. The leading figure on the English side
+was a German body-servant of the name of Hannekin, who distinguished
+himself just at the crisis of the battle by leaping on board a
+Castillian ship and cutting the halyards. Otherwise the result of the
+battle might have been different, because the Castillians, when about
+half only of the English ships were grappled with them, hoisted their
+sails, with the object of sailing away and destroying the enemy in
+detail. Hannekin’s perception of this intention frustrated the attempt.
+
+The advantages of the galleons (or carracks as they were then
+called), must have been rendered obvious in this battle of “Les
+Espagnols-sur-Mer,” as immediately afterwards ships on the models of
+those captured began to be hired for English purposes.
+
+Concurrent, however, with this building of a larger type of ship, a
+decline of naval power began; and ten years later, English shipping
+was in such a parlous state that orders were issued to the effect that
+should any of the Cinque Ports be attacked from the sea, any ships
+there were to be hauled up on land, as far away from the water as
+possible, in order to preserve them.
+
+In the French War of 1369, almost the first act of the French fleet was
+to sack and burn Portsmouth without encountering any naval opposition.
+
+In 1372 some sort of English fleet was collected, and under the Earl
+of Pembroke sent to relieve La Rochelle, which was then besieged by
+the French and Spanish. The Spanish ships of that period had improved
+on those of twenty years before, to the extent that (according to
+Froissart), some carried guns. In any case they proved completely
+superior to the English, whose entire fleet was captured or sunk.
+
+This remarkable and startling difference is only to be accounted for
+by the difference in the naval policy of the two periods. In the early
+years of Edward III’s reign, when a fleet was required it was in an
+efficient state, and when it encountered the enemy, it was used by
+those who had obviously thought out the best means of making the most
+of the material available. In the latter stage, there was neither
+efficiency nor purpose. The result was annihilation.
+
+How far the introduction of cannon on shipboard contributed to this
+result it is difficult to say exactly. In so far as it may have, the
+blame rests with the English, who were perfectly familiar with cannon
+at that time. If, therefore, the very crude stone-throwing cannon of
+those days had any particular advantages over the stone-throwing
+catapults previously employed, failure to fit them is merely a further
+proof of the inefficiency of those responsible for naval matters in
+the closing years of Edward III’s reign. Probably, however, the cannon
+contributed little to the result of La Rochelle, for, like all battles
+of the era, it was a matter of boarding--of “land fighting on the
+water.”
+
+The reign of Richard II saw England practically without any naval
+power at all. The French and Spaniards raided the Channel without
+interference worth mention. Once or twice retaliatory private
+expeditions were made upon the French coast; but speaking generally the
+French and Spaniards had matters entirely their own way, and the latter
+penetrated the Thames so far as Gravesend.
+
+In the year 1380, an English army was sent over to France, but this,
+as Calais was British, was a simple operation, and although two years
+later ships were collected for naval purposes, English sea impotence
+remained as conspicuous as ever. In 1385, when a French armada was
+collected at Sluys for the avowed purpose of invading England on a
+large scale, no attempt whatever seems to have been made to meet this
+with another fleet. Fortunately for England, delays of one kind and
+another led to the French scheme of invasion being abandoned.
+
+Under Henry IV, matters remained much the same, until in the summer
+of 1407, off the coast of Essex, the King, who was voyaging with five
+ships, was attacked by French privateers, which succeeded in capturing
+all except the Royal vessel.
+
+[Illustration: PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR--1912.]
+
+This led to the organisation of a “fleet” and a successful campaign
+against the privateers. The necessity of Sea Power began to be
+realised again, and this so far bore fruit that in the reign of Henry
+V no less than 1,500 ships were (it is said) collected in the Solent,
+for an invasion of France. But since some of these were hired from the
+Dutch and as every English vessel of over twenty tons was requisitioned
+by the King, the large number got together does not necessarily
+indicate the existence of any very great amount of naval power. This
+fleet, however, indicated a revival of sea usage.
+
+In 1417, large ships known as “Dromons” were built at Southampton,
+and bought for the Crown, but these were more of the nature of “Royal
+Yachts” than warships. The principal British naval base at and about
+this period was at Calais, of which, at the time of the War of the
+Roses, the Earl of Warwick was the governor.
+
+The first act of the Regency of Henry VI was to sell by auction
+such ships as had been bought for the Crown under Henry V. The duty
+of keeping the Channel free from pirates was handed over to London
+merchants, who were paid a lump sum to do this, but did not do it at
+all effectively.
+
+Edward IV made some use of a Fleet to secure his accession, or later
+restoration. Richard III would seem to have realised the utility of a
+Fleet, and during his short reign he did his best to begin a revival
+of “the Navy” by buying some ships, which, however, he hired out to
+merchants for trade purposes; and so, at the critical moment, he had
+apparently nothing available to meet the mild over-sea expedition of
+Henry of Richmond. So--right up to _comparatively_ recent times--there
+was never any Royal Navy in the proper meaning of the word, nor even
+any organised attempt to create an equivalent, except on the part of
+those two Kings who we are always told were the worst Kings England
+ever had--John and Richard III. Outside these two, there is not the
+remotest evidence that anyone ever dreamed of “naval power,” “sea
+power,” or anything of the sort, till Henry VII became King of England,
+and founded the British Navy on the entirely unromantic principle that
+it was a financial economy.
+
+Such was the real and prosaic birth of the British Navy in relatively
+recent times. It was made equally prosaic in 1910 by Lord Charles
+Beresford, when he said, “Battleships are cheaper than war.”
+
+There is actually no poetry about the British Navy. There never has
+been--it will be all the better for us if there never is. It is
+merely a business-like institution founded to secure these islands
+from foreign invasion. Dibden in his own day, Kipling in ours, have
+done their best to put in the poetry. It has been pretty and nice and
+splendid. But over and above it all I put the words of a stoker whose
+name I never knew, “It’s just this--do your blanky job!”
+
+That is the real British Navy. Henry VII did not create this watchword,
+nor anyone else, except perhaps Nelson.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE TUDOR PERIOD AND BIRTH OF A REGULAR NAVY.
+
+
+That Henry VII assimilated the lesson of the utility of naval power
+is abundantly clear. Henry VII it was who first established a regular
+navy as we now understand it. Previous to his reign, ships were
+requisitioned as required for war purposes, and, the war being over,
+reverted to the mercantile service. The liability of the Cinque Ports
+to provide ships when called upon constituted a species of navy, and
+certain ships were specially held as “Royal ships” for use as required,
+but under Henry ships primarily designed for fighting purposes
+appeared. The first of these ships was a vessel generally spoken of
+as the “_Great Harry_,” though her real name seems to have been _The
+Regent_, built in 1485. Incidentally this ship remained afloat till
+1553, when she was burned by accident. She has been called “the first
+ship of the Royal Navy”; and though her right to the honour has been
+contested, she appears fully entitled to it. The real founder of the
+Navy as we understand a navy to-day was Henry VII.
+
+Another important event of this reign is that during it the first dry
+dock was built at Portsmouth. Up till then there had been no facilities
+for the underwater repair of ships other than the primitive method of
+running them on to the mud and working on them at low tide. While
+ships were small this was not a matter of much moment, but directly
+larger vessels began to be built, it meant that efficient overhauls
+were extremely difficult, if not impossible.
+
+Yet another step that had far reaching results was the granting of a
+bounty to all who built ships of over 120 tons. This bounty, which was
+“per ton” and on a sliding scale, made the building of large private
+ships more profitable and less risky than it had been before, and so
+assisted in the creation of an important auxiliary navy as complement
+to the Royal Navy.
+
+The bounty system did more, however, than encourage the building of
+large private ships. The loose method of computing tonnage already
+referred to, became more elastic still when a bounty was at stake; and
+even looser when questions of the ship being hired per ton for State
+purposes was at issue. Henry VII, who was nothing if not economical,
+felt the pinch; the more so, as just about this time Continentals with
+ships for hire became alarmingly scarce. Something very like a “corner
+in ships” was created by English merchants.
+
+Henry VII was thus, by circumstances beyond his own control, forced
+into creating a permanent navy in self defence. He died with a “navy”
+of eighteen ships, of which, however, only two were genuinely entitled
+to be called “H.M.S.” He had to hire the others!
+
+This foundation of the “regular navy” is not at all romantic. But it is
+how a regular navy came to be founded--by force of circumstances. Henry
+VII, “founder of the Royal Navy,” undoubtedly realized clearer than
+any of his predecessors for many a hundred years the meaning of naval
+power. But--his passion for economy and the advantage taken by such of
+his subjects as had ships available when hired ships were scarce, had
+probably a deal more to do with the institution of a regular navy than
+any preconceived ideas. In two words--“Circumstances compelled.” And
+that is how things stood when Henry VIII came to the throne.
+
+The nominal permanent naval power established by Henry VII consisted
+of fifty-seven ships, and the crew of each was twenty-one men and a
+boy, so that the _Great Harry_, which must have required a considerably
+larger crew, would seem to have been an experimental vessel. The actual
+force, however, was but two fighting ships proper.
+
+Under Henry VIII, however, the policy of monster ships was vigorously
+upheld, and one large ship built in the early years of his reign--the
+_Sovereign_--was reputed to be “the largest ship in Europe.” In 1512
+the King reviewed at Portsmouth “twenty-five ships of great burthen,”
+which had been collected in view of hostilities with France. These
+ships having been joined by others, and amounting to a fleet of
+forty-four sail, encountered a French fleet of thirty-nine somewhere
+off the coast of Brittany.
+
+This particular battle is mainly noteworthy owing to the fact that the
+two flagships grappled, and while in this position one of them caught
+fire. The flames being communicated to the other, both blew up. This
+catastrophe so appalled the two sides that they abandoned the battle
+by mutual consent; from which it is to be presumed that the nautical
+mind of the day had, till then, little realised that risks were run by
+carrying explosives.
+
+The English, however, were less impressed by the catastrophe than the
+enemy, since next day they rallied and captured or sank most of the
+still panic-stricken French ships.
+
+Henry replaced the lost flagship by a still larger ship, the _Grace de
+Dieu_, a two-decker with the lofty poop and forecastle of the period.
+She was about 1,000 tons. Tonnage, however, was so loosely calculated
+in those days that measurements are excessively approximate.
+
+When first cannon were introduced, they were (as previously remarked)
+merely a substitute for the old-fashioned catapults, and discharged
+stones for some time till more suitable projectiles were evolved. Like
+the catapults they were placed on the poop or forecastle, as portholes
+had not then been introduced. These were invented by a Frenchman, one
+Descharges, of Brest. By means of portholes it was possible to mount
+guns on the main deck and so increase their numbers.
+
+[Illustration: THE “GRACE DE DIEU” 1515.]
+
+Although the earliest portholes were merely small circular holes which
+did not allow of any training, and though the idea of them was probably
+directly derived from the loopholes in castle walls, the influence of
+the porthole on naval architecture was soon very great indeed. By means
+of this device a new relation between size and power was established,
+hence the “big displacements” which began to appear at this time. The
+hole for a gun muzzle to protrude through, quickly became an aperture
+allowing of training the gun on any ordinary bearing in English built
+ships. The English (for a very long time it was English only)
+realisation of the possibilities of the porthole in Henry VIII’s
+reign contributed very materially to the defeat of the Spanish Armada
+some decades later. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the
+porthole was to that era what the torpedo has been in the present one.
+Introduced about 1875 as a trivial alternative to the gun, in less
+than forty years the torpedo came to challenge the gun in range to an
+extent that as early as 1905 or thereabouts began profoundly to affect
+all previous ideas of naval tactics, and that by 1915 has changed them
+altogether!
+
+Another great change of these Henry VIII days was in the form of the
+ships.[6] At this era they began to be built with “tumble-home” sides,
+instead of sides slanting outwards upwards, and inwards downwards as
+heretofore. With the coming of the porthole came the decline of the
+cross-bow as a naval arm. In the pre-porthole days every record speaks
+of “showers of arrows,” and the gun appears to have been a species of
+accessory. In the early years of the Sixteenth Century it became the
+main armament, and so remained unchallenged till the present century
+and the coming of the long-range torpedo.
+
+Henry VIII’s reign is also remarkable for the first institution of
+those “cutting out” expeditions which were afterwards to become such a
+particular feature of British methods of warfare. This first attempt
+happened in the year 1513, when Sir Edward Howard, finding the French
+fleet lying in Brest Harbour refusing to come out, “collected boats
+and barges” and attacked them with those craft. The attempt was not
+successful, but it profoundly affected subsequent naval history.
+
+Therefrom the French were impressed with the idea that if a fleet lay
+in a harbour awaiting attack it acquired an advantage thereby. The idea
+became rooted in the French mind that to make the enemy attack under
+the most disadvantageous circumstances was the most wise of policies.
+That “the defensive is compelled to await attack, compelled to allow
+the enemy choice of the moment” was overlooked!
+
+From this time onward England was gradually trained by France into
+the role of the attacker, and the French more and more sank into the
+defensive attitude. Many an English life was sacrificed between the
+“discovery of the attack” in the days of Henry VIII, and its triumphant
+apotheosis when centuries later Nelson won the Battle of the Nile; but
+the instincts born in Henry’s reign, on the one hand to fight with any
+advantage that the defensive might offer, on the other hand to attack
+regardless of these advantages, are probably the real key to the secret
+of later victories.
+
+The Royal ships at this period were manned by voluntary enlistment,
+supplemented by the press-gang as vacancies might dictate. The pay of
+the mariner was five shillings a month; but petty officers, gunners and
+the like received additional pickings out of what was known as “dead
+pay.” By this system the names of dead men, or occasionally purely
+fancy names, were on the ship’s books, and the money drawn for these
+was distributed in a fixed ratio. The most interesting feature of Henry
+VII and Henry VIII’s navies is the presence in them of a number of
+Spaniards, who presumably acted as instructors. These received normal
+pay of seven shillings a month plus “dead pay.”
+
+The messing of the crews was by no means indifferent. It was as follows
+per man:--
+
+  Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday: ¾ lb. beef and ½ lb. bacon.
+
+  Monday, Wednesday, Saturday: Four herrings and two pounds of cheese.
+
+  Friday: To every mess of four men, half a cod, ten herrings, one
+      pound of butter and one pound of cheese.
+
+There was also a daily allowance of one pound of bread or biscuit.
+The liquid allowance was either beer, or a species of grog consisting
+of one part of sack to two of water. Taking into account the value of
+money in those days and the scale of living on shore at the time, the
+conditions of naval life were by no means bad, though complaints of the
+low pay were plentiful enough. Probably, few received the full measure
+of what on paper they were entitled to.
+
+Henry VIII died early in 1547. In the subsequent reigns of Edward VI
+and Mary, the Navy declined, and little use was made of it except for
+some raiding expeditions.
+
+When Elizabeth came to the throne the regular fleet had dwindled to
+very small proportions, and, war being in progress, general permission
+was given for privateering as the only means of injuring the enemy. It
+presently degenerated into piracy and finally had to be put down by the
+Royal ships.
+
+No sooner, however, was the war over than the Queen ordered a special
+survey to be made of the Navy. New ships were laid down and arsenals
+established for the supply of guns and gunpowder, which up to that
+time had been imported from Germany. Full advantage was taken of
+the privateering spirit, the erstwhile pirates being encouraged to
+undertake distant voyages. In many of these enterprises the Queen
+herself had a personal financial interest. She thus freed the country
+from various turbulent spirits who were inconvenient at home, and at
+one and the same time increased her own resources by doing so.
+
+There is every reason to believe that this action of Elizabeth’s was
+part of a well-designed and carefully thought out policy. The type of
+ship suitable for distant voyages and enterprises was naturally bound
+to become superior to that which was merely evolved from home service.
+The type of seamen thus bred was also necessarily bound to be better
+than the home-made article. Elizabeth can hardly have failed to realise
+these points also.
+
+To the _personnel_ of the regular Navy considerable attention was
+also given. Pay was raised to 6/8 per month for the seamen, and 5/- a
+month with 4/- a month for clothing for soldiers afloat. Messing was
+also increased to a daily ration of one pound of biscuit, a gallon of
+beer, with two pounds of beef per man four days out of the seven, and a
+proportionate amount of fish on the other three days. Subsequently, and
+just previous to the Armada, the pay of seamen rose to 10/- a month,
+with a view to inducing the better men not to desert.
+
+The regular navy was thus by no means badly provided for as things
+went in those days; while service with “gentlemen adventurers” offered
+attractions to a very considerable potential reserve, and so England
+contained a large population which, from one cause and another, was
+available for sea service. To these circumstances was it due that the
+Spanish Armada, when it came, never had the remotest possibility of
+success. It was doomed to destruction the day that Elizabeth first gave
+favour to the “gentlemen adventurers.”
+
+Of these adventurers the greatest of all was Francis Drake, who in 1577
+made his first long voyage with five ships to the Pacific Ocean. Drake,
+alone, in the _Pelican_, succeeded in reaching the Pacific and carrying
+out his scheme of operations, which--not to put too fine a point on
+it--consisted of acts of piracy pure and simple against the Spaniards.
+He returned to England after an absence of nearly three years, during
+which he circumnavigated the globe.
+
+There is little doubt that Drake in this voyage, and others like him in
+similar expeditions, learned a great deal about the disadvantages of
+small size in ships. Drake, however, learned another thing also. Up to
+this day the crew of a ship had consisted of the captain and a certain
+military element; also the master, who was responsible for a certain
+number of “mariners.” The former were concerned entirely with fighting
+the ship--the latter entirely with manœuvring it.
+
+This system of specialisation, awkward as it appears thus baldly
+stated, may have worked well enough in ordinary practice. It did not
+differ materially from the differentiation between deck hands and the
+engineering departments, which to a greater or less extent is very
+marked in every navy of the present day.
+
+Drake, however, started out with none too many men, and it was not long
+before he lost some of those he had and found himself short-handed.
+His solution of the difficulty is in his famous phrase, “I would have
+the gentlemen haul with the mariners.” How far this was a matter of
+expediency, how far the revelation of a new policy, is a matter of
+opinion. It must certainly have been outside the purview of Elizabeth.
+But out of it gradually came that every English sailor knew how to
+fight his ship and how to sail her too, and this amounted to doubling
+the efficiency of the crew of any ship at one stroke.
+
+Of Drake himself, the following contemporary pen-picture, from a letter
+written by one of his Spanish victims, Don Franciso de Zarate,[7]
+explains almost everything:--
+
+    “He received me favourably, and took me to his room, where he made
+    me seated and said to me: ‘I am a friend to those who speak the
+    truth, that is what will have the most weight with me. What silver
+    or gold does this ship bring?’
+
+    “... We spoke together a great while, until the dinner-hour. He
+    told me to sit beside him and treated me from his dishes, bidding
+    me have no fear, for my life and goods were safe; for which I
+    kissed his hands.
+
+    “This English General is a cousin of John Hawkins; he is the same
+    who, about five years ago, took the port of Nombre de Dios; he is
+    called Francis Drake; a man of some five and thirty years, small of
+    stature and red-bearded, one of the greatest sailors on the sea,
+    both from skill and power of commanding. His ship carried about 400
+    tons, is swift of sail, and of a hundred men, all skilled and in
+    their prime, and all as much experienced in warfare as if they were
+    old soldiers of Italy. Each one, in particular, _takes great pains
+    to keep his arms clean_;[8] he treats them with affection, and
+    they treat him with respect. I endeavoured to find out whether the
+    General was liked, and everyone told me he was adored.”
+
+Less favourable pictures of Drake have been penned, and there is no
+doubt that some of his virtues have been greatly exaggerated. At the
+present day there is perhaps too great a tendency to reverse the
+process. Stripped of romance, many of his actions were petty, while
+those of some of his fellow adventurers merit a harsher name. Hawkins,
+for instance, was hand-in-glove with Spanish smugglers and a slave
+trader. Many of the victories of the Elizabethan “Sea-Kings” were
+really trifling little affairs, magnified into an importance which they
+never possessed.
+
+But, when all is said and done, it is in these men that we find the
+birth of a sea spirit which still lingers on, despite that other
+insular spirit previously referred to--the natural tendency of
+islanders to regard the water itself as a bulwark, instead of the
+medium on which to meet and defeat the enemy.
+
+The Spanish, already considerably incensed by the piratical acts of the
+English “gentlemen adventurers,” presently found a further cause of
+grievance in the assistance rendered by Elizabeth to their revolting
+provinces in the Netherlands. Drake had not returned many years from
+his famous voyage when it became abundantly clear that the Spaniards no
+longer intended quietly to suffer from English interference.
+
+Spain at that time was regarded as the premier naval power of Europe.
+Her superiority was more mythical than actual, for reasons which will
+later on be referred to: however, her commercial oversea activities
+were very great. The wealth which she wrung from the Indies--though
+probably infinitely less than its supposed value--was sufficient to
+enable her to equip considerable naval forces, certainly larger ones
+numerically than any which England alone was able to bring against
+them.
+
+Knowledge of the fact that Spain was preparing the Armada for an attack
+on England, led to the sailing of Drake in April, 1587, with a fleet
+consisting of four large and twenty-six smaller ships, for the hire of
+which the citizens of London were nominally or actually responsible.
+His real instructions are not known, but there is little question that,
+as in all similar expeditions, he started out knowing that his success
+would be approved of, although in the event of any ill-success or
+awkward questions, he would be publicly disavowed.
+
+Reaching Cadiz, he destroyed 100 store ships which he found there;
+and then proceeding to the Tagus, offered battle to the Spanish war
+fleet. The Spanish admiral, however, declined to come out--a fact
+which of itself altogether discredits the popular idea about the vast
+all-powerful ships of Spain, and the little English ships, which,
+in the Armada days, could have done nothing against them but for a
+convenient tempest. On account of this expedition of Drake’s, the
+sailing of the Armada was put off for a year. So far as stopping the
+enterprise was concerned, Drake’s expedition was a failure. Armada
+preparations still went on.
+
+It is by no means to be supposed that the Armada in its conception was
+the foolhardy enterprise that on the face of things it looks to have
+been. The idea of it was first mooted by the Duke of Alva so long ago
+as 1569. In 1583 it became a settled project in the able hands of the
+Marquis of Santa Cruz, who alone among the Spaniards was not more or
+less afraid of the English. In the battle of Tercera in 1583, certain
+ships, which if not English were at any rate supposed to be, had shown
+the white feather. Santa Cruz assumed therefrom that the English were
+easily to be overwhelmed by a sufficiently superior force, and he
+designed a scheme whereby he would use 556 ships and an army of 94,222
+men.
+
+Philip of Spain had other ideas. Having a large army under the Duke
+of Parma in the Netherlands, he proposed that this force should be
+transported thence to England in flat-bottomed boats, while Santa Cruz
+should take with him merely enough ships to hold the Channel, and
+prevent any interference by the English ships with the invasion.
+
+Before the delayed Armada could sail Santa Cruz died; and despite his
+own protestations Medina Sidonia was appointed in Santa Cruz’s place
+to carry out an expedition in which he had little faith or confidence.
+His total force at the outset consisted of 130 ships and 30,493 men. Of
+these ships not more than sixty-two at the outside were warships, and
+some of these did not carry more than half-a-dozen guns.
+
+The main English fighting force consisted of forty-nine warships, some
+of which were little inferior to the Spanish in tonnage, though all
+were much smaller to the eye, as they were built with a lower freeboard
+and without the vast superstructures with which the Spaniards were
+encumbered. As auxiliaries, the English had a very considerable force
+of small ships; also the Dutch fleet in alliance with them.
+
+The guns of the English ships were, generally speaking, heavier,
+all their gunners were well trained, and their portholes especially
+designed to give a considerable arc of fire, whereas the Spanish had
+very indifferent gunners and narrow portholes. The Spaniards themselves
+thoroughly recognised their inferiority in the matter of gunnery,
+and the specific instructions of their admiral were that he was to
+negative this inferiority by engaging at close quarters, and trust to
+destroying the enemy by small-arm fire from his lofty superstructures.
+
+The small portholes of the Spanish ships, which permitted neither of
+training, nor elevation, nor depression, are not altogether to be put
+down to stupidity or neglect of progress, for all that they were mainly
+the result of ultra-conservatism. The gun--as Professor Laughton has
+made clear--was regarded in Spain as a somewhat dishonourable weapon.
+Ideals of “cold steel” held the field. Portholes were kept very small,
+so that enemies relying on musketry should not be able to get the
+advantage that large portholes might supply. To close with the enemy
+and carry by boarding was the be-all and end-all of Spanish ideas
+of naval warfare. When able to employ their own tactics they were
+formidable opponents, though to the English tactics merely so many
+helpless haystacks.
+
+On shore, in England, the coming of the Armada provoked a good deal of
+panic; though the army which Elizabeth raised and reviewed at Tilbury
+was probably got together more with a view to allaying this panic than
+from any expectations that it would be actually required. The views of
+the British seamen on the matter were entirely summed up in Drake’s
+famous jest on Plymouth Hoe, that there was plenty of time to finish
+the game of bowls and settle the Spaniards afterwards!
+
+[Illustration: THE SPANISH ARMADA--1588.]
+
+Yet this very confidence might have led to the undoing of the English.
+The researches of Professor Laughton have made it abundantly clear that
+had Medina Sidonia followed the majority opinion of a council of
+war held off the Lizard, he could and would have attacked the English
+fleet in Plymouth Sound with every prospect of destroying it, because
+there, and there only, did opportunity offer them that prospect of a
+close action upon which their sole chance of success depended. Admiral
+Colomb has elaborated the point still further, with a quotation from
+Monson to the effect that had the Armada had a pilot able to recognise
+the Lizard, which the Spaniards mistook for Ramehead, they might have
+surprised the English fleet at Plymouth. This incident covers the whole
+of what Providence or luck really did for England against the Spanish.
+
+To a certain extent a parallel of our own day exists. When
+Rodjestvensky with the Baltic fleet reached Far Eastern waters, there
+came a day when his cruisers discovered the entire Japanese fleet
+lying in Formosan waters. The Russian admiral ignored them and went
+on towards Vladivostok. The parallel ends here because the “Japanese
+fleet” was merely a collection of dummies intended to mislead him.[9]
+
+The first engagement with the Spanish Armada took place on Sunday,
+June 21st. It was more in the nature of a skirmish than anything else.
+The Spaniards made several vain and entirely ineffectual attempts to
+close with the swifter and handier English vessels. They took care,
+however, to preserve their formation, and so to that extent defeated
+the English tactics, which were to destroy in detail what could not
+be destroyed without heavy loss in the mass. So the Spaniards reached
+Calais on the 27th with a loss of only three large ships.
+
+They there discovered that Parma’s flat-bottomed boats were all
+blockaded by the Dutch, and that any invasion of England was therefore
+entirely out of the question. It must have been perfectly obvious to
+the most sanguine of them by this that they could not force action with
+the swifter English ships, while they could not relieve the blockaded
+boats without being attacked at the outset. In a word, the Armada was
+an obvious failure.
+
+On the night of the 28th, fire ships were sent into the Spanish fleet
+by the English. This, though the damage done was small, brought the
+Spanish to sea, and the next morning they were attacked off Gravelines
+by the English. The battle was hardly of the nature of a fleet action,
+so much as well-designed tactical operations intended to keep the enemy
+on the move. It resulted in the Spaniards losing only seven ships in a
+whole day’s fighting. The only really serious loss that the Spaniards
+sustained was that they were driven into the North Sea, with no
+prospect of returning home except by way of the North of Scotland.
+
+Followed for awhile and harried by a portion of the English fleet,
+which fell upon and destroyed stragglers, the Spaniards were driven
+into what to most of them were unknown waters and uncharted seas. To
+the last the retreating fleet maintained a show of order. Fifty-three
+ships succeeded in returning to Spain.
+
+[Illustration: THE END OF A “GENTLEMAN-ADVENTURER.”--THE
+“REVENGE.”--CAPTURED BY SPANIARDS, 1591.]
+
+Stripped of romance this is the real prosaic history of the defeat
+of the Spanish Armada. The wonder is not that so few Spanish ships
+returned, but that so many did! The loss in Spanish warships proper
+appears to have been little over a dozen all told, and of these not
+more than three at the outside can be attributed to “the winds.”
+
+Havoc was undoubtedly wrought, but the “galleons” which “perished by
+scores” on the Scotch and Irish coasts were mainly the auxiliaries,
+transports, and small fry; the battle fleet proper kept together all
+the time, and with a couple of exceptions the ships reached home
+together as a fleet.[10]
+
+At no time in the advance of the Spanish--probably at no time in the
+retreat either--could the English have engaged close action with any
+certainty of success. Victory was attributable solely and entirely to
+the evolution of a type of ship, fast, speedy and handy, able to hit
+hard, and which had been more or less specially designed with an eye to
+offering a very small target to the clumsily designed Spanish style of
+gun mounting.
+
+It was “history repeating itself” in another way. As Alfred overcame
+the Danes by evolving something superior to the Danish galleys; so,
+in Elizabethan days, there was evolved a type of warship meet for the
+occasion.
+
+From the defeat of the Armada and onwards, English naval operations
+were mainly confined to raiding expeditions against the Spanish coast,
+with a view to checking the collection of any further Armadas. These
+operations were chiefly carried out by the “gentlemen adventurers”; but
+the real Navy itself was maintained and added to, and at the death of
+Elizabeth in 1603, it consisted of forty-two ships, of which the 68-gun
+_Triumph_ of 1,000 tons was the largest. This Navy was relied upon as
+the premier arm in case of any serious trouble.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+THE PERIOD OF THE DUTCH WARS.
+
+
+With the accession of James I peace with Spain came about, but the
+Dutch being ignored in the transaction, out of this there arose that
+ill-feeling and rivalry which was later on to culminate in the Dutch
+wars.
+
+In James I’s reign no naval operations of great importance took place,
+but considerable interest attaches to the despatch of eighteen ships
+(of which six were “King’s Ships”), to Algiers in 1520. This was the
+first appearance of an English squadron in the Mediterranean.
+
+Under James I the numerical force of the Navy declined somewhat.
+The art of shipbuilding, however, made considerable advance.[11] A
+Shipwrights’ Company was established in 1656, and Phineas Pett, as its
+first master, built and designed a 1,400 ton ship named the _Prince
+Royal_. Pett introduced a variety of novelties into his designs,
+and the _Prince Royal_ and her successors were esteemed superior to
+anything set afloat elsewhere at the time.
+
+Here it is desirable to turn aside for a moment in order to realise the
+influences at work behind Phineas Pett. It has ever been the peculiar
+fortune of the Royal Navy--and for that matter of the inchoate “Navy”
+which preceded its establishment--to have had men capable of “looking
+ahead” and forcing the pace in such a way that new conditions were
+prepared for when they arrived.
+
+Of such a nature, each in his own way, were King Alfred, King John,
+Richard III, and Henry VII, but greater than any of these was Sir
+Walter Raleigh, whose visions in the days of Elizabeth and James I ran
+so clearly and so far that even now we cannot be said to have left him
+behind where “principles” are concerned. Drake was the national hero of
+Elizabethan days, but in utility to the future, Raleigh was a greater
+than he, albeit his best service was of the “armchair” kind.
+
+The following extracts from Raleigh’s writings, except for geographical
+and political differences, stand as true to-day as when he wrote them
+about 300 years ago. The idea of a main fleet, backed up by smaller
+vessels, the idea of meeting the enemy on the water and so forth, are
+commonplaces now, but in Raleigh’s time they were quite otherwise. The
+italicised portions in particular indicate quite clearly in Elizabethan
+words the naval policy of to-day.
+
+    “Another benefit which we received by this preparation was, that
+    _our men were now taught suddenly to arm, every man knowing his
+    command, and how to be commanded_, which before they were ignorant
+    of; and who knows not that sudden and false alarms in any army are
+    sometimes necessary? To say the truth, the expedition which was
+    then used in drawing together so great an army by land, and rigging
+    so great and royal a navy to sea, in so little a space of time, was
+    so admirable in other countries, that they received a terror by it;
+    and many that came from beyond the seas said _the Queen was never
+    more dreaded abroad for anything she ever did_.
+
+    “Frenchmen that came aboard our ships did wonder (as at a thing
+    incredible) that Her Majesty had rigged, victualled, and furnished
+    her royal ships to sea in twelve days’ time; and Spain, as an
+    enemy, had reason to fear and grieve to see this sudden preparation.
+
+    “It is not the meanest mischief we shall do to the King of Spain,
+    if we thus war upon him, to force him to keep his shores still
+    armed and guarded, to the infinite vexation, charge and discontent
+    of his subjects; for no time or place can secure them so long as
+    they see or know us to be upon that coast.
+
+    “The sequel of all these actions being duly considered, we may be
+    confident that _whilst we busy the Spaniard at home, they dare not
+    think of invading England or Ireland_; for by their absence their
+    fleet from the Indies may be endangered[12] and in their attempts
+    they have as little hope of prevailing.
+
+    “Surely I hold that the _best way is to keep our enemies from
+    treading upon our ground: wherein, if we fail, then_ must we seek
+    to make him wish that he had stayed at his own home. In such
+    a case, if it should happen, our judgments are to weigh many
+    particular circumstances, that belong not to this discourse. But
+    making the question general, _the position, whether England,
+    without that it is unable to do so_: and, therefore, I think it
+    most dangerous to make the adventure. For the encouragements of a
+    first victory to an enemy, and the discouragement of being beaten
+    to the invaded, may draw after it a most perilous consequence.
+
+    “Great difference, I know there is, and diverse consideration to be
+    had, between such a country as France is, strengthened with many
+    fortified places, and this of ours, where our ramparts are but the
+    bodies of men. But I say that an army to be transported over sea,
+    and to be landed again in an enemy’s country, and the place left
+    to the choice of the invader _cannot be resisted on the coast of
+    England without a fleet to impeach it; no, nor on the coast of
+    France, or any other country, except every creek, port, or sandy
+    bay had a powerful army in each of them to make opposition.... For
+    there is no man ignorant that ships, without putting themselves out
+    of breath, will easily outrun the soldiers that coast them_.[13]
+
+    “Whosoever were the inventors, we find that every age hath added
+    somewhat to ships, and to all things else. And in mine own time the
+    shape of our English ships hath been greatly bettered. It is not
+    long since the striking of the topmast (a wonderful ease to great
+    ships, both at sea and in harbour) hath been devised, together
+    with the chain pump, which takes up twice as much water as the
+    ordinary did. We have lately added the Bonnet and the Drabler.
+    To the courses we have devised studding-sails, topgallant-masts,
+    spritsails, topsails. The weighing of anchors by the capstone is
+    also new. We have fallen into consideration of the lengths of
+    cable, and by it we resist the malice of the greatest winds that
+    can blow. Witness our small Millbroke men of Cornwall, that ride it
+    out at anchor half seas over between England and Ireland, all the
+    winter quarter. And witness the Hollanders that were wont to ride
+    before Dunkirk with the wind at north-west, making a lee-shoar in
+    all weathers. For true it is, that the length of the cable is the
+    life of the ship, riding at length, is not able to stretch it; and
+    nothing breaks that is not stretched in extremity. We carry our
+    ordnance better than we were wont, because our nether over-loops
+    are raised commonly from the water, to wit, between the lower part
+    of the sea.
+
+    “In King Henry VIII time, and in his presence at Portsmouth, the
+    Mary Rose, by a little sway of the ship in tacking about, her ports
+    being within sixteen inches of the water, was overset and lost.
+
+    “We have also raised our second decks, and given more vent thereby
+    to our ordnance lying on our nether-loop. We have added cross
+    pillars[14] in our royal ships to strengthen them, which be
+    fastened from the keels on to the beam of the second deck to keep
+    them from setting or from giving way in all distresses.
+
+    “We have given longer floors to our ships than in elder times, and
+    better bearing under water, whereby they never fall into the sea
+    after the head and shake the whole body, nor sink astern, nor stoop
+    upon a wind, by which the breaking loose of our ordnance, or of the
+    not use of them, with many other discommodities are avoided.
+
+    “And, to say the truth, a miserable shame and dishonour it were for
+    our shipwrights if they did not exceed all others in the setting
+    up of our Royal ships, _the errors of other nations being far more
+    excusable than ours_. For the Kings of England have for many years
+    _being at the charge to build and furnish a navy of powerful ships
+    for their own defence, and for the wars only. Whereas the_ French,
+    the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and the Hollanders (till of late)
+    _have had no proper fleet belonging to their Princes or States._
+    Only the Venetians for a long time have maintained their arsenal of
+    gallies. And the Kings of Denmark and Sweden have had good ships
+    for these last fifty years.
+
+    “I say that the aforenamed Kings, especially the Spaniards and
+    Portugals, have ships of great bulk, but fitter for the merchant
+    than for the man-of-war, for burthen than for _battle_. But
+    as Popelimire well observeth, ‘the forces of Princes by sea
+    are marques de grandeur d’estate--marks of the greatness of an
+    estate--for _whosoever commands the sea, commands the trade;
+    whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of
+    the world, and consequently the world itself_.’
+
+    “Yet, can I not deny but that the Spaniards, being afraid of their
+    Indian fleets, have built some few very good ships; _but he hath no
+    ships in garrison_, as His Majesty hath; and to say the truth, no
+    sure place to keep them in, but in all invasions he is driven to
+    take up of all nations which come into his ports for trade....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “But there’s no estate grown in haste but that of the United
+    Provinces, and especially in their sea forces, and by a contrary
+    way to that of Spain and France; the latter by invasion, the former
+    by oppression. For I myself may remember _when one ship of Her
+    Majesty’s would have made forty Hollanders strike sail and come to
+    an anchor_. They did not then dispute de Mari Libero, but readily
+    acknowledged the English to be Domini Maria Britannici. That we are
+    less powerful than we were, I do hardly believe it; for, although
+    we have not at this time 135 ships belonging to the subject of
+    500 tons each ship, as it is said we had in the twenty-fourth
+    year of Queen Elizabeth; at which time also, upon a general view
+    and muster, there were found in England of able men fit to bear
+    arms, 1,172,000, yet are our merchant ships now far more warlike
+    and better appointed than they were, and the Navy royal double as
+    strong as it then was. For these were the ships of Her Majesty’s
+    Navy at that time:
+
+           1. The Triumph
+           2. The Elizabeth Jonas
+           3. The White Bear
+           4. The Philip and Mary
+           5. The Bonadventure
+           6. The Golden Lyon
+           7. The Victory
+           8. The Revenge
+           9. The Hope
+          10. The Mary Rose
+          11. The Dreadnought
+          12. The Minion
+          13. The Swiftsure
+
+    to which there have been added:--
+
+          14. The Antilope
+          15. The Foresight
+          16. The Swallow
+          17. The Handmaid
+          18. The Jennett
+          19. The Bark of Ballein
+          20. The Ayde
+          21. The Achates
+          22. The Falcon
+          23. The Tyger
+          24. The Bull
+
+    “We have not, therefore, less force than we had, the fashion, and
+    furnishing of our ships considered, for there are in England at
+    this time 400 sail or merchants, and fit for the wars, which the
+    Spaniards would call galleons; to which we may add 200 sail of
+    crumsters, or hoyes of Newcastle, which, each of them, will bear
+    six Demi-culverins and four Sakers, needing no other addition of
+    building than a slight spar deck fore and aft, as the seamen call
+    it, which is a slight deck throughout....
+
+    “I say, then, if a vanguard be ordained of those hoyes, who will
+    easily recover the wind of any other sort of ships, with a battle
+    of 400 other warlike ships, and a rear of thirty of His Majesty’s
+    ships to sustain, relieve, and countenance the rest (if God beat
+    them not) I know not what strength can be gathered in all Europe
+    to beat them. And if it be objected that the States can furnish a
+    far greater number, I answer that His Majesty’s forty ships, added
+    to the 600 beforenamed, are of incomparable greater force than all
+    that Holland and Zealand can furnish for the wars. As also, that
+    a greater number would breed the same confusion that was found in
+    Xerxes’ land army of 1,700,000 soldiers; _for there is a certain
+    proportion, both by sea and land, beyond which the excess brings
+    nothing but disorder and amazement_.”
+
+I have quoted from Raleigh at considerable length--a length which may
+seem to some out of all proportion to the general historical scheme of
+this work. But of the three possible “founders of the British Navy,”
+King Alfred by legend, King Henry VII by force of circumstances, and
+Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, by his realisation of certain eternal
+verities of naval warfare, the palm goes best to Raleigh, to whose
+precepts it was mainly due that England did not succumb to Holland in
+the days of the Dutch wars. Compared to the struggle with the Dutch,
+neither the Spanish wars, which preceded them, nor the great French
+wars which followed, were of any like importance as regarded the
+relative risks and dangers. And the interest is the greater in that
+where the United Provinces were, about and just after Raleigh’s time,
+Germany stands towards the British Navy to-day.
+
+In 1618 the Duke of Buckingham was appointed Lord High Admiral and
+continued in that position after the accession of Charles I. Of the
+incapacity of the Duke much has been written, but whatever may be said
+in connection with various unsuccessful oversea enterprises, for which
+he was officially responsible, naval shipbuilding under his régime made
+very considerable progress.
+
+Things were quite otherwise, however, with the _personnel_. Abuses of
+every sort and kind crept in unchecked, and the men were the first to
+feel the pinch. The unscrupulous contractor appeared, and with him the
+era of offal foods and all kinds of similar abuses, of which many have
+lasted well into our own time, and some exist still. The money allotted
+for the men of the fleet became the prey of every human vulture, the
+officers, as a rule, being privy thereunto. Besides food, clothing also
+fell into the hands of contractors who supplied shoddy at ridiculously
+high prices, with the commission to officers stopped out of the men’s
+pay.
+
+Pay, nominally, rose a good deal, and in 1653 reached twenty-four
+shillings a month for the seaman, but the figures (approximately equal
+in purchasing value to the pay of to-day) convey nothing. The men were
+half-starved, or worse, on uneatable food, and their clothing was such
+that they went about in rags and died like rats in their misery.
+
+The first naval event in Charles I’s reign is mainly of interest
+because of the peculiar personal circumstances that attended it. One
+King’s ship and six hired ships were despatched, nominally to assist
+the French against the Genoese. On arriving at Dieppe, however, the
+English officers and men discovered that they were really to be used
+against the revolted French Protestants of La Rochelle. This being
+against their taste, they returned to the Downs and reported themselves
+to the King. They were ordered to sail again for La Rochelle. One
+captain, however, point blank refused to do so. The other ships went,
+but the officers and men, with a single exception, having handed their
+ships over to the French, returned to England.
+
+Little or nothing seems to have been done in the way of punishment to
+the mutineers (possibly on account of public opinion). But the incident
+sheds an interesting sidelight on the state of the Navy at the time. It
+is hardly to be conceived that the Army at the same period could have
+acted in similar fashion with equal impunity.
+
+[Illustration: PHINEAS PETT, 1570–1647.
+
+From the contemporary portrait by William Dobson in the National
+Portrait Gallery.]
+
+The history of the British Navy of this period is the history of a
+navy lacking in discipline, and its officers divided against each
+other. Such expeditions as were undertaken against France and Spain
+signally failed. It is usual to attribute these failures to the
+mal-administration of the Duke of Buckingham, an unpopular figure.
+But whether this is just or not is another matter. The entire Navy
+was rotten to the core in its _personnel_. But Buckingham’s share in
+it would seem to have been inability to understand rather than direct
+carelessness.
+
+Under the Duke’s régime the building of efficient warships continued
+to progress. The “ship money,” which was to cause so much trouble
+inland later, is outside the scope of this work, save in so far
+as its direct naval aspect is concerned. This, of course, was the
+principle that inland places benefited from sea defence quite as much
+as seaside districts. A great deal of the money was undoubtedly spent
+on shipbuilding; indeed, some of the trouble lay over alleged (and
+seemingly obvious) excessive expenditure on the “Dreadnought” of the
+period, Phineas Pett’s _Royal Sovereign_, a ship altogether superior
+to anything before built in England, and the first three-decker ever
+constructed in this country. She was laid down in 1635 and launched in
+1657. An immense amount of gilding and carving about her irritated the
+economically minded, but it is questionable whether the objections were
+well informed.
+
+Just about this time elaborate ornamentations of warships was the
+“vogue,” and it carried moral effect accordingly. What to the
+uninitiated landsmen merely spelt “waste of money on unnecessary
+display” spelt something else to those who went across the seas.
+Even in our own present utilitarian days a fresh coat of paint to a
+warship has been found to have a political value; and fireworks and
+illuminations (seemingly pure waste of money) have played their share
+in helping to preserve the peace.
+
+John Hampden, according to his lights, was a patriot, and according
+to the purely political questions with which he was concerned he may
+also have been; but on the naval issue of Ship Money he was little more
+or less than the First Little Englander, and hampered by just that
+same inability to see beyond his nose which characterised the modern
+Little Englander who protested against “bloated naval expenditure.” The
+intentions were excellent--the intelligence circumscribed.
+
+A contemporary account of the _Royal Sovereign_ is as follows:--
+
+    “Her length by the keele is 128 foote or thereabout, within some
+    few inches; her mayne breadth or wideness from side to side, 48
+    foote; her utmost length from the fore-end to the stern, _a prova
+    ad pupin_, 232 foote. Shee is in height, from the bottom of her
+    keele to the top of her lanthorne, 76 foote; she beareth five
+    lanthornes, the biggest of which will hold ten persons to stand
+    upright, and without shouldering or pressing one on the other.
+
+    “Shee hath three flush deckes and a forecastle, an halfe decke,
+    a quarter-decke, and a round house. Her lower tyre hath thirty
+    ports, which are to be furnished with demi-cannon and whole
+    cannon, throughout being able to beare them; her middle tyre
+    hath also thirty ports for demi-culverin and whole culverin;
+    her third tyre hath twentie sixe ports for other ordnance; her
+    forecastle hath twelve ports, and her halfe decke hath fourteen
+    ports; she hath thirteene or fourteene ports more within board
+    for murdering-pieces, besides a great many loope-holes out of the
+    cabins for musket shot. Shee carrieth, moreover, ten pieces of
+    chase ordnance in her right forward, and ten right off, according
+    to lande service in the front and the reare. Shee carrieth eleven
+    anchores, one of them weighing foure thousand foure hundred pounds;
+    and according to these are her cables, mastes, sayles, cordage.”
+
+[Illustration:
+
+                                                          _Ex. Fincham._
+
+THE _ROYAL SOVEREIGN_.
+
+The dotted lines represent a ship of the time of 1850.]
+
+It remains to add that the ship was extraordinarily well built. She
+fought many a battle and survived some fifty years, and then only
+perished because, when laid up for refit in 1696, she was accidentally
+burned. And about sixty-three years ago (1852) naval architects still
+alluded to her with respect, nor did their designs differ from her very
+materially.
+
+Wherever and however Charles I and the Duke of Buckingham failed, their
+shipbuilding policy cannot but command both respect and admiration.
+It is the curious irony of fate that--excepting King Alfred, and
+also Queen Elizabeth--it is the Sovereigns of England with black
+marks against them who ever did most for the Navy or understood its
+importance. And understanding what the Navy meant, generally secured
+these marks at the hands of some quite well meaning but intellectually
+circumscribed prototype or successor of John Hampden, to whom “meeting
+the enemy on the water” was an entirely indigestible theory, and a
+waste of money into the bargain. There is no question whatever that
+to them the sea appeared a natural rampart and ships upon it pure
+superfluity, save in so far as inconvenience to the shore counties
+might result. Later on, Cromwell, of course, acted on a different
+principle--but Cromwell was an Imperialist. Hampden was merely the
+“Insular Spirit” personified.
+
+In 1639, a naval incident occurred which goes to discredit the popular
+idea of the impotence of the British Navy under Charles I, whatever its
+internal condition. Naval operations were in progress between Holland
+and France on the one side, and Spain on the other. The British fleet
+was fitted out under Sir John Pennington (that same Pennington who had
+commanded the squadron which refused to attack La Rochelle) with orders
+to maintain British neutrality.
+
+The Spanish fleet took refuge from the Dutch in the Downs, whereupon
+Pennington informed the rival admirals that he should attack whichever
+of them violated the neutrality of an English harbour. The Spanish
+having fired upon the Dutch, the Dutch Admiral Van Tromp applied to
+Pennington for permission to attack the Downs. This was given, and the
+bulk of the Spanish fleet destroyed. The incident suggests that the
+English fleet was recognised as a neutral able to enforce its orders
+against all and sundry.
+
+In connection with this, it is interesting to record the existence of
+a naval medal of the period, bearing the motto: “_Nec meta mihi quae
+terminus orbi_”--a free translation of which would be, “Nothing limits
+me but the size of the World.” However short practice may have fallen,
+Charles and his advisers had undoubtedly grasped the theory of “Sea
+Power.”
+
+
+_THE CIVIL WAR._
+
+When the Civil war began in 1642, the regular fleet consisted of
+forty-two ships. It was seized by the Parliamentarians and put under
+the Earl of Warwick, who held command for six years. With his fleet he
+very effectually patrolled the Channel, rendering abortive all over-sea
+attempts to assist the King with arms and ammunition.
+
+On Warwick being superseded in 1648, the fleet mutinied, and seventeen
+ships sailed for Holland to join Prince Charles; but upon Warwick being
+reinstated the bulk of the fleet returned to its allegiance to the
+Parliamentarians. That the Parliamentarians were fully alive to the
+importance of naval power is evidenced by the fact that they seized
+every opportunity to lay down new ships; and “Parliament” once in power
+made it very clear indeed that the Sovereignty of the Seas would be
+upheld at all costs.
+
+
+_THE FIRST DUTCH WAR._
+
+Some forty years before, Sir Walter Raleigh, discussing the rise of
+the Dutch United Provinces, remarked: “But be their estate what it
+will, let them not deceive themselves in believing that they can make
+themselves masters of the sea.” He advised the Dutch to remember that
+their inward and outward passages were through British seas. There were
+but two courses open to the Dutch: amity with England or destruction of
+English naval power.
+
+Since both nations had large commercial fleets, rivalries were
+inevitable; and for some long while previous to 1652, both sides were
+ready enough for a quarrel. Minor acts of hostility occurred. The Dutch
+failed to pay the annual tax for fishing in British waters. In May,
+1652, a Dutch squadron refused to pay respect to the English flag. It
+was fired on accordingly, and after some negotiations, war was declared
+two months later.
+
+The war is interesting because it saw an end to the old ideas of
+cross-raiding with ships regarded primarily as transports in connection
+with raids or to cover such. In this war fighting on the sea for the
+command of the sea first made a distinct appearance. Its birth was
+necessarily obscure and involved, both sides having the primary idea
+of attacking the commerce of the enemy and defending their own, rather
+than of attacking the enemy’s fleet. The earlier battles which took
+place were brought about by the defence of merchant fleets.
+
+None of the battles of 1652 were conclusive, and though marked with
+extraordinary determination on both sides the damage done was,
+relatively speaking, small. The general advantage for the year rested
+slightly with the Dutch, mainly owing to Tromp’s victory over Blake,
+who was found in considerably inferior force in the Downs.
+
+In February of the following year Tromp, with a fleet of seventy
+warships and a convoy of 250 merchant ships, some of which were armed,
+met Blake with sixty-six sail in the famous Three Days’ Battle.
+
+In the course of this fight the Dutch lost at least eight warships, and
+a number of merchant-men variously estimated at from twenty-four to
+forty. The English admitted to the loss of only one ship. At the end of
+the third day, however, Blake drew off, and the Dutch admiral got what
+was left of his convoy into harbour.
+
+Oliver Cromwell being now in full power, naval preparations were
+pressed forward with unexampled vigour, and on June 2nd an English
+fleet of ninety-five sail under Monk and Deane met Van Tromp and forced
+him to retreat. Reinforced by Blake with eighteen more ships the
+English fleet renewed the battle, ultimately driving Van Tromp into
+harbour with the loss of several ships.
+
+On the 29th July the Dutch ran the blockade and came out. On the 31st a
+battle began in which Van Tromp was killed, and the Dutch with the loss
+of many ships driven into the Texel.
+
+The English fleet, though it lost few ships, appears to have been badly
+mauled in this final battle, on account of which the Dutch claimed a
+victory.
+
+[Illustration: BLAKE AND TROMP. PERIOD OF THE DUTCH WARS.]
+
+In the following month the Dutch fleet again came out, and under De
+Witt took one convoy to the Sound and brought another back without
+interference. Just afterwards, however, their fleet was so severely
+injured by a tremendous three days’ gale that further naval operations
+were out of the question. Overtures for peace were therefore made, and
+concluded.
+
+The types of English warships in this first Dutch war are given in
+Pepys’ Miscellany as follows:--
+
+  =====================================================================
+        |             | Length |Breadth.|Depth. |Burthen|Highest No. of
+  Rate. |    Name.    |of Keel.|        |       | Tons. +--------------
+        |             |   ft.  |ft. in. |ft. in.|       | Men.  | Guns.
+  ------+-------------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+------
+  First |_Sovereign_  |  127   |46   6  |19   4 | 1141  |  600  |  100
+  Second|_Fairfax_    |  116   |34   9  |17   4½|  745  |  260  |   52
+  Third |_Worcester_  |  112   |32   8  |16   4 |  661  |  180  |   46
+  Fourth|_Ruby_       |  105½  |31   6  |15   9 |  556  |  150  |   40
+  Fifth |_Nightingale_|   88   |25   4  |12   8 |  300  |   90  |   24
+  Sixth |_Greyhound_  |   60   |20   3  |10   0 |  120  |   80  |   18
+  =====================================================================
+
+The principal Dutch vessels were conspicuously inferior to the best of
+these English ones, and the war may be said to have been considerably
+decided by ship superiority. In the peace that followed--which was
+really very little better than an armed truce--the Dutch set themselves
+to build warships more on English lines. And, as we shall presently
+see, they evolved from the war,[15] future strategies based on its
+lessons.
+
+Considering the number of battles and the desperate nature of them, it
+is perhaps curious to note the relatively small amount of damage done.
+With the advent of the porthole and the consequent multiplication of
+guns a hundred and fifty years before, it had seemed that any naval
+engagement must result in swift mutual destruction. Much the same kind
+of idea obtained as when at the end of 1910 a squadron of Dreadnoughts
+almost instantly obliterated a target five miles off. But as in the
+Armada fights, so in this First Dutch War, an immense amount of
+fighting was done with comparatively, and relatively to what might have
+been anticipated, small harm on either side.
+
+This result is partly to be attributed to the fact that defence
+increased with offence. The warship proper was designed to stand
+hammering, and every increase in size, involving increased gun-carrying
+capacity, involved also increased strength of construction. Something
+may also be put down to the very inferior artillery then in use, and
+the great deal of boarding which took place.
+
+There is some reason to believe that Cromwell, with his complete
+recognition of the advantages of naval power, with his assiduous
+energy in the creation of a strong fleet, recognised--as perhaps both
+Buckingham and Phineas Pett had done before--the advantages of the “big
+ship.” Yet under his rule no appreciable advance in size took place.
+Nor, for that matter, did it take place any time within a hundred and
+fifty years later on.
+
+The reason is interesting. It was purely a matter of trees. The length
+of a ship was circumscribed by the height of trees; other dimensions
+by similar hard facts. The beam was dependent on the ship’s length;
+while the draught was governed by the harbours and docking facilities.
+It is doubtful whether any man ever sought to solve the problem of an
+invincible navy with more energy than Oliver Cromwell; yet under his
+rule nothing in the way of improvement was evolved at all comparable
+with the step taken with the _Royal Sovereign_ under the weaker Charles
+Stuart--Buckingham régime. The limitations of the tree proved the
+limitations of the ship.
+
+When Cromwell died, his record was left in numbers. The Navy at his
+death consisted of 157 ships. His architectural improvements were but a
+new form of bottoms.[16]
+
+Oliver Cromwell had not been long dead when the Navy--then under
+Monk--decided to restore the Monarchy. It sailed to Holland, embarked
+Charles II and James, Duke of York, and established Charles on the
+throne without opposition. Monk is popularly regarded as a political
+time-server. But in his change of sides he made one very important
+stipulation: that Charles was to pledge himself to the upkeep of the
+fleet. The fleet accomplished the Restoration. The bulk of evidence is
+that it did so with little regard for any issue other than the naval
+one.
+
+
+_THE SECOND DUTCH WAR._
+
+The second Dutch War broke out in 1665. As usual a state of unofficial
+war had preceded it. Both sides, having thought over the first war, had
+come to the conclusion that protecting their own merchant ships and
+attacking those of the enemy at one and the same time was an impossible
+proposition.
+
+Both officially ordered their merchant ships to keep inside harbour;
+but in both nations there were traders who took their own risks at sea
+and found warships handy to protect them. None the less, this war is
+of much importance as the first in which the command of the sea, fleet
+against fleet, received general recognition.
+
+The battles themselves of this war are of little interest. They were
+marked by that same equality of courage and determination which was an
+outstanding feature of the First War. Slight early English successes
+led to little but attacks on merchant shipping; then the Great Plague
+paralysed English efforts. The Dutch got to the mouth of the Thames,
+but a sudden sickness among their crews scared them off after a sixteen
+days’ blockade.
+
+Following this the French took side with the Dutch; but inconclusive
+fighting still resulted, till the Dutch, imagining that they had done
+better than they really had, found themselves engaged in the battle of
+the North Foreland.
+
+Defeated in this they retired to Ostend, and the English scored on
+their trade by landing operations and harbour attacks, the result of
+which Admiral Colomb has estimated as proportionately equivalent to
+sixty-six million pounds’ worth of damage at the present day! But it
+was conceded on the English side (_vide_ Pepys) that it was mainly a
+matter of luck that this immense blow was struck.
+
+Shortly after this event, the Insular spirit asserted itself with what
+in these days is known as “Economy and Efficiency.” The Duke of York
+(afterwards James II) opposed it, but it was generally carried that
+the Dutch were defeated, and that a few economical fortifications
+would save the country against any further Dutch danger. No one having
+knowledge of the Dutch agreed. Indeed, the situation was precisely the
+same as when a few years ago the British Government cut down the Naval
+Programme. Charles II, peace talk being in the air, cut down expenses
+probably for his own ends; British Governments of the 1906–1907 era cut
+down with a view to expending the saving on “social reforms.” But the
+practical results were identical. The Dutch in their era did what the
+Germans did in our own--met the decrease by an increase. They omitted
+to consider the ethics involved; they looked merely after their own
+ends. The result was a great Dutch attack on the Thames, which, though
+not so serious as the similar previous English attack on them, produced
+an enormous amount of mischief.
+
+That the Dutch did not bombard London itself was purely a matter of
+contrary winds and luck. They did destroy numerous new warships on
+the river, and Sheerness fell entirely into their hands. “Dutch guns
+were heard in London”--to quote the popular histories. Actually luck
+favoured the English, and diplomacy secured a peace which the reduced
+fleet could never have achieved. The pen, for the moment, proved
+mightier than the sword. England obtained thereby a peace favourable
+to her, while the Dutch secured a breathing space to enable them to
+prepare for the Third Dutch War, which, had the Second been carried to
+its end against them, would never have occurred.
+
+
+_THE THIRD DUTCH WAR._
+
+This War also began in the usual way--irregular attacks on commerce,
+without any declaration of war, and in March, 1672, an English Squadron
+wrecked havoc on the Dutch Indiamen. As in the Second War, the Dutch
+after this prohibited their merchant ships from proceeding to sea.
+No such prohibition took effect in England, where the merchant navy
+rapidly increased.
+
+In the Second War the French were the allies of the Dutch. In the
+Third, they joined in with the English. In both cases their underlying
+political motive appears to have been to egg Great Britain and the
+Dutch on to mutual destruction. The assistance actually obtained by
+the Dutch from the French in the Second War was a minus quantity, and
+though in the Third, French ships actually joined the English fleet,
+the advantage therefrom ended there.
+
+The allied fleet, under the command of the Duke of York, consisted
+of sixty-five English and thirty-six French warships, twenty-two
+fire ships, and a number of small craft. This fleet lay at Sole Bay
+(Southwold on the Suffolk coast). Here they were surprised by De Ruyter
+with ninety-one men of war, forty-four fire ships, and a number of
+small craft.
+
+The _Royal James_, flagship of the Earl of Sandwich, who commanded one
+of the two divisions of the English Fleet, was attacked and destroyed
+by fire-ships, and the Earl was drowned in attempting to escape. The
+French Squadron under D’Estrées fell back and took little part in the
+fight. None the less, however, victory rested with the English, and the
+Dutch retreated to their own coasts, and were blockaded in the Texel.
+On shore the Dutch were badly pressed by the French armies, their naval
+energies being restricted accordingly.
+
+With the approach of winter, the Allied fleet was broken up and
+returned to its harbours. In the early part of the following year,
+the Dutch conceived the project of blocking the English fleet in the
+Thames, and prepared eight ships full of stones with that object in
+view. This appears to have been the first instance of a device similar
+to that more recently unsuccessfully undertaken by the Americans, at
+Santiago de Cuba, in the Spanish-American War, and by the Japanese,
+at Port Arthur, in the Russo-Japanese War. The Dutch attack was never
+actually made; presumably circumstances did not admit of it. In the
+view of Admiral Colomb, it was frustrated by the English fleet putting
+to sea at an earlier date than had been expected.
+
+The Allied fleet formed a junction off Rye, in May. It consisted
+altogether of eighty-four men-of-war, twenty-six fire-ships and
+auxiliaries. The English divisions were commanded by Prince Rupert and
+Spragge. The third division was under D’Estrées as before, but in order
+to avoid a repetition of what had happened at Sole Bay, the French
+ships were distributed in all three divisions of the fleet, instead of
+in a single division as they previously had been.
+
+Having embarked a number of troops, the Allies sailed for Zealand,
+and found the Dutch fleet concentrating at the mouth of the Scheldt.
+It consisted of about seventy men-of-war, under De Ruyter, Tromp and
+Bankert. For some days, owing to fog and bad weather, no fighting was
+possible; but on the 28th of May, the Dutch weighed anchor and a battle
+of the usual sort took place, both sides claiming victory. The loss
+of life in the Allied fleet, crowded as it was with troops, was very
+heavy, and no attempt was made to follow up the Dutch, who had retired
+inside the mouth of the river.
+
+On the 4th of June, the Dutch fleet again came out. The English retired
+before it. An entirely inconclusive action eventually resulted, after
+which each fleet returned to harbour.
+
+Having embarked a number of fresh troops at Sheerness, the Allies again
+put to sea and appeared on the Dutch coast. No landing was, however,
+attempted; and on the 10th of August the final battle took place. The
+French fleet on this occasion was allowed to act by itself, and, as
+before, drew off and left the English to shift for themselves. Spragge,
+having had two flagships disabled, was drowned in moving to a third,
+and victory, such as it was, went to the Dutch. No further battles took
+place, and in 1664 peace was concluded.
+
+The net result of these three wars was in favour of the English, but
+mainly on the trade issue.
+
+At the beginning of the First, the Dutch had by far the larger merchant
+shipping. At the end of the Third, the proportion was reversed.
+
+Although tactics, as we understand them, cannot be said to have been
+employed, certain definite war lessons were undoubtedly learned. It
+came to be thoroughly believed that the principal use of a fleet was to
+attack the fleet of the enemy; and on that account these wars are an
+important feature of English naval history.
+
+Following the conclusion of peace, the English Navy was entirely
+neglected, and the condition of the ships became so bad that in 1679 a
+Commission was appointed and thirty new ships were laid down. But the
+majority of these ships, having been launched, were allowed to decay;
+Charles II’s early interest in the fleet having become a dead letter in
+his later years.
+
+When James II came to the throne in 1685, he appointed another Special
+Commission, and the repair of the Navy was systematically undertaken.
+The _personnel_, however, was neglected. It remained in a very
+dissatisfied state, and tacitly agreed to his deposition.
+
+At the abdication of James II, in December, 1688, the Navy consisted
+of 173 ships, manned by 42,003 men, and carrying 6,930 guns. Of these
+ships, nine were first-rate, 11 second, 39 third, 41 fourth, 3 fifth,
+and 6 sixth. There were 26 fire-ships and 39 small craft. The best of
+the first-rates in those days was the _Britannia_. She was of 1,739
+tons, carried 100 guns and a crew of 780 men. Her length was 146 feet,
+her beam 47 feet 4 inches, and her draught 20 feet. The second-rate
+ships were 90 gun-vessels, third-rate 70 guns, and fourth-rate 54.
+
+During James II’s reign, bomb vessels were first introduced and regular
+establishments of stores were instituted. It is somewhat difficult to
+assess how far naval progress was actually indebted to this, the first
+King of England who was a naval officer, and how far to the efforts
+of a determined few who realised the absolute importance of naval
+power. Probably of James I, as of all the Stuarts,[17] it may be said
+that they realised the principle, but required pressing to act upon
+it. To thus acting may be traced the unpopularity of at least some of
+the Stuarts--there are practically no signs that the nation generally
+understood the importance of a powerful Navy. All the indications are
+in a contrary direction.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE EARLY FRENCH WARS.
+
+
+The accession of William of Orange and the French support of James
+soon brought about a war. Early in 1689 James invaded Ireland with
+French ships and men. He did sufficiently well there for a considerable
+English army to be employed against him, and in the summer of 1690,
+William himself went over to take command, leaving Queen Mary as Regent
+with little save the militia as military defence and a more or less
+unprepared fleet.
+
+A Jacobite rising in England was planned. In conjunction with it the
+French proposed to hold the Channel in superior force to cover the
+landing of troops in England, and then, by a blockade in the Irish
+Channel, prevent the return of King William and his army. The attitude
+of the English fleet was uncertain--a strong Jacobite element being in
+it--and the scheme was generally a very promising one for the French.
+
+A personal appeal from Queen Mary is said to have secured the
+allegiance of the English fleet: but in everything else the subsequent
+French failure was due only to luck and the wisdom of the British
+Admiral, Lord Torrington.
+
+It was more or less realised that the French would concentrate at
+Brest. Squadrons were sent out to interfere with this, but convoys
+and the like bulked largely in their orders. There is not the remotest
+indication that the Home Government appreciated the danger, which ended
+in Torrington finding himself opposed by a greatly superior French
+fleet, which he was ordered to fight at all costs.
+
+Therefrom ensued the battle of Beachy Head, a defeat and a “strategical
+retirement to the rear” for which Torrington was subsequently
+court-martialled and acquitted. He alone appears to have realised that
+his defeat would have meant the success of the French plans, while
+so long as he could avoid action the threat of his existence must
+interfere with invasion.
+
+The French movements throughout were somewhat obscure. On the 25th
+June, according to Torrington, they might have attacked him but did not
+do so. When the battle took place on the 30th, it was Torrington who
+attacked. In the subsequent retreat, the French pursued for four days,
+but did so in line of battle and without much energy. They captured or
+destroyed five disabled ships, but of real following up of the victory
+there was none.
+
+The Anglo-Dutch fleet took shelter at the Nore; but the French drew off
+at Dover, and sailing west attacked Teignmouth and then returned to
+Brest. Their failure to follow up and destroy Torrington has never been
+satisfactorily explained.
+
+The panic which they had created in England bore early fruit. Thirty
+new ships were laid down. Of these seventeen were eighty-gun ships of
+1000 tons, three were 1050 tons but carried seventy guns only, the
+remaining ten, sixty-gun ships of 900 tons.
+
+In 1692 another Jacobite rising was planned, and a French army
+collected to assist it. Taught by the experience of Beachy Head the
+Anglo-Dutch fleet concentrated early. It consisted of no less than
+ninety-eight ships of the line,[18] besides frigates and auxiliaries,
+the whole being under command of Russell. A descent upon St. Malo was
+the principal objective contemplated.
+
+Neither side appears to have had much conception of the intentions of
+the other. De Tourville, with a fleet of only fifty ships of the line,
+is supposed to have sailed under the impression that the Dutch had not
+joined up with the English.
+
+In the fog of early morning on May 19th, he blundered into the entire
+Anglo-Dutch fleet off Cape La Hogue, and sustained a crushing defeat.
+At least twenty-one French ships of the line were lost in the battle
+itself or destroyed in the harbours they had escaped into.
+
+Following upon this victory came a lull in operations. It would seem to
+have been the English idea that the French fleet, having been beaten
+and dispersed, all that remained to do was to get ready to defeat
+the new fleet that France was preparing, and so the year 1693 passed
+uneventfully, except that damage was done to trade on either side.
+
+In July, 1694, the Allies made a move, bombarding Dieppe and Havre
+from a squadron of bombs which had been specially prepared. In
+September, Dunkirk received attention from a new war device called
+“smoak-boats”[19] the invention of one Meerlers, which did not
+inconvenience anyone very much. Meerlers also had “machine ships,”
+which likewise did no harm. These appear to have been an elementary
+idea on large scale of the modern torpedo--improved fire-ships.
+
+A fleet was generally busy defending trade in the Mediterranean, where
+for the first time it was permanently stationed. Nothing in the way of
+fleet action was attempted by the French, and the next few years were
+spent in privateering on their part, and bombardments of ports which
+sheltered privateers on the part of the Allies.
+
+English naval estimates in 1695 amounted to £2,382,172, and the House
+of Lords, in an address to the King, advocated an increase of the fleet
+on the grounds that it was essential to the nation that its fleets
+should always be superior to any possible enemy. A French invasion was
+projected in the winter months; but abandoned on the appearance of a
+fleet under Russell.
+
+There is no question that in this war the French did more mischief
+with their privateers than with their fleet. English trade suffered
+very heavily; and there were continual complaints about the inability
+of the fleet to suppress the corsairs, a Parliamentary enquiry being
+eventually made into the matter.
+
+The French privateers--“corsairs” is the more correct term--were in
+substance a species of naval militia, of a quite different status
+from English privateers sailing under letters of marque. They hailed
+principally from St. Malo; trading in peace time and preying on
+commerce in time of war. There were special regulations under which
+they were governed. The owner had to deposit a sum of about £600 with
+the Admiralty as security. He had to pay ten per cent. of the profits
+to the Admiralty and five per cent. to the Church. Two-thirds of the
+balance was his profit, the remaining third went to the crew. Often
+enough the privateer was a royal ship, let out for the purpose, and in
+the years following the battle of Cape La Hogue, most of the French
+frigates were on this service, with naval officers and men on board
+very often.
+
+The privateers carried few guns, their object being to capture prizes,
+not to sink them. They sailed mostly in small squadrons, so making
+a considerable number of guns, and were rarely particular about
+using false colours. It was therefore comparatively easy for them
+successfully to attack weak convoys: some dealing with the warships and
+others making prizes; and the inefficiency laid to the blame of the
+English fleet in trade protection at that period was, in some measure,
+at any rate, due to a failure to appreciate the enormous difficulties.
+Duguay-Trouin himself records using the English flag to approach an
+English warship, and firing on her under these colours.
+
+The unhandy warships of those days, faced with light enemies, which
+they could never overhaul, had a tremendous task set them. That the
+Navy of William III era successfully defended anything against men
+like Duguay-Trouin and Jean Bart, is of far more moment and more to
+be wondered at than any failures. In this particular war the fast
+lightly-armed corsair reached its apotheosis at the hands of veritable
+experts to a degree impossible to-day, or for that matter, ever
+hereafter, unless aircraft prove able to act as “privateers” of the
+future--a role which, to date, has been entirely forgotten in all
+discussions as to the value of aircraft.
+
+[Illustration: ANTHONY DEANE.]
+
+In 1697, the peace of Ryswick was signed. According to Burchett, the
+net result of the war was the loss of fifty English warships and
+fifty-nine French ones. The historians generally indicate that the
+French were worn out with the struggle; but on the whole the English
+seem to have been well out of the war also.
+
+It was about this time that Peter the Great appeared in England, and
+engaged John Deane, brother of the famous naval architect, Sir Anthony,
+to go back to Russia with him to establish a navy. This is the first
+instance of the foundation or reorganisation of a foreign navy by this
+country. The experiment was by no means very successful; the bulk of
+the English naval officers taken over by Peter being men who, for
+various reasons, had been dismissed from the Royal Navy. Some proved
+incompetent, and all of them were quarrelsome.
+
+
+_WAR OF THE SUCCESSION._
+
+The war of the Spanish Succession synchronised with the accession of
+Queen Anne, in 1702. In the interval following the peace of Ryswick the
+French fleet had had considerable attention paid to it. The principal
+innovation consisted in increasing the size without (as hitherto)
+increasing the armament in ratio. The French three-deckers were now
+built of 2,000 tons instead of 1,500 as formerly. The superior sailing
+qualities, ever a feature of French ships, were still further enhanced.
+
+In England, though shipbuilding had also been vigorously pursued,
+improvements commensurate with those of France were not made. English
+ships of the period were, generally speaking, overgunned.
+
+At the outbreak of the war of the Succession, the fleet consisted of
+seven first-rate, fourteen second-rate, forty-five third, sixty-three
+fourth, thirty-six fifth, twenty-nine sixth, eight fire ships, thirteen
+bombs, and ten yachts--a total tonnage of 158,992; an increase of
+about a third in thirteen years. The first-rates were a new type of
+ship; the second-rates consisted of the old type first and second
+rates--the three deckers of ninety guns and special service eighty-gun
+two deckers. The third-rates were the staple battle type--two deckers
+of seventy guns on home service and mounting sixty-two guns when sent
+abroad. The fourth-rates carried nominally fifty guns and forty-four on
+foreign service.
+
+One third of the naval power of Europe was English; France and Holland
+between them made up another third, the balance being represented by
+the rest of the Powers.[20] Though the phrase, “Two Power Standard,”
+was then unknown, the fleet, representing as it did the result of
+agitations in Parliament and elsewhere for suitable naval power, was
+clearly based on a similar general idea, and the Two Power Standard
+theory may be dated from the time of William of Orange.
+
+The general idea of the campaign on the English side was combined
+naval and military attack on Ferrol--the fleet, consisting of fifty
+English and Dutch ships of the line and some frigates and transports
+to the number of 110, being under Sir George Rooke. The military
+element amounted to 12,000 troops under the Duke of Ormonde. Nothing
+came of the attempt owing to internal dissentions; and the expedition
+was on its way back when news was received of Chateau-Renault with a
+French-Spanish fleet of twenty-one warships at Vigo. A combined attack
+was delivered and the entire hostile fleet was sunk or captured without
+much loss, and a valuable convoy captured also.
+
+In this year there also happened the greatest disgrace that ever befell
+the Royal Navy. Admiral Benbow, who had risen from the “Lower Deck,”
+was detached with six ships of the line to the West Indies, where he
+met a French squadron of five, under du-Casse. Two of his captains
+refused to engage the enemy altogether, and the others, save one, did
+so but half-heartedly. Benbow was mortally wounded and a French victory
+gained. On their return to England two of the captains were executed
+“for cowardice,” but timidity had actually nothing whatever to do with
+the business. It was purely and entirely an act of personal hostility.
+It is generally put down to Benbow’s lowly origin; but officers of
+the Benbow class were so plentiful, and Benbow had so long been in
+important positions afloat,[21] that the “obvious reason” played but a
+minor part. Benbow’s great defect was a lack of that “personality” of
+which in later years Nelson was the prime exponent. Coupled with this
+was the state of much of the Navy generally owing to Jacobite intrigues
+with those who were unable to forget their old allegiance to the
+Stuarts.
+
+In 1703 very special orders were issued as to cutting down expenditure
+on non-essentials in ship construction. In this year the ornamental
+work so conspicuous in ships of the Stuart era was reduced almost to
+extinction.
+
+The naval events were inconsiderable. A few French prizes were made,
+and it was found from these that the French theory of increasing
+dimensions without increasing the armament had reached such a stage
+that fifty-gun French ships were larger than sixty-gun English
+ones,[22] but it was not for some years that practical attention was
+directed to the point.
+
+In 1704 there took place another of the combined naval and military
+operations peculiar to this war. This was to Lisbon and in connection
+with the Austrian Archduke Charles. It is mainly of interest because it
+led to the more or less accidental capture of Gibraltar, and in that
+it otherwise had much to do with the prevention of a junction of the
+French Brest and Toulon fleets which was destined to loom so largely in
+future history that to this day “junctions” remain a principal “idea”
+for naval manœuvres.
+
+Sir George Rooke, who commanded the main fleet, had with him
+forty-eight ships of the line and details; Sir Cloudesley Shovell was
+in the channel with some twenty-two more.
+
+The Brest fleet sailed for Toulon under the Count de Toulouse. They
+were chased without effect by Rooke, till near Toulon, when on the
+evening of May 29th, he gave up the pursuit as too risky, and returned
+to Lagos, where Shovell joined him on June 16th.
+
+The combined English fleet being now assumed superior to the combined
+French fleet, attacks on Cadiz and Barcelona were contemplated, but as
+insufficient troops were available it was decided to attack Gibraltar
+instead. The motive for doing so does not appear to have been anything
+greater than that the King of Portugal and the Archduke Charles were
+worrying the fleet to “do something.” Gibraltar was suggested and
+settled on, apparently, as being as suitable as any other place.
+
+Gibraltar lies at the end of a narrow peninsula. On this peninsula, on
+July 21st, 1,800 marines from the fleet landed under the Prince of
+Hesse. As they carried only eighteen rounds per man, the presumption
+is obvious that either little opposition was expected or else that
+the attack was merely delivered to satisfy those who had urged that
+something should be done. The former is generally assumed to be the
+case, but the latter is by no means improbable. In any case, the
+marines met with little opposition and demanded the surrender of the
+fortress, while some of the English ships, under Byng, were warped into
+bombarding positions under a mild fire from the forts. This occupied a
+whole day.
+
+Early on the 23rd, fire was opened on both sides, and the inhabitants
+of the town fled to a chapel on the hill. The bombardment continued
+till noon, when the “cease fire” was ordered, so that results might be
+ascertained. It was found that some of the batteries were disabled, and
+it was then decided to land in the boats and capture them.
+
+On the cessation of fire, the inhabitants, mostly women and priests,
+who had fled out of the town, began to come back. Sir Cloudesley
+Shovell (who was on board Byng’s flagship) ordered a gun to be fired
+across these; whereupon they all ran back to the chapel in which they
+had been sheltered. This gun was taken by the fleet generally to be
+a signal to re-open the bombardment. Under cover of this firing, the
+landing party got ashore, and had things much their own way till about
+a hundred of them were killed or wounded by the blowing up of the
+Castle.
+
+At this they began to retreat, but reinforcements arriving, they
+retrieved the position and captured other works without difficulty,
+establishing themselves between the town and the chapel where the women
+had taken refuge. Giving this as his reason, the Governor capitulated
+next day. His entire garrison, according to Torrington’s Memoirs,
+consisted of but eighty men. The Anglo-Dutch force lost three officers
+and fifty-seven men killed, eight officers and 207 men wounded.
+
+Thus the capture of Gibraltar, “the impregnable.” At Toulon, a large
+French fleet was getting ready for sea--a fleet quite large enough
+to have done to the English what Teggethoff, in 1866, did to the
+bombarding Italians at Lissa.
+
+There seems little doubt that Rooke under-estimated his fleet. On the
+other hand, as he had look-outs, and the wind was not in the enemy’s
+favour, the risks he actually ran were trifling compared to those taken
+by Persano. From which many lessons have been deduced and morals drawn.
+
+In actual fact, however, it is greatly to be doubted whether either
+commander thought round the matter at all. The “science” of naval
+warfare is a thing of quite modern origin, and the strategies displayed
+by most admirals in the past--if studied with an unbiassed mind--are
+just as likely to be luck as forethought. Analogous to this is Ruskin
+on the artist Turner. Turner painted wonderful pictures: Ruskin found
+wonderful meanings in them. These “meanings” were, however, more news
+to Turner than to anyone else!
+
+On August 10th, the French fleet, reported as sixty-six sail, was
+sighted thirty miles off by a look-out ship. Rooke’s fleet at that time
+was short of five Dutch ships which he had sent away, twelve other
+ships were watering at Tetuan--miles away from him--and all the marines
+of the fleet were on shore at Gibraltar as garrison. The light craft
+were sent into Gibraltar to bring back half the marines as quickly
+as possible, while the main fleet retreated to pick up the Tetuan
+division, and later got its marines on board.
+
+The French, meanwhile, either ignorant of the state of affairs, or else
+from general incompetence, made no attack at the time, and it was not
+till the 13th that battle was joined by the English bearing down on
+them. The resulting engagement was indecisive, and the fleets withdrew
+to repair damages. The French, however, declined to renew action,
+eventually retreated to Toulon, and never attempted a fleet action
+again during the war.
+
+Rooke’s fleet consisted of fifty-three ships of the line. The French
+had fifty-two, of which they lost five.
+
+Following the battle of Malaga, the marines were landed again at
+Gibraltar, together with some gunners and forty-eight guns. The fleet
+then returned to England, leaving at Lisbon a dozen ships under Sir
+John Leake--the only ships which, after survey, were considered not
+to be in urgent need of refit at home. This squadron was subsequently
+reinforced by eight ships of the line.
+
+The French and Spaniards presently invested Gibraltar by land and sea.
+In the first attempt the blockading fleet was short of supplies and had
+to retire to Cadiz. Leake arrived, but finding nothing there returned
+to the Tagus.
+
+The French then sent a light squadron to assist the siege, and the
+whole of those were surprised and captured by Leake, on October 29th,
+1704. There is reason to believe that this action saved the fortress,
+as a grand assault was on the _tapis_.
+
+Leake remained at Gibraltar three months, during which time stores and
+some 2,000 troops were brought in from England; then, the garrison
+being now in no straits, the English ships withdrew in January, 1705,
+to Lisbon to refit, leaving the land investment to proceed. In March, a
+squadron of fourteen French ships of the line appeared off Gibraltar,
+but owing to a gale only five got into the harbour. Here they were
+presently surprised and captured by the English. The remaining ships
+fled to Toulon and the siege was then raised--having lasted five months.
+
+From these operations it is abundantly clear that the English had by
+now realised that Gibraltar was perfectly safe so long as its sea
+communications were kept open. De Pointis, the French Admiral, realised
+the same thing, and in the whole of the naval operations he appears to
+have been obeying, under protest, orders from the French Government,
+which at no time appears to have realised the futility of such
+operations in face of a superior Anglo-Dutch fleet.
+
+Following the abandonment of the siege of Gibraltar, the French became
+very active with their corsairs, inflicting heavy losses on English
+trade. On the ultimate inutility of this _guerre de course_ much has
+been written; but perhaps hardly proper attention has been bestowed
+on the other side of the question. The French had small stomach for
+anything of the nature of a fleet action, and there is little or no
+reason to suppose that had they concentrated on line operations any
+success would have attended their efforts. Their _personnel_ was
+generally inferior. Their _materiel_ on the other hand was superior,
+and the problem really before them surely was, not which method, “grand
+battle” or _guerre de course_, was better, but how best to inflict
+damage with the means available. And here the _guerre de course_ held
+obvious promise.
+
+In the summer of 1705, a combined land and sea attack was delivered on
+Barcelona, the Earl of Peterborough being in supreme command of both
+forces. The town surrendered on October 3rd. The history of Gibraltar
+was then repeated. The fleet withdrew, leaving Leake with a few ships
+to watch. The enemy then invested the place, which was relieved just
+in time by Leake so heavily reinforced that the French squadron made
+no attempt to fight him. A variety of other towns was then captured by
+combined attacks, also the Balearic Islands, except Minorca.
+
+In 1706, combined operations on the north of France were arranged for,
+but ultimately abandoned owing to the weather. Ostend was captured in
+this year; but a combined attack on Toulon, in 1707, signally failed.
+
+In 1708, the French attempted combined operations on Scotland and
+reached the Firth of Forth with twenty sail, but an English squadron
+under Byng arriving they sailed away again at once. The superior
+mobility of the French was evidenced by the fact that Byng’s pursuit
+resulted in nothing but the capture of an ex-English ship which could
+not keep up with her French-built consorts. The Anglo-Dutch combined
+operations of the year resulted in the capture of Minorca. Minor
+operations took place in the West Indies.
+
+1709 passed mostly in the relief of places which had been acquired and
+were now besieged. In 1710, the French became more active, capturing
+one or two English warships and making a combined attempt against
+Sardinia. This last was frustrated by Sir John Norris. An English
+attempt on Cette in the same year proved a failure; but conspicuous
+success attended similar operations in Nova Scotia.
+
+In the following years the principal of such operations as took place
+were on the American coast. Of these, the chief was an abortive attack
+on Quebec, mainly remarkable for an extraordinary escape of the entire
+English fleet one night in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A military
+officer, one Captain Goddard, insisted that he saw breakers ahead.
+As no one would credit him he finally dragged the Admiral out of bed
+and up on deck, by which time the fleet was close on to the breakers.
+As things were, seven transports were wrecked and nearly a thousand
+soldiers drowned. The warships very narrowly escaped.[23]
+
+This disaster led to the abandonment of the expedition. Peace was
+declared in 1713. The English loss in the war was thirty-eight ships,
+mounting 1,596 guns; the French lost fifty-two ships, mounting 3,094
+guns.[24] A very large number of English ships became unserviceable
+during the war, because, despite the fact that many new ships were
+built and that the bulk of the ships lost by the French entered the
+English service, the entire navy diminished by twenty-five vessels.
+
+Most of the ships were in poor condition, and in the early years of
+George I’s reign, large sums had to be expended on refits. Foul bilge
+water was the main cause of internal decay, and in 1715 organised steps
+were taken for the ventilation of the bilges. A certain increase in
+size for ships of all classes was also ordered, those of 100 guns being
+increased by 319 tons, and the eighty-gun ships by sixty-seven tons.
+This increase, however, by no means brought the tonnage to gun ratio
+down to the French limits, nor were the improvements in underwater form
+of much serious moment. The French maintained a superiority in this
+respect which they held till the present century. To-day, of course,
+the situation is completely reversed, and for any given horse-power any
+British ship is appreciably faster than a French one.[25]
+
+Some special attention was also devoted to the preparation of timber
+for immediate use in shipbuilding. This subject was first drawn
+attention to in 1694, and the net result of the enquiries in 1715 did
+not really go much further. It was not till eleven years later that the
+problem was seriously grappled with.
+
+In 1715, an English fleet under Norris was in the Baltic, acting
+against Sweden and allied with the Russians and Danes, Peter the Great
+himself being in chief command. Nothing of moment happened. These
+operations extended to 1719, when sides were changed.
+
+In 1718, Spain, which had recently made some considerable efforts
+towards the creation of naval power, used her power for an attack on
+Sicily. Admiral Byng arriving with a superior English fleet, attacked
+and destroyed the greater part of the Spanish squadron in the Battle
+of Cape Passaro. No state of war existed. The Spaniards had attacked
+an English ally, and this was Byng’s only excuse for action. A few
+months later war was formally declared against Spain, and early in 1719
+a curious replica of the Armada took place. Forty Spanish transports,
+escorted by merely five warships, sailed from Cadiz for the coast of
+Scotland; the idea being that the 5,000 troops which they carried
+should co-operate in a Jacobite rising. This “Armada” was dispersed
+by a severe gale off Cape Finisterre, and only a small fraction of it
+reached the coast of Ross, where a landing, easily defeated by the
+military, was made. It is noteworthy that no fleet met the expedition,
+and it was not till a month after its dispersal in a gale that Norris
+sailed to look for it.
+
+The remainder of this particular war, which lasted only three years,
+was devoted to the re-conquest of Sicily and the capture of Vigo. Peace
+was concluded in 1721. In the course of this war the usual combined
+attack was made upon Gibraltar in 1720; but the arrival of an English
+fleet easily relieved the garrison.
+
+At and about this time the Russian fleet, hitherto allies, became the
+enemy, and early in 1720 Admiral Norris was despatched to assist the
+Swedes against them. He appears to have done very little save squabble
+with the Swedish admiral as to precedence. In any case the Russians
+did much as they listed against the Swedish coast till Sweden had to
+sue for peace, and Russia became the predominant Baltic naval power.
+Her position as such was the more extraordinary in that the Russian
+fleet was technically very incompetent. The situation was mainly
+brought about by the personal genius of Peter the Great. His ships were
+generally the speedier, and he issued the strictest orders that no
+enemy was to be engaged unless at least one-third inferior in power. In
+the presence of an enemy the Swedes considered nothing,[26] the English
+comparatively little. The brain of Peter, was, therefore, an easy match
+for them, despite the technical inferiority of his _personnel_. This
+campaign is a most striking illustration of Alexander the Great’s
+maxim “that an army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of
+lions led by a sheep.”
+
+In 1726, an Anglo-Danish naval demonstration against Russia took place
+at Kronstadt, but nothing came of the incident, which was repeated
+equally ineffectually in the following year, when larger preparations
+were made.
+
+In 1726, the preservation of ships’ timbers came once more on the
+_tapis_, when the results of some experiments, commenced six years
+before, were inspected. Up to about 1720, woods were prepared for use
+by a system known as “charring.” This consisted in building a fire one
+side of the plank and keeping the other side wet till the required
+condition was produced. One, Cumberland, invented a system known as
+“stoving.” By this, the wood was put into wet sand and then subjected
+to heat till the juices were extracted and the wood in suitable
+condition. A ship was planked with both systems, side by side, and on
+these being examined in 1726, it was found that while the “stoved”
+planks were in good condition the “charred” ones were already rotten.
+
+A grateful country vaguely presented Cumberland with one tenth
+of whatever might be the saving which his system would produce.
+Cumberland, however, was equally vague, since he could supply no data
+as to the amount of heat or time of subjection, and experiments had to
+be carried out in the Yards in order to ascertain this. The authorities
+were apparently still ascertaining when one Boswell, of Deptford
+Yard, in 1736, hit upon using steam, and his system became at once
+general--though a few years later it was replaced by boiling the timber.
+
+When George II came to the throne the country was at peace, but this
+peace was mainly and entirely secured by the policy of Walpole, who
+kept the Navy on a war footing. Feeling against Spain ran so high on
+account of the action of the _Guarda-Costas_ in searching English ships
+in the West Indies, that Walpole’s hands were forced in 1739. In the
+House of Commons, Captain Vernon announced that with six ships he could
+capture Porto Bello. Promoted to Rear Admiral, he essayed the task, and
+accomplished it, by coming into close range and landing under cover of
+a bombardment. His loss was trifling--nineteen killed and wounded, all
+told. The garrison turned out to have been only 300 strong, of whom
+forty surrendered. The rest had either been killed or had fled. It is
+to be observed that no state of war existed at the time.
+
+War with Spain was declared in October, 1739. The English fleet in
+commission consisted of thirty-eight ships of the line, and there was
+a reserve of twenty-four ready for immediate service. There were also
+thirty-six minor vessels in commission and eight in reserve.
+
+An interesting circumstance of this war was the whole-world scale
+on which naval operations were planned. In substance the scheme was
+as follows:--Admiral Vernon was to attack the east coast of Darien.
+Captain Cornwall was to round the Horn, attack the west coast of Darien
+and then go to the Philippines, where he was to meet Captain Anson, who
+was to voyage thither via the Cape of Good Hope. The scheme was not
+carried out in its entirety, as the Cape of Good Hope expedition never
+sailed, Anson being substituted for Cornwall.
+
+Vernon, having been reinforced with a number of bombs and fire-ships,
+proceeded, in March, 1740, to attack Cartagena, which he bombarded
+for four days without much material result. Then he proceeded to
+Chagres, which, after a two days’ bombardment, surrendered to him.
+A considerable Spanish squadron being reported on its way out, and
+a French fleet (suspected of hostile designs) also sailing, Vernon
+withdrew to Jamaica, where he lay till reinforced by twenty ships under
+Ogle.
+
+Ogle performed his voyage without adventure, except that six of his
+ships encountered a French squadron and fought it for some little time
+under the impression that a state of war existed. The error being
+discovered, the squadrons parted with mutual apologies.[27]
+
+Ogle arrived in January, 1741. After a short refit the fleet sailed
+to look for the French and observe them. They presently learned that
+the French, short of men and provisions, had gone back to Europe. Upon
+receipt of this news it was decided to attack Cartagena.
+
+Vernon had with him twenty-nine ships of the line, twenty-two lesser
+craft and a number of transports, carrying 12,000 troops. The seamen
+and marines of the fleet totalled 15,000. For a time some success was
+met with, but divided councils, mutual recrimination between Navy and
+Army, sickness in the troops, all did their share, and eventually the
+attack was abandoned.[28]
+
+Attacks on other places led to no happier results, and while efforts
+were thus being frittered away in the West Indies, the commerce was
+suffering badly. Petitions from the commercial world to Parliament
+were of almost daily occurrence. Vernon requested to be recalled, and
+eventually was superseded, but his successor fared no better than he.
+
+Meanwhile, we must turn aside for a moment to consider the operations
+of Anson. The following items in connection therewith are summarised
+from Barrow’s _Voyages and Discoveries_, published in 1765.
+
+On arriving at Madeira, Anson, who had left England on the 13th of
+September, 1740, learned of a Spanish squadron, under Pizarro, lying
+in wait for him. This squadron, attempting to round the Horn ahead of
+Anson, encountered a furious gale, and was eventually driven back to
+Buenos Ayres, with only three ships left, and these reduced to the
+utmost extremities. A second attempt to round the Horn fared no better,
+and eventually Pizarro returned to Spain in his own ship, manned
+chiefly by English prisoners and some pressed Indians. These latter
+mutinied, but not being joined by the English prisoners, as they had
+hoped, were defeated.
+
+Anson left Madeira on November 3rd, 1740, and shortly afterwards his
+crews fell sick, through lack of air, the ships being too deep for the
+lower ports to be opened. Anson had several ventilating holes cut. Then
+fever came, carrying off many. Just before Christmas he arrived at St.
+Catherine’s, Brazil, but his hopes of recruiting his men’s health were
+abortive. His own flagship, the _Centurion_, lost twenty-eight men dead
+and had ninety-six others on the sick list.
+
+On January 18th, 1741, Anson sailed for the Horn. A gale scattered his
+squadron, one ship being separated for a month; eventually, however,
+all rejoined. There followed three months’ tempests rounding the Horn.
+Scurvy appeared, and the ships got separated again. Finally, on June
+9th, the _Centurion_ alone reached Juan Fernandez, short of water and
+only about ten men fit for duty in a watch.
+
+A few days later the _Tryal_ appeared at the island, her captain,
+lieutenant and three men being all who were available for service.
+A third ship, the _Gloucester_, appeared on June 21st, but so
+short-handed was she that, though assistance was sent her, it took her
+an entire fortnight to make harbour! On August 16th, the victualler
+ship, _Anna Pink_, arrived, all her crew in good condition, she having
+put into some harbour en route. Of the other three ships, two (the
+_Severn_ and _Pearl_), failed to round the Horn and returned to Brazil;
+the third, the _Wager_, was wrecked.
+
+In September, a sail was sighted. The _Centurion_ put to sea and found
+her to be a Spanish merchant ship. From the prisoners it was learned
+that a Spanish squadron from Chili had been on the look out for Anson,
+that a ship had been lying off Juan Fernandez till just before his
+arrival, but that assuming him lost they had now all gone back to
+Valparaiso.
+
+Thereafter several prizes were taken, one being fitted out to replace
+the _Tryal_, which was abandoned. The _Anna Pink_ had also had to be
+abandoned as useless.
+
+Now began the most extraordinary part of the enterprise. Treasure ships
+were captured, thirty-eight men landed, held up and captured Payta, a
+good half of these attired in feminine costume, which they found in
+houses wherein they had sought substitutes for their rags--only one
+man drunk in all the sack of the town--the terror of prisoners, who,
+when released, refused to accept liberty till they had thanked Anson
+for his courtesy--Anson’s insistence on treasure being divided equally
+between those who attacked and those who kept ship, while giving his
+own share to the attackers--the night chase of a supposed galleon
+which turned out to be but a fire on shore--the fearful sufferings of
+boats’ crews sent out to look for the treasure ship[29]--the release
+of prisoners, and the Spanish reply thereto by the despatch of luxuries
+to the English--the final loss of the _Gloucester_, worn out by keeping
+the sea--the arrival at Guam of the _Centurion_ with only seventy-one
+men capable of “standing at a gun” under even any emergencies--these
+things belong to special histories. Here it suffices to give but a
+general outline, of which the first event is that having reached Macao
+and refitted, Anson went into the Pacific again, and, having given his
+men considerable training in marksmanship and gun-handling, finally
+intercepted and captured the Spanish treasure ship that he sought.
+
+On his subsequent return to China with his prize, the experiences of
+“Mr. Anson” (as he is generally called throughout the history from
+which I quote) were mainly of a personal nature. Visited by a mandarin
+who showed a liking for wine, Anson had to plead illness and delegate
+his duties of glass for glass to the most robust officer he had. He
+provisioned by weight with ducks (found to be filled with stones to
+make them heavier) and pigs filled with water. Ultimately he had to go
+up to Canton with (so far as I can ascertain) the first instance of a
+crew in regular uniform. To quote from the entertaining contemporary
+narrative:--
+
+    “Towards the end of September, the commodore finding that he
+    was deceived by those who had contracted to supply him with sea
+    provisions; and that the viceroy had not, according to his
+    promise, invited him to an interview, found it impossible to
+    surmount the difficulty he was under, without going to Canton and
+    visiting the viceroy. He, therefore, prepared for this expedition:
+    the boat’s crew were clothed, in a uniform dress, resembling that
+    of the water-men of the Thames. There were in number eighteen, and
+    a coxswain; they had scarlet jackets, and blue silk waistcoats, the
+    whole trimmed with silver buttons, and had also silver badges on
+    their jackets and caps.”
+
+Leaving Macao, the _Centurion_ reached the Cape of Good Hope on the
+11th of March, 1744. From here, signing on forty Dutchmen, Anson
+proceeded home.
+
+So ended the most prodigious oversea combined enterprise ever before
+attempted. Anson was not the first to circumnavigate the world, but few
+had done so before him, and on that account the real purpose of his
+expedition has been generally overlooked in the circumnavigation feat.
+
+As ever in British naval history luck was with him; but something more
+than “luck” must have been in an enterprise where Pizarro, sent to
+intercept him, gave up, while Anson fought through the perils of Cape
+Horn, with his sickly crews and crazy ships.
+
+To resume the general history of the war. In October, 1742, the
+_Victory_ (100) was lost, presumably on the Caskets, though her actual
+fate was never ascertained. France had now entered into the war; her
+fleet consisted of forty-five ships of the line; the corresponding
+English fleet totalling ninety ships of the line.
+
+In 1742, Ogle succeeded Vernon in the West Indies, and a series of
+small bombardments resulted, usually without success.
+
+Formal hostilities with France (delayed as was the custom of the time)
+were declared in 1744, and outlying possessions changed hands. Anson,
+in command of the Channel Fleet in 1747, defeated and captured the
+Brest fleet, and some minor actions took place, mostly in connection
+with convoys. The war ended in 1748; its net naval results being as
+follows:--
+
+                             ENGLISH.  SPANISH.  FRENCH.
+  Warships lost or captured      49        24        56
+  Merchant ships captured     3,238     1,249     2,185
+
+The economy order referred to on a previous page was possibly in part
+responsible for the bad showing made by the English as warships in
+this war. In any case the standardisation of classes had disappeared,
+and no two ships were of the same dimensions. Many ships were found so
+weak at sea that they had to be shored up between decks,[30] and of
+all the complaint was continual that they were very “crank” and unable
+to open their lee ports in weather in which foreign ships could do so.
+The seamanship, however, was of a high order compared to that of either
+the French or Spaniards; possibly the very badness of the English ships
+helped to make the seamanship what it was.
+
+After the war many constructional improvements were suggested and some
+few of them carried into practice. Among the prizes of the war was a
+Spanish ship, the _Princessa_ of seventy guns, which attracted general
+admiration. In 1746, a glorified copy of her, the _Royal George_, was
+laid down.[31] At and about this time an era of slow shipbuilding set
+in; for example, this _Royal George_ was ten years on the stocks. The
+slow building was part and parcel of the naval policy of the period,
+and in no way to be connected with what any such tardiness would mean
+to-day.
+
+A ship on the stocks was more easily preserved from decay than one
+in the water. With precisely the same idea the authorities at the
+end of the war disbanded the bulk of the _personnel_. Upon a war
+appearing likely, the press-gang was always available to supplement any
+deficiency in the rank and file not filled by allowing jail-birds to
+volunteer.
+
+Officering the fleet was a less easy matter. The choice lay between
+retired officers more or less rusty, and the best of the “prime
+seamen,” who had been afloat in such warships as were retained
+in commission. The Admiralty selected its officers from both
+indiscriminately. There is this much, but no more, warrant for the idea
+that in the old days the sailor from forward could rise to the highest
+ranks, while to-day he cannot do so. The fact is correct enough, but
+the circumstance had nothing to do with inducements and encouragements.
+Once on the quarter deck the tarpaulin seaman, if he had it in him,
+might win his way to high rank and fame, as did Benbow, Sir John
+Balchen, Captain Cook, and several others. But he obtained his footing
+on entirely utilitarian grounds which passed away when a more regular
+system of _personnel_ came into custom.
+
+In the year 1753, a Dr. Hales was instrumental in one of the greatest
+improvements ever effected in the navy. To him was due the adoption of
+a system of ventilation with wind-mills and air pumps. The immediate
+result was a very great reduction in the sickness and death-rate on
+shipboard, the Earl of Halifax placing it on record that for twelve men
+who died in non-ventilated ships, only one succumbed in the ventilated
+vessels.
+
+Early in 1755, a war with France became probable on account of hostile
+preparations made in North America. As a matter of precaution a French
+squadron on its way out was attacked and two ships captured. Something
+like three hundred French merchant ships were also taken during the
+year. War, however, was not declared on either side!
+
+Early in 1756, news was received of French designs on Minorca, a
+considerable expedition collecting at Toulon. After some delay, Byng
+left England with ten ships of the line, picked up three more at
+Gibraltar, and sailed to relieve Minorca, where Fort St. Philip was
+closely invested by 15,000 troops. Supporting these last was a French
+squadron of twelve ships of the line, under La Gallisonniére.
+
+On Byng arriving, La Gallisonniére embarked 450 men from the attacking
+force to reinforce his crews, and on May 20th ensued the battle of
+Minorca, which resulted in the defeat and retreat of Byng.[32] Ten days
+later the British force in the island surrendered.
+
+Byng was subsequently court-martialled and shot at Portsmouth for
+having failed to do his utmost to destroy the French fleet. His
+ships were indifferently manned and in none too good condition. He
+encountered a better man than himself, and there is no reason to
+suppose that had he resumed action, anything but his total defeat
+would have resulted. At the same time, the execution of Byng, _pour
+encourager les autres_, probably bore utilitarian fruit in the years
+that were to follow. The execution has since been condemned as little
+better than a revengeful judicial murder; but a realisation of the
+circumstances of the times suggests that other motives than punishment
+of an individual were paramount.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLESHIPS OF THE WHITE ERA AT SEA.]
+
+War was formally declared shortly after the fall of Minorca. No
+events of much moment marked the rest of the year 1756, but early in
+the following year, Calcutta, which had fallen to the natives, was
+recaptured by Clive, assisted by a naval force.
+
+In 1758, the Navy consisted of 156 of the line and 164 lesser vessels.
+The _personnel_ was 60,000.
+
+The situation at this time was that in North America the French
+colonies were being hotly pressed, Louisbourg being invested. The
+French had a species of double plan--to relieve Louisbourg directly,
+and also the usual invasion of England.
+
+The relief of Louisbourg came to nought; a Toulon squadron which came
+out being driven back by Osborne, while Hawke destroyed the convoys in
+the Basque Roads. Louisbourg finally fell, four ships of the line that
+were lying there being burned, and one other captured, together with
+some smaller craft.
+
+Nearer home, combined naval and military attacks were pressed upon the
+French coast, Anson wrecking havoc on St. Malo, while Howe destroyed
+practically everything at Cherbourg.
+
+The invasion of England project remained, however. In 1759, the French
+had somewhere about twenty ships of the line, under De Conflans,
+at Brest, twelve at Toulon, under De la Clue, five with a fleet of
+transports at Quiberon, five frigates at Dunkirk with transports,
+a division of small craft and flat-bottomed boats at Havre, and a
+squadron of nine ships of the line with auxiliaries in the West Indies.
+
+These were watched or blockaded by superior British squadrons in every
+case--the maintenance of blockades being mainly possible owing to the
+improved ventilation of the ships. Provisions were still bad and scurvy
+plentiful, but the blockade maintained was better and closer than
+anything that the French can have anticipated. This war, indeed, saw
+the birth of scientific blockade in place of the somewhat haphazard
+methods which had previously existed. In part, it arose from a better
+perception of naval warfare, the study of history and the growth of
+definite objectives. But since side by side with these improvements
+tactical ideas were nearly non-existent and ships in fighting kept a
+line of the barrack-ground type regardless of all circumstances,[33]
+improvements in naval architecture may claim at least as big a part as
+the wit of man. Ideas of blockading and watching were as old as the
+Peloponnesian War, but means to carry them into effect had hitherto
+been sadly lacking.
+
+To resume, the French fleets being cornered by superior forces, had no
+option but to wait for lucky opportunity to effect the usual attempted
+junctions. This opportunity was long in coming, and meanwhile Rodney
+made an attack on the invading flotilla at Havre, bombarded it for
+fifty-two hours, and utterly destroyed the flat-bottomed boats which
+had been collected.
+
+In July, 1759, Boscawen, having run short of water and provisions,
+had to withdraw from Toulon to Gibraltar, where he began to refit his
+ships, and De la Clue, learning of this, came out of Toulon in August,
+slipping through the straits at midnight, with the English fleet in
+pursuit shortly afterwards.
+
+De la Clue had intended to rendezvous at Cadiz, but having altered his
+mind, made the almost inevitable failure of getting all his ships to
+comprehend it.[34] So it came about that daylight found him near Cape
+St. Vincent, with only six sail, and eight of Boscawen’s ships (which
+he at first took to be his own stragglers) coming up. In the action
+that followed, three of the French ships were captured, two burned
+and one escaped. The stragglers of the French fleet got into Cadiz as
+originally directed, and a few months later escaped back to Toulon.
+
+Thurot, with a small squadron, slipped out from Dunkirk, in October,
+merely to intern himself in a Swedish harbour.
+
+Hawke continued his blockade of Brest, being now and then driven off
+by gales, and during one of these absences, Bempart, with his nine
+West Indian ships, got into Brest. The Brest fleet was apparently very
+short-handed, or else the West Indian squadron in a very bad way; in
+any case the crews of the latter were distributed among the former, and
+De Conflans sailed with only twenty-one ships on November 14th.
+
+The expeditionary force which he proposed to convoy lay at Quiberon,
+which place owing to weather he did not make till the 20th. There he
+sighted and gave chase to the blockading English frigates, and in doing
+so met Hawke’s fleet of twenty-three ships of the line.
+
+In the battle of Quiberon which followed, the French lost six ships
+of the line. Eleven, by throwing their guns overboard, escaped into
+shallow water, the remainder reached safety at Rochefort. Two English
+ships ran aground, otherwise little damage was sustained.[35]
+
+Out of these happenings the French fleet--which, in this year alone,
+lost thirty-one ships of the line--ceased to have any importance; while
+to the general naval activity of the English must be attributed the
+capture of Quebec, by Wolfe.
+
+In 1760, the British ships of the line had sunk to 120 in number,
+though the _personnel_ rose to 73,000. Naval operations were mainly
+confined to the relief of Quebec and the consequent capture of the
+whole of Canada, and the suppression of privateering--over a hundred
+French corsairs being captured in 1760 alone.
+
+The results of privateering have been put at 2,500 English merchant
+vessels being captured in the four years ending 1760; the French
+merchant-ship loss being little more than one-third. In 1761, when
+French naval power had practically ceased to exist, 812 English
+merchant ships were captured. It must, however, be borne in mind that
+every year saw great increases in English shipping. Heavy as the
+numerical losses were, they did not exceed ten per cent., and the bulk
+of vessels captured were coasters.
+
+French mercantile losses were considerably smaller, but simply for the
+reason that France had fewer and fewer ships to lose, for her trade
+was being swept from the sea. English trade on the other hand grew
+and multiplied exceedingly. It may even be argued that so far from
+really injuring our trade, the _guerre de course_ in this war actually
+fostered it by the enhanced profits which safe arrival entailed, this
+attracting the speculative. But for the speculative the loss of larger
+vessels would have been smaller than it was. These were they, who, on
+a convoy nearing home waters, sailed on ahead, chancing attack in the
+hopes of the greatly increased profits to be made by early arrivals.
+Ships which obeyed the orders of the escorting warships were very
+rarely captured.
+
+The following years saw the capture of Pondicherry, Dominica, a
+successful attack on Belle Isle and also a general loss of French
+colonial possessions. To quote Mahan, “At the end of seven years the
+Kingdom of Great Britain has become the British Empire.”
+
+In 1762, Spain declared war. She had a fleet consisting nominally of
+eighty-nine sail, but joined in far too late to be of any assistance to
+France. No naval battle of importance took place.
+
+Peace was signed early in 1763. By it England secured Canada from
+France, and Spain lost Florida.
+
+During this war the usual complaints about ships’ bottoms were made,
+especially from the West Indian Station; and in October, 1761, the
+Admiralty ordered a frigate to be sheathed with thin sheets of copper
+as an experiment. This was at first found extremely successful, but
+after the lapse of a few years it was noted that chemical action had
+set up between the copper and the iron bolts at the ships’ bottom--most
+of these bolts being rusted away.
+
+Experiments were, however, continued, since, though the life of a
+copper bottom was but three to four years, its general advantages were
+very great. Ultimately iron bolts were abandoned in favour of copper
+ones. The cost of this came to £2,272 for a ship of the first-rate, and
+was only relatively satisfactory.
+
+Ever since the Treaty of Paris in 1763, friction had been growing
+between the Home Country and the North American Colonies. The causes
+which led to it concern the British Navy only in so far as it was used
+for the harsh enforcement of the regulations entailed by the Treaty in
+question--regulations which bore heavily on the Colonists. The rest of
+the story is merely the tale of political incapacity at home.
+
+The American Colonists, in addition to a few fast sailing frigates
+which they handled with unexpected aptitude, possessed a so very
+considerable mercantile fleet that it was estimated that 18,000 of
+their seamen had served in the English ships in the late war with
+France. Consequently, the Colonists were in a position to fit our
+privateers, and with these, in the first eight years of the war, they
+captured nearly 1,000 English merchant ships. Their own losses were,
+however, greater, and it is probable that despite all the military
+blunders which characterised English conduct of the war, the Colonists
+would eventually have been worn down but for the active intervention of
+France in 1778, and Spain a little later.
+
+As regards naval operations against the Americans themselves, these
+were mainly in the nature of sea transport. Where they were otherwise,
+they were of an inglorious nature, owing to the total inability of the
+Home Government to appreciate the position. The naval story of the war
+is, in the main, the story of frigates attempting difficult channels,
+and going aground in the attempt. It is of interest mainly because in
+1776 one David Bushnell made the first submarine ever actually used in
+war, and attempted to torpedo the English flagship, _Eagle_ (64). He
+reached his quarry unsuspected, but the difficulties of attaching his
+“infernal machine” were such that he had to rise to the surface for air
+and abandon the enterprise. His subsequent fate was undramatic--he
+and his boat were captured at sea on board a merchant ship, which was
+carrying him elsewhere for further operations.
+
+France, which had been rendering considerable secret assistance to
+the revolted Colonists, had, ever since the Treaty of Paris, been
+steadily building up her Navy, till she had eighty ships of the line
+and 67,000 men. The efficiency of the _personnel_ had been increased
+by the enrolment of a special corps of gunners, who practiced weekly.
+Efforts--which, however, were only moderately successful--had also been
+made to break down the serious class rivalries between those officers
+who were of the _noblesse_ and those who were tarpaulin seamen. But
+the majority of officers were skilled tactically, and special orders
+were issued that to seek out and attack the enemy was an objective.[36]
+Here, again, another weak point existed: d’Orvilliers, who commanded
+the main fleet, also received orders to be cautious--orders very
+similar in tenor to those by which his predecessors in previous wars
+were hampered.
+
+The fleet of Great Britain, spread over many quarters of the world,
+including ships being fitted, consisted of about 150 ships of the line,
+besides auxiliaries; but the actual available force of Home water fleet
+with which Keppel sailed just before the opening of the war was twenty
+ships only!
+
+Capturing two French frigates and learning from them that thirty-two
+ships were at Brest, Keppel got reinforcements of ten ships, and on
+the 27th of July, 1778, met d’Orvilliers, also with thirty ships, off
+Ushant. The battle lasted three hours, when the fleets drew apart
+without any material result having been achieved. The tactical ability
+lay with the French, and but for the inefficiency of the leader of one
+French division, the Duc de Chartres (the future “Phillipe Egalité”),
+would have done so still more. Yet, though Keppel had obviously done
+his best, public opinion in England had expected a great naval victory,
+and Keppel was the subject of a most violent controversy, which soon
+developed on political lines.
+
+At and about the time of the battle of Ushant, D’Estaing, with twelve
+ships of the line and five frigates, reached the Delaware. The English
+fleet under Howe, which consisted of only nine inferior ships of
+the line, took refuge inside Sandy Hook. D’Estaing came outside and
+remained ten days in July, but then sailed away.
+
+His failure to operate has been put down to the advice of pilots,
+but more probably, as pointed out by Admiral Mahan, he had secret
+instructions not to assist the Colonists too actively. The destruction
+of Hood’s fleet would have meant the capture of New York, peace between
+England and America, and a considerable force released for operations
+against France. Most of the subsequent movements of the year seem
+to have been coloured by a similar policy. In 1779, the West Indian
+islands of St. Vincent and Grenada fell into the hands of the French.
+Subsequently D’Estaing returned to the North American Coast, but no
+important operations took place there. Finally he returned with some
+ships to France, sending the others to the West Indies.
+
+Spain declared war against England in 1780. Her fleet then consisted
+of nearly sixty ships of the line, which--like the French--were in a
+more efficient state than in previous wars. Her prime object was the
+recovery of Gibraltar.
+
+A combined Franco-Spanish fleet of sixty-four ships of the line
+appeared in the Channel, causing an immense panic in England. The
+only available English fleet consisted of thirty-seven sail of the
+line, under Sir Charles Hardy, and this wandered away to the westward,
+leaving the Channel quite open to the allies, who, however, also
+wandered about without accomplishing anything. As usual with allies,
+there were divided councils, and in addition the French fleet, having
+had to wait long for the unwilling Spaniards, was badly incapacitated
+from sickness. Thus, and thus only, is their failure to invade to be
+explained: they had 40,000 men ready to be transported over, also a
+naval force ample to defeat any available English fleet, and able to
+cover landing operations as well.
+
+When the war first began, there was in France an English admiral--that
+same Rodney who had destroyed the invading flotilla at Havre in the
+previous war--who by reason of his debts was unable to return to his
+own country. In private life he was a merry old soul of sixty or so,
+and at a dinner one night boasted that if he could pay his debts and
+go back to England, he would get a command and easily smash the French
+fleet. Hearing this, a French nobleman promptly paid his debts for him,
+and sarcastically told Rodney to go back and prove his words.
+
+Rodney, who had the reputation of being an able officer, but nothing
+more, got home in 1779. In 1780, having secured a command for the West
+Indies, he left Portsmouth with twenty sail of the line and a convoy
+for the relief of Gibraltar. Off Finisterre, he captured a Spanish
+convoy carrying provisions to the besiegers. Off Cape St. Vincent
+he fell in with eleven Spanish ships and attacked them at night, in
+a gale, blowing up one, and capturing six. Thence he proceeded to
+Gibraltar, relieved it from all immediate danger, Minorca also; and
+then sailed for the West Indies. Here, on April 17th, some three weeks
+after arrival, he met the French under Guichen, and made the first
+attempt at that “breaking the line” associated with his name. The
+attempt was not a success, as his orders were misunderstood by several
+of his own captains and his intentions realised and foiled by his
+opponents.[37]
+
+This action was indecisive; as also were two more that followed.
+
+In this year (1780), Captain Horatio Nelson, then only twenty-two
+years old, made his first appearance in the _Hinchinbrook_ (28), in an
+attack on San Juan, Nicaragua. He succeeded, after terrible loss of
+_personnel_ from disease.
+
+A Spanish squadron then joined the French, but an epidemic--that most
+fruitful of all sources for the upsetting of naval plans--overtook
+it. The Spaniards were incapacitated and the French returned home.
+Rodney went to New York, where his operations delayed the cause of the
+Colonists; then returning to the West Indies, operated against the
+Dutch, who had by now joined the French and Spaniards.
+
+The general position of Great Britain, in 1781 and 1782, was well nigh
+desperate. Gibraltar was only held by a remarkable combination of
+luck and resolution. To quote Mahan, “England stood everywhere on the
+defensive.” She fought with her back to the wall. In the East Indies,
+Suffren kept the French flag flying: and things were generally at a
+very low ebb, when in 1782 Rodney “broke the line” in the victory of
+the Battle of the Saints.
+
+On April 9th, the fleets had come into contact without much result on
+either side. On the 12th, De Grasse, being then in some disorder, with
+thirty-four ships, encountered the English with thirty-six in good
+order. Rodney and Hood broke the line in two places. Admiral Mahan has
+been at pains to show us that this result was much a matter of luck
+and change of wind, and that the victory was by no means followed up
+as it might have been. One French ship was sunk and five were taken,
+including De Grasse himself, whose losses in his flagship, the _Ville
+de Paris_, were greater than those in the entire English fleet.
+
+To the nation at this juncture, however, anything savouring of victory
+was a thing to be made the utmost of, and Rodney has probably received
+more than his meed of merit over what was mainly a matter of luck.
+
+Two features of special interest in connection with this battle are
+that, though up to it, British ships had recently, owing to coppering,
+proved better sailers than the French; in the sequel to this fight, the
+French proved equal to sail away. The rapid deterioration of coppering,
+already mentioned, may account for some of this, but in this battle
+there is also reason to believe that the French fleet instituted firing
+at the rigging. Contemporary statements exist as to the French having
+made a wonderful number of holes in English hulls without much material
+result, but these may be dismissed as pardonable temporary bluster.
+More germane is the fact that the English ships were supplied with
+carronades[38]--harmless at long range and deadly at short--for which
+reason the French tried to keep them at a distance, so that altogether
+superior efficiency with men and weapons would seem to have played a
+greater part than any tactical genius on the part of Rodney, in whom a
+dogged insistence to get at the enemy was ever the main characteristic
+rather than “thinking things out.” The Mahan estimate of him sorts
+better with known facts than the estimate of his accomplishment at the
+time.
+
+As regards Rodney himself, it is interesting to record that Navy and
+Party were so synonymous at the time that he, being a strong Tory, had
+already been superseded by political influence when he won the battle
+that broke French power in the West Indies. It lies to the credit
+of the Whigs that both he and Hood, his second in command, received
+peerages; but the most difficult thing of all to understand to-day is,
+that in a life and death struggle such as this war was, the personal
+political element should have managed to find expression.
+
+In 1782, Gibraltar, which had been twice relieved, was once more in
+grievous straits. The French had evolved floating batteries for the
+attack, similar in principle to those which, some seventy years later,
+were to figure so prominently in the Crimea.
+
+Being merely armoured with heavy wood planks, however, they were easily
+set on fire with red-hot shot, and the great bombardment failed long
+before the relieving force, under Howe, arrived. The garrison, however,
+were in great straits for supplies, and their real relief was Howe’s
+fleet, which the combined Franco-Spanish squadrons did not dare to
+attack.
+
+The Treaty of Versailles, in 1783, followed soon afterwards. By it the
+United States of America were recognised, Minorca was given up, but
+most of the captured West Indian islands restored to Great Britain.
+
+Just before the close of the war, the relative naval strengths were
+assessed as follows:--[39]
+
+  ==================+==========+=========+========+==========
+    Description of  |  Great   |         |        |
+       Vessels.     | Britain. | France. | Spain. | Holland.
+  ------------------+----------+---------+--------+----------
+  Ships of the Line |   105    |    89   |   53   |     32
+  Fifty-gun Ships   |    13    |     7   |    3   |      0
+  Large Frigates    |    63    |    49   |   12   | {   28
+  Small Frigates    |    69    |    54   |   36   | {
+  Sloops            |   217    |    86   |   31   |     13
+  Cutters           |    43    |    22   |    0   |      0
+  Armed Ships       |    24    |     0   |    0   |      0
+  Bombs             |     7    |     5   |   14   |      0
+  Fire-Ships        |     9    |     7   |   11   |      6
+  Yachts            |     5    |     0   |    0   |      0
+                    +----------+---------+--------+----------
+          TOTAL     |   555    |   319   |  160   |     79
+  ==================+==========+=========+========+==========
+
+In this list it is interesting to note the British inability to
+maintain even a Two-Power Standard in ships of the line, whereas in
+sloops and such like, an enormous preponderance prevailed. For the
+suppression of privateering on the coastal trade, these small craft
+proved very useful. Also worthy of note is the decline of the fire-ship
+as a naval arm.[40]
+
+The figures as a whole suggest with much clarity that had the Allies
+been able to act together, Great Britain would never have emerged from
+the war so well as she did.
+
+The ten years’ peace that followed was little more than a breathing
+space. War was constantly apprehended, and known improvement in French
+ships were such that they had to be carefully watched. The frigates
+built in England were made longer than before, with a view to keeping
+pace with French sailing qualities.
+
+Considerable interest was taken in how far the country was
+self-supporting in the matter of timber for shipbuilding, a certain
+reliance on foreign supplies having previously existed. At, and about
+1775, the cost of shipbuilding for the East India Company had exactly
+doubled in a few years. The home supply trouble arose, partly from the
+increased size of shipping, partly from the tendency of owners to fell
+trees as early as possible. Out of which special oak plantations were
+set up in the New Forest and elsewhere, though oak happened to cease to
+be of value for shipbuilding long before they had grown large enough
+for the larger timbers.
+
+The question of repairs also came in for consideration, an average of
+twenty-five years’ repair totalling the cost of a new ship. At and
+about this time also, the building of ships by contract in peace time
+was first recommended on the grounds that thus the private yards would
+be better available in case of war.
+
+Regular stores for ships in the dockyards were also instituted, with
+a view to the speedy equipment of ships in reserve.[41] It was mainly
+owing to this last provision, introduced by Lord Barham in 1783, that,
+though when the war of the French Revolution broke out in 1793 but
+twelve ships of the line and thirty lesser vessels were in commission,
+a few months later seventy-one ships of the line and 104 smaller craft
+were in service. The number of men voted in 1793 was 45,000.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE GREAT FRENCH WAR.
+
+
+The first incident of the war was connected with Toulon, which was
+partly Royalist and partly Republican. The story in full is to be found
+most dramatically rendered in _Ships and Men_, by David Hannay. Here
+it suffices to say that the Royalists and Moderates having coalesced
+at the eleventh hour, surrendered the town to Admiral Hood; that the
+British Government repudiated Hood’s arrangements, and that eventually
+in December, 1793, he was compelled to evacuate the place after doing
+such damage as he could and bringing away with him a few ships of the
+French navy.[42] The incident little concerns our naval history, the
+Navy being but a pawn in the political game of the moment. Indeed, it
+is mostly of some naval interest only because two figures, destined
+to bulk largely in future history, loomed up in it--Captain Horatio
+Nelson, of the _Agamemnon_, who laughed when the Spanish fleet excused
+its inaction by saying that it had been six weeks at sea and was
+disabled accordingly; and Napoleon, who, as much as anyone, served to
+hurry the English out.
+
+Early in 1794 the British fleet had ninety-five ships of the line in
+commission, besides 194 lesser vessels. The _personnel_ amounted to
+85,000.
+
+The centre of interest was the French Brest fleet. Under
+Villaret-Joyeuse, a captain of the old Navy, made Admiral by the
+Terrorists, whose cause he had espoused, this fleet was by no means
+inefficient, like the undisciplined Toulon fleet had been. It carried
+on board the flagship Jean Bon St. André, the deputy of the State, who,
+whatever his faults, realised the meaning of “efficiency.” The bulk
+of the crew were men who had done well in America. Howe, on the other
+hand, commanded a somewhat raw fleet, hastily brought up to strength
+and still by no means “shaken down.”
+
+Howe’s orders were threefold--to convoy a British merchant fleet; to
+destroy the French fleet; and to intercept a convoy of French grain
+coming from America.
+
+From the 5th to the 28th May, Howe was keeping an eye on Brest and
+looking for the French convoy, the interception of which was more
+important than anything else, as France was dependent on these grain
+ships for the means to live.
+
+On the 28th, the French fleet was sighted a long way out in the
+Atlantic. Villaret-Joyeuse, who was out to protect the grain convoy
+at all costs, drew still further out to sea, Howe following in
+pursuit.[43] Towards evening, the last French ship _Revolutionnaire_
+(100), was come up with and engaged by six British (seventy-four’s), of
+which one, the _Audacious_, was badly crippled. The _Revolutionnaire_
+herself was dismasted, but was towed away by a frigate in the night.
+
+This particular incident is one of the most prominent examples of the
+power of the “monster” ship as compared with the “moderate dimension”
+ship[44] of the period. The six did not attack her simultaneously, and
+some were never closely engaged. She was magnificently fought also; but
+even when these elements are subtracted, the fact of the extraordinary
+resisting power exhibited remains. As only the _Audacious_, which
+attacked last, did much harm to the Frenchman, the explanation in this
+particular case probably lies in the stouter scantlings required for a
+ship of 110 guns, compared to smaller ships.
+
+On the following day the action was renewed. Villaret-Joyeuse allowed
+his tail ships to drop into range of the leading British vessels
+with a view to crippling them. Howe cut the line, but being somewhat
+outmanœuvred by the French admiral, obtained no special advantage
+therefrom. Some of the French ships were, however, disabled, and had to
+be towed in the general action that was to follow later.
+
+Two days’ fog now interrupted operations, but on Sunday, June 1st,
+battle was joined. The opposing fleets then consisted as follows:--
+
+     BRITISH.           FRENCH.
+   3 of 100 guns.    1 of 120 guns.
+   4 of  98 guns.    2 of 100 guns.
+   2 of  80 guns.    4 of  80 guns.
+  16 of  74 guns.   19 of  74 guns.
+  --               --
+  25               26
+  --               --
+
+This gives 2,036 British to 2,066 French guns, but as, at least, one
+Frenchman was considerably disabled, there was probably a slight
+British superiority.
+
+Howe, more or less, arranged his heavy ships to correspond with
+the heavy ships of the enemy, and having hove-to half-an-hour for
+breakfast, flung the old fighting instructions[45] to the winds and
+bore right down into the enemy. In the _melee_ that ensued, some of the
+English failed to close, and seven of the French drifted to leeward out
+of action.
+
+Of the French fleet, two eighty-gun and four seventy-four’s were
+badly mauled and eventually struck, while a seventh French ship, the
+_Vengeur_ (seventy-four) was sunk.[46] Four were badly disabled, but
+drifted to leeward out of the fight. On the British side a number of
+ships were badly damaged.
+
+The fleets, having drawn apart, Villaret-Joyeuse succeeded in getting a
+portion of his fleet into some sort of order again, and threatened the
+disabled English ships. Howe protected these, but did not renew action;
+and the French, with the disabled ships in tow, made off.
+
+Such was the battle of “the glorious First of June.” Howe has been
+greatly blamed since then for not having followed up his victory, but
+there are not wanting indications that the caution of Curtis, his
+captain of the fleet, who pleaded with Howe not to re-engage lest the
+advantage gained should be lost, was justified. Villaret-Joyeuse, the
+captain, hastily placed in command of a large fleet, was one of the
+most, if not the most, capable admirals France ever had against us. How
+badly all the French ships had suffered we now know, but the means of
+telling it were absent then. The all-important question of intercepting
+the grain convoy was also possibly present in Howe’s mind.
+
+Be that as it may, the convoy was not intercepted. It reached France in
+safety, and all question of starving the Revolution into surrender was
+at an end. On that account the battle was reckoned as a victory by the
+French as well as in England.[47]
+
+Other naval events of this year (1794) were the capture of Corsica, by
+Hood; and in the West Indies, the capture of Martinique and St. Lucia.
+Guadaloupe was also taken, but quickly re-captured. Among the prizes
+of the year was the French forty-gun frigate _Pomone_, which proved
+infinitely faster than anything in the English fleet. This led to much
+discussion in the House of Commons. A considerable party denied that
+any such superiority existed; others alleged that even if so, British
+ships were better and more strongly built. Others again attributed the
+circumstance to the heavy premiums awarded by the French Government to
+constructors who produced swift sailing ships.
+
+Nothing of much moment came out of the discussion. Orders were issued
+that ships were to be built a little longer in future, and with the
+lower deck ports less near the water than heretofore, but the general
+tendency to over-gun ships in relation to their size still remained.
+
+For the year 1795, the _personnel_ of the fleet was increased to
+100,000, and provision was made for a very considerable increase of
+small craft. The Dutch declared war in January, but the year was not
+marked by any operations of much moment so far as they were concerned.
+
+The principal theatres of naval operations were in the Mediterranean
+and the Channel. This year is marked by a curious indecisiveness, which
+had much to do with the formation of Nelson’s (who was serving in the
+Mediterranean as captain of the _Agamemnon_, sixty-four), subsequent
+character as an admiral.
+
+The British fleet consisted of fifteen ships of the line, under Hotham.
+The French had got together fifteen sail at Toulon. These made for
+Corsica, in March, and on the way captured one of Hotham’s ships, the
+_Berwick_. With the remainder, Hotham put to sea, and on the 12th, off
+Genoa, he was sighted by the French. His fleet was in considerable
+disorder, and in the view of Professor Laughton, the incapacity of the
+French alone averted a disaster. In the desultory operations of the
+next two days, two prizes were taken and two English ships crippled.
+Nelson, who was mainly responsible for the prizes, urged Hotham to
+pursue and destroy the enemy, but the admiral refused.[48]
+
+In July, Nelson, who was on detached service, was met and chased back
+to Genoa by the whole French fleet, which, however, drew off when
+Hotham’s fleet was sighted. Hotham, with a greatly superior fleet, came
+out, and eventually found the enemy off Hyeres. Chase was ordered and
+one French ship overhauled and captured; then, on the grounds that the
+shore was too near, Hotham hauled off.
+
+These operations (or lack of them) on the part of Hotham, are important
+beyond most. In the view of Professor Laughton,[49] Hotham’s indecision
+was mainly responsible for the rise and grandeur of Napoleon’s career.
+Vigorous action on his part would have written differently the history
+of the world. As like as not, in addition to no Napoleon, there would
+also have been no Nelson, to go down as the leading figure in British
+naval history. The survival of the French fleet rendered possible that
+invasion of Italy which “made” Napoleon, and those sea battles which
+made Nelson our most famous admiral.
+
+Villaret-Joyeuse (who had commanded the French fleet in the battle of
+the First of June) displayed considerable activity in 1795, capturing
+a frigate and a good many merchant ships. The weather, however,
+was against him, and he lost five ships of the line wrecked. He,
+notwithstanding, kept the sea with twelve ships of the line, and with
+these met Cornwallis with five, off Brest, on June 16th. Cornwallis
+retired, but was overhauled the next day, and his tail ship the _Mars_,
+(seventy-four) badly damaged, the French, as usual, firing at the
+rigging. Cornwallis, in the _Royal Sovereign_, (100) fell back to
+support the _Mars_, but was well on the way to be defeated when he
+adopted the clever ruse of sending away a frigate to signal to him that
+the Channel fleet was coming up. The code used was one known to have
+been captured by the French, and they, reading the signals, hastily
+abandoned the pursuit and made off.
+
+Three days later, Villaret-Joyeuse did actually encounter the Channel
+fleet, under Hood (now Lord Bridport). He made off south, chased by
+Bridport, who had fourteen ships, mostly three-deckers, of which the
+French had but one. After a four days’ chase, Bridport came up with
+the tail of the enemy, off Lorient. A partial action ensued, in which
+three French ships were captured, after which Bridport withdrew. He
+gave as his reason the nearness to the French shore--exactly the reason
+that Hotham gave for neglecting a possible victory. In both cases,
+the reason was rather trivial. The practical assign it to the old
+age of the admirals concerned. To the imaginative, these two almost
+incomprehensible failures to take advantage of circumstances gave some
+colour to Napoleon’s theory of “his destiny.”
+
+In this year, a number of East Indiamen were purchased for naval use.
+One of these, the _Glatton_, (fifty-six) was experimentally armed
+with sixty-eight pounder carronades on her lower deck, and forty-two
+pounders on the upper. On her way to join her squadron, she was
+attacked by six French frigates, of which one was a fifty-gun, and
+two were of thirty-six. She easily defeated the lot--another instance
+of the “big ship’s” advantage in minor combats. Despite this instance
+of what might be done, the heavy gun idea made no headway, and the
+_Glatton_ remained a unique curiosity, till many years later the
+Americans adopted it to our great disadvantage.
+
+Towards the end of 1795 (December) Hotham was replaced in the
+Mediterranean by Sir John Jervis--an admiral of unique personality, who
+left upon the Navy a mark that easily endures to this day. Somewhat
+hyperbolically it has been said of him that he was the saviour of the
+Navy in his own day, and the main element towards its disruption in
+these times!
+
+Jervis had made his mark in the War of American Independence, as
+captain of the _Foudroyant_. Discipline was his passion; and by means
+of it, he had made an easy capture of a French ship. Thereafter, he
+became a unique blend of martinet and genius.
+
+He was the first openly to re-affirm Sir Walter Raleigh’s theory,
+quoted in an earlier chapter, that fortifications were useless
+against invasion, and that only on the water could an enemy be met
+successfully, combatting Pitt himself on this point. When the Great
+War broke out, his first employment was in the West Indies, where
+he achieved St. Lucia, Martinique and Guadaloupe. He went to the
+Mediterranean, at a time when France was numerically superior to us
+in the Channel, and when Spain was daily expected to declare war. The
+fleet to which he went was like all others, tending to a mutinous
+spirit, and finally he had to go out in the frigate _Lively_. In those
+days, for an admiral to take passage in anything less than a ship of
+the line was considered a most undignified thing. It rankled so with
+Jervis that he never forgot it, and years after harped upon it as
+a grievance. Of such character was the man who took command in the
+Mediterranean at the end of 1795.
+
+In 1796, the _personnel_ of the Navy was increased to 110,000. Jervis,
+in the Mediterranean, did little beyond blockading Toulon, and training
+his fleet on his own ideas. Spain declared war in October; but her
+intentions being known beforehand, Corsica was evacuated, and at the
+end of the year the Mediterranean was abandoned also, Jervis with
+his entire fleet lying under the guns of Gibraltar. Nothing else was
+possible.
+
+Elsewhere invasion ideas were uppermost in France, and 18,000 troops,
+convoyed by seventeen ships of the line and thirteen frigates, sailed
+from Brest for Bantry Bay, at the end of the year. Only eight ships of
+the line reached there; a gale dispersed the transports and nothing
+happened in the way of invasion. The only other event of the year was
+the capture of a Dutch squadron at the Cape of Good Hope. Matters
+generally were, however, so bad, that attempts were made to secure
+terms of peace from France. These attempts failed.
+
+The year 1792 saw 108 ships of the line and 293 lesser vessels in
+commission. Something like sixty ships of the line were building or
+ordered, also 168 lesser craft. The first incident was the Battle of
+Cape St. Vincent (14th February, 1797). The Spaniards, having come out
+of Cartagena, were making for Cadiz, when sighted by Jervis.
+
+The rival fleets were:--
+
+     BRITISH.          SPANISH.
+   2 of 100 guns.    1 of 130 guns.
+   3 of  98 guns.    6 of 112 guns.
+   1 of  90 guns.    2 of  80 guns.
+   8 of  74 guns.   18 of  74 guns.
+   1 of  64 guns.   --
+  --                27
+  15                --
+  --
+
+The battle is mainly of interest on account of Nelson’s part in it.
+The Spaniards were sailing in no order whatever, the bulk of them
+being in one irregular mass, the remainder in another. Jervis, in line
+ahead, proposed to pass between the two divisions, and destroy the
+larger before the smaller could beat up to assist them. The Spaniards,
+however inefficient they may have been in other ways, saw through this
+manœuvre, and their main body was preparing to join up astern of the
+British, when Nelson, in the _Captain_, flung himself across them and
+captured two ships by falling foul of them and boarding. Three other
+ships were captured, the rest escaped. In this battle, as in those of
+the year before, the same caution about following up the victory was
+observed, and the age of the admiral concerned has again been produced
+as the reason. But the thoughtful--taking the previous career of most
+of those concerned into consideration--may suspect the existence of
+some special secret orders about taking no risks, as yet unearthed
+by any historian. The only really workable alternative is Napoleon’s
+“destiny” theory already alluded to. Of the two, the secret order
+hypothesis is the more practical. Into the whole of these victories not
+properly followed up, it is also possible, though hardly probable, that
+the mutinous state of the _personnel_ entered.
+
+[Illustration: THE “FOUDROYANT” ONE OF NELSON’S OLD SHIPS.]
+
+In the battle of Cape St. Vincent, the Spaniards had an enormous
+four-decker, the _Santissima Trinidad_, of 130 guns. She was the first
+ship engaged by Nelson, and was hammered by most of the others closely
+engaged as well, but her size and power saved her from the fate of the
+rest of the ships that were with her.
+
+It is difficult even now to assess the exact situation of the mutineers
+of 1797. The organised self-restraint of the Spithead Mutiny is hard
+to understand, when we remember the heterogeneous origin of the crews.
+“Jail or Navy” was an every-day offer to prisoners. Longshoremen,
+riff-raff, pressed landsmen, thieves, murderers, smugglers, and a
+few degraded officers, were the raw material of which the crews were
+composed. They were stiffened with a proportion of professional
+seamen, and it is these that must have leavened the mass, and kept the
+jail-bird element in check.
+
+Pay was bad, ship life close akin to prison life, discipline and
+punishments alike brutal, and the food disgracefully bad. It was this
+last that brought about the mutiny. There is an old saying to the
+effect that you may ill-treat a sailor as you will, but if you ill-feed
+him, trouble may be looked for! One or two isolated mutinies, like that
+of the _Hermione_, were due to a captain’s brutality; but mainly and
+mostly bad food and mutiny were closely linked.
+
+Commander Robinson[50] draws attention to the fact that the pursers
+themselves were hardly the unscrupulous rascals they were supposed to
+be on shore, and that the system and regulations of victualling were
+recognised by the seamen as at the bottom of the mischief.
+
+The same authority quotes a contemporary:--
+
+     “The reason unto you I now will relate:
+      We resolved to refuse the purser’s short weight;
+      Our humble petition to Lord Howe we sent,
+      That he to the Admiralty write to present
+      Our provisions and wages that they might augment.”
+
+Discontent had, of course, long been brewing, but the Admiralty seems
+to have been without any suspicions. They dismissed the petition as
+being in no way representative; later, having received reports to the
+contrary, ordered Lord Bridport’s fleet at Spithead to proceed to sea.
+On April 15th, when the signal to weigh anchor was made, the crews of
+every ship manned the rigging and cheered. No violence was offered
+to any officer; the men simply refused to work. Each ship supplied a
+couple of delegates to explain matters, and after an enquiry, their
+demands were granted and a free pardon given. Delays, however, ensued,
+and on May 7th, the fleet again refused to put to sea.
+
+On this occasion, the officers were disarmed, confined to their cabins,
+and kept there, till a few days later a general pardon was proclaimed,
+when this mutiny ended. A similar mutiny at Plymouth was equally mild.
+
+Of a very different character was the mutiny at the Nore, which broke
+out on May 13th, under the leadership of the notorious Richard Parker.
+Parker was a man of considerable parts, said to have been an ex-officer
+dismissed the service with disgrace, and to have entered as a seaman.
+He possessed undoubted ability and considerable ambition. He very
+clearly aimed at something more than the redress of grievances, since
+his first act was to put a rope round his own neck by instigating the
+crew of the _Inflexible_ to fire into a sister ship, on board which
+a court-martial was being held. Subsequently, delegates were sent
+to the Admiralty with extravagant claims, which--as Parker may have
+anticipated--were ignored.
+
+Eleven ships of Admiral Duncan’s fleet (then blockading the Texel) had
+joined Parker by the first of June. Duncan was left with but two ships
+in face of the enemy. By showing himself much and making imaginary
+signals Duncan managed to conceal the facts from the Dutch: but he had
+considerable trouble to keep his two ships from joining the mutineers
+now blockading the Thames.
+
+There is reason to believe that Parker was in touch with the
+Revolutionists in France and the dissatisfied Irish, but the bulk
+of the mutineers were altogether uninfluenced by political ideas.
+The mutiny began to waver. The ships at other home ports were
+unsympathetic, and Parker and his friends found men cooling off. In
+order to keep things together it was their custom to row round the
+fleet[51] and inspect ships suspected of being “cool,”--the side being
+piped for them. In one case, however, the boatswain’s mate refused to
+do so, and flung his call at their heads. On coming on board, they
+sentenced him to thirty-six lashes for “mutinous conduct!” On June
+10th, despite this disciplinary system, two of the mutineer ships
+sailed away under fire from the others, and on the 14th, Parker’s own
+ship surrendered and handed him over to the authorities. He was hanged
+on June 29th.
+
+In the Mediterranean fleet, mutiny broke out in two ships off Cadiz,
+but Jervis (now Earl St. Vincent), compelled the mutineers to hang
+their own ringleaders. In connection with this, Nelson, who was now
+rear admiral commanding the inshore squadron, wrote to St. Vincent--
+
+    “I congratulate you on the finish, as it ought, of the St. George’s
+    business, and I (if I may be permitted to say so) very much approve
+    of its being so speedily carried into execution, even although
+    it is Sunday. The particular situation of the service requires
+    extraordinary measures. I hope this will end all the disorders in
+    our fleet: had there been the same determined spirit at home, I do
+    not believe it would have been half so bad.”
+
+It is noteworthy that in Nelson’s own ship there was no trouble
+whatever. The ship had had a reputation for insubordination, but
+shortly after Nelson joined her, a paper intimating that no mutiny need
+be feared was dropped on the quarter-deck. Nelson brought with him a
+reputation for taking a personal interest in his men. Then, as now,
+hard work and a dog’s life were not objected to, provided the personal
+equation were present.
+
+St. Vincent proceeded to stamp out the embers of mutiny in his own
+fashion. He set himself to invest his rank with every circumstance
+of pomp, awe and ceremony. Every morning he appeared on the quarter
+deck in full dress uniform, paraded the Marines, and had “God save the
+King” played with all hats off. His regulations were catholic enough to
+embrace lieutenants’ shoe-laces. In all the pomp that he created the
+mutinous spirit was smothered.
+
+To him is due the vast abyss between the quarter-deck and lower-deck
+which marks the Navy of to-day. Whether this, advantageous as it was a
+hundred odd years ago, is equally advantageous now, is another matter.
+It makes a barrier altogether different from that existing between
+officer and man in the Army--it is something closely akin to the racial
+differences mark in India; and this sorts ill with the democratic ideas
+of to-day, when class distinction is quite a different matter from what
+it was a hundred years ago.
+
+There are still possible two views of the question. One is embodied in
+a letter I received some few years ago from a man from the lower-deck.
+He wrote, “When I was a boy in a training ship, my captain seemed to me
+something as far away and above me as God himself, and the impression
+thus created I have carried with me towards all officers ever since.
+Though in private life I might meet his brother with feeling of perfect
+equality, I could never be other than ill at ease meeting an officer in
+the same conditions.”
+
+Here, at any rate, is the psychology of what St. Vincent aimed at.
+To-day, however, one is far more likely to hear about “the side of
+officers,” or that “officers, when cadets, are taught to regard the men
+with contempt!” The conditions are such, that despite mixed cricket and
+football teams, mutual sympathy between officers and men is well nigh
+impossible.
+
+Of “the great God Routine” which St. Vincent set up, it is beyond
+question that it is to-day an irritating superfluity to both officers
+and men alike.
+
+To resume. As the Spaniards obstinately refused to come out from Cadiz,
+St. Vincent sent Nelson in to bombard them with mortar boats; but this
+attempt to force them out did not succeed. Following upon this, Nelson,
+with three seventy-four’s, one fifty, three frigates and a cutter, was
+despatched to Santa Cruz. On the night of July 24th, he led a boat
+attack in person. Most of the boats missed the Mole and were stove
+in. Such as reached the Mole were met by a withering fire. Nelson
+was struck on the right elbow by a grape shot, and taken back to the
+_Theseus_, where his arm was amputated. Troubridge took command of the
+300 odd men who had got ashore, and being surrounded by the Spanish,
+made terms, whereby the Spaniards found boats for his party to return
+to their ships. The squadron rejoined St. Vincent, and Nelson sailed
+for England to recover.
+
+The blockade of the Texel had been vigorously maintained till October,
+when Duncan returned to Spithead to refit. He had no sooner done so
+than the Dutch, under De Winter, came out--presumably with a view to
+reaching Brest. Duncan’s frigates, however, promptly reported them, and
+sailing at once he met them off Camperdown, on October 11th.
+
+The rival fleets were:--
+
+     BRITISH.          DUTCH.
+
+   7 of 74 guns.     4 of 74 guns.
+   7 of 64 guns.     7 of 64 guns.
+   2 of 50 guns.     4 of 50 guns.
+  --                --
+  16                15
+  --                --
+
+Duncan’s original plan was the old fashioned ship-to-ship system,
+but in the actual event, the Dutch line was broken. One of the Dutch
+fifty-gun ships fell back to avoid the _Lancaster_ (sixty-four), five
+others for some reason or other following her; the remaining nine
+fought desperately, till further resistance was impossible.
+
+The prizes were:--two seventy-four’s, five sixty-four’s, two fifties,
+and a couple of frigates. Both the captured fifties were lost; the
+other ships were with great difficulty got to England. All were found
+to have been damaged beyond repair, and some of Duncan’s ships were in
+little better condition. His losses in _personnel_ were over 1,000 in
+killed and wounded. His crews, it is interesting to note, consisted
+mostly of Parker’s erstwhile mutineers.
+
+During 1797, a few frigates only were lost. These included the
+_Hermione_, whose crew mutinied and handed her over to the enemy. The
+brutality of her captain, Pigot, whose idea of efficiency was to flog
+the last two men down from aloft, was the cause of this particular
+outbreak.[52]
+
+In 1797, a large ninety-eight gun ship, the _Neptune_, was added to the
+Navy, also a seventy-four and a sixty-four. Private yards launched no
+less than forty-six frigates and smaller craft, and the total number of
+warships built, building and projected, was 696.[53]
+
+For the year 1798, the _personnel_ voted was 100,000 seamen and 20,000
+marines; and the total Naval Estimates amounted to £13,449,388.
+
+In France, Buonaparte was forging to the front, and he threw himself
+into those schemes for the invasion of England which so appealed to the
+French mind and so terrified the British public. Ireland was selected
+as the most suitable spot, and two expeditions were prepared, one at
+Rochefort, the other at Brest. Of these, one, the Rochefort expedition,
+materialised in August, reached Killala Bay, in Ireland, and soon
+afterwards had to surrender to the English Army. The Brest expedition,
+escorted by a line of battle ship and a number of frigates, was more
+or less annihilated by Admiral Warren, on October 12th.
+
+As already stated, the Mediterranean had become a species of
+Franco-Spanish lake. St. Vincent was outside Gibraltar, and he was
+still there when Nelson, in the _Vanguard_, arrived to join him as
+rear-admiral, at the end of April.
+
+Nelson, with a small squadron, was at once despatched to discover what
+the French were doing at Toulon. Rumours of all kinds were current. He
+found fifteen ships of the line and a great many transports, news of
+which he sent to the Admiral. On the top of this came a gale, which
+dismasted the _Vanguard_. She was, however, towed into San Pietro,
+Sardinia, and hastily re-fitted, and four days later the ships were off
+Toulon again, only to find that the French had sailed.
+
+Reinforced by ten sail of the line, under Troubridge, Nelson now
+sailed in search of the French fleet. Reaching Alexandria and finding
+nothing known there of the French, he worked back to Syracuse, where
+he revictualled in cheerful disregard of the neutrality remonstrances
+of the Governor. Thence he returned eastward, and having received
+information of where the French had last been seen, eventually found
+them anchored in Aboukir Bay, where he attacked them on the evening of
+August 1st, 1798.
+
+The rival fleets were:--
+
+    BRITISH.         FRENCH.
+
+  13 of 74 guns.    1 of 120 guns.
+   1 of 50 guns.    9 of  74 guns.
+  --               --
+  14               10, also 4 Frigates.
+  --               --
+
+The French, under Brueys, were drawn across the Bay in a “defensive
+position.” They were in no way a very efficient force, some of the
+ships being old and short of guns, all of them rather short-handed, and
+even so, manned with many new-raised raw men. On the other hand, they
+were so sure of the safety of their position that their inshore guns
+were not cleared for action. By all the naval theory of the day this
+idea of impregnability was justified.
+
+The battle itself was simple enough. Nelson came down with the wind on
+the French van, approximately putting two of his ships one on either
+side of each of the Frenchmen, and so on, the rear being unable to beat
+up to support them. The result was the practical annihilation of the
+French fleet. Of the thirteen ships of the line, only two escaped in
+company with two frigates.
+
+So complete a naval victory had never before been known. In all the
+battles of the previous two or three hundred years, the percentage
+of losses to the vanquished had been small. The battle of the Nile,
+therefore, received an attention perhaps beyond its intrinsic worth. As
+Nelson wrote to Howe:--“By attacking the enemy’s van and centre, the
+wind blowing directly along their line, I was enabled to throw what
+force I pleased on a few ships.” The real point of interest is not the
+result, which was foregone, but Nelson’s ability to see his opportunity
+and to make the utmost of it. Therein lay his superlative greatness.
+
+Of the prizes, three were found to be new and good ships. One of them,
+the _Franklin_, was renamed _Canopus_, and as late as 1850 was still on
+the effective list of the British Navy.
+
+The defeat of the French at the Nile had far reaching effects.
+Russia, Austria, Turkey, Naples and Portugal formed with England a
+great anti-French Alliance. A large Russian fleet appeared in the
+Mediterranean, but accomplished no services there. It was under
+suspicion of having private designs on Malta rather than of assisting
+the Alliance.
+
+From 1762 onward, when Catherine the Great came to the throne of
+Russia, an enormous number of retired or unemployed English officers
+took service in the Russian Navy. To one of these, Captain Elphinstone
+(who subsequently re-entered the British service), has been traced
+the origin of the idea upon which Nelson acted in the battle of the
+Nile. To another, General Bentham, originally a shipwright, who
+returned to the British service in 1795, was due a revolution in
+dockyard management. To him was due the introduction of machinery into
+dockyards: a matter needing much diplomacy and caution, as popular
+feeling against machinery then ran high. However, by 1798, Bentham had
+steam engines installed in the dockyards. He also commenced the first
+caisson known in England, using it for the great basin at Portsmouth
+Yard. In the face of considerable opposition he also introduced deep
+docks, basins and jetties at Portsmouth, for the speedy fitting out of
+ships.
+
+In 1799, the _personnel_ was settled at 120,000, and the Naval
+Estimates were £13,654,000.
+
+In April of this year, the French, under Bruix, with twenty-five ships
+of the line, came out of Brest, which was being cruised off by Bridport
+with sixteen sail. Having warned Keith, who was blockading Cadiz, and
+St. Vincent, who lay at Gibraltar, Bridport fell back on Bantry Bay,
+where he was reinforced with ten ships.
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL BENTHAM.]
+
+Bruix ran down south, his orders being to join the Spaniards in Cadiz,
+but the weather was unfavourable and his crews so illtrained[54]
+that he made no attempt to attack Keith’s squadron, but ran on into the
+Mediterranean. Keith himself joined St. Vincent at Gibraltar.
+
+On May 11th, St. Vincent arrived at Minorca with twenty sail. Nelson,
+with sixteen ships (of which four were Portuguese) was scattered over
+the Mediterranean, his base being at Palermo. On the 13th, Bruix
+reached Toulon, and a week later seventeen Spaniards from Cadiz reached
+Cartagena.
+
+To prevent these joining up with Bruix, St. Vincent lay between the two
+bases: but the risk that either fleet might suddenly fall on Nelson was
+such, that he sent four of his ships to him. He was, however, presently
+reinforced with five ships, bringing his net total to twenty-one.
+
+St. Vincent’s health having now given out, he handed the fleet over
+to Lord Keith, who learned that Bruix, with twenty-two sail, had left
+Toulon on the 27th May; but for some reason or other made for that
+place. Bruix reached the Spaniards at Cartagena, without interference,
+on June 23rd, and so had thirty-nine ships to oppose the British
+twenty-one. These, falling back upon Minorca, were there reinforced by
+ten ships from home, thus bringing the total up to thirty-one.
+
+Meanwhile, Bruix putting to sea again at once, made for Cadiz, which he
+reached on July 12th, and leaving again on the 21st, made for Brest;
+Keith, some two weeks behind him, in pursuit.
+
+The net result of Bruix’s cruise was that the French fleet at Brest
+rose to the enormous total of ninety warships, collected to cover an
+invasion of England. As, however, Napoleon, who was to command, did
+not reach France until October, nothing was done in 1799, thus allowing
+ample time for the concentration of English ships. Had the Brest Armada
+struck at once, matters for England had been none too rosy, since the
+only force guarding the Channel was Bridport’s fleet of twenty-six
+sail, at Bantry.
+
+August saw 20,000 Russians landed at the Helder from British
+transports. These captured the Texel fortifications, inside of which
+lay what was left of the Dutch fleet. The Dutch admiral declined to
+surrender, but his crews refused to fight, and eventually the ships
+were handed over without firing a shot. The ships were found to be
+antiquated in design and badly built, and were never of any use to the
+English Navy.
+
+In the latter part of this year, two Spanish frigates were captured by
+four English. These ships were bringing home the year’s South American
+treasure. The prize money divided among the four captains amounted to
+£160,000.
+
+Twenty-one vessels were lost during the year. Only three of them,
+however, were lost by capture, and of these the largest was a ten-gun
+brig!
+
+The prizes of the year consisted of eight French frigates, five Spanish
+frigates and twenty-four Dutch ships. In this year also the very fast
+French privateer, _Bordelais_, was taken, being chased and overhauled
+by the _Revolutionnaire_, an ex-French frigate, and the only frigate in
+the Navy at this time able to catch up with French ones.
+
+The _personnel_ granted for the year 1800, was 110,000, with an
+additional 10,000 for March and April only. The ships in commission
+were 100 ships of the line, seventeen small two-deckers and 351
+frigates and lesser craft.
+
+No naval fighting of much importance took place, but the year was
+otherwise very momentous. Napoleon, who had made himself First Consul,
+was busy reorganising the French Navy, and one of his first acts was
+to offer terms of peace. These, however, were refused by the British
+Government.
+
+On July 25th, the Danish frigate, _Freya_, out with a convoy, was met
+by some British ships. She refused to allow “the right of search.”
+Firing followed, and the _Freya_ was captured. An embassy, to explain
+matters to the Danes, went, accompanied by a fleet of nine ships of the
+line, five frigates and four bombs, under Admiral Dickson.
+
+This action--the intentions of which were obvious--aroused the
+resentment of the Russian Emperor Paul. Nelson’s suspicion that the
+Russians wished to capture Malta for themselves, have already been
+alluded to. These intentions came to light now; for Paul, having got
+himself declared Grand Master of the Knights of St. John of Malta,
+seized some 300 British merchant ships in Russian ports, and said that
+he would not let them go till Malta (which was then besieged and about
+to fall to the British) was given up to him.
+
+The British Government ignored the Malta claim, and many of the British
+merchant ships equally ignored the Russian orders about remaining in
+harbour. Quite a number sailed away; the rest, however, were seized and
+burned, by Paul’s orders. To reinforce himself against very probable
+reprisals, Paul--presumably influenced by Napoleon--formed the “Armed
+Neutrality.” Russia and Sweden signed on December 16th, and on the
+19th, Denmark and Prussia.
+
+Meanwhile, Malta, which had been blockaded and besieged by the British
+ever since the battle of the Nile, was in grievous straits. In
+February, 1800, the _Genereux_, seventy-four (one of the two ships of
+the line which escaped from the Nile), left Toulon, with some frigates,
+intent on relief. She was, however, intercepted and captured by Nelson.
+
+In March, the _Guillaume Tell_, the other survivor of the Nile, which
+had been lying at Malta, attempted on the night of the 30th to run the
+blockade to procure help. In doing so, she encountered the British
+frigate _Penelope_, which chased her, attacking her rigging. The firing
+brought up two ships of the line, _Foudroyant_ and _Lion_, but the
+Frenchman made such a defence that both these were disabled before she
+was reduced to submission, and it was to the _Penelope_ frigate that
+she ultimately struck. This particular fight is generally reckoned as
+the finest defence ever made by a French ship.
+
+Malta was eventually starved into surrender, and the final capitulation
+took place on the 5th September, 1800, after a siege of practically two
+years.
+
+The capture of Malta was perhaps one of the finest exhibitions of
+“Admiralty” in the whole war. No waste of life in assaults took place:
+the fortress was systematically starved into surrender by the judicious
+use of Sea Power to prevent any relief.
+
+In this year (1800), several ships were lost, the principal being the
+_Queen Charlotte_ (100), which was accidentally burned and blown up off
+Capraja, on the 17th of March. The majority of her crew perished with
+her. Eighteen other ships were wrecked, while two (a twenty gun and a
+fourteen) mutinied and joined the enemy. These were the only British
+ships that actually changed hands. Captures amounted to fourteen ships
+of from eighty to twenty-eight guns, and a large number of privateers
+and small craft.
+
+The year 1801 saw the Estimates at £16,577,000. The _personnel_ voted
+was 120,000 for the first quarter of the year, after which it was to
+rise to 135,000, with a view to dealing with the Armed Neutrality. The
+number of ships in commission was substantially the same as in the
+previous year.
+
+The avowed objects of the Armed Neutrality were to resist “the right of
+search,” to secure any property under a neutral flag, that a blockade
+to be binding must be maintained by an adequate force, and that
+contraband of war must be clearly defined beforehand. In substance,
+they amounted to the free importation into France of those naval stores
+of which she stood most in need. Wisely enough the British Government
+decided to break up the coalition by diplomacy, if possible, and
+failing that, by force. Incidentally, it may be noted that the Tsar,
+who was at the head of the coalition, was more or less a madman, in
+possession of a very considerable fleet.
+
+In March, 1801, a fleet of twenty ships of the line and a large number
+of auxiliaries, under Sir Hyde Parker, with Nelson as second in
+command, sailed for the Baltic. On arrival at Copenhagen, the Danes
+were found to be moored in a strong position under cover of shore
+batteries. The attack was confided to Nelson with twelve ships, which
+fared badly enough for Parker after the battle had lasted three hours
+to make a signal to withdraw.[55] Nelson, however, disregarded this,
+and continued till the Danish fire began to slacken an hour later.
+But as the Danes continually reinforced their disabled ships from
+the shore, and fired into those which had surrendered, the slaughter
+promised to go on indefinitely. Things being thus, Nelson, under a flag
+of truce, threatened to set fire to the damaged ships and leave their
+crews to their fate unless firing ceased. It has been alleged that this
+was a clever piece of bluff in order to extricate his ships from an
+awkward position: but all the evidence goes to show that he was fully
+in a position to carry out his threat, while as he made no attempt to
+move during the negotiations the bluff story is absurd. It appears to
+have been an act of humanity, pure and simple.
+
+Ultimately, the bulk of the Danish fleet was surrendered, and a
+fourteen weeks’ armistice arranged, Nelson explaining that he required
+this amount of time to destroy the Russian fleet!
+
+Subsequently the Swedish fleet was dealt with, but it took refuge
+under fortifications. About the same time news came that the mad Tsar
+had been assassinated, and that his successor had no wish to continue
+hostilities.
+
+Nelson (now Commander-in-Chief) appeared off Kronstadt, under the
+guns of which the Russians had taken shelter in May. Negotiations
+followed,[56] and ultimately Russia was granted the right to trade with
+belligerents--probably a diplomatic concession in order to detach her
+sympathy from France.
+
+In the meantime, Napoleon’s invasion schemes were shaping. To this
+day it is unknown whether he was serious or not at this, or for that
+matter, any other period. That he intended his preparations to be
+taken seriously (as they were by all save Nelson) is clear enough.
+It is further clear from his vast preparations that he would have
+used his flotilla had the chance occurred; but the mere fact that he
+never attempted actual invasion is of itself sufficient answer to all
+the homilies that have been written about Napoleon’s inability to
+understand “Sea Power.”
+
+The army at Boulogne, the flat-bottomed boats, all served to keep
+England in a panic, and that was worth much. He had experience to guide
+him. Past experience was an English attack on the flotilla like that of
+Rodney many years before. In August, 1801, such an attack came, Nelson
+directing it. It was found fully prepared for and defeated with ease.
+
+In the Mediterranean, Ganteaume, who had left Brest with seven ships
+of the line convoying 5,000 troops, reached Alexandria, but before he
+could disembark his soldiers, Keith appeared, and he hurried back to
+Toulon.
+
+Linois left Toulon with a small squadron, and was driven into
+Algeciras, where he beat off Samaurez and a considerably more powerful
+squadron. Retreating from this, Samaurez fell in with a Spanish
+squadron, the ships of which, in the confusion of a night action,
+attacked each other, with the result that the two best ships were
+destroyed.
+
+In October, 1801, the preliminaries of the Peace of Amiens were signed
+and hostilities ceased.
+
+The total losses to the enemy in the war are given as follows by
+Campbell:--
+
+                     FRENCH.  DUTCH.  SPANISH.  TOTAL.
+  Ships of the line     45      25       11       81
+  Fifties                2       1        0        3
+  Frigates             133      31       20      184
+  Sloops, etc.         161      32       55      248
+                                                 ---
+                                       TOTAL     516
+                                                 ---
+
+The corresponding British loss was only twenty-one ships of _all
+classes_, and of these only two ships of the line were captured. The
+bulk of British losses was accounted for by wrecks.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS TO THE FINAL FALL OF NAPOLEON.
+
+
+With the Peace of Amiens the usual reduction of the Navy took place.
+The 104 ships of the line in commission the year before sank to
+thirty-two in 1802. The _personnel_ fell to 50,000.
+
+It may here be remarked that of the ships put out of commission a great
+number were unfit for further service: 111 ships of various classes
+being in so bad a way that they were sold or broken up. Many others
+were cut down to serve in inferior rates.
+
+Early in 1803 it became abundantly clear that Napoleon was preparing
+for a new war, and in May, war was declared on him by the British
+Government. It is of interest to note that Napoleon, in dismissing the
+British Ambassador, said to him that he “intended to invade England,”
+adding that he considered it might be “a very risky undertaking.” At
+the time war was declared Napoleon was not quite ready, and never
+regained the ground thus lost.
+
+Little or nothing happened to show that a great naval struggle was
+in progress. The French ships lay secure in harbour; the British
+tossed outside in ceaseless blockade work. But these months of seeming
+inaction settled the fate of France. The French crews, never very
+efficient, grew less and less so in harbour, while every day outside
+hardened the British and added to their efficiency. Seeing that the
+British _personnel_, which was but 50,000 at the early part of the
+year, was suddenly expanded to 100,000 in June, the advantages of
+this shaking down of raw crews were obvious enough. When eventually
+battle was joined, the difference between the English and the French
+_personnel_ was such that for every round got off by the latter, any
+British ship could fire _three_! Victory was won long before a single
+battle shot had been fired. Trafalgar was made a certainty by the great
+blockades.
+
+When war broke out the general disposition of the hostile squadrons was
+as follows:--(the figures in brackets representing frigates and small
+craft)--
+
+                     BRITISH.   FRENCH.
+                     Outside.   Inside.
+  Toulon             14  (32)   10  (6)
+  Ferrol              7   (4)    5  (2)
+  Rochefort           5   (2)    4  (7)
+  Brest              20  (11)   18  (7)
+  Texel to Dunkirk    9  (21)    5 (11)
+
+The invasion flotilla was distributed about Boulogne to the tune of
+1,450 of the flotilla, 120 brigs and a few frigates. In the Texel
+district were 645 more of the flotilla.
+
+Reserve squadrons were stationed in home waters ample to deal with the
+small craft defending flotillas.
+
+So passed away the year 1803. Both sides reinforced their squadrons as
+rapidly as new ships could be produced. Beyond this nothing happened.
+
+[Illustration: POSITIONS OF THE SHIPS OF THE LINE AT THE OUTBREAK OF
+WAR.]
+
+The year 1804 opened with the same lack of result. Napoleon made
+himself Emperor in May, and to some extent weakened his squadrons by
+the removal from them of officers suspected of Republican views. In
+July, however, things were nearing completion, and Latouche Treville
+was put in supreme command of the whole expedition against England.
+He received explicit orders to evade Nelson (who watched Toulon) and
+to rendezvous at Brest for invasion purposes. He died, however, in
+August[57] and the plans fell through.
+
+After some delay, Villeneuve was appointed in his place; but instead
+of the invasion idea there came plans of oversea enterprises, possibly
+designed with a view to drawing all British forces of the moment away
+from the Channel, thus leaving things clear for an invasion. But again
+there comes the doubt whether Napoleon ever expected this to succeed,
+whether he really thought of much else than keeping England perturbed
+and busy while he matured plans for other parts of Europe, and whether
+he did not realise that “Sea Power” had its limitations as well as its
+advantages, and never really sought anything further than to cause
+Britain to spend so much in naval defence that she had little left to
+subsidise his Continental foes with. Better than most men he was able
+to estimate Nelson’s limitations. He clearly estimated fully enough
+that Nelson was no particularly brilliant strategist, and that he was
+more likely to forecast correctly what Nelson would do, than was Nelson
+to divine his purpose. He under-estimated indeed what Nelson really did
+mean,--the particular genius which made Nelson invincible as a leader
+of men, how Nelson was a tactician able to gauge exactly the competence
+of the enemy and to win victory by doing seemingly foolish things
+accordingly.
+
+At least, it would appear that there Napoleon erred. But there is no
+judging Napoleon--the strangest mixture of genius and charlatan that
+the world has ever seen or is ever likely to. It is even unsafe to say
+that Napoleon did not foresee Trafalgar; unsafe to believe that, in
+his view, French fleets had no purpose other than to keep the English
+occupied. Napoleon is ever the one man in history that no one can ever
+surely know, whether we take him as the biggest liar who ever lived, or
+as the greatest genius the world has ever known.
+
+In January, 1804, the British Fleet in commission consisted of
+seventy-five ships of the line, with forty others in reserve; 281
+lesser craft were in commission and a few in reserve.
+
+The intentions of Spain had long been mistrusted in England. As a
+precaution, the Spanish treasure fleet was attacked without warning,
+and over a million pounds’ worth of booty secured. Spain, thereupon,
+made her intentions clear, and declared war. A few lesser ships changed
+hands during the year; but even the minor happenings were of small
+account.
+
+In the year 1805, the number of British ships built, building and
+ordered, stood at 181 ships of the line, and 532 lesser vessels besides
+troop-ships, store-ships and harbour vessels. The _personnel_ was
+120,000 and the Naval Estimates £15,035,630.
+
+Napoleon’s “Army of Invasion” now amounted to a nominal 150,000
+men[58] in the Boulogne district alone, men all trained in embarking
+and disembarking. The famous “Let me be master of the Channel but
+for six hours” had been uttered.[59] If ever invasion were seriously
+contemplated it was so in this year 1805.
+
+There followed those well-known operations--the “drawing away of
+Nelson,” of which so much had been written.
+
+In substance, Napoleon quite understood the situation so far as Nelson
+was concerned. He understood that Nelson’s fleet did not watch Toulon
+closely. He understood that if Villeneuve came out from Toulon when
+Nelson was not close by, Nelson would blindly seek him, probably in the
+wrong direction.
+
+In this, and up to a certain point beyond, Napoleon was entirely
+correct. But he made one error. He regarded Nelson as a fool. In
+estimating Nelson to be easily outwitted he was not perhaps far wrong;
+but beyond that, he failed to understand the man with whom he had to
+deal.
+
+It was these qualities of Nelson that rendered any invasion hopeless.
+Nelson had seen enough to know that the fighting value of the enemy was
+small, and that for him to attack at all costs and all hazards meant
+no hazard to the result. With one single idea, to find the enemy and
+destroy him, he was just the one enemy for whom Napoleon’s genius had
+no answering move.
+
+Villeneuve got out of Toulon on January 20th. He cruised about, Nelson
+cruising elsewhere looking for him. Eventually, Villeneuve, damaged by
+a gale, returned to Toulon, whence he presently emerged again on March
+29th, and sailed for the West Indies. Ten days after he had done so,
+Nelson learned that the French had passed Gibraltar on April 8th; but
+delayed by contrary winds and lack of information, the British fleet
+was a long way behind. As for Villeneuve, he picked up six Spaniards at
+Cadiz, and went to the West Indies with seventeen ships of the line.
+Nelson followed far behind with ten. He pressed on so hard, however,
+that he reached Barbadoes on June 4th, the same day that Villeneuve,
+not so very far away, left Martinique, where he had been lying.
+
+Therefrom, Nelson sailed south to Trinidad, off which he arrived at the
+same time as Villeneuve, sailing north, came off Antigua.
+
+On June 11th, Villeneuve (whose crews were already sick) set out to
+return to Europe. Two days later, Nelson, who had gone north again,
+followed suit.
+
+These hole and corner movements, impossible to-day, are not of much
+interest, save in so far as they indicate the certainty of information
+in these days and the uncertainty in those.
+
+The “decoyed away fleet” idea has nothing in it, because in any such
+scheme Villeneuve could surely either have doubled back when half-way,
+or in any case would not have remained in the West Indies.
+
+Nelson sent ahead fast frigates, with information that Villeneuve was
+returning; consequently arrangements for his reception were made.
+Off Finisterre, Villeneuve encountered Calder, and an indecisive
+action resulted. Two Spanish ships were captured. The following day,
+Villeneuve attempted to attack, but wind and weather prevented. On the
+third day the wind shifted, but Calder failed to attack. For this he
+was subsequently court-martialled and severely reprimanded.
+
+Nelson, meanwhile, touched Gibraltar,[60] then proceeded north to join
+Cornwallis off Brest, and thence to England in his flagship _Victory_.
+Villeneuve, having picked up a few more ships at Ferrol, making
+his total force twenty-nine sail, put into Cadiz,[61] off which
+Collingwood maintained a weary blockade of him.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. 1805.]
+
+Early in September, news reached England that Villeneuve was at Cadiz,
+and Nelson left Southsea Beach on September 14th, sailing next day.
+
+Collingwood, off Cadiz, had been reinforced up to twenty-four sail.
+A martinet officer of the old type, it is likely enough that had
+Villeneuve come out, he might have done something against the worn-out
+blockaders. The arrival of Nelson, on September 28th, changed all this.
+Collingwood’s red tape restrictions were countermanded, and the spirit
+of the entire fleet changed accordingly. As usual, Nelson spared no
+effort to keep the men fit and healthy.
+
+On the 19th October, Villeneuve came out--driven thereto by threats
+from Napoleon. As Napoleon had broken up his Boulogne camp on August
+26th and by now had the greater part of that army in Germany, his
+forcing Villeneuve to sea is one of those mysteries which can never be
+fathomed. He acted in the teeth of naval advice, and there are few more
+pathetic pictures in history than the disgraced Villeneuve putting to
+sea to known certain defeat, endeavouring to fire his men with hope.[62]
+
+On the 20th October, the Franco-Spanish fleet was at sea with
+thirty-three ships of the line, the British consisting of twenty-seven.
+Nelson let the enemy get clear of the land, and then on October 21st,
+attacked them off Trafalgar.
+
+Of this battle so much has been written that any detailed description
+here is superfluous. To this day, the historians dispute as to what
+the exact tactics were, and it is doubtful whether anything will ever
+get beyond Professor Laughton’s summary in his _Nelson_. Here the most
+emphasis is laid on the fact that in his memorandum of October 9th,
+Nelson expected to handle forty ships against a still larger hostile
+force. All these matters are, however, but for the academicians. The
+main facts are that Nelson correctly gauged the inability and gunnery
+inefficiency of the enemy and sailed down on them in two lines ahead,
+they lying in line abreast--a position which, had they been able to
+shoot well, promised them victory better than any other.
+
+As an exhibition of tactics, Trafalgar was not even original--Rodney
+in the past had done something very similar. On no principle of
+“theory” was Nelson right. Simply and solely his genius lay in ability
+to calculate the human element, to lay his plans accordingly, and to
+achieve certain victory on that!
+
+Villeneuve did all that was possible; and several of the French ships
+fought with remarkable courage. But nothing could avail them against
+Nelson’s understanding that it was quite safe to take this risk of
+sailing end-on into them and then overwhelming a part of them with
+superior numbers.
+
+After some four hours’ fighting, eighteen of the enemy, including
+Villeneuve’s flagship, the _Bucentaure_, were captured, and the rest
+drew off.
+
+Nelson himself, within about twenty minutes of falling foul of the
+enemy, was mortally wounded by a musket shot from the tops of the
+_Redoubtable_.
+
+The losses to the allied Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar in killed
+and wounded were extraordinarily heavy, averaging something like 300 or
+more per ship. In one, the casualties amounted to five in every six.
+This enormous loss was due to the raking broadsides of the English
+vessels, which wrought terrible destruction.
+
+Nelson’s last order had been to anchor. Collingwood, on whom the
+command now devolved, saw no object in this; to which is generally
+attributed the fact that most of the prizes were lost in a gale that
+followed the battle. Some were wrecked, some re-captured by the enemy
+off Cadiz, some destroyed to prevent re-capture. All told, only four of
+the eighteen prizes ever reached Gibraltar. These were the _Swiftsure_
+(an ex-British ship), and three of the Spaniards, _Bahama_, _San
+Ildefonso_, and _San Juan Nepomuceno_. All were old and worthless.
+
+From the battle, Dumanoir had escaped with four French ships. With
+these he made for the Mediterranean, but being intercepted by Sir R.
+Strachan, was compelled to surrender his damaged ships after a short
+action. One of the captured ships, the _Duguay Trouin_, was renamed
+_Implacable_, and till quite recently was a training ship at Devonport.
+
+Although some considerable Franco-Spanish naval force still existed,
+it was now so scattered in different parts, and so blockaded, that
+danger from it was no longer to be apprehended. In December, however,
+two divisions of the Brest fleet, the first consisting of five ships
+of the line and three other vessels, under Vice-Admiral Leissegues,
+and the second of six ships of the line and four other vessels, under
+Rear-Admiral Willaumez, evaded the blockade. They were destined for the
+West Indies and the Cape respectively. On February 6th, 1806, off San
+Domingo, Leissegues was met by Sir John Duckworth, and seven ships.
+Three of the French were captured and two others were run ashore and
+destroyed. Willaumez eventually reached the West Indies also, but did
+not accomplish anything of moment, and having lost four ships, finally
+returned to France.
+
+In 1806, the British _personnel_ was 120,000. Estimates £18,864,341.
+Fleet 551 ships, of which 104 were of the line. This year was mainly
+remarkable for the extraordinary inaction displayed by the French, who
+lay sheltered in creeks and inlets along the coast. However, some of
+their frigates were captured by boat attack.
+
+For 1807, the _personnel_ was 120,000, afterwards increased to 130,000.
+Estimates £17,400,000. Seven hundred and six ships in service, 104 of
+them being of the line.
+
+In this year a special system of education for shipwright apprentices
+and the establishment of a school of naval architecture was
+recommended. It was not, however, until some years later that anything
+was actually done in this direction, the old haphazard system of
+construction being still followed.
+
+In this same year the “18-gun brig-sloop” appeared, no less than
+twenty-five being ordered. These vessels were of about 380 tons,
+and carried sixteen thirty-two-pounder carronades and two long
+six-pounders. They were found to be extremely useful vessels. During
+this year the Turkish and Italian Navies were suspected of being likely
+to pass into the hands of France. Sir John Duckworth was, therefore,
+sent to Turkey with orders to force the Dardanelles and demand the
+surrender of the Turkish fleet to the British. Failing this he was to
+capture or destroy it and to bombard Constantinople.
+
+On the 19th of February, the fleet ran through the unprepared
+Dardanelles without much injury. It was fired on by a small Turkish
+squadron, most of the ships of which were destroyed. The neighbourhood
+of Constantinople was reached; but the Turks refused to agree to
+what was demanded and busied themselves with strengthening the
+fortifications of the Dardanelles.
+
+On the 1st of March, Duckworth, having done nothing, save realise his
+awkward situation, came down through the Dardanelles, running the
+gauntlet of guns which threw stones weighing nearly half-a-ton, some
+considerable damage being done to such ships as were hit. These guns
+were, in some cases, holes bored in the rocks filled with powder and
+stones; others were genuine “monster guns.”
+
+Operations against Copenhagen, under Admiral Gambier, were opened on a
+considerably larger scale. He had under him eighteen ships of the line,
+forty lesser vessels and nearly 400 transports. This fleet arrived
+early in August, and demanded the surrender of the Danish Navy until
+such time as peace should come about, when it would be returned to its
+original owners. This being refused, troops were landed, and on the
+1st of September, Copenhagen was bombarded and presently surrendered.
+Fifteen ships of the line and ten other vessels were given up, and one
+ship, which tried to escape, was captured. Three ships of the line were
+found building; two of these were taken to pieces and carried away; the
+third, being more nearly completed, was destroyed. All the naval stores
+were also brought away from the dockyard, necessitating the employment
+of no less than ninety-two of the transports.
+
+Only five of the prizes were considered worthy of taking into the
+British service. Of these, one was the _Christian VII_ (eighty), of
+2,131 tons. This ship was so good that four copies of her were built
+for the British Navy.
+
+In the winter of this year, Sir Sydney Smith, with nine ships of the
+line, blockaded the Tagus and demanded the surrender of the Portuguese
+fleet, or else the retirement to South America of the Prince Regent,
+who naturally enough (and as had been expected) accepted the latter
+condition and went to South America with the bulk of his fleet. During
+the year, Curacoa was surprised and captured from the Dutch; St. Thomas
+and Santa Croix were taken from the Danes. The French being now in
+possession of Portugal, Madeira was also taken possession of by the
+British.
+
+Losses to the extent of thirty-nine British ships were sustained during
+this year, mostly by wreck; one sloop, two brigs and six cutters being
+the only ships captured by the enemy. At the end of 1807, Russia, which
+had hitherto been an ally, declared war, owing to the peace of Tilset.
+England, Austria and Sweden were thus at war with the rest of the
+continent.
+
+Russia had eleven ships of the line under Senyavin in the
+Mediterranean. Senyavin made a bolt for the Baltic with most of them,
+but having got as far as the Tagus found himself blockaded by Sir
+Sidney Smith.
+
+A squadron was sent under Samaurez to the Baltic in June to co-operate
+with the Swedes against the Russians who were in Rogerswick harbour. An
+attempt was made to destroy the entire Russian fleet, but owing to a
+strong boom the operation failed. The blockade was continued for two
+months, after which the British fleet retired.
+
+For 1808, the _personnel_ was 130,000. Estimates, £18,087,500. Ships
+of the Navy, 842; of which 189 were of the line. Of these, seventy-six
+were 74-gun ships.
+
+Napoleon had been steadily renovating his Navy ever since Trafalgar,
+and it now consisted of over sixty ships of the line, besides at least
+twenty others completing.
+
+A certain increase of naval activity consequently ensued, and early in
+the year Admiral Ganteaume, with five ships of the line, escaped from
+Rochefort in a gale during the absence of the blockading fleet and
+succeeded in reaching Toulon. Here he was joined by five more ships of
+the line and some frigates and transports. He sailed again and effected
+the relief of Corfu and thence returned to Toulon.
+
+In August, the Russian Admiral, Senyavin, who all this time had been
+blockaded in the Tagus, offered to surrender his ships to the British
+on condition that they should be given back after the war and that he
+and his men should be free to return to Russia. These terms were agreed
+to.
+
+This year saw the launch of the _Caledonia_ of 120 guns, the largest
+ship yet built in England. She was of 2,616 tons. An interesting item
+in connection with this ship is that she was designed and ordered to be
+laid down as long ago as 1794, but steps to build her were not taken
+until eighteen years later.
+
+For 1809, the _personnel_ was 130,000. Estimates, £19,578,467. Ships
+of the Navy, 728; of which 113 were of the line. In this year the
+maintenance allowance of the British fleet, which had been £3 15s. 0d.
+per man per month, was increased to £4 16s. 0d.
+
+In February, owing to a gale, the British fleet blockading Brest had to
+withdraw; and Willaumez came out with the object of collecting a few
+ships at Rochefort and Lorient, and then sailing to relieve Martinique.
+He was, however, found and blockaded in the Basque roads, and attack on
+him by fire-ships was suggested.
+
+In April, Lord Cochrane was sent out with a squadron to attack by
+fire-ships. Three of these were the special invention of Cochrane. The
+hold of each was filled with powder casks and sand, covered in with big
+booms and topped with hand grenades and rockets.
+
+On the 11th, Cochrane, leading the expedition with one of his
+“explosion vessels,” went in to attack; to discover that the enemy
+had anticipated things and built a boom. This, however, was struck by
+Cochrane’s vessel, which was then blown up, shattering the boom to
+pieces. The rest of the fire-ships came down through the gap, but were
+badly handled in the majority of cases, and no French ships were fallen
+on board of. The “explosion vessels” had, however, created such a panic
+that the French ships cut their cables and drifted ashore, except one
+ship, which was grappled with, but succeeded in disengaging.
+
+When day broke, the French ships were seen to be mostly ashore,
+and Cochrane urged immediate attack. Gambier, however, displayed
+considerable lack of energy, consequent on which many of the French got
+off. Three ships were, however, captured and destroyed, and two others
+were destroyed by the French themselves.
+
+Cochrane thought that it should have been possible to destroy the whole
+fleet, and made use of his being a Member of Parliament publicly to
+oppose the vote of thanks to Lord Gambier. Gambier then demanded a
+court-martial, which was undoubtedly “packed.” He was acquitted; and
+Cochrane, one of the most brilliant officers of the Navy of that day,
+was compelled to leave the Service. Until his re-instatement, many
+years afterwards, he spent his career in the service of the revolting
+Spanish colonies in South America.
+
+Napoleon had long been fortifying and improving the Scheldt, and in
+1809 the decision to destroy it was come to. The expedition, which left
+England on the 28th July, consisted of thirty-seven ships of the line,
+thirty-nine frigates or intermediates, fifty-four sloops or brigs,
+together with 400 transports, carrying 39,000 troops, under the Earl of
+Chatham. The fleet was commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan.
+
+The object of the expedition was to destroy all ships there and
+demolish the dockyard and fortifications. But, owing to delays, the
+French had ample warning of the impending attack, and put all their
+ships up the river out of reach. It was also found impracticable to
+attack the dockyard or Antwerp. Flushing was therefore blockaded,
+and surrendered on the 15th August. One thirty-eight gun frigate was
+captured, and a frigate and a brig building in the dockyard were
+burned, while the timbers of a seventy-four gun ship that was building
+were carried away to Woolwich, and a ship, afterwards named the
+_Chatham_, built from them.
+
+Walcheren was also captured. Twelve thousand troops were left
+garrisoning Walcheren. Of these, nearly half died of disease in the
+swamps, after which the place was evacuated.
+
+In October, a French squadron with transports slipped out of Toulon
+during the absence of Collingwood, who was blockading the port with
+fifteen ships of the line and a number of smaller vessels. On the
+evening of October 24th, three French ships of the line and a frigate
+were sighted and chased. On the following morning two of the ships of
+the line were driven ashore, where their crew set fire to them and
+abandoned them; the other ship of the line and the frigate managed to
+get into Cette, whence they subsequently got safely back to Toulon. Of
+the convoy, the transports and the smaller vessels, which had made up
+the rest of the French squadron, some were captured, the others ran
+into Spanish harbours and took shelter under the fortifications. Eleven
+of these had taken shelter at Rosas, and were cut out by boat attack.
+
+The remaining naval operations of the year were the capture of Senegal,
+Cayenne, and French Guiana.
+
+In the Baltic, the Russian fleet was blockaded. One or two boat actions
+were the only incidents of the year.
+
+For the year 1810, the _personnel_ rose to 145,000, and the total
+estimates amounted to £18,975,120. The number of ships in commission
+were 108 ships of the line and 556 lesser vessels.
+
+In the Mediterranean, Collingwood resigned his command on account of
+ill-health, and died on his way back to England. He was succeeded by
+Sir Charles Cotton. There were no incidents of moment, for though the
+French had been busily building ships inside Toulon, the only use
+made of these was one or two small sorties when the blockading force
+happened to be weak.
+
+In the Channel, French frigates and large privateers were very active.
+Of the privateers, several were captured or destroyed, but the frigates
+held their own.
+
+Abroad, Guadaloupe was captured by a combined naval and military attack
+in a series of operations in the Antilles.
+
+In July, the Isle of Bourbon was captured, and following this an
+attack was then made on Mauritius, which was the head-quarters of a
+considerable French privateer fleet. The first attack was delivered by
+Captain Pym on Grand Port. He had with him four frigates. Two French
+frigates and two smaller vessels lay inside.
+
+On August 22nd, the first attempt was made, but owing to Captain Pym’s
+ship, the _Sirius_, getting aground, it was delayed until next day. In
+the next day’s attempt, both the _Sirius_ and _Magicienne_ ran aground,
+almost out of range. The other two ships, _Iphigenia_ and _Nereide_,
+got in and drove the French ships ashore. Firing from them, however,
+still continued, and ultimately the _Nereide_ had to surrender. The two
+British ships which had run ashore were blown up by orders of Captain
+Pym. The _Iphigenia_ succeeded in getting out of the harbour with the
+crews of these two ships, but while warping out was surprised and
+also captured by another French squadron. The entire attack proved a
+failure. The incident is mainly of interest as being the only instance
+in the war in which a British squadron sustained defeat.
+
+Following upon this, a more serious attack was made on Mauritius;
+10,000 troops were embarked, accompanied by one ship of the line and
+twelve frigates. A landing was effected at the end of November, and
+the island subsequently surrendered.
+
+In the Baltic, Sweden, which had hitherto been a British ally, joined
+the French side. The Russian fleet was still blockaded by Admiral
+Samaurez, but as the Tsar was known to be wavering in his allegiance
+to Napoleon, no actual hostilities took place against him, and during
+the greater part of the year British merchant ships freely traded with
+Russian ports.
+
+When peace was declared between England and Russia, the ships of
+Senyavin which had been captured in the Tagus were restored, but they
+contributed nothing to naval history. During the year, five frigates
+were captured from the French and two British frigates were captured by
+the enemy. British losses of the year included one ship of the line and
+seven frigates wrecked or blown up to prevent capture, as well as some
+smaller vessels.
+
+For the year 1811, the _personnel_ remained at 145,000. The Estimates
+were £19,822,000, and the number of ships in commission were 107 of the
+line, and 513 of inferior rates.
+
+A considerable blockading squadron was still maintained off Toulon,
+but the French ships there, though they occasionally came out into the
+Road, were extremely careful to avoid any engagement.
+
+On March 13th, a small battle, which took place off Lissa between six
+French frigates, accompanied by five smaller vessels, under Dubourdieu,
+and a British squadron consisting of three frigates and a twenty-two
+gun ship, commanded by Captain William Hoste, indicates very clearly
+the inferiority to which the French fleet had fallen. One French ship
+was driven ashore and two others surrendered.
+
+This sort of thing was in no way unique, and a single ship action of
+the same year is an even more startling example. The British sloop
+_Atlanta_ (eighteen) met and engaged the _Entrepennant_ (thirty-two).
+After an engagement lasting two-and-a-half hours the French frigate
+struck, having lost thirty men killed and wounded, the total loss to
+the British ship being only five men wounded.
+
+In this year the island of Java was captured from the Dutch, and there
+were a number of small actions in the Channel, mostly the attacks of
+praames on small British ships. The total loss to the enemy consisted
+of three French frigates captured, two French frigates destroyed and
+one wrecked. Two Venetian frigates were also captured. The losses to
+the British Navy during the same period were much more heavy: three
+ships of the line, five frigates and an eighteen-gun brig-sloop were
+wrecked. Three small ships were captured and various other small
+vessels became unserviceable, the total loss in these amounting to
+fifty-one.
+
+In January, 1811, the report of the Commission of 1806 was first
+brought into operation by the introduction of apprentices to be trained
+at the Royal Naval College, at Portsmouth. This was known as the
+School of Naval Architecture, and was the first genuine attempt at
+introducing science into naval construction. Students were given three
+days technical work a week and three days theoretical in mathematics
+and theory, under Dr. Inman. From the School of Naval Architecture
+the students were sent to the Navy Office, and also to the various
+dockyards, for the study of routine. Unfortunately, however, the
+experiment was received with disfavour by many of the old-type of
+dockyard officer, with the result that most of the students were either
+not proficient or else became disgusted and found employment elsewhere.
+
+For the year 1812, the _personnel_ still remained at 145,000. The
+Estimates were £19,305,759. Ships in commission amounted to 102 ships
+of the line and 482 lesser vessels, with a certain number of ships
+in reserve. At and about this period various experimental ships
+were built, of which the most interesting was the floating battery
+_Spanker_. She was of somewhat amateur construction; intended to carry
+guns of the largest size and mortars for bombardment and harbour
+defence. The main deck had an over-hang fitted with scuttles, down
+through which guns could be fired. The idea of this was, that supposing
+she were attacked by boats, these would go under the over-hang and
+very easily be destroyed. In practice, however, there was so much
+miscalculation that the over-hang was only a few inches above the
+water-line. The ship was also found to be so unmanageable that she was
+very shortly relegated to harbour service.
+
+The blockades of Toulon and the Scheldt were continued, but nothing
+of much naval interest took place. A small French squadron broke out
+of Lorient, but after cruising about for three weeks and making a few
+prizes, returned to Brest and was blockaded there.
+
+In the Baltic, peace was made with Sweden, and war definitely broke
+out between France and Russia, this being the war which culminated in
+Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia.
+
+In the Channel and in the Mediterranean a number of single ship actions
+took place, and one ship, the _Rivoli_ (seventy-four), built at Venice
+for the French Navy, was captured. This particular ship held out for
+4½ hours, and at the time of her surrender had only two guns left
+available and fifty per cent. of her crew were out of action. She was
+captured by the _Victorious_ (seventy-four).
+
+The most important naval event of the year was the American declaration
+of war against England. The war had been prepared for some time, and
+the American Navy, such as there was of it, was in a very efficient
+and up-to-date state. It contained no ships of the line, but a number
+of very heavily-armed frigates, manned by well-trained crews. In the
+single ship actions that ensued the Americans were almost invariably
+victorious.
+
+For the year 1813, the _personnel_ was 14,000; the Estimates
+£20,096,709. Ships in commission, 102 of the line and 468 inferior
+vessels. The problem of meeting the American frigates was very
+seriously considered and a certain number of large ships were razeed
+with a view to meeting the American frigates on more even terms.
+
+The most famous event of the year was the fight between the _Shannon_
+(British) and the _Chesapeake_ (American). The former was rated at
+thirty-eight, but actually carried fifty-two guns. The latter was rated
+at thirty-six, but carried fifty. She had done well, but at the time
+of the fight had just been re-commissioned with a new crew, of whom
+a number were British deserters and some forty were Portuguese. The
+_Shannon_, on the other hand, had been in commission for some years;
+and Captain Broke had assiduously trained his men in gunnery, having
+anticipated the “dotter” of to-day.
+
+Being in this state of efficiency he came off Boston and sent in a
+challenge to the captain of the _Chesapeake_. Whether the challenge
+was actually received or not, the _Chesapeake_ came out accompanied
+by yachts crowded with sightseers and a cargo of handcuffs for the
+anticipated British prisoners.
+
+Firing was not opened until the two frigates were only fifty yards
+apart. It lasted only about ten minutes, when the _Chesapeake_ being
+almost blown to pieces, the _Shannon_ fell aboard her and carried her
+by boarding in another five.
+
+The rest of the war with America, which lasted well on into 1815, is
+of no great naval interest except for the side issues involved. In
+a series of actions, the American big gun theory was triumphantly
+demonstrated, and more than once small British squadrons were wiped
+out. No material result, however, followed in consequence. On the other
+hand, Washington was attacked in 1814, and the public buildings burned,
+again without much material result. The real interest of the war lies
+in side issues.
+
+The submarine appeared in this war, but the American authorities
+refused to give it any official sanction, and attempts made against
+British ships were by private individuals who had ignored the express
+orders of the American authorities. None of the experimenters were
+successful, but this was mainly a matter of luck.
+
+A matter of greater interest was the construction of an American war
+vessel, the _Fulton_. The _Fulton_--which was driven by a steam paddle
+in the centre of the vessel, and was armoured with wood so thick that
+none of the shot of the period could get through it, was armed with
+two 100-pounder guns on pivot mountings and carried a ram shaped
+bow--can undeniably lay claim to being the precursor of the _Monitor_
+or _Merrimac_, and also to being the first steam warship. She took too
+long to complete, however, to take any part in the war; but had
+the war continued, few British ships could have survived her attacks,
+presuming her to have been seaworthy.
+
+[Illustration: THE END OF AN OLD WARSHIP.]
+
+To resume: 1813 as regards the French was not productive of much in the
+way of naval operations. The French had by now built so many new ships
+at Toulon that they were actually superior to the blockading British
+squadron. But they made no attempt to use this superiority, and nothing
+resulted except a few small skirmishes. A few insignificant captures
+were made on the British side.
+
+At the beginning of the year 1814, there were ninety-nine ships of the
+line in commission and 495 lesser vessels. The _personnel_ amounted to
+140,000, and the estimates £19,312,000.
+
+A number of single ship actions took place between frigates, and in
+most of these a considerable improvement in French efficiency was
+noted. Nothing, however, was done with the larger ships, and the war
+ultimately ended with the deportation of Napoleon to Elba.
+
+No sooner was peace declared than the fleet was greatly reduced and a
+large number of ships sold or broken up. Nineteen ships of the line
+and ninety-three other vessels were thus disposed of. The _personnel_
+for the year 1815 was reduced to 70,000 for the first three months
+and 90,000 for the remainder of the year. The estimates stood at
+£17,032,700, of which £2,000,000 was for the payment of debts.
+
+The re-appearance of Napoleon and the events which culminated in the
+battle of Waterloo did not lead to any naval operations, and with the
+final deportation of Napoleon to St. Helena, a further reduction of the
+fleet took place. The estimates sank to £10,114,345, and considerable
+reductions of officers and men were made.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+GENERAL MATTERS IN THE PERIOD OF THE FRENCH WARS.
+
+
+Naval uniform, as we understand it, first came into use for officers
+in the days of George II,[63] who so admired a blue and white costume
+of the Duchess of Bedford that he decided then and there to dress his
+naval officers in similar fashion. No very precise regulations were,
+however, followed, and for many years uniform was more or less optional
+or at the fancy of the captain.
+
+The first uniform consisted of a blue coat, with white cuffs and gold
+buttons. The waistcoat, breeches, and stockings were white. The hat
+was the ordinary three-cornered black hat of the period with some gold
+lace about it and a cockade. Other officers wore uniforms which were
+slight variants upon this: while as special distinguishing marks only
+the captain (if over three years’ seniority) wore epaulettes upon both
+shoulders. A lieutenant wore one only.
+
+From time to time the uniform was altered slightly, mostly as regards
+the cuffs and lapels; but enormous latitude was allowed, and some
+officers even dressed as seamen.
+
+There was no general uniform whatever for the men; though circumstances
+led to the bulk of the men in any one ship being dressed more or less
+alike.
+
+This was the result of the “slop chest.” This was introduced about the
+year 1650, and amounted to nothing more than a species of ready-made
+tailor ship at which men at their own expense could obtain articles of
+clothing. Later on it became compulsory for newly-joined men, whose
+clothes were defective, to purchase clothing on joining, to the tune of
+two months’ pay.
+
+These articles being supplied to a ship wholesale, were naturally all
+alike, and so the men of one ship would all be more or less uniformly
+attired. Men of another ship might be dressed quite differently,
+though also more or less like each other. But any idea of uniform as
+“uniform,” right up to Trafalgar, was entirely confined to one or
+two dandy captains, and they mainly only considered their own boat’s
+crews.[64] Some fearful and wonderful costumes of this kind are
+recorded.
+
+Uniform wearing of the “slop chest” variety was, however, always
+regarded as the badge of the pressed man and jail bird. The “prime
+seaman” who joined decently clad was allowed to wear his own clothes,
+and these were decided by fashion. There were dudes in the Navy in
+those days, and contemporary art records a good deal of variety. In our
+own day, when exactitude is at a premium, it has erred badly enough
+to depict bluejackets with moustachios.[65] In the old days it was
+probably even more careless still. Consequently everything as to the
+costume of men in the Nelson era required to be accepted with caution.
+It is, however, clear from the more reliable literary and descriptive
+sources that the dandy sailor existed very freely. The “prime seaman”
+loved to hall-mark himself by his costume.
+
+On board ship in dirty weather he wore anything and his best when
+coming up for punishment.[66] In a general way fashion always worked
+from the officers’ uniform, with fancy additions. A natty blue jacket
+was the essential feature, with as many brass buttons as the owner
+could afford. A red or yellow waistcoat seems to have been _a la mode_.
+Trousers, preferably of white duck, but sometimes of blue, were also
+“the fancy.” Sometimes these were striped. In all cases they were
+ample, free, and flowing, as they are at the present day. Convenience
+of tucking up on wet decks is the usual explanation; but there is good
+reason to believe that idle fashion of the Nelson days had just as much
+or more to do with the modern bluejacket’s trousers.
+
+The quaint little top hat of the midshipman was generally worn by the
+Lower Deck dandy. A pig tail was also a _sine qua non_ during the
+period of the Second Great War.
+
+The origin of the pigtail is wrapped in some mystery. It has been
+variously ascribed to copying the French Navy[67] and to imitating the
+Marines, who wore wonderfully greased pigtails at this period.
+
+To complete the rig the seamen used to decorate themselves with
+coloured ribbons let into their clothes. They lived a hard life, and
+much has been written upon the subject. But the evidence generally
+tends to prove that the “prime seaman” as a rule had a far better time
+than those who (failing to recognise that conditions have altered
+to-day) appear to realise.[68] The lack of liberty, entailed by the
+presence of so many men who would assuredly desert on half a chance,
+was so general and so long-standing that it is doubtful whether it was
+felt to any really great extent. Customs cover most things.
+
+To our modern ideas the punishments afloat were horribly brutal;
+but here again it is necessary to remember the difference in era.
+Floggings and kindred punishments were plentiful enough ashore; and
+there is a good deal of evidence to indicate that they were taken as
+“all in the day’s work afloat.” The victim was usually “doped” by his
+messmates, who saved up part of their rum tots for the purpose, and
+the horrors of the cat have undoubtedly been somewhat exaggerated. It
+was undeniably brutal and cruel; but, to select a homely simile, so
+were dental methods a few years ago. Our fathers submitted to things in
+this direction which none of us would, or, for that matter, could stand
+nowadays. The bulk of contemporary evidence is that the (to our eyes)
+brutal punishments of the Navy of a hundred odd years ago were never
+regarded as serious grievances by those who stood to undergo them.
+
+The actual grievances revolved entirely around the administration of
+undeserved punishments. A certain number of captains misused their
+powers and prerogatives, but only a small percentage did so. At no time
+does the average captain appear to have been a brutal bully. This is,
+however, to be qualified by the midshipmen, of whom a certain number
+deliberately bullied men into doing things for which they got brutally
+punished afterwards. But outside this the conditions were by no means
+so horrible as generally depicted. The real sufferers were the pressed
+landsmen, who certainly learned to be seamen in a very hard school.
+
+It is necessary, however, even here to remember the times and the
+conditions. This view is borne out by the Great Mutiny. The mutineers,
+even at the Nore, never demanded the abolition of the cat. When trouble
+was connected with it in any way, it was over its unreasonable use,
+as, for instance, in the insensate flogging of the last two men off
+the rigging, which led to the Mutiny in the _Hermione_. This--which
+entailed punishing the smartest men since these had furthest to
+go--goaded the “prime seamen” to desperation and sympathy with the
+landsmen element afloat, which was ever in a semi-mutinous condition.
+It is impossible to hold that Captain Pigot of the _Hermione_ did not
+deserve his fate. But Pigots were comparatively rare, and captains
+like Nelson by no means scarce. Nelson had no hesitation in flogging
+men, but he flogged justly, and no troubles ever occurred in any ship
+commanded by him. For that matter it was characteristic of the time
+that a captain might be a Tartar, and yet be quite popular with his
+crew so long as he was just. The “prime seamen” who formed the nucleus
+of the ship’s company realised the necessity of severe measures and
+strict discipline in order to tame the human ullage which made up the
+rest of the crew.
+
+In this connection it is interesting to note that towards the end
+of the period there began to creep in the commencement of a later
+classification of ratings not liable to corporal punishment.
+
+Had life afloat in the days of the Great War been quite as terrible as
+it is often depicted as having been, the volunteer element of trained
+seamen could hardly have existed, nor could the glamour of the sea have
+brought so many raw volunteers as it did. When a ship was commissioned,
+the first step was advertising for men. The advertisements were
+specious and alluring enough; but the captain’s character generally had
+most influence on the response; and all the essential seamen element,
+unless they had spent all their money, were pretty wary as to who they
+shipped with.
+
+To be sure it did not take the seaman long to lose his money. On a ship
+paying off he received a considerable accumulated sum, and every kind
+of shark and harpy was on the lookout to relieve him of it. He got
+gloriously drunk and so remained while the money lasted, and in this
+condition the press-gang often got him.
+
+The press-gang was a legalised form of naval conscription. In theory
+any seafaring man who could be laid hands on might be taken; in
+practice all was fish that came to the press-gang’s net.
+
+The press-gang, armed with cudgels and cutlasses, used to operate at
+night, generally in the naval towns,[69] but at times also further
+afield. It laid hands upon all and sundry, hitting them over the head
+if they resisted.
+
+A cargo secured, the men were taken on board and kept between decks
+under an armed guard pending examination by the captain and surgeon.
+Certain people, such as apprentices or some merchant seamen, were
+exempt and had to be liberated. Badly diseased men were also let loose
+again. Verminous and dirty folk were scrubbed with a brutality which
+created subsequent cleanly habits. Their clothes were either fumigated
+or else thrown away altogether, and fresh clothing supplied from the
+“slop chest” at so much off their pay.
+
+If within a fortnight the pressed man cared to call himself a volunteer
+he received a bounty; but, whether he volunteered[70] or not, once
+aboard the ship there he remained till death or the paying off of the
+ship years later. It was this confinement to the ship which led to so
+much agitation, and was made one of the principal grievances of the
+mutineers at Spithead.
+
+On the side of the authorities it has to be remembered that had any man
+been allowed ashore he would certainly never have been seen again, at
+any rate, so long as he had any money. In most fleets also, an attempt
+at a substitute was made by allowing ship to ship visiting. Such visits
+invariably resulted in drunken bouts and subsequent floggings. Nelson
+went further--he instituted theatricals on shipboard. It is generally
+clear that--very crudely, of course--the authorities were not blind to
+the desirability of relieving the tedium of imprisonment on board ship.
+
+The feeding of the men in the days of the Great War is generally
+considered to have been villainous. It was one of the causes of the
+Mutiny; but there is some reason to believe that it was not invariably
+bad. Rodney’s fleet is said to have been excellently provisioned, and
+much of what has been written about “thieving pursers” in the past is
+now known to be mythical. It was a classical legend that the purser
+stole and swindled with bad food. He might do so, and many did. But
+all did not, either from honesty or because they did not get the
+chance. Under Nelson or Rodney an unscrupulous purser stood to have
+a very bad time indeed, and there were others very keenly alive to
+the fact that good feeding and efficiency went hand in hand. The bad
+food at the time of the mutinies seem to have been a feature of that
+particular time, and even so due rather to mismanagement than much
+else. For the rest, the real culprits were economists on shore, who had
+no connection whatever with the Fleet, and were merely interested in
+husbanding the financial resources of the country.
+
+The provisions as made were almost uniformly good, and the stories
+of unscrupulous contractors who, in league with the pursers,
+foisted inferior food on the Fleet, may mostly be dismissed. Such
+cases occurred now and again, but comparatively rarely. “Rogues in
+authority” were mainly mythical. There are yarns by the score. There
+are corresponding yarns to-day, quite as plentiful, which the careless
+historian of the future will no doubt swallow. For example, at the
+present day it is an article of faith with every bluejacket that the
+first lieutenant pockets odd sixpences out of the canteen, and nothing
+ever can or ever will remove the impression.
+
+It is absolutely absurd; but within the last ten years I have had
+it chapter and verse all about the peculation of 1s. 4d. by a first
+lieutenant whose private income ran well into five figures! It is
+a sea-legend so hoary that bluejackets honour it, no matter how
+ridiculously improbable. The purser of the days of the Great War was
+not perhaps entirely clean handed, but as Commander Robinson has
+pointed out,[71] even at the Spithead Mutiny, when the provision
+question was very much to the fore, the mutineers did not complain
+of the purser, but of the system and regulations. It was people on
+shore, not the man afloat, who, when it came to the point, mixed up the
+instrument with the handlers thereof.
+
+The Spithead trouble, which was purely naval (the Nore Mutiny was
+more or less political) arose entirely, so far as food was concerned,
+out of the economists already referred to. Vast stores of provisions
+had been accumulated, and many were going bad. Pursers received very
+strict orders to use up the old “likely to decay soon” before touching
+the new. The result was the issue of decayed pork, stinking cheese,
+and mildewed biscuits to an unprecedented degree. A badness that had
+hitherto been more or less occasional chanced just about the Mutiny
+period to be general.
+
+The men were by no means starved or badly fed, presuming the food to
+be good. The usual scale was somewhat as follows:--A daily issue of a
+pound of biscuit and a gallon of beer or else pint of wine; and when
+these were exhausted, one gill of Navy rum diluted with three of water
+twice a day. On Tuesdays and Saturdays an issue of 2lbs. of beef was
+made; on Sundays and Thursdays 1lb. of pork. Over the week the issue
+of other articles was 2lbs. pease, 1½lbs. oatmeal, 6ozs. of butter, an
+equal amount of sugar, and 12ozs. of cheese and half-a-pint of vinegar
+nominally per man; but actually every four men took the provisions
+of six. Nine pounds of meat a week could hardly be called starvation
+fare even to-day, and in those times it was an extraordinarily liberal
+diet for men who at home would not have had anything like it.[72]
+Except in cases with admirals like Collingwood (who in the matter of
+understanding the ratio of health to efficiency was about the most
+incompetent admiral the British Navy ever had), it was generally seen
+to that, whenever possible, fresh provisions could be purchased from
+traders who regularly visited blockading fleets.
+
+Furthermore, rations were normally varied so far as circumstances would
+permit, and when possible fresh beef and mutton were substituted for
+the salt meat allowance. Nelson went to almost extravagant lengths
+in these directions; but the majority of other officers were not far
+behind. Whatever hell the Lower Deck of the Fleet entailed, the blame
+in hardly any case lay with the officers, executive or otherwise, but
+entirely with civilian officials and Members of Parliament with ideas
+of their own about economy. All the reliable evidence is to the effect
+that the responsible authorities desired their fighting men to live
+(relatively speaking) like fighting cocks, that the difference between
+the ideal and the real was due to civilian influence, and that even so
+it was only really thoroughly bad just before the Great Mutiny. Had it
+been a regular thing the Mutinies would probably never have happened,
+the men would have been too used to the conditions to find in them a
+special cause of complaint.
+
+The whole trouble in messing in the old days arose out of quality, not
+quantity. The beef and pork were almost invariably bad, owing to the
+system of using up the old provisions first, with a view to economy.
+Every ship carried tons of good provisions going bad, while those
+already bad and decayed were being consumed. Consequently the men
+starved in the midst of relative plenty.
+
+It remains to add that the officers fared little better.[73] On the
+whole, taking their general shore food into consideration, it may be
+argued that they fared worse. As a rule, they had to eat what the men
+ate, a fact too often forgotten by those who believe that the officers
+of those days generally peculated on provisions for the men.
+
+Both aft and forward there was one consolation. Liquor was plentiful
+enough for anyone who wanted to be half seas over by eventime. So was
+the hard life lived, with an occasional battle to break the monotony.
+
+To both officers and men battle seems to have been the “beano” of
+to-day. Conditions on board were not rosy enough to make life worth
+clinging to, while battle meant a good time afterwards to those who
+got through unscathed. There was only one terror--being wounded. The
+horrors of the cockpit are beyond exaggeration. The surgeons did their
+best. They were poorly paid men[74] and expected to find their own
+instruments: only if they could not did they borrow tools from the
+carpenter.[75]
+
+[Illustration: A TRAFALGAR ANNIVERSARY.]
+
+They heated their instruments before use so as to lessen the shock of
+amputation; they doped their patients with wine or spirit so far as
+might be. They took all as they came in turn, whether officer or
+man. If anyone seemed too badly wounded to be worth attention they had
+him taken above and thrown overboard. If, at a hasty glance, taking off
+an arm or a leg, or both, seemed likely to promise a cure, they gave
+the wounded man a tot of rum and a bit of leather to chew, and set to
+work! The wounded who survived were treated with a humanity which makes
+the “more humanity to the wounded” of the Spithead mutineers a little
+difficult to understand at first sight. They were fed on delicacies;
+and anything out of the ordinary on the wardroom table was always sent
+to them. They also got all the officers’ wine.
+
+On the other hand, time in the sick bay was deducted from their
+pay,[76] and they were liable to all kinds of infectious diseases
+caught from the last patient.
+
+To satisfy the demands of the economists, lint was forbidden and
+sponges restricted, so that a single sponge might have to serve for a
+dozen wounded men. Blood-poisoning was thus indiscriminately spread,
+and a wounded man thus infected with the worst form of it, was mulcted
+in his pay for medicines required. When the Spithead mutineers demanded
+“more humanity to the wounded” those were the things that probably they
+had in mind. It has further to be remembered that a man wounded too
+badly to be of any further use afloat was flung ashore without pension
+or mercy. The surgeons were fully as humane as their brethren ashore,
+possibly much more so, from the mere fact that any community of men
+flung together to sink or swim together compels common sympathies. To
+the men the purser was classically a thief, the surgeon a callous
+brute, the officers generally brutes of another kind. This cheap view
+of the situation has been perpetuated _ad lib_. But all the best
+evidence is to the effect that, as a rule, and save in exceptional
+cases, most of those on board a warship pulled together, and that
+all strove to make the best of things. Things to be made the best
+of were few, no doubt, and the grumblers and growlers are the folk
+who have left most records. Allowing for the different era, similar
+growls can be found to-day. To-day the contented man says nothing;
+the discontented says a little, and outside sympathisers say a great
+deal. The truth probably lies with the actually discontented’s version
+somewhat discounted. In the days of the Great War, the same fact
+probably obtained. Unquestionably the seaman proper loved the sea and
+his duty, despite all hardships and drawbacks. To this fact is to be
+attributed the easy victories of the Great Wars, and, relatively to
+corresponding shore life, sea life afloat can hardly have been quite so
+black as most people delight to paint it.[77]
+
+The pay of the Navy of the period remains to be mentioned. It ran as
+follows:--
+
+  Captain--6s. to 25s. a day, according to the ship, plus a variety of
+    allowances.
+
+  Midshipmen--£2 to £2 15s. 6d. a month.
+
+  Surgeons--11s. to 18s. a day, with half-pay when unemployed.
+
+  Assistant-Surgeons--4s. and 5s., with half-pay when unemployed.
+
+  Chaplains--about 8s. 6d. a day, with allowances.
+
+  Schoolmasters--£2 to £2 8s. a month, with bounties.
+
+  Boatswains--£3 to £4 16s. a month.
+
+  Boatswain’s Mate--£2 5s. 6d. a month.
+
+  Gunner--£1 16s. to £2 2s. a month.
+
+  Carpenter--£3 to £5 16s. a month, according to the ship.
+
+  Quartermaster--£2 5s. 6d. a month.
+
+  Sailmaker--£2 5s. 6d. a month.
+
+  Sailmaker’s Assistant--£1 18s. 6d. a month.
+
+  Master-at-Arms--£2 0s. 6d. to £2 15s. 6d. a month.
+
+  Ship’s Corporals--£2 2s. 6d. a month.
+
+  Cook--11s. 8d. a month and pickings.
+
+  Able Seaman--11s. a month (33s. a month after 1797).
+
+  Ordinary Seaman--9s. a month (25s. 6d. a month after 1797).
+
+  Landsman--7s. 6d. a month (23s. a month after 1797).
+
+  Ship’s Boy--13s. to 13s. 6d. a month.
+
+As a rule the men received their pay in a lump when the ship paid off.
+Hence those extraordinary scenes of dissipation with which the story
+books have made us sufficiently familiar. Jews[78] and women soon
+fleeced the Tar, who was generally too drunk to know what he was doing,
+there being dozens of willing hands ready to see to it that he was well
+plied with liquor.
+
+
+_FLAGS._
+
+In the year 1800 the Union flag was altered to its present form by the
+incorporation of the red cross of St. Patrick. This flag, the Union
+Jack, was used for flying on the bowsprit,[79] and at the main masthead
+by an Admiral of the Fleet. To hoist it correctly, _i.e._, right side
+up, was a special point of importance in the Fleet of Nelson’s day, and
+many a foreigner seeking to use British colours got bowled out from
+hoisting the flag incorrectly, _i.e._, without the greater width of
+white being uppermost in the inner canton nearest the staff. To this
+day many people on shore do the same.
+
+The ensign was coloured according as to whether the Admiral was “of the
+white,” “blue,” or “red.” It was flown, as till quite recently, from
+the mizzen peak.
+
+For battle purposes this variety ensign died out after Trafalgar,
+where, in order to avoid confusion, Nelson ordered all ships to fly
+the white ensign--he himself being a Vice-Admiral of the white, while
+Collingwood was Vice-Admiral of the blue. Trafalgar was thus the first
+battle to be fought deliberately under the white ensign.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+THE BIRTH OF MODERN WARSHIP IDEAS.
+
+
+In 1816 took place the bombardment of Algiers, whereby 1,200 Europeans
+who were in slavery were released. None of these, however, proved to be
+British subjects. A noticeable feature of the bombardment was the heavy
+damage done by the large ships engaged.
+
+For the year 1817 the _personnel_ stood at 21,000 only. Ships in
+commission were fourteen of the line and 100 lesser craft. Two hundred
+and sixty-three (of which eighty-four were of the line) were laid up
+“in ordinary” and the remaining ships were condemned.
+
+In this year a new rating of ships was introduced. Up till now the
+carronades had not been included in the armament of ships. Under
+the new rating they were included, and so the thirty-eight gun ship
+actually carrying fifty-two guns appeared for the first time with her
+proper armament.
+
+Although the Navy was so reduced, considerable attention was paid to
+shipbuilding and improvement of construction. Trussed frames were
+introduced, and a variety of other inventions which had long been in
+use in France. Much attention was paid to the strong construction of
+the bow, with a view to resisting raking fire.[80] Sterns were also
+made circular to enable more guns to bear aft. A curious objection
+to this was made on the grounds that in time of war it was the enemy
+who would be in retreat and most in need of stern fire, and that by
+the introduction of this into the British Navy the enemy would copy
+and so have the advantage of being better able to defend himself than
+heretofore! It was, however, pointed out that perhaps war vessels
+propelled by steam might be met with in blockades, and that it would be
+extremely important to sail away from these and be able to destroy them
+while so doing!
+
+The years 1818 and 1819 passed uneventfully. The _personnel_ was
+20,000, and the estimates averaged between six and seven million
+pounds. They remained at about this figure for several years, and
+beyond some slight operations in Burmah, in 1824, the British
+Navy performed no war services till the year 1827. In the Burmese
+operations, the _Diana_, a small steam paddle vessel took part. It
+is also of some interest to record that Captain Marryat, the naval
+novelist, commanded the _Lorne_ (twenty) in these operations.
+
+In 1827, the combined fleets of England, France and Russia met those of
+the Turks and Egyptians at Navarino, in connection with the war between
+Turkey and Greece. The allied fleet consisted as follows:--
+
+          { Three ships of the line.
+  BRITISH { Four frigates.
+          { Several other vessels.
+
+          { Three ships of the line.
+  FRENCH  { Two lesser vessels.
+          { Two schooners.
+
+  RUSSIAN { Four ships of the line.
+          { Four frigates.
+
+The combined Turko-Egyptian fleet consisted of three ships of the line,
+fifteen large frigates, eighteen corvettes, and a number of gunboats,
+etc.
+
+The Turkish fleet was anchored in the harbour. The combined fleet
+sailed into the harbour and anchored to leeward of the Turks. These
+fired upon some English boats and a general action ensued, in which the
+greater part of the Turko-Egyptian fleet was destroyed with the loss
+of somewhere about 4,000 men. The Allies lost 650, and the principal
+English ships were so damaged that they had to be sent home for repairs.
+
+At and about this time, and right on for some years, an enormous
+number of experiments were carried out between ship and ship with a
+view to improving the sailing qualities, and side by side with this,
+the question of propulsion other than by sail was first seriously
+considered. A certain number of small steam tugs had been added to the
+Navy, there being no less than twenty-two such built in the reign of
+George IV. Of these the largest was built in 1835. Very little reliance
+was placed on steam at first for any possibilities outside towing and
+harbour work, and a great deal of energy was expended in devices to
+enable ships to be moved by manual labour. In place of the “sweeps”
+of ancient history, paddles were fitted, and in 1829 the _Galatea_
+(forty-two) frigate was thus moved at a speed of three knots in a dead
+calm.
+
+The _Galatea_ was commanded by Captain, afterwards Admiral Sir Charles,
+Napier, who so long ago as 1819 had been concerned in financing an
+unsuccessful attempt to run iron steamers on the Seine. The first ship
+in which hand paddles were tried was the _Active_, frigate. No success
+was met with, but Napier evolved a different system for the _Galatea_.
+Those of the _Active_ were worked by the capstan; Napier installed
+a series of winches along each side of the main deck. It took about
+two-thirds of the ship’s company to work them.
+
+The earliest known use of steam was as long ago as in the year 1543.
+The account of it was in the original records which had been preserved
+in the Royal Archives of Simancas, among the State Papers of the city
+of Catalonia, and those of the Naval Secretary of War, in the year
+1543, and was extracted on the 27th August, 1825, by the keeper, who
+signed his name “Tomas Gonzalez.”
+
+The inventor, a naval officer named Garay, never revealed the secret
+of his invention, but mention is made of a “cauldron of boiling water”
+and “wheels of complicated movement on each side of the vessel.” He
+succeeded in obtaining a speed of “two leagues in three hours,” also
+“at least a league an hour” with his device, fitted to a 200-ton
+vessel named _Trinidad_.[81] Honours were bestowed on Garay, but the
+monarch who had patronised him, being busy with other matters, did not
+follow up the invention. Otherwise much naval history might have been
+different from what it is.
+
+In 1736, Jonathan Hulls took out a patent in England for a stern wheel.
+It should be remembered that at this time the question of means of
+propulsion other than by sail was eagerly considered, and that paddles
+came to be tried in the place of oars, with a view to more continuity
+of action. Steam ideas somewhat trended to the idea of sucking water
+in forward and ejecting it aft. The screw propeller also was known
+certainly at as early a date as the paddle.
+
+In 1789, a sixty-feet boat was driven for nearly seven miles an hour
+with a twelve horse-power engine, but for a very long time nothing was
+expected except canal work and towing. Even as steam progressed, it did
+so in the merchant service first.
+
+By the year 1818, however, the Americans had built a sea-going steamer,
+_Savannah_, which crossed the Atlantic to Russia. On her return voyage
+the United States was reached twenty-five days after leaving Norway.
+
+In England, in the year 1821, a steam mail service, between Holyhead
+and Dublin, was established, and in 1823 a steam mail service between
+England and India was seriously asked for, and in 1829 the subject
+again came upon the _tapis_.
+
+In 1839, the steam liner _Great Britain_, was laid down. She was 322
+feet long overall and a beam of fifty-one feet, and a displacement
+of 2,984 tons, with 1,000 horse-power. It was originally intended to
+make her a paddle-vessel. Instead of that, however, she was made a
+screw-steamer, and made her first trip in December, 1844, when she
+succeeded in exceeding her anticipated speed.
+
+This serious attention to steam in the mercantile marine naturally
+attracted considerable interest in the Navy, the more so as two naval
+officers, Captains Chappel and Claxton, were the principal promoters
+of the mercantile enterprises. It was, however, generally pointed out
+that useful as steam might be for such purposes, it was unsuitable
+for warships proper, on account of the liability of the machinery to
+damage, and the practical impossibility of combining paddles with
+sailing. It was laid down that the first essential of a warship was to
+be able to sail, that if steam power could be usefully applied as an
+auxiliary it might be “desirable.”
+
+After considerable experiments and investigations, it was found
+possible to place the machinery under the water-line, but the
+paddle-wheels were still exposed, and the armament space available was
+so slight that steam did not gain much favour.
+
+The first steam vessel actually brought into the British service was
+the _Monkey_, built about the year 1821. She was bought into the
+service and used as a tug.
+
+In the following year, the _Comet_ was specially built for the packet
+service,[82] but none of these were steam warships.
+
+In 1843, the success of the _Great Britain_ influenced the Admiralty,
+and the _Penelope_ (forty-six) was cut apart and lengthened by
+sixty-five feet, and had engines of 650 horse-power fitted to her.
+
+In 1844, the Earl of Dundonald (Cochrane) submitted plans to the
+Admiralty for a steamer of 760 tons, called the _Janus_. This vessel
+was built with an engine of his own design, but as this was a failure,
+ordinary engines were fitted.
+
+In all these steamers the gun-fire was chiefly end-on, but in 1845 the
+_Odin_ and the _Sidon_, especially designed for broadside fire, were
+put in hand.
+
+So long ago as the year 1825, the paddle was recognised as a source of
+danger for warships, and in that year a two-blade propeller, designed
+by Commander Samuel Brown, was accepted.
+
+In 1836, Ericsson (subsequently to be of _Monitor_ fame) patented some
+propellers in England, but as he met with very little sympathy from
+the authorities, he retired to America. The main objections to the
+propeller appears not to have been due to any lack of appreciation
+so much as opposition from those who had invested heavily in
+paddle-propulsion plant.
+
+[Illustration: _SALAMANDER_ PADDLE WARSHIP.]
+
+In 1842, however, the Admiralty seriously took the question up. The
+_Rattler_, of 777 tons, and 200-horse-power, was lashed stern-to-stern
+with the paddle-yacht _Electro_ of the same displacement and
+horse-power. Both ships were driven away from each other at full speed,
+and the _Rattler_ succeeded in towing the _Electro_ after her. After
+this, in 1844, a screw frigate, the _Dauntless_, was ordered to be
+constructed; but as late as the year 1850, steam was merely regarded as
+an auxiliary, and received little or no consideration outside that.
+
+The use of iron instead of oak as a material for shipbuilding was first
+seriously considered about the year 1800. In 1821, an iron steamer
+was in existence, and in 1839 the _Dover_ was ordered to be built for
+Government service as a steam packet. In 1841, the _Mohawk_ was ordered
+by the Admiralty for service on Lake Huron, but the first iron warship
+for the Royal Navy proper was the _Trident_, of 1850 tons and 300
+horse-power, built at Blackwall, by Admiralty orders, in 1843.
+
+Iron, as a material for warship construction, was looked on with
+considerable suspicion, both in England and in France. Experiments
+were conducted at Woolwich with some plates rivetted together like the
+sides of an iron ship, these plates being lined inside with cork and
+india-rubber (the first idea of a cofferdam). It was expected that this
+preparation, which was known as “kamptulicon,” would close up after
+shot had passed through and prevent ingress of water. This was found to
+be quite correct, but the egress of shot on the other side had quite
+the opposite result. The plates were sometimes packed with wood and
+sometimes cased with it, but the general result of the experiments was
+held prejudicial to the use of iron, which was supposed to splinter
+unduly compared to wood.
+
+The importance of deciding whether warships should be built of iron or
+wood was accentuated by the necessity of replacing those heavy warships
+which had been converted to auxiliary steam vessels. All such proved to
+be cramped in stowage and bad sea boats.
+
+So long ago as 1822 shell-guns had been adopted. Consequently, in
+the experiments as regards iron, shell-fire had to be taken into
+consideration.
+
+In 1842, experiments were made with iron plates three-eighths of an
+inch thick, rivetted together to make a total thickness of six inches.
+It was, however, reported that at 400 yards these were not proof
+against eight-inch guns or heavy thirty-two pounders. These matters
+were taken into consideration by Captain Chads, whose official report
+was as follows:--
+
+    “The shot going through the exposed or near side generally makes a
+    clean smooth hole of its own size, which might be readily stopped;
+    and even where it strikes a rib it has much the same effect; but on
+    the opposite side all the mischief occurs; the shot meets with so
+    little resistance that it must inevitably go through the vessel,
+    and should it strike on a rib on the opposite side the effect
+    is terrific, tearing off the iron sheets to a very considerable
+    extent; and even those shot that go clean through the fracture
+    being on the off side, the rough edges are outside the vessel,
+    precluding the possibility almost of stopping them.
+
+    “As it is most probable that steam vessels will engage directly
+    end-on I have thought it desirable to try to-day what the effect of
+    shot would be on this vessel[83] so placed, and it has been such as
+    might be expected, each shot cutting aways the ribs, and tearing
+    the iron plates away sufficient to sink the vessel in an instant.”
+
+[Illustration: THE _LONDON_--TWO DECKER WOODEN CONVERTED SCREW SHIP OF
+THE LINE.
+
+Designed by Sir William Symonds. Launched 1840. Damaged at the
+bombardment of Fort Constantine, Sevastopol, 1854. Turned into hulk at
+Zanzibar, 1874.]
+
+In 1849 an official report stated that:--
+
+    “Shot of every description in passing through iron makes such large
+    holes that the material is improper for the bottom of ships.
+
+    “Iron and oak of equal weight offering equal resistance to shot,
+    iron for the topsides affords better protection for the men than
+    oak, as the splinters from it are not so destructive.
+
+    “Iron offering no lodgment for shells in passing through the side,
+    if made with single plates it will be free from the destructive
+    effects that would occur by a shell exploding in a side of timber.”
+
+Certain modifications were then introduced and tried in the year 1850,
+and Captain Chad’s report was that:--
+
+    “With high charges the splinters from the shot were as numerous and
+    as severe as before, with the addition in this, and in the former
+    case, of the evils that other vessels are subject to, that of the
+    splinters from the timber.
+
+    “From these circumstances I am confirmed in the opinion that iron
+    cannot be beneficially employed as a material for the construction
+    of vessels of war.”
+
+As a result of this report, seventeen iron ships which were building,
+the largest being the _Simoon_, of nearly 2,000 tons, were condemned;
+and it was definitely decided that ships must be built of wood, and
+that iron in any form was disadvantageous.
+
+The advantages of the shell were fully understood, and at least half
+of the guns of the ships of the line of the period were sixty-five
+cwt. shell guns. Experiments had fully taught what shell-fire might be
+expected to accomplish. General Paixham, the inventor of the shell gun,
+had long ago stated that armour was the only antidote to shell, and the
+fact that armour up to six inches had been experimented with indicates
+that this also was understood. Between the appreciation of the fact
+and acting upon it, there was, however, a decided gulf. In the British
+Navy, as in others also, the natural conservatism of the sea held its
+usual sway.
+
+Matters were at about this stage when, in the year 1853, the Russian
+Admiral Nachimoff, with a fleet consisting of six ships of the line,
+entered the harbour of Sinope, on the 30th November, 1853, and
+absolutely annihilated, by shell fire, a Turkish squadron of seven
+frigates which were lying there. The damage wrought by this shell-fire
+was terrific. “For God’s sake keep out the shells!” is generally
+believed to have been the cry of most naval officers about that period,
+though there is some lack of evidence as to whether this demand was
+ever actually made, except by the Press. The terrible effect of
+shell-fire was, however, obvious enough; but as stated above it was
+really well-known before the war test that so impressed the world.
+
+When the Crimean War broke out in 1854, the British _personnel_ stood
+at 45,500, and the Estimates were £7,197,804. On the 28th March, war
+was formally declared. Naval operations in the Crimean war were almost
+entirely of secondary note. Some frigates bombarded Odessa, in April,
+and a certain amount of damage was done along the Caucasian coast.
+
+In September, the British fleet, consisting of ten ships of the line,
+two frigates and thirteen armed steamers, convoyed an enormous fleet
+of Turkish and French warships crammed with troops for an attack on
+Sebastopol. The Russian fleet lay inside that harbour and made no
+attempt whatever to destroy the invading flotilla, though it might
+easily have done considerable mischief, if not more. Instead of that,
+the ships were sunk at the entrance of the harbour, and the siege of
+Sebastopol presently commenced. On October 17th, the Allied fleet
+attempted to bombard Fort Constantine, but the ships were soon defeated
+by the shore defences and many of them badly injured.
+
+The French, who had formed somewhat more favourable opinions of
+iron armour than we had, had, after Sinope, already commenced the
+construction of five floating batteries which were to carry armour.
+They were wooden ships of 1,400 tons displacement, with four-inch
+armour over their hulls. They carried eighteen fifty-pounder guns and
+a crew of 320. As originally designed they were intended to sail,
+although they were fitted with slight auxiliary steam power. When
+completed they were found unable to sail, so pole masts were fitted to
+them. Artificial ventilation was also supplied and their funnels were
+made telescopic. The designs of these vessels were sent to the British
+Admiralty, who, after considerable delay, built four copies, the
+_Glatton_, _Meteor_, _Thunder_, and _Trusty_. These, however, were not
+completed in time to take any part in the war.
+
+So soon as the French armoured batteries were ready they were sent out
+to the Crimea, where they joined a large fleet which had been prepared
+to attack Kinburn, which was bombarded in October, 1855. In a very
+short while the forts were totally destroyed, and with very small loss
+to the armoured batteries. The effect created by this was so great
+that four more armoured batteries were ordered in England, the _Etna_,
+_Erebus_, _Terror_, and _Thunderbolt_.
+
+In the Baltic, to which a British fleet, under Admiral Napier, had been
+sent, the Russians kept behind the fortifications at Kronstadt, and
+nothing was accomplished beyond the bombardment of Sveaborg, and the
+destruction of the town and dockyard. Some small bombardments also took
+place in the White Sea and on the Siberian coast, where Petropavlovsk
+was attacked and the attack was defeated, and such other actions as
+took place were generally unsuccessful. It had become abundantly clear
+that against fortifications wooden ships had very small chance of
+success.
+
+Incidental items of naval interest are that in this particular war
+Captain Cowper Coles mounted a sixty-eight-pounder gun upon a raft
+named the _Lady Nancy_. This attracted so much attention from the small
+target, light draft and steady platform, that Coles was sent home to
+develop his ideas. In this war, also, mines appeared, the Russians
+dropping a good many off Kronstadt. Those used by the Russians were
+filled with seventy pounds of powder, and exploded on contact by the
+familiar means of a glass tube of sulphuric acid being broken and the
+acid falling into chlorate of potash.
+
+No material damage was done to ships by this means, but a considerable
+number of those who had picked them up and investigated them were
+injured.
+
+The ingenuity and new means of offence were, however, by no means
+confined to the Russians, for a Mr. Macintosh, after the failure of
+the first bombardment of Sebastopol, evolved a system of attacking
+fortifications with a long hose supported by floats, through which
+naptha was to be pumped. Being set alight with some potassium, the fort
+attacked would be immediately smoked out.
+
+Experiments at Portsmouth having proved that this system was “simple,
+certain and cheap,” Mr. Macintosh proceeded to the Crimea with his
+invention at his own expense. He was eventually given £1000 towards his
+expenses, but no attempt was made to employ the system. It is by no
+means clear how the necessary potassium was to be got into the water at
+the requisite spot.
+
+The same war also produced the fire-shell of the British Captain
+Norton. This appears to have been a resurrection of the old idea of
+Greek fire. It could be used from a rifle or from a shell-gun, and
+like the previous invention “rendered war impossible,” and again like
+the previous invention does not appear to have ever materialised into
+practice.
+
+On the practical side more results were achieved. The Lancaster gun
+which fired an oval shot was actually used with success in the war.
+From it the rifled gun presently emerged. There also emerged the then
+amateur invention of one Warry, who invented a new type of gun capable
+of firing sixteen to eighteen rounds per minute. The idea of wire
+wound guns was also apparent, and Mr. Armstrong[84] (as he then was),
+suggested the idea of percussion shell. It is interesting to note that
+these last were received with extreme dissatisfaction in the Navy on
+the grounds that they might go off at the wrong time.
+
+Of the Crimean War, however, it may be said that though it was not
+noted for naval actions, it was probably the most important war in its
+indirect results on the Navy that ever took place. It brought in the
+armoured ship, the rifled gun, and what was ultimately to develop into
+the torpedo. It saw the crude birth of “blockade mines” and rapid fire
+guns; everyone of them inventions that, judging by the slow progress of
+steam, would--failing war to necessitate swift development--have been
+still in the experimental stage even to-day.
+
+In our own times war having ever been a nearer possibility than in the
+1850 era, peace progress has always been more rapid, and no invention
+of practical value ever failed to secure full tests. Yet there were not
+wanting those who prophesied that the Dreadnoughts of to-day merely
+reproduced in another form the 120 screw ships of the line of sixty
+years ago; and that the next great naval war might well bring about
+changes every whit as drastic as any that the Crimean War caused to
+come into being.
+
+The torpedo had become fully as great a menace to the modern ship of
+the line as the shell gun was to the big ship of 1853. The submarine
+was an infinitely greater menace to it than the crude Russian mines of
+the Crimean War ever were. Endless potentialities resided in aircraft.
+
+Wherefrom it was well argued that out of the next great naval war
+(despite whatever lesser wars in between may have taught), the
+battleship was likely to be profoundly modified.
+
+That it will be swept out of existence was improbable. The whole lesson
+of history is that the “capital ship” will ever adjust itself to the
+needs of the hour. It has always been the essential rallying point of
+lesser craft--the mobile base to meet the mobile base of the enemy.
+
+Meanwhile, it is beyond question that at the time of the Crimean War
+the British Navy from one cause and another was little better than a
+paper force. It is plain enough that little remained of the fleet of
+the Nelson era. The fleet “worried through,” but very clearly it had
+reached the end of its tether.
+
+The reason why will be found in the next chapter.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    The above paragraphs were originally written in 1912. Since then
+    much has happened. In this edition they have only been revised to
+    the extent of substituting the past for the present tense. Nothing
+    has occurred to alter what then was the obvious.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+THE COMING OF THE IRONCLAD.
+
+
+The period immediately following the Crimean War saw a gradual change
+in the relations between England and France. In 1858 a panic similar
+to those with which later years have familiarised us began to arise,
+and in December, 1858, and January, 1859, a committee sat under the
+Administration of Lord Derby “to consider the very serious increase
+which had taken place of late years in the Navy Estimates, while it
+represented that the naval force of the country was far inferior
+to what it ought to be with reference to that of other Powers, and
+especially France, and that increased efforts and increased expenditure
+were imperatively called for to place it on a proper footing.”
+
+This committee found that whereas in 1850 there were eighty-six British
+ships of the line to forty-five French ones, this ratio had altogether
+ceased to exist; and that both Powers had now twenty-nine screw ships
+of the line. Any other large ships had ceased to count.
+
+In 1859 there also appeared the famous “Leipsic Article,” commenting on
+the decline of the British Fleet and the rise of the French. Certain
+extracts from this, though dealing with the past for the most part, are
+here given _en bloc_, for they indicate very clearly the circumstances
+in which, _under pressure from German influences, the modern British
+Navy came to be founded_. It is, to say the least of it, questionable
+whether but for this Teutonic agitation public opinion in England would
+ever have been aroused from its lethargy in time. This epoch-making
+article appeared in the _Conversations Lexicon_, of Leipsic.
+
+After some prelude the article referred to the appearance of the French
+Fleet in the Crimean War:--
+
+    “The late war in the East (Crimean) first opened the eyes of
+    Englishmen to the true position of affairs, and it was not without
+    some sensation of alarm that they gazed at this vision of the
+    unveiled reality. Here and there, indeed, an allusion, having
+    some foundation in fact, had been heard, during the Presidency of
+    Louis Napoleon, and had drawn attention to the menaced possibility
+    of an invasion of the British Isles; but such notions were soon
+    overwhelmed by the derision with which they were jeeringly greeted
+    by the national pride.
+
+    “Those expressions of contempt were, however, not doomed to be
+    silenced in their turn by the sudden apparition in the autumn
+    of 1854 of thirty-eight French ships of the line and sixty-six
+    frigates and corvettes, fully manned and ready for immediate
+    action. During the three preceding years Louis Napoleon had built
+    twenty-four line-of-battle ships, and in the course of the year
+    1854 alone thirteen men-of-war were launched, nine of which were
+    ships of the line. In addition to these, the keels of fifty-two
+    more, comprising three ships of the line and six frigates, were
+    immediately laid down. The English had thus the mortification to
+    be obliged not only to cede to their allies the principal position
+    in the camp, but also reluctantly to acknowledge their equality on
+    that element whereon they had hoped to reign supreme....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “If we carried our investigation no further than this we should
+    naturally conclude that, with such a numerical superiority,
+    sufficient in itself to form a very respectable armament for a
+    second-rate power, England has very little to fear from the marine
+    of France. We must not forget, however, that quality as well as
+    numbers must be considered in estimating the strength of a Fleet.
+    When we take this element into our calculations, we shall find
+    the balance very soon turned in favour of France. We perceive,
+    then, that while the English list comprises every individual sail
+    the country possesses, whether fit for commission or altogether
+    antiquated and past service (and some, like the _Victory_, built
+    towards the close of the last or the beginning of this century),
+    the French Navy, as we have observed, scarcely contains a single
+    ship built prior to the year 1840; so that nearly all are less than
+    twenty years old. This is a fact of the greatest importance, and
+    indicates an immense preponderance in favour of France. Though many
+    of England’s oldest craft figure in the ‘Navy List’ as seaworthy
+    and fit for active service, we have no less an authority than
+    that of Sir Charles Napier (in his Letter to the First Lord of
+    the Admiralty in 1849) that some are mere lumber, and many others
+    cannot be reckoned upon to add any appreciable strength to a Fleet
+    in case of need. Independently, too, of the introduction of the
+    screw, such fundamental changes have been introduced, within the
+    last fifty years, both into the principles of naval architecture
+    and of gunnery, that a modern 120-gun ship, built with due regard
+    to recent improvements, and carrying guns of the calibre now in
+    ordinary use, would in a very short space of time put _ten_ ships
+    like the _Victory_ _hors de combat_, with, at the same time, little
+    chance of injury to herself.
+
+    “It is time, however, to turn our attention to another important
+    part of the _material_, namely, artillery. Under this head we
+    purpose designating, not only to the number of guns and their
+    calibre, but also the mode in which they are served, for in
+    actual warfare this, of course, is a primary consideration. If we
+    take the received history of naval warfare for the basis of our
+    investigation, we cannot fail to remark one notable circumstance
+    in favour of the English, which can only be ascribed to their
+    superiority in the use of this arm. That circumstance is the
+    important and uniform advantage they have had in the fewer number
+    of casualties they have sustained as compared with other nations
+    with whom they may have chanced to have been engaged. To prove that
+    our assertions are not made at random, we subjoin some statistics
+    in support of this position. In April, 1798, then, the English ship
+    _Mars_ took the French _L’Hercule_; the former had ninety killed
+    and wounded, the latter 290. In the preceding February there had
+    been an engagement between the English _Sybil_ and French _La
+    Forte_, in which the killed and wounded of the former numbered
+    twenty-one, and those of the latter 143. In March, 1806, the
+    English ship _London_ took the French _Marengo_; the English with
+    a loss of thirty-two, the latter of 145 men. On the 4th November,
+    1805, two English ships of the line engaged four French vessels,
+    and the respective losses were, again, 135 and 730. On the 14th
+    February, 1797, in an action between the Fleets of England and
+    Spain, the English lost 300 and the Spaniards 800. On the 11th of
+    October of the same year, in the engagement off Camperdown between
+    the English and Dutch, the respective losses were 825 and 1,160. On
+    the 5th July, 1808, the English frigate _Seahorse_ took the Turkish
+    frigate _Badere Zuffer_, and of the Turks there fell 370 against
+    fifteen English. Finally, in the same year the Russian ship of the
+    line _Wsewolod_ was taken by two English ships of the line, with a
+    loss to the latter of 303, and to the former of only sixty-two.
+
+    “This contrast, so favourable to England, has been constantly
+    maintained, and can only be attributable to her superior artillery.
+    Her seamen not only aimed with greater precision, and fired more
+    steadily than those of the French and of other nations, but they
+    had the reputation of loading with far greater rapidity. It was
+    remarked, in 1805, that the English could fire a round with ball
+    every minute, whereas it took the French gunners three minutes
+    to perform the same operation. Then, again, the English tactics
+    were superior. It was the universal practice of the French to seek
+    to dismast an adversary; they consequently aimed high, while the
+    English invariably concentrated their fire upon the hulls of their
+    adversaries; and clearly the broadside of a vessel presents a much
+    better mark to aim at than the mere masts and rigging. British guns
+    were also usually of higher calibre, for though they bore the same
+    denomination, they were in reality much heavier. Thus, the English
+    _Lavinia_, though nominally a frigate of forty guns, actually
+    carried fifty; and thirty-six and 38-gun frigates nearly always
+    carried forty-four and forty-six. The English ship _Belleisle_,
+    at Trafalgar, though said to be a seventy-four, carried ninety
+    pieces of ordnance, while the Spanish ship she engaged, though
+    called eighty-four had, in fact, only seventy-eight guns. From this
+    disparity in the number and calibre of their guns, as well as in
+    the mode in which they were served, it resulted that France and her
+    allies lost eighty-five ships of the line and 180 frigates, while
+    her antagonist only suffered to the extent of thirteen ships of the
+    line and eighty-three frigates.
+
+    “It was not until the close of the war that France became fully
+    aware to what an extent her inferiority in the above respects had
+    contributed to her reverses; otherwise the unfortunate Admiral
+    Villeneuve would not invariably have ascribed his mishaps to the
+    inexperience of his officers and men, and to the incomplete and
+    inferior equipment of his vessels. The truth was, that not only was
+    the artillery, as we have shown, inferior, but the whole system in
+    vogue at that period on board French ships was antiquated, having
+    continued without reform or improvement for two hundred years; it
+    was deficient, too, in enforcing subordination, that most essential
+    condition of the power and efficiency of a ship of war.”
+
+The French _inscription maritime_ is then dealt with at great length,
+after which occur the following passages, even more interesting perhaps
+to-day than when they were written:--
+
+    “In considering, then, what perfect seamanship really is, we
+    must first adopt a correct standard by which to estimate it. The
+    English sailor has been so long assumed as the perfect type of
+    the _genus_ seaman, that the world has nearly acquiesced in that
+    view, and _even we in Germany have been accustomed to rank our
+    crews below the English, though it is an unfair estimate_. _There
+    are no better sailors in the world than the German seamen, and
+    there is no foreign nation that would assert the contrary._[85] On
+    the other hand, it has also been the fashion universally to abuse
+    French seamanship, and to speak of her sailors as below criticism.
+    None proclaimed this opinion more loudly than the English; but
+    in doing so they recurred to the men they had beaten under the
+    Revolution and Bonaparte. The Crimean War, however, opened their
+    eyes, and taught them that the French sailors of to-day were no
+    longer the men of 1806, and that, to say the least, they are in
+    no respect inferior to the British. England had for years been
+    compelled to keep up a large effective force always ready for
+    action, in consequence of the nature of her dependencies, which, as
+    they consist of remote colonies across distant seas, required such
+    a provision for their protection. This gave her an immeasurable
+    superiority in days gone by. But since France in 1840 discovered
+    her deficiency, it has been supplied by the maintenance of a
+    permanent _experimental Fleet_, which, under the command of such
+    Admirals as Lalande de Joinville, Ducas, Hamelin, and Bruat, has
+    been the nursery of the present most effective body of officers
+    and men; which, since 1853, have not ceased to humble the boasted
+    superiority of England, besides causing her many anxious misgivings.
+
+    “Anyone who had the opportunity of viewing the two Fleets together
+    in the Black Sea or the Baltic, and was in a position to draw
+    a comparison, could not fail to be convinced that everything
+    connected with manœuvring, evolutions, and gunnery was, beyond
+    comparison, more smartly, quickly, and exactly executed by the
+    French than by the English, and _must have observed the brilliant
+    prestige which had so long surrounded England’s tars pale sensibly
+    beside the rising glories of her rival_.”[86]
+
+That this was not merely captious criticism is borne out by the
+following extracts from “The Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir
+Charles Napier, K.C.B.”:--
+
+    “We have great reason to be afraid of France, because she possesses
+    a large disposable army, and our arsenals are comparatively
+    undefended--London entirely so--and we have no sufficient naval
+    force at home. Of ships (with the exception of steamers) we have
+    enough; but what is the use of them without men? They are only
+    barracks, and are of no more use for defence than if we were to
+    build batteries all over the country, without soldiers to put into
+    them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “Such were our inadequate resources for defence, had the Russians
+    been able to get out of the Baltic, and make an attempt on our
+    unprotected shores.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “The great difficulty consisted in the manning of such a fleet.
+    Impressment was no longer to be thought of; but, strange to say,
+    the Bill which had passed through Parliament, empowering, in case
+    of war, the grant of an ample bounty to seamen, was not acted
+    upon, and consequently most of the ships were very inefficiently
+    manned--some of them chiefly with the landsmen of the lowest class.
+    Nothing had been done towards the training of the men, and no
+    provision was even made to clothe them in a manner required by the
+    climate to which they were about to be sent....
+
+    “Our Ambassador likewise warned the British Government that the
+    Navy of Russia could not with safety be under-estimated, and,
+    moreover, the Russian gunners were all well trained, while those
+    of the British Squadron were _most deficient in this respect_.
+    The object of the Russians, in wishing to get their best ships
+    to Sveaborg, was the impression that Cronstadt would be first
+    attacked; in which case, calculating on the strength of the forts
+    to repel an assault, _they would have fresh ships wherewith to
+    assail our disabled and weakened fleet, should they be obliged to
+    retreat_.[87] Sir Hamilton Seymour warned our Government of the
+    great number of gunboats the Russians could bring out, eighty of
+    which were to be manned by Finns, fifty men to each boat....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “Such,” says the author of the biography, “were the reasons, no
+    doubt powerful enough, for hurrying off, even without pilots, the
+    ill-appointed and under-manned squadron placed under Sir Charles
+    Napier’s command, at this inclement season of the year, when the
+    periodical gales of the vernal equinox might be daily expected. The
+    squadron, on leaving Spithead, consisted of four sail-of-the-line,
+    four blockships, four frigates, and four steamers (not a single
+    gunboat); and with this force, hastily got together, for the most
+    part manned with the refuse of London and other towns, destitute of
+    even clothing, their best seamen consisting of dockyard riggers and
+    a few coastguard men--and without the latter, it has been alleged,
+    the squadron could not have put to sea--with this inefficient force
+    did Sir Charles Napier leave our shores, to offer battle to the
+    Russian Fleet, consisting of seven-and-twenty well-trained and
+    well-appointed ships of the line, eight or ten frigates, seven
+    corvettes and brigs, and nine steamers, besides small craft and
+    flotillas of gunboats, supposed in the aggregate to number one
+    hundred and eighty....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “It is, probably, an unprecedented event in the annals of war, or,
+    at least, in those of our history, that a fleet should be sent out,
+    on a most momentous service so ill-manned that the Commander was
+    directed to endeavour to ‘pick up,’ if possible, foreign seamen
+    in foreign ports, and so ill-provided with munitions of war, that
+    he was restricted in the use of what he most required, in order
+    to render his inexperienced crews as efficient as possible. It is
+    equally worthy of record that the Board of Admiralty, throughout
+    the whole campaign, never supplied the Fleet with a single Congreve
+    rocket, although it was no secret that great numbers had been
+    made in London for the Russians, to whom they were of far less
+    use than to the British Fleet, which could not well undertake any
+    bombardment without them. The Board of Admiralty must have been
+    perfectly aware of the conditions, in these respects, of that Fleet
+    on whose efficiency so much depended, and from which so much was
+    expected, for, in a letter to Sir Charles Napier, from a member of
+    that Board, I find it recorded as his opinion, that the Emperor of
+    Russia ought either to burn his Fleet, or try his strength with
+    the British Squadron whilst he mustered double their numbers, and
+    whilst our crews were ‘so miserably raw!’ Yet this inefficiency
+    was fully and frankly admitted by Sir James Graham, from whom
+    infrequent instructions arrived to supply the deficiency of good
+    men by picking up foreign sailors in the Baltic. The anxiety of
+    the First Lord upon this point was excessive. He was continually
+    inquiring whether the Admiral had been able to ‘_pick up any Swedes
+    or Norwegians_, who were good sailors and quite trustworthy.’ He
+    was told to ‘enter them quietly.’ If he could not get Swedes and
+    Norwegians, ‘even Danes would strengthen him, for they were hardy
+    seamen and brave. There was, it is true, a difficulty with their
+    Governments, but if the men enlisted freely, and came over to
+    the Fleet, the First Lord did not see why the Admiral should be
+    over-nice, and refuse good seamen without much inquiry as to the
+    place from whence they came.’
+
+    “Admiral Berkeley, moreover, instructed the Admiral to the same
+    effect. ‘Have any of your ships tried for men in a Norwegian port?
+    _It is said that you might have any number of good seamen from that
+    country._’ On the 18th of March the Admiral had been apprised that
+    the _James Watt_, the _Prince Regent_ and _Majestic_ would now join
+    him; ‘_but men are wanting_, and it is impossible to say how long
+    it will be before they are completed.’ On the 4th of April Admiral
+    Berkeley stated: ‘Notwithstanding the number of landsmen entered,
+    we are come nearly to a dead standstill as to seamen; and after the
+    _James Watt_ and _Prince Regent_ reach you, I do not know when we
+    shall be able to send you a further reinforcement, _for want of
+    men_! _Something must be done, and done speedily, or there will be
+    a breakdown in our present rickety system._’”
+
+The German article produced a great stir in England. This was followed
+up by the publication in 1859 of _The Navies of the World_, by Hans
+Busk, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, who, while nominally casting
+cold water on the “Leipsic Article,” added fuel to the fire. This
+writer was one of the first to concentrate attention upon the fact that
+the French were building “iron-plated ships.”
+
+From this scarce and remarkably interesting work I quote the
+following:--
+
+    “The determination of the French Government to build a number of
+    iron or steel-cased ships imperatively obliges us to follow their
+    example. The original idea of plating ships in this way, so as
+    to render them shot-proof, is due, not, as is generally supposed
+    in this country, to the present Emperor, but to a Captain in the
+    French Navy, who, about a quarter of a century since, suggested
+    that all wooden vessels should be sheathed with composite slabs of
+    iron of fourteen or fifteen centimetres in thickness; that is to
+    say, with stout plates of wrought-iron having blocks of cast metal
+    between. A similar suggestion was made among others by General
+    Paixhans; but one of the first to reduce it to practice was Mr.
+    Stevens, of New York, the well-known steamship builder, who about
+    ten years ago communicated to Mr. Scott Russell the results of a
+    long series of experiments, instituted by the American Government,
+    for the purpose of testing the power of plates of iron and steel
+    to resist cannon-shot. Mr. Lloyd, of the Admiralty, proposed the
+    adoption of plates 4ins. in thickness, instead of a number of
+    thinner sheets, as recommended by the Emperor. The English and
+    French floating batteries were, as is well known, protected upon
+    Mr. Lloyd’s plan. From trials recently made, however, it has been
+    pretty well ascertained that this iron planking, on whatever
+    principle applied, will only repel hollow shot or shells; heavy
+    solid projectiles of wrought iron, or those faced with steel,
+    having been found, on repeated trials, to perforate the thickest
+    covering which has ever been adopted, and that, too, even at
+    considerable ranges.
+
+    “Mr. Reed,[88] already alluded to, proposes to protect only the
+    midship portion of the ship, and to separate it from the parts fore
+    and aft by strong watertight compartments, so that, however much
+    the extremities might suffer, the ship would still be safe and
+    the crew below protected; but, as he himself admits, there would
+    obviously be no defence against raking shot.
+
+    “The French vessels last alluded to, follow the lines and
+    dimensions of the _Napoleon_ (one of the best, if not the
+    finest ship in their Navy); but they will only carry thirty or
+    thirty-six guns, and the metal sheathing will be from ten to eleven
+    centimetres (about 4¼ins.) in thickness. Two similar ships are to
+    be commenced here forthwith; and as the First Lord of the Admiralty
+    has prophetically warned us that they will be the most expensive
+    ships ever constructed in this country, it is earnestly to be hoped
+    that they may be found proportionately valuable, should their
+    powers ever come to be tested; they will each cost from £126,000
+    to £130,000, or £4,200 per gun; the ordinary expense of a sailing
+    man-of-war being about £1,000, and of a steamer from £1,800 to
+    £2,000 per gun.”
+
+After this follow various statistics of the French Fleet of no
+particular interest here except for the following passage:--
+
+    “Irrespective of the above are the four _frégates blindées_, or
+    iron-plated frigates, two of which are now in an advanced state at
+    Toulon.
+
+    “These ships are to be substituted for line-of-battle ships;
+    their timbers are of the scantling of three-deckers; they will be
+    provided with thirty-six heavy guns, twenty-four of them rifled,
+    and 50-pounders, calculated to throw an eighty pound percussion
+    shell. Such is the opinion of French naval officers respecting
+    the tremendous power of these ships, that they fully anticipate
+    the complete abolition, within ten or a dozen years, of all
+    line-of-battle ships.”[89]
+
+Here it is desirable to leave ships for a moment and deal with the
+corresponding stage of gunnery, which began to take on its modern form
+contemporaneously with the ironclad ship. In 1858–9 began that contest
+between the gun and armour, which can hardly be said to be ended even
+in our own day, for improved kinds of armour are still being sought and
+experimented with. To quote the work of Hans Busk and its contemporary
+summary:--
+
+    “A number of guns, cast at Woolwich, were sent to Mr. Whitworth’s
+    works at Manchester to be bored and rifled. In April, 1856,
+    trial was made with a brass 24-pounder of the construction above
+    described. The projectiles employed on that occasion varied from
+    two to six diameters in length, and a very rapid rotary motion
+    was communicated to them. The gun itself weighed 13cwt.; the
+    bore, instead of being of a calibre fitted to receive a spherical
+    24-pound shot, was only of sufficient capacity to admit one of
+    9 pounds. The hexagonal bore measured 4ins. in diameter, and
+    was rather more than 54ins. long. It was entirely finished by
+    machinery, and the projectiles were fitted with mathematical
+    precision, the spiral in both cases being formed with absolute
+    accuracy. The gun, externally, had only the dimensions of a
+    24-pound howitzer, but it projected missiles of 24 pounds, 32
+    pounds, and 48 pounds each, the additional weight having been
+    obtained by increased length. Upon this new system, then, it will
+    be seen that guns capable, under the old plan, of supporting
+    the strain of a 24-pound ball, may be made with ease to throw
+    a 48-pound shot; the reduction of the calibre allowing of a
+    sufficient thickness of metal being left to ensure safety. The
+    32-pound and 48-pound projectiles used in the above experiments
+    were respectively 11¾ins. and 16½ins. in length. They were pointed
+    at the foremost extremity, being shaped and rounded somewhat like
+    the smaller end of an egg. At the base they were flat, and slightly
+    hollowed towards the centre. The gun was mounted for the occasion
+    upon an ordinary artillery carriage, which shows no symptoms of
+    having been strained, nor of being in any way injured by the
+    concussions to which it had been subjected.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “Subsequently, some further experiments were made with the same
+    gun with reduced elevation, when the projectiles, striking the
+    ground at comparatively short distances, rebounded again and
+    again till their momentum was expended. The first shot thus fired
+    weighed 32 pounds, the charge of powder being only 3 ounces, and
+    the gun having an elevation of 2 degrees. The projectile made its
+    first graze at a distance of 92 yards, furrowing the ground for
+    about 7ft., and leaving distinct indications of its rotary axial
+    motion. It rose again to an elevation of about 6ft., grazing,
+    after a further flight of 64 yds. The third graze (owing probably
+    to the hard nature of the soil at the point struck) was at a
+    distance of 70yds. further; after which it traversed some ploughed
+    land, grazing several times, coming finally to rest after having
+    accomplished altogether a distance of 492yds.
+
+    “The second shot also weighed 32 pounds; the charge, as before,
+    consisted of 3 ounces of powder; but this time the elevation given
+    to the gun was 3 degrees. The projectile first grazed the ground
+    at a point 108yds. from the muzzle; the second graze was 126yds.
+    further; but happening to touch the lower bar of an iron fence--a
+    circumstance which appeared to affect its flight--it dropped
+    finally after having accomplished 490yds. Some further experiments
+    were then made with shot weighing 48 pounds each.
+
+    “These very reduced charges rendered it necessary to make use of
+    wooden wads to fill the cavities in the base of the projectiles.
+    This had a tendency to reduce very much the power of the gun.
+
+    “A further trial with the hexagonal gun was made at Liverpool on
+    the 7th of May. Several shots, varying from 24 to 48 pounds in
+    weight, were fired. The first, weighing 24 pounds, with a charge
+    of 11 pounds of powder, attained a distance of 2,800 yards, the
+    elevation given having been 8 degrees. These experiments could
+    hardly be said to have exhibited the _maximum_ capacity of the
+    gun, having been interrupted by the rapid rising of the tide. The
+    average range of several 48-pound shots was 3,000 yards, but there
+    is little doubt that a much greater distance will be achieved when
+    Mr. Whitworth has perfected some guns he is now constructing.
+
+    “A good deal of attention having previously been drawn to the
+    subject of Armstrong’s gun, respecting which few particulars
+    had been allowed to transpire, on the 4th of March last the
+    Secretary-at-War made an official statement to the House, and gave
+    some details as to its alleged capabilities. Without describing
+    its construction, he stated that one piece, throwing a projectile
+    of 18 pounds, weighed but one-third as much as the ordinary gun
+    of that calibre. With a charge of 5 pounds of powder, a 32-pounder
+    attained a range of 5¼ miles; at 3,000 yards its accuracy, as
+    compared with that of a common gun, was stated to be in the
+    proportion of 7 to 1. At 1,000 yards it had struck the target 57
+    times successively, and after 13,000 rounds the gun showed symptoms
+    of deterioration. In conclusion, it was said that the destructive
+    effects occasioned by this new ordnance exceeded anything that
+    had been previously witnessed, and that in all probability it was
+    destined to effect a complete revolution in warfare.”
+
+Armstrong’s own statement was:--
+
+    “Schemers whose invention merely figure upon paper, have little
+    idea of the difficulties that are encountered by those who carry
+    inventions into practice. For my part, I had my full share of
+    such difficulties, and it took me nearly three years of continual
+    application to surmount them.... Early last year a committee was
+    appointed to investigate the whole subject of rifled cannon. They
+    consisted of officers of great experience in gunnery; and after
+    having given much time for a period of five months to the guns,
+    projectiles, and fuses which I submitted to them, they returned
+    a unanimous verdict in favour of my system. With respect to the
+    precision and range which have been attained with these guns, I may
+    observe that at a distance of 600 yards an object no larger than
+    the muzzle of an enemy’s gun may be struck at almost every shot. At
+    3,000 yards a target of 9ft. square, which at that distance looks
+    like a mere speck, has on a calm day been struck five times in ten
+    shots. A ship would afford a target large enough to be hit at much
+    longer distances, and shells may be thrown into a town or fortress
+    at a range of more than five miles. But to do justice to the weapon
+    when used at long distances, it will be necessary that gunners
+    should undergo a more scientific training than at present; and I
+    believe that both the naval and military departments of Government
+    will take the necessary measures to afford proper instruction, both
+    to officers and men. It is an interesting question to consider what
+    would be the effect of the general introduction of these weapons
+    upon the various conditions of warfare. In the case of ships
+    opposed to ships in the open sea, it appears to me that they would
+    simply destroy each other, if both were made of timber. The day
+    has gone by for putting men in armour. Fortunately, however, no
+    nation can play at that game like England; for we have boundless
+    resources, both in the production and application of iron, which
+    must be the material for the armour. In the case of a battery
+    against a ship, the advantage would be greatly in favour of the
+    battery, because it would have a steady platform for its guns,
+    and would be made of a less vulnerable material, supposing the
+    ship to be made of timber. But, on the other hand, in bombarding
+    fortresses, arsenals, or dockyards, when the object to be struck
+    is very extended, ships would be enabled to operate from a great
+    distance, where they could bid defiance to land defences.”
+
+After some observations, the author continued:--
+
+    “Notwithstanding the high estimation in which Sir William
+    Armstrong’s guns are held, and deservedly so from their great
+    intrinsic merit, they have certainly in Mr. Warry’s great invention
+    a rival that may eventually be found to eclipse them.
+
+    “The Armstrong gun cannot be fired oftener than three times a
+    minute, and the bore, it is said, has to be constantly sluiced
+    with water; whereas Warry’s admits, as has been affirmed, of being
+    discharged 16 or 18 times a minute, or 1,000 an hour, without
+    difficulty, though of course not without heating, as some reporters
+    have misrepresented. Guns of the former description are expensive,
+    and must be made expressly by means of special machinery. Mr.
+    Warry, on the other hand, asserts that he can convert every
+    existing gun into a breech-loader upon his principle, and at a
+    moderate outlay: an advantage of the greatest moment at the present
+    time.
+
+    “This gun is fired by means of a lock. On one side of the breech
+    there is a lever, so contrived that by one motion of the hand it is
+    made to cock the hammer and to open the chamber. A second movement
+    closes the charger again, pierces or cuts the cartridge, places a
+    cap on the nipple, and fires the gun almost simultaneously.
+
+    “With a due supply of ammunition, therefore, a destructive torrent
+    of shot and shell may be maintained _ad libitum_. It is not
+    difficult to form a conception of the havoc even one such gun would
+    occasion if brought to bear upon the head of an advancing column.
+
+    “The inventor has, besides, made application for a patent for a
+    new coating he has devised for all kinds of projectiles, in lieu
+    of any leaden or metallic covering, which has been found very
+    objectionable in actual practice. The new coating, it is said,
+    reduces the ‘fouling’ to a minimum.
+
+    “But we cannot turn even from this very brief consideration of the
+    improvements in modern cannon without offering a few observations
+    relative to an invention of a different kind, but one that may
+    possibly prove of greater moment than either of the guns that
+    have been described. This is the composition known as ‘Norton’s
+    liquid fire.’ In the terrific character of its effect it rivals
+    all that has been recorded of the old Greek fire; at the same
+    time it is perfectly manageable, and may be projected from an
+    Enfield rifle, from a field-piece, or from heavier ordnance. The
+    composition Captain Norton uses consists of a chemical combination
+    of sulphur, carbon, and phosphorus. He merely encloses this in a
+    metal or even in a wooden shell, and its effect upon striking the
+    side or sails of a ship, a wooden building, or indeed any object
+    at all combustible, is to cause its instant ignition. This ‘liquid
+    fire’ has apparently the property of penetrating or of saturating
+    any substance against which it may be projected, and such is its
+    affinity for oxygen that it even decomposes water and combines with
+    its component oxygen. Water, consequently, has no power to quench
+    it, and if burning canvas, set on fire in this way, be trodden
+    under foot and apparently extinguished it soon bursts again into
+    flames.”
+
+It is not uninteresting to reflect that although Norton’s liquid
+fire came to nothing, yet the present century has already seen three
+variations on the idea.
+
+The first instance is the type of big shell used by the Japanese at
+Tsushima. Little is known as to their exact composition, but they were
+undoubtedly extremely inflammable. Captain Semenoff in “The Battle of
+Tsushima” thus describes them:--
+
+    “The Japanese had apparently succeeded in realising what the
+    Americans had endeavoured to attain in inventing their ‘Vesuvium.’
+
+    “In addition to this there was the unusual high temperature
+    and liquid flame of the explosion, which seemed to spread over
+    everything. I actually watched a steel plate catch fire from a
+    burst. Of course, the steel did not burn, but the paint on it did.
+    Such almost non-combustible materials as hammocks, and rows of
+    boxes, drenched with water, flared up in a moment. At times it was
+    impossible to see anything with glasses, owing to everything being
+    so distorted with the quivering, heated air.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    “According to thoroughly trustworthy reports, the Japanese in
+    the battle of Tsushima were the first to employ a new kind of
+    explosive in their shells, the secret of which they bought during
+    the war from the inventor, a colonel in one of the South American
+    Republics. It was said that these shells could only be used in guns
+    of large calibre in the armoured squadrons, and that is how those
+    of our ships engaged with Admiral Kataoka’s squadron did not suffer
+    the same amount of damage, or have so many fires, as the ships
+    engaged with the battleships and armoured cruisers.”
+
+The second instance is the Krupp fire shell designed for use against
+dirigible balloons. The third is the “Thermite shell,” which, early in
+1912, was proposed for adoption in France. It was calculated that one
+12-inch A.P. shell exploding would melt half a ton of steel.
+
+The following passage from Hans Busk is of interest:--
+
+    “In 1855 Mr. Longridge, C.E., proposed to construct cannon of tubes
+    covered with wire wound round them so tightly as almost entirely
+    to relieve the inside from strain. On the 25th of June of the same
+    year Mr. Mallet read a paper advocating the construction of cannon
+    of successive layers of cylinders, so put together that all should
+    be equally strained when the gun is fired; thus the inside would
+    not be subject to fracture, while the outside would be useless
+    as in a cast mass. His method of effecting this was, as is well
+    known, to have each cylinder slightly too small to go over the one
+    under it till expanded by heat, so that when cool it compresses the
+    interior and is slightly strained itself. Thirty-six-inch mortars
+    have been made on the principle, and if they have failed with
+    40lbs. of powder, cast-iron must have failed still less. In 1856
+    Professor Daniel Treadwell, Vice-President of the American Academy,
+    read a paper to that body recommending the same principle of
+    construction; and Captain Blakely has himself for some years
+    been endeavouring to urge its adoption by argument and direct
+    experiments. In December, 1857, some trials were made with guns
+    constructed by that officer; and the result of a comparative trial
+    of a 9-pounder with a cast-iron service gun of similar size and
+    weight gave results proving the soundness of his views; for Captain
+    Blakely’s gun bore about double the amount of firing the service
+    gun did, and being then uninjured, was loaded to the muzzle, and
+    was thus fired 158 times before it burst.”
+
+[Illustration: JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL.]
+
+From these contemporary extracts it will be seen that by 1859 the germ
+of nearly every modern idea in connection with gunnery existed, and has
+since developed somewhat on “trial and error” lines for at any rate the
+greater part of the intervening period.
+
+The contemporary situation as regards defence is also best summed up
+from the authority from whom the above gunnery extracts are taken:--
+
+    “The result of numerous trials appeared to convince those best
+    competent to judge of such matters that iron plates, or, rather,
+    slabs, eleven centimetres (about 4½ins.) in thickness, would offer
+    adequate protection to a ship from the effects of hollow shot.
+    Acting upon this impression, four floating batteries, resembling
+    in most respects those constructed here, were ordered to be built,
+    and notwithstanding the enormous difficulties connected with such
+    an undertaking, these four vessels were turned out, complete in all
+    respects, in ten months--an astonishing instance of the resources
+    of French dockyards and the ability of French engineers.
+
+    “From this event may be dated the commencement of a new epoch
+    in naval tactics. The next problem was to determine whether a
+    form better adapted for progression than that of these batteries
+    could not be given to vessels sheathed in a similar manner. Hence
+    originated the iron-plated frigates (_frégates blindées_). The
+    intention of their designer is, that they should have a speed
+    and an armament at least equal to that of the swiftest existing
+    frigates, but their colossal weight, and consequently their great
+    draught of water, must almost preclude the fulfilment of this
+    expectation. Should they prove successful, a number of larger ships
+    of the same kind are to be commenced forthwith. It is difficult to
+    understand how, in the case of these ships being found to answer,
+    it will be possible for us to avert a real “reconstruction” of
+    our Navy, or, how any other nation, aiming to rank as a maritime
+    Power, can avoid the adoption of a similar course. In fact, the
+    necessity has been appreciated, and we are already at work. But a
+    good deal has to be accomplished ere the use of such vessels become
+    universal. If these iron-plated vessels do resist shell, it seems
+    certain, as has been already stated, that solid shot will either
+    perforate at short ranges any thickness of metal that has yet been
+    tried, or will so indent the sheathing at longer distances that
+    the internal lining and rib-work of oak will be riven, shattered,
+    loosened, or crushed to an extent that would almost as speedily
+    put the ship _hors de combat_ as if she had but been built after
+    the old fashion, much, as in days gone by, upon the introduction
+    of gunpowder into warfare, the use of armour was found rather to
+    aggravate, than to ward off, the injuries inflicted by gunshot.
+    It was the result of the operations against Kinburn that more
+    particularly gave rise to the high opinion at present entertained
+    in favour of these _vaisseaux blindées_. Unwieldy and cumbersome
+    as they appeared, they were certainly a great improvement upon
+    the floating batteries used by the French and Spanish against
+    Gibraltar in 1782. Those were merely enormous hulks, destitute
+    of masts, sails, or rigging; their sides were composed of solid
+    carpentry, 6ft. 6ins. in thickness, and they carried from nine to
+    twenty-four guns. When in action, streams of water were made to
+    flow constantly over their decks and sides, but notwithstanding
+    every precaution, such an overwhelming storm of shell and red-hot
+    shot was poured upon them by the English garrison that they were
+    all speedily burnt. Not so the _Devastation_, _La Lave_, and _La
+    Tonnante_ before the Russian fortress above mentioned, on the
+    memorable 14th October, 1855. At 9 p.m. they opened fire, and in an
+    hour and twenty-five minutes the enemy was silenced, nearly all the
+    gunners being killed, their pieces dismounted, and all the ramparts
+    themselves being for the most part demolished. To accomplish this
+    destruction in so short a space of time, the three batteries, each
+    carrying eighteen fifty pounders (supported, of course, by the fire
+    of the English vessels), advanced in very shallow water within
+    800 yards of the walls, receiving themselves very little damage in
+    comparison with the immense havoc they occasioned.”
+
+From the above extract it is clear that the “impenetrable coat of mail”
+idea, popularly supposed to have led to the introduction of ironclads,
+never existed to any appreciable extent. Indeed, when the Committee,
+alluded to on an earlier page, concluded its labours in 1859, it
+merely recommended the conversion of nineteen more sailing ships into
+steamers. It was Sir John Pakington who decided to lay down a couple of
+“armoured steam frigates,” and to build them of iron instead of wood.
+
+The French _frégates blindées_ were wooden ships, armoured. John Scott
+Russell is said to have been Pakington’s chief adviser in this matter
+of building iron armoured ships and disregarding all the laborious
+conclusions of Captain Chads against iron hulls.
+
+As regards the general recommendations of the committee already
+referred to, these had resulted in 1861 in there being no less than
+sixty-seven wooden unarmoured ships of the line building or converting
+into “screw ships.”
+
+The two iron-plated steam frigates were decided on without any popular
+enthusiasm concerning them. Now and again retired Admirals paid
+surreptitious visits to the French “_blindées_” and returned with
+alarming reports; but, with the possible exception of flying machines,
+no epoch-making thing ever came in quite so quietly as the ironclad.
+The wildest dreamer saw nothing in it beyond a variation on existing
+types. The ironclad was something which, by carrying a great deal of
+weight, could keep out shell; beyond that no one seems to have had any
+particular ideals whatever, except perhaps Sir Edward Reed.
+
+Early in 1859 designs for a type of ship to “answer” the French
+_frégates blindées_ were called for, and fourteen private firms
+submitted designs. All, however, were discarded.
+
+Details of the designs submitted were as follows:[90]--
+
+  =============+=======+=======+==========+======+======+======+======
+               |Length.|Breadth|Displ’m’t.|Speed.|Wt. of|Wt. of|I.H.P.
+    Designer.  |       |       |  Tons.   |Knots.|Armour| Hull |  of
+               |       |       |          |      |Displ.|Displ.| Eng.
+  -------------+-------+-------+----------+------+------+------+------
+  Laird        | 400.0 |  60.0 |    9779  |13½   |  .11 |  .51 | 3250
+  Thames Co.   | 430.0 |  60.0 |   11180  |      |  .10 |  .58 | 4000
+  Mare         | 380.0 |  57.0 |    7341  |      |  .13 |  .46 | 3000
+  Scott Russell| 385.0 |  58.0 |    7256  |      |  .18 |  .38 | 3000
+  Napier       | 365.0 |  56.0 |    8000  |13½   |      |      | 4120
+  Westwood &   |       |       |          |      |      |      |
+    Baillie    | 360.0 |  55.0 |    7600  |13½   |  .16 |  .36 | 4000
+  Samuda       | 382.0 |  55.0 |    8084  |13½   |  .16 |  .57 | 2500
+  Palmer       | 340.0 |  58.0 |    7690  |13½   |      |      | 4500
+  Abethell     | 336.0 |  57.0 |    7668  |      |      |      | 2500
+  Henwood      | 372.0 |  52.0 |    6507  |      |  .18 |  .40 | 2500
+  Peake        | 354.9 |  56.0 |    7000  |      |  .14 |  .46 | 3000
+  Chatfield    | 343.6 |  59.6 |    7791  |      |  .14 |      |
+  Lang         | 400.0 |  55.0 |    8511  |15    |  .14 |  .53 | 2500
+  Cradock      | 360.0 |  57.6 |    7724  |      |  .20 |  .42 | 2500
+  Admiralty    |       |       |          |      |      |      |
+    Office     | 380.0 |  58.0 |    8625  |14    |      |      |
+  =============+=======+=======+==========+======+======+======+======
+
+The Abethell and Peake designs were wooden hulled, all the others iron
+ships.
+
+The two ships, _Warrior_ and _Black Prince_, as actually laid down,
+differed from the Admiralty design in certain details. The beam was
+increased slightly, and the displacement rose from 8625 to 9210.
+
+The _Warrior_ was laid down on the 25th May, 1859, at the Thames
+Ironworks, Blackwall; the _Black Prince_ a little later at Glasgow.
+
+[Illustration: THE _WARRIOR_, AS COMPLETED, 1861.]
+
+In substances they were ordinary “wooden frigates,” built of iron
+instead of wood, with armour to protect most (but not all) of the
+guns. This was done by a patch of armour amidships, covering about 60%
+of the side. It was deemed advisable to protect the engines; otherwise
+as like as not the armour would have been over the battery only.
+Waterline protection was entirely unrealised, the steering gear of the
+_Warrior_ being at the mercy of the first lucky shot.
+
+This, as Sir N. Barnaby has pointed out, was due to accepting existing
+conditions:--
+
+    “The tiller was necessarily above the water-line and was outside
+    of the cover of the armour. The wooden line-of-battle ships, with
+    which the designers of these first iron-cased ships were familiar,
+    had required no special water-line protection, and when wheel
+    ropes or tiller were shot away the ship did not cease to be able
+    to fight. The line-of-battle ships, which they knew so well, had
+    a lower, or gun deck about four feet above the water-line, and an
+    orlop deck about three feet below the water-line. Between these two
+    decks the ship’s sides were stouter than in any other part, and
+    shot did not easily perforate them. When a shot did enter there,
+    between wind and water, as it was called, ample provision was made
+    to prevent the serious admission of water.
+
+    “In this between-deck space the sides of the ship were kept free
+    from all erections or obstructions. The ‘wing passages’ on the
+    orlop were clear, from end to end of the ship, and they were
+    patrolled by the carpenter’s crew, who were provided with shot
+    plugs of wood and oakum and sail cloth with which to close any shot
+    holes. As against disabled steering gear there were spare tillers
+    and tiller ropes, and only injury to the rudder head itself was
+    serious.”
+
+It is easy to-day to indicate where the old-time designers erred;
+and later on they realised and repaired their error with commendable
+promptitude. The really interesting point is that British designers
+evolved the ideal thing for the day, while the French evolved the idea
+of the ideal thing for the to-morrow. Unhappily for the latter, their
+evolution was unable to survive its birth till the day of its utility.
+_La Gloire_, the first French ironclad, was broken up more years ago
+than any can remember; the _Warrior_ and the _Black Prince_, though
+long ago reduced to hulk service,[91] still float as sound as when in
+1861 the _Warrior_ first took the water. To the French belongs the
+honour of realising what armour protection might mean; but to England
+goes the credit of reducing the idea to practical application.
+
+The _Warrior_ was designed by Messrs. Scott Russell and Isaac Watts,
+the Chief Constructor. Her length between perpendiculars was 380 feet.
+She carried originally a uniform armament of forty-eight 68-pounders
+smooth bores, weighing 95cwt. each. These fired shell and cast-iron
+spherical shot. The guns were carried as follows:--Main deck,
+thirty-eight, of which twelve were not protected by armour. On the
+upper-deck, ten, also unprotected.
+
+This armament was subsequently changed to two 110-pounder rifled
+Armstrongs on pivot mountings, and four 40-pounders on the upper-deck;
+while the main-deck battery was reduced to thirty-four guns. At a later
+date it was again altered to four 8-inch 9-ton M.L.R., and twenty-eight
+7-inch 6½-ton M.L.R.
+
+In addition to her armour the _Warrior_ was divided into 92 watertight
+compartments, fore and aft. She had a double bottom amidships,
+considerably subdivided (fifty-seven of the compartments), but no
+double bottom in the modern sense.
+
+The _Warrior’s_ engines, by Penn, were horizontal single expansion.
+On trial they developed 5,267 I.H.P., and the then excellent speed of
+14.079 knots.[92] Her six hours’ sea speed trial resulted in a mean
+5,092 H.P. and 13.936 knots.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  FRENCH LA GLOIRE
+  WARRIOR & BLACK PRINCE
+  HECTOR
+  ACHILLES
+  MINOTAUR
+  NORTHUMBERLAND
+
+EARLY BRITISH BROADSIDE IRONCLADS]
+
+Save for her unprotected steering gear, the _Warrior_ may be described
+as a brilliant success for her era. She was launched on December 29th,
+1860, and completed in the following year. The _Black Prince_ was
+completed in 1862.
+
+The _Warrior_ and _Black Prince_, under a system which long endured in
+the British Navy, were followed by a certain number of diminutives, of
+which the first were the _Defence_ and _Resistance_, of 6,150 tons,
+with speeds of just under 12 knots, and an armament of 16 guns. The
+armour was the same, but the battery protection was extended fore and
+aft, so that all guns were inside it. These ships were completed in
+1862.
+
+Three more ships were projected, of which the _Hector_ and _Valiant_,
+completed in 1864 and 1865, were of precisely the same type as the
+_Resistance_, but displaced 6,710 tons, with about a knot more speed,
+and carried a couple of extra guns.
+
+A third ship, originally intended to have been of the same class, was
+the _Achilles_, but, mainly owing to the influence of Mr. Reed (of whom
+more anon), who pointed out the danger of unprotected steering gear,
+her design was altered and a complete belt of 4½-inch armour given to
+her instead of a partial one.
+
+Those changes in the design, together with an increased horse-power
+which produced on trial 14.32 knots, advanced the displacement of the
+_Achilles_ to 9,820 tons, while the armament was brought up to fourteen
+12-ton guns and two 6½-ton. The weight of armour was 1,200 tons.
+
+The _Achilles_, like many another ship that was to follow her, was
+the “last word” of her own day. No expense was spared in seeking to
+secure a maximum of efficiency in her. As originally completed she
+was a ship-rigged vessel, but with a view to improving her sailing
+efficiency, this was subsequently altered to a four-masted rig, which
+proved so little successful that eventually she reverted to three masts
+again.
+
+In the meantime the authorities were so pleased with the _Achilles_
+that three improved editions of her were designed. They were not
+completed until a new type of ship, which was completed before they
+were, replaced them; but chronologically they followed close upon the
+_Achilles_. They were laid down in 1861, and designed by Isaac Watts.
+They were named _Agincourt_, _Minotaur_, and _Northumberland_. They
+differed in minor details, but in substance were all about 1,000 tons
+more than the _Achilles_, and their increased displacement mostly went
+in one inch extra armour protection (5½-inch against 4½-inch).
+
+As originally designed they were intended to mount seven 12-ton and
+twenty 9-ton guns, but at a very early date the first two were given a
+uniform armament of seventeen 12-ton. A small portion of this armament
+of the upper deck was provided with armoured protection for right-ahead
+fire.
+
+[Illustration: THE _ACHILLES_ AS A FOUR-MASTER.
+
+Photographed about 1866.]
+
+In appearance they were magnificent ships, fitted with five masts.
+Being 400 feet between perpendiculars they were the largest ships of
+their time, and at sea always proved very steady under both sail and
+steam.
+
+These ships were the subject of violent disputes between the Controller
+of the Navy and their constructor. The Controller insisted that they
+were extravagantly large ships, as compared to French ships. The
+constructor insisted that it was essential that for any given power and
+protection a British ship must be larger than a foreign one, because of
+her more extended probable duties, and the consequent necessity of a
+larger coal supply.[93]
+
+[Illustration: THE _MINOTAUR_, 1867, ORIGINAL RIG.]
+
+At and about this period there were a number of wooden
+ships-of-the-line building, which had been laid down from the year
+1859 onwards. Following the French fashion, they were converted into
+ironclads. These ships, displacing from 6,100 to 6,830 tons, were the
+_Repulse_, _Royal Alfred_, _Zealous_ (laid down 1859), _Caledonia_,
+_Ocean_, _Prince Consort_, _Royal Oak_ (1860).[94]
+
+The upper-decks of these ships were removed, and they were fitted with
+side armour, which was 4½ inches in the earliest to be treated, and 5½
+inches in the latest. All of them carried sixteen 9-ton guns and four
+6½-ton, with provision for ahead fire.
+
+The experiment, though useful as a temporary expedient, was very
+expensive, and several of the ships had to be lengthened before
+anything could be done to them. None of them were very successful, and
+most of them disappeared from the Navy List at an early date.
+
+This ends the period of “broadside ironclads”; of the best of which it
+may be said that they were nothing but efforts to adapt new ideals to
+old methods.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+THE REED ERA.
+
+
+In 1862 Mr. (afterwards Sir) E. J. Reed, was appointed Chief
+Constructor, and proceeded at once to produce the type of ship chiefly
+associated with his name. His ideals ran in the direction of short,
+handy ships of medium size, as heavily armed as possible, and with
+a good turn of speed. His arguments in favour of these ideals he
+afterwards described as follows:--[95]
+
+    “The merits of ironclad ships do not consist in carrying a large
+    proportion of weights to engine-power, or having a high speed in
+    proportion to that power; but rather in possessing great powers
+    of offence and defence, being comparatively short, cheap, and
+    handy, and steaming at a high speed, not in the most economical way
+    possible, but by means of a moderate increase of power on account
+    of the moderate proportions adopted in order to decrease the weight
+    and cost, and to increase the handiness.”
+
+Generally speaking, his views were very revolutionary. The greatness of
+Sir E. J. Reed lay in the fact that he was the first man to conceive of
+the ironclad as a separate and distinct entity. Previously to him the
+ironclad was merely an ordinary steamer with some armour plating on her.
+
+[Illustration: SIR E. J. REED.
+
+From a portrait made when he was Chief Constructor of the British Navy]
+
+His first ship was the _Bellerophon_, of 7,550 tons displacement. She
+embodied distinct novelties in the construction of her hull, described
+by her designer in the following passages:--[95]
+
+    “The _Warrior_ and the earlier ironclads are constructed with deep
+    frames, or girders, running in a longitudinal direction through
+    the greater part of the length of the ship, combined with numerous
+    strong transverse frames, formed of plates and angle-irons,
+    crossing them at right angles. In fact, up to the height of the
+    armour the ship’s framing very closely resembles in its character
+    that of the platform or roadway of a common girder bridge, in
+    which the principal or longitudinal strength is contributed by
+    the continuous girders that stretch from pier to pier, and the
+    transverse framing consists of short girders fitted between and
+    fastened to the continuous girders. If we conceive such a platform
+    to be curved transversely to a ship-shape form, and the under
+    side to be covered with iron plating, we have a very fair idea of
+    the construction of the lower part of the _Warrior_. If, instead
+    of this arrangement, we conceive the continuous longitudinal
+    girders to be considerably deepened, and the transverse girders
+    to be replaced by so-called ‘bracket-frames,’ and then, after
+    curving this to a ship-form, add iron-plating on both the upper
+    and the under sides, we have a correspondingly good idea of
+    the construction of the lower part of the _Bellerophon_. The
+    _Bellerophon’s_ construction is, therefore, identical in character
+    with the cellular system carried out in the Menai and other tubular
+    bridges, which system has been proved by the most elaborate and
+    careful experiments to be that which best combines lightness and
+    strength in wrought-iron structures of tubular cross-section.
+    The _Warrior’s_ system, wanting, as it does, an inner skin of
+    iron--except in a few places, such as under the engines and
+    boilers--is not in accordance with the cellular system, and is
+    inferior to it in strength. As regards safety, also, no comparison
+    can be made between the system of the _Warrior_ and that of the
+    _Bellerophon_. If the bottom plating is penetrated, in most places
+    the water must enter the _Warrior’s_ hold, and she must depend for
+    safety entirely on the efficiency of her watertight bulkheads.
+    If the _Bellerophon’s_ bottom is broken through, no danger of
+    this kind is run. The water cannot enter the hold until the inner
+    bottom is broken through, and this inner bottom is not likely
+    to be damaged by an ordinary accident, seeing that it is two or
+    three feet distant from the outer bottom. Should some exceptional
+    accident occur by which the inner bottom is penetrated, the
+    _Bellerophon_ would still have her watertight bulkheads to depend
+    on, being, in fact, under these circumstances in a position
+    similar to that occupied by the _Warrior_ whenever her bottom
+    plating is broken through; while an accident which would prove
+    fatal to the _Warrior_ might leave the _Bellerophon_ free from
+    danger so long as the inner bottom remained intact.”
+
+As to be related later, the _Vanguard_ disaster tended to contravert
+this optimism--but of that further on. The point of present interest
+is the recognition and establishment of a principle which, however
+commonplace to-day, was in those days a complete novelty and a special
+feature of the iron ship as a peculiar war entity.
+
+Equally of interest, in some ways more so, are the following
+anticipations of torpedo possibilities. The torpedo is such a familiar
+thing to-day that it is hard to throw ourselves back into the point of
+view necessary to appreciate the prophetic instincts of the man who
+created the first vessels which can really be called “battleships.”
+
+    “It may be proper in this connection to draw attention to the
+    fact that the probable employment of torpedoes in a future naval
+    war has not been lost sight of in carrying out these structural
+    improvements. Up to the present time torpedoes have been used
+    almost solely for coast and harbour defence, and have, under
+    those circumstances, proved most destructive, as a glance through
+    the reports of the operations of the Federal Fleet at Charleston
+    and other Confederate ports will show. It is still doubtful,
+    however, whether these formidable engines of war can be supplied
+    with anything like the same efficiency at sea under the vastly
+    different conditions which they will there have to encounter.
+    The Americans have, it is true, proposed to fit torpedo-booms to
+    their unarmoured ocean-cruisers, such as the _Wampanoag_, and
+    a naval war would doubtless at once bring similar schemes into
+    prominence. Nothing less than actual warfare can be expected to
+    set the question at rest; but whatever the result of such a test
+    may be, it is obviously a proper policy of construction to provide
+    as much as possible against the dangers of torpedoes; and it must
+    be freely admitted that the strongest ironclad yet designed,
+    although practically impenetrable by the heaviest guns yet
+    constructed, would be very liable to damage from the explosion of
+    a submerged torpedo. No ship’s bottom can, in fact, be made strong
+    enough to resist the shock of such an explosion; and the question
+    consequently arises: How best can the structure be made to give
+    safety against a mode of attack which cannot fail to cause a more
+    or less extensive fracture of the ship’s bottom, even if it does no
+    more serious damage? In our recent ships, as I have said, attempts
+    have been made to give a practical answer to this question.
+    Seeing that the bottom must inevitably be broken through by the
+    explosion of a torpedo which exerts its full force upon the ship,
+    it obviously becomes necessary to provide, as far as possible,
+    against the danger resulting from a great in-flow of water. This
+    is the leading idea which has been kept in view in arranging the
+    structural details of our ships to meet this danger, and the reader
+    cannot fail to perceive that the double bottom and watertight
+    subdivisions described above are as available against injury from
+    torpedoes as they are against the injuries resulting from striking
+    the ground.”
+
+[Illustration: THE _BELLEROPHON_, COMPLETED 1866.]
+
+Details of the _Bellerophon_ were as follows:--
+
+    Displacement--7,550 tons.
+
+    Length--300 ft. between perpendiculars.
+
+    Beam--56ft. 1in.
+
+    H.P.--6,520.
+
+    Mean Draught--26ft. 7ins.
+
+    Guns--Ten 12-ton M.L.R., five 6½-ton M.L.R. (changed in 1890 to ten
+      8-in. 14-ton B.L.R., four 6-in., six 4-in. ditto.)
+
+    Armour (iron)--Belt 6in., Battery 6in., Bulkhead 5in., Conning
+      tower 8in.
+
+    Speed--14.17 knots.
+
+    Coal--650 tons.
+
+    Launched--1865; completed, 1866.
+
+    Cost--Hull and machinery--£322,701.
+
+The 12-ton guns were on the main deck, the 6½-ton on the upper deck,
+two of them being in an armoured bow battery. The _Bellerophon_,
+completed in 1866, was ship rigged, and carried the then novel
+feature of an armoured conning tower, abaft the mainmast.[96] She
+proved extremely handy, her turning circle being 559yds. as against
+939yds. for the _Minotaur_ and 1,050yds. for the _Warrior_. A balanced
+rudder, introduced in her for the first time, helped this result to
+some extent; but the well thought-out design of this, the first real
+“battleship,” was the main cause.
+
+The _Bellerophon_ was followed by a series of “improved
+_Bellerophons_,” which will be dealt with later. First, however, it is
+necessary to revert to the coming of the turret-ship.
+
+So long ago as the Crimean War Captain Cowper-Coles had introduced the
+_Lady Nancy_, “gun-raft,” previously mentioned in connection with that
+war. In the year 1860 his plans had matured sufficiently for him to
+make public the designs of a proposed turret ship, with no less than
+nine turrets in the centre line, each carrying two guns which were to
+recoil up a slope and return automatically to position.
+
+There has been much discussion in the past as to whether Coles or
+Ericsson, the designer of the _Monitor_, first hit upon the turret-ship
+idea. As a matter of fact neither of them invented it, as the idea
+was first propounded in the 16th century, and “pivot guns” had long
+existed. In so far as adapting the idea to modern uses is concerned,
+Ericsson was first in the field, but his turret revolved on a spindle.
+The merit of the Cowper-Coles design was that he evolved the idea of
+mounting the turret on a series of rollers, thus making it of real
+practical utility.
+
+[Illustration: THE _ROYAL SOVEREIGN_, 1864.]
+
+Coles’ ideal turret ship was not received officially with any great
+show of enthusiasm; as a matter of fact it was an impracticable sort of
+ship. The famous fight between the _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_, early
+in 1862, in the American Civil War, was, however, followed by a perfect
+“turret craze.” Turret ships were popularly acclaimed as essential
+to the preservation of British naval power. The idea of a sea-going
+ship without sail power was unthinkable; but the turret ships for
+coast defence purposes were demanded with such insistence that in 1862
+Captain Coles, now more or less a popular hero, was put to supervise
+the reconstruction of the old steam wooden line-of-battleship _Royal
+Sovereign_ into a turret ironclad.
+
+This ship was originally a three-decker. Coles cut her down to the
+lower deck, leaving a freeboard of ten feet. The sides were covered
+with 4½-inch iron armour. Four turrets were mounted on Coles’ roller
+system, the forward turret carrying two and the other three one
+12½-ton guns. These turrets were generally five inches thick, but at
+the portholes were increased up to ten inches. They were rotated by
+hand power. There was one funnel, in front of which a thinly armoured
+conning tower was placed. Three pole masts were fitted. This ship was
+completed in 1864, and was fairly successful on trials. The cost of
+conversion was very heavy, and being wooden-hulled her weight-carrying
+ratio was small, 1837 tons to 3,243 tons, weight of hull.
+
+Coles was at no time satisfied with this old three-decker an a proper
+test of his ideas, and his agitation was so far successful that the
+_Prince Albert_ was presently built to his design. She was an iron
+turret-ship, generally resembling the _Royal Sovereign_, though
+carrying only one gun in each turret.
+
+Particulars of her are:--
+
+  Displacement--3,880 tons.
+  Length--240ft. p.p.
+  Beam--48ft. 1in.
+  H.P.--2,130.
+  Mean Draught--20ft. 4ins.
+  Speed--11.65 knots.
+  Coal--230 tons.
+  Guns--Four 9-in. 12-ton M.L.R.
+
+To the same era belong three armoured gunboats--_Viper_, _Vixen_, and
+_Waterwitch_--of about 1,230 tons each, armed with a couple of 6½-ton
+M.L.R. guns, armour 4½ins. The _Waterwitch_, which was slightly the
+heavier, was fitted with a species of turbine, sucking water in ahead
+and ejecting it astern (a very old idea revived). This was moderately
+successful, as the trial speeds of the three were:--
+
+  _Viper_--8.89 knots.
+  _Vixen_--9.59 knots.
+  _Waterwitch_--9.24 knots.
+
+In the _Vixen_ twin screws were for the first time tried.
+
+The _Prince Albert_ was completed in 1866, the same year as the
+_Bellerophon_. Long before she was completed, Coles was agitating for
+the application of his principles to a sea-going masted ship.
+
+[Illustration: THE _WATERWITCH_, COMPLETED 1867.]
+
+Sir E. J. Reed has left it on record that his attitude in the matter
+was that of an interested observer. He was at no time blind to the
+advantages that the turret system conferred; but, unlike the Coles’
+party, he was equally observant of its disadvantages. At a very
+early date he threw cold water on the masted turret-ship idea, and
+insisted that for a sea-going turret-ship to become practicable she
+must be mastless. He further pointed out that for a given weight eight
+guns could be mounted broadside fashion for four carried in turrets.
+
+He developed his own ideas in the _Hercules_, laid down in 1866.
+The _Hercules_, except that recessed ports were introduced to
+supply something like end-on fire to the battery, was an amplified
+_Bellerophon_. Particulars of the _Hercules_ (which was always a very
+successful ship) are:--
+
+  Displacement--8,680 tons.
+  Length--325ft.
+  Beam--59ft. ½in.
+  Mean Draught--26ft. 6ins.
+  H.P.--6,750.
+  Guns--Eight 18-ton M.L.R., two 12½-ton M.L.R., four 6½-ton M.L.R.
+  Armour (iron)--9in. 6in. Belt and Battery.
+  Speed--14.00 kts. (14.69 on the measured mile trials).
+  Coal--610 tons.
+  Cost--Hull and machinery, £361,134.
+
+The _Hercules_ was completed in 1868, contemporaneously with the
+completion of the _Agincourt_ and _Northumberland_, which were very
+slowly finished.
+
+At and about the same time the _Penelope_ was built. She was designed
+for light draught and river service, her maximum draught being kept
+down to 17½ft. She carried eight 9-ton guns and had a 6-inch belt. Sir
+E. J. Reed being absent from office, his chief assistant, afterwards
+Sir N. Barnaby, was mainly responsible for this ship. She was given
+twin screws.
+
+Captain Coles meanwhile continued to demand turret-ships, and in 1865
+submitted a design for a sea-going turret-ship, which was referred to a
+Committee of Naval Officers. They declined to approve the design, but
+expressed much interest in the principle involved, and recommended that
+an Admiralty design on similar principles should be worked out, and a
+ship built to it. This eventuated in the _Monarch_, which in substance
+was an ordinary ironclad of less freeboard than usual (14ft.) with two
+turrets on the upper deck, carrying each a pair of the heaviest guns
+then in existence (25 tons).
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  BELLEROPHON.
+  HERCULES.
+  AUDACIOUS.
+  SULTAN.
+  ALEXANDRA.
+
+BROADSIDE AND CENTRAL BATTERY SHIPS OF THE REED ERA.]
+
+It is difficult to ascertain what part (if any) Sir E. J. Reed had
+in the design of the _Monarch_. At a later date in the work already
+referred to (1869) he criticised her severely enough.[97]
+
+    “I have already intimated that the enlarged adoption of the turret
+    system has usually been associated in my mind with those classes
+    of vessels in which masts and sails are not required. It is well
+    known that others have taken a wider view of its applicability,
+    and have contended that it is, and has all along been, perfectly
+    well adapted for rigged vessels. I have never considered it wholly
+    inapplicable to such vessels: on the contrary, I have myself
+    projected designs of sea-going and rigged turret-ships, which I
+    believe to be safe, commodious, and susceptible of perfect handling
+    under canvas. But most assuredly the building of such vessels
+    was urged by many persons long before satisfactory methods of
+    designing them had been devised; and my clear and strong conviction
+    at the moment of writing these lines (March 31, 1869) is that no
+    satisfactorily designed turret-ship with rigging has yet been
+    built, or even laid down.
+
+    “The most cursory consideration of the subject will, I think,
+    result in the feeling that the middle of the upper deck of a
+    full-rigged ship is not a very eligible position for fighting
+    large guns. Anyone who has stood upon the deck of a frigate,
+    amid the maze of ropes of all kinds and sizes that surrounds
+    him, must feel that to bring even guns of moderate size away
+    from the port holes, to place them in the midst of these ropes,
+    and discharge them there, is utterly out of the question; and
+    the impracticability of that mode of proceeding must increase in
+    proportion as the size and power of the guns are increased. But
+    as a central position, or a nearly central position, is requisite
+    for the turret, this difficulty has had to be met by many devices,
+    some of them tending to reduce the number of the ropes, and others
+    to get them stopped short above the guns. In the former category
+    come tripod masts; in the latter, flying-decks over the turrets;
+    the former have proved successful in getting rid of shrouds, but
+    they interfere seriously with the fire of the turret guns, and are
+    exposed to the danger of being shot away by them in the smoke of
+    action; the latter are under trial, but however successful they
+    may prove in some respects, they will be very inferior in point of
+    comfort and convenience to the upper decks of broadside frigates.
+    In the case of the _Monarch_, which has a lofty upper deck, neither
+    a tripod system nor a flying deck for working the ropes upon has
+    been adopted. A light flying deck to receive a portion of the
+    boats, and to afford a passage for the officers above the turrets,
+    has been fitted; but the ropes will be worked upon the upper deck
+    over which the turrets have to fire, and consequently a thousand
+    contrivances have had to be made for keeping both the standing
+    and running rigging tolerably clear of the guns. It seems to me
+    out of the question to suppose that such an arrangement can ever
+    become general in the British Navy, especially when one contrasts
+    the _Monarch_ with the _Hercules_ as a rigged man-of-war. Nor is
+    the matter at all improved, in my opinion, in the case of the
+    _Captain_ and other rigged turret-ships in which the ropes have to
+    be worked upon bridges or flying-decks poised in the air above the
+    turrets. Such bridges or decks, even if they withstand for long the
+    repeated fire of the ship’s own guns, must of necessity be mounted
+    upon a few supports only; and I am apprehensive that in action an
+    enemy’s fire would bring down parts, at least, of these cumbrous
+    structures, with their bitts, blocks, ropes, and the thousand and
+    one other fittings with which a rigged ship’s deck is encumbered,
+    with what result I need not predict.
+
+    “It is well known that both in the _Captain_ and in the _Monarch_
+    the turrets have been deprived of their primary and supreme
+    advantage, that of providing an all-round fire for the guns, and
+    more especially a head fire. This deprivation is consequent upon
+    the adoption of forecastles, which are intended to keep the ships
+    dry in steaming against a head sea, and to enable the head-sails
+    to be worked. When it first became known that the _Monarch_
+    was designed with a forecastle (by order of the then Board of
+    Admiralty) there were not wanting persons who considered the plan
+    extremely objectionable, and who took it for granted that as a
+    turret-ship the new vessel would be fatally defective. The design
+    of the _Captain_ shortly afterwards, under the direction of Captain
+    Coles, with a similar but much larger forecastle, was an admission,
+    however, that the Board of Admiralty did not stand alone in the
+    belief that this feature was a necessity, however objectionable.
+    Both these ships, therefore, are without a right-ahead fire
+    from the turrets, the _Monarch_ having this deficiency partly
+    compensated by two forecastle (6½-ton) guns protected with armour,
+    while the _Captain_ has no protected head-fire at all, but merely
+    one gun (6½-ton) standing exposed on the top of the forecastle.”
+
+Time has shown that he was quite correct in his views; but in 1866 and
+the years that followed he was regarded as unduly conservative and
+non-progressive.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  ROYAL SOVEREIGN.
+  TYPICAL U.S. MONITOR.
+  SCORPION.
+  CAPTAIN.
+  MONARCH.
+  REED IDEAL OF A MASTED TURRET SHIP.
+
+TURRET-SHIPS OF THE REED ERA.]
+
+Captain Coles objected to the _Monarch_ altogether. He insisted with
+vehemence that she did not in the least express his ideas. She had a
+high forecastle, also a poop; these features depriving her of end-on
+fire, except in so far as a couple of 6½-ton guns in an armoured
+forecastle supplied the deficiency. The Admiralty replied that a
+forecastle was essential for sea-worthiness; but Coles was so insistent
+that eventually he was allowed to design a sea-going turret-ship on
+his own ideas, in conjunction with Messrs. Laird, of Birkenhead,
+who had already had considerable experience in producing masted
+turret-ships.[98] Coles was given a free hand. As a naval officer his
+form of turret displays the practical mind; as a ship designer he was
+simply the raw amateur. The _Captain_, which he produced, accentuated
+every fault of the _Monarch_, except in the purely technical matter
+of rigging being in the way of the guns. Coles got over this by
+fitting tripod masts (which Laird’s had evolved before him[99]); but
+for the light flying bridges of the _Monarch_ he substituted a very
+considerable superstructure erection. For the _Monarch’s_ armoured
+two-gun forecastle, which he had so violently condemned, he substituted
+a much larger unarmoured, one-gun structure. Owing to an error in
+design, his intended 8-ft. freeboard was actually only 6ft., and his
+ideal ship resulted in nothing but a _Monarch_ of less gun power, and
+of 8ft. less freeboard. Her fate is dealt with later. Details of the
+two ships are:--
+
+  ================+===========================+=========================
+                  |        _Captain._         |        _Monarch._
+  ----------------+---------------------------+-------------------------
+    Displacement  | 6900 tons.                | 8320 tons.
+  Length (_p.p._) | 320 feet.                 | 330 feet.
+  Beam            | 53 feet.                  | 57½ feet.
+  Draught         | 25ft. 9½in. (_mean_).     | 26ft. 7in. (_max._)
+  Guns            | Four 25 ton M.L.R.,       | Four 25 ton M.L.R.,
+                  |   two 6½ ton, do.         |   three 6½ ton, do.[100]
+  Coal            | 500 tons.[101]            | 630 tons.
+  Speed           | 14.25 kts. (twin screws). | 14.94 (single screw).
+  Waterline Belt  | 8.6 inches.               | 7.6 inches.
+  Turrets         | 13.8 inches.              | 10.8 inches.
+  Completed       | 1869.                     | 1869.
+  ================+===========================+=========================
+
+It has been said that Captain Coles was tied down by Admiralty ideas
+that a sea-going ship must have auxiliary sail power. All the
+evidence is, however, to the effect that not only did he recognise
+this limitation from the first, but that he concurred with it and
+believed his design to fill the conditions best. It failed to do so,
+the _Monarch_ under all conditions doing far better than the _Captain_
+on trial (except occasionally under sail).
+
+Sir E. J. Reed’s objections to the _Captain_ design have already been
+mentioned. He was not the only critic, since Laird’s, of Birkenhead,
+who built the ship, were so suspicious of the design that they
+requested the Admiralty to submit her to severe tests for stability.
+
+The ship, however, came through these tests very well, and the public
+were more convinced than ever that she was the finest warship ever
+built. One or two naval officers who had criticised her also modified
+their opinions after she had done a couple of very successful cruises
+across the Bay of Biscay. Her crew had the utmost confidence in her.
+She was commanded by Captain Burgoyne, and Captain Coles was also on
+board her when she made her third cruise in September, 1871.
+
+On the 6th September she was off Cape Finisterre in company with
+the Channel Fleet, consisting of the _Lord Warden_, _Minotaur_,
+_Agincourt_, _Northumberland_, _Monarch_, _Hercules_, _Bellerophon_,
+and the unarmoured ships _Inconstant_ and _Bristol_. Admiral Milne
+came on board her from the _Lord Warden_, and drew attention to the
+fact that she was rolling a great deal,[102] but nobody on board the
+_Captain_ agreed with him that this was dangerous. During the night
+a heavy gale suddenly arose, and in the morning the _Captain_ was
+missing. Eighteen survivors reached the land with the story of what had
+happened.
+
+[Illustration: THE _CAPTAIN_.]
+
+From this it appears that about midnight the ship was under her
+topsails, double reefed. She had steam up, but was not using her screw.
+The ship gave a heavy lurch, righted herself, and the captain gave
+the order, “Let go the topsail halyards,” and immediately afterwards,
+“Let go fore and main topsail sheets.” The ship, however, continued to
+heel, and “18 degrees” was called out. This increased until 28 degrees
+was arrived at. With the ship lying over on her side some of the crew
+succeeded in walking over her bottom, and these were practically the
+only survivors. Immediately afterwards the ship went down stern first.
+There were at this time some five and twenty survivors, including
+Captain Burgoyne and Mr. May, the gunner. Some of these were in the
+launch, others clinging to the pinnace, which was floating bottom
+upwards. Captain Burgoyne was amongst those who were clinging to the
+pinnace, and that was the last seen of him. A few of the men in the
+pinnace succeeded in jumping into the launch and so escaped. The rest
+were never seen again.
+
+The subsequent court-martial placed it on record that “the _Captain_
+was built in deference to public opinion and in opposition to the views
+and opinions of the Controller of the Navy and his Department.” The
+instability of the ship and the incompetence of Captain Coles to design
+her were emphasised.
+
+After the loss of the _Captain_ considerable panic on the subject of
+turret-ships arose. The _Monarch_ was submitted to a number of tests
+which, however, generally proved satisfactory, and there was never
+anything to be said against her except that the forecastle and the poop
+necessitated by her being a rigged ship, negatived one of the principal
+advantages of the turret system.
+
+To the loss of the _Captain_ is to be traced some of the extraordinary
+opposition which the _Devastation_ idea subsequently encountered.
+
+The various writings of Sir E. J. Reed make it abundantly clear
+that just as in the _Bellerophon_ he had realised that an ironclad
+battleship must be something more than an old-type vessel with some
+armour on her, so he realised from the first that the ordinary
+sea-going warship with turrets on deck, instead of guns in the battery,
+was no true solution of the turret problem. There is ample evidence
+that he studied the monitors of the American Civil War with a balanced
+intelligence far ahead of his day, taking into consideration every
+_pro_ and _con_ with absolute impartiality, and applying the knowledge
+thus gained to the different conditions required for the British Fleet.
+It is no exaggeration to say that he was the only man who really kept
+his head while the turret-ship controversy reigned; the one man who
+thought while others argued.
+
+He swiftly recognised the tremendous limitations of the American
+low-freeboard monitors, and at an early date evolved his own idea of
+the “breastwork monitor,” which began with the Australian _Cerberus_,
+and ended with the predecessor of the present _Dreadnought_. The ships
+of this type varied considerably from each other in detail; but the
+general principle of all was identical. All, whether coast-defence
+or sea-going, were “mastless”; all, while of low freeboard fore and
+aft, carried their turrets fairly high up on a heavily armed redoubt
+amidships. Side by side with them he developed the central battery
+ironclads of this particular era. He ceased to be Chief Constructor
+before either type reached its apotheosis; but all may be deemed
+lineal descendants of his original creations.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD “INVINCIBLE.” 1872.]
+
+First, however, it is desirable to revert to the Reed broadside and
+central battery-ships.
+
+The _Audacious_ class, which followed closely upon the _Hercules_, and
+were contemporary in the matter of design, were avowedly “second-class
+ships,” intended for service in distant seas. The ships of this class,
+of which the first was completed in 1869 and the last in 1873, were the
+_Audacious_, _Invincible_, _Iron Duke_, _Vanguard_, _Swiftsure_, and
+_Triumph_. As the sketch plan illustrations indicate, the main deck
+battery in them was more centralised than in the _Hercules_, while
+instead of the bow battery they carried on their upper decks four
+6½-ton guns capable of firing directly ahead or astern.
+
+Excluding the converted ships, the _Audacious_ was the eleventh British
+ironclad to be designed in point of date of laying down, but in the
+matter of design she followed directly on the eighth ship--_Hercules_.
+
+Her weights, as compared with the _Bellerophon_, were:--
+
+  ==============+=================+=================
+     Name.      | Weight of hull. | Weight carried.
+  --------------+-----------------+-----------------
+  _Bellerophon_ |  3652 tons.     |  3798 tons.
+  _Audacious_   |  2675 tons.     |  3234 tons.
+  ==============+=================+=================
+
+In some of these ships the principle of wood-copper sheathing was
+re-introduced; the iron ships having been found to foul their hulls
+more quickly than wooden hulled ships. The _Swiftsure_ and _Triumph_
+(the two latest) were the ones so treated. Sir E. J. Reed was not
+responsible for the experiment, which was entirely an Admiralty one. It
+proved successful enough, the loss of speed being trifling.
+
+Details of the _Audacious_ class:--[103]
+
+  Displacement--6,010.
+  Length--280ft.
+  Beam--54ft.
+  H.P.--4,830.
+  Mean Draught--23ft. 8ins.
+  Guns--Ten 12-ton M.L.R.
+  Coal--500 tons.
+  Belt Armour--8ins. to 6ins.
+
+  ===========+===========+===========+============+==========+===========+=========
+             |_Audacious_|_Iron Duke_|_Invincible_|_Vanguard_|_Swiftsure_|_Triumph_
+  -----------+-----------+-----------+------------+----------+-----------+---------
+  Speed      |   13.2    |   13.64   |   14.09    |  13.64   |   13.75   |  13.75
+  Builder of |           |           |            |          |           |
+   Ship      |  Glasgow  | Pembroke  |  Glasgow   |          |  Jarrow   | Jarrow
+  Builder of |           |           |            |          |           |
+   Machin’y  | Ravenhill | Ravenhill |   Napier   |          | Maudslay  | Maudslay
+  Launched   |   1869    |   1870    |    1869    |   1869   |   1870    |  1870
+  Completed  |   1869    |   1871    |    1870    |   1871   |   1872    |  1873
+  Cost--Hull |           |           |            |          |           |
+   & Machin’y| £246,482  | £196,479  |  £239,441  |          | £257,081  | £258,322
+  ===========+===========+===========+============+==========+===========+=========
+
+The sheathing increased the displacement of the two latest ships by
+about 900 tons in the _Swiftsure_, and some 600 tons in the _Triumph_.
+These two were single-screw ships only, whereas all the others were
+twin-screw.
+
+In September, 1875, the _Vanguard_ was rammed and sunk by the _Iron
+Duke_.
+
+[Illustration: THE _VANGUARD_, COMPLETED 1874.]
+
+The finding of the Court Martial was as follows:--
+
+    “The court having heard the evidence which had been adduced in this
+    inquiry and trial, is of opinion that the loss of Her Majesty’s
+    ship _Vanguard_ was occasioned by Her Majesty’s ship _Iron Duke_
+    coming into collision with her off the Kisbank, the Irish Channel,
+    at about 12-50 on the 1st September, from the effects of which
+    she foundered; that such collision was caused--First, by the high
+    rate of speed at which the squadron, of which these vessels formed
+    a part, was proceeding whilst in a fog; secondly, by Captain
+    Dawkins, when leader of his division, leaving the deck of the ship
+    before the evolution which was being performed was completed, as
+    there were indications of foggy weather at the time; thirdly, by
+    the unnecessary reduction of speed of H.M.S. _Vanguard_ without
+    a signal from the vice-admiral in command of the squadron, and
+    without H.M.S. _Vanguard_ making the proper signals to the _Iron
+    Duke_; fourthly, by the increase of speed of H.M.S. _Iron Duke_
+    during a dense fog, the speed being already high; fifthly, by
+    H.M.S. _Iron Duke_ improperly shearing out of the line; sixthly,
+    for want of any fog signals on the part of H.M.S. _Iron Duke_.
+
+    “The court is further of opinion that the cause of the loss of
+    H.M.S. _Vanguard_ by foundering was a breach being made in her
+    side by the prow of H.M.S. _Iron Duke_ in the neighbourhood of
+    the most important transverse bulkhead--namely, that between the
+    engine and boiler rooms, causing a great rush of water into the
+    engine-room, shaft-alley, and stoke-hole, extinguishing the fires
+    in a few minutes, the water eventually finding its way into the
+    provision room flat, and provision rooms through imperfectly
+    fastened watertight doors, and owing to leakage of 99 bulkhead.
+    The court is of opinion that the foundering of H.M.S. _Vanguard_
+    might have been delayed, if not averted, by Captain Dawkins giving
+    instructions for immediate action being taken to get all available
+    pumps worked, instead of employing his crew in hoisting out boats,
+    and if Captain Dawkins, Commander Tandy, Navigating-Lieutenant
+    Thomas, and Mr. David Tiddy, carpenter, had shown more resource
+    and energy in endeavouring to stop the breach from the outside by
+    means at their command, such as hammocks and sails--and the court
+    is of opinion that Captain Dawkins should have ordered Captain
+    Hickley, of H.M.S. _Iron Duke_, to tow H.M.S. _Vanguard_ into
+    shallow water. The court is of opinion that blame is imputable to
+    Captain Dawkins for exhibiting want of judgment and for neglect of
+    duty in handling his ship, and that he showed a want of resource,
+    promptitude, and decision in the means be adopted for saving
+    H.M.S. _Vanguard_ after the collision. The court is further of
+    opinion that blame is imputable to Navigating-Lieutenant Thomas for
+    neglect of duty in not pointing out to his captain that there was
+    shallower water within a short distance, and in not having offered
+    any suggestion as to the stopping of the leak on the outside. The
+    court is further of opinion that Commander Tandy showed great
+    want of energy as second in command under the circumstances. The
+    court is further of opinion that Mr. Brown, the chief engineer,
+    showed want of promptitude in not applying the means at his command
+    to relieve the ship of water. The court is further of opinion
+    that blame is imputable to Mr. David Tiddy, of H.M.S. _Vanguard_,
+    for not offering any suggestions to his captain as to the most
+    efficient mode of stopping the leak, and for not taking immediate
+    steps for sounding the compartments and reporting from time to
+    time the progress of the water. The court adjudges Captain Richard
+    Dawkins to be severely reprimanded and dismissed from H.M.S.
+    _Vanguard_ and he is hereby severely reprimanded and so sentenced
+    accordingly. The court adjudges Commander Lashwood Goldie Tandy
+    and Navigating-Lieutenant James Cambridge Thomas to be severely
+    reprimanded, and they hereby are severely reprimanded accordingly.
+    The court imputes no blame to the other officers and ship’s company
+    of H.M.S. _Vanguard_ in reference to the loss of the ship, and they
+    are hereby acquitted accordingly.”
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  HOTSPUR
+  FRENCH RAM TAUREAU (1865)
+  GLATTON
+  RUPERT
+
+RAMS OF THE REED ERA.]
+
+This disaster drew attention to the ram, the more so when it became
+known that the _Iron Duke_ was uninjured. Ram tactics had, of course,
+been heard of before, and had been discussed at great length by
+Sir Edward Reed in 1868. At that date, although one or two special
+ram-ships had been built, Sir E. J. Reed had expressed a certain
+amount of scepticism as to whether the ram could be successfully used
+in connection with a ship in motion, and pointed out that in the
+historical instance of the _Re d’Italia_ at the battle of Lissa, the
+ship was stationary. He further had written:--[104]
+
+    “Even if the side were thus broken through, any one of our
+    iron-built ships would most probably remain afloat, although her
+    efficiency would be considerably impaired, the water which would
+    enter being confined to the watertight compartment of the hold,
+    enclosed by bulkheads crossing the ship at a moderate distance
+    before and abaft the part broken through. In fact, under these
+    circumstances the ship struck would be in exactly the same
+    condition as an ordinary iron ship which by any accident has
+    had the bottom plating broken, and one of the hold-compartments
+    filled with water, so that we have good reason to believe that
+    her safety need not be despaired of, unless, by the blow being
+    delivered at, or very near, a bulkhead, more than one compartment
+    should be injured and filled. All iron ships can thus be protected
+    to some extent against being sunk by a single blow of a ram, and
+    our own vessels have the further and important protection of the
+    watertight wings just described; but wood ships are not similarly
+    safe. One hole in the side of the _Re d’Italia_ sufficed to sink
+    her; but this would scarcely have been possible in an iron ship
+    with properly arranged watertight compartments. The French, in
+    their latest ironclads, have become alive to this danger, and have
+    fitted transverse iron bulkheads in the holds of wood-built ships
+    in order to add to their safety. No doubt this is an improvement,
+    but our experience with wood ships leads us to have grave doubts
+    whether these bulkheads can be made efficient watertight divisions
+    in the hold, on account of the working that is sure to take place
+    in a wood hull. This fact adds another to the arguments previously
+    advanced in favour of iron hulls for armoured ships; for it appears
+    that an iron-built ship, constructed on the system of our recent
+    ironclads, is comparatively safe against destruction by a ram,
+    unless she is repeatedly attacked when in a disabled state, while
+    a wood-built ship may, and most likely will, be totally lost in
+    consequence of one well-delivered heavy blow.”
+
+This is in strange contrast to the fate of the _Vanguard_, but the
+finding of the court-martial indicates that the precautions taken were
+hardly such as were contemplated by the ship’s designer! Furthermore,
+she appears to have been struck immediately on one of the watertight
+bulkheads, and so, instead of being left with seven of her eight
+compartments unfilled, she had only six unfilled. The shock, also, was
+such that most of the other bulkheads started leaking; and in addition
+to this the double bottom is said to have been filled with bricks
+and cement,[105] and so less operative than it might otherwise have
+been, since any shock on the outer bottom would thus be immediately
+communicated to the inner one.
+
+The actual successor of the _Hercules_, in the matter of first-class
+ships, was the _Sultan_. She differed from the _Hercules_ merely in a
+somewhat increased draught and displacement, and increased provision
+for end-on bow fire--four 12½-ton guns able to fire ahead being
+substituted for the one smaller gun in the _Hercules_.
+
+This end-on fire was given because ram-tactics were then coming greatly
+into favour. Particulars of the _Sultan_,[106] which was the last of
+the central battery ironclads to be designed and built by Sir E. J.
+Reed, are as follows:--
+
+  Displacement--9,290 tons.
+  Length--325ft.
+  Beam--59ft. ½-in.
+  H.P.--7,720.
+  Mean Draught--26ft. 5ins.
+  Guns--Eight 18-ton M.L.R., four 12½-ton M.L.R.
+  Coal--810 tons.
+  Armour (iron)--9ins., 8ins., and 6ins.
+  Speed--14.13 knots (single screw).
+  Builder of Ship--Chatham.
+  Builder of Machinery--Penn.
+  Cost--Hull and machinery, £357,415.
+  Launched--1870; completed for sea in 1871.
+
+[Illustration:
+
+  CERBERUS.
+  DEVASTATION.
+  FURY.
+  DREADNOUGHT.
+
+BREASTWORK MONITORS.]
+
+Sir E. J. Reed’s “breastwork monitors” have already been referred to.
+They were received with little enthusiasm by the Admiralty, and the
+first of them were merely Colonial coast defence vessels. These were:--
+
+  ============+==========+======+=======+=======+==========
+     Name.    |Displ’m’t.|Speed.|Armour.|Turret |Completed.
+              |  Tons.   |Knots.|Inches.|Armour.|
+  ------------+----------+------+-------+-------+----------
+  _Cerberus_  |   3480   | 9.75 |   8   |  10   |   1870
+  _Abyssinia_ |   2900   | 9.59 |   7   |  10   |   1870
+  _Magdala_   |   3340   |10.67 |   8   |  10   |   1870
+  ============+==========+======+=======+=======+==========
+
+In general design all were identical, a redoubt amidships carrying
+two centre line turrets and a small oval superstructure between. Twin
+screws were employed.
+
+The belief in the ram already alluded to had by now attained such
+proportions that a ship specially designed for ramming was called for,
+and the _Hotspur_ was the result. Nothing written by Sir E. J. Reed
+(and he wrote a great deal) indicates that he was in sympathy with
+her design, though nominally responsible. The _Hotspur_ was not even
+a turret-ship. She carried a fixed armoured structure of considerable
+size,[107] inside of which a single 25-ton gun revolved, firing through
+the most convenient of several ports. She was fitted with two masts
+with fore and aft sails. Particulars of her were:--
+
+  Displacement--4,010 tons.
+  Length--235ft.
+  Beam--50ft.
+  H.P.--3,060.
+  Mean Draught--21ft. 10ins.
+  Guns--One 25-ton M.L.R., two 6½-ton.
+  Belt Armour--11in. to 8in.; complete belt.
+  Turret Armour--10in.
+  Coal--300 tons.
+  Speed--12.8 knots (twin-screw).
+  Builder--Napier, Glasgow.
+  Launched--1870; completed, 1871.
+  Cost--Hull and machinery, £171,528.
+
+She was built solely and simply as an “answer” to a series of “rams”
+projected for the French Navy, apparently more with an Admiralty idea
+of not being caught napping “in case,” than from any belief in her
+efficacy.
+
+[Illustration: THE _HOTSPUR_, AS ORIGINALLY COMPLETED, 1871.]
+
+Sir E. J. Reed’s ideas in the matter of turret-ships now found
+expression in four ships of the _Cerberus_ type enlarged. These were
+the _Cyclops_, _Gorgon_, _Hecate_, and _Hydra_. Like their prototype,
+they were of the breastwork type, and differed only in having an inch
+more belt armour and a displacement of 3,560 tons. Differing from them,
+and perhaps more on Reed lines, was the _Glatton_. Her special feature
+was the introduction of water to reduce her freeboard in action. She
+had a single turret only, but her belt was 12ins. thick, and she
+represented the, then, “last word” in coast defence ships, so far as
+the British Navy was concerned. Details of her are as follows:--
+
+  Displacement--4,910 tons.
+  Length--245ft.
+  Beam--54ft.
+  H.P.--2,870.
+  Mean Draught--19ft. 5ins.
+  Guns--Two 25-ton M.L.R.
+  Armour (iron)--12-10in. Belt Turret, 14in.
+  Coal--540 tons.
+  Speed--12.11 knots (twin screw).
+  Builder of Ship--Chatham Dockyard.
+  Builder of Machinery--Laird.
+  Floated out of Dock--1871; completed, 1871.
+  Cost--Hull and Machinery, £219,529.
+
+The last ship of this group was the ram _Rupert_, of 5,440 tons, laid
+down at Chatham, in 1870. She was, in substance, merely an enlarged
+_Hotspur_, carrying two 18-ton guns in a single revolving turret
+forward and two 64-pounders behind the bulwarks aft. Her armour was
+slightly inferior to the _Glatton’s_: her speed considerably higher--14
+knots being aimed at, though it was never reached. She was one of the
+very few ships which had their engines built in a Royal Dockyard, hers
+being constructed at Portsmouth Yard.
+
+About the year 1890, when re-construction was very much to the fore,
+the _Rupert_ was re-constructed. She was given a couple of 10in.
+breech-loaders instead of her old 10in. M.L., a military-top, and a
+few other improvements. The net result of this re-construction was
+that when, after it, she first proceeded to coal she began to submerge
+herself almost at once. Her torpedo tubes were awash before she had
+received her normal quota of coal, and she was, generally, the most
+futile example of re-construction ever experienced.
+
+The failure was such that thereafter no further attempt to modernise
+old ships was ever made; instead, a policy of “scrapping” all such was
+introduced. This is probably the best service that the _Rupert_ ever
+rendered to the Navy. She demonstrated for all time that--so far as the
+British Navy was concerned--modernising was a hopeless task. It took
+France and Germany many years to learn a similar lesson. To-day, it is
+generally recognised that, as a ship is completed, she represents the
+best that can be got out of her; and that any attempt to improve her in
+any one direction merely spells reduced efficiency in some other. Hence
+the apparently early scrapping of many ships of later date and the
+present day proverb, “Re-construction never pays.”
+
+The whole of the series, however, can only be regarded as improvements
+on the old _Prince Albert_ idea. Sir E. J. Reed’s real answer to the
+_Captain_ was the _Devastation_, designed in 1868, but not completed
+till 1873; at which date he had left the Admiralty. The _Devastation_
+and the _Thunderer_ (completed four years later than her sister) cost
+Sir E. J. Reed his position. In them he introduced all his ideas as to
+what the sea-going turret-ship should be. He carried the Admiralty with
+him; but before ever the _Devastation_ was set afloat, it was “proved”
+to the satisfaction of the general public that she was an “egregious
+failure.” The date of her design is about 1868, though, as mentioned
+above, she was not completed till 1873. The _Dreadnought_ of more or
+less these times was nothing in the way of novelty compared to the
+_Devastation_ of the later sixties.
+
+Details of the _Devastation_ (laid down Nov., 1869), were:--
+
+  Displacement--9,330 tons.
+  Length--385ft.
+  Beam--62ft. 3ins.
+  Mean Draught--25ft. 6ins.
+  H. P.--6,650.
+  Guns--Four 35-ton M.L.R.[108]
+  Belt Armour--12in. and 10in. (iron).
+  Turret Armour--14in. (iron).
+  Coal--1,800 tons.
+  Speed--13.84 knots (twin-screw).
+  Where Built--Portsmouth Dockyard.
+  Builder of Machinery--Humphrys.
+  Launched--1871; completed, 1873.
+  Cost--Hull and Machinery, £353,848.
+
+On her trials the _Devastation_ proved completely successful. An
+interesting and little known item in connection with her is that as
+designed she was to carry two signal masts,[109] one forward of the
+turrets, one aft. For these, on completion, a single mast on the
+superstructure was substituted.
+
+[Illustration: THE _DEVASTATION_, AS COMPLETED, 1873.]
+
+How the _Devastation_, even after successful completion, was received
+by the public can be gleaned from the following extracts from the
+contemporary press:--[110]
+
+    “It is a weakness with the officers and men of any of Her Majesty’s
+    ships to ‘crack up’ the vessels to which they belong, and it is
+    rarely that a bluejacket growls openly against his ship. The warm
+    confidence expressed in the ill-fated _Captain_ by her unfortunate
+    crew is well remembered, and is sufficient to prove that even the
+    first of this necessarily uncomfortable class of monitors was not
+    met by the seamen of the Fleet in any complaining spirit, but
+    that they submitted to the discomforts imposed upon them with
+    characteristic cheerfulness. When, therefore, an unmistakable
+    feeling of dissatisfaction prevails throughout a ship, and no
+    hesitation is shown in expressing it, we may be certain that there
+    is some valid reason for so unusual an occurrence. We hesitated to
+    give currency to reports which reached us during the cruise of the
+    _Devastation_ around the coast with the Channel Squadron, as we had
+    good reason to believe that it was the intention of the Admiralty
+    to pay her off, and berth her in Portsmouth harbour as a tender
+    to the _Excellent_, the advantage of so doing being that a very
+    large number of men passing through the School of Gunnery would
+    thus be enabled to become acquainted with the latest improvements
+    in the turret system.... But since the arrival at the Admiralty
+    of Rear-Admiral Hornby, late in command of the Channel Squadron,
+    who certainly should be able to form a correct estimate of the
+    _Devastation’s_ fitness in every respect for sea service, it has
+    been determined that she shall be ordered to Gibraltar, there
+    probably to remain during the coming winter as a kind of ‘guardo.’
+    A cruise across the bay in the month of November is not looked
+    forward to by the present crew, who have had a little experience
+    both of being stifled by being battened down and of being nearly
+    blown out of their hammocks when efforts at ventilation are made
+    by opening every hatch. Her qualities as a sea-boat have been
+    fairly tested, and the present notion of filling her up with stores
+    for six months’ further service, and then stowing her away at
+    Gibraltar, leads to the conclusion that on this point at least the
+    value of the counsel of the First Lord’s new Naval adviser is not
+    altogether apparent.
+
+    “... It is needless to comment on the facts. They speak for
+    themselves. The condensers will be repaired, no doubt, and
+    strengthened and modified; but no engineer can guarantee that they
+    will not fail again, or, if they turn out a permanent job, that the
+    cylinders will not split, or some other of the mishaps to which
+    marine engines in the Navy are subject may not happen. If the
+    failure takes place in the day of battle it will constitute little
+    short of a national calamity. Even as it is, it must be looked on
+    as a most fortunate circumstance that the sea was perfectly smooth
+    and the vessel near a port. Had the breakdown occurred during
+    the six hours’ run of the ship--which was to have been made on
+    Wednesday--and in a stiff breeze blowing on a lee shore, the ship
+    might have been lost before an effort could have been made to save
+    her. Very important improvements in marine engines of large size
+    must be made before we can reconcile ourselves to the adoption of
+    mastless sea-going monitors.”
+
+With such labour and travail was the modern British battleship born!
+Public opinion decidedly modified naval construction--leading, as
+it did, to a considerable delay with the _Thunderer_,[111] the
+re-designing of the _Fury_, and the building of some old-type ships
+which else had probably never been constructed.
+
+As already mentioned, Sir E. J. Reed left the Admiralty before the
+_Devastation_ was completed. None the less the ships which immediately
+followed were in all essential particulars “Reed Ships,” and so are
+included in this chapter.
+
+The _Devastation_, owing to the Committee on Designs, received certain
+minor modifications before completion. These mainly concerned the
+hatches. Her sister ship, the _Thunderer_, built at Pembroke and
+engined by Humphrys, was held back, pending the _Devastation’s_ trials,
+and not completed till 1877.
+
+Save that in one turret she carried a couple of 38 ton (12.5-inch)
+instead of 35 ton (12-inch) guns, she was a replica of the
+_Devastation_.
+
+A third ship of the same type, named the _Fury_, was in hand, but
+criticisms of the _Devastation_ caused her to be re-designed, and she
+was eventually completed as the _Dreadnought_. In her the very low
+freeboard forward and aft of the _Devastation_ type was done away with
+and freeboard maintained at a uniform medium height.
+
+The _Devastation_ and _Thunderer_ had their armour-plates amidships
+pierced with square portholes. These with some reason were attacked as
+likely to weaken the armour very considerably, and the _Dreadnought_
+was built entirely wall-sided and so depended on artificial
+ventilation, known in the Navy in those days as “potted air,” even more
+than her predecessors.
+
+Particulars of the _Dreadnought_:--
+
+    Displacement--10,820 tons.
+
+    Length--320ft.
+
+    Beam--63ft. 10in.
+
+    Draught--26ft. 9in.
+
+    Armament--Four 38-ton M.L.R., two 14in. torpedo tubes.
+
+    Armour (iron)--Belt 14-11in., Bulkheads 13in., Turrets 14in.
+
+    H.P.--8,210 = 12.40 knots.
+
+In the original design of the _Fury_ provision was made for a conning
+tower with a heavily-armoured communication tube. She proved a very
+successful ship. No sisters were ordered, probably because the
+Admiralty wished to see how she did before committing themselves to the
+type. Ere she was finished a different fashion in warships had set in.
+The cost of the _Dreadnought_ was about £600,000.
+
+The _Alexandra_ was designed long after Reed had left the Admiralty.
+That famous constructor had nothing whatever to do with her. None the
+less she was the apotheosis of his box-battery ironclad ideas and
+for that reason is included in his era. She was simply an “improved
+_Sultan_.”
+
+Particulars of her:--
+
+    Displacement--9,490 tons.
+
+    Length (between perpendiculars)--325ft.
+
+    Beam--63⅔ft.
+
+    Draught--26½ft.
+
+    Armament--Four 25-ton M.L., ten 18-ton M.L., four above-water
+      torpedo dischargers (14in.)
+
+    Armour (iron)--12-6in. belt, flat deck on top of it. Bulkheads
+      8-5in. Battery 12-6in.
+
+    Horse-power--9,810 = 15 knots.
+
+    Coal--680 tons = 2,700 knots at 10 knots (nominal).
+
+She was built at Chatham Dockyard; engined by Humphrys; completed for
+sea, 1877.
+
+Four of the 18-ton guns were carried in an upper deck battery, and had
+end-on training. The other guns were carried in the main-deck battery,
+which was some 10ft. high. The 25-ton guns had a right-ahead training.
+
+After completion she served as Mediterranean flagship, though at the
+bombardment of Alexandria the flag was transferred to the _Invincible_,
+which, being of lighter draught, was able to enter the inner harbour.
+At a later date (about 1890) she was “partially reconstructed.” For her
+original barque rig a three-masted military rig was substituted, and
+six 4-inch Q.F. were mounted on top of her upper deck battery. She has
+been described as the apotheosis of Reed broadside ideas, and a very
+apotheosis she was. No broadside or central battery ironclad of the
+British or any other Navy ever equalled her, and she dropped out of the
+first rank only because the big gun rendered broadside ships entirely
+obsolete.
+
+
+_GUNS IN THE ERA._
+
+The principal guns (all M.L.R.) in the Reed Era were as follows:--
+
+  ======+=======+=========+==========+=========+=======+=========
+  Weight|Bore in| Length  |Weight of | Muzzle  |Muzzle | Penet’n
+    in  |inches.|   in    |Projectile|Velocity.|Energy.| Iron at
+  tons. |       |Calibres.|   lbs.   |  f.s.   | f.t.  +----+----
+        |       |         |          |         |       |yds.|yds.
+        |       |         |          |         |       |2000|1000
+  ------+-------+---------+----------+---------+-------+----+----
+  38    |  12.5 |  16     |    810   |   1575  | 13,930| 16 | 18
+  35    |  12   |  13½    |    707   |   1390  |   9470| 13 | 15
+  25    |  12   |  12     |    609   |   1288  |   7006| 11 | 12
+  25    |  11   |  12     |    544   |   1314  |   6560| 13 | 14
+  18    |  10   |  14½    |    406   |   1370  |   5360| 10 | 12
+  12½   |   9   |  14     |    253   |   1440  |   3695|  9 | 10
+   9    |   8   |  15     |    174   |   1384  |   2391|  7 |  8
+   6½   |   7   |  16     |    112   |   1325  |   1400|  6 |  7
+  ======+=======+=========+==========+=========+=======+====+====
+
+In the early part of the period Armstrong breech-loaders up to 120
+pounders had been in use, but the elementary breech blocks were so
+unsatisfactory that the Navy quickly discarded them, and adhered to
+muzzle-loaders long after all other Powers had given them up.
+
+The big muzzle loaders tabulated were of a very elementary type also.
+They were made by shrinking red hot wrought-iron collars over a steel
+tube; and it was never quite certain how far the interior would be
+affected. The projectiles never fitted accurately, with the result
+that there was considerable leakage of gas and very erratic firing.
+The rifling consisted of five or six grooves into which studs in the
+projectile fitted.
+
+In 1872 some experiments were carried out, the _Hotspur_ firing at
+the _Glatton’s_ turret at a range of 200 yards. The first shot missed
+altogether, the other two struck the turret, but not at the point aimed
+at. The turret was not appreciably damaged, though theoretically it
+should have been completely penetrated. This eventually led to the
+invention of an improved gas check--reference to which will be found at
+the end of the Barnaby Era.
+
+
+_UNARMOURED SHIPS OF THE ERA._
+
+Contemporaneously with the _Hercules_ the _Inconstant_ was designed.
+She was inspired by the United States _Wampanoag_, a type of large,
+fast, unprotected, heavily-gunned frigate, to which the Americans
+had always been partial. The _Wampanoag_, as a matter of fact, never
+reached expectations, whereas the _Inconstant_ was a decided success so
+far as she went. She marked, so far as the British Navy was concerned,
+the first appearance of the theory that speed and gun power--in other
+words, “the offensive”--might be developed advantageously, at the
+cost of defensive arrangements, a theory which still survives in the
+“battle-cruisers” of to-day, though of course in a very modified form.
+None the less, the _Inconstant_ represents the germ idea of our present
+battle-cruisers, and is supremely important on that account.
+
+Particulars of the _Inconstant_ were:--
+
+    Displacement--5,780 tons.
+
+    Length (between perpendiculars)--337⅓ ft.
+
+    Beam--50¼ft.
+
+    Draught (mean)--25½ft.
+
+    Guns--Ten 12½ ton M.L.R., six 6½ ton M.L.R.
+
+    H.P.--7,360 = 16 knots (trial 16.2).
+
+    Speed--Sixteen knots (trial 16.2).
+
+    Built at Pembroke Dockyard. Completed for sea 1868 at a cost of
+      £213,324. She had an iron hull, wood-sheathed and coppered. A
+      coal supply of 750 tons gave a nominal radius of 2780 miles. She
+      was ship-rigged and sailed well.
+
+She was followed by a couple of variants on her, the _Raleigh_ and
+_Shah_, the former 5,200 tons and the latter 6,250 tons.
+
+The _Shah_ was originally named the _Blonde_, but rechristened out of
+compliment to the Shah of Persia, who was visiting England at the time
+of her launch.
+
+At a later stage in her career (1877) the _Shah_, then flagship on
+the S.W. Coast of America, fought a much-criticised action with the
+Peruvian turret-ship _Huascar_, a Laird-built monitor, carrying a
+couple of 12½ ton guns, launched in 1865, and generally of the same
+type (though smaller) as the British _Hotspur_ and _Rupert_.
+
+The _Huascar_ had been seized by the Revolutionists and practically
+turned into a pirate ship. In attacking her the British Admiral de
+Horsey gave hostages to fortune, seeing that it was an axiom of those
+days that an unarmoured ship was helpless against an ironclad monitor.
+He had, however, no alternative.
+
+As things turned out, the _Huascar_ never succeeded in hitting either
+the _Shah_, or the _Amethyst_ which accompanied her, while the British
+flagship, having a speed advantage, the efforts of the _Huascar_ to ram
+her were futile. The _Huascar_ was hit about thirty times, and one man
+was killed on board her, but the damage done to the turret-ship was
+practically nil. The engagement is of further special interest as for
+the first time a torpedo was used from a big ship in action. The range,
+however, was too great and no hit was secured.
+
+During the night following the action an attempt was made to torpedo
+the _Huascar_ from the _Shah’s_ steam pinnace, but the enemy could
+not be found. Yet it is probable that the knowledge of the _Shah’s_
+torpedoes was the reason why Pierola surrendered the _Huascar_ next
+morning to the Peruvian fleet.
+
+It must have been abundantly clear to him that he had next to nothing
+to fear from the British gun-fire, while a single water-line hit from
+him would probably have put the _Shah_ entirely at his mercy, save in
+so far as her torpedoes might make attempts to ram fatal to him.
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+A SHORT GLOSSARY OF COMMON NAVAL TERMS.
+
+
+=ABAFT.=--Behind or towards the stern of the vessel. Thus one would say
+that the aftermost turret guns in any ship are “abaft” the mainmast.
+
+=ABEAM.=--On the side of a vessel amidships. To say an object is abeam
+(or on the beam) means that its bearing by compass is at right angles
+to the vessel’s course.
+
+=ADMIRALTY, BOARD OF.=--That department of State which is responsible
+for the proper constitution, maintenance, disposition, and direction of
+the Fleet in its material and personal elements, executing the duties
+formerly charged upon the Lord High Admiral; it is presided over by the
+First Lord (a Cabinet Minister) and consists of Naval Officers--the Sea
+Lords--and Civil Officials.
+
+=AHEAD.=--In advance--an object is said to be ahead of the ship when
+its compass bearing is nearly the same as the vessel’s course.
+
+=AHEAD FIRE.=--The discharge of guns along the line of the keel
+directly ahead of the vessel.
+
+=AMIDSHIPS.=--Generally speaking, in the middle portion of a vessel.
+The point of intersection of two lines--one drawn from stem to stern,
+the other across the beam (or widest part)--is the actual “midships.”
+
+=ANCHOR.=--A ship carries several distinct kinds of anchor: the bowers,
+which are always used for anchoring or mooring the ship; the sheet
+anchor, as an auxiliary to the bowers; the stream and kedge anchors,
+which can be used for special purposes.
+
+=ANTI-TORPEDO ARMAMENT.=--Those guns in a ship which are specially
+mounted for repelling attack by torpedo craft.
+
+=ARC OF FIRE.=--That sector of a circle through which a gun can be
+moved or trained for effective practice.
+
+=ARMAMENT.=--The weapons of offence with which a ship is armed,
+including guns and torpedo tubes.
+
+=ARMOUR.=--Any effective covering which protects a ship. The following
+specify a few main features of armour protection:--
+
+    1. =Armour Belt.=--The vertical belt of armour which forms
+          the citadel or fortress of a ship, and may extend right
+          forward to the bows and right aft the stern.
+
+    2. =Side Armour.=--Vertical armour placed on the exterior of
+          a ship, being both the belt and additional thereto.
+
+    3. =Armoured Deck.=--A curved steel deck protecting the
+          engine room and other vital portions of a ship inside the
+          citadel. A ship may have as many as three armoured decks.
+
+    4. =Armour Backing.=--A thick layer of teak which acts as a
+          cushion behind the armour and to which it is secured.
+
+    5. =Bulkhead Armour.=--Vertical armour in the interior of
+          the ship, placed across it from side to side.
+
+=ASTERN.=--The opposite to ahead.
+
+=ASTERN FIRE.=--The discharge of guns along the line of the keel
+directly astern of a vessel.
+
+=ATHWARTSHIPS.=--At right angles to the keel.
+
+=AUXILIARY.=--A ship--not necessarily a fighting ship--which forms
+a component part of a Fleet. These include Repair vessels, Hospital
+ships, Depôt, Submarine and Destroyer Mother-ships, Colliers, etc.
+
+=AUXILIARY ENGINES.=--The machinery employed for boat-hoisting,
+pumping, electric lighting, refrigerating, ventilating, and other
+purposes on board ships.
+
+=BACKSTAYS.=--Ropes stretched from a mast or topmast head to the sides
+of a vessel--some way abaft the mast--to give support to the mast and
+prevent it going forward.
+
+=BALLAST.=--Weighty material placed in the bottom of a ship to give her
+“stiffness”; that is, to increase her tendency to return to the upright
+position when inclined or heeled over by the force of the wind or other
+cause.
+
+=BALLISTICS.=--That branch of science particularly devoted to the
+theory of gunnery.
+
+=BARBETTE.=--The steel platform or mounting on which a power-worked gun
+rests and within which it revolves.
+
+=BARGE.=--A general term given to flat-bottomed boats. The _Admiral’s_
+(or _Captain’s_) Barge is usually a special steamboat belonging to a
+warship reserved for the use of the Admiral or Captain.
+
+=BATTEN.=--Long strips of wood used for various purposes.
+
+    =To batten down.=--To cover up and fix down, usually spoken
+          of hatches when they are covered over in rough weather.
+
+=BATTERY.=--That portion of a ship’s armament inside the citadel. The
+entire armament is frequently spoken of as a “battery.”
+
+=BATTLE CRUISER.=--A vessel combining the speed and other essential
+qualities of a cruiser with an armament and protection sufficient
+to enable her to take her place in the fighting-line beside the
+battleships.
+
+=BATTLE PRACTICE.=--An annual practice carried out in the Navy, to test
+the battle or fighting efficiency of the component parts of a ship’s
+armament.
+
+=BATTLESHIP.=--A ship specially designed to take and give the hard
+knocks of a Fleet action.
+
+=BEAK.=--The extreme fore part of a vessel.
+
+=BEAM.=--The widest measurement across a ship.
+
+=BEARINGS.=--This word properly belongs to the art of navigation, in
+which it signifies the direction (by compass) in which an object is
+seen.
+
+=BEFORE.=--Forward or in front of; the opposite to abaft.
+
+=BERTHON BOAT.=--A collapsible boat used in destroyers and small craft.
+
+=BETWEEN DECKS.=--In a vessel of more than one deck, to be between the
+upper and the lower.
+
+=BINNACLE.=--The fixed case and stand in which the compass in any
+vessel is placed.
+
+=BLOCKADE.=--So to besiege a port that no communication can take place
+from seaward.
+
+=BLUE PETER.=--A square blue flag with a square white centre, hoisted
+to denote that a vessel is about to sail and that all persons concerned
+must repair on board immediately (the letter “P” in the international
+flag signal code.)
+
+=BOOM.=--A boom is a pole extending outboard--i.e., away from the sides
+of a vessel.
+
+    =Lower and Quarter Booms.=--Booms, conveniently placed, to
+          which boats can make fast.
+
+=BORE.=--The interior diameter of a gun at the muzzle; also the name
+given to the interior of a gun. Also a word used to express a sudden
+rise of the tide in certain estuaries as in the Severn.
+
+    =To bore.=--When down by the head a ship is said to “bore.”
+
+=BOTTOMRY.=--The hull of a ship pledged as security for a loan.
+
+=BOWS.=--A term indicating those portions of a vessel immediately on
+either side of her stem (q.v.). Differentiated in association with the
+terms “Port” or “Starboard.”
+
+=BOWSPRIT.=--A pole of “sprit” projecting forward from the stem of the
+ship.
+
+=BOX THE COMPASS.=--To name the points of the compass in regular order,
+i.e., in the direction taken by the hands of the clock.
+
+=BREAKWATER.=--An artificial wall or bank, set up either outside a
+harbour or along the coast, to break the violence of the sea and so
+create a smooth shelter.
+
+=BREECH.=--The end of the gun into which the projectile and cartridge
+are inserted when loading.
+
+=BREECH-BLOCK.=--A heavy steel block which seals the breech when the
+gun is loaded.
+
+=BREECH-LOADER= (=B.L.=)--Formerly a gun which was loaded at the
+breech end as opposed to a muzzle-loader. Now used to denote a gun the
+cartridge of which is not contained in a metal cylinder.
+
+=BROADSIDE.=--The number of guns which can be brought to bear on one
+side of, or the total weight of metal which can be fired at once from
+either side of a ship.
+
+=BULKHEAD.=--A structure, transverse or longitudinal, dividing the
+interior of a ship into compartments.
+
+=BURDEN.=--The capacity of a vessel, as 100 tons burden, etc.
+
+=BURGEE.=--Properly a flag ending in a swallow-tail. Yacht clubs’
+burgees are frequently “pennants” which are flags ending in a point.
+
+=CADET, NAVAL.=--A youth who is under training to become a commissioned
+officer in the Navy.
+
+=CAISSON.=--A hollow, watertight vessel which can be raised or sunk by
+compressed air or water, and which is used when building foundations
+under water; or, specifically a lock gate used for closing the entrance
+to dry docks.
+
+=CAISSON DISEASE.=--A disease to which divers are subject.
+
+=CALIBRE.=--The calibre of a gun is the diameter of the bore (q.v.).
+This diameter is used as a unit of measurement. Thus, a 50-calibre
+12-in. gun is a 12-in. gun which is 50 ft. long, etc.
+
+=CAMEL.=--A hollow tank or vessel filled with water and placed under
+the hull of a stranded ship. When well secured, the water it contains
+is pumped out, and the buoyancy thus created helps to lift the ship to
+which it is attached.
+
+=CAPITAL-SHIP.=--A general term for all warships of such high standard
+in fighting capacity as would enable them to take part in a Fleet
+action.
+
+=CAREEN.=--To heel a ship or make her lie over on one side.
+
+=CASEMATE.=--An armoured gun-emplacement in the side of a ship.
+
+=CATAMARAN.=--Properly a species of sailing craft used in the Indies.
+The heavy wooden rafts which are used to protect the ship’s side when
+she is lying alongside a dockyard wall.
+
+=CAULKING.=--The operation performed in making the sides or wooden
+decks of a ship watertight.
+
+=CLASS.=--A ship is said to belong to a certain “class” when there are
+others identical in appearance or design.
+
+=CLEARING.=--The passing of a vessel through the Customs after she has
+visited a foreign port.
+
+=COAMING.=--A raised edge of iron or wood placed round a hatchway to
+prevent water from washing below.
+
+=COASTAL-DESTROYER.=--A large torpedo-boat not considered sufficiently
+strong structurally to do more than coastal work.
+
+=COASTGUARD.=--A semi-naval organisation of seamen, mostly living along
+the shores of the United Kingdom intended originally for the prevention
+of smuggling, but now converted into a force for the defence of the
+coast or to assist wrecks.
+
+=COMMISSION.=-A ship is said to be commissioned when she is manned for
+service in the fleet.
+
+    A =commission=, the length of time the crew remain in a
+          ship; the order by which a person becomes an officer.
+
+=COMMODORE.=--A Naval Captain specially appointed to take command as
+such of a squadron of war vessels, or perform some special duty not
+assigned to an officer of flag rank.
+
+=COMPLEMENT.=--The total number of officers and men forming the crew of
+a ship.
+
+=COMPOSITE BATTERY.=--A battery consisting of more than one type of gun.
+
+=CON.=--To direct the steering of a vessel.
+
+=CONNING-TOWER.=--An armoured compartment in a ship from which she can
+be steered, or the gun-fire in an action controlled if necessary. A
+ship may have more than one conning-tower.
+
+=CONTINUOUS VOYAGE, DOCTRINE OF.=--The doctrine or principle which
+enables contraband of war to be captured when consigned to a neutral
+port, but intended for a belligerent.
+
+=CONTRABAND.=--Munitions of war or other goods which are prohibited
+entry into a belligerent State.
+
+    (_a_) Absolute Contraband, material which is always contraband.
+
+    (_b_) Conditional Contraband, material which may be declared
+          contraband.
+
+=CONTROL STATION.=--A platform whence range-finding instruments are
+managed, or from which the gunnery officers of a ship control gun-fire
+in an action.
+
+=CONVERSION OF MERCHANTMEN.= The right or practice of converting
+merchant vessels into warships on the high seas or in neutral ports.
+
+=CONVOY.=--A number of merchant steamers crossing the ocean under the
+protection of warships.
+
+=CORDITE.=--The explosive used in guns for discharging projectiles.
+
+=COUNTER.=--That portion of a vessel which overhangs the keel towards
+the stern (q.v.).
+
+=COUNTER MINING.=--To lay out and explode mines in the vicinity of
+hostile ones, in order to destroy them by percussion.
+
+=CRANK.=--A vessel is said to be crank when she lists over easily.
+
+=CRUISER.=--A warship of high speed, usually employed in scouting,
+commerce protection, and special service. They fall into various
+categories:--
+
+    (_a_) Armoured Cruiser, a vessel having vertical external
+          armour. See also “Battle-Cruiser.”
+
+    (_b_) Light Cruiser, a vessel with deck protection only; or, if
+          armoured, of but small size and with a thin belt.
+
+    (_c_) Unprotected Cruiser, a cruising vessel having no armour;
+          included in the Light Cruiser class.
+
+=CRUISING SPEED.=--The most economical speed from the point of view of
+fuel consumption at which a ship can travel.
+
+=DEMURRAGE.=--Compensation paid to the owner of a vessel when she has
+been detained longer than her time for unloading.
+
+=DERELICT.=--A ship whose crew have abandoned her when at sea.
+
+=DESTROYER.=--A large type of torpedo-boat originally intended to
+destroy such craft by gun-fire--now, with submarines, the chief medium
+for torpedo-attack.
+
+=DEVIATION OF THE COMPASS.=--The amount of the variation of a ship’s
+compass from the true magnetic meridian, caused by the proximity of
+iron.
+
+=DIRECTOR TOWER.=--An armoured compartment in a ship whence torpedoes
+are fired.
+
+=DISPLACEMENT.=--The weight of water a ship displaces when floating.
+
+    =Normal Displacement.=--The weight of water a ship displaces
+          when she has her normal amount of stores, etc., on board.
+
+=DOCK.=--A place in which a ship may be placed for repair or loading
+and unloading. See “Floating Dock” and “Graving Dock.”
+
+=DOCKYARD.=--The works, etc., where ships are built or repairs can be
+carried out. In the Government dockyards ships are commissioned and
+supplied with stores, ammunition, coal, etc.
+
+=DRAUGHT.=--The vertical distance between the lowest portion of the
+keel and the water line.
+
+“=DREADNOUGHT.=”--Battleships and cruisers evoked by H.M.S.
+=Dreadnought=, which was the first ship to be armed with one type of
+big gun. “A.B.G. ships”--All-big-gun-ships.
+
+=“DREADNOUGHT” CRUISERS.=--Cruisers derived from the principle of
+design of H.M.S. _Dreadnought_, now called Battle Cruisers (q.v.).
+
+=ECHELON.=--Guns are said to be mounted =en echelon= when they are not
+mounted symmetrically but are placed diagonally athwart-ship.
+
+=ENGINES.=--The reciprocating, turbine, or internal-combustion
+machinery for propelling vessels.
+
+=ENSIGN.=--(Usually pronounced “ens’n.”) The flag carried by a ship as
+the insignia of her nationality or the nature of her duties.
+
+=ESTIMATES.=--The annual estimate or expenditure on the Royal Navy for
+its administration, personnel, and for the upkeep or building of new
+vessels.
+
+=FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY=--The Cabinet Minister who presides over
+the Board of Admiralty. See “Admiralty.”
+
+=FIRST SEA LORD.=--The Senior =Naval Officer= serving on the Board of
+Admiralty.
+
+=FLARE.=--The over-hang of the upper part of a ship’s sides beneath
+the forecastle. The peculiar outward and upward curve in the form of a
+vessel’s bow. When it hangs over she is said to have a “Flaring Bow.”
+
+=FLEET.=--A number of vessels in company, be they war or other vessels.
+
+=FLEET IN BEING.=--An inferior naval force, capable of action and
+influencing or impeding the operations of an enemy.
+
+=FLEET RESERVE.=--Short-service men who have left continuous service,
+but are liable to be called upon in case of war.
+
+=FLEET-UNIT.=--A vessel fit to form a unit in a fleet.
+
+=FLOATING DOCK.=--An oblong floating structure in which a ship may be
+placed, and out of which the water may be pumped, bringing her above
+water-level, so that the bottom of the ship can be repaired, etc.; they
+have usually no motive power.
+
+=FLOTTENVEREIN.=--The German Navy League.
+
+=FLUSH DECK.=--A deck having neither raised nor sunken part, so that it
+runs continuously from stem to stern.
+
+=FORE AND AFT.=--In the direction of a line drawn from stem to stern of
+a vessel--at right angles to athwartships.
+
+=FORWARD.=--In front of--the forepart, in the vicinity of the bows of a
+vessel.
+
+=GRAVING DOCK.=--A dock excavated out of the land into which entry is
+made from seaward.
+
+=GUN.=--A weapon used for firing shot or shell. See “Breech-loader” and
+“Q.F. Gun.”
+
+=GUNBOAT.=--A small type of slow cruiser armed with light guns,
+specially adapted for harbour or river service.
+
+=GUN-COTTON.=--A high explosive used in torpedoes and submarine mines,
+etc.
+
+    =Wet Gun-Cotton.=--Gun-Cotton with a certain percentage of
+          moisture in it; it is useless as an explosive unless dry
+          gun-cotton is present to detonate it.
+
+=GUNLAYER.=--A man specially qualified to train (lay) and fire a gun.
+
+    =Gunlayers’ Test.=--An annual practice carried out in
+          every ship to test the efficiency of the gun-layers
+          individually.
+
+=GUN-POWER.=--The fighting efficiency of a ship expressed in the total
+weight of metal capable of being discharged in a single broadside or a
+specified period of time.
+
+=HALYARD.=--A rope with which a sail, flag, or yard is hoisted.
+
+=HARVEYISED.=--Armour made by the “Harvey” process. Now obsolete.
+
+=HATCH, HATCHWAY.=--An opening in the deck of a ship through which
+persons or cargo may descend or be lowered.
+
+=HEAVY GUN.=--Any gun greater than and including a 4-in. Q.F. or B.L.
+
+=HOG.=--When a vessel has a tendency to droop at her ends she is said
+to hog.
+
+=HORNPIPE.=--The dance once popular among the sailors of the British
+Navy and still sometimes performed at festive times.
+
+=HOSPITAL SHIP.=--An auxiliary vessel specially designed for the
+reception of sick and wounded men; by nature of her duties and under
+rules of International Law she is immune from attack.
+
+=HULL.=--The body, framework, and plating of a vessel.
+
+=HURRICANE DECK.=--In large steamships a light upper deck extending
+across the vessel amidships.
+
+=HYDRO-AEROPLANE.=--A seaplane. (q.v.)
+
+=HYDROPLANE.=--A type of boat the flattened keel of which is so
+constructed that, after a certain speed has been attained, the hull
+rises in the water and skims lightly over the surface, thus driving
+forward _above_ rather than _through_ the water. The hydroplane
+=cannot= rise into the air and fly.
+
+=IDLERS.=--Those, being liable to constant duty by day, who are not
+required to keep the night watches, such as carpenters, sail-makers,
+etc., also called “Daymen.”
+
+=JACK-STAFF.=--A flagpole for flying the Union Jack, invariably at the
+bows of the ship.
+
+=KEEL.=--That portion of a ship running fore and aft in the middle of a
+ship’s bottom.
+
+=KEEL-PLATE.=--The lowest plate of all in the keel; this plate is the
+first to be laid down when building is commenced.
+
+=KNOT.=--The unit of speed for ships. A ship is said to be going =x=
+knots, when she is going =x= sea (or nautical) miles in one hour. One
+sea mile = 6,080 ft.
+
+    N.B.--The word =knot= should never be used to indicate distance.
+
+=KRUPP STEEL.=--Steel hardened by a special process discovered and
+applied at Essen.
+
+=LABOUR.=--When a vessel pitches or strains in a heavy sea she is said
+to “labour.”
+
+=LANDLOCKED.=--Sheltered on all sides by the land.
+
+=LARBOARD.=--The old term for port. (q.v.)
+
+=LATITUDE.=--Distance north or south of the equator, expressed in
+degrees.
+
+=LAUNCH.=--To place a ship in the water for the first time.
+
+=LAY DOWN.=--To commence building a ship.
+
+=LEE.=--Or Leeward (pronounced Loo’ard). The side of a vessel opposite
+to that upon which the wind blows.
+
+=LIGHTER.=--A powerful hull or barge with a flat bottom, used for
+transporting heavy goods, such as coal, ammunition, etc.
+
+=LIST.=--A vessel is said to have a list if she heeled temporarily or
+permanently to one side.
+
+=LOG.=--The instrument used to measure a vessel’s speed through the
+water. Also the ship’s daily journal.
+
+=LONGITUDE.=--Distance east or west of a first meridian, expressed in
+degrees.
+
+=MAGAZINE.=--The place on board ship or on shore where ammunition is
+stored.
+
+=MAN.=--To place the right complement of men in a ship or boat to work
+her.
+
+=MARINE.=--A soldier specially trained for sea service. “Soldier and
+sailor too.”
+
+=MAST.=--The tall structure in a ship formerly for the carrying of
+sail, but now carrying control stations, fighting tops, and wireless
+telegraphy apparatus.
+
+=MASTER.=--The Captain of a merchant vessel who holds a master’s or
+extra master’s certificate.
+
+=MINE.=--A weapon of war which is placed in the sea by the enemy, and
+explodes on a ship striking it; or can be fired from the shore or ship
+by means of an electric current.
+
+=MINEFIELD.=--A space near a harbour specially devoted to mining
+operations.
+
+=MINE-LAYER.=--A ship specially fitted to lay mines out.
+
+=MINE-SWEEPER.=--A ship whose duty it is to discover and destroy the
+enemy’s mines in order to leave a clear passage for friendly craft.
+
+=MOLE.=--A stone break-water or sea-wall.
+
+=MOOR.=--To anchor a ship with two anchors.
+
+=MOTHER-SHIP.=--A depot ship for torpedo craft, submarines, etc.,
+victualling and issuing stores to the crews of the vessels under her
+command controlled by her officers.
+
+=MUZZLE ENERGY.=--The force which is propelling the projectile when it
+leaves the gun.
+
+=MUZZLE VELOCITY.=--The speed at which a projectile is travelling when
+it leaves the gun.
+
+=NAUTICAL MILE.=--One sixtieth of a degree of latitude. It varies from
+6,046 ft. at the equator to 6,092 ft. in lat. 60° N. or S. The nautical
+mile for speed trials, generally called the Admiralty Measured Mile, =
+6,080 ft., 1.151 statute miles, 1,833 metres.
+
+=NAVIGATION.=--That branch of science which teaches the sailor to
+conduct his ship from place to place.
+
+=NAVY LEAGUE, THE.=--A strictly non-party organisation formed in
+January, 1895, with Admiral of the Fleet, Sir G. Phipps Hornby, G.C.B.,
+etc., as its first President, for the purpose of urging upon the
+Government and the electorate the paramount importance of a supreme
+Fleet as the best guarantee of peace.
+
+Its agencies are employed in all parts of the Empire spreading
+information on matters affecting the Royal Navy.
+
+=NUCLEUS CREW.=--The essential part of a crew of a ship such as the
+gun-layers, petty officers, etc. Some ships are manned by nucleus crews
+only, being completed to full strength in case of mobilisation. Such
+ships are sometimes colloquially known as “Nucoloid.”
+
+=OAKUM.=--The substance to which old ropes are reduced when unpicked.
+
+=OCEAN GOING DESTROYER.=--A large type of torpedo boat destroyer,
+specially designed for service in any wind or weather.
+
+=ORDNANCE.=--A general term applied to guns collectively, and to the
+Department concerned with them.
+
+=ORLOP DECK.=--The lowest deck in the ship.
+
+=PAY OFF.=--To end a “Commission.”
+
+=PENDANT OR PENNANT.=--A long, pointed flag.
+
+    =Paying-off Pennant.=--A long streamer hoisted at the mainmast
+          of a war vessel to denote she is “paying off.”
+
+=POOP.=--An extra deck on the after part of a vessel.
+
+=PORT.=--The left-hand side of the ship as you stand looking forward.
+
+=PRIMARY (or main) ARMAMENT.=--The largest guns mounted in a ship.
+
+=PRIZE.=--In war time, any vessel taken at sea from an enemy.
+
+=PROJECTED.=--A ship is said to be “projected” before keel plate is
+actually laid.
+
+=PROTECTIVE DECK.=--See “Armoured Deck.”
+
+=PROW.=--The beak or pointed cutwater of a ship.
+
+=Q.F. GUN.=--Quick-firing gun. A gun the cartridge of which is
+contained in a metal cylinder, as opposed to the B.L. gun.
+
+=QUARTERS.=--A term indicating those portions of a vessel immediately
+on either side of her stern (q.v.). Differentiated in association with
+the terms “Port” or “Starboard.” “Quarters” also designates the living
+space for the personnel and the stations of the crew when in action.
+
+=RAKE.=--The inclination of the mast (or funnels) from the
+perpendicular; the “rake” is very nearly always in a direction aft, but
+when the mast slants forward it is said to have a “Forward rake.”
+
+=RAKISH.=--Having a smart or fast appearance. (Applied to ships.)
+
+=RANGE.=--The distance in yards of the object fired at. The extreme
+range is the longest distance to which a projectile can be fired by any
+particular gun.
+
+=RANGE-FINDER.=--An instrument used for determining ranges.
+
+=RATE.=--The classification of a vessel for certain purposes.
+
+=RATLINES.=--Small lines crossing the shrouds of a ship and thus
+forming ladders.
+
+=REFIT.=--To place a ship in dockyard hands for overhauling her
+machinery, etc.
+
+=REPAIR SHOP.=--A Fleet auxiliary (q.v.) which is fitted with a
+foundry, etc. on board, and can carry out minor repair work.
+
+=RIBS.=--The timbers which form the skeleton of a ship or boat.
+
+=RICOCHET.=--A leap or bound such as a flat piece of stone makes when
+thrown obliquely along the surface of the water. Generally spoken
+of with reference to projectiles. A “_ricochet hit_” is made when a
+projectile hits the enemy or target after it has first struck the water.
+
+=RIG.=--The rig of a vessel is the manner in which her masts and sails
+are fitted to her hull.
+
+=RIGGING.=--The system of ropes in a vessel whereby the masts are
+supported and the sails hoisted. There are two kinds of rigging, viz.,
+standing rigging and running rigging, the latter term including all
+movable ropes.
+
+=ROLL.=--The oscillation of a vessel in a heavy sea.
+
+=SAG.=--A drooping or depression. A ship is said to sag when her centre
+tends to droop below the line joining her stem and stern; the opposite
+to hogging.
+
+=SALVO.=--A discharge of fire from several guns simultaneously.
+
+=SCOUT.=--A light, swift, protected cruiser specially adapted for
+scouting work.
+
+=SCREENING CRUISERS.=--Cruisers separated from the battle fleet to
+deceive the enemy as to the Fleet’s position.
+
+=SEAPLANE.=--The official naval designation of the Hydro-aeroplane
+which is a man-carrying apparatus equally capable of flight in the
+air and navigation on water. Also called Navyplane, Waterplane,
+Flying-Boat, Airboat.
+
+=SEARCH, RIGHT OF.=--The right to search neutral vessels for the
+discovery of contraband.
+
+=SECONDARY ARMAMENT.=--The guns which support the primary armament.
+
+=SHEET.=--The rope attached to a sail so that it can be “worked” as
+occasion demands.
+
+=SHROUDS.=--Strong ropes (generally wire) which support the mast
+laterally.
+
+=SLIP.=--The wooden “way” on which a ship is built.
+
+=SPEED TRIALS.=--Trials carried out periodically to test a vessel’s
+speed.
+
+=SQUADRON.=--A number of ships under command of a single officer.
+
+=STANCHION.=--An upright post supporting the deck above in a ship.
+
+=STARBOARD.=--The right-hand side of the ship as you stand looking
+forward.
+
+=STAYS.=--Strong ropes supporting spars and masts in a ship.
+
+=STEM.=--The “nose” or “cutwater” of any ship.
+
+=STERN.=--The aftermost part of a vessel.
+
+=STRAKE.=--A line of planking extending the length of a vessel.
+
+=STRATEGY.=--The disposition and handling of Squadrons or Fleets to
+dominate the forces of an enemy or control the time or place of an
+engagement. The broad disposition of naval forces.
+
+=SUBMARINE.=--A war-vessel the chief work of which is to operate below
+the surface.
+
+=SUBMERGED SPEED.=--The speed at which a submersible or submarine can
+travel under water.
+
+=SUBMERSIBLE.=--A vessel which can be made to dive but which generally
+navigates on the surface.
+
+=SUPERIMPOSED BARBETTES.=--Barbettes or turrets mounted behind and
+above other barbettes or turrets so that the guns in the first are
+enabled to fire over those in the second.
+
+=SURFACE SPEED.=--The speed at which a submersible or submarine can
+travel when navigating on the surface.
+
+=TACTICS.=--The handling and conduct of ships or squadrons in actual
+contact with an antagonist, or exercises for training for such
+engagements.
+
+=TENDER.=--A vessel attached to a parent ship.
+
+=TOP.=--A position or platform on the mast of a vessel. A fighting top
+in a top armed with light guns.
+
+=TOPHAMPER.=--The upper works of the ship, such as masts, funnels,
+bridges, cowls, etc.
+
+=TORPEDO.=--An engine of war which is discharged from a tube (submerged
+or above water) and which travels under water; it is loaded with a
+charge of gun-cotton which explodes on impact.
+
+=TORPEDO-BOAT.=--A vessel specially designed for attack on larger ships
+by means of torpedoes.
+
+=TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYER= (=T.B.D.=)--See “Destroyer.”
+
+=TORPEDO-NET.=--A steel wire net which is thrown over the side of a
+ship and held extended by means of booms; it hangs down about 20 to 30
+ft. below the surface, and acts as a defence against torpedoes.
+
+=TORPEDO TUBE.=--A tube from which torpedoes are ejected either by
+means of a small charge of gunpowder or compressed air.
+
+=TRAJECTORY.=--The line of flight of a projectile after leaving the gun.
+
+=TROUGH.=--The hollow between two waves.
+
+=TRUCK.=--The cap at the head of the mast or a flagstaff. It generally
+contains one or more holes for the reception of signal halyards.
+
+=TURRET.=--The revolving armoured structure in which big guns are
+mounted, including the turn-table, ammunition hoists, etc. See
+“Barbette.”
+
+=TWO-KEELS-TO-ONE-STANDARD.= The standard under which the British Fleet
+should be maintained at a strength, as against the next strongest
+Power, of two completed capital-ships to one.
+
+=TWO-POWER STANDARD.=--The standard which indicated that the British
+Fleet was equal in strength to the fleets of the two next strongest
+Powers. This standard has been abandoned.
+
+=WAIST.=--That portion of a ship on the upper deck between the
+forecastle and quarter deck.
+
+=WATER-TUBE BOILER.=--A boiler in which the water is contained in tubes
+round which the hot gases circulate.
+
+=WAY (Momentum).=--It is important to note the difference between this
+and the term “_weigh_,” the two being very often confounded. A vessel
+in motion is said to have “way” on her; and when she ceases to move to
+have “no way.” But a vessel under weigh in one not at anchor or secured
+to the shore.
+
+=WEATHER-SIDE.=--The side on which the wind blows.
+
+=WEEPING (or Sweating).=--Drops of water oozing through the sides of a
+vessel or caused by condensation on the surface of the beams, etc.
+
+=WEIGH.=--To lift the anchor from the ground.
+
+=WIRE-WOUND.=--All big British guns are made by winding miles of
+steel wire or ribbon round a tube over which the exterior tubes are
+afterwards shrunk.
+
+=YARD.=--A spar suspended to a mast for the purpose of hoisting or
+extending a sail, or to which signal halyards can be taken.
+
+
+           From “The Navy League Annual,” by the courtesy of
+                      Alan H. Burgoyne, Esq., M.P.
+
+
+Netherwood, Dalton & Co., Rashcliffe, Huddersfield.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+[1] All statements as to King Alfred’s navy are taken directly from the
+Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Asser, and Florence of Worcester.
+
+[2] An interpolated passage
+
+[3] Wace.
+
+[4] Guyot de Provins _ex_ Nicholas.
+
+[5] _ex_ Nicolas.
+
+[6] Henry VIII introduced a new form of warship in the “pinnaces,”
+which were, to a certain extent, analogous to the torpedo craft of
+to-day.
+
+[7] Records of the Drake family.
+
+[8] The italics are mine.--F.T.J.
+
+[9] So far as I am aware nothing about this appears in any official
+account. I have no Japanese confirmation, but accounts gleaned at the
+time from the Russian auxiliaries--who, being foreigners had no object
+in lying--make it perfectly clear to my mind that the Russian admirals
+believed that the Japanese were astern of them till they met them at
+Tsushima. It is the only logical explanation of why Rodjestvensky
+essayed the narrow passage with his best ships, when he could equally
+well have gone round Japan with them unopposed, and so secured at
+Vladivostok that refit of which he was so much in need.
+
+[10] It was badly weather-beaten, of course, and in sore straits on
+account of its lengthy voyage.
+
+[11] In 1620 the first submarine appeared. It was invented by a Dutch
+physician, C. Van Drebel; and James I went for a lengthy underwater
+trip in a larger replica.--See _Submarine Navigation_, by Alan H.
+Burgoyne.
+
+[12] In this connection, _see_ The First Dutch War, a few pages further
+on.
+
+[13] It is interesting to note that this particular argument, seemingly
+rather hyperbolical to-day on account of railways, is so _only if the
+hostile ships can be kept under observation_.
+
+[14] This practice appears to have been allowed to die out. At any rate
+it was re-introduced in the time of Queen Anne.
+
+[15] Admiral Colomb (_Naval Warfare_) traced the Dutch defeat--or
+perhaps one should write, “lack of advantage”--mainly to the fact
+that the Dutch had a larger mercantile marine to protect, and merely
+mentions incidentally the constant complaints of Van Tromp and others
+to the inferiority of Dutch warships compared to English ones. But
+since so many of the Dutch merchantmen carried very fair armaments,
+and as “tactics” played no part in this war, I prefer to accept the
+explanation of the Dutch Admirals, none of whom assigned failures
+to the more obvious excuse of being hampered by convoys. Dutch
+contemporary accounts of this and following wars appear generally to be
+nearer the actual truth than English ones.
+
+[16] Churnock, _ex_ Fincham.
+
+[17] Charles II always had an eye for and interest in improvements in
+detail, and himself invented new forms of hull, which, however, did not
+come up to his expectations. Both he and James wore devoted to yachting
+and steered their own boats.
+
+A singular defect of all the Stuarts in naval matters was their
+inability to appreciate the importance of the human as well as the
+material element. In the Cromwell régime, all the old abuses in
+connection with food, clothing and delayed pay, wore done away with; to
+re-appear, however, almost as bad as ever soon after the Restoration.
+
+[18] ENGLISH.
+
+  Ships                   62
+  Men                 27,725
+  Guns                 4,500
+  Frigates, etc.          23
+
+DUTCH.
+
+  Ships                   36
+  Men                 12,950
+  Guns                 2,494
+  Frigates, etc.          14
+
+
+[19] See Crimean War in a later chapter for a revival of this.
+
+[20] Fincham.
+
+[21] He was Master of the fleet at Beachy Head and also at Cape La
+Hogue.
+
+[22] The _Pembroke_ (sixty-four) captured by the French in 1710, in
+this war, had her armament reduced to fifty guns by them.
+
+[23] This extraordinary story of a soldier saving the fleet is made all
+the stranger by the fact that Sir Hovenden Walker, the Admiral, was a
+teetotaller and a vegetarian, an almost unheard of thing in those days.
+
+[24] Fincham.
+
+[25] See later references to Sir William White and Sir Philip Watts.
+
+[26] Their recklessness was such that Peter had to give orders that
+no Swedish ship was to be boarded unless the superior officers were
+killed. Swedish captains, attacked by superior forces, made a regular
+practice of allowing themselves to be boarded and then blowing up their
+ships!
+
+[27] Colomb.
+
+[28] For a very full and detailed account see Chapter XV. of Colomb’s
+_Naval Warfare_.
+
+[29] The treasure ship was well armed and did not hesitate to engage
+him. Anson’s success was in some considerable measure attributable to
+the fact that not having enough men for the broadside firing of the
+period, he ordered independent firing. It was the Spanish custom to
+lie down as the enemy fired a broadside, then jump up and fire back.
+Anson’s independent firing caused much unexpected slaughter on them.
+This rule of “broadsides” compares interestingly with the salvo firing
+of the present day.
+
+[30] See earlier reference to the same thing in Raleigh’s time.
+
+[31] Is the well-known _Royal George_, which capsized at Spithead, in
+1782.
+
+[32] Admiral Mahan (_Influence of Sea Power upon History_, p. 286)
+shows how Byng’s dread of anything unconventional in the way of tactics
+led to the action being indecisive.
+
+[33] Time after time, hostile ships, having had enough of it, passed
+away ahead and escaped, because to have pressed them would have
+“disorganised the line.”
+
+[34] Our own naval manœuvres in recent years have seen more than one
+disaster from the change of a rendezvous.
+
+[35] While this battle of Quiberon was in progress, people in England
+were burning Hawke in effigy for having allowed the French fleet to
+escape!
+
+[36] This appears to be the solitary instance in French history in
+which a use of the fleet on English lines was ever contemplated.
+
+[37] Admiral Mahan (_Influence of Sea Power upon History_) has quoted
+at length (p. 380) from French authorities to show that only the action
+of the captain of the _Destin_ (74), in hurrying to block the gap,
+prevented Rodney from getting through the line on this occasion.
+
+[38] I draw this from Mahan (_Influence of Sea Power upon History_)
+(page 494). Fincham specifically mentions (p. 107) the introduction of
+carronades _ten_ years later.
+
+[39] Fincham _ex_ Campbell.
+
+[40] The fire-ship grew to be less and less of a menace owing to the
+improved handiness of warships.
+
+[41] Here again see Raleigh on Elizabethan Customs.
+
+[42] By the burning of the bulk of the ships in Toulon, the French
+Toulon fleet was rendered non-existent; but the state of affairs with
+that fleet was such that its fighting value had long been a cypher.
+
+[43] In order to bring the enemy to action, Howe formed a detached
+squadron of his faster ships. Hannay (_Ships and Men_) extols him
+because, in this and certain other movements in the battle, he reverted
+to the tactics of Monk and other Commonwealth admirals, and threw aside
+the conventional practice of his own day.
+
+[44] For two opposite views of this particular incident, see Admiral
+Mahan’s _Influence of Sea Power on the French Revolution_, and Chapter
+X. of Brassey, 1894.
+
+[45] The preservation of an orderly line throughout the battle.
+
+[46] The story of this ship going down firing, her crew crying _Vive
+la Republique_, is pure fiction. She surrendered after a very gallant
+fight, and sank with an English flag flying.
+
+[47] Seeing that, had Howe sunk the grain convoy and then been totally
+destroyed himself, the Revolution would still have come to nothing from
+starvation, this French view of the matter is intelligible enough and
+also very reasonable.
+
+[48] It was in connection with this engagement that Nelson wrote, “Had
+I commanded our fleet on the 14th, either the whole of the French fleet
+would have graced my triumph, or I should have been in a confounded
+scrape.” Also, commenting on Hotham’s, “We must be contented, we have
+done very well”--“Now, had we taken ten sail and allowed the eleventh
+to escape, when it had been possible to have got at her, I could never
+have called it well done.”
+
+[49] _Nelson_, by J. K. Laughton.
+
+[50] _The British Tar in Fact and Fiction._
+
+[51] The title of “delegates” seems quaintly enough to have led
+Parker and his friends into trouble. The men got hold of the word as
+“_delicates_,” and interpreted it more or less literally as a claim to
+superiority.
+
+[52] For a very interesting detailed account, see _Ships and Men_, by
+David Hannay.
+
+[53] Fincham.
+
+[54] Troude.
+
+[55] He, at the same time, sent a private message to Nelson that if
+he wished to continue, he was at liberty to do so. The telescope to
+his blind eye was merely a little jest on Nelson’s part, and in no way
+disobedience of orders. Parker’s whole object in making the signal to
+withdraw was to intimate to Nelson that if he deemed himself defeated,
+he (Parker) would accept responsibility.
+
+[56] Paul had just been murdered, and Alexander changed his policy.
+
+[57] Compare with the similar delay of the Spanish Armada.
+
+[58] Actually never exceeded 93,000.--_Campaign of Trafalgar._--Corbett.
+
+[59] Six was sometimes twelve, sometimes longer periods still. The most
+reasonable explanation is that Napoleon’s _real_ intentions were to use
+the army to invade England, if luck and chance threw the opportunity in
+his way; but otherwise to use it only as a threat.
+
+[60] It was here that he recorded in his diary that he went on shore on
+July 20th--the first time for close on two years!
+
+[61] His orders were to go to Brest; but having been frightened by some
+purely mythical news of a British fleet of twenty-five sail (sent him
+_via_ a neutral ship), he went to Cadiz. As, had he got to Brest, he
+would have found Cornwallis with thirty-five ships of the line, this
+piece of precaution (which incidentally led to Trafalgar) saved him for
+a while.
+
+[62] Rodjestvensky, seeking to inspire the Baltic fleet on its way to
+Tsushima, is a close modern parallel.
+
+[63] _The British Tar in Fact and Fiction_, Commander Robinson, R.N.
+
+[64] _Vide_ Anson’s boat’s crew in his trip up to Canton. Some captains
+spent a good deal of money in providing white shirts for their boat’s
+crews. Others indulged in purely fanciful attires.
+
+[65] A year or two ago a famous Royal Academy picture showed a fleet of
+Dreadnoughts cruising at sea with the steam trial water tanks on board!
+
+[66] To wear the smartest possible clothes on coming up for punishment
+was invariable routine. It was hoped that a smart appearance would
+mitigate the captain’s wrath.--_Vide_, _Sea Life in Nelson’s Time_,
+John Masefield.
+
+[67] To this day the British bluejacket calls himself a “matlo”--a
+corruption of the French matelot; so this pigtail introduction theory
+may be correct enough.
+
+[68] See Food, a page or so further on.
+
+[69] The curious, who wander into the by-lanes off Queen Street,
+Portsea, will still find heavy iron gates in places. Inside these gates
+those anxious to escape the press-gangs used to take refuge.
+
+[70] The “bounty” offered, however, was a decided inducement. Cases of
+bounties as high as £70 can be found.
+
+[71] _The British Tar in Fact and Fiction._
+
+[72] There are West Country villages to-day in which, to my own
+knowledge, one pound of meat a week is an outside estimate of what is
+eaten per head.
+
+[73] There were those who accepted weevils in ship’s biscuits as mites
+in Gorgonzola cheese are accepted to-day! Unpalatable as ship’s biscuit
+is, there is a certain acquired taste about it. In the later nineties
+I have frequently seen it handed round as a species of dessert in the
+wardroom, every senior officer taking some and enjoying it. In the
+1890 manœuvres the wardroom officers of “C fleet” did three weeks on
+“ships” only, in quite a casual way, though the quality even then left
+something to be desired.
+
+[74] They began at 4s. a day, working up to 11s. a day after six years,
+and 18s. a day at twenty years’ service, which few ever reached.
+
+[75] For extremely detailed accounts of surgery in action see _Sea Life
+in Nelson’s Times_, John Masefield.
+
+[76] A form of this rule exists to-day. A man wounded in action is not
+now mulcted; but a man who tumbles down a hatchway and breaks his leg
+has to suffer “hospital stoppages,” and “pay for his own cure,” to a
+certain extent.
+
+[77] Commander Robinson, R.N., in _The British Tar in Fact and
+Fiction_, seems to have got nearer the true picture than those who have
+painted things in darker and more lurid colours. He is practically the
+only writer upon the subject who has realised that many old yarns are
+capable of being discounted.
+
+[78] It is only fair to the Hebrew race to say that “Jew” was a generic
+term for a special type of person who grew rich on advancing money
+to sailors and selling them shoddy articles at ridiculously enhanced
+prices. Quite a large number of them were not of the Jewish race.
+
+[79] To-day this is flown at the bow only when a ship is at anchor.
+
+[80] At Trafalgar, the _Victory_, as she bore down, suffered heavily
+from the shot that penetrated her thin forward bulkhead.
+
+[81] _Ex_ Fincham, where the report is given in full.
+
+[82] The mail packet service was under the Admiralty in those days.
+
+[83] The seventy-three ton iron steamboat _Ruby_.
+
+[84] The Lord Armstrong, founder of Elswick, etc.
+
+[85] The italics are mine.--F.T.J.
+
+[86] My italics. In the Germany of to-day (May, 1915), exactly the same
+style of argument is being advanced.
+
+[87] c.f. the Dardanelles in May, 1915.
+
+[88] Subsequently Sir E. J. Reed, Chief Constructor.
+
+[89] c.f. Views expressed about Dreadnoughts, for another reason in the
+present year (1915).
+
+[90] From _Naval Development of the Century_, by Sir N. Barnaby, K.C.B.
+
+[91] The _Warrior_ now forms part of the _Vernon_ Establishment at
+Portsmouth.
+
+[92] _Our Ironclad Ships_, by (Sir) E. J. Reed. Sir N. Barnaby in
+_Naval Development of the Century_ gives 5,470 = 14.36 knots.
+
+[93] Apparently the first instance of the putting forward of a
+principle which later on profoundly affected construction.
+
+[94] In 1863, three ironclads, the _Lord Clyde_ and _Lord Warden_,
+of 7,840 tons, and a small ship, the _Pallas_, 3,660 tons, were
+constructed with wooden hulls, in order to use up the stores of timber
+which had been accumulated.--See p. 70, _Our Ironclad Ships_, by Sir
+E. J. Reed.
+
+[95] _Our Ironclad Ships_, by Sir E. J. Reed.
+
+[96] The American monitors all had conning towers; but British masted
+battleships were without them.
+
+[97] At a subsequent date, after he had left the Admiralty, he designed
+the _Independencia_ for Brazil. This ship, afterwards bought into
+the British Navy as the _Neptune_, was simply an enlarged _Monarch_.
+Probably, however, the general features of the ship were specified by
+the Brazilians.
+
+[98] The _Scorpion_ and _Wivern_, built for the Confederate States and
+bought in 1865. The Peruvian _Huascar_ also ante-dated the _Captain_ in
+design. All of these were low freeboard ships. Coles had something to
+do with the designs of all.
+
+[99] All the above ships had one or more tripod masts.
+
+[100] For two of these, 12½ ton M.L.R. were afterwards substituted.
+
+[101] Coles had projected 1,000 tons; but 500 was all that she could
+take.
+
+[102] She was then rolling from 12½ to 14 degrees.
+
+[103] The _Audacious_ herself was “modernised” in the later eighties.
+Her sailing rig was removed and a “military rig” substituted. Some
+minor changes in her lesser guns were also made.
+
+[104] _Our Ironclad Ships_, by Sir E. J. Reed.
+
+[105] _Ironclads in Action_, by H. W. Wilson.
+
+[106] The _Sultan_ was built as a ship-rigged ship. In 1894–96 she was
+“reconstructed,” two military masts being substituted for her original
+rig. She was also re-engined and re-boilered by Messrs. Thompson, of
+Clydebank. Beyond going out for the naval manœuvres one year she did
+not, however, perform any service in her altered condition, and is now
+used as a hulk.
+
+[107] Later on this was removed and an ordinary revolving turret,
+carrying _two_ 25 ton guns, substituted.
+
+[108] About the year 1890–2 _Devastation_ and _Thunderer_ were
+re-boilered and re-armed with 10-inch B.L.R.
+
+[109] c.f. Frontispiece to _Our Ironclad Ships_, E. J. Reed.
+
+[110] _Naval and Military Gazette._
+
+[111] She was about nine years from laying down to completion!
+
+
+
+
+Index.
+
+
+  Aboukir, Battle of, 152, v. i
+
+  Abuses, Naval, 65, v. i
+
+  Acquitaine, 11, v. i
+
+  Admiral Bacon’s Theory, 204, v. ii
+
+  Admiral Hopkins--Earliest Advocate of Centre-Line in England, 179, v.
+        ii
+
+  Aerial Bombs First Provided Against, 173, v. ii
+
+  Aerial Dreadnoughts, 171, v. ii
+
+  Aerial Experiments in Austria, 228, v. ii
+
+  Aerial Guns, 226, v. ii
+
+  Aeroplanes for Naval Purposes, 226, v. ii
+
+  Agreement with the Colonies, Naval, 237, v. ii
+
+  Aircraft, Possibilities of, 95, v. i
+
+  Aircraft, Potentialities in, 228, v. i
+
+  Alexander, 162, v. i
+
+  Alexandria, 163, v. i
+
+  Alfred the Great, 1, 14, v. i
+
+  Alfred, King, 60, 73, v. i
+
+  Algiers, 59, v. i
+
+  All-Big-Gun Ship Arguments, 143, v. ii
+
+  Alterations to “Lion,” 185, v. ii
+
+  Alternative “Dreadnought” Ideal, 165, v. ii
+
+  Alva, Duke of, 48, v. i
+
+  American Colonies Revolution, 124, v. i
+
+  American Frigates, 189, v. i
+
+  Americanising of British Naval Designs, 176, v. ii
+
+  American Monitors and Conning Towers, 272, v. i
+
+  American Monitors, limitations of, 292, v. i
+
+  American Navy, 189, v. i
+
+  American War, 189, v. i
+
+  Amiens, Peace of, 163, v. i
+
+  Anson, Commodore, 109, v. i
+
+  “Answer” British, to frégates blindées, 249, v. i
+
+  Antigua, 172, v. i
+
+  Antwerp, 183, v. i
+
+  Appreciation of Barnaby, 49, v. ii
+
+  Arch Duke Charles, 98, v. i
+
+  Archers, English, 27, v. i
+
+  Armada, Defeat of, 57, v. i
+
+  Armada, Delayed, 48, v. i
+
+  Armada, Force of, 49, v. i
+
+  Armada, Indifferent Gunnery of, 50, v. i
+
+  Armada, Real History of, 57, v. i
+
+  Armament, Ratio of Size, 95, v. i
+
+  Armed Neutrality, The, 161, v. i
+
+  Armour, 204, v. ii
+
+  Armoured Cruisers Re-appear, 101, v. ii
+
+  Armour Experiments at Woolwich, 219, v. i
+
+  Armoured Forecastles, 284, v. i
+
+  Armoured Scouts, 197, v. ii
+
+  Armstrong and Percussion Shell, 227, v. i
+
+  “Army of Invasion,” 170, v. i
+
+  Articles of War, 11, v. i
+
+  Artificial Ventilation, 225, v. i
+
+  Armstrong, Guns of, 241, v. i
+
+  Artillery, Superior, 229, v. i
+
+  Assize of Arms, The, 10, v. i
+
+  Athelston, 7, v. i
+
+  Australia, Navy of, 233, v. ii
+
+  Auxiliary Navies, 231, v. ii
+
+
+  Battle of Trafalgar, 177, v. i
+
+  Belle Island Captured, 122, v. i
+
+  Berwick Captured by French (1795), 138, v. i
+
+  Blockade, Scientific, First Instituted, 120, v. i
+
+  Blockade Work, 165, v. i
+
+  Bomb Dropping, 226, 228, v. ii
+
+  Bombs from Airships, 228, v. ii
+
+  Bomb Vessels Introduced, 87, v. i
+
+  Bonaparte (see Napoleon), 230, v. i
+
+  Bordelais Captured, 158, v. i
+
+  Boscawen, 120, v. i
+
+  Boswell, Invention of, 107, v. i
+
+  Bounty, 200, v. i
+
+  Bounty, Given by Henry VII, 36, v. i
+
+  Bounty to Seamen, 234, v. i
+
+  Bourbon, Isle of, Captured, 185, v. i
+
+  Box-Battery Ironclads, 318, v. i
+
+  Brading, Battle of, 5, v. i
+
+  Breaking the Line, First Attempt at, 128, v. i
+
+  Breaking the Line by Rodney, 129, v. i
+
+  Breastwork Monitors, 292, 307, 308, v. i
+
+  Breech Blocks, Elementary, 320, v. i
+
+  Breechloaders, Armstrongs, 320, v. i
+
+  Brest, 157, v. i
+
+  Brest, Cornwallis off, 172, v. i
+
+  Bridport, 139, v. i
+
+  Brig Sloop of 18 Guns, 178, v. i
+
+  British Battle Fleet, 257, v. i
+
+  British Defects in the Crimean War, 234, v. i
+
+  British Empire, an English-Speaking Confederation, 241, v. ii
+
+  British Flag, 75, v. i
+
+  British and French Ideals, 249, v. i
+
+  British v. French Ships Discussed in Parliament, 37, v. i
+
+  British Guns, 232, v. i
+
+  British Merchant Ships Trade with Russia During War, 186, v. i
+
+  British Methods of Warfare, 41, v. i
+
+  British Navy, Birth of, 34, v. i
+
+  British Squadron, Defeat of, 186, v. i
+
+  British Tactics, 231, v. i
+
+  Broadside Ironclads, 257, v. i
+
+  Broke, Captain, 189, v. i
+
+  Brown, Samuel, Invents a Propeller (1825), 216, v. i
+
+  Bruat, 234, v. i
+
+  Brueys, 152, v. i
+
+  Bruix, 154, v. i
+
+  Buckingham, Duke of, 65, v. i
+
+  Bullivant Torpedo Defence, 53, v. ii
+
+  Burchett, 92, v. i
+
+  Burgoyne, Alan H., 59, v. i
+
+  Burgoyne, Captain, 288, v. i
+
+  Bushnell, David, and his Submarine, 124, v. i
+
+  Busk, Hans, 237, v. i
+
+  Busses, 11, v. i
+
+  Byng, 99, v. i
+
+  Byng, Shot, 116, v. i
+
+
+  Cadiz, 171, v. i
+
+  Cadiz, Collingwood off, 175, v. i
+
+  Calais, 27, 30, 33, v. i
+
+  Colder, 172, v. i
+
+  Calcutta, Recapture of (1757), 119, v. i
+
+  Calypso, 237, v. ii
+
+  Campaign of Trafalgar (Corbett), 170, v. i
+
+  Camperdown, Battle of, 150, v. i
+
+  Canada Acquired by England, 123, v. i
+
+  Canadian Dockyards, 237, v. ii
+
+  Canadian Navy, 237, v. ii
+
+  Cannon, Early, 38, v. i
+
+  Cannon, First use of, 29, v. i
+
+  Canute, 8, v. i
+
+  Cape St. Vincent, Battle of (1759), 121, v. i
+
+  “Capital Ship” Adjusts Itself, 218, v. ii
+
+  Capital Ship, Galley Replaced by Galleon, 27, v. i
+
+  Cape La Hogue, Battle of, 90, v. i
+
+  Capraja, “Queen Charlotte” blown up off (1880), 160, v. i
+
+  “Captain,” Nelson in, 142, v. i
+
+  Carronades, 129, v. i
+
+  Carronades, Part of Armament, 201, v. i
+
+  Cartagena, Vernon Fails at, 109, v. i
+
+  Catapults, 15, 30, 38, v. i
+
+  Catherine the Great, 154, v. i
+
+  Cayenne Captured, 184, v. i
+
+  Cellular Construction, 267, v. i
+
+  Central Africa, 232, v. ii
+
+  Central Battery Ironclads, 292, v. i
+
+  Centre-line, System, 179, v. ii
+
+  Cerberus, 232, v. ii
+
+  Cette, 103, v. i
+
+  Chads, Captain and Gunnery Experiments, 220, v. i
+
+  Chads, Captain, 223, v. i
+
+  Chagres Bombarded, 109, v. i
+
+  Channel Policed, 10, v. i
+
+  Channel Protected by Merchants, 33, v. i
+
+  Chappel, Captain, 215, v. i
+
+  Charles I, 65, v. i
+
+  Charles II, 81, v. i
+
+  Charles, Prince, 73, v. i
+
+  Charring, 107, v. i
+
+  Charter of Ethelred, 8, v. i
+
+  Chartres, Duke of, 126, v. i
+
+  Chateau, Renault, 96, v. i
+
+  Chatham, Earl of, 183, v. i
+
+  Christian VII, 180, v. i
+
+  Cinque Ports, 22, 29, 35, v. i
+
+  Cinque Ports Established, 10, v. i
+
+  Civil War, 75, v. i
+
+  Claxton, Captain, 215, v. i
+
+  Clive, 119, v. i
+
+  Clothing, 65, v. i
+
+  Clydebank, 188, v. ii
+
+  Coal, Larger Store of, Affects
+
+  Construction, 263, v. i
+
+  Coal Stores, 185, v. ii
+
+  “Coastals,” 199, v. ii
+
+  “Coastal Destroyers,” 199, v. ii
+
+  Coast Defence Ironclads, 199, v. ii
+
+  Coat of Mail Idea, 249, v. i
+
+  Cockpit, Horrors of, 204, v. i
+
+  Cochrane, Lord, and Fire Ships, 183, v. i
+
+  Cochrane Opposes Vote of Thanks to Lord Gambier, 183, v. i
+
+  Code of Naval Discipline, 12, v. i
+
+  Colonials and Local Defence, 237, v. ii
+
+  Colour Experiments, 89, v. ii
+
+  Command of the Sea (First Appearance of), 75, v. i
+
+  Commerce Defence, 75, v. i
+
+  Commission, Report of (1806), 187, v. i
+
+  Compass, 12, v. i
+
+  Coles, Captain Cowper, 272, v. i
+
+  Coles, Captain, 280, v. i
+
+  Coles, 275, v. i
+
+  Coles, Captain, 284, v. i
+
+  Collingwood Incompetent, 202, v. i
+
+  Collingwood, Resignation of, 148, v. i
+
+  Colomb, Admiral, Quoted, 53, v. i
+
+  Communication Tube, First for
+
+  Conning Tower, 318, v. i
+
+  Conflict Between Steam and Gas Engines, 201, v. ii
+
+  Congreve Rocket, 236, v. i
+
+  Conning Towers in American Monitors, 272, v. i
+
+  Constantinople Bombarded, 179, v. i
+
+  Continuous Service, 251, v. ii
+
+  Contractors, Unscrupulous, 65, v. i
+
+  Contemporary Art, 195, v. i
+
+  Contraband of War, 161, v. i
+
+  Contract-Built Ships First Advocated, 280, v. i
+
+  Controller of the Navy and Constructor, Disputes Between, 258, v. i
+
+  Converted Ironclads, 257, 258, v. i
+
+  Convoys, 92, v. i
+
+  Cook, Captain, 115, v. i
+
+  Copper Bottoms, 123, v. i
+
+  Copper Bottoms, Rapid Deterioration of, 129, v. i
+
+  Copenhagen, 161, v. i
+
+  Cornwall, Captain, 108, v. i
+
+  Cornwallis off Brest, 172, v. i
+
+  Cornwallis, 139, v. i
+
+  Corsairs, 91, 102, v. i
+
+  Cost per Gun for Sailing Man-of-War, 238, v. i
+
+  Cost per Gun for Steamers, 238, v. i
+
+  Cotton, Sir Charles, 184, v. i
+
+  Crimean War, British Defects in, 237, v. i
+
+  Crimean War, the British Navy in: Little Better than a Paper Force,
+        228, v. i
+
+  Cromwell, 73, v. i
+
+  Cronstadt, 226, v. i
+
+  Cross Raiding, 75, v. i
+
+  Cruisers of the Super-Dreadnought Era, 188, v. ii
+
+  Crusaders, 10, v. i
+
+  “Conditional” Ships, 174, v. ii
+
+  Cost of Oak, 132, v. i
+
+  Cost per Gun for Early Ironclads, 238, v. i
+
+  Cumberland, Inventor of Stoving, 107, v. i
+
+  Cuniberti, 179, v. ii
+
+  Cuniberti’s Conception of All Big-Gun ships, 139, v. ii
+
+  Curtis, Captain of the Fleet, 136, v. i
+
+  Curtiss Aeroplane, 226, v. ii
+
+  Curtiss Turbines, 196, v. ii
+
+  Cutting Out Expeditions Instituted, 41, v. i
+
+
+  Daedalus, 221, v. ii
+
+  “Dandy” Captains, 195, v. i
+
+  “Dandy” Sailors, 195, v. i
+
+  Danes, 1, v. i
+
+  Danish Fleet Surrendered, 162, v. i
+
+  Danish Ships Hired, 5, v. i
+
+  Darien, 108, v. i
+
+  Dawkins, Captain, 299, v. i
+
+  Dean, Sir Anthony, 94, v. i
+
+  Dean, Sir John, 94, v. i
+
+  Decline of the Navy, 43, v. i
+
+  De Conflans, 121, v. i
+
+  Defects of the échelon System, 179, v. ii
+
+  Defects of the “Royal Sovereigns,” 69, v. ii
+
+  De la Clue, 120, v. i
+
+  Delegates of Mutineers, 147, v. i
+
+  “Democracy on the Quarter Deck,” 257, v. ii
+
+  De Pontis, 102, v. i
+
+  De Witt, 79, v. i
+
+  Deptford Yard, 107, v. i
+
+  De Ruyter, 85, v. i
+
+  D’Estaing, 126, v. i
+
+  D’Estrees, 85, v. i
+
+  Descharges, Inventor of Portholes, 38, v. i
+
+  Destroyer Attack Bound to Succeed, 195, v. ii
+
+  Destroyers in the Dreadnought Era, 199, v. ii
+
+  De Tourville, 90, v. i
+
+  Devastation idea evolved, 232, v. ii
+
+  Devonport Yard, 191, v. ii
+
+  Dibden (ref.), 34, v. i
+
+  Diesel Engine, 201, v. ii
+
+  Dirigibles, 222, v. ii
+
+  Discipline, 20, v. i; 258, v. ii
+
+  Discipline, Jervis Idea of, 141, v. i
+
+  Discipline, Lack of, in time of Charles I, 66, v. i
+
+  Disputes Between the Controller of the Navy and Constructor, 258, v. i
+
+  Doctors, Naval, 256, v. ii
+
+  Dominion of Canada, 234, v. ii
+
+  D’Orvilliers, 125, v. i
+
+  Double Bottoms, 267, v. i
+
+  Dover, 219, v. i
+
+  Downs, Battle in (1639), 76, v. i
+
+  Drake, Character of, 48, v. i
+
+  Drake, Sir Francis, 47, v. i
+
+  Drake, Methods of, 48, v. i; 259, v. ii
+
+  Dreadnought (analogy), 69, v. i
+
+  Dreadnought, first idea of, 164, v. ii
+
+  Dromons, 33, v. i
+
+  Dropping Bombs, 226, v. ii
+
+  Dry Dock, First, 35, v. i
+
+  Dubourdieu, 186, v. i
+
+  Du Casse, 97, v. i
+
+  Ducas, 234, v. i
+
+  Duchess of Bedford and Uniform, 194, v. i
+
+  Ducking, 12, v. i
+
+  Duckworth, Sir John, 179, v. i
+
+  Duguay-Trouin, 92, 177, v. i
+
+  Dumanoir, 177, v. i
+
+  Duncan, 147, v. i
+
+  Dundonald, Earl of (Cochrane), 216, v. i
+
+  Dutch Fleet Captured by Anglo-Russian Force, 159, v. i
+
+  Dutch War, First, 75, v. i
+
+  Dutch War, Second, 81, v. i
+
+  Dutch War, Third, 83, v. i
+
+
+  Eagle attacked by Submarine, 124, v. i
+
+  Earliest Advocate of the centre-line in England, Admiral Hopkins,
+        179, v. ii
+
+  Early Aerial Ideas, 218, v. ii
+
+  Early Wire Guns, 247, v. i
+
+  Economists Limit Lint and Sponges, 207, v. i
+
+  Economists on Shore, 201, v. i
+
+  Economy, 36, 114, v. i
+
+  Economy in Construction, 97, v. i
+
+  Edgar, 7, v. i
+
+  Edmund, 7, v. i
+
+  Edward I, 22, v. i
+
+  Edward II, 23, v. i
+
+  Edward III, 23, v. i
+
+  Edward IV, 33, v. i
+
+  Edward the Confessor, 8, v. i
+
+  Effects of Shell Fire, 219, v. i
+
+  Egyptian Government, 232, v. ii
+
+  Electro, 219, v. i
+
+  Elementary Quickfirers, 243, v. i
+
+  Elizabeth, 73, v. i
+
+  Elizabeth, First Acts of, 44, v. i
+
+  Elizabethan Fleet, 73, v. i
+
+  Elphinstone, Captain in Russian Navy, 154, v. i
+
+  Elswick, 227, v. i; 232, v. ii
+
+  End-on Fire, 176, v. ii
+
+  End-on Idea, 179, v. ii
+
+  End of the White Era, 116, v. ii
+
+  Engineer Agitation, 247, v. ii
+
+  Engines of “Glatton” built in Royal Dockyard, 311, v. i
+
+  England, Austria, and Sweden at war, 180, v. i
+
+  “Equal Efficiency,” 215, v. ii
+
+  Ericsson, 272, v. i
+
+  Ericsson Patents Propeller (1836), 216, v. i
+
+  Espagnols-sur-Mer, Les, 29, v. i
+
+  Ethelred’s Navy, 8, v. i
+
+  Excellence of the “Warrior” Class, 121, v. ii
+
+  Experiments, Gunnery, 219, v. i
+
+  Experiments to Improve Sailing Ships, 211, v. i
+
+  “Explosion” Vessels, 182, v. i
+
+  Eustace the Monk, 21, v. i
+
+
+  Feeding of Men During Great War, 200, v. i
+
+  Ferrol, 96, 172, v. i
+
+  Fight--Shannon (British) v. Chesapeake (U.S.), 189, v. i
+
+  Finisterre, 172, v. i
+
+  Finisterre, Rodney off, 127, v. i
+
+  Fire, Raking, 211, v. i
+
+  Fire Ships, 54, 84, 182, v. i
+
+  Fire Ships, Decline of, 131, v. i
+
+  Fireworks, Use of, 69, v. i
+
+  First English Over-Sea Voyage, 11, v. i
+
+  First of June, Battle of, 135, v. i
+
+  First Ship of Royal Navy, 35, v. i
+
+  Fisher, Admiral Lord, 247, v. ii
+
+  Flag, Neutral, 161, v. i
+
+  Fleet Decoyed Away, 172, v. i
+
+  Fleet Saved by a Military Officer, 103, v. i
+
+  Fleet of Richard I, 10, v. i
+
+  Floating Batteries, First Use of, 130, v. i
+
+  Florida Acquired by England, 123, v. i
+
+  Flotilla, 163, v. i
+
+  Flotilla Invasion, 166, v. i
+
+  Flushing Blockaded, 183, v. i
+
+  Food, 65, v. i; 254, v. ii
+
+  Forecastle, Armoured, 284, v. i
+
+  Forecastles on Turret Ships, 284, v. i
+
+  Fort, S. Phillip, 116, v. i
+
+  Frames, Trussed, Introduced, 210, v. i
+
+  France, Why Beaten in Great War, 233, v. i
+
+  France, War with, 37, 113, v. i
+
+  Frégates Blindées, 247, 250, v. i
+
+  French Fleet in Crimean War, 230, v. i
+
+  French and British Ideals, 253, v. i
+
+  French Warships, Superb Qualities of, 92, v. i
+
+  French Fleet Superior to British, 193, v. i
+
+  French Floating Batteries, 225, v. i
+
+  French Revolution, 132, v. i
+
+  Freya, Danish Frigate, Captured, 159, v. i
+
+  Frisians, 5, v. i
+
+  “Fulton” Driven by steam Paddle, 193, v. i
+
+  Future Fights, 215, v. ii
+
+
+  “Galatea” Fitted with Paddles, 213, v. i
+
+  Galleon as Dreadnought of the 14th Century, 27, v. i
+
+  Galley, Replaced as Capital Ship, 27, v. i
+
+  Gambier, Admiral, 179, v. i
+
+  Gambier, Lack of Energy of, 182, v. i
+
+  Gambier, Lord, Acquitted, 183, v. i
+
+  Gambier, Lord, Vote of Thanks to Opposed by Cochrane, 183, v. i
+
+  Gambling, Punishment for, 12, v. i
+
+  Ganteaume, 163, v. i
+
+  Ganteaume, Admiral Escapes from Rochefort, 181, v. i
+
+  Garay, Inventor of Steamship, (1543), 214, v. i
+
+  Genereux Captured by Nelson, 160, v. i
+
+  Genius of Famous Admirals, 216, v. ii
+
+  Genoa, Hotham’s Battle of, 138, v. i
+
+  Gentlemen Adventurers, 45, v. i
+
+  George I, 104, v. i
+
+  George II, 107, v. i
+
+  George II and Institution of Uniform, 194, v. i
+
+  German Seamen, 233, v. i
+
+  Germans Agitate for British Naval Efficiency, 231, v. i
+
+  Germany, 233, v. i
+
+  Germany (analogy), 65, v. i
+
+  Germany, Guns from, 43, v. i
+
+  Gibraltar, 130, 172, v. i
+
+  Gibraltar, Nelson at, 172, v. i
+
+  Glasgow, “Black Prince,” Built at, 250, v. i
+
+  Globe Circumnavigated by Drake, 45, v. i
+
+  Godwin, 9, v. i
+
+  Good Hope, Cape Dutch Squadron Captured at, 141, v. i
+
+  Graham, Sir James, 236, v. i
+
+  Grasse, De, 129, v. i
+
+  Greek Fire, 15, 243, v. i
+
+  Guadaloup Captured, 137, 185, v. i
+
+  Guarda-Costas, 108, v. i
+
+  Guerre de Course, 102, v. i
+
+  Guichen, 128, v. i
+
+  Guillaume Tell Captured, 161, v. i
+
+  Gunners, Training of, 241, v. i
+
+  Gunnery, Enemy’s Inefficiency of, 176, v. i
+
+  Gunnery Errors, 179, v. ii
+
+  Gunnery Experiments, 231, v. ii
+
+  Guns Against Aircraft, 226, v. ii
+
+  Guns, British, 232, v. i
+
+  Guns in the Reed Era, 319, v. i
+
+  Guns in Submarine, 212, v. ii
+
+  Guns of the Watts Era, 202, v. ii
+
+  Guns, Pivot, 272, v. i
+
+  Guns, Rapid Fire, Development of, 227, v. i
+
+  Guns, Turkish Monster, 179, v. i
+
+
+  Hales, Dr., Ventilation System of, 115, v. i
+
+  Hamelin, 234, v. i
+
+  Hampden, John, 73, v. i
+
+  Hanniken, 28, v. i
+
+  Hardcastle Torpedo, 204, v. ii
+
+  Hardy, Sir Charles, 127, v. i
+
+  Harvey-Nickel Armour Introduced, 99, v. ii
+
+  Hawkins, 46, v. i
+
+  Hawthorn, 188, v. ii
+
+  “Heavier than Air,” 221, v. ii
+
+  Heavy Rolling of the “Orion,” 183, v. ii
+
+  Henry II, 10, v. i
+
+  Henry III, 20, v. i
+
+  Henry IV, 30, v. i
+
+  Henry V, 33, v. i
+
+  Henry VII, 34, v. i
+
+  Henry VIII, 37, v. i
+
+  “Hermione,” Mutiny in, 145, v. i
+
+  Hickley, Captain, 299, v. i
+
+  Hire of Danish Ships, 8, v. i
+
+  Hired Ships, 28, 33, 36, v. i
+
+  Holy Land, 11, v. i
+
+  Hood, 130, 137, v. i
+
+  Hopkins, Admiral, Ideas of, 134, v. ii
+
+  Horsey, Admiral de, 322, v. i
+
+  Hoste, Captain William, 186, v. i
+
+  Hotham, 138, v. i
+
+  Howard, Sir Edward, 41, v. i
+
+  Howe, 134, v. i
+
+  Hubert de Burgh, 20, v. i
+
+  Hurrying Ships, 185, v. ii
+
+  Hyeres, Battle of, 138, v. i
+
+
+  Icarus, 218, v. ii
+
+  Imperial British Fleet, 241, v. ii
+
+  Imperial Needs, 237, v. ii
+
+  Impressment, 234, v. i
+
+  Increased Gun-Power, 203, v. ii
+
+  Increased Smashing Power of Projectiles, 175, v. ii
+
+  Indecisiveness in British Operations, 137, v. i
+
+  Indies, Spanish Wealth from, 47, v. i
+
+  Inexperienced Officers, 233, v. i
+
+  “Inflexible” at the Nore Mutiny, 147, v. i
+
+  Inman, Dr., 187, v. i
+
+  Inscription, Maritime, 233, v. i
+
+  Instructors, Spanish, in English Navy, 42, v. i
+
+  “Insular Spirit,” 5, 73, 82, v. i
+
+  Insurance, 206, v. ii
+
+  Internal Armour, 206, v. ii
+
+  Introduction of Steam, 214, v. i
+
+  Introduction of 13.5-inch Gun, 175, v. ii
+
+  Invasion, 30, 163, v. i
+
+  Invasion, Nelson’s Schemes Against, 161, v. i
+
+  Invasion of England, 47, 119, v. i
+
+  Invasion Projected by French, 91, v. i
+
+  Ironclads, Converted, 257, 263, v. i
+
+  Ironclads, The First British, 249, v. i
+
+  Ironclad Ships, 229, v. i
+
+  Iron for Shipbuilding Instead of Oak, 219, v. i
+
+  Iron-plated Ships, 237, v. i
+
+  Iron Ships Condemned (1850), 223, v. i
+
+  Iron Steamer Existed in 1821, 219, v. i
+
+  Island Empires, 6, v. i
+
+
+  Jacobite Element in the Fleet, 88, v. i
+
+  Jacobite Rising, 105, v. i
+
+  James I, 59, v. i
+
+  James II, 86, v. i
+
+  James Watt, 236, v. i
+
+  Jarrow, 232, v. i
+
+  Java, Isle of, Captured, 187, v. i
+
+  Jean Bart, 92, v. i
+
+  Jervis, Sir John, 141, v. i
+
+  Jews, 209, v. i
+
+  John, King, 16, 30, 60, v. i
+
+  Juan, Fernandez, 110, v. i
+
+  Julius Cæsar, 1, v. i
+
+  Junction of the Fleets, 98, v. i
+
+
+  “Kamptulicon,” 219, v. i
+
+  Keel-Hauling, 12, v. i
+
+  “Keeping the Air,” 227, v. ii
+
+  Keith, 154, 163, v. i
+
+  Keppel, 125, v. i
+
+  Killala Bay, French Expedition to, 151, v. i
+
+  Kinburn Bombarded, 225, 248, v. i
+
+  Kipling (ref.), 34, v. i
+
+  Kronstadt, 162, v. i
+
+  Kronstadt, Anglo-Danish Demonstration at, 107, v. i
+
+  Krupp Fire, Shell, 244, v. i
+
+
+  La Gallisonnier, 116, v. i
+
+  “Labour” and the Navy, 207, v. ii
+
+  Lagane, 204, v. ii
+
+  Laird, Messrs., of Birkenhead, 284, 288, v. i
+
+  Laird, 321, v. i; 186, v. ii
+
+  Lalande de Joinville, 234, v. i
+
+  Lancaster Guns, 227, v. i
+
+  “Lancaster,” The, at Camperdown, 150, v. i
+
+  “Landsmen,” 252, v. ii
+
+  La Rochelle, 30, v. i
+
+  La Rochelle, Expedition to, in time of Charles I, 66, v. i
+
+  “Last Word,” 258, v. i
+
+  Latouche-Treville, 169, v. i
+
+  Laughton, Professor, Quoted, 50, v. i
+
+  Laughton’s, Professor, Summary, 176, v. i
+
+  Laws of Oberon, 17, v. i
+
+  Leake, Sir John, 101, v. i
+
+  Leave, 254, v. ii
+
+  Legends of Floating Rocks, 218, v. ii
+
+  Leissegues, Vice-Admiral, 177, v. i
+
+  Louisbourg Invested (1758), 119, v. i
+
+  “Lighter than Air,” 221, v. ii
+
+  Linois, 163, v. i
+
+  Liquid Fire, Norton’s, 243, v. i
+
+  Lisbon, 102, v. i
+
+  Lissa, Battle of, 186, 300, v. i
+
+  Little Englanders, 73, v. i
+
+  Lloyd, 237, v. i
+
+  Loading, Greater Rapidity in, 231, v. i
+
+  London, Citizens of, Fit out Fleet Against Spain, 48, v. i
+
+  London, Dutch Guns heard in, 83, v. i
+
+  Longridge, C. E., 244, v. i
+
+  Lord Charles Beresford, 195, v. ii
+
+  Lord of the Sea, 22, v. i
+
+  Lorient, French Squadron, break-out of, 188, v. i
+
+  Lorient, Partial Battle of (1795), 139, v. i
+
+  Loss of the “Victoria,” 39, v. ii
+
+  Louis Napoleon, 230, v. i
+
+  Lower Deck, The, 97, v. i
+
+  Lowestoft, 207, v. ii
+
+
+  Machine of Meerlers, 90, v. i
+
+  Macintosh, 226, v. i
+
+  Maderia Captured, 180, v. i
+
+  Maintenance Allowance Increased, 182, v. i
+
+  Malaga, Battle of, 101, v. i
+
+  Mallett, 244, v. i
+
+  Malta, Russian Designs on, 159, v. i
+
+  Malta Captured, 160, v. i
+
+  Malta Starved into Surrender, 160, v. i
+
+  Marines, Objection to New Scheme, of the, 251, v. ii
+
+  Marryat, Captain, 12, 212, v. i
+
+  Martinique, 137, v. i
+
+  Masefield, John, Quoted, 204, v. i
+
+  Mastless Ships, 292, v. i
+
+  Masts, Tripod, 287, v. i
+
+  Mauritius Attacked, 185, v. i
+
+  Medal, Tempus, Charles I, 74, v. i
+
+  Medine Sidonia, 53, v. i
+
+  Mediterranean, 59, v. i
+
+  Mediterranean, English Fleet First Stationed, 91, v. i
+
+  Meerlers, Machine Ships of, 90, v. i
+
+  Meerlers “Smoak-boat,” 90, v. i
+
+  Memoirs of Torrington, 100, v. i
+
+  Men Wanting, 237, v. i
+
+  Men, Lack of Training of, 236, v. i
+
+  Messing, 254, v. ii
+
+  Messing in Tudor Times, 43, v. i
+
+  Methods of Drake, 45, v. i
+
+  Military Officer Saves Fleet, 103, v. i
+
+  Military Warfare, 7, v. i
+
+  Milne, Admiral, 288, v. i
+
+  Mines Appear, 226, v. i
+
+  Mines, Russian, 226, v. i
+
+  Minorca, Battle of, 119, v. i
+
+  Moderate Dimensions, 135, v. i
+
+  Modern Protective Decks Introduced, 85, v. ii
+
+  Modern Variant of “Case Shot,” 195, v. ii
+
+  Monk, 76, v. i
+
+  Monitor and Merrimac, Fight between, 275, v. i
+
+  Montgolfier, 221, v. ii
+
+  Motor-Destroyers, 201, v. ii
+
+  Mounting of Small Guns Between the échelon Turrets done away with,
+        175, v. ii
+
+  Murder, Punishment for, 12, v. i
+
+  Mutiny at Spithead, 145, 200, v. i
+
+  Mutiny, The Great, 255, v. ii
+
+  Muzzle Loaders, 320, v. i
+
+
+  Nachimoff, Admiral (Russian), 223, v. i
+
+  Napier, Admiral Sir Charles, K.C.B., 234, 235, v. i
+
+  Napoleon, at Toulon, 133, v. i
+
+  Napoleon, Deportation of, to Elba, 193, v. i
+
+  Napoleon, Deportation of, to St. Helena, 193, v. i
+
+  Napoleon, Emperor, 164, v. i
+
+  Napoleon, First Consul, 159, v. i
+
+  Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia, 188, v. i
+
+  Napoleon and Nelson, 169, v. i
+
+  Napoleon, Re-appearance of, 193, v. i
+
+  Napoleon, Renovates his Navy, 181, v. i
+
+  Napoleon and “Sea Power,” 163, v. i
+
+  National Interests, 206, v. ii
+
+  Naval Abuses, 65, v. i
+
+  Naval Aeroplanes, 225, v. ii
+
+  Naval Agreement with the Colonies, 237, v. ii
+
+  Naval Aviation, 222, v. ii
+
+  Naval Defence Act, 63, v. ii
+
+  Naval Defence Act Cruisers, 71, v. ii
+
+  Naval Commission, 81, v. i
+
+  Naval Regulations of John, 16, v. i
+
+  Naval Pay in Great War, 209, v. i
+
+  Naval Scare of 1887–89, 61, v. ii
+
+  Naval Punishments, 20, v. i
+
+  Naval War, The Next, 265, v. ii
+
+  Navarino, Battle of, 213, v. i
+
+  Navy of Canute, 8, v. i
+
+  Navy, Non-Existence of, in Early Times, 19, v. i
+
+  Nelson, 12, 97, 162, v. i; 260, v. ii
+
+  Nelson (analogy), 42, v. i
+
+  Nelson at Gibraltar, 172, v. i
+
+  Nelson at Toulon, 133, v. i
+
+  Nelson in the “Agamemnon,” 138, v. i
+
+  Nelson in the Mediterranean, 157, v. i
+
+  Nelson (ref.), 34, v. i
+
+  Nelson at Cadiz, 149, v. i
+
+  Nelson, First Appearance of (1780), 128, v. i
+
+  Nelson, Costume of Men, in Era of, 196, v. i
+
+  Nelson Defeated at Santa Cruz, 150, v. i
+
+  Nelson, Drawing Away of, 171, v. i
+
+  Nelson Institutes Theatricals, 200, v. i
+
+  Nelson, Last Order of, 177, v. i
+
+  Nelson’s Limitations, 169, v. i
+
+  Nelson Mortally Wounded, 176, v. i
+
+  Nelson and Mutineers, 151, v. i
+
+  Nelson’s Schemes of Invasion, 162, v. i
+
+  Neutral Flag, Property Under, 161, v. i
+
+  Neutrality, Armed, 161, v. i
+
+  New Forest, Oak Plantations, 132, v. i
+
+  New Scheme, The, 247, v. ii
+
+  Newfoundland Naval Reserve, 237, v. ii
+
+  New Zealand and the British Fleet, 234, 237, v. ii
+
+  New Zealand’s Interest in the Imperial Navy, 234, v. ii
+
+  Nore, Mutiny at, 146, v. i
+
+  Norman Invasion, 9, v. i
+
+  Normans, 21, v. i
+
+  Norris, Sir John, 105, v. i
+
+  Norton’s Liquid Fire, 243, v. i
+
+  North Foreland, Battle of, 82, v. i
+
+  Nova Scotia, 103, v. i
+
+  Nile, Battle of (analogy), 42, v. i
+
+  North and South Nigeria, 232, v. ii
+
+  “Numbers Only Can Annihilate,” 215, v. ii
+
+
+  Oak Plantations, 132, v. i
+
+  Oberon, Laws of, 17, v. i
+
+  Ocean-going Destroyers, 199, v. ii
+
+  Odessa Bombarded, 224, v. i
+
+  Odin, 216, v. i
+
+  Officering the Fleet, 115, v. i
+
+  Officers, Inexperience of, 233, v. i
+
+  Officers’ Wine for Wounded, 207, v. i
+
+  Ogle, 109, v. i
+
+  Oil Fuel, 200, v. ii
+
+  Original Conception of the Dreadnought Era, 196, v. ii
+
+  Ormonde, Duke of, 96, v. i
+
+  Ornamental Work Reduced, 97, v. i
+
+  Ostend Attacked, 82, v. i
+
+  Ostend Captured (1706), 103, v. i
+
+
+  Paddle Experiments, 212, v. i
+
+  Paddles, “Galatea” Fitted with, 213, v. i
+
+  Paddle Recognised as a Source of Danger (1825), 216, v. i
+
+  Paddle Wheels Exposed, 216, v. i
+
+  Paint on Warships, 69, v. i
+
+  Paixham, General, 223, v. i
+
+  Palmer’s, 175, v. ii
+
+  Parma, Duke of, 49, v. i
+
+  Parker, Sir Hyde, 161, v. i
+
+  Parliament Discusses French v. British Ships, 137, v. i
+
+  Parliamentarians, 74, v. i
+
+  Parson’s Turbine, 183, 196, 200, v. ii
+
+  Paul, Russia, 159, v. i
+
+  Pay (1653), 65, v. i
+
+  Pay, Modern, 257, v. ii
+
+  Payta Captured by Captain Anson, 111, v. i
+
+  Peace of Amiens, 86, v. i
+
+  Pembroke, Earl of, 29, v. i
+
+  “Penelope” Fitted with Engines, 216, v. i
+
+  Penelope Frigate attacks Guillaume Tell, 160, v. i
+
+  Pennington, Sir John, 73, v. i
+
+  Pensions for Wounds, Time of John, 17, v. i
+
+  Pepys, 79, v. i
+
+  Period of Broadside Ironclads Ends, 263, v. i
+
+  Personality, 97, v. i
+
+  Peterborough, Earl of, 103, v. i
+
+  Peter the Great, 95, v. i
+
+  Phineas Petts, 59, 69, 80, v. i
+
+  Phœnicians, 1, v. i
+
+  Pierola, 322, v. i
+
+  Pigot, Captain of “Hermione,” 151, v. i
+
+  Pigtail, Origin of, 197, v. i
+
+  Pinnaces, 41, v. i
+
+  Piracy, 43, 44, v. i
+
+  Piracy, English Acts of, 22, v. i
+
+  Pirates, 30, v. i
+
+  Pitt and Sea Power, 141, v. i
+
+  Pivot Guns, 272, v. i
+
+  Pizarro, 110, v. i
+
+  Plymouth Hoe, Drake on, 50, v. i
+
+  Plymouth, Mutiny at, 146, v. i
+
+  Plymouth Sacked, 23, v. i
+
+  Policing the Channel, 10, v. i
+
+  Politics and Admirals, 130, v. i
+
+  Pomone, French Frigate, Captured (1794), 135, v. i
+
+  Portholes, 49, v. i
+
+  Portsmouth, Review at (1512), 37, v. i
+
+  Portsmouth Sacked, 29, v. i
+
+  Portsmouth Yard, 191, v. ii
+
+  Possibility of Airships in the Future, 226, v. ii
+
+  Possibility of Dreadnoughts Considered, 145, v. ii
+
+  Present Stage of Aerial Progress, 229, v. ii
+
+  Press Gang, 199, 200, v. i
+
+  Presumed End of Ironclads, 47, v. ii
+
+  Prime Seamen, 115, 196, v. i; 251, v. ii
+
+  Prince Charles, 74, v. i
+
+  Prince of Hesse, 99, v. i
+
+  Private Ships, 36, v. i
+
+  Privateering, 43, 91, 111, v. i
+
+  Privateers Attack Henry IV, 30, v. i
+
+  Privateers, French, Activity of, 189, v. i
+
+  Private Yards, 132, v. i
+
+  Progress Nullified During the Last Twenty Years, 203, v. ii
+
+  Progressive Naval Ideas, 196, v. ii
+
+  Promotion on the Lower Deck, 252, v. ii
+
+  Protection of Boats in Action, 184, v. ii
+
+  Providence and the Armada, 53, v. i
+
+  Provisioning of Ships Under John, 17, v. i
+
+  Punishments, 12, v. i
+
+  Punishments (Modern), 259, v. ii
+
+  Pursers, 146, v. i
+
+  Pym, Captain, 185, v. i
+
+
+  Quebec, Abortive Attack on, 104, v. i
+
+  Queen Anne, 95, v. i
+
+  Queensland, 233, v. ii
+
+  Quiberon, 121, v. i
+
+  Quick Firers, Elementary, 243, v. i
+
+  Quick Lime, Use of, 21, v. i
+
+
+  Raking Fire, 211, v. i
+
+  Raleigh, Sir Walter, 60, 65, v. i
+
+  Ram Tactics, 300, v. i
+
+  Ramming, 17, v. i
+
+  Rapidity in Loading, 231, v. i
+
+  Rates in English Navy, Time of Queen Anne, 95, v. i
+
+  Rating, New, of Ships Introduced (1817), 211, v. i
+
+  “Re-construction Never Pay,” 312, v. i
+
+  Reed, Sir E. J., 257, 266, v. i
+
+  Reed, Sir E. J., Anticipates Torpedoes, 268, v. i
+
+  Reed Broadside Ships, 283, v. i
+
+  Reed Ideals in the White Era, 115, v. ii
+
+  Reed, Sir E. J., Turret Ships, 292, v. i
+
+  Regular Stores Instituted, 132, v. i
+
+  Repairs, Cost of, 132, v. i
+
+  Reserve Ships, Speedy Equipment of, 132, v. i
+
+  Restoration, The, 81, v. i
+
+  Retirement of Sir W. White, 113, v. ii
+
+  Richard I, 10, v. i
+
+  Richard II, 10, 30, v. i
+
+  Richard III, 33, 60, v. i
+
+  Right Ahead Fire, 258, v. i
+
+  Rigging, Firing at, 129, v. i
+
+  Right of Search, 159, 161, v. i
+
+  Robinson, Commander, on Causes of Mutiny, 146, v. i
+
+  Robinson, Commander, R.N., Quoted, 194, v. i
+
+  Rocket, Congreve, 236, v. i
+
+  Rodjestvensky (analogy), 53, v. i
+
+  Rodney, 127, 129, v. i
+
+  Rogerswick, Harbour of, 180, v. i
+
+  Rogues in Authority, 201, v. i
+
+  Rolling of the “Orion,” 183, v. ii
+
+  Romans in Britain, 1, v. i
+
+  Rooke, Sir George, 96, v. i
+
+  Routine, 260, v. ii
+
+  Row Boats, 222, v. ii
+
+  Royal Indian Marine, 233, v. ii
+
+  Royal Naval College Established, Portsmouth, 187, v. i
+
+  Royal Navy, Birth of, 35, v. i
+
+  Royal Ships, 35, v. i
+
+  Royal Yachts, 33, v. i
+
+  “Ruinous Competition in Naval Armaments,” 206, v. ii
+
+  Russel, 90, 91, v. i
+
+  Russell, John Scott, 237, 249, v. i
+
+  Russia, War with (1720), 106, v. i
+
+  Russian Mines, 226, v. i
+
+  Russian Navy Established by England, 95, v. i
+
+  Russo-Japanese War, 205, v. ii
+
+  Ryswick, Peace of, 92, v. i
+
+
+  Samaurez, 163, v. i
+
+  Samaurez in the Baltic, 180, v. i
+
+  San Domingo, Battle of, 178, v. i
+
+  Sandwich, Earl of, 84, v. i
+
+  Saints, Battle of the, 129, v. i
+
+  San Juan Nicaragua, Nelson at, 128, v. i
+
+  Santa Croix, Capture of, 180, v. i
+
+  Santa Cruz, Marquis of, 49, v. i
+
+  Santissima Trinidad (130), 145, v. i
+
+  Saxon Fleet, 8, v. i
+
+  Saxons, 1, v. i
+
+  Scantlings, 135, v. i
+
+  Scarcity of Oak, 132, v. i
+
+  “Scouts” Appear, 127, v. ii
+
+  “Scrapping,” 311, v. i
+
+  Scheldt, 183, v. i
+
+  School of Naval Architecture, 187, v. i
+
+  Scotts, 186, v. ii
+
+  Scott Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, 175, v. ii
+
+  Sea-Fights with the Danes, 2, v. i
+
+  Seamen, Bounty to, 234, v. i
+
+  Seamen, Foreign, 235, v. i
+
+  Seamen, German, 233, v. i
+
+  Sea-Going Masted Turret Ship, 276, v. i
+
+  Sea-Going Qualities of Barnaby Ships, 59, v. ii
+
+  Seamen, Improved, 44, v. i
+
+  Sea Kings, Elizabethan, 47, v. i
+
+  Seamanship, 114, v. i
+
+  Sea Power and Napoleon, 163, 169, v. i
+
+  Sea Regiment, The, 251, v. ii
+
+  Search, Right of, 159, 161, v. i
+
+  Sebastopol Attacked, 224, v. i
+
+  Sebastopol, Siege of, 224, v. i
+
+  Semenoff, Captain (quoted), 243, v. i
+
+  “Semi-Dreadnoughts,” 127, v. ii
+
+  Senegal Captured, 184, v. i
+
+  Senyavin in the Mediterranean, 181, v. i
+
+  Senyavin, Ships of, Restored, 186, v. i
+
+  Serpents, 15, v. i
+
+  Seymour, Sir Hamilton, 235, v. i
+
+  Shah and Huascar Action, 322, v. i
+
+  Shell Guns, Adopted, 220, v. i
+
+  Shell, Percussion, 227, v. i
+
+  Shell, Thermite, 244, v. i
+
+  Sheerness, Dutch at, 83, v. i
+
+  Ships, Engaging exactly End-on, 179, v. ii
+
+  Ships, Iron-plated, 237, v. i
+
+  Ships, Ironclad, 239, v. i
+
+  Ships of King Alfred, 5, v. i
+
+
+  _SHIPS MENTIONED BY NAME._
+
+    Aboukir, 101, v. ii
+
+    Abyssinia, 231, v. ii
+
+    Acheron class, 200, v. ii
+
+    Achilles, 257, 258, v. i
+
+    Acorn class, 200, v. ii
+
+    Active, 197, v. ii
+
+    Admiral class, 47, v. ii
+
+    Adventure, 127, v. ii
+
+    Aeolus, 72, v. ii
+
+    Africa, 108, v. ii
+
+    Agamemnon, 133, 138, v. i
+
+    Agincourt, 279, v. i
+
+    Ajax, 186, v. ii
+
+    Aki, 146, v. ii
+
+    Alarm, 76, v. ii
+
+    Albemarle, 105, v. ii
+
+    Albion, 99, v. ii
+
+    Alexandra, 277, 318, v. i
+
+    Amphitrite, 99, v. ii
+
+    Amethyst, 322, v. i
+
+    Antrim, 109, v. ii
+
+    Amokoura, 234, v. ii
+
+    Amphion, 47, 197, v. ii
+
+    Andromache, 72, v. ii
+
+    Andromeda, 99, v. ii
+
+    Anna Pink (1740), 111, v. i
+
+    Antelope, 76, v. ii
+
+    Apollo class, 72, v. ii
+
+    Aquidaban, 77, v. ii
+
+    Archer, 201, v. ii
+
+    Argonaut, 99, v. ii
+
+    Arethusa, 197, v. ii
+
+    Ariadne, 99, v. ii
+
+    Argyll, 109, v. ii
+
+    Assaye, 232, 76, v. ii
+
+    Astraeas, 76, v. ii
+
+    Atalanta, 187, v. i
+
+    Attack, 200, v. ii
+
+    Attentive, 127, v. ii
+
+    Audacious, 277, 295, v. i
+
+    Audacious (1794), 134, 295, v. i; 186, v. ii
+
+    Aurora, 197, v. ii
+
+    Australia, 174, v. ii
+
+
+    Bacchante, 101, v. ii
+
+    Badere Zaffer (Turkish), 232, v. i
+
+    Bahama (Spanish), 177, v. i
+
+    Baluch, 232, v. ii
+
+    Barfluer, 69, 70, v. ii
+
+    Beagle class, 200, v. ii
+
+    Bellerophon, 266, 279, v. i; 169, v. ii
+
+    Belleisle, 232, v. i
+
+    Bellona, 197, v. ii
+
+    Berwick, 106, v. ii
+
+    Birmingham, 197, v. ii
+
+    Black Prince, 250, v. i; 35, v. ii
+
+    Blake, 61, 63, v. ii
+
+    Blanco Encalada (Chilian), 77, v. ii
+
+    Blanche, 197, v. ii
+
+    Blenheim, 61, 63, v. ii
+
+    Blonde, 321, v. i; 197, v. ii
+
+    Boadicea, 197, v. ii
+
+    Bonaventure, 72, v. ii
+
+    Boomerang, 76, 233, v. ii
+
+    Brilliant, 72, v. ii
+
+    Britannia (1688), 87, v. i
+
+    Britannia, 108, v. ii
+
+    Brisbane, 197, v. ii
+
+    Bulwark, 102, v. ii
+
+
+    Cæsar, 87, v. ii
+
+    Caledonia, 181, 263, v. i
+
+    Calypso, 237, v. ii
+
+    Cambrian, 72, v. ii
+
+    Camperdown, 39, v. ii
+
+    Canopus, ex-Franklin (French prize), 150, v. i
+
+    Canopus, 99, 100, v. ii
+
+    Carnarvon, 109, v. ii
+
+    Captain, 283, v. i
+
+    Captain, Loss of, 291, v. i
+
+    Centurion (1740), 112, v. i
+
+    Centurion (1891), 81, v. ii
+
+    Cerebus (Australian), 292, v. i
+
+    Charybdis, 72, v. ii
+
+    Chatham, 196, v. ii
+
+    Chen Yuen (Chinese), 180, v. ii
+
+    Chicago (U.S.), 43, v. ii
+
+    Circe, 76, v. ii
+
+    Cog, Thomas, The, 28, v. i
+
+    Commonwealth, 108, v. ii
+
+    Conqueror, 59, 174, v. ii
+
+    Cornwall, 106, v. ii
+
+    Cornwallis, 105, v. ii
+
+    County class, 105, v. ii
+
+    Crescent, 71, v. ii
+
+    Cressy, 101, v. ii
+
+    Cumberland, 106, v. ii
+
+    Cyclops, 308, v. i; 242, v. ii
+
+
+    Dalhousie, 231, v. ii
+
+    Dartmouth, 234, 237, v. ii
+
+    Dauntless, 219, v. i
+
+    Defence, 257, v. i
+
+    Devastation (1870), 248, 312, v. i
+
+    Devonshires, 109, v. ii
+
+    Diadem, 99, v. ii
+
+    Diana, 212, v. i
+
+    Dominion, 108, v. ii
+
+    Donegal, 106, v. ii
+
+    Drake, 105, 106, v. ii
+
+    Dreadnought (old), 292, 317, v. i
+
+    Dreadnought (1908), 164, v. ii
+
+    Dublin, 196, v. ii
+
+    Dufferin, 231, v. ii
+
+    Duncans, 105, v. ii
+
+
+    Edgar, 71, v. ii
+
+    Elphinstone, 231, v. ii
+
+    Endymion, 71, v. ii
+
+    Entrepennant (French), 187, v. i
+
+    Erebus, 225, v. i
+
+    Essex, 106, v. ii
+
+    Etna, 225, v. i
+
+    Europa, 99, v. ii
+
+    Euryalus, 101, v. ii
+
+    Exmouth, 105, v. ii
+
+
+    Fearless, 197, v. ii
+
+    Flora, 72, v. ii
+
+    Formidable, 100, 102, v. ii
+
+    Foresight, 129, v. ii
+
+    Forth, 48, v. ii
+
+    Forward, 129, v. ii
+
+    Foudroyant, 140, 160, v. i
+
+    Franklin (French prize), 150, v. i
+
+    Fulton, 190, v. i
+
+
+    Galatea, 197, v. ii
+
+    Gayundah, 233, v. ii
+
+    Gazelle, 78, v. ii
+
+    Gibraltar, 71, v. ii
+
+    Glasgow, 196, v. ii
+
+    Glatton (1795), 140, v. i
+
+    Glatton, 308, v. i
+
+    Gleaner, 76, v. ii
+
+    Glory, 99, v. ii
+
+    Gloucester (1740), 112, v. i
+
+    Gloucester, 204, v. ii
+
+    Goliath, 99, v. ii
+
+    Good Hope, 103, v. ii
+
+    Gorgon, 308, v. i
+
+    Gossamer, 76, v. ii
+
+    Grace de Dieu, The, 38, v. i
+
+    Grafton, 71, v. ii
+
+    Great Harry, 35, 37, v. i
+
+    Ghurka, 237, v. ii
+
+
+    Hampshire, 109, v. ii
+
+    Hannibal, 87, v. ii
+
+    Hardinge, 231, v. ii
+
+    Havock, 129, v. ii
+
+    Hawke, 71, v. ii
+
+    Hebe, 76, v. ii
+
+    Hecate, 308, v. i
+
+    Hector, 257, v. i
+
+    Hela (German), 78, v. ii
+
+    Henri IV (French), 204, v. ii
+
+    Hercules, 279, 283, 288, 295, v. i; 175, v. ii
+
+    Hermione, 72, v. ii
+
+    Hero, 59, v. ii
+
+    Hibernia, 108, v. ii
+
+    Hindustan, 108, v. ii
+
+    Holland, 218, v. i
+
+    Hood, 68, v. ii
+
+    Hornet, 129, v. ii
+
+    Hotspur (British), 321, v. i
+
+    Huascar (Peruvian), 322, v. i
+
+    Hydra, 308, v. i
+
+
+    Immortalitie, 43, v. ii
+
+    Inflexible, 52, v. ii
+
+    Intrepid, 72, v. ii
+
+    Imperieuse, 43, v. ii
+
+    Iphigenia, 72, v. ii
+
+    Iron Duke, 187, v. ii
+
+    Illustrious, 87, v. ii
+
+    Implacable, 100, v. ii
+
+    Inconstant, 321, v. i
+
+    Indefatigable, 72, 100, v. ii
+
+    Independencia, 280, v. i
+
+    Invincible, 295, 319, v. i; 183, v. ii
+
+    Iphigenia, 185, v. i
+
+    Irresistible, 100, v. ii
+
+    Italia (Italian), 63, v. ii
+
+
+    Jupiter, 87, v. ii
+
+
+    Kahren, 232, v. ii
+
+    Karrahatta, 76, 233, v. ii
+
+    Katoomba, 76, 233, v. ii
+
+    Kent, 106, v. ii
+
+    King Alfred, 103, v. ii
+
+    King Edward VII class, 107, 108, 114, 233, v. ii
+
+    King George V, 186, v. ii
+
+
+    Lady Nancy (Gun raft), 272, v. i
+
+    La Forte (French), 231, v. i
+
+    La Gloire (French), 254, v. i
+
+    Lancaster, 106, v. ii
+
+    Latona, 72, v. ii
+
+    Lave La, 248, v. i
+
+    Lavinia, 232, v. i
+
+    Leander, 47, v. ii
+
+    Lepanto (Italian), 63, v. ii
+
+    Leviathan, 103, v. ii
+
+    L’Hercule (French), 231, v. i
+
+    Liberté class (French), 82, v. ii
+
+    Lion, The (1800), 160, v. i
+
+    Lively, frégate, 141, v. i
+
+    Liverpool, 196, v. ii
+
+    London, 231, v. i; 104, 107, v. ii
+
+    Lord Clyde, 263, v. i
+
+    Lord Nelson, 133, v. ii
+
+    Lord Warden (British), 288, v. i
+
+    Lorne, 212, v. i
+
+    Lynch, 78, v. ii
+
+
+    Magdala class, 232, v. ii
+
+    Magnificent, 87, 88, v. ii
+
+    Maharatta, 232, v. ii
+
+    Majestic, 236, v. i; 85, 86, v. ii
+
+    Marengo (French), 231, v. i
+
+    Marlborough, 187, v. ii
+
+    Mars, 231, v. i; 87, v. ii
+
+    Melampus, 72, v. ii
+
+    Melbourne, 234, v. ii
+
+    Melpomene, 72, v. ii
+
+    Merrimac, 190, v. i
+
+    Mersey, 48, v. ii
+
+    Meteor, 225, v. i
+
+    Mildura, 76, 233, v. ii
+
+    Minotaur, 258, 272, v. i
+
+    Monarch, 280, 283, 284, v. i; 175, v. ii
+
+    Monarch, 183, v. ii
+
+    Montagu, 105, v. ii
+
+
+    Naiad, 72, v. ii
+
+    Narcissus, 43, v. ii
+
+    Neptune (1797), 151, v. i
+
+    Newcastle, 196, v. ii
+
+    New Zealand, 107, 108, v. ii
+
+    Nile, 44, v. ii
+
+    Niobe, 99, 234, v. ii
+
+    Northbrook, 231, v. ii
+
+    Northumberland, 257, 258, v. i; 59, v. ii
+
+    Nottingham, 197, v. ii
+
+
+    Oberon, 53, v. ii
+
+    Ocean, 263, v. i; 99, v. ii
+
+    Olympic, 71, v. ii
+
+    Orion, 183, v. ii
+
+    Orlando, 48, 63, v. ii
+
+
+    Pallas class, 76, 233, v. ii
+
+    Paluma, 233, v. ii
+
+    Pandora, 76, v. ii
+
+    Pathan, 232, v. ii
+
+    Pathfinder, 127, v. ii
+
+    Pearl (1740), 112, v. i; 76, v. ii
+
+    Pelican, The, 45, v. i
+
+    Pelorus, 72, v. ii
+
+    Penelope, 279, v. i
+
+    Persian, 76, v. ii
+
+    Phaeton, 197, v. ii
+
+    Phœbe, 76, v. ii
+
+    Philomel, 76, 233, v. ii
+
+    Pique, 72, v. ii
+
+    Plassy, 76, 232, v. ii
+
+    Polyphemus, 64, v. ii
+
+    Powerful, 89, v. ii
+
+    Prince Albert, 275, v. i; 134, v. ii
+
+    Prince Consort, 261, 263, v. i
+
+    Prince George, 87, v. ii
+
+    Prince of Wales, 107, v. ii
+
+    Prince Regent, 236, v. i
+
+    Prince Royal, The, 59, v. i; 174, v. ii
+
+    Princessa (Spanish), 114, v. i
+
+    Protector, 232, v. ii
+
+    Psyche, 76, v. ii
+
+
+    Queen, 107, v. ii
+
+    Queen Charlotte, 161, v. i
+
+    Queen Mary, 186, v. ii
+
+
+    Rainbow, 72, 234, v. ii
+
+    Rajput, 232, v. ii
+
+    Raleigh, 321, v. i
+
+    Ram, The, 300, v. i
+
+    Rattler, 219, v. i
+
+    Rattlesnake class, 76, v. ii
+
+    Re d’Italia, 300, v. i
+
+    Regent, 35, v. i
+
+    Renard, 76, v. ii
+
+    Renown, 79, 81, v. ii
+
+    Republique (French), 82, v. ii
+
+    Repulse, 263, v. i
+
+    Resistance, 255, 257, v. i
+
+    Retribution, 72, v. ii
+
+    Revolutionaire (French), (1794), 134, 158, v. i
+
+    Ringarooma, 76, 233, v. ii
+
+    “River” class destroyers, 131, v. ii
+
+    Rossiya (Russian), 89, v. ii
+
+    Royal Alfred, 263, v. i
+
+    Royal Arthur, 71, v. ii
+
+    Royal George, The, 114, v. i
+
+    Royal James, The, 84, v. i
+
+    Royal Oak, 263, v. i
+
+    Royal Sovereign, 275, 284, v. i; 198, v. ii
+
+    Royal Sovereign (1657), 69, v. i
+
+    Royal Sovereign (1795), 139, v. i
+
+    Royal Sovereigns, (old), 81, v. i
+
+    Roxburgh, 109, v. ii
+
+    Rupert reconstructed, 311, v. i
+
+    Rurik (Russian), 89, v. ii
+
+    Russell, 105, v. ii
+
+
+    Salamander, 93, 76, v. ii
+
+    Sampaio, 78, v. ii
+
+    San Ildefonso (Spanish), 177, v. i
+
+    Sappho, 72, v. ii
+
+    Satsuma (Japanese), 146, v. ii
+
+    Scorpion, 287, v. i
+
+    Scylla, 72, v. ii
+
+    Sea Gull, 76, 93, v. ii
+
+    Sea-horse, 232, v. i
+
+    Sentinel, 129, v. ii
+
+    Severn, 112, v. i; 48, v. ii
+
+    Shah, 321, v. i
+
+    Sharpshooter class, 90, 93, 232, v. ii
+
+    Sheldrake, 76, 93, v. ii
+
+    Sikh, 232, v. ii
+
+    Sirius, 185, v. i
+
+    Skipjack, 76, v. ii
+
+    Skirmisher, 127, v. ii
+
+    Southampton, 196, v. ii
+
+    Sovereign, The, 37, v. i
+
+    Spanker, floating battery, 188, v. i
+
+    Spanker, 76, 93, v. ii
+
+    Spartan, 72, v. ii
+
+    Spartiate, 99, v. ii
+
+    Speedwell, 76, v. ii
+
+    Speedy, 76, 93, v. ii
+
+    St. George, 71, v. ii
+
+    Suffolk, 106, v. ii
+
+    Sultan, 304, 313, 318, v. i
+
+    Sutlej, 101, v. ii
+
+    Swift, 200, v. ii
+
+    Swiftsure, 177, 295, v. i
+
+    Sybil, 231, v. i
+
+    Sydney, 197, v. ii
+
+
+    Talbot, 89, v. ii
+
+    Tauranga, 76, 233, v. ii
+
+    Terpsichore, 72, v. ii
+
+    Terrible, 89, v. ii
+
+    Terror, 225, v. i
+
+    Thames, 48, v. ii
+
+    Thetis, 72, v. ii
+
+    Thunder, 225, v. i
+
+    Thunderer, 50, 175, v. ii
+
+    Thunderbolt, 225, v. i; 50, v. ii
+
+    Tiger, 188, v. ii
+
+    Ting Yuen (Chinese), 180, v. ii
+
+    Tonnant (French), 248, v. i
+
+    “Town” class cruisers, 197, v. ii
+
+    Trafalgar, 43, 64, v. ii
+
+    Transports, 22, v. i
+
+    “Tribals,” 199, v. ii
+
+    Tribune, 72, v. ii
+
+    Triumph, 58, 295, v. i
+
+    Trusty, 225, v. i
+
+    Tryal (1740), 111, v. i
+
+    Tsarevitch (Russian), 204, v. ii
+
+
+    Undaunted, 197, v. ii
+
+
+    Valiant, 257, v. i
+
+    Vanguard, 268, 295, v. i; 169, v. ii
+
+    Venerable, 102, v. ii
+
+    Vengeance, 99, v. ii
+
+    Vernon, 254, v. i
+
+    Victoria, 48, v. ii
+
+    Victoria (Colonial), 233, v. ii
+
+    Victorious, 189, v. i; 87, v. ii
+
+    Victory, 231, v. i
+
+    Viper, 276, v. i
+
+    Vixen, 276, v. i
+
+    Von der Tann (German), 180, v. ii
+
+
+    Wager (1740), 111, v. i
+
+    Wallaroo, 76, 233, 256, v. ii
+
+    Wampanoag (U.S.), 320, v. i; 233, v. ii
+
+    Warrior, 254, 257, 267, v. i
+
+    Warspite, 195, v. ii
+
+    Waterwitch, 276, v. i
+
+    Weymouth class, 196, v. ii
+
+    Whiting, 76, v. ii
+
+    Wizard, 76, v. ii
+
+    Wsewolod (Russian), 232, v. i
+
+
+    Yarmouth, 196, v. ii
+
+
+    Zealous, 263, v. i
+
+    Zelandia, 108, 234, v. ii
+
+
+  Ship Money, 7, 69, v. i
+
+  Ships, Short, handy, 264, v. i
+
+  Shipwrights’ Company Established, 59, v. i
+
+  Short Service System, 253, v. ii
+
+  Shovell, Sir Cloudesley, 98, v. i
+
+  Sidon, 216, v. i
+
+  Simoon, 223, v. i
+
+  Sinope, Battle of, 224, v. i
+
+  Syracuse, Neutrality of, Disregarded by Nelson, 152, v. i
+
+  Sir Charles Napier, 213, v. i
+
+  “Sirius” and “Magicienne” Aground, 185, v. i
+
+  Sir W. White’s Views on the “Sovereigns,” 65, v. ii
+
+  “Slop Chest,” 195, v. i
+
+  Sluys, 24, v. i
+
+  Small Cruisers and First Cost, 75, v. ii
+
+  Small German Protected Cruisers, 197, v. ii
+
+  Smith, Sir Sidney, 180, v. i
+
+  “Smoak-Boat” of Meerlers, 90, v. i
+
+  Sole Bay, Battle of, 85, v. i
+
+  Solid Bulkhead, 204, v. ii
+
+  Suffren, 129, v. i
+
+  Southampton Sacked, 23, v. i
+
+  South Australia, 232, v. ii
+
+  Southsea Beach, 175, v. i
+
+  Sovereignty of the British Seas, 10, 16, v. i
+
+  Sovereignty of the Seas upheld by Cromwell, 75, v. i
+
+  Spain, First War with, 28, v. i
+
+  Spain, Operations against, 45, v. i
+
+  Spanish Instructors in English Navy, 43, v. i
+
+  Spanish Wars (Succession), 95, v. i
+
+  Spanish Treasure Ship Captured by Captain Anson, 111, v. i
+
+  Spanish Treasure Ships, 158, v. i
+
+  Specialisation in Elizabethan Times, 46, v. i
+
+  Speed in the “Drake” class, 103, v. ii
+
+  “Spit and Polish,” 242, v. ii
+
+  Spithead Mutiny, 146, 202, v. i
+
+  Spragge, 85, v. i
+
+  St. Andre, Jean Bon, 134, v. i
+
+  St. Bride’s Day Massacre, 8, v. i
+
+  St. Lucia Captured (1794), 137, v. i
+
+  St. Malo, 90, 119, v. i
+
+  St. Thomas Captured, 180, v. i
+
+  St. Vincent, 145, v. i
+
+  St. Vincent, Cape, Battle of, 145, v. i
+
+  Steam Ships Anticipated, 212, v. i
+
+  Steam Tugs added to Navy, 213, v. i
+
+  Steam Vessel, The First, 215, v. i
+
+  Steam Vessels, Auxiliary, 219, v. i
+
+  Steam Warships, 215, v. i
+
+  Steering Gear Unprotected, 257, v. i
+
+  Sterns made Circular, 211, v. i
+
+  Stewart Kings and the Navy, 87, v. i
+
+  Stones from Aloft, 27, v. i
+
+  Stores regularly Instituted, 132, v. i
+
+  Stour, Battle of, 2, v. i
+
+  Stoving, 107, v. i
+
+  Strachan, Rear Admiral Sir E., 177, 183, v. i
+
+  Sub-divisions, 271, v. i
+
+  Submarine, Americans refuse to officially sanction, 190, v. i
+
+  Submarine Battleship may appear, 215, v. ii
+
+  Submarine, First, 59, v. i
+
+  Submarine, First appearance of, 190, v. i
+
+  Submarine, First use of, in War, 125, v. i
+
+  Submarine, The, 228, v. i; 208, v. ii
+
+  Submarines, a Danger to Big Ships, 194, v. ii
+
+  Submarines and Harbour Defence, 208, v. ii
+
+  Succession, War of the Spanish, 95, v. i
+
+  Super-Dreadnoughts, 175, v. ii
+
+  Super-heated Steam, 201, v. ii
+
+  Superior Artillery, 231, v. i
+
+  Supply of Oak, 132, v. i
+
+  Surgeons, 207, v. i; 257, v. ii
+
+  Sveaborg, 235, v. i
+
+  Swain, King of Denmark, 8, v. i
+
+  Sweden becomes French Ally, 186, v. i
+
+  Sweden, War with (1715), 105, v. i
+
+  Sweden, Peace with, Declared (1812), 188, v. i
+
+  Swedish Fleet, 162, v. i
+
+  Sweeps superseded by Paddles, 213, v. i
+
+
+  Tactics, 60, v. i
+
+  Tactics at Trafalgar, 176, v. i
+
+  Tactics, Early, 28, v. i
+
+  Tactics, English, 230, v. i
+
+  Tactics, First appearance of, 21, v. i
+
+  Tagus Blockaded, 181, v. i
+
+  “Tailoring,” 260, v. ii
+
+  Tarpaulin Seamen, 115, v. i
+
+  Tegethoff at Lissa (analogy), 100, v. i
+
+  Tercera, Battle of, 48, v. i
+
+  Teignmouth Attacked, 89, v. i
+
+  Texel, 84, v. i
+
+  Thames Iron Works, Blackwall, 250, v. i
+
+  Thames, Project to Block, 84, v. i
+
+  The Australian Navy, 237, v. ii
+
+  The “Battle of the Boilers,” 93, v. ii
+
+  The Cape, 176, v. i
+
+  The Coming of the Torpedo, 51, v. ii
+
+  The “Dreadnought” Commenced, 149, v. ii
+
+  The Duties of Naval Airships, 227, v. ii
+
+  The Earliest Naval Manœuvres, 54, v. ii
+
+  The “Échelon” System Resurrected, 179, v. ii
+
+  The First British Ironclads, 249, v. i
+
+  Theft, Punishment for, 12, v. i
+
+  The Future of Submarines, 215, v. ii
+
+  “The Offensive,” 321, v. i
+
+  The Origin of “Dreadnoughts,” 137, v. ii
+
+  The Periscope, 208, v. ii
+
+  “The Torpedo Boat, the Answer to the Torpedo Boat,” 212, v. ii
+
+  “The Trafalgar of the Air,” 228, v. ii
+
+  Thermite Shell, 244, v. i
+
+  “Theseus,” Nelson’s Ship at Santa Croix, 150, v. i
+
+  “Thieving Pursers,” 201, v. i
+
+  Thompson, Messrs, of Clydebank, 304, v. i
+
+  Thornycroft, 201, v. ii
+
+  Three Days’ Battle, 76, v. i
+
+  Three-Masters, 11, v. i
+
+  Thurot, 121, v. i
+
+  Ticklers, 253, v. ii
+
+  Tiddy, Mr. David, 299, v. i
+
+  Tilset, Peace of, 180, v. i
+
+  Timber, Boiling, 107, v. i
+
+  Timber, Supply of, 132, v. i
+
+  Tiptoft, Sir Robert, 22, v. i
+
+  Torpedo (analogy), 41, v. i
+
+  Torpedo Boat, 120, v. i; 199, v. ii
+
+  Torpedoes anticipated by Reed, 268, v. i
+
+  Torpedo, First use of, from Big Ship in Action, 322, v. i
+
+  Torpedo Gun-Boats, 77, v. ii
+
+  Torpedo, The, 228, v. i
+
+  Torpedoes, 322, v. i
+
+  Torpedo Progress, 203, v. ii
+
+  Torrington, 88, v. i
+
+  Toulon, 163, 171, v. i
+
+  Toulon Abandoned, 133, v. i
+
+  Toulon, Attack on Defeated (1707), 103, v. i
+
+  Toulon, Royalists at, 133, v. i
+
+  Toulouse, Comte de, 98, v. i
+
+  Trafalgar, Battle of, 232, v. i
+
+  Trafalgar, First Battle deliberately fought under White Ensign, 210,
+        v. i
+
+  Trafalgar, Losses to the Allied Fleets at, 177, v. i
+
+  Trafalgar Made a Certainty, 166, v. i
+
+  Trafalgar, Tactics at, 175, v. i
+
+  Training, Lack of, 233, v. i
+
+  Training of Gunners, 241, v. i
+
+  Treadwell, Professor Daniel, 244, v. i
+
+  Treasure Ships Captured (Spanish), 158, v. i
+
+  “Trident,” First Iron Warship, 219, v. i
+
+  Trinidad, 214, v. i
+
+  Tripod Masts, 287, v. i; 175, 186, v. ii
+
+  Troubridge, 152, v. i
+
+  Trousers, Ample, 196, v. i
+
+  Tsushima, 244, v. i
+
+  Tudor Navy, 35, v. i
+
+  Tumble Home Sides, 41, v. i
+
+  Turbines Introduced for Big Ships, 155, v. ii
+
+  Turning Circles, 272, v. i
+
+  Turkish Monster Guns, 179, v. i
+
+  Turret Craze, 275, v. i
+
+  Turret on Rollers, 275, v. i
+
+  Turret Ships, Idea of, 275, v. i
+
+  Turret Ship, Sea-Going Masted, 276, v. i
+
+  Turret Ship Controversy, 292, v. i
+
+  Turret Ships, Panic About, 292, v. i
+
+  Twelve-Inch “A,” 175, v. ii
+
+  Two-Power Standard, 96, 131, v. i
+
+
+  Under-Water Protection, 204, v. ii
+
+  Uniform, Anson’s Use of, 113, v. i
+
+  Uniform, 25, v. ii
+
+  Uniform Badge of Pressed Men and Jail Birds, 195, v. i
+
+  Uniform, Description of First, 194, v. i
+
+  Uniform, First Use of, for Officers, 194, v. i
+
+  Union Flag Altered, 209, v. i
+
+  Union Jack, 209, v. i
+
+  United Provinces, 63, v. i
+
+  Unprotected Steering Gear, 257, v. i
+
+  Unscrupulous Contractors, 65, v. i
+
+  Ushant, 125, v. i
+
+  U.S. Monitors, 285, v. i
+
+
+  Vaisseaux Blindées, 248, v. i
+
+  Van Drebel, 59, v. i
+
+  “Vanguard,” The, Nelson in, 152, v. i
+
+  Van Tromp, 76, 84, v. i
+
+  Venetian Frigates Captured, 187, v. i
+
+  “Vengeur” Sunk (1795), 136, v. i
+
+  Ventilation, 115, v. i
+
+  Ventilation, Artificial, 225, v. i
+
+  Vernon, Admiral, 108, 109, v. i
+
+  Versailles, Treaty of, 130, v. i
+
+  Vickers, Lts., 192, v. ii
+
+  Villaret-Joyeuse, 134, 139, v. i
+
+  Villeneuve, 233, v. i
+
+  Villeneuve Appointed, 169, v. i
+
+  Villeneuve Gets Out of Toulon, 171, v. i
+
+  Villeneuve Returns to Toulon, 172, v. i
+
+  Victualling, 146, v. i
+
+
+  Walpole, 107, v. i
+
+  War, Contraband of, 161, v. i
+
+  “War Scare” with Germany in 1911, 185, v. ii
+
+  Wars of the Roses, 33, v. i
+
+  Warwick, Earl of, 33, v. i; 198, v. ii
+
+  Warry (Early Idea of Quick Firer), 242, v. i
+
+  Walcheren Expedition, 183, v. i
+
+  Watts, Isaac, Sir, 254, 258, v. i
+
+  Waterloo, Battle of, 193, v. i
+
+  Weather Gauge, 21, v. i
+
+  Western Australia, 232, v. ii
+
+  West Indies, 171, 177, v. i
+
+  Whitehead, 204, v. ii
+
+  White, of Cowes, 232, v. ii
+
+  Whitworth, Works of, 239, v. i
+
+  Who First Adopted Cuniberti Ideas?, 159, v. ii
+
+  Why France was Beaten, 233, v. i
+
+  Willaumez, Leaves Brest, 182, v. i
+
+  Willaumez, Rear Admiral, 177, v. i
+
+  Willaumez Blockaded in Basque Roads, 182, v. i
+
+  Will Dreadnoughts Die Out?, 195, v. ii
+
+  William of Orange, 88, v. i
+
+  William the Conqueror, 10, v. i
+
+  Wire Guns, Early, 247, v. i
+
+  Wolfe, 122, v. i
+
+  Wood-Copper Sheathing Re-introduced, 295, v. i
+
+  Woolwich, 183, v. i
+
+  World Circumnavigated by Drake, 45, v. i
+
+
+  Yarmouth Ships, 22, v. i
+
+  Yarrow Boilers, 97, 196, v. ii
+
+  York, New, 237, v. i
+
+
+  Zarate, Don Francisco de, 46, v. i
+
+  Zeppelin Type (Dirigible), 227, v. ii
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes
+
+
+Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
+predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
+were not changed.
+
+Omitted and incorrect accent marks have not been remedied.
+
+Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
+marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
+unbalanced.
+
+Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs
+and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support
+hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to
+the corresponding illustrations.
+
+Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of the pages that referenced them,
+have been collected, sequentially renumbered, and placed at the end of
+the book.
+
+The index for both volumes was printed at the end of the second volume.
+The Transcriber has copied that index to the first volume.
+
+Many alphebetization errors in the index were remedied, but some may
+remain. Page references in the index were checked automatically, but
+some may be incorrect.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75616 ***