Famous ships of the British navy

Front matter

FAMOUS SHIPS OF THE BEITISH NAYY.

Frontispiece.

HOWE.

Preface

1^ the following pages are condensed the histories of some of those famous Ships which, commanded by gallant officers and manned by " hearts of oak," have done so much to illustrate the annals and perpetuate the fame of the British Navy.

These stirring narratives have been compiled from authentic sources, and are purposely presented without verbal exaggeration or picturesque colouring. The deeds of British sailors require no adventitious adjuncts to merit the respect, and command the admiration, of their countrymen.

At a time when the "wooden walls" of England seem virtually abolished, and the gallant vessel which walked the waters like *'a thing of life" is fast being converted into an iron tortoise, or armour-clad hulk, whose chief characteristic will be its invulnerability ; at a time, when the manoeuvres of ships and the tactics of great fleets are undergoing a complete revolution ; the reader may not be displeased to refresh his memory with the achievements of our old men-of-war, — those

Vlll PREFACE.

Queen Charlottes, Bellerophons, and Victories, whicli bore the flags of our famous Sea-kings in a score of glorious triumphs, and asserted in every sea the supremacy of the " Eed Cross. "

The old forms, however, may change ; but the spirit will still live. Whether the Fleet of the Future be modelled after the Warrior, the Achilles, the Monitor, or the Boyal Sovereign, I doubt not that it will be led by oflBcers as heroic as Nelson, as gentle as CoUiugwood, and manned by no unworthy successors of the gallant "tars" who bled at Camperdown, Trafalgar, and the Nile. And if they need an inspiration, they will find it in such romantic narratives as this little volume is designed to preserve : —

" In our halls is hung Armour of the invincible knights of old. We must be free or die, who speak the tongue That Shakspeare spoke ; the faith and morals hold That Milton held ; in everything have sprung From earth's best blood, have titles manifold !" — Wordsworth.

Norwoody Februo^ry 1863.

CONTENTS,

Chapter I. Rise Of The British Navy

PAGE

The " Henrye Grace a Dieu " — The " Sovereign of the Seas " — Ships first classified — Sloops and Yachts introduced — Explanation of the word " frigate " — Growth of the British Navy . 15

Chapter II. The Story Of The "mary Rose."

Henry VIII. — Portsmouth as it was — French Fleet under D'Annebault — Engagement between English and French — Loss of the "Mary Rose'' — French Invasion of the Isle of Wight — Quotation from Froude 20

CHAPTER m.

THE STORY OF THE "GOLDEN HIND,'* AND DRAKE'S CIRCUMNAVI- GATION OF THE WORLD.

Enterprise against the Spanish Colonies in North America — Drake's Flotilla — Thomas Doughty — Old Books of Travel — The Patagonians — A Skirmish — Port St. Julian — Execution of Doughty — Drake's Ships separate — Discovery of Cape Horn — The Sleeping Spaniard — Rifles the Cacafuego — Sails along the North- West Coast — Extreme Cold of the Climate — New Albion — Port San Francisco — Islands of Thieves — • The Philippines — The Moluccas — Interview with the King of Temate — A Narrow Escape — Arrival at Plymouth — Honours bestowed upon Drake — The "Golden Hind" at Peptford — Cowley's Yerses — A Latin Eulogium .... 27

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV. THE STORY OF BLAKE's FLAG-SHIPS ! — •

Tlie " Triumph ''—the " Swiftsure ''—the " ;S'^. George,"

• PAGE

The *' Triumph .-"—Blake and Van Tromp— The two Fleets in Sight — ^A Storm — Blake gains the Weather-gage — The *' Triumph " begins the Engagement — It is desperately contested — Victory of the English — Remissness of the Parliament — Danger of Blake — ^Slovements of the Dutch — The 18th of February 1653 — The two Fleets engage — Heroism of De Ruyter— Close of the First Day's Battle— The Dutch off Weymouth — Second Day's Battle — Dutch retreat during the Night— Third Day's Battle— Defeat of the Dutch- Blake sails for the Scotch Coast — Monk and Deane in the Downs — ^The 2nd of June — Van Tromp's Armada — Attacks the English — Death of Deane — Night comes on — Renewal of the Battle on the Second Day — Arrival of Blake — A Fierce Contest — Destruction of the "Brederode" — Total Defeat of the Dutch 43

The " Swiftsure :" — Before Cadiz — Blockade of the Port — Blake visits Algiers, and relieves Tangier — The Peru Treasure Fleet — Takes Refuge in Santa Cruz — Blake resolves to attack it — Preparations for Resistance — Movements of the English — A Prudent Dutchman — Attack upon Santa Cruz — Gallantry of Captain Stayner — Total Desti:uction of the Spanish Vessels — Eulogium of Lord Clarendon — Cromwell's Letter to Blake — After-career of the " Swiftsure " ... 56

The " St. George :" — Expedition against the Barbary States — Sails from the Solent — Obtains Compensation from the Grand Duke of Tuscany — Appears off Tunis — Is defied by the Dey — Attacks Tunis — Destruction of the Tunisian Fleet and Batteries — Visits Tripoli and Algiers — Illness of Blake — Steers for Home — Gradual Decline — Arrives off Plymouth — Quotation from Hepworth Dixon — Blake's Public Funeral — ^His Character — After-career of the " St. George ". 63

Chapter V. The Story Op The *' Royal Charles."

Launched as the *' Naseby "■ — Shares in the Sea-fights of the Dutch — Selected as the Flag-ship of Blake and Montagu- Narrow Escape— The Restoration of 1660— The " Naseby " re-christened as the *' Royal Charles " — Embarks Charles II. at Scheveling — Quotation from Dry den — The Dutch AVar of 1665~riag-ship of the Duke of York— Battle of the 3rd of

CONTENTS. XI

PAGE

June — Defeat of the Dutch — Singular Conduct of the Duke — Treachery or Cowardice of Brouncker-— Quotation from Sir John Denham — Glorious Victory of June 1, 1666 — Quotation from Dryden — The Dutch in the Medway — Destruction of the " Koyal Charles " . 72

CHAPTEK VI.

THE STOEY OF THE " CENTURION."

Romantic Character of Old Books of Travel — Associations of Childhood — Anson's Famous Voyage — Fleet fitted out in 1740 against Manilla, the Capital of the Philippines — Badly manned and improperly equipped — Sails from Spithead — ■ Fever breaks out — The Fleet reaches the Brazilian Coast — ■ Patagonia and the Patagonians — The Isle of Fire — The Straits of Lemaire — A Storm — The " Centurion " makes for Juan Fernandez — Arrives there, and lands her Crew — An Island- Settlement — Arrival of the *' Gloucester " — Sad Tidings — Eecovery of the Crew — The Expedition again puts to Sea — Bold Attack upon Paita — A Night-masquerade — • Cruises off Acapulco — Quotation from Captain Basil Hall — Loss of the " Gloucester "> — The " Centurion " at Tinian — An Alarm — Sails for China — Arrival at Macao — Cruises in Search of the Panama Treasure-ship — A Prudent Cook — Capture of the Great Galleon — Alarm of Fire — The " Centurion " and her Prize arrive at Spithead ...... 82

Chapter VII. The Story Op A Mutiny

TJiG "Bounty:'

Dampier's Description of the Bread-fniit — The English Government resolve to plant it in the West Indies — The *' Bounty " sails for the South Seas — Arrives at Tahiti — Reception by the Tahitians — ^Friendly Intercourse — A Heivah, or Tahitian Dance — Tahitian Plants — A Supply obtained — The " Bounty " sails for Anamooka — Begins her Homeward Voyage — The Mutiny breaks out — Captain Bligh's Account — The Boat-voyage — Bligh's Character — Real Causes of the Mutiny — Narrative by an Eye-witness — The Mutineers return to Tahiti — Obtains Supplies — Discussions take place — Christian and his Adherents sail from Tahiti, and fall in with Pitcairn's Isle — An Extraordinary Colony — Its History

11 CONTENTS.

PAGE

detailed — Visited by Captain Sir Thomas Staines and Captain Beecliey — Captain Beechey's Interesting Account — Removal of the Colonists to Norfolk Island — Bligh and his Companions — The Boat-voyage — Severe Privations — Arrive at Timor — Departure for England — Voyage of the "Pandora" — Seizes the Mutineers at Tahiti — Harsh Conduct of Captain Edwards — ^Wreck of the "Pandora" — Boat- voyage — Conclusion of the Eventful Story 97

Chapter VIII. The Story Of The *' Arethusa."

Dibdin's Popular Ballad — Narrative of the Engagement which it celebrates between the '*Arethusa" and "La Belle Poule" — Admiral Keppel and the French off Ushant— Indecisive Battle— Political Feeling . 131

Chapter IX. The Story Of The "royal George."

Cowper's Celebrated Ballad — Sir Edward Hawke's Fleet in 1759 — Hoists his Flag on Board the " Royal George "■ — Engagement with the French in Quiberon Bay — A Great Victory — Falconer the Poet — Rear- Admiral Kempenfeldt — The " Royal George " at Spithead — Narrative of her Loss — The Extent of the Catastrophe — Graves on tlie Duver, at Ryde — The Wreck of the '* George " — Removal by Colonel Pasley . 137

CHAPTEfe X.

THE STORY OF THE " BELLEROPHON."

War with France — Lord Howe's Victory of the 1st of June — Share of the " Bellerophon " on tlie 29th of May — Attacks " La Revolutionnaire " — Renewal of the Engagement — Manoeuvres of the two Fleets — The 1st of June — Heroism of Rear-Admiral Pasley — A Complete Victory — Anecdotes of the 1st of June— The Battle of Trafalgar— The " Bellerophon " captm-es the " Monarca " — Cruises in the Basque Roads — Fall of Napoleon — The Emperor goes on Board the "Bellerophon"' — Sails for Plymouth — Removed to the " Northumberland " — St. Helena 145

CONTENTS, XI 11

Chapter XI. The Story Of The "queen Charlotte."

PAGE

Outbreak of the Eevolutionary War— The Channel Fleet — A Cruise — The French in sight — A Yain Pursuit — Lord Howe's Fleet in 1794 — The Enemy sails from Brest — Battle of the 28th of May— Battle of the 29th— The " Glorious First of June " — A fierce Engagement — A complete Victory — Honours for the Victors — A Storm, and a Cruise — Lord Bridport off Belle-Isle — Behaviour of the " Queen Charlotte " — Mutiny at Spithead — Concessions of the Admiralty — Influence of Earl Howe — The *' Queen Charlotte" in the Mediterranean — Off Genoa — Alarm of Fire — Loss of the "Queen Charlotte" 163

Chapter XII. The Story Of The " Leander."

Gallant Engagement with a French 74 — At Santa Cruz with Nelson — Nelson's Pursuit of the French Fleet — Discovers it at anchor in the Bay of Aboukir — Aboukir Island — Nelson*s movements— Commencement of the Battle — Manoeuvres of the English — Explosion of the " Orient " — Casa-Bianca and his Son — Total Defeat of the French — The " Leander " sails

. for Cadiz — Engagement with the " Genereux " — A Desperate Resistance — Her Capture— Restored to England by the Emperor of Russia — Captures the ** Ville-de-Milan " and " Cleopatra" • 181

Chapter XIII. The Story Of The "dreadnought."

Flag-ship of Admiral Comwallis — CoUingwood hoists his Flag on board of her in 1805— Shares in the Battle of Trafalgar — Captures the " San Juan de Nepomuceno " — Gallant Boataction at Ushant — Employed as a Hospital-ship — Statistics — Concluding remarks 199

Chapter XIV. The Story Of The "shannon."

Causes of the War with America in 1812 — Successes of the Americans — Captain Philip Broke — The "Shannon" off

XIV CONTEJTTS.

PAGE

Boston — Challenges the " Chesapeake "-—Captain Broke's Remarkable Letter — Relative Force of the two Vessels — The Battle— Complete Victory of the English—Interesting Details 204

Chapter XV. The Story Of The "victory."

Built in 1765— Lord Hood's Flag-ship in 1793— Siege of Toulon — Capture of Corsica— Sir John Jervis succeeds to the command of the Mediterranean Fleet — Hoists his Flag in the *' Victory " — She shares in the Battle off Cape St. Vincent — Details of the Battle — Defeat of the Spanish — Becomes Nelson's Flag-ship in 1803— Pursuit of the French and Spanish Fleets — Preparations for Battle— Anecdotes of Nelson — Battle of Trafalgar — General Details — Wound of Nelson — His Last Moments — His Death, and Character — A Glorious Victory — Nelson's Funeral — After-career of the *' Victory " , 217

Chapter XVI. The Story Op A Shipwreck

The '' Alceste:'

Her Early Career — Gallant Encounter with the " Pomone " — Embassy to China — Begins her Homeward Voyage — The Wreck — Island of Pulo Leat — A Strange Colony — Appearance of the Malay Pirates — Preparations for Defence — • Arrival of Relief— Captain Maxwell and the Emperor Napoleon — Conclusion .»•••••••.•.. 267

Appendix

IRON-CLAD SHIPS.

The " Warrior "—The " Black Prince "—General Principles on which an Iron-clad Fleet should be constructed — Plans of the British Admiralty— The Navy of the Future . . . .278

Chronological Table of Actions at Sea 297

Description of a Ship's Eigging, Sails, &c 303

' of Naval Terms 312

FAMOUS SHIPS OF THE BEITISH NAVY.

Chapter I. The Rise Of The British Navy

" Thus we command The empu-e of the sea." — Slialisi^eare,

Though naval victories had been achieved by England in the stormy reigns of the Plantagenets — and notably at Sluys by Edward III. — the Eoyal ^avy, strictly speaking, had no existence until Henry YIL caused to be constructed, in 1488, a three-masted ship which he called The Great Harry, and which is said to have been accidentally burnt at Woolwich in 1553. Previously, the English kings, when carrying on a maritime war, hired their ships of the great merchants, or relied upon the quota of vessels which every Cinque Port, and the sea-ports generally, were bound to supply at the sovereign's demand. These small craft resembled in size and burden the fishing-boats which now hover about our coasts ; one-decked, one-masted vessels, carrying small guns which were fired, not through port-holes, but over the ship's bulwarks. Port-holes were the invention of one Descharges, a French builder at Brest, and in England appear to have been first introduced in the second famous ship of the Eoyal Navy — the Henrye Grace-a-Bieu, built at Erith, or, according to some authorities, at Woolwich, in 1515.

The Senrye Grace-a-Dieu was then considered the tenth Wonder of the World. Giustinian, the Venetian ambassador at the court of Heniy YHP, seems to have

10 THE "GOLDEN DEVIL.'*

been amazed at her extraordinary size : she was, lie says, " a galeas of TinusTial magnitude," whose numerous heavy guns would doubtlessly overpower " any fortress, however strong." She cost 6,478Z. 85. Ofd,— a large sum, when the value of money at that time is taken into consideration. Her burthen was, it is said, 1 000 tons, but we have no means of ascertaining in what way the Tudor shipbuilders computed tonnage. She carried two tiers of guns, and platforms — or short decks — both at stem and stem, j)resenting, indeed, a very fantastic and unwieldy appearance. Her armament consisted of 80 pieces — cannon-royal, cannon-serpentine, bastard-cannon, demi-cannon, and cannon-petro — 54 of which were fired through port-holes, the remainder mounted on the afterpart of the forecastle. She had three decks and four masts.

This memorable vessel was launched at Erith, October 1515, in the presence of King Henr}^ and his queen, and wellnigh all "the lords and prelates of the kingdom, who all dined on board at the king's charge." We hear of her, afterwards^ in 1552, as the Ediuard, — her name having been changed, perhaps, in compliment to Edward VI.5 — and from that date lose all trace of her existence.

A vessel of 900 tons, named after Queen Elizabeth, was launched at Woolwich in her royal presence, in 1559 ; but the next great ship of the British navy, — which, under Henry VIII., had received its first formal organization, — was the Sovereign-of-the-Seas, built at Woolwich dockyard, in 1637, from tho designs of Phineas Pett. Fuller speaks of her as "a liegir-ship of state, the greatest ship our island ever saw." Her sides were richly adorned with emblems and mottoes in gold, so that the Dutch, in whose naval defeats she played a conspicuous part, called her the '* Golden Devil." Her decorator, Thomas Heywood, thus describes her : — "She has three flush-deckes, and a forecastle, an half-decke, a quarter-decke, and a round-house. Her lower tyre (tier) hath 30 ports, which are

WHAT IS A FRIGATE? 17

to be furnished with demi-cannon and whole cannon throughout, being able to beare with them. Her middle tyre hath also 30 ports, for demi-culverin and whole culverin. Her third tyre hath 26 ports for other ordnance. Her forecastle hath 12 ports, and her halfedecke hath 14 ports. She hath 13 or 14 ports more wi thin-board for murdering pieces \i. e., guns mounted on the after part of the forecastle], besides a great many loop-holes out of the cabins for musket-shot. She carried, moreover, ten pieces of chase-ordnance in her right forward, and ten right aft, that is, according to land service, in the front and the reare." Her burthen is variously stated at 1141, 1637, 1543, and 1683 tons, and her armament numbered, in all, 100 guns.

The ships of the Eoyal Navy appear to have been first classified into "rates" in 1626, when was issued, byorder of Charles I., '' the Kew Eates for Seamen's Monthly Wages, confirmed by the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy, according, to His Majesty's several rates of ships, and degrees of officers." These rates were then, as they are now, six in number, but, of course, in every other respect, differed materially from the present arrangement. A " first-rate " of to-day is a vessel as infinitely superior to the " first-rate " of King Charles's time as the Great Eastern to one of the Chelsea steamers.

About 1670 the description of vessel known as " sloops " was added to the Eoyal Navy. Bombs, invented by N. Eeyneau, were introduced in 1688; fireships and yachts, between 1660 and 1675. The word " yacht" is from the Dutch, and the first yacht ever seen in England was The Mary, a present from the Dutch government to Charles IJ. At a much earlier date our builders had become acquainted with the light swift vessel of war called " frigate." The word is apparently Italian, and indicates swiftness of sailing : it derives its origin, says the Dictionnaire de la Marine, from th^ Mediterrginean, where all long ships, built both for

18 OEIGIN OF THE FRIGATE.

sail and oar, are named " frigates." The side, which is higher than that of a galley, has openings, like port-holes, for the oars to pass throngh. From the Italians they were adopted by the French, and from the French by the English, who called almost all their merchant ships frigates. Sir Francis Drake, among the ships which he led against the (misnamed) Invincible Armada, had a " frigat " called the Elizabeth Fonnes, of 80 tons, and manned by 50 men. The first frigate, however, as the moderns understand the term, was built by the ingenious Sir Kobert Dudley, afterwards Duke of Northumberland: it measured 160 ft. in length, and 24 ft. in breadth, and carried a tier of guns on a single whole deck, besides other guns on the quarter-deck and forecastle. Thus the English appear to have been the first to have introduced the armed frigate, and to have converted into a ship of war the fast- sailing merchant- vessel, though Fuller asserts that we ** fetched the first model and pattern of our friggots from the Dunkirks,* when, in the days of the Duke of Buckingham, then admiral, we took some friggots from them, two of which still survive in His Majesty's navy (Charles II.), by the names of the Providence and Expedition^' On the other hand, Pep^^s asserts that " the Constant Warwick was the first frigate built in England. She was built in 1649, by Mr. Peter Pett, for a privateer for the Earl of Warwick, and was sold by him to the States. Mr. Pett took his model of a frigate from a French frigate which he had seen in the Thames ; as his son, Sir Phineas Pett, acknowledged to me."

For centuries the British navy was composed of ships inferior in point of sailing qualities to those of

* Dunkirk was, for centui'ies, a famous nursery for seamen : hence, the importance which Cromwell attached to its possession by England, and the indignation with which the Enghsh regarded its sui'render to France by Ohailes II. The Dunkirk rovers did no small damage to English pommerce m lat^ m the Revolutionary

INFEraORITY OF BRITISH SHIPS. 19

other maritime nations, and its numerous victories were won by the superior discipline and courage of its seamen. Their great fault, says Mr. James, in his invaluable Naval History, was — *' their insufficient size in reference to the guns they were forced to carry. Hence, their lower batteries could seldom be used in blowing weather ; and they sailed and worked heavily. But even this had its advantages; for the British generally recaptured their ships, whenever they formed part of an enemy's chased fleet ; and it is remarkable that, of the Comte de Forbin's fleet, which, in 1708, attempted a descent on Scotland, the only ships which perished in the gale that happened were such as had been taken froni the English." For years, indeed, the best and swiftest vessels in the Eoyal Navy were those which had been captured from the French; but the application of steam power to men-of-war, and the improved science of our shipbuilders, has happily removed from us this long-enduring reproach, and we now construct in the royal dockyards ships of a strength, beauty, and speed which no nation can surpass.

These desultory remarks may fittingly be closed with a comparison of the number and strength of the British Koyal Navy at different dates. In 1677, it included 41 ships, mounting 2,344 guns, and manned by 14,665 men. In 1793, it numbered (in commission, in ordinary, &c.) 411 ships, whose total tonnage was 402,555, carrying 45,000 seamen and marines. In 1796, it numbered 592 ships with 530,423 tons. In 1800, 757 ships with 629,211 tons. In 1810, at the climax of the great French Eevolutionary War, 1,048 ships, with 860,990 tons, of which 664 sail were cruisers. In 1820, it had decreased to 613 ships, with 605,527 tons, but only 113 ships were in commission. In 1861, it included nearly 1,000 steamers and sailing vessels ; but the introduction of iron-clad ships has so completely altered the character of our marine, that it is difficult to furnish ^ny correct view of its actual condition,

Chapter II. The Story Of The " Mary Rose/'

[Period of Service : Reign of Henry VIII., 1539-1544. Strength : 60 guns, 500 men.]

" Ye ocean warriors !

Our song and feast shall flow To the fame of your name When the storm has ceased to blow ; When the fiery fight is heard no more, And the storm has ceased to blow." — Campbell,

Henry VIII. was tlie first of our sovereigns who rightly comprehended the importance to England of a considerable marine, and it was the energy of his genius and the decisive resolution of his character which sowed the seeds of our surpassing maritime power. With that administrative ability which he so eminently possessed he introduced a complete system and a satisfactory organization into his infant navy, and placed his arsenals and dockyards upon an important footing. Portsmouth, under his care, became the' principal naval depot of England; and yet how weak and rude were these beginnings as compared with the splendid results now so conspicuous to our eyes, may easily be inferred by our young readers from Leland's quaint description of that famous seaport. Leland visited Portsmouth in 1548, and thus records his observations : —

'* The land here," he writes, " on the east side of Portsmouth haven, runs further by a great way straight into the sea, l^'' the south-east from the haven-mouth, than it does on the west point. There is, at the point of the haven, Portsmouth town, and a great round tower, almost double in quantity and strength to that on the west side of the haven right against it, and here

POUTSMOOtH THREE CENTURIES AGO, 21

is a miglity chain of iron to draw from tower to tower. About a quarter of a mile above this tower there is a great dock for ships, and in this dock lies the ribs of the Henry Grace de Dieu, one of the biggest ships that has been made within the memory of man. There are above this dock creaks in this part of the haven. The town of Portsmouth is murid [walled] from the east tower a furlong's length, with a mud wall armed with brass ordnance, and this piece of the wall having a ditch without it, runs so far flat south-south-east, and is the place most apt to defend the town, there open on the haven. There runs a ditch almost flat east for a space, and within it is a wall of mud like to the other, and then goes on round about the town for the circuit of a mile. There is a gate of timber at the north-east end of the town, and by it there is cast up a hill of earth ditched, whereon be guns to defend the entry into the town by land. There is much vacant ground within the town wall, and there is one fair street in the town west to north-east."

Such was Portsmouth in the reign of Henry VIIL, and as such it excited the jealousy and apprehension of our '* natural enemies" — for so our wise ancestors considered them! — the French. Accordingly, when war broke out between Henry VIII. and Francis I., in 1544, their first blows were aimed at Portsmouth, and thither was despatched a formidable fleet under the command of the gallant D* Annebault, Admiral of France. It consisted of 1 50 large ships, 25 galleys, and 50 small vessels and transports, which, having securely crossed the Channel, were off the back of the Isle of Wight on the 18th of July.

The English fleet, having just been reviewed by Henry VIII., lay at Portsmouth, under the command of the chivalrous Lord Lisle. It was far inferior in force to the French armada, but its vessels were of larger build, and manned by better seamen. Chief among these was the Mary Bose — so named partly in honour of the Virgin Mary, and partly in allusion to the Tudor

22 A FRENCH INtASIOi^.

cognizance of tlie rose. Slie was a new sliip of 600 tons, recently built at Woolwich, and armed with 60 pieces of heavy ordnance. Her captain was the gallant Sir George Carew, but she was unfortunately manned with a crew who were said, all of them, " to be fitter, in their own conceit, to order than obey, and to be incompetent for ordinary work " — very worshipful gentlemen and brave soldiers, but by no means well-disciplined seamen.

D'Annebault's armada steadily progressed round the Isle of Wight, piloted by boats with sounding lines which carefully indicated the proper depth of water. They passed the lofty cliffs now crovoied by the glittering villas of Ventnor and Bonchurch, while the bale-fires shooting up their spires of flame on every conspicuous height, warned the islanders that an enemy was at hand. Soon they rounded the picturesque headland of St. Helen's Point, and fell into position in a formidable line which extended nearly four miles in length — from Brading Harbour to the then little fishing village of Eyde. Fourteen English ships were despatched by Lord Lisle to reconnoitre the array, but D'Annebault bringing up his galleys to meet them, after a few dropping shot, they retired, and night silently encompassed the hostile fleets.

Let us now adopt Mr. Froude's picturesque narrative : —

*' The morning which followed," he says, ^* was breathlessly calm. Lisle's fleet lay all inside the Spit [a large sand-bank, whence the name Sjpit-Jiead], the heavy sails hanging motionless on the yards, the smoke from the chimneys of the cottages on shore rising in blue columns straight up into the air. It was a morning beautiful with the beauty of an English summer and an English sea; but, for the work before him, Lord Lisle would have gladly heard the west wind among his shrouds. At this time he had not a galley to oppose to the five-and-twenty which D'Annebault had brought skiumish between the r\vo fleets:. 23

with him ; and in such weather the galleys had all the advantages of the modern gunboats. From the single long gun which each of them carried in the bow they poured shot for an hour into the tall stationary hulls of the line-of-battle ships ; and, keeping in constant motion, they were themselves in perfect security. According to the French account of the action, the Great Harry suffered so severely as almost to be sunk at her anchorage ; and had the calm continued, they believed that they could have destroyed the entire fleet. As the moiTiing drew on, however, the off-shore breeze sprung up suddenly, the large ships began to glide through the water, a number of frigates — long, narrow vessels — so swift, the French said, they could outsail their fastest shallops — came out * with incredible swiftness ;' and the fortune of the day was changed. The enemy were afraid to turn lest they should be run over ; and if they attempted to escape into the wind, they would be cut off from their own fleet. The main line advanced barely in time to save them, and the English, whose object was to draw the enemy into action under the guns of their own fortresses and among the shoals at the Spit, retired to the old ground. The loss on both sides had been insignificant ; but the occasion was rendered memorable by a misfortune."