Warships and their story

THE INTRODUCTION OF ARTILLERY, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF
WARSHIPS TO THE APPLICATION OF STEAM FOR NAVIGATION

Sails having proved their superiority over oars as a means of propulsion, and sailing ships with seaworthy qualities being fairly numerous, the world was ready for a great revolution in naval warfare. The warriors also were about equally divided in the matter of attack and defence in hand-to-hand encounter. When man first became dissatisfied with his own strength for hurling weapons at his foes he set to work to devise a means of overcoming this difficulty. His earliest weapon for this purpose was most likely the sling. Bows and arrows held their own in land and sea warfare for many centuries. Various forms of catapults were introduced by the Romans and others, and remained in use for some hundreds of years for hurling heavy stones into the partly decked ships of their opponents to sink them. The mysterious liquid known as Greek fire, the use of which has already been explained, was, in the method of its employment, a form of artillery. It was to the naval warfare of those days what the explosive shell is to modern warfare.

The Moors are credited with having introduced firearms into Western Europe at the siege of Saragossa in 1118 A.D., when they had artillery of some sort; and they are stated to have used the agency of fire to throw stones and darts in their defence of Niebla at a later date. The nature and origin of the firearms and fire machine have not been ascertained definitely. Did the Moors derive their knowledge from the East? They had Eastern connections. Mortars were used in China in the eighth century, which fired large stone balls, and by the twelfth century the Chinese had “wall pieces” or siege guns. They employed explosives in war before the Christian era. These events were certainly long before Western Europe discovered how to make gunpowder.

Cannon, as the term is now understood, was introduced about 1330. Edward III. is credited with having possessed cannon in 1338, but historians differ as to whether he employed cannon of any kind at the battle of Sluys, in 1340, or in any of his later naval engagements. Arrows and stones were the chief missiles; the English relied on their famous cross-bows, and the French upon machines for hurling stones. The latter sent several English ships to the bottom.

The battle of La Rochelle, in 1372, when a combined Spanish and French force defeated the English, is probably the first naval battle in which cannon were used, as some of the Spanish vessels are said to have carried a few. Artillery was certainly used at sea shortly after the middle of the fourteenth century by the Mediterranean countries. The Venetians found it effective against the Genoese in 1377, and its use became very rapidly general from the Levant to Spain.

The earliest guns were simply tubes, not cast, but built of strips of iron or wood held together by rings. They were breech-loaders, the charge being placed in a loosely-fitting chamber. How the chamber was secured and the gun fired are still undecided. The guns were usually innocent of trunnions and were fastened lengthwise upon wooden beams which could be propped up to give them the desired elevation. It has been recorded that in one of the earliest siege operations at which this primitive artillery was employed, both sides were so interested in the operation of firing that they ceased exchanging missiles and defiance, and even stopped their personal combats, until after the discharge, when, being much relieved that the stone bullet had inflicted no damage on the assailed castle wall and had wounded no one, they resumed hostilities in the old-fashioned way. In those days one discharge per gun per diem was regarded as sufficient. It was customary to load the piece overnight and fire it in the morning, from which it may be surmised that its moral effects were greater than the material destruction caused. Artillery would have to be in a more advanced stage to justify its use at sea, for no vessels could afford to carry guns which could only be used so infrequently. Nevertheless, the moral effects of gunfire were so evident, especially when weapons were made more powerful and able to inflict serious material damage, that the adoption of the new arm for naval war could not be long delayed, and the time soon arrived when both national and private vessels of any size carried one gun or more. By the middle of the fifteenth century guns on board ship had become common.

The illustration of the model[14] of a ship of the period 1486-1520 gives a very good idea of what the warships of that time were like. Although the vessel carried guns, the bow and arrow were still relied upon. The archer’s panier on the mast had given place to the deep circular top. Castles, however, were provided fore and aft for the archers, and were useful alike for affording them protection and accommodation and a place of vantage whence to discharge their arrows. The vessel is of the same type as the Spanish caravel of the early sixteenth century. From this it may be inferred that the Spaniards went to the north for the designs of their hulls, but preferred to retain the rig with which they were most familiar, the Spaniards depending largely on lateen yards and sails, whereas the model is square-rigged but without the top-sails she ought to carry.

A feature of the sea-going Atlantic vessels of this time was their great beam in proportion to their length. They also had an extraordinary amount of “tumble home,” or sloping of the sides above the water line towards each other. Ships of the type represented by the model were much in advance of those upon which artillery was first carried.

Galleys were the first to be equipped with guns, the weapons being upon the upper deck and fired above the bulwarks. Some galleys, particularly in the Mediterranean, carried only one gun forward, a bow chaser. The desire to carry more guns and to fire them over the sides led to the raising of the sides of the vessel; and in order to avoid the strain to the ship’s structure when the guns were fired, the weak point apparently being the connection between the sides and beams, the sides were given an inclination inboard, or tumble home, the connecting beams being thus shortened. The practice was carried to such an absurd extent that the beam of a Venetian galleon—as such vessels now began to be called—at the deck might be only half that of the vessel at the water line. The narrower deck space left less room on which to place the stern castle, which instead of being an addition became a structural part of the ship, provided with three and sometimes four decks, all carrying cannon.

On the Atlantic coasts the problem of cannon was solved in its own way. Guns were placed broadside and fired over the bulwark. But the disadvantages of this method were so obvious, especially when an enemy returned the fire, that portholes in the bulwarks were devised through which the guns could be discharged. A French shipbuilder at Brest, named Decharges, is said to have been the inventor of portholes, and also to have designed some other improvements. His portholes, however, were so small that the muzzles of the guns could only just protrude. It was impossible to give them any traverse, that is, to train or aim them.

The general adoption of artillery led to numerous modifications in the shape of the ships; they were built of greater dimensions, were more fully masted and rigged, and could show a considerable press of sail. It was also considered advisable that ships should be built especially for war purposes, the French taking the lead after the battle of La Rochelle.

If Henry V.’s warlike enterprises proved harmful to the development of English commerce, there is no denying that shipbuilding made some progress in his reign, though very little is known of the details of the construction of the vessels. From lists of the ships employed in his expeditions, it appears that his fleets included “Great Ships,” the largest of which was the Jesus of 1,000 tons, the others being the Holigost, 760 tons; Trinity Royal, 540 tons, and Christopher Spayne, 600 tons; there were also “cogs,” which were rather smaller; carracks, which were probably foreign built and were prizes of war, the construction of these vessels not having been then begun in England; ships, barges, and ballingers, the last being barges. The last three classes were no doubt impressed merchant vessels, ranging from 500 tons in the case of the ships to 80 tons in the ballingers. In regard to the “Great Ships,” it is reported[15] that Henry, observing the superiority of the Castilian and Genoese ships, caused some very large vessels, called “dromons,” to be built at Southampton, “such as were never seen in the world before,” says an old writer erroneously, “three of which had the names of the Trinity, Grace de Dieu, and Holy Ghost.” Although called dromons it does not follow that they were similar to the dromons in earlier or contemporary use in the eastern Mediterranean. The name was given to the latter because of their size and speed, and it is very likely that Henry V.’s vessels were so named for similar reasons. Long galleys, called ramberges, were also used about this time, and the English are said to have become very expert in their management.

Most of the large English armed ships of the middle of the fifteenth century were Spanish or Genoese built. A ship was then in existence carrying four guns on the broadside, fired apparently through ports in the bulwarks. She was fitted with four masts and a bowsprit, and had a high forecastle similar to that provided in Italian ships of that period, but seemingly more a part of the structure of the ship than was that of the latter. The mainsail bears the arms of the Earl of Warwick.[16]

A remarkable ship in the history of naval building was the Great Harry, sometimes confounded with the Henry Grace de Dieu. The Great Harry was commenced for Henry VII., and is regarded by many as the first ship of the British Royal Navy. No doubt the fact that Henry lived for many years in Brittany, which was then remarkable for its maritime activity, gave him a greater interest in shipping than most of his predecessors on the throne professed.

It was a proud day for England, had he but known it, when, in the year 1488, he ordered the Great Harry, for she marked the first serious attempt of an English sovereign to render the state not wholly dependent upon the merchants and the ports whenever he decided upon an expedition abroad, by providing a vessel which should be at the disposal of the state whenever required. For the first time in the history of England, for the building of a national ship, the axes swung as the trees were felled, and the blows resounded through the forests; the forges roared for the formation of the iron bolts and nails, and the hammers on the anvils rang as they beat them into shape; the tools of the carpenters hissed as they fashioned the knees and ribs and beams and planks; the looms whereon the sailcloth was woven hummed in the industrial chorus; for this was the first ship of England a nation, the first sign that Britannia was really awaking at last to the fulfilment of her maritime destiny. He did not live to see this vessel completed, and she was finished in Henry VIII.’s reign. Henry VII. also ordered the Regent and the Sovereign. The Great Harry is said to have been the first two-decked vessel built in England, and the only ship with three masts in the whole squadron. She was accidentally burnt at Woolwich in 1553.[17]

The Regent was about 1,000 tons, and carried two hundred and twenty-five small guns, called serpentines. She had four masts and a bowsprit, and was launched at Rotherhithe. She was not of English design, but, like a few before her and many since, was modelled after a French vessel. The Sovereign, a somewhat smaller ship, carried one hundred and forty-one serpentines. The year 1512 saw the end of the Regent. She was the flagship of the English in a notable battle, and was opposed by the great French ship, Marie de la Cordeliere, which was provided at the expense of Anne of Brittany, then Queen of France. This ship is stated to have carried one thousand two hundred fighting men, exclusive of mariners; at this time there were nine hundred on board, according to Derrick, who probably bases his statement on the report that she foundered with all hands numbering nine hundred.

An English description of the engagement states that, “All things being ... in order, the Englishmen approached towards the Frenchmen, which came fiercely forward ... and when they were in sight they shot ordnance so terribly that all the sea coast sounded of it.” One of the English ships “bowged,” or rammed, the Cordeliere, and when at last the Cordeliere was boarded, “a varlet gunner, being desperate, put fire in the gunpowder.”[18] The French writer, Guerin, also quoted by the same authority, in his version, says: “In the midst of this general French attack there was to be noted above all others a large and beautiful carrack, decorated superbly and as daintily as a queen. She of herself had already sunk almost as many hostile vessels as all the rest of the fleet, and now found herself surrounded by twelve of the principal English ships.... From the top of a hostile vessel there was flung into her a mass of fireworks. Then, sighting the Regent, she, like a floating volcano, bore down, a huge incendiary torch, upon her, pitilessly grappled her, and wound her in her own flaming robe. The powder magazine of the Regent blew up, and with it the hostile ship ... while the Cordeliere, satisfied, and still proud amid the disaster, and a whirl of fire and smoke, vanished beneath the waves.” The English version, if less vivid, is also less imaginative.

To replace the Regent, and to emulate Francis I. of France, who had built a ship called the Caracon (afterwards burnt at Havre), carrying one hundred guns, Henry ordered the Henry Grace de Dieu, of the same tonnage, 1,000 tons, but carrying one hundred and twenty-two guns. It is disputed whether she was built at Erith, as usually stated, or whether she was launched at Deptford and completed at Erith. Her launch took place in 1515. Historians differ as to what became of this vessel. One version is that she rolled incessantly and steered badly, and, having been built rather for magnificence than use, only made one voyage and was disarmed at Bristol and suffered to decay. If this be so, it affords an explanation of the discrepancies in the illustrations of the Henry Grace de Dieu, as it is permissible to suppose that another vessel bearing that name was constructed to take its place and that the newcomer afterwards became known as the Edward. The Henry Grace de Dieu was sometimes called the Great Harry, but must not be confused with Henry VII.’s ship bearing that name. The Henry Grace de Dieu was renamed the Edward after the accession of the next monarch. She had four pole masts; the foremast was placed almost over the stem, an arrangement which must have made her pitch deeply and recover slowly; the mainmast was at the break of the after deckhouse or sterncastle; the mizen or third mast was midway between the mainmast and the stern, and the fourth, or second mizen, was at the extreme stern, as far aft as it was possible to place it. Her forecastle overhung her bows by 12 feet or so, an arrangement which must have made her very uncomfortable in anything like a sea. She is asserted to have been the first four-masted vessel. There was also a fifth mast, if it may so be called, which slanted forward like an immense bowsprit. The first, second, and third masts had two round tops each, and the fourth mast one top, these being for the archers. Her sails and pennants were of damasked cloth of gold. Her armament comprised twenty-one heavy brass guns, and numerous smaller pieces of various types; but when she passed into the possession of Edward VI. she had nineteen brass guns and one hundred and one of iron.

As already stated, the great majority of the ships built for mercantile purposes were intended to be able to give a good account of themselves if they should be assailed by a hostile vessel, a contingency which was not at all unlikely in the days when ships roved the seas under the protection of letters of marque and made “mistakes” as to the nationality of the prize when the prospective booty might be held to justify the error. Before the nations took to building vessels especially for war every merchant was liable to have his traders requisitioned for war purposes, and even up to the end of the nineteenth century the inclusion of armed merchantmen in national forces was not uncommon. Letters of marque were permits granted to ship owners whose vessels had been despoiled by the subjects of another nation to recoup themselves at the cost of any vessels belonging to that nation which they could capture, and to continue to do so until the losses were made good. Naturally they found this profitable, much more so indeed than ordinary trading, and did not hesitate to set a low value upon all captures when casting about to find an excuse for another expedition. Piracy, too, was rife, and as at sea every shipmaster was a law unto himself unless there was someone at hand to enforce a change of views, the shipmaster or merchant turned pirate usually nourished exceedingly until captured red-handed, when his shrift was like to be a short one.

As an instance of the license to which this liberty was extended, may be mentioned the Barton family who, in the fifteenth century, had granted to them letters of marque to prey upon the Portuguese in retaliation for the murder of John Barton, who was captured and beheaded by Portuguese. His sons conducted the enterprise with such thoroughness that they were able to pay their Scottish Royal master so well that they were never interfered with by him, and when he entrusted them with the task of reducing the Flemish pirates who levied toll on Scottish commerce, they sent him a few barrels filled with pickled human heads to show that they were not idle. The fame of this Scottish family became world wide, for they had now a powerful fleet and traded and fought and captured where they would, so that the reputation of the Scottish navy was great. One of the ships of the Barton family, the Lion, was second in size and armament only to the Great Harry itself. The death of Sir Andrew Barton is commemorated in a well-known ballad.

When vessels with two and more decks were constructed, the lower ports were cut so near the water that when the vessel heeled, or even a moderate sea was running, the guns could not be worked. The ports of the Mary Rose, which was the next largest ship to the Regent, at one time, and had a tonnage variously stated at 500 and 660 tons, though afterwards surpassed by the Sovereign, 800 tons, Gabriel Royal, 650 tons, and Katherine Forteless, or Fortileza, were but 16 inches above the water. She was lost, in 1545, through the water entering her lower ports when going about off Spithead, and her commander and six hundred men went down with her; the Great Harry had a narrow escape from a similar disaster at the same time.

A report on the Royal Navy in 1552 makes interesting reading. The fleet was overhauled, and twenty-four “ships and pinnaces are in good case to serve, so that they may be grounded and caulked once a year to keep them tight.” This is endorsed, “To be so ordered, By the King’s Command.” Other seven ships were ordered to be “docked and new dubbed, to search their treenails and iron work.” The Mrs. Grand, a name which no longer adorns the “Navy List,” a vessel carrying a crew of two hundred and fifty men, and having one brass gun and twenty-two iron guns, lying at Deptford, was recommended to be “dry-docked—not thought worthy of new making”; so she was ordered “To lie still, or to take that which is profitable of her for other Ships.” Six others were stated in the report—a document seemingly the work of a naval reform party—to be “not worth keeping,” but they were ordered “To be preserved, as they may with little charge.”

Queen Elizabeth, whose patriotism and naval enthusiasm were about equally in evidence, was careful of her men and ships, raised the pay of her officers and seamen, and took steps generally to have the navy and the naval resources strengthened and conserved. She seems to have had twenty-nine vessels in 1565. She also encouraged merchants to build large vessels, which could be converted into warships as occasion required. The exigencies of trading over sea, however, were such that many of the vessels required little to be done to them in the way of conversion. Vessels were also rated at from 50 to 100 tons more than they measured.

“The Queen’s Highness,” a contemporary historian writes,[19] “hath at this present already made and furnished, to the number of One Hundred and Twenty Great Ships, which lie for the most part in Gillingham Road. Beside these, her Grace hath other in hand also; she hath likewise three notable Galleys, the Speedwell, the Tryeright, and the Black Galley, with the sight whereof, and the rest of the Navy-Royal, it is incredible to say how marvellously her Grace is delighted. I add, to the end that all men should understand somewhat of the great masses of treasure daily employed upon our Navy, how there are few merchant ships of the first and second sort, that being apparelled and made ready to sail, are not worth one thousand pounds, or three thousand ducats at the least, if they should presently be sold. What then shall we think of the Navy-Royal, of which some one vessel is worth two of the other, as the shipwright has often told me.”

Queen Elizabeth had, in 1578, twenty-four ships ranging from the Triumph, of 1,000 tons, built in 1561, to the George, of under 60 tons.

When the Spanish Armada arrived in the Channel in 1588, the British fleet, which numbered one hundred and ninety-seven vessels, included thirty-four belonging to the state. The remainder were ships of various kinds and sizes, mostly small, hired by the state or provided by private owners, and fitted out hastily for war purposes by their owners or the ports. The Cinque Ports, it should be remembered, which furnished a considerable number, were obliged by Henry VIII., in return for certain privileges, to supply him with fifty-seven ships, each containing twenty-one men and a boy, for fifteen days once a year at the ports’ expense, and it often happened that the ports had to find a greater number of vessels. After the fifteen days they received state pay. A similar arrangement held good at the time of the Armada. The largest ships in the English force are sometimes stated to have carried fifty-five or sixty guns, and one may have carried sixty-eight guns. The armament of the Triumph, which was the heaviest armed English vessel, comprised four cannon, three demi-cannon, seventeen culverins, eight demi-culverins, six sakers, and four small pieces. The Elizabeth Jones, of 900 tons, built in 1559, carried fifty-six guns, and the Ark Royal, Lord Howard’s flagship, launched in 1587, had fifty-eight guns and a crew of four hundred and thirty men, her tonnage being 800. The principal royal ships and the number of guns they carried were, as far as can be ascertained accurately: Ark Royal, fifty-five guns; Lion, thirty-eight; Triumph, forty-two; Victory, forty-two; Bonaventure, thirty-four; Dreadnought, thirty-two; Nonpareil, thirty-eight; Rainbow, forty; Vanguard, forty; Mary Rose, thirty-six; Antelope, thirty; and Swiftsure, forty-two. The Spanish ships were rather floating fortresses packed with soldiers, and desiring to come to close quarters so that the fight should be of the hand-to-hand description to which they were accustomed. The English ships were smaller, and though more numerous, of little more than half the total tonnage of the Armada, and were, on the whole, more lightly armed. Still, a large number of the English vessels carried what were long, heavy guns for those days, and they used them at short range when they assumed a windward position and attacked the Spanish rear, inflicting great damage and throwing the enemy into confusion. This defeat definitely established the cannon as the principal weapon for warfare afloat, and inaugurated a new era in the history of the world’s fighting navies.

Of the merchant ships engaged, the largest were the Leicester, sometimes called the Galleon Leicester, and the Merchant Royal, each of 400 tons. The great galleys and galleasses of the Armada were not the largest ships afloat by a great deal, for they were far exceeded in size by many contemporary merchantmen in the Mediterranean.

The Queen’s ships were sometimes employed upon peaceful and ambassadorial errands. The voyage of the Ascension to Constantinople shows a definite attempt to spread English prestige in distant seas by means of English trade openings, instead of by the diplomacy of the day, a prominent feature of which was the discovery of means and opportunities of raiding a state having much portable riches and not sufficient power to protect them.

The Ascension, in which Queen Elizabeth sent her second present to the Sultan of Turkey, left London in March, 1593, and arrived in August, 1594. She was “a good shippe very well appointed, of two hundred and three score tunnes (whereof was master one William Broadbanke, a provident and skilfull man in his faculties).” Some days after the arrival when the wind suited, “our shippe set out in their best manner with flagges, streamers, and pendants of divers coloured silke, with all the mariners, together with most of the Ambassador’s men, having the winde faire, and came within two cables’ length of this his moskyta,[20] where (hee to his great content beholding the shippe in such bravery) they discharged first volies of small shot, and then all the great ordinance twise over, there being seven and twentie or eight and twentie pieces in the shippe.”[21]

The early part of the seventeenth century, when James I. was king, saw a remarkable advance in shipbuilding, thanks to Phineas Pett, who dropped the somewhat haphazard rule-of-thumb methods of ship construction and introduced a more or less scientific system of measurement and estimate of weights. In 1610, the Prince, or Prince Royal, of 1,400 tons, and mounting sixty-four guns, was launched. She is described as “Double-built,” which has been supposed to mean that she had an outer and inner skin and an additional number of beams, etc. This may afford a partial explanation of the fact that though seven hundred and seventy-five loads of timber were estimated to be necessary for her construction, one thousand six hundred and twenty-seven loads were used. Also, as the ship only lasted fifteen years, a possible further explanation of the discrepancy may be found in the suggestion that much of the timber supplied and included in the larger amount was unfit for use. The Prince Royal was “most sumptuously adorned, within and without, with all manner of curious carving, painting and rich gilding, being in all respects the greatest and goodliest ship that was ever built in England.” In 1624 this ship had two cannon-petro, six demi-cannon, twelve culverins, eighteen demi-culverins, thirteen sakers, and four port-pieces.

Good sea fighters as the English had proved themselves to be, they yet were behind the Dutch and French as naval architects. Sir Walter Raleigh, an outspoken critic of the King’s ships and of English merchant vessels, comparing the latter with those of the Dutch, nevertheless admitted that some progress had been made in English shipping. “In my own time,” he writes, “the shape of our English ships hath been greatly bettered. It is not long since the striking of the topmast hath been devised. Together with the chain pump, we have lately added the Bonnet and Drabler.... To the courses we have devised studding sails, top-gallant sails, spritsails and topsails. The weighing of anchors by the capstan is also new. We have fallen into consideration of the length of cables, and by it we resist the malice of the greatest winds that can blow. We have also raised our second decks.” The last improvement was one of the most important, for the space between the decks was cramped, and the lower deck was not much above the water level. The raising of the decks gave the ships more freeboard and increased their seaworthiness, rendered the lower tier of guns more effective by enabling them to be used with less danger from water entering the ports, and gave the men working the guns on the lower tier more head room.

A list of the ships of King Charles, dated 1633, is of more than usual interest, says Derrick, “this being the earliest list of the Navy I have met with, wherein any part of the ships’ principal dimensions are inserted.... This is the first list in which any nice regard seems to have been paid to the tonnage of the Ships. Previous to 1663, the tonnage of almost every Ship seems to have been rather estimated than calculated, being inserted in even numbers.”

A natural development of the Prince Royal was the Sovereign of the Seas. These two vessels may be regarded as marking the first and second stages in the final period of transition from the old style of warship to the wooden walls. She was a remarkable vessel in national as well as naval history, for she played not a small part in the agitation over the question of ship-money, which had such a tremendous influence on the nation’s development.

“This famous vessel,” Heywood states in his publication addressed to the King, “was built at Woolwich in 1637. She was in length by the keel 128 feet or thereabout, within some few inches; her main breadth 48 feet; in length, from the fore end of the beak-head to the after end of the stern, a prora ad puppim, 232 feet; and in height, from the bottom of her keel to the top of her lanthorn, 76 feet; bore five lanthorns, the biggest of which would hold ten persons upright; had three flush decks, a forecastle, half-deck, quarter deck, and round house. Her lower tier had thirty ports for cannon and demi-cannon, middle tier thirty for culverines and demi-culverines, third tier twenty-six for other ordnance, forecastle twelve, and two half-decks have thirteen or fourteen ports more within board, for murdering pieces, besides ten pieces of chace-ordnance forward and ten right aft, and many loop-holes in the cabin for musquet-shot. She had eleven anchors, one of 4,400 pounds weight. She was of the burthen of 1,637 tons.... She hath two galleries besides, and all of most curious carved work, and all the sides of the ship carved with trophies of artillery and types of honour, as well belonging to sea as land, with symbols appertaining to navigation; also their two sacred majesties’ badges of honour; arms with several angels holding their letters in compartments, all which works are gilded over and no other colour but gold or black. One tree, or oak, made four of the principal beams, which was 44 feet, of strong serviceable timber, in length, 3 feet diameter at the top and 10 feet at the stub or bottom.

“Upon the stem head a Cupid, or Child bridling a Lion; upon the bulkhead, right forward, stand six statues, in sundry postures; these figures represent Concilium, Cura, Conamen, Vis, Virtus, Victoria. Upon the hamers of the water are four figures, Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Eolus; on the stern, Victory, in the midst of a frontispiece; upon the beak-head sitteth King Edgar on horseback, trampling on seven kings.”

The Sovereign of the Seas was the largest vessel yet built in England, and though she was intended as much for show as use, she became, when she was reduced a deck and a lot of this ornamental flummery was removed, one of the best fighting ships in the navy, and was in nearly all the chief engagements in the war with Holland, and proved herself a very serious opponent, as the navy records show.

It was about this time that ships were first rated or classified according to their size and efficiency as fighting units. About this time also, a new type of vessel, the frigate, was introduced into the navy. The frigate is not a British invention, but, so far as this country is concerned, was copied from the French by Peter Pett, son of Phineas Pett, who saw one in the Thames. He built, in 1649, the Constant Warwick to the order of the Earl of Warwick, who intended her for a privateer, but sold her.

According to Pepys, the Dutch and French, in 1663 and 1664, built two-decked ships with sixty to seventy guns, and lower decks four feet above the water. The English frigates were narrower and sharper, and their lower gun ports were little more than three feet above the sea. It was therefore decided that the English ships should have their gun ports about four and a half feet from the water. The French and Dutch three-deckers were usually about 44 feet in the beam, as compared with the 41 feet of some of the English third rates, and the Henry, built in 1656, and the Katherine, in 1674, to mention only two of many, were useless until they were girdled, and after 1673 the three-decked second raters were ordered to be 45 feet in the beam.

In the seventeenth century the Royal Louis was built at Toulon, carrying 48-pounders on its lower deck, 24-pounders on the middle deck, and 12-pounders on the upper deck. The French, indeed, were taking the lead in naval construction at this period, and their superiority was recognised by the English who captured and imitated them whenever possible. Thus the Leviathan, built at Chatham, was a copy of the Courageux of seventy-four guns, and the Invincible, captured by Lord Anson during the Seven Years War, served as model for many more.

During a French visit to Spithead in 1673, the Superbe, seventy-four guns, attracted special attention. She was 40 feet broad and had her lowest tier of guns higher from the water than the English frigates. Accordingly the Harwich was built by Sir Henry Deane as a copy, and gave such satisfaction that she was adopted as a pattern for second and third rates. Besides the six rates of fighting ships, other classes were included in the navy list, these being, in Charles II.’s reign, thirteen sloops, one dogger, three fireships, one galley, two ketches, five smacks, fourteen yachts, four hoys, and eight hulks.

The dimensions determined upon in 1677 for ships of one hundred, ninety and seventy guns were sometimes exceeded; and in 1691 another set of dimensions, for ships of sixty and eighty guns, was established. In the following year an appropriation for “bomb vessels” was sanctioned; and about 1694, a revival of the fireships was tried. These vessels were called internals, possibly on account of their contents, which included “loaded pistols, carcasses (filled with grenadoes), chain shot, etc., and all manner of combustibles.” Their revival, or invention in this form, is attributed to an engineer named Meesters, who directed the operations against Dunkirk, without achieving any success with them.

Prior to the battle of La Hogue, in 1692, five advice boats appear in the navy list for the first time; they carried from forty to fifty men each and were deputed to acquire information of the enemy’s movements at Brest.

Complaints were made in 1744-5 that the British vessels compared unfavourably with those of other nations in scantlings, seaworthiness, and armament. This induced the adoption of another set of rules, and the ships built according to them proved to be good sea boats, carrying their guns well, and standing up stiffly under sail, but they had the objection of being too full in the after part of their under body, which retarded their speed somewhat. After ten years’ trial this establishment was modified, the faults complained of were remedied, and the ships were increased in size, and from this time onward fifty-gun ships were seldom classed as ships of the line of battle. There has been some misconception in regard to the frigates of the period, as many small vessels carrying eighteen guns, or less, were so called, but were afterwards included among the sloops.

The real frigate was a vessel constructed to cruise in all weathers, and able to show a good turn of speed; she had an armament which was fairly heavy for her size, and it was carried on one deck, with the exception of a few guns which might be disposed about the poop or forecastle. For over two hundred years vessels of this type were held in the highest esteem, until, indeed, they were superseded, in common with all other sailing warships, when steam was adopted. The career of the steam frigate was brought to an early close by the adoption of the ironclad.

The frigate itself underwent considerable development during its two centuries’ career. The earlier frigates carried twenty-four or twenty-eight 9-pounders, and a crew of about one hundred and sixty men; these vessels were about 500 tons burthen, or a little more, with a gundeck length of 113 feet and a length of 93 feet on the keel. Their rig marked a curious transition stage from the Mediterranean influence to that of the modern square rig, as, although they carried square sails on the fore and main masts, lateens were still carried on the mizen. The frigate of thirty-two 12-pounders appeared shortly afterwards, the first of this size being the Adventure, launched in 1741; and six years later the Pallas and Brilliant, thirty-six-gun frigates, were added to the navy; but, while admittedly excellent fighting cruisers, they were inferior to the French thirty-six-gun frigates built about that time.[22] The frigates played a most important part in the world’s naval history of the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth century.

Tougher antagonists than the French frigates, however, were the seven frigates the Americans built when matters became strained between the United States and this country; they were the United States, Constitution, President, Constellation, Congress, Chesapeake, and Essex. The first-named was the largest, with a tonnage of 1,576, and the smallest the Essex, 860 tons. The American navy consisted only of about a dozen vessels altogether on which reliance could be placed, but these were among the best of their kind afloat; there were a few others of little or no fighting value. The frigates carried batteries of carronades supplemented by long guns, 12-pounders. It was the custom to give the American ships more guns than they rated. Thus the forty-four-gun frigate had thirty long 24-pounders on the main deck, two long bow chasers on the forecastle, and twenty or twenty-two 32-pounder carronades, as in the Constitution, while the carronades of the President and United States were 42-pounders. The armament of the Constellation, Congress, and Chesapeake was twenty-eight long 18-pounders on the main deck, two similar guns on the forecastle, and eighteen 32-pounder carronades. The “ship-sloops,” of which the greater part of the rest of the American naval force consisted, carried 32-pounder carronades, and long 12-pounders for bow chasers. The “brig-sloops” were equipped with carronades. The Americans claim to have been the first to employ the heavy frigate effectively, notwithstanding that the cannon balls their guns fired were of less weight in some instances than the projectiles discharged from the corresponding weapons in the British or French navies, and the shot would also appear to have been really lighter than they were supposed to be by as much as two to ten per cent. These frigates were remarkable for the series of duels they fought with British warships, winning six in succession, by superior seamanship and better sailing qualities, to some extent, but mostly by superior gunnery, until the final duel was won by the Shannon in her memorable encounter with the Chesapeake. The series of American victories was inaugurated by the Constitution, otherwise “Old Ironsides,” the British victim being the Guerrière.

In considering the development of the warships of other types, it is necessary to go back a few years. The British dockyards were unequal to the demands upon them for the wars of the latter part of the eighteenth century, and a greater number of warships than ever before was built by contract at privately owned yards.

It is interesting to note that one firm of shipbuilders which built ships for the navy in those days and even a century earlier, on Thames side, is still in existence, and in spite of limited liability company laws and the introduction of new partners, is still known as Green’s yard, at Blackwall, and is still managed by bearers of the name.

Twenty-six sail of the line and eighty-two smaller vessels were launched from private yards during the war ending in 1762, and twenty-four sail of the line and twelve smaller ships were launched at the King’s yards between the declaration of war in 1756 and the proclamation of peace seven years later. This is of importance as showing the resources of the country even at that time in warship building, and the assistance the government was glad to receive from the private builders at times of emergency.

During this war it was decided that no more eighty-gun three-deckers or seventy-gun or sixty-gun ships should be built. In place of the first-named, ships of seventy-four and sixty-four guns were ordained, and fifty-gun ships with a roundhouse were ordered to replace the latter. The first seventy-fours and sixty-fours were too small for the weight of the guns they had to carry, and their successors of that class were larger. No eighty-gun ship with three decks was built after 1757, and no seventy-gun ship after 1759. The Cæsar was the first English eighty-gun ship with two decks; she was built in 1793.

Towards the end of 1778 many of the second rates were given eight additional guns on the quarter deck, which virtually raised them to ninety-eight-gun ships. An important constructional improvement in 1783 was the adoption of copper fastenings in all classes of ships below the water-line; iron bolts had been found to corrode under the influence of the salt water.

Ships continued to increase in size and power of armament. The Ville de Paris, of one hundred and ten guns and 2,332 tons, and her sister ship, the Hibernia, ordered in 1790, were the first of their class. Before the latter was finished she was lengthened and her tonnage raised to 2,508 tons. Another new class, introduced about that time, comprised three ships of 776 tons each, carrying thirty-two guns, the main deck armament consisting of 18-pounders; they did so well that several others were added.

About 1783 a greater length in proportion to beam was adopted, which made the ships faster sailers and better sea-boats, and several vessels of the higher classes were altered, and many others had their bottoms specially thickened to withstand stranding. The 42-pounder guns of the largest ships were found difficult to handle and of less rapidity of fire than the 32-pounders, and were removed from the main deck battery of the Royal Sovereign and other ships in favour of the 32-pounders.

The Commerce de Marseilles, of 120 guns, was one of the French vessels which accompanied under compulsion the combined English and Spanish squadron from Toulon in 1793. She was considered to be the largest ship in the world. Her gun-deck was 208 feet 4 inches in length, and her keel for tonnage 172 feet 0⅛ inch. Her depth of hold was 25 feet 0½ inch, and her extreme breadth 54 feet 9½ inches, her tonnage being 2,747 tons. She was not a very valuable acquisition, however, for her timbers were in such a state that she was not worth repairing; she was accordingly taken to pieces in 1802. Probably, like many more vessels built in those strenuous times, she was constructed of unseasoned timber, or had a quantity of immature or soft wood put into her in order that she might be got ready for war as quickly as possible, for warships were wanted in such a hurry that it was more necessary that they should be available for use at the earliest opportunity than that they should be expected to last for very long. Both the British and French fleets had a number of these “green” ships.

If the French could have a vessel of such gun power and dimensions there was no reason why the English should not, so the Caledonia, of 2,602 tons, was ordered in 1794, and was to be the largest and most powerful yet built in England. Her main deck guns were to be 32-pounders, because of the greater ease with which they could be handled. On her lower deck she had thirty-two of these guns, on the middle deck thirty-four 24-pounders, on the main deck thirty-four 18-pounders, on the quarter deck sixteen 12-pounders, and on the forecastle four 12-pounders. Her officers and crew numbered eight hundred and seventy-five. Her length was 205 feet, breadth 54 feet 6 inches, and depth of hold 23 feet 1 inch. She was the favourite ship of Lord Exmouth. At first she had a square stern, but when the rounded sterns were shown to be better in every way she was altered to the new mode, and her armament was revised. She afterwards became the hospital ship at Greenwich under the name of the Dreadnought. The model of her at South Kensington shows that her rigging was probably unique. Her royal masts were fidded, that is, built above the topgallant masts instead of forming one long pole with them, as is the custom, and there were also peculiarities in the arrangement of some of her running rigging. This ship was launched at Devonport in 1808.