About the time of Edward I. two-masted ships became more general. One of the first acts of his reign was to revive the wool trade between England and Flanders: this necessarily made for the extension and progression of shipping. Fig. 40 represents the seal of the town of Dam in West Flanders. The actual date of the seal in the British Museum, from which this has been drawn, is 1309, or two years after the death of Edward I. This represents one of the larger or barge class of ships. The most striking feature is her apparent modernity, for if we were to remove the fore- and stern-castles and rig her as a ketch by adding a mizzen-mast and triangular headsails we should have before us one of those black traders which even the most casual observer must have looked at many times during his summer holidays by the sea. She marks a very decided departure now from the Viking type, but we must remember that she represents only one species of ship. The prevailing type elsewhere in Northern Europe continued to be a modification of the Norwegian. The ship before us would be rigged with the usual single squaresail. Perhaps also she used a smaller square headsail occasionally, as the bowsprit is present, but the most important feature of all is the change that has come in the steering arrangement. Hitherto we have always seen the rudder at the side; but now we get to that stage where the rudder is placed at the extreme stern of the ship, where it has remained ever since. Such a ship as this in the North Sea would be no doubt the counterpart of the Mediterranean buzzo of the same century. I believe this ship of Dam (spelt also Damme) to be the earliest illustration of any North European vessel showing the rudder thus placed, although the seal of Poole dated 1325 has her rudder also in this position. The Viking ships of Norway did not adopt this steering method until the beginning of the fourteenth century also. In England there is an additional example in a man-of-war built for Edward III. at Lynn, Norfolk, in 1336. She was named La Félipe. It is worth remembering that it was off Damme that the English fleet in the reign of John inflicted a severe defeat upon the French.

The ship shown in the Poole seal marks another development in the fore- and stern-castles, which by now appear to be not so much superstructures as part of the hull itself. We shall see as we continue through the ensuing centuries how this “castle” idea increases. Another point of interest exhibited in the Poole design is a large anchor hanging from the bows. This now has a stock in the usual place as distinct from that in the illustration by Giotto’s pupil. This Dorset craft has some resemblance to the previous Viking type, but instead of being after the pattern of the “longships” she shows the tendency towards crescent-shape. As evidence that the pure Viking influence was still extant in Europe let us take the seal of San Sebastian, Spain, which is to be seen in the British Museum. The date is 1335, and it is remarkable that this type should have spread so far south as the other side of the Bay of Biscay. She has the high stem and stern with a stern-castle, but not a forecastle. She has one mast with a streamer, the sail being furled by two men along the yard as usual. The mariner steers with a rudder to starboard, and the braces as well as the bowsprit are shown.

In the reign of Edward III. the current gold coin called a noble showed a ship-design still more crescent-shaped than the Poole seal. By now the sterncastle has come right down on deck, the rudder hung on pintles is seen at the extreme stern, and the backstays lead not into the hull but to the top of the sterncastle. The actual length on the water-line is much smaller now and the overhang greater. The date of the noble is 1360. An imitation of this coin, and bearing a similar ship, was struck by David II. of Scotland in 1357.[50] In the seal of Boston belonging to the year 1375 the sterncastle is seen to have come down to the deck, the sheer of the ship coming up, so to speak, to meet it. The forecastle has also come lower, but projects away ahead of the vessel. There are three masts and three fighting-tops, and the shrouds come outside of the hull. Edward III. admirably continued the example of the kings of England and helped forward the steady improvement of the navy, while the glorious victory in the Battle of Sluys, in which the French fleet was utterly routed, gave the English seamen their opportunity of showing their superiority.

From the “Black Book of the Admiralty” of the reign of Edward III. we see that the admiral’s ship carried two lanterns at her masthead when sailing at night in order that the masters of other ships of the fleet could see the course being taken by the flagship. The king’s ship was to be distinguished by three lanterns arranged triangular-wise. As to the armament of this period, they consisted of bows and arrows, archers from the fighting-tops and castles at bow and stern being able by means of their superior height to do considerable damage. Cannon were introduced in 1338, and before the close of the fourteenth century guns and gunpowder were becoming common, but the influence which cannon had on the design of ships we shall notice presently.

Nor did the enterprising spirit imbued through the Crusades perish. As early as 1344 an Englishman, of the name of Macham, sailed as far south as to discover the Island of Madeira, but unfortunately his lady-love had fallen a victim to sea-sickness during the voyage, and after going ashore with some of his company, the ship either dragged her anchor or parted her cable and “with a good winde made saile away, and the woman died for thought.” However, after building a chapel over her grave, Macham, according to the account of Antonio Galvano given in Hakluyt, “ordeined a boat made of one tree (for there be trees of a great compasse about) and went to sea in it, with those men that he had, and were left behinde with him, and came upon the coast of Afrike, without sail or oare.” It was the information given by Macham and his men that induced the French to voyage thither and also to discover the Canary Isles.

In 1360 Nicholas of Lynn, “a Franciscan Frier, and an excellent Mathematician of Oxford,” a good astronomer and experienced in the use of the astrolabe, “went in companie with others to the most Northern Islands of the world, and there, leaving his company together, hee travailed alone, and purposely described all the Northerne Islands with the indrawing seas.” We get some idea of the speed of the ships of olden days by the statement made that from Lynn (Norfolk) to Iceland is not more than a fortnight’s voyage with an ordinary wind. Reckoning the distance between the two as roughly a thousand miles this would give the day’s run at about seventy miles. It was from this same Lynn that sixteen ships and 382 mariners were contributed to the enormous fleet of English ships which Edward III. had in 1347, when he besieged Calais. Some idea of the development that had gone on since Arthur’s time may be obtained when we recollect that the English ships at Calais numbered 700 and the mariners over 14,000, without including the assistance of Ireland, Spain, and other helpers.

We pass over the reign of Richard II. as being anything but prosperous for the progress of the sailing ship. His successor, Henry IV., however, entered into commercial treaties with Prussia and the Hanseatic League, much to the advantage of shipping. Piracy had become so rampant on the North Sea as to cause merchants to abstain from sending their goods across from the one country to another. This Henry did his best to stop. He endeavoured to remove all hindrances to the herring fishery, and all English merchants were to have full liberty to arrive with their goods and ships at any port in Prussia. The list of claims for satisfaction and recompense set forth in the agreement between Henry IV. and the Hanseatic Towns throws a light on the ships of the time. Thus we find reference to “a ship of Newcastle upon Tine called Godezere ... being of the burthen of two hundred tunnes ... which ship together with the furniture thereof amounteth unto the value of foure hundred pounds.” Mention is also made of the Shipper Berline of Prussia, belonging to the port of Hull; of a ship called the Cogge, belonging to William Terry of Hull, carrying a cargo of both broad and narrow cloth. Another ship from the same port was called the Trinitie; another bore the name of the Hawkin Derlin of Dantzik. Among other acts of piracy, that perpetrated near Plymouth on “a certaine barge called the Michael of Yarmouth,” is mentioned. Another vessel, braving superstition, bears the name Friday, another which was robbed of her “artillerie, furniture, and salt fishes,” and herself captured and taken to Norway, was named the Margaret. A similar misfortune had happened to the Nicholas and also to the Isabel. Other unfortunate vessels included the Helena; a certain ship classed as a “crayer,” and named the Peter; and two fishing vessels called respectively the Doggership and the Peter of Wiveton. Another fishing ship also called the Dogger was robbed of her fish and “furniture,” while she was at anchor and her crew were fishing near by. Another “crayer” is mentioned called the Buss of Zeland, and still a further one called the Busship. One ship was of 300 tons burthen—this being measured by tuns of wine—and carried a crew of forty-five.

Other ships of the following reign were the Jesus (1000 tons), the Holigost (760 tons), the Trinity Royal (540 tons), and the Christopher Spayne (600 tons). In the navy were also seven caracks, barges (see Fig. 40), as well as the “ships” that had taken the place of the Viking galley. The largest caracks were between six and five hundred tons burthen, the barges a hundred tons, whilst a class of vessel called “ballingers,”[51] ranged between one hundred and twenty, and eighty tons. It was during Henry V.’s reign also that, the Battle of Agincourt having been fought, the king set forth two years later from Southampton for a fresh invasion of France, having caused to be built for this purpose ships the like of which was to be found nowhere, “naves quales non erant in mundo,” as the old chronicler quoted by Hakluyt expresses it.

“The Libel of English policie, exhorting all England to keepe the sea,” contains in the following rhyme some references to the vessels we are considering:

or again:

The reign of Henry VI., at least as regards shipbuilding, was about as unsatisfactory as had been that of Richard II., owing to the scarcity of money consequent on the war with France. Further, the unhappy Wars of the Roses kept men’s minds too tightly gripped to allow of them thinking much about commerce or the ships that were to carry it. But towards the close of Edward IV.’s reign, after peace had been made between England and France, matters began quickly to improve, and in the time of Richard III. England was sending her ships and merchandise to Venice, to Genoa and other Mediterranean ports.

But let us now go back to trace a little more fully the designs of the ships according to the illustrations that have survived through history. Firstly with regard to Southern Europe. The Mediterranean had still maintained her lead in the designing and building of able, roomy vessels. Happily we are helped by the work which one or two Italian painters have left behind them. There is a most interesting picture by Gentile da Fabriano, representing a ship of the early fifteenth century. The original which is in the Vatican is called “The Miracle of St. Nicholas.”[52] She is a fine, strong ship, with a square stern and rudder fixed to the middle of the latter. She has two masts as well as a bowsprit, and the hull is somewhat crescent-shaped. The artist has depicted her scudding before a terrific storm, which has split the mainsail along the foot where the bonnet seems to be laced. Evidently the ship has been caught in one of those sudden squalls not unknown to the Mediterranean, for otherwise the skipper ought not to have carried on so long without unlacing the bonnet. At the stern he is seen praying to St. Nicholas who appears in the clouds coming to his assistance, while amidships a sailor is seen jettisoning some of the cargo. The forecastle resembles that of contemporary English ships with a projecting bowsprit. The mizzen-mast and sail are clearly shown, the latter being furled to its yard as the ship is running before the wind. Pulleys are now prominently indicated, whilst a couple of braces are attached both to the main and mizzen-yard, while the mainsheet leads right aft to the starboard quarter and comes in through a hole in the gunwale pretty much in the same way adopted in a square-rigged ship to-day. Two rope ladders are shown, one at either side, hanging down over the stern, evidently in order to facilitate getting into the ship’s boat (seen towing astern) if the ship herself shall founder. A fighting-top is depicted at her masthead. The picture is altogether most fascinating and instructive.

Carpaccio, the great Venetian artist, whose period is covered by the dates 1450-1522, has left behind more pictures containing ships than any artist of his time. There is in one of his paintings a striking example of a contemporary Mediterranean warship. She is shown as having a mainmast with square sail and very small topsail. Aft she has both a mizzen-mast and bonaventure-mizzen, each carrying a lateen sail. She is fitted also with a small foresail, spritsail, and carries eight oars on each side.[53] Like Memling and other artists, Carpaccio utilises the celebrated story of “The Pilgrimage of St. Ursula,” for some of his best work. It is, indeed, owing to this story, necessitating the introduction of ships into the picture, that we possess much of our knowledge concerning mediæval craft. For instance, in “The Arrival of the Ambassadors,” in “The Return of the Ambassadors,” in “The Arrival at Cologne,” and “St. Ursula taking farewell of her parents,” we have presented many valuable details bearing on our subject of sailing ships. We see a small open boat in the first of these pictures. She has a tiller and one large single lateen sail, coming almost down to the water. In the background we see the big ship in which the ambassadors have travelled. She has a high poop, one mast and square mainsail. In the second picture we see a Mediterranean galley with her enormous sail. She still retains her name “trireme,” and it is remarkable how generally she continues to resemble her Roman ancestor. In the last of the four pictures mentioned above, we see a large ship resembling somewhat the caravel type.[54]

The most famous of all the works of that delightful Flemish painter Memling is the reliquary of St. Ursula. Those who saw the wonderful collection of “Primitives” brought together in Bruges in the year 1902 will recollect the eight exquisite miniatures on the reliquary. Happily no less than four of these contain representations of the ships in which St. Ursula and her accompanying maidens journeyed. The date assigned by Mr. Weale[55] to these paintings is not later than 1489. In Fig. 41 one of these panels is reproduced. We cannot regard these Memling pictures of ships as absolutely truthful: some allowance must be made for the artistic temperament. There is, for instance, no indication of any braces shown in the illustration. But Bruges is not far from the sea, and during the fifteenth century it was the great centre of commercial activity of the prosperous Hanse towns, and Memling would have plenty of opportunity to study the details of contemporary craft. It may fairly be assumed that in spite of a small inaccuracy here and there the general drawing of the ships is nautically correct. From other pictures and MSS. and stained glass windows of this time we know that this is so. Looking at the picture before us we see at once how the Viking lines have been modified. The fore-castle and stern-castles are seen in their latest form: that is to say, they have long since passed the time when they were mere additional structures to the hull of the ship. They have, in fact, now been absorbed into the general design of the whole vessel. There is still one mast supported by backstays, shrouds, and forestays, and there is one large mainsail which furls still to the yard. The lines of the ship are tubby, but we can easily see the progenitors of the Dutch craft which went on developing until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and there halted for ever after. Notice, too, that the rudder is in its proper place. Such a ship as this resembles in many points the one in “The Miracle of St. Nicholas” referred to above. The length of the Viking ship has given way to breadth. Roundness has taken the place of straightness: freeboard has added to her seaworthiness. We shall find this evidence before us confirmed by a certain mediæval Italian illustration[56] in which a Mediterranean ship is being tossed mercilessly about by the Wind, who, with inflated cheeks raises his head above the water and blows vigorously into the sails. Men are seen tumbling into the sea, the mainmast has gone by the board, and general confusion reigns. A somewhat similar kind of ship is also seen in a reproduction from a stained glass window of this period.[57]

In a beautiful French manuscript of the fifteenth century similar ships to those in Memling’s work are shown with considerable ability.[58] Perhaps these French vessels show the Viking influence somewhat more certainly, especially in their bows. We are shown in one illustration a scene of the river Seine at Rouen. A ship with a sterncastle, now modified rather to a square platform, is seen by the shore. She appears to be carvel- and not clinker-built; this is a notable fact. She has shrouds at the sides, a forestay, and also an additional stay coming forward from the mast to a spot midway between amidships and the bow. This may have been in the original ship to act as a further support to the sail or it may only be the product of the artist’s imagination. If the former it would be analogous to the lee-runner but placed forward, and must have chafed the sail a good deal. The latter is furled to the yard in the usual way. We see in the same MS. ships starting forth bound for the Crusades. They are fine, bold vessels, broad of beam, with plenty of freeboard, clumsy but probably good sea-boats. These French craft appear to have a certain amount of overhang at the bows and some of them carry a large fighting-top, partly supported by means of a stay coming up from both bow and stern.

Such seals as the following throw light on the ships of England in the fifteenth century. That, for instance, of Richard Clitherowe, Admiral of the West of England, 1406, shows a decorated sail and flies an ensign at her stern. The reason for this flag being always placed aft lies in the fact that the raised poop was the place of honour reserved for the commander. Similar ships are seen in such seals as those of Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, Admiral of England, Aquitaine and Ireland (1416-1426): John Duke of Bedford, Regent of France, Lord High Admiral of England, Ireland and Aquitaine (1435): John Holland, second Earl of Huntingdon, Admiral of England, Ireland and Aquitaine (1435-1442). This last seal shows the Admiral’s lantern hanging over the poop. Similar ships may be seen in the seal of Richard Plantagenet, third Duke of Gloucester, Admiral for Dorset and Somerset (1461-1462); in the seal of Rutherglen (co. Lanark), 1493; in that of the English merchants of Holland—a fifteenth century seal found at Harrow and now in the British Museum—and in various others of this period. Their general characteristics include a crescent-shaped hull with forecastle and sterncastle, fighting-top, sail decorated with the arms of France and England, &c., forestay, two backstays, and a rudder at stern. The seal of Rye, belonging to the fifteenth century, shows three rows of reef-points, an ensign with the cross of St. George as well as streamers on the mast. Fig. 42 represents the seal of La Rochelle of the date 1437. It is interesting as showing that while in England, in Damme, in Paris (see the seal of the city of Paris of the year 1415) and elsewhere, the crescent-shaped ship with castles was in vogue, this town kept strenuously to the original Viking type. The bonnet with three rows of reefs is clearly indicated, and similarly the sheets and stays.

We referred just now to the introduction of cannon as affecting the design of ships. At first they were placed on the upper deck and fired over the bulwarks, a modified pavisado of cloths or wood being hung round to conceal both guns and gunners. Next it was but an easy transition to make a hole through the bulwarks and insert the cannon. Hence we have the origin of the word “gunwale” for the top “wale” or plank. Subsequently this introduction of cannon necessitated a much higher freeboard, and in course of time tier above tier of guns, as in former times there had been tier above tier of rowers, came into being. Owing to the weight of the guns so far aloft an increase of beam became essential, but afterwards the exact opposite occurred. Lest the beams should be strained, considerable tumble-home or fall-inboard was made, so that the width of the upper deck became only about half of the greatest beam.[59] We shall see, too, how in later years this “tumble-home” was greatly exaggerated. As to the effect of the new armament on a ship’s rig, we shall be able to discuss this when we come to the bomb-ketch in Fig. 62.

We have seen how the ships of England have developed into the crescent-shape by now. That, indeed, continued for some time, until the fashion came for bigger and more powerful ships under the Tudor régime. Practically with the end of the fifteenth century we bid farewell to the Viking influence as clearly expressed, although it were perhaps more correct to say that that design was not so much discarded in later years as absorbed: enlarged upon and modified rather than altogether supplanted. The first important addition to the Viking design was that of the fighting castles. From thence it was not a great step to add decks, guns instead of bows and arrows, two masts instead of one, and an increase of beam and subsequently of depth.