Ancient and Modern Ships Part 5

In 1417 the king again collected 1,500 vessels at Southampton for a fresh invasion of France. Having first obtained the command of the sea by a naval victory over the French and Genoese, a landing was duly effected near Harfleur. Several vessels, including four large carracks, were captured in the sea-fight, and were added to the king's navy.

During the reign of Henry V. the Mercantile Marine of England made no progress. Commerce was checked in consequence of the state of war which prevailed, and the improvements in shipbuilding seem to have been confined to the Royal Navy. It seems probable, however, that the experience gained in the construction and navigation of the very large ships which the king added to the navy had its effect, ultimately, in improving the type of merchant-vessels.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 36.--English ship. Time of Henry VI.]

During the forty years of the reign of Henry VI. England was so greatly exhausted and impoverished by war with France and by internal dissensions at home, that commerce and shipbuilding made little progress. We possess a sketch of a ship of the early part of the reign of Henry VI. It is contained in a ma.n.u.script in the Harleian Library of the date, probably, of 1430 to 1435. It is reproduced in Fig. 36, and differs from the ship of the reign of Richard II. shown in Fig. 35, chiefly in having the p.o.o.p and forecastle more strongly developed.

While England was steadily declining in power from the time of the death of Henry V., a new maritime nation was arising in South-Western Europe, whose discoveries were destined to have a most marked effect on the seaborne commerce, and consequently on the shipbuilding of the world. In the year 1417 the Portuguese, under the guidance of Prince Henry the Navigator, commenced their exploration of the west coast of Africa, and they continued it with persistency during the century. In 1418 they discovered, or rather re-discovered, the island of Madeira, for it is extremely probable that it was first visited by an Englishman of the name of Machin.

The Portuguese prince firmly believed that a route could be opened round Africa to the Indies. To reach these regions by sea seems to have been the goal of the great explorers of the fifteenth century, and the Portuguese were stimulated in their endeavours by a grant from Pope Martin V. of all territories which might thenceforward be discovered between Cape Bojador and the East Indies. In 1446 an expedition consisting of six caravels was fitted out, and made a voyage to Guinea; it resulted in the discovery of the Cape Verde Islands. The caravel was a type of ship much used by the countries of Southern Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A description of a Spanish vessel of this type is given on pages 87 to 89. In 1449 the Azores were discovered. In 1481 a lucrative trade was opened up between Portugal and the natives of Guinea. Six years afterwards the Cape of Good Hope was reached by Bartholomew Diaz, and in 1497 it was doubled by Vasco da Gama.

During a great part of the period in which the Portuguese were thus occupied in extending their commerce and in paving the way for great discoveries, the condition of England, owing to the French war and to the subsequent Wars of the Roses, was pa.s.sing from bad to worse.

Nevertheless, the spirit of commercial enterprise was not wholly extinguished. A few merchants seem to have made fortunes in the shipping trade, and among them may be mentioned the famous William Canynge of Bristol, who was probably the greatest private shipowner in England at the end of the reign of Henry VI. and during the time of Edward IV.

(1461 to 1483). Canynge traded to Iceland, Finland, and the Mediterranean. He is said to have possessed ships as large as 900 tons, and it is recorded on his monument, in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, in Bristol, that he at one time lent ships, to the extent of 2,670 tons, to Edward IV. It is also related of him that he owned ten ships and employed 800 sailors and 100 artisans.

It was not till the year 1475, upon the conclusion of peace between Edward and the French king, Louis, that affairs quieted down in England, and then trade and commerce made most marvellous progress. The king himself was one of the leading merchants of the country, and concluded treaties of commerce with Denmark, Brittany, Castile, Burgundy, France, Zealand, and the Hanseatic League. In the reign of Edward's successor, Richard III., English seaborne trade obtained a firm footing in Italy and other Mediterranean countries.

We, fortunately, possess drawings which show that an enormous advance was made in shipbuilding during the period under discussion, or that, at any rate, the advance had by that time reached England. Fig. 37 ill.u.s.trates a large ship of the latter half of the fifteenth century. It is taken from a ma.n.u.script in the Cottonian Library, by John Rous, the celebrated Warwickshire antiquary and historian. This ma.n.u.script records the life and history of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who was born in 1381, and died in 1439. The author of the ma.n.u.script, however, lived till 1491, in the early part of the reign of Henry VII., and we may therefore conclude that the ill.u.s.trations represent ships of the latter half of the fifteenth century. The vessel shown in Fig. 37 was used for war purposes, as four guns were mounted on the broadside. There were also four masts and a bowsprit, and a strongly developed forecastle, which formed part of the structure of the ship. There was apparently very luxurious accommodation provided for pa.s.sengers and officers in a large deck-house at the p.o.o.p. The mainsail was of very large dimensions, and was emblazoned with the arms of the Earl of Warwick. In this ill.u.s.tration we see an early approach to the modern type of sailing-ship. There are several other drawings of ships in the same ma.n.u.scripts, and most of them have the same general characteristics as Fig. 37.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 37.--English ship. Latter half of fifteenth century.]

The reign of Henry VII. (1485 to 1509) was a memorable one in the annals of navigation and commerce. Two years after he came to the throne, the Portuguese sent the expedition, previously referred to, to discover a route to the Indies round Africa. The expedition never reached its destination, but Diaz succeeded in discovering the Cape of Good Hope.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 38.--Columbus' ship, the _Santa Maria_, 1492.]

A few years later, in 1492, Christopher Columbus made his famous attempt to reach the Indies by sailing west. This expedition, as is well known, resulted in the discovery of the West Indian Islands, and, shortly afterwards, of the mainland of America. The ships which Columbus took with him on his voyage were three in number, and small in size. As Spain had possessed many large vessels for a century and a half before the time of Columbus, it is probable that he was entrusted with small ships only, because the Government did not care to risk much capital in so adventuresome an undertaking.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 39.--Sail-plan of the _Santa Maria_.]

Fortunately, we have a fairly exact knowledge of the form and dimensions of the caravel _Santa Maria_, which was the largest of the three vessels. She was reconstructed in 1892-93 at the a.r.s.enal of Carraca, by Spanish workmen, under the superintendence of Senor Leopold Wilke, for the Chicago Exhibition of 1893. Senor Wilke had access to every known source of information. Figs. 38 to 40 give a general view, sail-plan and lines, of this ship as reconstructed.

The following were her leading dimensions:--

Length of keel 6068 feet Length between perpendiculars 7412 "

Extreme length of ship proper 93 "

Length over all 12825 "

Breadth, extreme 2571 "

Displacement fully laden 233 tons Weight of hull 905 "

The _Santa Maria_, like most vessels of her time, was provided with an extensive forecastle, which overhung the stem nearly 12 ft. She had also an enormous structure aft, consisting of half and quarter decks above the main deck. She had three masts and a bowsprit. The latter and the fore and main masts were square-rigged, and the mizzen was lateen-rigged. The outside of the hull was strengthened with vertical and longitudinal timber beams.

The _Santa Maria_, as reproduced, was sailed across the Atlantic from Spain by Captain D. V. Concas and a Spanish crew in the year 1893. The course taken was exactly the same as that followed by Columbus on his first voyage. The time occupied was thirty-six days, and the maximum speed attained was about 6-1/2 knots. The vessel pitched horribly.

In 1497 the first English expedition was made to America under John Cabot. We have no particulars of the ship in which Cabot sailed, but it could not have been a large one, as it is known that the crew only numbered eighteen. The expedition sailed from Bristol in the month of May, and land, which was probably Cape Breton, was sighted on June 24.

Bristol was reached on the return journey at the end of July. In the following year Cabot made another voyage, and explored the coast of North America from Cape Breton to as far south as Cape Hatteras. Many other expeditions in the same direction were fitted out in the last years of the fifteenth and the first years of the sixteenth centuries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 40.--Lines of the _Santa Maria_.]

While Cabot was returning from his first voyage to North America, one of the most famous and most epoch-making expeditions of discovery of modern times was fitted out in Portugal. On July 24, 1497, Vasco da Gama set sail from the Tagus in the hope of reaching India _via_ the Cape of Good Hope. His squadron consisted of three ships, named the _San Gabriel_, the _San Raphael_, and the _Birrio_, together with a transport to carry stores. There is a painting in existence at Lisbon of the _San Gabriel_, which is supposed to be authentic. It represents her as having a high p.o.o.p and forecastle, very like the caravel _Santa Maria_. She had four masts and a bowsprit. The latter and the fore and main masts were square-rigged. The _San Gabriel_ was, however, a much larger vessel than the _Santa Maria_. She is said to have been constructed to carry 400 pipes of wine. This would be equivalent to about 400 tons measurement, or, from 250 to 300 tons register.[15] The other two ships selected were of about the same dimensions, and of similar equipment and rig, in order that, in the event of losses, or accidents, each of the ships might make use of any of the spars, tackle, or fittings belonging to the others.

It may here be mentioned that the ships reached Quilimane, on the east coast of South Africa, on January 22, 1498. After many visits to East African ports, during which they satisfied themselves that the arts of navigation were as well understood by the Eastern seamen as by themselves, they set sail for India early in August, and after a voyage of twenty, or, as some say, twenty-three days, they sighted the coast, and shortly afterwards arrived in Calicut, nearly fourteen months after they started from Lisbon.

About this time the Memlook Sultans of Egypt absolutely cut off the trade which had been carried on for centuries between the Italian Republics and the Malabar coast of India _via_ the overland route and the Red Sea. It was this fact that gave the discovery of the sea-route to India such enormous importance, and, ultimately, it was one of the causes of the commercial downfall of the Italian Republics. The Cape route became the great high-road of commerce to the East, and remained so down to the present reign, when the re-establishment of the overland route, and, eventually, the successful cutting of the Suez Ca.n.a.l, restored commerce to its old paths.

The discoveries of Columbus, Vasco da Gama, John Cabot, and their successors, had an enormous influence upon shipbuilding, as they not only widened the area of seaborne commerce, but offered strong inducements to navigators to venture on the great oceans, far from land, in craft specially adapted for such voyages. Hitherto, sailors had either navigated the great inland seas of Europe or had engaged in the coasting trade, and the longest voyages undertaken before the end of the fifteenth century were probably those which English merchants made between Bristol and Iceland, and between our Eastern ports and Bergen.

Henry VII. not only encouraged commerce and voyages of discovery, but also paid great attention to the needs of the Royal Navy. He added two warships to his fleet, which were more powerful vessels than any previously employed in this country. One of them, named the _Regent_, was copied from a French ship of 600 tons, and was built on the Rother about 1490. She carried four masts and a bowsprit, and was armed with 225 small guns, called serpentines. The second ship was named the _Sovereign_, and it is remarkable, as showing the connection at that time between land and naval architecture, that she was built under the superintendence of Sir Reginald Bray, who was also the architect of Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster Abbey, and of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The _Sovereign_ carried 141 serpentines.

The _Regent_ was burnt in an action off Brest in the reign of Henry VIII., in the year 1512. She caught fire from a large French carrack, called the _Marie la Cordeliere_, which she was attacking. Both ships were utterly destroyed.

The _Marie la Cordeliere_ was probably the largest warship of her time.

She is said to have carried 1,200 men, and to have lost 900 killed in the action. She was built at Morlaix at the sole cost of Anne of Brittany, then Queen of France.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 41.--The _Henry Grace a Dieu_. _Pepysian Library, Cambridge._]

The _Regent_ was replaced by a very famous ship called the _Henry Grace a Dieu_, otherwise known as the _Great Harry_. As a consequence, most probably, of the size and force of some of the French ships, as revealed in the action off Brest, the _Henry Grace a Dieu_ was a great advance on any previous British warship. She was built at Erith, and was probably launched in June, 1514. Her tonnage is given in a ma.n.u.script in Pepys'

"Miscellanies" as 1,500; but it is generally believed that she did not in reality exceed 1,000 tons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 42.--The _Henry Grace a Dieu_. _After Allen._]

There are more drawings than one in existence, supposed to represent this famous warship. One of them, shown in Fig. 41, is from a drawing in the Pepysian Library, in Magdalene College, Cambridge. Another, shown in Fig. 42, is from an engraving by Allen of a picture ascribed to Holbein.

The two ill.u.s.trations differ in many important respects and cannot both represent the same ship. There is very little doubt that Fig. 41 is the more correct representation of the two, because it is confirmed in all essential respects by Volpe's picture of the embarkation of Henry VIII.

at Dover in 1520 on this very ship. Volpe's picture is now at Hampton Court Palace, and shows four other ships of the Royal Navy, which were all built in the same style as the Pepysian drawing of Fig. 41, with enormous forecastles and p.o.o.ps. The vessel represented in the picture ascribed to Holbein appears to belong to a later date than 1520, and is, in fact, transitional between the ships of this period and those of the reign of Elizabeth. One of the warships of the latter period is shown in Fig. 45.

According to a ma.n.u.script, in the Pepysian Collection, the _Henry Grace a Dieu_ was armed with twenty-one guns and a mult.i.tude of smaller pieces. The numbers of the various guns and the weights of their shot are given in the following table:--

+---------------+---------+-----------+ Weight of Name of gun. Number. shot. +---------------+---------+-----------+ lbs. Cannon 4 60 Demi-cannon 3 32 Culverin 4 18 Demi-culverin 2 8 Saker 4 6 Cannon Perer 2 26 Falcon 2 2 +---------------+---------+-----------+

The sizes of the guns of this time are pretty accurately known, because one of the ships of Henry VIII., called the _Mary Rose_, built in 1509, went down off Portsmouth in 1545, and several of her guns have been recovered, and are still in existence.

The portholes were circular, and so small in diameter that no traverse could have been given to the guns. This practice continued to prevail till the time of the Commonwealth. There were five masts in this, as in all other first-rates henceforth down to the time of Charles I. One of the masts was inclined forward, like a modern bowsprit. Each mast was made in one piece, the introduction of separate topmasts having been a more modern improvement.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 43--Genoese carrack. 1542.]

The highest development in the art of shipbuilding at this period was reached in the large merchant-ships called Carracks. The compet.i.tion between the great trading republics of Italy, viz. Venice and Genoa, and the rivalry of Portugal probably accounted for the marked improvement in the character of merchant-ships in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Fig. 43 gives a representation of a large Genoese carrack of the sixteenth century. It will be noticed that this vessel had four masts, and was square-rigged, the foremost mast having been inclined forward somewhat after the fashion of the modern bowsprit. In the sixteenth century the carrack often attained the size of 1,600 tons.

Towards the latter half of this century a Portuguese carrack captured by the English was, in length, from the beakhead to the stern, 165 ft.; beam, 47 ft.; length of keel, 100 ft.; height of mainmast, 121 ft.; circ.u.mference at partners, 11 ft.; length of mainyard, 106 ft.; burthen, 1,600 tons. This vessel carried 32 pieces of bra.s.s ordnance--a very necessary addition to the merchant-ship of the period--and accommodated between 600 and 700 pa.s.sengers.

The most important maritime event in the sixteenth century was, undoubtedly, the fitting out by Spain, in 1588, of the gigantic expedition intended to invade this country in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. An account of the fleets on either side may therefore be interesting.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 44.--Spanish gallea.s.s. 1588.]

The great Armada consisted of no less than 132 vessels, of which only four were galleys, and four gallea.s.ses.[16] Of the remainder, 30 were under 100 tons, and 94 were between 130 and 1,550 tons. The total tonnage of the ships, less the galleys and gallea.s.ses, was 59,120. The armament consisted of 2,761[17] guns. The seamen numbered 7,865 and the soldiers 20,671. The fleet was divided into ten squadrons. The largest vessel was the flagship of the Levant squadron, and was of 1,249 tons, and carried 30 guns. The crew consisted of 80 sailors and 344 soldiers.

The next largest was of 1,200 tons and carried 47 guns, but the greater number of the vessels were much smaller. The popular belief as to their incredible size and unwieldiness must therefore be dismissed as baseless, for even the largest ships were far exceeded in size by some of the carracks, or merchant vessels, of that day. On the average the Spanish vessels mounted 22 guns apiece, and carried crews of 231 sailors and soldiers. Fig. 44 is a sketch, taken from the tapestry of the old House of Lords, of one of the gallea.s.ses of the fleet. It will be noticed that she carried her guns extremely high, a peculiarity which was common to many of the Spanish vessels; for we read that their fire did more harm to the rigging than to the hulls of the English vessels.

The fleet mustered by Elizabeth was far more numerous, but its tonnage did not amount to one-half of that of the Armada. The total number of vessels sailing under the English flag was 197, of which, however, only 34 belonged to the Royal Navy. The remainder were merchant vessels, hastily fitted out and adapted for purposes of war by their owners, or by the ports to which they belonged. Of the Royal ships the largest was the _Triumph_, built in 1561. She was commanded by Sir Martin Frobisher, and was only exceeded in size by four of the Spanish vessels. The _Triumph_ was between 1,000 and 1,100 tons, but there were only seven ships in the English Navy of between 600 and 1,000 tons, whereas the Spaniards had no fewer than 45. The crew of the _Triumph_ numbered 500, of whom 300 were sailors, 40 gunners, and 160 soldiers.

The _Triumph_ carried 42 guns, of which 4 were cannon, 3 demi-cannon, 17 culverins, 8 demi-culverins, 6 sakers, and 4 small pieces. The greatest number of guns carried by any ship in the fleet was 56, mounted on board the _Elizabeth Jones_, of 900 tons, and built in 1559. The flagship of the Lord High Admiral, Lord Howard of Effingham, the _Ark_, was the most modern of the English warships, having been built in 1587. She was of 800 tons, carried a crew of 430, and mounted 55 guns.