The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). Frederick Whymper
On his accession to the throne as the son of a Danish conqueror, he practically put an end to the incursions and attacks of the northern pirates. The influence of his name was so great that he found it unnecessary to maintain more than forty ships at sea, and the number was subsequently reduced. So far from entertaining any fear of revolt from the English, or of any raid on his shores, he made frequent voyages to the Continent as well as to the north. He once proceeded as far as Rome, where he met the Emperor Conrad. II., from whom he obtained for all his subjects, whether merchants or pilgrims, complete exemption from the heavy tolls usually exacted on their former visits to that city. Canute was a cosmopolitan. By his conquest of Norway, not merely did he represent the English whom he had subjugated, and who had become attached to him, but the Danes, their constant and inveterate foes and rivals. He thus united under one sovereignty the principal maritime nations of the north.
And still the writer exerts the privilege conceded to all who wield the pen, of passing quickly over the pages of history. “The stories,” says a writer130 who made maritime subjects a peculiar study, “as to the number of vessels under the order of the Conqueror on his memorable expedition are very conflicting. Some writers have asserted that the total number amounted to no less than 3,000, of which six or seven hundred were of a superior order, the remainder consisting of boats temporarily built, and of the most fragile description. Others place the whole fleet at not more than 800 vessels of all sizes, and this number is more likely to be nearest the truth. There are now no means of ascertaining their size, but their form may be conjectured from the representation of these vessels on the rolls of the famous Bayeux tapestry. It is said that when William meditated his descent on England he ordered ‘large ships’ to be constructed for that purpose at his seaports, collecting, wherever these could be found, smaller vessels or boats, to accompany them. But even the largest must have been of little value, as the whole fleet were by his orders burned and destroyed, as soon as he landed with his army, so as to cut off all retreat, and to save the expense of their maintenance.” This would indicate that the sailors had to fight ashore, and may possibly have been intended to spur on his army to victory. Freeman states, in his “History of the Norman Conquest,” that he finds the largest number of ships in the Conqueror’s expedition, as compiled from the most reliable authorities, was 3,000, but some accounts put it as low as 693. Most of the ships were presents from the prelates or great barons. William FitzOsborn gave 60, the Count de Mortaine, 120; the Bishop of Bayeux, 100; and the finest of all, that in which William himself embarked, was presented to him by his own duchess, Matilda, and named the Mora. Norman writers of the time state that the vessels were not much to boast of, as they were all collected between the beginning of January and the end of August, 1066. Lindsay, who thoroughly investigated the subject, says that “The Norman merchant vessels or transports were in length about three times their breadth, and were sometimes propelled by oars, but generally by sails; their galleys appear to have been of two sorts—the larger, occasionally called galleons, carrying in some instances sixty men, well armed with iron armour, besides their oars. The smaller galleys, which are not specially described, doubtless resembled ships’ launches in size, but of a form enabling them to be propelled at a considerable rate of speed.” Boats covered with leather were even employed on the perilous Channel voyage.
SHIPS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. (From the Bayeux Tapestry.)
The Conqueror soon added to the security of the country by the establishment of the Cinque Ports, which, as their title denotes, were at first five, but were afterwards increased in number so as to include the following seaports:—Dover, Sandwich, Hythe, and Romsey, in Kent; and Rye, Winchelsea, Hastings, and Seaford, in Sussex. On their first establishment they were to provide fifty-two ships, with twenty-four men on each, for fifteen days each year, in case of emergency. In return they had many privileges, a part of which are enjoyed by them to-day. Their freemen were styled barons; each of the ports returned two members of Parliament. An officer was appointed over them, who was “Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports,” and also Constable of Dover Castle.
“For more than a hundred years after the Conquest,” says the writer just quoted, “England’s ships had rarely ventured beyond the Bay of Biscay on the one hand, and the entrance to the Baltic on the other; and there is no special record of long voyages by English ships until the time of the Crusades; which, whatever they might have done for the cause of the Cross, undoubtedly gave the first impetus to the shipping of the country. The number of rich and powerful princes and nobles who embarked their fortunes in these extraordinary expeditions offered the chance of lucrative employment to any nation which could supply the requisite amount of tonnage, and English shipowners very naturally made great exertions to reap a share of the gains.” One of the first English noblemen who fitted out an expedition to the Holy Land was the Earl of Essex; and twelve years afterwards, Richard Cœur de Lion, on ascending the throne, made vast levies on the people for the same object, joining Philip II. and other princes for the purpose of raising the Cross above the Crescent. Towards the close of 1189 two fleets had been collected, one at Dover, to convey Richard and his followers (among whom were the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Salisbury, and the Lord Chief Justice of England) across the Channel, and a second and still larger fleet at Dartmouth, composed of numbers of vessels from Aquitaine, Brittany, Normandy, and Poitou, for the conveyance of the great bulk of the Crusaders, to join Richard at Marseilles, whither he had gone overland with the French king and his other allies. The Dartmouth fleet, under the command of Richard de Camville and Robert de Sabloil, set sail about the end of April, 1190. It had a disastrous voyage, but at length reached Lisbon, where the Crusaders behaved so badly, and committed so many outrages, that 700 were locked up. After some delay, they sailed up the Mediterranean, reaching Marseilles, where they had to stop some time to repair their unseaworthy ships, and then followed the king to the Straits of Messina, where the fleets combined. It was not till seven months later that the fleet got under weigh for the Holy Land. It numbered 100 ships of larger kind, and fourteen smaller vessels called “busses.” Each of the former carried, besides her crew of fifteen sailors, forty soldiers, forty horses, and provisions for a twelvemonth. Vinisauf, who makes the fleet much larger, mentions that it proceeded in the following order:—three large ships formed the van; the second line consisted of thirteen vessels, the lines expanding to the seventh, which consisted of sixty vessels, and immediately preceded the king and his ships. On their way they fell in with a very large ship belonging to the Saracens, manned by 1,500 men, and after a desperate engagement took her. Richard ordered that all but 200 of those not killed in the action should be thrown overboard, and thus 1,300 infidels were sacrificed at one blow. Off Etna, Sicily, they experienced a terrific gale, and the crew got “sea-sick and frightened;” and off the island of Cyprus they were assailed by another storm, in which three ships were lost, and the Vice-Chancellor of England was drowned, his body being washed ashore with the Great Seal of England hanging round his neck. Richard did not return to England till after the capture of Acre, and the truce with Saladin; he landed at Sandwich, as nearly as may be, four years from the date of his start. As this is neither a history of England, nor of the Crusades, excepting only as either are connected with the sea, we must pass on to a subject of some importance, which was the direct result of experience gained at this period.
CRUSADERS AND SARACENS.
The foundation of a maritime code, by an ordinance of Richard Cœur de Lion, a most important step in the history of merchant shipping, was due to the knowledge acquired by English pilgrims, traders, and seamen at the time of the Crusades. The first code was founded on a similar set of rules then existing in France, known as the Rôles d’Oleron, and some of the articles show how loose had been the conditions of the sailor’s life previously. The first article gave a master power to pledge the tackle of a ship, if in want of provisions for the crew, but forbad the sale of the hull without the owner’s permission. The captain’s position, as lord paramount on board, was defined; no one, not even part-owners or super-cargoes, must interfere; he was expected to understand thoroughly the art of navigation. The second article declared that if a vessel was held in port through failure of wind or stress of weather, the ship’s company should be guided as to the best course