The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). Frederick Whymper

      OLD DEPTFORD DOCKYARD.

      In the reign of Henry VIII. a navy office was first formed, and regular arsenals were established at Portsmouth, Woolwich, and Deptford. The change in maritime warfare consequent on the use of gunpowder rendered ships of a new construction necessary, and more was done for the improvement of the navy in this reign than in any former one. Italian shipwrights, then the most expert, were engaged, and at the conclusion of Henry’s reign the Royal Navy consisted of seventy-one vessels, thirty of which were ships of respectable burden, aggregating 10,550 tons. Five years later, it had dwindled to less than one-half. Six years after Henry’s death, England lost Calais, a fort and town which had cost Edward III., in the height of his power, an obstinate siege of eleven months. But on Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, the star of England was once more in the ascendant.

      Elizabeth commenced her reign by providing in all points for war, that she “might the more quietly enjoy peace.” Arms and weapons were imported from Germany, at considerable cost, but in such quantities that the land had never before been so amply stored with “all kinds of convenient armour and weapons.” And she, also, was the first to cause the manufacture of gunpowder in England, that she “might not both pray and pay for it too to her neighbours.” She allowed the free exportation of herrings and all other sea-fish in English bottoms, and a partial exemption from impressment was granted to all fishermen; while to encourage their work, Wednesday and Saturday were made “fish-days;” this, it was stated, “was meant politicly, not for any superstition to be maintained in the choice of meats.” The navy became her great care, so much that “foreigners named her the restorer of the glory of shipping, and the Queen of the North Sea.” She raised the pay of sailors. “The wealthier inhabitants of the sea-coast,” says Camden, “in imitation of their princess, built ships of war, striving who should exceed, insomuch that the Queen’s Navy, joined with her subjects’ shipping, was, in short time, so puissant that it was able to bring forth 20,000 fighting men for sea service.”

      The greatest and most glorious event of her reign was, without cavil, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, at one time deemed and called “The Invincible.” With the political complications which preceded the invasion, we have nought to do: it was largely a religious war, inasmuch as Popish machinations were at the bottom of all. When the contest became inevitable, the Spanish Government threw off dissimulation, and showed “a disdainful disregard of secrecy as to its intentions, or rather a proud manifestation of them, which,” says Southey, “if they had been successful, might have been called magnanimous.” Philip had determined on putting forth his might, and accounts which were ostentatiously published in advance termed it “The most fortunate and invincible Armada.” The fleet consisted of 130 ships and twenty caravels, having on board nearly 20,000 soldiers, 8,450 marines, 2,088 galley-slaves, with 2,630 great pieces of brass artillery. The names of all the saints appeared in the nomenclature of the ships, “while,” says Southey, “holier appellations, which ought never to be thus applied, were strangely associated with the Great Griffin and the Sea Dog, the Cat and the White Falcon.” Every noble house in Spain was represented, and there were 180 friars and Jesuits, with Cardinal Allen at their head, a prelate who had not long before published at Antwerp a gross libel on Elizabeth, calling her “heretic, rebel, and usurper, an incestuous bastard, the bane of Christendom, and firebrand of all mischief.” These priests were to bring England back to the true Church the moment they landed. The galleons being above sixty in number were, “exceeding great, fair, and strong, and built high above the water, like castles, easy to be fought withal, but not so easy to board as the English and the Netherland ships; their upper decks were musket-proof, and beneath they were four or five feet thick, so that no bullet could pass them. Their masts were bound about with oakum, or pieces of fazeled ropes, and armed against all shot. The galleases were goodly great vessels, furnished with chambers, chapels, towers, pulpits, and such-like; they rowed like galleys, with exceeding great oars, each having 300 slaves, and were able to do much harm with their great ordnance.” Most severe discipline was to be preserved; blasphemy and oaths were to be punished rigidly; gaming, as provocative of these, and quarrelling, were forbidden; no one might wear a dagger; religious exercises, including the use of a special litany, in which all archangels, angels, and saints, were invoked to assist with their prayers against the English heretics and enemies of the faith, were enjoined. “No man,” says Southey, “ever set forth upon a bad cause with better will, nor under a stronger delusion of perverted faith.” The gunners were instructed to have half butts filled with water and vinegar, wet clothes, old sails, &c., ready to extinguish fire, and what seems strange now-a-days, in addition to the regular artillery, every ship was to carry two boats’-loads of large stones, to throw on the enemy’s decks, forecastles, &c., during an encounter.

      Meantime Elizabeth and her ministers were fully aware of the danger, and the appeals made to the Lords, and through the lord-lieutenants of counties were answered nobly. The first to present himself before the queen was a Roman Catholic peer, the Viscount Montague, who brought 200 horsemen led by his own sons, and professed the resolution that “though he was very sickly, and in age, to live and die in defence of the queen and of his country, against all invaders, whether it were Pope, king, or potentate whatsoever.” The city of London, when 5,000 men and fifteen ships were required, prayed the queen to accept twice the number. “In a very short time all her whole realm, and every corner, were furnished with armed men, on horseback and on foot; and those continually trained, exercised, and put into bands in warlike manner, as in no age ever was before in this realm. There was no sparing of money to provide horse, armour, weapons, powder, and all necessaries.” Thousands volunteered their services personally without wages; others money for armour and weapons, and wages for soldiers. The country was never in better condition for defence.

      Some urged the queen to place no reliance on maritime defence, but to receive the enemy only on shore. Elizabeth thought otherwise, and determined that the enemy should reap no more advantage on the sea than on land. She gave the command of the whole fleet to Charles Lord Howard of Effingham; Drake being vice-admiral, and Hawkins and Frobisher—all grand names in naval history—being in the western division. Lord Henry Seymour was to lie off the coast of Flanders with forty ships, Dutch and English, and prevent the Prince of Parma from forming a junction with the Armada. The whole number of ships collected for the defence of the country was 191, and the number of seamen 17,472. There was one ship in the fleet (the Triumph) of 1,100 tons, one of 1,000, one of 900, and two of 800 tons each, but the larger part of the vessels were very small, and the aggregate tonnage amounted to only about half that of the Armada. For the land defence over 100,000 men were called out, regimented, and armed, but only half of them were trained. This was exclusive of the Border and Yorkshire forces.

      The Armada left the Tagus in the latter end of May, 1588, for Corunna, there to embark the remainder of the forces and stores. On the 30th of the same month, the Lord Admiral and Sir Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth. A serious storm was encountered, which dismasted some and dispersed others of the enemy’s fleet, and occasioned the loss of four Portuguese galleys. One David Gwynne, a Welshman, who had been a galley-slave for eleven years, took the opportunity this storm afforded, and regained his liberty. He made himself master of one galley, captured a second, and was joined by a third, in which the wretched slaves were encouraged to rise by his example, and successfully carried the three into a French port. After this