38 Mr. Victor Horsley [Feb. 3, 



We must now consider the fleet which occupied these fortified 

 harbours. The British squadron was probably established by the 

 Emperor Claudius, and was mentioned definitely in the year 70 

 expedition. We know that it formed part of Agricola's expedition, 

 and at that time made a circular tour of the British Isles, in the 

 year 83. It is not mentioned again until towards the end of the 

 third century. The British fleet, however, does not actually appear 

 prominently in history until it was re-organised by Caurausius, to- 

 wards the end of the third century. 



Squadrons of the Roman Navy and their Stations : — 



I !lassia Aegentensium. 

 ,, Ancleretiaiiorum. 



„ Biitannica .... Boulogne and South-East 



Coast of Britain. 



„ Samarica ..... Mouths of Somme. 



„ Gerniauica .... Friesland Coast. 



„ Mcesica ..... Danubian Mouths. 



„ Pamionica ..... North Adriatic. 



When the Roman document, the ' notitia dignitatorum ' was com- 

 piled, which is the Whitaker of the Roman Empire towards the end 

 of the fourth century, it shows that during that century a further 

 re-organisation of the fleet had occurred, and that it was divided into 

 squadrons which, for the most part, consisted of what we should 

 now call coast-defence vessels, and these were stationed in the great 

 estuaries evidently to stop the special methods of attack adopted by 

 the Vikings and the Baltic tribes, who penetrated the country, especi- 

 ally the North of France, by ascending the rivers. 



The fleet was officered just as ours is with admirals, or, as they 

 were called, prefects, and captains of the triremic battleships, who 

 were called trierarchs. Of these officers, the Museum at Boulogne 

 contains several epigraphs. The admirals seem to have been of much 

 the same status as the admirals of our seventeenth century Common- 

 wealth, for they were military as well as naval officers, aud the whole 

 force was under the command of an officer called the Comes or 

 Count of the Saxon shore, whose head-quarters were at Boulogne or 

 Bononia. 



Each of the walled castra stands at the head of a harbour creek. 

 They are most of them of a quadrilateral figure, two being an excep- 

 tion, viz. Anderida and Lemanus, in which instances the outline of 

 the camp was traced so as to accommodate itself to the contour of the 

 ground. Their foundation and general details of structure are re- 

 markably alike in each case, and these we will now consider. 



Structure, — These walled towns were almost all built close to the 

 water, and in one case at least (Porch ester) the sea washes the wall. 

 The foundations were dug deeply, and were composed of solid concrete 

 made of flints and cement, upon which, at the level of the ground, was 

 laid the first set of masonry, consisting, as a rule, of a course of large, 

 rough, flattened stones. On these were erected concrete walls, faced 



