The Mighty Deep 



merely fighting in self-defence when attacked, 

 and those vessels which devoted themselves to 

 aggressive warfare. From that date, gradually, 

 the Royal Navy grew into being. 



Even in the time of Queen Elizabeth the 

 separating line was not very marked. 



There was a Royal Navy, which took its 

 share in repelling the Spanish invasion ; and 

 the whole of that Navy in tonnage was far 

 from equalling one huge ship of modern days, 

 the Celtic, White Star Liner. 



Of the hundred and ninety - seven vessels, 

 however, which met the vast array of the 

 Armada, only thirty-four were in any sense 

 strictly Men-of-War ; and of those thirty-four 

 one alone was over a thousand tons in weight. 

 The remaining hundred and sixty-three were 

 Merchant -ships, fitted up as best they might 

 be for warlike purposes ; most of them being 

 under four hundred tons. 



But no mistake existed about the way in which 

 these pigmies set to work, like bulldogs, to worry 

 the great Spanish ships. 



Century after century the Navy grew, adding 

 in each generation to its size and strength. 

 English sailors found their way hither and 

 thither, in the interests of their country, for 



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