234 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



future greatness lay in her development of sea-power, 

 and that she must be prepared to assert that greatness 

 at all costs, to sacrifice all her internal necessities, if 

 need be, to this one paramount idea that she must 

 be the mistress of the seas. This was not so much 

 formulated as felt, and that universally, with the result 

 that English sea-power rose steadily, and her flag was 

 carried by the Elizabethan mariners to the remotest 

 corners of the earth. The nation had found its proper 

 vogue, and being convinced that it could not only 

 hold its own, but grow as fast as it would, became a 

 veritable driving force in the affairs of the whole world. 



Now, since the days of the Greeks, Komans, and 

 Italian republics, there had been no division of any 

 country's vessels into warships on one side, and mer- 

 chant ships or trading vessels exclusively on the other. 

 The vessels that fought in the supreme struggle of 

 the Armada were armed merchantmen, and hence the 

 conditions were quite different to those, say, at the 

 battles of Platea or Actium, where the vessels engaged 

 were built and handled for warlike purposes only. 

 The only alteration that was made in the ordinary 

 merchantman in preparation for a great sea-fight 

 was in the extra ammunition that was put on board 

 and the reinforcement of the crew by soldiers. This 

 latter was in itself a hindrance to naval development, 

 for the military, ever a haughty caste, looked down 

 upon the seafarers as mere mechanics, only useful to 

 bring the ship into such a position as would enable 

 the soldiers to do the fighting, which bred all manner 

 of heart-burnings and jealousies, and made progress 

 difficult. 



Gradually it became evident to Englishmen that 



