THE OCEAN AS A BATTLE-FIELD 287 



had a colour of national enterprise about them, ne- 

 farious though they were, and they differed from the 

 regularly named pirates in that the latter were in- 

 variably co-operative, profit-sharing enterprises. 



But the better day was breaking in which there 

 should be no room for the pirate, although it was slow 

 in spreading its light. Meanwhile, war being still the 

 normal condition of mankind, it was necessary, in 

 order to spread the oversea trade of peaceably inclined 

 peoples, that something should be done to protect the 

 merchant vessels, and so we get the idea of the convoy. 

 Trading vessels gathered their cargoes and congregated 

 together until there were a sufficient number of them 

 to form a fleet. Then under the protection of a few 

 ships of war they sailed for home like a brood of 

 ducklings under the protecting oversight of the bond- 

 fide fighting ships. It was a cumbrous system, under 

 which trade could grow but very slowly, the hindrances 

 being so many, but it was a long step in the right 

 direction, and it involved the final differentiation 

 between men-of-war and merchant ships. It had, 

 however, one tremendous drawback, which was that 

 if the convoy was attacked by a superior force and 

 defeated, the attacking fleet made a tremendous haul, 

 their prizes being already collected for them. They 

 had only to shepherd the helpless richly laden fleet 

 to their own ports, instead of its original destination, 

 in order to reap a harvest such as was impossible in 

 the days of scattered single ships. 



Now, in the new form of maritime enterprise, two 

 Powers became pre-eminent, two Powers alike in origin, 

 in enterprise, and dogged perseverance ; and may it be 

 said without suspicion of hypocrisy, with advanced 



