282 THE SEA. 



made, repairing and rigging the old. After an action on the coast of Brittany, where 

 both claimed the advantage, and where two of the largest vessels the Cordelier, with 900 

 Frenchmen, and the Regent, with 700 Englishmen, were burned nearly all on board 

 perishing, Henry advised "a great ship to be made, such as was never before seen in 

 England, and which was named the Henri Grace de Dieu, or popularly the Great Harry* 

 There are many ancient representations of this vessel, which is said to have cost 11,000, 

 and to have taken 400 men four whole days to work from Erith, where she was built, to 

 Barking Creek. "The masts," says a well-known authority, "were five in number/' 

 but he goes on clearly to show that the fifth was simply the bowsprit; they were in one 

 piece, as had been the usual mode in all previous times, although soon to be altered by 

 the introduction of several joints or top-masts, which could be lowered in time of need. 

 The rigging was simple to the last degree, but there was a. considerable amount of 

 ornamentation on the hull, and small flags were disposed almost at random on different 

 parts of the deck and gunwale, and one at the head of each mast. The standard of 

 England was hoisted on the principal mast; enormous pendants, or streamers, were added, 

 though ornaments which must have been often inconvenient. The Great Harry was of 

 1,000 tons, and in so far as the writer can discover the only skirmish she was concerned 

 in the Channel, for it could not be dignified by the name of an engagement, carried 700 

 men. She was burned at Woolwich, at the opening of Mary's reign, through the carelessness 

 of the sailors. 



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 Eoyal 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 



* It has been clearly shown that a large vessel which had been built by Henry VII. bore the same name, 

 The above was a successor, probably built after the first had become u-afit for service, 



