MONSON, AND HIS DARING DEEDS. 15 



the Company, mentioned by Lindsay, was for a considerable period the Earl of Balcarras. 

 She was of 1,417 tons, and had 130 souls on board. After the commander came six mates, 

 a surgeon and assistant, six midshipmen, purser, boatswain, gunner, carpenter, master-at- 

 arms, armourer, butcher, baker, poulterer, caulker, cooper, two stewards, two cooks, eight 

 boatswain's, gunner's, carpenter's, caulker's, and cooper's mates ; six quartermasters, a 

 sailmaker, seven servants for officers, and seventy-eight seamen. But we are wandering 

 from our theme. 



The reign of Elizabeth was a glorious epoch in the history of naval affairs, 

 and great names crowd upon us. It is impossible to pass by that of Sir William Monson, 

 who served his country for fifty years, through three reigns, and whose "Naval Tracts" are 

 almost as valuable as were his services, illustrating as they do the condition of the navy 

 and maritime affairs of the period, and abounding in the details of well-described exploits. 



Monson was of a good Lincolnshire family, and at an early ag-e entered Baliol College, 

 Oxford, where he remained a couple of years, till the excitement of the war with Spain 

 determined him to run away to sea, as he did not expect to get the consent of his parents. 

 At this date, 1585, he was only sixteen years of age. " I put myself," says he, " into an 

 action by sea, where there was in company of us two small ships, fitted for men-of-war, 

 that authorised us by commission to seize upon the subjects of the King of Spain ; then 

 made I the sea my profession, being led to it by the wildness of my youth." He had not 

 long to wait for adventure. " A strong and obstinate ship of Holland " was encountered, 

 whose captain had the audacity not to strike his flag immediately, when required to do so. 

 The Dutch vessel had an English pilot on board, through whom communication was held ; 

 and the master of the privateer, by a ruse of navigation, ordering his helmsman in a loud 

 voice to port his helm, while in an undertone he instructed him to do just the reverse, nearly 

 fouled the Dutchman, whose men got out oars and fenders to prevent the impending collision. 

 "When we saw their people thus employed/' says Monson,* "and not to have time to 

 take arms, we suddenly boarded, entered, and took her by this stratagem." Monson, 

 when an old man, used to chuckle over his boyish share in this exploit, and includes it 

 among " stratagems to be used at sea " in his " Tracts." 



But he was to have speedily a better opportunity of distinguishing himself. The 

 privateer on which he served for she was nothing more encountered a large Biscayan 

 ship off the Spanish coast, whose captain refused to strike. A few of the English crew, 

 including Monson, managed to board her, when the sea suddenly rose, and this mere 

 handful were left on the Spaniard's decks, while the privateer was compelled to ungrapple. 

 The storm increased, and it was not possible to succour the little band, who fought for 

 eleven hours, from eight o'clock in the evening to seven the next morning. The Spaniards 

 attempted to blow up the deck which they maintained, but " were prevented by fire-pikes," 

 and at last surrendered after a desperate contest. The decks were covered with the dead 

 and dying. " I dare say," says the narrator of the event, " that in the whole time of the 

 war there was not so rare a manner of fight, or so great a slaughter of men." Monson, 

 who had now received his "baptism of fire" with a vengeance, determined that nothing 



* " Monson' s "Naval Tracts" in Churchill's "Collection." Most of the narrative to follow is taken from 

 the same source. 



