THE NORMAN CONQUERORS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS 



It was the first example of naval tactics, for de Burgh at first gave the 

 enemy the idea that he was sailing to attack Calais in their absence, and 

 when he got the weather gage came up on their quarter. The English 

 archers did good work while the seamen made fast the ships with 

 grapnels, when the English, having the wind, threw unslaked powdered 

 lime into the air and let it be carried down into the eyes of the French- 

 men. Parties of our seamen then cut away the rigging and halyards, 

 and in the confusion contrived to work immense slaughter on the 

 enemy. In the end it was a complete victory for the English, and a 

 large number of prizes were towed in triumph into Dover. For some 

 time doubt existed as to the fate of Eustace the Monk, but he was finally 

 discovered hiding in the hold of one of the ships, and in spite of his 

 promise of large rewards for his safety, was beheaded on the spot. The 

 British Fleet being only roughly half the strength of the French they 

 had proceeded in their plans without taking trouble to cover it, and the 

 result was another graphic example of the value of sea power. This 

 action ofT the South Foreland was of far greater importance in the history 

 of British sea power than the victory of Damme. 



Henry Ill's French War. 



The war which Henry III waged with Louis of France in consequence 

 of that monarch's refusal to fulfil the terms of the peace treaty which 

 followed the battle of the South Foreland has no place here, for it was 

 fought entirely on land. No effort was made to impede the passage 

 of the armies, and at sea the two nations appear to have been on quite 

 tolerably good terms, although special convoy precautions were taken, 

 and one or two French ports were blockaded in a somewhat haphazard 

 fashion. After the struggle had been going on for some time, however, 

 small French expeditions were fitted out to ravage our coast and to carry 

 out piratical operations in the channel. 



Invasion of Scotland. 



When Edward I invaded Scotland in 1296 the naval side of his 

 attack was a failure, for the ships grounded one after another and were 

 burned as they lay helpless. The success of the army, however, more 

 than compensated for this. His successors were just as futile on land 

 as he was at sea, and although fifty ships were raised from the various 

 ports in 1310 no proper use was made of them and the pirates did them 

 more harm than the enemy. 



The Battle of the Channel, 1293. 



A seamen's brawl in Normandy in the year 1293 resulted in two 

 English merchantmen being caught by the Normans and their crews 

 hanged with every mark of disdain, dogs being suspended from the 

 opposite yardarms. This led to a series of reprisals and counter- 

 reprisals, until finally it was agreed to fight out a pitched battle in mid- 

 channel with an anchored hulk to mark the lists. As far as numbers 

 were concerned the odds were heavily with the French, for they had 

 two hundred and forty miscellaneous vessels against our sixty, but we 

 had the advantage of bad weather and ended by capturing practically 



22 



