THE FRENCH WARS 



coast. The number is given as two hundred vessels, but as only four 

 hundred archers and one hundred men-at-arms were allotted to him, 

 either this number was incorrect, or else the greater part were used as 

 store-ships and transports only, and not for fighting purposes. They 

 devastated the whole coast from Caen to Rouen, burned Cherbourg and 

 a number of other towns, and captured or destroyed many warships and 

 merchantmen. 



Edzvard Ill's Fleet at the Siege of Calais. 



The fleet which Edward III collected for the siege of Calais in 1347 

 was regarded as the mightiest Armada of its time. The King himself 

 contributed twenty-five ships and 419 men, the Southern Ports 468 ships 

 and over 9,000 men, the Northern Ports 217 ships and 4,500 men, while 

 chartered from abroad were thirty-eight ships and 805 seamen. The ships 

 were of all sorts and sizes, as is shown by their manning list. For 

 instance, London supplied twenty-five ships manned by 662 seamen, 

 while the fifteen ships from Margate only required 160 men for their 

 crews, by which their size may be judged. The relative importance of 

 the different districts then and now is interesting. Dartmouth supplied 

 the biggest contingent. Shoreham produced twenty sizeable ships, while 

 Cardiff had only one ship with fifty-one seamen on board. Of the foreign 

 contingents the biggest came from Bayonne, our old allies supplying 

 fifteen ships. Flanders sent fourteen, but very much smaller vessels ; 

 Spain seven, and Guelderland and Ireland one apiece. The total cost 

 of keeping this fleet in commission for rather more than three years is 

 given in the wardrobe accounts as £33,700 9s. 4d. Thos. Walsingham 

 records the transport fleet from Sandwich as 1,100 well-furnished ships, 

 but a number of these were probably paid off as soon as the Army was 

 safe across. 



Don Carlos de la Cerda. 



Although perhaps his history would be better included among the 

 pirates than the genuine fighting men, the action of this Spanish free- 

 booter in December, 1349, had such important results that it is worth 

 mentioning. On his way up to Sluys with a fleet of semi-cargo ships he 

 captured several English wine vessels off Bordeaux in defiance of the 

 truce, and savagely murdered their entire crews. When he had loaded 

 his cargoes he learnt that King Edward intended to obstruct his passage 

 home, and therefore collected together all the armed men that he could 

 hire in the Flemish towns. Meanwhile, Edward had collected a fleet 

 and determined to lead it himself, accompanied by the Prince of Wales 

 and a large number of other knights and soldiers, the whole fleet con- 

 sisting of about fifty ships under the leadership of the cog Thomas, 

 which had been Edward's flagship at Sluys, while the Spaniards had 

 forty. The action took place off Winchelsea, and soon developed into 

 a fierce hand-to-hand fight. In laying her alongside a big Spaniard the 

 Thomas's people damaged her so severely that she began to sink and the 

 ■enemy was only taken in time to transfer her people before the disaster, 

 the unfortunate Spaniards being thrown overboard to a man. Owing 



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