SHIPS AND SEAMEN 



Hiuan-Yuan in the year 2634 B.C. got through an artificial fog raised by 

 the enemy by constructing a chariot which indicated the South, but this 

 is believed to be purely mythical. The first genuine record of a Chinese 

 marine compass is in A.D. 1297. The claims of the Arabs are discounted 

 by their eagerness to buy European compasses. The first definite 

 mention of a mariner's compass comes from Alexander Neckham in the 

 twelfth century. In those days a magnetic needle was floated in water 

 on a stick or straw. The Norwegians were certainly using the compass 

 in the middle of the thirteenth century. The compass card really 

 originates from the ancient " wind rose " of ancient Athens on which 

 the North Wind, Tramontano, was marked with a spear head in addition 

 to the initial " T." This eventually developed into the Fleur-de-Lys 

 that has lasted since the end of the fifteenth century. Therefore it would 

 appear that the Chinese have very little credit for the invention, while 

 Roger Bacon only put down his notes on paper. 



Henry Ill's Ships. 



The account that has come to us of the action in the Channel in 

 which Hubert de Burgh defeated the French shows that by Henry Hi's 

 time a considerable improvement had been effected in naval archi- 

 tecture, probably as a result of observing the superior Mediterranean 

 ships during the Crusades and adapting some of their features to Atlantic 

 requirements. His ships in this action appear to have had two tiers of 

 oars with a platform along each gunwale over the heads of the rowers 

 for the accommodation of the soldiers, with their shields hung on the 

 bulwarks before them. The mast-head had the usual circular top filled 

 with bricks, stones and iron bars, while the forward and after castles 

 were the stations of the picked men of the soldiers on board who were 

 employed both with their bows and for boarding. In the waist was at 

 least one catapult for throwing large stones. At the same time they 

 appear to have been without pumps and leaked badly, with the result 

 that according to one authority it was no uncommon sight to see " half 

 the knights baling while the others fought hand-to-hand with the enemy. 



The Size of Mediceval Ships. 



It is customary to think of all merchant ships as being very small 

 vessels down to the time of the Tudors, but it is certain that Edward III 

 had at least one of 300 tons and a large number of 200 and over, which 

 is not so small. At the same time Mediterranean ships ran consider- 

 ably bigger, and in 1341 a pilgrim reported that he saw in Sardinia the 

 greatest ship in all the world which hailed from Naples and was laden 

 with 1,000 tuns of wine of the largest size and carried over 600 men. 

 Considering that St. Paul's ship had 276 people on board in addition to 

 her cargo, this is not at all improbable. 



The Cog. 



At the beginning of the French Wars the cogs came into notice, 

 the biggest being of about 250 tons burthen. They generally carried 

 two masts, with a single squaresail on each, and it was about this time 



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