SHIPS AND SEAMEN 



The Early Yachts. 



It is often said that yachts were introduced into the Navy and 

 yachting into England when the Dutch presented Charles II with a 

 pleasure craft on his Restoration. Ships had been sailed or rowed for 

 pleasure from the very earliest times — the case of Edgar and the Seven 

 Kings may be quoted as one in which the pleasure was all Edgar's — and 

 in the Navy of the early Stuarts there were several small craft which 

 were yachts in everything but the Dutch name. The support of 

 Charles II and the matches which he arranged with the Duke of York 

 undoubtedly did much to foster the sport, but they did not start it. 



French Ships Copied. 



As soon as the French started to build a Navy really seriously they 

 set about it on characteristically scientific lines, and when they sent 

 their ships across to co-operate with those of King Charles their appear- 

 ance caused a sensation. With all his faults the King had a great eye 

 for a ship, and was so struck with the Superbe that he ordered Deane to 

 design the Harwich as close to her dimensions and lines as he possibly 

 could. She was so successful that nine others were laid down, and for 

 the first time the English found that it was possible to build a really satis- 

 factory ship which was not girdled, without a great element of luck. 

 For generations after that both the French and the Spaniards had the 

 reputation of building infinitely more satisfactory and faster ships than 

 we could, and when we wanted a really good sailer we had to go out 

 and capture her. When we had got her we generally altered her 

 considerably to British ideas. 



William Ill's Fleet. 



The fleet to which William III succeeded on the abdication of 

 James II was a very great advance in material on that of the Common- 

 wealth, although the development had been fairly gradual. Taking the 

 best ships of each type, the rates had the following characteristics : — 



These rates apply to this period only and were constantly being 

 changed, but they give a very fair idea of the men-of-war of the period. 

 In addition there were a large number of small craft of all sorts. One of 

 the changes made by William was the reintroduction of two other types, 

 the eighty-gun ship and the sixty, but the seventy-fours which later made 

 up such a big proportion of the fleets of the world did not come in until 

 later. When the wars began to be waged at greater distances it became 



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