THE EARLY EXPLORERS 



usual to sacrifice a few guns for extra stores and water. By the end of 

 the seventeenth century then, the man-of-war was well on the way to the 

 standard which held in Nelson's day, but there were many improve- 

 ments in detail yet to be made. 



CHAPTER XI— THE EARLY EXPLORERS 



Discovery and Trade. 



Having traced the history of the military navy down to the end of 

 what may conveniently be described as the third era of its history, it 

 is necessary to turn back and follow up the twin tales of discovery and 

 trade, for they are inseparably connected with the naval side and cannot 

 be divorced from it. The three subjects go round in a score of inter- 

 twined threads and even to-day one cannot be considered without the 

 other two, although the field of discovery seems to have been narrowed 

 down almost to nothing. 



The Dawn of Discovery. 



The reputed discovery of Britain has already been mentioned in 

 Chapter I as a necessary introduction to our sea-history, and the 

 evidence that the Phoenicians actually did reach Britain has been sum- 

 marised. Certainly the big authorities are not altogether agreed in 

 this, for at least one believes that the Cassiterides, the islands from 

 which the Phoenicians got their tin, were off the coast of Spain and were 

 not to be identified with the Scillies at all. On the other hand, the 

 remains of a very early boat, probably not long after the Phoenicians, 

 were dug up at Glasgow and in that was found a cork plug which proved 

 that even at that time the British Isles must have had communication, 

 probably trading communication, with Spain or the South of France. 

 In those days, however, the trade was almost entirely coastal, but from 

 the likelihood of ships being blown out of their course it is quite possible 

 that some remarkable voyages were made. 

 The First Reported Discovery of America. 



There is no doubt that the Continent of America was discovered 

 many centuries before the time of Columbus and the Viking expeditions 

 will be recorded later. But long before that the Phoenicians are 

 reported to have reached the New World. On the rather scanty 

 evidence that exists it would appear that if they did so at all it would 

 probably be the coast of Brazil that they found, but the whole story is 

 so doubtful that it must not be read with anything more than interest. 

 The Irish as Explorers. 



The Irish appear to have carried out some valuable exploration 

 work in very early days, both from religious and from very different 

 motives. The earliest recorded expedition was in A.D. 222 when a big 

 fleet under Cormac MacArt left Ireland on a three years' cruise that 

 was pure piracy and included the ravaging of the greater part of the 

 coast of England which caused a special force to be raised in the West. 



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