chap. cv. coryla'ce^:. ^ue'kcus. 1749 



time," having been beaten by the storms for nearly a thousand winters, they 

 promise to endure a thousand more. {Ibid.) 



The ancient Britons appear to have first used the oak for ship-building ; 

 the alder (see p. 1680.), the cypress, the pine, &c, having been previously 

 used for that purpose by the Romans. The Britons, indeed, appear to 

 have possessed a species of navy almost from the earliest period of their 

 existence as a nation. The ancient name of Britain, according to the 

 Welch bards, was Clas Merddin, " the sea-defended green spot;" and we read, 

 that, before the invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar (52 B.C.), a naval engage- 

 ment took place between the Romans and the Veneti, aided by the Britons, 

 or Cymry, in which the vessels of the latter are said to have been so firmly 

 constructed, that the beaks of the Roman ships could with difficulty make any 

 impression on them. These vessels were built of oaken planks, their sails 

 were made of skins, and their anchors were attached to iron chains, or cables, 

 The Saxons, who settled in Britain about the middle of the fifth century, were 

 famed for their piracies at sea, and seem to have kept up a formidable marine. 

 Their vessels, we are told by Aneurin,a Welch bard, " were single-masted, 

 carrying one square sail. They had curved bottoms, and their prows and poops 

 were adorned with the heads and tails of monsters." (See Saturday Magazine, 

 vol. iv. p. 73.) King Alfred, who ascended the throne in 872, had nume- 

 rous vessels, some of which carried sixty oars ; and his enemies the Danes 

 were also celebrated for their ships. The English vessels, at this period, are 

 known to have been of oak ; and that the Danish ones were built of the 

 same timber is extremely probable. Professor Burnet, writing on this sub- 

 ject, says, " An ancient vessel was discovered, some years ago, in a branch of 

 the river Rothen, near the west end of the Isle of Oxney, in Kent, and about 

 two miles from the spot where formerly stood the Roman city of Anderida. 

 The timber of which this vessel was constructed is oak, perfectly sound, and 

 nearly as hard as iron ; and some persons believe it to be one of the fleet 

 abandoned by the Danes after their defeat in the reign of Alfred. This, how- 

 ever, is but conjecture : still, whether it be so, or whether it be a wreck of 

 some Danish pirates, it must have lain there many centuries. {Lit. Keg.) 

 Sir Joseph Banks records, in the Journal of Science (vol.i. p. 244.), the fol- 

 lowing account of an ancient canoe found in Lincolnshire in April, 1816, at 

 a depth of 8 ft. under the surface, in cutting a drain parallel with the river 

 Witham, about two miles east of Lincoln, between that city and Horsley 

 Deep. It seems hollowed out of an oak tree : it is 30 ft. 8 in. long, and mea- 

 sures 3 ft. broad in the widest part. The thickness of the bottom is between 7 in. 

 and Sin. Another similar canoe was discovered in cutting a drain near 

 Horsley Deep ; but it was unfortunately destroyed by the workmen before it 

 was ascertained what it was. Its length was nearly the same as the former, 

 but it was 4± ft. wide. Besides these, three other canoes, resembling the above 

 in construction, have been found in the same county : one in a pasture near 

 the river Trent, not far from Gainsborough ; and two in cutting a drain through 

 the fens below Lincoln. One of these is deposited in the British Museum. 

 Conjecture alone can be indulged with regard to the probable age of these 

 three canoes ; but the fact of their being hollowed out of the trunks of old 

 trees must carry them back to a very early date, and establish their extreme 

 antiquity. Long before the time of Alfred, the Britons were familiar with 

 ships regularly built : vessels such as these are found only amongst the rudest 

 people, and in the earliest stages of society ; and the epoch when any of the 

 European nations used such canoes must be remote indeed." (Amcen. Qucr.) 

 The fleet of King Edgar, however, appears to have consisted chiefly of boats ; 

 and, though that of William the Conqueror, amounting to 900 vessels, with 

 which he invaded England in 1066, is said to have consisted of ships, the 

 representations extant of them bear but little resemblance to our men-of- 

 war. William set great value on his navy, and was the monarch who first 

 gave exclusive privileges to the Cinque Ports. John was the first who as- 

 serted the exclusive right of the English to the dominion of the seas ; and, in 



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