A BOOK OF THE DAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7853, 15 July 1911, Page 12

A BOOK OF THE DAY

(BY "LIBBU.M THE STORY OF THE IHUTfSH NAVY That there are not a few histories of rlio British Navy anyone can sco tor himself at tlic nearest bool; shop or pubtie, library. But a compact, ami yet fairly comprcdienstvo naval hislory, in one volume, hits long been desired. the omission hits now been remedied by Mr 11. Koble Chatierion in. bin "Slory of the British Navy, from the Earliest Times to the Present Buy,” which has just l>een published by Messrs Mills /’.ltd Boon• and a eopy of which reaches me through Messrs Whitrombe and Tombs. Mr Chatterton's previous books. "The .Sailing aid.) and Bar Story” and "The Steam Ship and tier Story," marked their author as a writer who could present a mass of facts in an exceptionally agreeable form, and the (same remark applies to tlie most recent production of his pen. Most naval historians have begun their story with the Battle of Sluys and ended it with Trafalgar. But ft is good for us to know what bai>pened before that memorable day when, off tho coast of Flanders, near Sluys, a British lloet so signally defeated tho I'/ench and . their Genoese mercenaries, and it is wrong to infer, that there are no useful lessons to be learnt since the day when Nelson foil, covered with glory. Tracing the history of maritime warfare, as it affected Great Britain ia tho very earliest times, before tho Norman Conquest, Mr Chattcrton carries us forward. by easy stages, from tho Conquest to the death of Kiehaid I.

.The British Navy in the 12th Century. Hr Chatterton's account of the dawn of a bolder naval enterprise m iuohuru the First's reign—and especially, ol hitequipment of a licet, in oolijunction ui-a PnlUp of France, lo taho Ins xiutihl and their followers to the Holy band, is specially interesting. Bet ns see wluu sort of a tiling tho British was at the cad of the twelfth century. Itmhard had thirteen ‘‘dromons, vessels witu throe masts, lateen sails, and higa bulwarks: out- hundred ami hlty smaller busses” (blail-bowed, suitable for much cargo iu times of peace, or many soldiers in warfare and piracy)fifty-three galleys (‘'single stickers with one .large square sail’’); several galioaaoeij \**> larger typo of galley); "csncccas ( i° n o ana snnkey galleys, with a. dragon a bead at tho how and a tail at the stem”); "barges’-’ or transport*, ami "vissier?/’ or vessels specially built to carry horses. Tho crows curried swords, arrows, axes, lances, and the ship* •wore provided with engines for throwing heavy stout-?, with lighting tops, and that* deadly . mixture, known as •*ureek ihre.” The principal ships earned throe square rudders, which consisted of a kind of steering oar placed.on the starboa id quarter of the ship after the vi* king fashion. Through warfare and bad weather rho vessels ran a good chance of carrying their steering cars away, so that some others as '‘rtand-bys” were by no moans superfluous. Kach principal ship had also thirteen anchors, but some of these* were really grapnel* used tor getting alongside an outlay and fighting a* cicsc quarters. Thirty oars, two spare sails, three sets of all kinds of uaJyards, stays, and other rope* —in fact, dupUcatss of everything except tho mast and ship's boat—were carried. At tho head of the licet were the Rectores, or Admirals, as we should call them nowadavs, —tho supremo command of Richards licet was in tho hands of a bishop and an archbishop—and each ship was under an experienced commander, with a crow of fourteen. Resides these, there wore forty knights with their armour and horses, forty foot soldiers, and victuals for men and horses for a whole year. Thus each ship had a capable and elnciout crew ready for service on. land ami sea. Richard's own favourite galley was called "Tmich-the-Mor,” or, ns; wo should put it, "Sca-Cleavor” or "Clipper," and, like William the Conquerors "Mora/’ which outstripped his licet, sho •was doubtless a fast clipper.

A Curious Code. It wa« to Richard that _waa entrusted the important task of making ordinances for the well-being of the joint English and' French fleet, ordinances of which the Hectares were tho administrator's. It mar interest my readers to learn how discipline was preferred in tho Navy m those days- Those primitive "articles of war" were but six, but they made up in severity for their lack in numbers. Here they are in full: 1. Whosoever tilled a person on shipboard should be tied to tho dead man —“cum mortuo legatus’’—and then thrown into tho sea. 2. If he killed him on land, he was, in. liko manner, to bo tied to the person slain and buried with him in tho earth. 3. If a man were convicted by lawful witness of drawing his knife with intent to strike another, or if ho struck another so us to draw blood, the offender was to lose his hand. 4. If ho struck another, but caused no blood to bo shed, then the assaulter was to be dipped three times in

the sen. 3. Whoever spoho insulting latiprnago was to pay 80 many ounces of silver.

8. If a thief were lawfully convicted he was to have his head shorn, boiling pitch to bo poured over it, and feathers stuck in so that he might bo known us a thief: and he was to bo put ashore at the first opportunity they came to land. It is interesting to recall tho fact that a clause almost identically similar to Clause 4, as above, existed in the disciplinary rules drawn tip bv the great Portuguese navigator, Vasco di Gama, for tho governance of the crews who sailed with him on his memorable voyage to the Indies. Sluys and After. Mr Chatterton gore, of course, mainly to Froissart for his account of the great naval battle of Siuys which gained for Edward tho Third the proud title of “Kin<j of the Sea." lint victory was not followed hr care and progress. On the contrary, the British Xavv rapidly fell into a state of lamentable decadence. The King, says Mr Chatterton. "failed stibseciuently'lo realise, in suite of his former successes, what strategists. both ancient and modern, have demonstrated, the emphatic necessity of being supreme on sea if you would be supreme on land." In 1370. his faithful Commons had to complain that the coast was unprotected and their Eca-bonic trade rained. The French and Spanish were constantly muling the south coast, whilst the Scotch and other pirates'harried the northern and eastern coasts of England. In 1372. an English fleet was utterly crushed by tho Spanish and French off Rochelle, after a battle lasting from dawn to dark. The British sea men fought gallantly enough, but the Spanish ships were stronger and better equipped, so that every English vessel but one was taken, and that one was sunk. Worse still, three years Infer, thirtynine English shire were captured or destroyed hy the Spaniards off tho coast of Brittany—their total value being set down at *6120.000. So shirk was the State _ in the discharge of its naval responsibilities. that one John I’hilpctt. Mayor of London, was actually a I lon ext to fit out a fleet at his own expense.

and wit a praiseworthy patriotism, m iIITS, I'vr tin- purpose of resisting the I 11 1 (ii. Srctcli. and Spanish piral.s who ravaged Ihe eoa-t duo beyond farther Mi.itinii.ee Under .Henry the fmirih thin-s were bat little better, but his sm-ee-or initiated a real revival of <■'»- ll.usm-ni and elueiem-y in affairs eniiceriiin/, tim Now. lirn rv 1. had no Icier than ll,bin vessels wherewith to carry has army to ilarllc-ur, and eonie-ol them were ol quite ir-p:clable size. Already a vessel of KKii) lons, called the "Jesus, was alloat, and tiie "Trinity Koval, rim "(ira-e du Ditu.” and " The Holy fliioof—the former of .Mb tons, the latter of 70U tons—were the pride of the Bnclish Navv. The galley type was becoming uhso.ete. and j-.ngiand was learning lime, the <.icnoe.se and .Spanish shipbuilders. Gradually tho piotolypo 01 tho Tudor vessels was being even rd.

| Henry tho Eighth’s Navy. I When Henry tin- ITffh passed away Isi'.vr-11 c--ill.v- lie; whole navy wan "setup- ! Ik-hp. <iwo Mioiiid siv nowadays, j But iho vv.vsi.-U sold were not replaced, I :mu! il ttiis not; until Henry the Seventh» ! reign that tho mil naval romu*sanc*o bejgun. iLh'ii 1 y tho .Seventh built wiuit were considered in Uk.t-i- <lays some very hue ships. The “Sovereign” ami the “Bot *■* were four-nntsuM's. To gain some idea of these era Its it i* necessary to imagine* a somewhat clumsy, wall-sided tv[jo of ship, willi four mastd, itnd a much developed forecn.rtl© and stern castle. the space intervening between Die lofty ends being known a« the waist. On the deck of the waist, then, wore placed fiomu of the guns, whilst below, on u lower deck, were more guns. In the “Sovereign V’ forecastle were two decks, and here, as well as on the decks of tho summer castle and poop, were placed other guns. With their standards and streamers aloft, the colours and devices of the admiral painted on the outside of the castles, with their round fighting tops cm tho masts, these cumbrous craft wallowed along over the seas. Mr Chattcrton tolls u« that Henry’s ol>jeefc when building such largo ships was two-fold. If war broke out they could make longer voyages arid carry more men with victuals than in the case of a smaller ship, and in times of poa.ee the Crown could hire the shins out to merchant adventurers, a system Henry tho Tilth had inaugurated by lending his ships for voyages to Bordeaux. U was Henry the Seventh who built tho first dry dock—at Portsmouth—ever constructed in England. Portsmouth was by this time fast increasing in naval importance. and there was also a storehouse at Greenwich. But the arsenal where tho guns and ammunition were kept was at the Tower of London. Mr Cnatterton/belauds Henry tho Eighth for his great personal interest in tho Xavy, which in his day was tho largest in the world. The "King's relations with his navy can best be likened, says our author, to those which are well known to exist between the present Kaiser Wilhelm and fho German Navy. It was during this reign that the ohieo of High Admiral became one of actual executive control, and that the Xavy Board, which existed right down to the year 1832, was instituted. Mr Chatterton'a account of naval progress under tho much-married Henry contains much information which I have not mot with in previous work© on the Eughsli Xavy.

The First Dreadnought. T must pass -on to Elizabeth's reign and to tiie building and career of the first Dreadnought. The first ship to hear a name now so much in the public ear, was built in 1373. rebuilt iu 13112, and again in HU3, finally ending her days in Kill. Slip was iu commission nearly the whole of her life. A document, dated dlth Mar, 1371. forms "a Rote of the men with their furniture and artillerio requisite for the setting forth of twentyfour of her Majesty's ships to the sea” on this date. Included in this list is tho •"Dreadnought,” where she is given as being of ICO tons, carrying 140 marines, thirty gunners, and eighty soldiers —a curious contrast to. tho tonnage and equipment of her famous name-sake of tiie present time. Bike other ships of her day she carried two kinds of powder, corn powder mid serpentine powder, tho estimate for the. former being .£240, for tho latter .22281). "Corn” powder (compare the word ‘‘corn-beet”') was specially prepared to retain its virtues on sea, wniist the powder for the many serpentine guns was not so treated. Amongst her furniture were "80 harquebussos, 23 bowes, 30 arrow sheaves, 30 pikes. CO bitter-, 40 corseiettes, and 80 murrions." Her first commission was (with the "Lyon" and the "Foresight'”; to tho mouth of tho Shannon and the VVcst Irish Coast to watch La Koche and James Fitzmorris, the "ti'aitor and reboil." She wins also to act against the dangerous pirates who were then roving along tho coasts of Wales and Ireland. She carried sixteen heavy gnus, eight lighter ones, as well as eighteen "quick-firers”— very different of course from the quick-firers of to-day. Her battery consisted of "canon-porier (24pounders), cniverins (17-pounders), and demi-culverins (9-pounders), as well as rakers, falcons, fowlers and fowler chambers." Her total weight of ordnance was only thirty-two tons!

The Career of the First Dreadnought. Now as to her career. Some idea of tiie amount of service which a royal ship performed in those days before she was broken up may bo gathered from tho following interesting account given by llr Cliattorlou:

Under Captain Thomas Fenner, tho Dreadnought was sent with Drake, in April, 1387, to attack the Spaniards in their own ports on the famonm Cadiz Expedition. This same chip, under the same Thomas Fenner, now a Vice-Admiral, was with the "Revenge” and others, in 13SO, tent under Drake, again in April, and again from Plymouth, against the. Portuguese, having in tho previous summer been engaged in tho thick of the fighting against, tho Armada, especially distinguishing herself on the 29tli July, off Gravolines. In 1534. tlxo “Dreadnought" was one of the squadron which co-operated with Sir Martin Frobisher against the Spaniards who had beeri.granted Blavet, in Morbilian, near the scene where English ships many centuries before had helped the Veneti against Caesar. Two years later, when the Span lards had become masters of Calais, and were supposed to bo contemplating another invasion of England. so that a great expedition under Howard of Effingham had to bo, sent once more against Cadiz, this same ship went forth, with her sisters as usual, froni Plymouth, and yet once again in the same year, this Urne under the supreme command of Cumberland, she proceeded to perform her duly. The following year she was oft again with tho expedition, known as "The Voyage to tho Islands.” to surprise the Spanish in Corunna and Fcrrol and seize one of tho Azores.. Essex, Ixtrd Thomas Howard, Raleigh, and others went 100, the "Dreadnought’;’ being commanded by Sir William Brooko. And, not to weary the reader any further, in IGO2. under Captain Mainwaring, she formed a unit of the expedition sent to observe the Spanish coasts and do all possible damage to the enemy. It was during these proceedings that the “Dreadnought” became the flagship, and played a conspicuous part, for the "'Repulse," the (lag-nip, sprang a leak, and had to bo sent home. Finally, in the Mime year, she returned from England under Monson to watch the Sonnifh coast, especially in the neighbourhood of Fcrrol and Corunna, but she was compelled to return home, "very -iekly.” before the Admiral. With such a full life a.s this—and her days were not ended for another forty years—no one could accuse the Elizabethan ships of being useless hulks, fit only to take an occasional cruise in fine weather on tho Narrow boas. After Trafalgar. The history of the British Navy from Elizabethan to later Georgian days is related by Mr Chatterton in great de-

tail, but space limits forbid even the briefest reference to this section of his interesting work. His two final chapters carry the reader from Trafalgar to the dose of the Crimean War, and thence to the present day. A concise and useful account is given of the creation and development of the modern navy, and an excellent feature is a useful bibliography. Tho illustrations, of which there are no fewer than fifty-one, include pictures of warships of all tho different periods, battle scenes, and a long series of portraits of famous British naval commanders. Mr Chattel ton's work is one which should be found in every high school, college, and garrison officers’ library. Tho price is 10s Gd net.