Chapter XIII: The Nineteenth Century

The first sixty or seventy years of the nineteenth century saw the art of the seaman at its highest state of perfection. There was never anything to equal it either before or since in the achievements rendered by the sailors who manned the famous “wooden walls” of Nelson’s time, who took the stately East Indiaman backwards and forwards with so much ceremony and safety, or hurried along the tea clipper at a continuous rate which has never since been surpassed by any fleet of sail-propelled ships.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were royal dockyards at Chatham, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Deptford, Woolwich, and Sheerness; and here His Majesty’s ships were generally moored in the piping times of peace. The first three of these yards were governed by a resident commissioner, who superintended all the musters of the officers, artificers, and labourers employed in the dockyard. He controlled the payments, examined the accounts, contracts, etc., and generally regulated the dockyard. Large ships, such as those mighty wooden walls which could carry a hundred guns, were usually built in dry dock, with strong flood gates to prevent the tide from coming in. When the time came for launching, and it was spring tides, the gates were opened and the ship floated out. But small craft, such as frigates and corvettes, were built on the slips, and then launched by means of a cradle which sped down the ways, the latter having been previously greased with soap or tallow.

The oak of which these craft were built usually came from the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, and the New Forest, Hants. But as ships were built out in the open, the weather got into the wood and rotted it, so that sometimes a ship was condemned before she was ever put in commission; and, in any case, the life of some wooden walls was under ten years. Others lasted for a long period, as, for instance, Nelson’s _Victory_, which was built in the year 1765. The method of building was curiously medieval, and almost Viking-like in its simplicity. The timbers were secured by treenails to the planking. They were preferred to spike-nails or bolts, as the latter were liable to rust with the sea water and get loose. The thickness of the treenail was proportioned to the length of the ship, one inch being allowed to every hundred feet. In the Royal Navy and in the East India Service ships were always sheathed with copper to protect the hull against worms. The copper was quite thin, brown paper being inserted between the sheathing and the oak. Other ships than these two classes had thin deal boards nailed over the outside of the bottom for the same purpose.

After the new ship had been floated out of her dock she was taken alongside a sheer-hulk. The latter was an old man-o’-war, which had been dismantled and refitted with one very high mast, strengthened with shrouds and stays to secure the sheers which served as the arm of a crane for hoisting ships’ masts in or out, and getting the yards on to the new vessel. Her sails were bent, her guns and ammunition taken aboard, and away she went for her first commission. Not one of these “wooden walls” carried any canvas above royals. They could not travel fast through the water even on a wind, for they were bulky, clumsy, and cumbrous. Their lines were not sweet, they had a huge, heavy body to drive through the water; they were slow in stays, and they were not easy to handle. They rolled so badly, that in heavy weather they sometimes rolled their masts out.

With a hundred guns aboard and most of a thousand men, a three-decker was certainly an interesting sight. Her guns were arranged in rows along her decks. The lower gun-deck was little above the water-line. A 100-gun ship in Nelson’s time cost over £67,000, and these three decks ran from stem to stern, besides a forecastle and a quarter-deck, the former of which extended aft from the stem to the belfry, where the ship’s bell was suspended under a shelter. The quarter-deck extended from aft to the mainmast. There was also a poop-deck, and another deck below the lower gun-deck, called the orlop, where the cables were coiled and the sails stowed. The gun-room was on the after end of the lower gun-deck, and partly used by the gunner; but in frigates and smaller vessels, where it was below, it was used by the lieutenants as a mess-room. The ward-room was over the gun-room, where the superior officers messed and slept.

After the etching by E. W. COOKE.]

In action the guns were run out, by means of side tackles, till their muzzles were well outside the port, so that the flash of the gun might not set the ship’s side on fire. These ports were fitted with heavy square lids. In bad weather it was impossible to open the lower-deck ports lest the sea should swamp the ship. There was a kind of shutter also, called a half-port, with a circular hole in the centre large enough to go over the muzzle of the gun, and furnished with a piece of canvas nailed round its edge to tie on the gun and prevent the water entering the port, although the gun remained run out. These were used chiefly on the main deck. Ropes were made fast to the outside of the lids attached to a tackle within, by which the port-lids could be drawn up.

There was but little light ’tween decks in these ships even by day, and the glimmer of a purser’s dip was the only illumination. The magazines, however, were lighted through what was termed a “light-room.” The latter was a small apartment with double-glass windows towards the magazine. No candle could, of course, be taken into the latter, so the gunner and his assistants filled their cartridges with powder by the candles shining through the windows. In the bigger men-o’-war there were two light-rooms; one attached to the after magazine, and the other which gave light to the fore or great magazine. The after magazine contained just enough supply of cartridges for the after guns during action, but the great magazine had enough powder for the ship for a long period.

The cables were usually of 120 fathoms and made of hemp, bass, or Indian grass, though the biggest ships used hemp exclusively for their heavy anchors. The change from hemp to chain cables came in 1812, and these were much appreciated as saving a great deal of valuable space below. For the hemp cables when coiled down in a frigate’s cable-tier filled nearly a quarter of her hold, and when it is remembered that a 1000-ton ship had a cable measuring over 8 inches in diameter, and that a 2⅛-inch chain was just as strong--the breaking strain exceeded 65 tons--but took up less space, we can well understand that hemp was not altogether an advantage, notwithstanding that in bad weather these heavy, bluff ships would ride far easier to the rope than the chain. The largest anchor used weighed five tons. It had a wooden stock and broad palms.

Because these hemp cables were so thick there must needs be very large hawse-pipes. Now these ships not only rolled; they pitched in a sea-way, and consequently they took in a great deal of water through these pipes. In order to prevent the water getting adrift all over the ship, there was a large compartment fitted up just abaft the hawse-pipes and called the manger. This stretched athwart the deck, separated on the after part by the manger-board, which was a strong bulkhead, the water being allowed to return to the sea through scuppers. Leather pipes were nailed round the outside of the lower-deck scuppers, which, by hanging down, prevented the water from entering when the ship heeled under a press of canvas.

The cables led in through the hawse-pipes below deck to the bitts. To bitt the cable was to put it round the bitts, which were frames of strong timbers fixed perpendicularly into the ship. The “bitter end” was that part of the cable which was abaft the bitts, and not allowed to run out. Hence the common expression “to the bitter end” has no reference to the other meaning of the word spelt in a similar way. These cables were in lengths of 40 fathoms, and then spliced to make the 120 fathoms. Naturally a heavy ship such as a 100-gun first-rate carried a great deal of way. When, therefore, the anchor was let go, the friction of the cable passing through the hawse-pipe was something enormous, and the hemp became so hot that the tar on its surface often took fire, therefore men were always stationed to stand by with buckets of water. Likewise, the bitts and timbers round the heated hawse-pipes had to be attended to. Another drawback to a rope cable was that it chafed a great deal. In coral-bottomed waters it was customary to arm with chains that part which was likely to be worn; and the cable was also sometimes buoyed with casks lashed at intervals, so as to float safely above the rough bottom of the sea-bed.

A first-rate of 110 guns, showing the stern balconies as built before the close sterns were introduced.]

There is an interesting passage in a letter written by Captain Duff of H.M.S. _Mars_, in 1805, to his wife, in which the following words occur: “October 10th. I am sorry the rain has begun to-night, as it will spoil my fine work, having been employed for this week past to paint the ship _à la_ Nelson, which most of the fleet are doing.” That, of course, was just a few days before Trafalgar. And there is a phrase in a letter written by a young midshipman to his father, in 1794, telling him all about the Glorious First of June battle. “The French ... called us the little devil, and the little black ribband, as we have a black streak painted on our side.” The explanation of these two passages is as follows. Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century it was left to a captain’s own taste to paint his ship whatever colours he liked. There was no uniformity as to-day, but generally a ship was painted with a wide black streak along the water-line just above the copper sheathing. This streak ran right round the ship, and in depth reached to the lower gun-deck. Above this the hull was painted a brownish yellow, but sometimes it was more a lemon-colour. The after upper works above the gun-decks and the outer sides of the poop above the quarter-deck guns were painted a vivid red or blue.

This bright band of colour gradually faded until, by the time Trafalgar was fought, it became a dull, deep blue--almost black. Round the forecastle ran a band of scarlet or pale blue edged with gold, and continued down the beak to the figurehead. The outsides of the port-lids were a brownish yellow like the sides, and the stern walks were decorated with elaborate gilt carvings, cherubs and dolphins and mermaids, the royal arms, and wreaths, etc. Round the stern of each ship, outside the glazed windows of the cabin, ran a quarter gallery for the captain, while at the bows a figurehead was seen which was regarded with a sentimental interest and kept in good condition. But Nelson had his ships painted black, with a yellow streak along each tier of ports, and the port-lids were painted black. This chequer painting, then, was the method “_à la_ Nelson” to which Captain Duff was referring.

Internally the sides of the ships were still painted a blood-red, for the reason already given in an earlier century. So also were the inner sides of the port-lids. But after Trafalgar the interiors were sometimes painted in other colours, such as green or yellow or even brown, until, after the year 1840, white became uniform. Many internal fittings such as the gun-carriages, and even the guns themselves, were painted red or chocolate during the Nelson period. The lower masts were painted a dull yellow, the topmasts and upper spars varnished a dark brown, and the lower yards and gaffs painted black. The blocks, the chains, the dead-eyes, the wooden and iron fittings for the rigging were all tarred black, just as one often finds them to-day on some old coaster or fishing smack. The masts of the British warships were painted white usually before any engagement with the French, so as to distinguish them from the Gallic masts, which were black.

It was the superiority of the British gunnery which won most of our battles against the French, even when the latter had better ships and faster. The British directed their fire chiefly against the hull, whereas the French aimed at the rigging. The cartridges were filled in the magazines and handed up to the fighting decks above by the powder-monkeys. Along the decks were arranged, at intervals, match-tubs to receive the slow-matches used in firing the guns, whilst in the cockpit of the ship the surgeon and his mates were busy attending to the wounded. The ’tween decks were very cramped, and there was not much air, and there was still a good deal of disease rampant among the seamen. The surgeon’s mate messed in a space only six feet square in the cockpit, “screened off with canvas, and shut in by chests, dark as a dungeon, and smelling intolerably of putrefied cheese and rancid butter.”

After the end of the eighteenth century, the salutary practice of building ships under cover became general. Nowadays, of course, most ships are constructed in the open air. But in the time we are speaking of the ship--men built with wood and not steel. And when the weather was not allowed to get inside and rot the wood, it was found that the vessels lasted much longer than before. Furthermore, the method of uniting two pieces of timber together by “scarfing” was introduced. It was done either by letting the end of one piece of wood into the end of the other, or by laying the two ends together and fastening a third piece to them both. Thus, curved timbers could be made with pieces of straight timber. This may seem quite a small matter to some, but when it is stated that until this device was employed ships ready for launching were sometimes detained on the stocks for a considerable period until natural bent timbers could be found, it will be seen that Sir Robert Seppings, the inventor, was performing an excellent service to the Admiralty.

This 84-gun ship was in the engagement at the Battle of Navarino.]

And there were other improvements which were only justified. That effusive gilt decoration--the scrolls, the allegorical figures, the wreaths (which had come in during Caroline times), the heavy brackets for the poop-lanterns were all to come under the chastening hand of simplicity. The stern galleries became simpler in character and fewer in number, the spritmast disappeared and the spritsail, though the spritsail yard remained for some time. In the Merchant Service the “Jimmy Green” continued till well into the nineteenth century; and the yard of the lateen mizzen had long since been lopped off to become a gaff, as also the triangular mizzen sail had become quadrilateral and a boom had been added. Masts were made taller, but the bowsprit was no longer a quasi-mast, as it had been since medieval days. Staysails had come into use from Dutch origin, and royals--or, as Hutchinson called them, “topgallant royals”--and studding-sails were already well established during the latter part of the eighteenth century. The triangular headsails were relied upon for getting the ship’s head round, and consequently the foremast was no longer placed so far forward as it had been in Tudor and Stuart times.

During the reign of George III, a three-decker carried either 32- or 42-pounders on her lower gun-deck, 24-pounders on her middle deck, and either 12- or 6-pounders on her upper deck. On the forecastle and quarter-deck 6-pounders were fired. It was the 32-pounders which began to be recognised as the largest satisfactory gun for the first-rates, and so continued till about 1840. In place of the old Elizabethan powder-horn and linstock, gun-locks and firing-tubes were introduced, and the system of ventilating ships, introduced during the eighteenth century by Dr. Hales, made for the improved health of both ships and crews.

Many of those who emigrated from these shores to the United States of America can still remember the sailing ships which carried them through gales with safety. That was the time when the ship’s deck was like a veritable farmyard. There were no condensed foods, no patent refrigerating arrangements, no water-condensers; so the ship’s long-boat, stowed securely on deck, became filled with pens of sheep and pigs, while cackling ducks and quacking geese reminded the agricultural emigrants of the homes they had just left. There was a cow-house on deck, and on some ships there was even a small kitchen-garden in boxes filled with earth, which reposed in the jolly-boat. In those smaller ships carrying no passengers, the pigs and poultry had practically the whole run of the ship. Milk was obtained from the goats and cows, but occasionally, when the wild Atlantic made a clean sweep of the deck, this article of food was impossible till the next port was reached.

The eighteenth-century transatlantic ships used to make only two trips a year, taking four months for the round voyage and back. The quickest trip was the homeward one to England, for there was a favourable westerly wind to run before. But even with a head wind, these old packets made good their 40 knots a day. And so matters went on till the volume of trade and the number of emigrants had so much increased as to create a demand for the bigger ships of about 800 tons that came in 1840.

I hope on another occasion to tell at greater length the story of that fine class of ship known as the East Indiaman, which has long since disappeared from the sea. I have but little space left here to deal with a species of ship that was scarcely inferior to many of those in His Majesty’s service. Although nominally merchantmen, yet they so much enjoyed the patronage of the Government, that to be officer in the East India Company’s service was almost the equivalent of a commission in the Royal Navy. So well paid were the East India captains and their staff, and so many handsome emoluments besides were there attached to their posts, that you are not altogether surprised to find, as you look down the names of these officers, men of title and the younger sons of some of the best English families.

Promotion was made by seniority, and a captain was assigned to his ship even before she was launched, so that he had an opportunity of knowing every timber and every plank in her hull. He superintended her fitting out, and when she was at last complete with her spars and sails, her complement of passengers, her cargo and her crew, she put to sea, but she was in no tremendous hurry to get to the Orient. Her voyaging was to be safe and sure, like her captain’s remuneration. For he was allowed by the directors 56½ tons of space for carrying cargo on his own account, the rates of freights then varying from £35 to £40 a ton. Captains did their own chartering, and in one way and another accumulated very large perquisites. A conservative estimate places the income of some of these skippers as from £6000 to £10,000 a year; and the mates and petty officers managed to feather their own nests very amply as well.

The discipline of these ships was founded on the prevailing custom in the Royal Navy. They flew the Navy’s long pendant. They were built like some of the Admiralty frigates, they were fitted out on similar lines, and they were handled in like manner. But they were slightly fuller-bodied than the Admiralty ships in order to carry plenty of cargo. The accommodation for passengers was, considering the times, luxurious. At the end of each homeward voyage these ships were entirely dismantled and given a complete refit, the passengers selling their state-room furniture by auction on board before going ashore. The directors looked well after the men as well as holding out encouragement to the officers. Seamen of eight years’ service were permitted pensions. The crews were divided into two watches, the officers having three watches--four hours on and eight hours off. The men messed in batches of eight, their allotted space being between the guns in the ’tween decks. Here also were their mess-utensils and their sea-chests, and here were slung their hammocks. Every Sunday morning after the crew had been inspected they were, by the regulations of the Company, to attend Divine service, the captain acting as chaplain. If a commander’s log-book was found to have omitted this duty he was liable to a fine of two guineas. He wore a uniform consisting of a blue coat having black velvet lapels with cuffs and collar. There was plenty of gold embroidery and gilt buttons with the Company’s device thereon. The breeches were buff, he wore a black stock or neckcloth, and a cocked hat and side-arms completed the picture.

Formerly in the Royal Navy, hove-to off Dover waiting for the pilot to come out.]

So also the crews were constantly drilled at their guns and trained to handle cutlass, musket, and boarding pike. There were two men to every job, there was plenty of food, and there was no cause for grumbling at overwork. There was plenty of rum, there were good quarters and good prospects. And yet for all that there were reckless fellows who could not realise their good fortune. When they had offended they were brought before the ship’s court-martial in true naval fashion and sentenced to the cat-o’-nine-tails. And no man could complain that the commander was “driving” his ship; for every evening, no matter how fine the weather looked, the royals and all light sails such as studding-sails were stowed, and the royal yards sent down on deck. No risks were run unnecessarily, and if the weather looked at all threatening the t’gallant sails and mainsail were stowed and a single reef tucked into the topsails. The aim was to combine safety with comfort, and so they snugged down every night, and by day whenever there was the least temptation. But the East India was a fine service and a splendid school for British seamanship, a calling that has so considerably died out during the last forty years. In the year 1832 the valuable monopoly which the East India Company had enjoyed for so long a time was put an end to. Commerce was thrown open, competition entirely altered the previous conditions, and at last this fine fleet was sold and disbanded.

(From a contemporary lithograph.)]

But it was the period of the clipper which simultaneously brought seamanship to unheard-of attainment, and chanted its swan-song. The period is covered roughly by the years 1840 to 1870. It was introduced owing to a demand for the more rapid delivery of goods, especially tea, which does not improve by remaining in a ship’s hold. It was given a strong impetus by the discovery of gold in California, and the eager rush of prospectors to reach that part quickly. The rush to Australia in like manner was a still further impetus to the development of the clipper ship at the middle of the nineteenth century. The China tea trade in the ’fifties and ’sixties caused these ships to be improved and developed and handled to the utmost limits, until the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 gave it its death-blow. For a time it lingered, yet the collateral encouragement of the steamship made it impossible for the sailing ship to pay her way across the ocean. But there never have been such smart ocean passages so continuously maintained as by the China clippers of the ’sixties. There never were better sailing ships built of wood, and there never were captains who “cracked on” or crews who could work such big canvas-propelled craft with such distinction. This was the period when a ship was not content with t’gallants and royals, but must needs set sky sails and moonrakers.

This incident occurred 82 miles N. ¼ W. off Flamborough Head in a strong S. W. gale with heavy squalls. The brig had lost her mainmast, and hailed the _Cleopatra_ for assistance. A boat was therefore lowered on the _Cleopatra’s_ lee quarter, but stove in and lost. A buoy was veered astern, but the brig could not pick it up. During the night the brig foundered with all hands. Liardet in his book on seamanship suggested that in such an incident as this the best thing would be to get to windward of the wreck, let down ropes from the lee side, then signal to the wreck your intention of drifting down to her. The men could then rescue themselves by the ropes.]

A very fine type of clipper was built in 1859 by Messrs. Robert Steel and Son, at Greenock, to which class belonged such famous ships as the _Falcon_ and _Fiery Cross_. They were beautifully designed craft and splendidly built, with ample deck space for working the ship and small deck-houses, and were kept up almost as smartly as a modern sailing yacht with polished brass-work, holystoned decks, and well-found gear. The clipper _Seaforth_, which was built in 1863, brought about quite a revolution in the sailing ship’s equipment, for she was the first sailing vessel to have steel spars and wire rigging. Her lower masts, her topmasts, and her topsail yards and bowsprit were all steel likewise.

Lying “in Ordinary” in the Medway.]

In one respect these old tea clippers were curiously medieval, though the practice continued also in the ships of the Royal Navy till well on into the nineteenth century. This was in the matter of loose ballast. These tea clippers carried about 300 tons of shingle ballast laid evenly along the bottom of the ship, and upon this shingle were laid the chests of tea, and considerable dunnage was put in as well. These ships had a registered tonnage of about 700 tons, and could carry about 1000 tons of tea. They were worked by a crew of about thirty; they were captained by skippers of the utmost ability and prudence, who, unlike the East Indiaman captains, did not worry about snugging down at nightfall, but first and foremost were bent on getting the cargo to the London river in the least possible time. They “cracked on” and undertook risks in gales of wind which would have terrified many another commander. But it was to their interests to make smart passages. Some of them were part-owners, and there was a premium of ten shillings a ton to the skipper who landed the first cargo of a season’s tea. Thus, in addition to his other emoluments, there was a chance of making an extra £500 after a quick voyage. Many of the crews had served their time in sailing ships of the Royal Navy, so a captain could rely on getting the best out of his fine ship. Some of these skippers retired with large fortunes; but the premium system led to a great deal of jealousy and unpleasantness. For it might happen--it did, in fact, occur--that one ship might make the fastest sailing passage to Dungeness and yet get her package of tea ashore some time after the second vessel, simply because the latter had been fortunate in picking up a more powerful tug to tow her from Dungeness to London. So, eventually, this premium method had to be abandoned.

When we remember that such vessels as the _Taeping_ and other clippers have been known to maintain for long periods an average of 13 knots an hour, we may well regret that the coming of the steamship was not delayed a century later, to give these ships a complete epoch of their own. Perhaps in the course of events time will wreak its revenge, and give us back once more a period of true seamanship and a recurrence of the most interesting ways of a ship.

Built of wood, with iron beams, in the year 1865. The double topsail yards and stuns’l booms are discernible. She was of 812 tons register; length, 174·6 ft.; beam, 32·7 ft.; depth, 20·5 ft.]

GLOSSARY

BITTACLE (Binnacle). See pp. 214 and 253.

BITTS. Posts on a deck to which cables, etc., could
be fastened.

BOLT-ROPES. Ropes round the edge of a sail to prevent
tearing.

BONNETS. See p. 158.

BOXHAULING. See p. 252.

BRAILS. Small ropes used for the purpose of shortening
a ship’s canvas.

CAREEN. To lay a ship over on to her side for the
purpose of cleaning, caulking, etc.

CATHEADS. Short projecting beams serving as a bracket to
suspend the anchor clear of the bows.

DRABLER. Canvas laced on the bonnet of a sail to give
it more drop.

DRIVER. A large squaresail set occasionally upon the
mizzen-yard or gaff.

DUNNAGE. Loose wood or other material packed in the
hold with the cargo to prevent it from
shifting.

FOTHERING. See p. 262.

GAFF. A spar used for extending the upper edge of a
fore-and-aft rectangular sail.

GRIPE, to. To come up into the wind in spite of the helm.

GRIPE of a ship. 1. The sharpness of her stern under the water.
2. A projection added to the keel.

GRIPES. Lashings securing a boat in its place.

GROUND-TACKLE. Ropes and tackle used in connection with
anchors and mooring apparatus generally.

HAWSE-PIPES. The metal linings to the hawse-holes or holes
in a ship’s bows through which the cable
passes.

HOG, to. To scrub a ship with flat scrubbing brooms
called hogs.

MANGER. A small apartment made in the ship’s bows to
catch the water flowing through the
hawse-holes.

MIZZEN. The aftermost mast of a vessel with two or
more masts. Sometimes called a jigger. In
medieval four-masters the aftermost mast was
called the bonaventure mizzen, and the one
immediately forward of this the main mizzen.

MOONRAKERS. Sails above the sky-sails.

PARRAL. A band for keeping the end of a yard to the
mast.

PINCH, to. To sail close-hauled.

QUANT, to. To propel a craft along shallow water-ways by
means of a long pole.

RHUMB-LINE. The line (cutting all the meridians at the
same angle) which is followed by a ship
sailing on one course.

SCARFING. See p. 282.

SCUPPERS. Gutters or channels along the outer edge of a
deck by which water runs off.

SNATCH-BLOCKS. Iron-bound blocks with an opening in which the
bight of a rope may be laid without
threading the end of the rope through.

STRINGER. A strip of timber running round a ship
internally in line with the deck.

SWATCH-WAY. A narrow sound or channel of water among
sand-banks.

TABERNACLE. The socket or hinged post for a mast that can
be lowered at will to pass under bridges,
etc.

TRESTLE-TREES. See p. 207.

TUMBLE-HOME. The incline inwards of a ship’s sides above
the level of its extreme breadth.

WARE. To veer.

INDEX

Ægean Sea, 33

Africa, circumnavigation of, by the Phœnicians, 21;
in early map, 124;
geographical knowledge of, 130

Agricola, 67

Alectus, 78

Alfred, sailors in time of, 17

Algiers, pirates of, 224

Amber, Phœnicians and, 26

Ambleteuse, 73

America, North, the Vikings and, 90, 91

Amundsen, Capt. Roald, 204

Amyntas III and shipbuilding materials, 46

Anchor work, 258

Anchors, metal, Athenian Navy, 44;
of the king’s galleys, middle ages, 146;
Spanish iron for, 180;
of men-o’-war, early 19th century, 278

Andersen, Capt. Magnus, 90

Anglo-Dutch wars, 208, 229, 230, 235, 237–40, 267

Anne, Queen, seamen in days of, 249

Anson’s voyage round the world, 131, 251

Antipater of Sidon quoted, 32

Antiphilus quoted, 33

Arabians, the, as navigators, 122

Arctic Circle, voyaging to, 116

Argand lamp, 244

Armada, the great, and seamanship, 184;
wages of seamen at time of, 208;
tactics against, 218;
the pirate and, 222

Arthur’s, King, conquests, 116

Artillery introduced, 180;
knowledge of, 181;
of an Elizabethan ship, 191;
17th century, 228;
18th century, 261;
on men-o’-war, 276, 283

Asia, kings of, build large warships, 43

_Askoma_, 31

Assyrian sculptures, Phœnician biremes in, 19

Assyrians, the, and the sea, 16

Astrolabe, the, need for, 172;
its origin and name, 172;
its use described, 173;
improved for the sea, 174;
and Columbus, 175;
importance of those who could use it, 175;
superseded, 212

Astronomers, the ancients as, 115

Astronomical measurements in navigation, 27

Athenian Navy, the, 44;
inventories of Athenian dockyards, 47

Atlantic, the, Arab name for, 154

Atlas, the first (Wagenaer’s), 214

Audley, Thomas, “Book of Orders,” 182

Augustus, 68

Australia, rush to, 288

Avery, David, 244

Ayscue, Sir George, 239, 242

Azores, the, 212, 217

Baffin’s Bay, 88

Bailak Kibdjaki, 150

Ballast in ancient Greek ships, 32;
loose ballast, 289

Baltimore, piracy at, 223

Barometer, the, 259

Bayeux tapestry, ships in the, 137, 138

Beachy Head, battle of, 243

Beacons, 243

Beaver, Lieut. Philip, 267

Beazley, Mr. Raymond, quoted, 126

Bedford, Duke of, First Lord of Admiralty, and naval uniforms, 272

Behaim, Martin, improves the astrolabe, 174

Bells, ships’, 215, 254

Benbow, Admiral John, 266

“Better to break owners than orders,” 263

Birds, observations by, 88

Biremes, Phœnician, 19;
succeeded by trireme, 38;
number of oars, 40

Biscay, the Bay of, 117

“Bittacle” (i.e. binnacle), 214, 253

“Bitter end,” the, 278

Bitts, 278

Bitumen caulking, 19

“Black Book of the Admiralty,” 183

Black Deeps, the, 227

Blaeu, Wm. J., “The Sea Mirrour,” 215

Blake, Admiral Robert, and Tunisian pirates, 224;
sea commander, 229;
and discontent on his ships, 236;
defects in his ships, 237;
tactics, 238, 239;
battle off Portland, 240, 241

Boarding in naval warfare, 62, 183, 218

Boatswain, 146

Böckh’s “Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum,” 47

Booms in Ancient Rhodes, 53

Borough, Admiral William, 217

Boteler’s “Dialogues,” 230

Boulogne (Gesoriacum), 67, 70, 72, 79

Bourne, William, on the cross-staff, 175;
“Arte of Shooting,” 191;
“Inventions or Devises,” 193;
“Regiment for the Sea,” 209;
first English book on navigation 211;
on the earth as a globe, 213;
“Treasure for Traueilers,” 216;
method of registering speed, 216

Bowline, to sail on a, 168

Boxhauling, 252

Bridport, Lord, 267

Brigg’s logarithms, 248

Bristol Channel pilot cutters, 31

Britain, Roman invasion of, 72–7

British fleet in Roman times (Classis Britannica), 67

British Navy, reorganised in 1618, 224;
under the Commonwealth, 229;
fashionable, 229;
captain’s pay at end of 17th century, 230;
probable strategy of to-day, 238;
ballast, 289.
_See also_ Elizabethan, Tudor

British seamanship and British supremacy, 219

Buoys, 214, 226, 244

Burgh, Hubert de, 143

Bushnell, Edmund, “Complete Ship-Wright,” 224

Bytharne, Jehan, “Book of War,” 183

Cables of Viking ships, 108;
hemp and chain, 277, 278

Cabot, Sebastian, 133

Cadiz, 235;
mutiny of, 267

Cæsar and the invasion of Britain, 5;
and his fleet, 69;
its tactics, 70;
invasion of England, 70–7;
seamanship, 74;
landing, 76;
knowledge of Gaul and Britain, 77

Calais, 72

Calicut, 135

California gold rush, 288

Caligula, 81

Callis (pirate), 222

Cambridge, Trinity College, MS. of pilgrim voyage, 147

Canary Isles, 118, 121

Cannon. _See_ Artillery

Cape Barfleur, 138

Cape Blanco, 134

Cape Bojador, 134

Cape Nun, 134

Cape of Good Hope, Vasco da Gama and, 22;
doubled, 134;
named, 136

Cape St. Vincent (Holy Promontory), 125, 127, 217

Cape Verde Islands, 134

Captains, tyrannical, 249

Carausius, 78, 79

Carpenter, 146

Cartagena, 266

Carthaginian fleet, the, 62

Cartography. _See_ Map-making

Catholic Church, the Portuguese and the, 131

Catteville, the race of, 138

Chain cables, 277

Chanca, Dr., of Columbus’s fleet, 165

Chaplains on Elizabethan ships, 199;
of French Navy, 230;
18th century, 249

Charles I, mutinies of the Navy, 236

Charles II, Navy in time of, 229;
officers, 230;
and sea charts, 243

Charles V, 133, 170

Charts, compilation of, 171;
Wagenaer’s, 214, 219;
Charles II and James II and, 243;
of British coast, 18th century, 256;
English, 257

Chatham, 184;
dockyard, 226, 274

Chavez, Alonso and Hieronymo de, 138, 171

Chelsea pensioners on Anson’s voyage, 251

China tea trade, 288–9

Chinese, the, and the compass, 119;
voyages of, 119

Chios, battle of, 52

Chronometer, the coming of the, 178, 254

Church services in Navy, 17th century, 227

Cinque Ports, 140

Circle, great, sailing, 178, 211, 213

Civil War, the Navy during the, 236

Classis Britannica, 67, 79

Claudius, 67

Clerk, John, “Naval Tactics,” 269

Clinton (pirate), 222

“Close-fights,” 188

Clothing, seamen’s, 18th century, 264

Cockpit, 282

“Code de la Mer,” 151

Colbert, Jean B., 230

Colliers, London, of the 18th century, 251

Collins, Greenville, 243

Colonies, the, and seamanship, 230

Colosseum, the, 69

Colours of men-o’-war, 279;
internal, 246, 280

Columbus, Bartolomeo, 156

Columbus, Christopher, effect of Prince Henry’s work, 131;
his place, 136;
his log, 155;
his ships and navigation, 155;
his studies, 156;
and the Vikings, 156;
sets sail on first voyage, 157;
speed, 158;
his helmsman, 158;
reckonings, 159;
sights land, 160;
homeward bound, 160;
wreck of the _Santa Maria_, 161;
details of the ship, 163–4;
food, 164;
crew, 164;
religious atmosphere, 165;
subsequent voyages, 165;
third voyage, 166;
on the shape of the earth, 166;
fourth voyage, 167;
and navigating, 167;
as seaman and navigator, 169;
his achievements, 169;
reckoning by tonnage, 197

Compass, the, use by the Chinese, 119;
by Arabians, 119;
introduced to Europe, 119;
suspension of the needle, 120;
the fleur-de-lys, 120;
its early use, 124;
liquid compass anticipated, 150;
variation recorded by Columbus, 158;
variation, 212, 213;
Elizabethan names for the, 214

“Confessio Amantis,” 146

Congo River, 135

Constable, 146

Constantinople, 152

Cook, Capt., 263

Copper sheathing, 275

Corinth, triremes built at, 42;
shipbuilding at, 46

Corn-ships of Egypt, 57

Cortes, Martin, 171, 211

Court-martial instituted, 218

Craft, the working of, 5

Cretan pirates, 53

Crew, ship’s, of the 13th century, 141, 146

Cross-staff, the, 174;
its use described, 176;
improved, 212

Crusades, the, 117, 119, 121;
Crusaders’ journey from Dartmouth, 138–40

Cyprus, temple in, commemorating a large ship, 43

Dartmouth, 138

Davis, John, as navigator, 155;
and circle sailing, 178;
nautical expressions in his logs, 203;
extracts from his “Traverse-Booke,” 205;
“Seaman’s Secrets,” 210

Davis’s quadrant, 246

Davits, 226

Deal, Cæsar’s landing at, 73, 74

Deane, Admiral, 240

Decks, 142

Deptford, seamen’s guild, 133, 171;
dockyard, 181, 226, 274

Diaz, Bartholomew, 135

Dock, dry, the first, 180

Docks at Rome, 62

Dockyards, Royal, 181, 226, 274

Dover, 67, 72, 76;
Roman Pharos, 243

Dover, Straits of, 72, 77

Drake, Sir Francis, 5;
influence of Prince Henry the Navigator, 131;
as navigator, 155;
Cadiz expedition, 217;
as strategist, 217

“Drift-sail,” 226

Duff, Capt., of H.M.S. _Mars_, 279

Duncan, Admiral, 267, 270

Dungeness, 77, 236, 289, 290

Dungeness beacon, 243

Dunnage, 289

Dutch as shipbuilders, 231

Dutch and English seamen, 16th century, 206

Dutch wars. _See_ Anglo-Dutch wars

East India Company’s service, 284–287;
monopoly abolished and fleet disbanded, 287

Ecnomus, battle of, 43, 62

Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed, 272

Edgar, King, 116

Edward II, 144

Edward III, poem on pilgrim ship of the time of, 147

Edward VI, 133

Egyptian corn-ships, 4, 57

Egyptian kings of the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. build large
warships, 43

Egyptians, the ancient, and the sea, 11, 12;
Egyptian ships, 13;
and naval warfare, 14;
navigation of, 14;
ships and boats in the life of the people, 14;
shipbuilding, 15;
not instinctively seamen, 16

Einar Thambarskelfir, 108

Elizabethan galleons, 5

Elizabethan Navy, training of the seamen, 184;
seamanship, 186;
supremacy and colonial expansion, 186;
clumsy warships, 186;
types of vessels, 186;
obstacles to boarding, 188;
the tumble-home, 188;
colours of ships, 188;
steering, 189;
arrangements of the ships, 188–91;
sails, 190;
armament, 191–4;
the captain, 194;
punishments of seamen, 194;
the lieutenant, 194;
duties of the crew, 195;
watches, 196;
food, 198–202;
health, 198;
chaplain and trumpeter, 199;
life on board, 199;
contemporary account of sailing, 199;
sea terms in Elizabethan literature, 203;
their slowness, 206;
life of a captain, 207;
neglect of the seamen’s comfort, 207;
bad treatment, 208;
wages at time of the Armada, 208;
men of the service, 208;
flag saluting, 208;
cause of the impetus of the time, 209;
navigation books, 211–16;
instruments, 211, 212;
strategy, tactics, and discipline, 217;
court-martial, 218;
fleet tactics, 218;
seamanship, 219–20

Elizabethan seamen as nautical experts, 171

Emigration sailing ships to U.S.A., 283, 284

English as shipbuilders, 231

English Channel, winds, 72;
the Romans in the, 72;
tides, 74, 76;
John Davis and, 211;
piracy, 222

Equator, the, 178

Eric, son of Hakon, 109

Ericson, Thorstein, 87

Erith Dockyard, 181

Erling Askew, 94, 101

Erling Skialgson, 94

Eruli, 91

Espagnols sur Mer, Les, battle of, 144

Eudoxus, 27

Euphrates, shipbuilding on the, 17

Euripides, terms in, 36

Eustace the Monk, 143

Exmouth, Admiral Lord, and pirates of Algiers, 224

Exploration, claims in, 121

Faroe Isles, 116

Fenner, Capt., 217

Fighting instructions, 270

Fighting tops, 110

Figureheads, 102, 280

Fire, braziers of, used by Rhodians, 53

Fireships, 53

Flag, national, use of, by ancient Greeks, 48

Flag saluting, 208

Flamborough, 243

Flamstead, John, 212

Flemming (pirate), 222

Fleur-de-lys on the compass, 120

Flintshire, 243

Flogging, 265, 286

Fog signalling, 228

Forelands, beacons on the, 243

Forest of Dean, 275

“Fothering,” 262

Francesco da Barberino, 151

Fraser, Edward, “Greenwich Royal Hospital,” 272

French as shipbuilders, 231

French Government and longitude, 254

Froissart quoted, 145

Galiotæ (galley-men), 141, 146

Gama, Vasco da, 22, 131, 132, 134, 136

Gambia, River, discovered, 134

Gaul, Cæsar and, 77

Genoa and the Genoese, 118, 121, 156, 180

Geography, Phœnician influence on Greek geography, 26;
Pytheas and geographical knowledge, 27;
Greek and Roman, 114;
Ptolemy and, 116

George II establishes Naval Academy, 250;
and naval uniform, 272

Germany, 238

Gibson, Richard, 240

Gillianez, 134

Gillingham Reach, 184

“Glorious First of June,” A.D. 1794, 270, 271, 279

Gloucester, 67

Gnomon, the, 27

Gogstad Viking ship replica, 90

Gonzales, A., 134

Goodwin Sands, 77

Grapnels for boarding, 63, 101, 103

Greece, Phœnician losses at invasion of, 20

Greek fire, 142

Greek ships, galley, 5;
how built, 29, 35;
warships and ramming, 30, 32;
colouring and sails, 30;
warships, oar-propelled, 31, 37;
ballast, 32;
their shape, 34;
timber employed, 35;
other details, 35–7;
sailing seasons, 37;
manning of warships, 37;
biremes and triremes, 38–40;
anchors, 44;
quickly built, 46;
materials for, 46;
shipbuilding yards, 46;
naval tactics, 47;
seamen, 47;
_diekplous_ and _periplous_, 48;
admiral’s ships, 48;
signalling, 49;
seamanship, 50;
officers, 50;
a penteconter, 50–1;
summary, 51

Greek words used in connection with ships, 34–7, 39–41

Greeks, Phœnician influence on the, 26

Greenland, Venetian voyage to, 122

Greenwich Observatory founded, 230

Gregory, ship of, 101

Guilds, seamen’s, 133, 171

Gulf Stream, the, 88

Gunnery at time of Armada, 219;
at time of French wars, 280.
_See also_ Artillery

Gunnstein, 109

Gunpowder, 262

Gunter’s scale, 248

Haddock, Capt., 242

Hadley’s quadrant, 254

Hadrian’s wall, 67

Hair, human, for ropes, 54

Hakluyt, Richard, quoted, 116, 171, 212

Hakon, King, 98, 101, 109, 110

Hales, Dr., 283

Halogaland, 97;
the Halogalanders as seamen, 105

Halley, Edmund, on lead, latitude, and look-out, 253;
quadrant, 212

Hamblyn, Robert, 244

Hammocks introduced by Columbus, 164

Hannibalian War, slaves as oarsmen, 64

Hanseatic League, 180

Harald, King, 93, 98, 112

Harald Hairfair, 93

Harek of Thiotta, 94, 100

Harrison, John and William, invent the chronometer, 254

Harwich beacon, 243

Hatsopsitu’s, Queen, expedition to Punt, 12

Hawke, Lord, 230, 268, 273

Hawkins, Sir John, and payment for his men, 222

Hawse-pipes, 278

Heave to, 160

Heimskringla, the, 105

Hellespont, bridge of boats across the, 23

Henry VII, 170;
encourages shipbuilding, 179

Henry VIII, 133, 170;
decoration of his ships, 181, 182

Henry, Prince, the Navigator, 6;
and Madeira, 122, 134;
his influence, 126, 132, 133;
settles at Sagres, 127;
and the reaching of India, 127;
his naval college, 128;
his work, 129;
sea route to India, 127, 129, 130;
and the spread of the Catholic Church, 130;
the results of his work, 131;
the work of his pupils, 132;
his discoveries, 134

Herodotus on the Phœnicians, 21

Hiero II of Syracuse, mosaics on ship of, 52

Hipparchus, 115, 175

Holland, States of, and longitude, 254

Holmes, Mr. T. Rice, quoted, 69

Homer, references in, to ships, 34;
ship of Homer, 35

Hood, Admiral, 265, 270

Houlding, Capt., 241

Hour-glass, Vikings and the, 89;
hour and half-hourly glasses, 215, 254

Howard, Lord, of Effingham, tactics of, 218;
and the plague on his ships, 222

Howe, Lord, tactics of, 270, 271

Hull, Kingston-on-, 133;
seamen’s guild, 171

Hutchinson, William (“Practical Seamanship”), on a tyrannical
captain, 249;
on seamanship, 250;
on the men of the merchant service, 251;
on colliers, 252, 257;
on boxhauling, 252;
on the steering wheel, 256;
on the barometer, 259;
on squaresails, 260;
pilots, 260;
method of stopping leaks, 263;
of scrubbing ship’s bottoms, 263;
sails, 264

Hynmers, Richard, 215

Hypozomata, 30

Iceland, 116

India, sea path to, 118;
Prince Henry the Navigator and sea route to, 127, 129, 130;
the opening of the sea route to, 134;
Portuguese expeditions to, 135;
Vasco da Gama’s voyage, 136;
Drake and the East Indian trade, 217

Indian Ocean, 119

Ingi, King, 93

Irish Sea, pirates in the, 223

Jamaica trade, 249

James, St., shrine of, 147

James I and pirates, 223, 224;
ships of his time, 228

James II, Navy in the time of, 229;
and sea charts, 243

Jervis, Admiral. _See_ St. Vincent, Lord

“Jimmy Green,” 265, 283

Jordaine, Sir Joseph, 242

Kempenfelt, Capt., 269

Keppel, Admiral, 266

Kingsdown, 76

Kingston-upon-Hull. _See_ Hull

Knut, King, 94, 98, 106

_Korumba_, 46

L’s, the five, 252

Lagos, 127, 128

Lanterns, poop, of Stuart vessel, 246

Launching, 17th century, 225;
of the _Prince Royal_, 232 _et seq._;
cf. “wooden walls,” 275

Laws, maritime, of Rhodes, 55;
Medieval codes, 151;
Venetian, 153

Lawson, Sir John, 241

Leaks, methods of stopping, 262

Lebanon timber for Phœnician ships, 18

Leif, son of Eric the Red, 91

Leonidas of Tarentum quoted, 33

Lestock, Richard, 266

Levant, The, 118

Liburnians, the, of Dalmatia, 66

Lieutenants, 17th century, 229;
18th century, 251

“Light of Navigation, The,” 228

Lightbody, James, “Mariner’s Jewel,” 189, 225;
on bittacles, 214

Lighthouses, ancient Greek, 45;
beacons, 243;
the Argand lamp, 244

Lights on promontories in the Middle Ages, 145, 243

Lightships, 244

Line of battle, 242

Lisbon, 156

Live stock on sailing ships, 283

Liverpool pilots, 260

Loadstone, the, 115

Log-book, 256

Log-line, introduction of the, 178, 216;
patent log, 217

Longitude, 211, 253;
rewards for instruments, 254;
by lunar observations, 254;
the chronometer invented, 254

Look-out, the, 228

Lotus plant, the, in Egyptian ships, 15

Lowestoft, battle of, 242;
beacon, 243

Lucian, 3, 57

Lulli, Raymond, 129

Macedonia, King of, builds large warships, 43

Macham, discoverer of Madeira, 122

Machico, 122

Madeira, discovery of, 122;
rediscovery, 134

Magazines on men-o’-war, 277

Magellan, Ferdinand, 131

Magister, 146

Magnus, ship of, 112

Magnusson, Dr. Eirikr, quoted, 105, 107

Mahan, Admiral, quoted, 268

Malaga, battle of, 267

Malocello, 118, 121

Man, Isle of, 243

Manger, 278

Map-making, Ptolemy and, 116;
early Venetian, 124;
portolani, 124

Marinelli (mariners), 141, 146

Maritime arts only among seafaring people, 11

Maritime discovery, the ancients and, 114

Maritime progress, Prince Henry the Navigator and, 133

Markham, Sir Clements, quoted on Seville training in navigation, 178

Martin V, Pope, 134

Maskelyne, Dr., Astronomer Royal, 254

Maspero, Prof., on the Egyptians and the sea, 11

Masts, length of, 17th century, 225

Match-tubs, 282

Matthews, Admiral Thomas, 266

Mediterranean, the, Egyptian ships on the, 12;
Phœnicians in the, 22

Medway, the, 184

Melinda, 136

Men-o’-war. _See_ Wooden walls.

Mercator, Gerard, “Mappemonde,” 219;
chart, 248

Meridians, converging, Ptolemy and, 116

Messahala on the astrolabe, 175

Meteorology. Virgil’s description of weather, 83–4

Midshipmen, 18th century, 251

Minnes, Vice-Admiral, 242

Misenum, 66

Missionaries as geographical discoverers, 117

Monck, Admiral, 229, 241

Monson, Sir William, “Naval Tracts,” 194, 198, 226

Moon-dial, the, 248

Moore’s “Midshipman’s Vocabulary,” 263

Moorish pirates, 223

Mozambique, 136

Mutinies at Spithead, the Nore, etc., 267

Mykenæans, the, and decorated sails, 51

Myonnesos, battle of, 52

Nansen, Dr., on Pytheas, 28;
on the Vikings, 85, 90, 92

Napier, John, and logarithms, 224

Narrow Seas, the, 214, 219

Nature, man and the forces of, 10

Naumachia, 68

Nautæ (sailors), 141, 146

“Nautical Almanac,” 254

Nautical words. _See_ Sea terms

Naval Academy, Portsmouth, 250

Naval education in Portugal, 128 _et seq._;
in England, 229;
in France, 230;
17th century, 248;
18th century, 250

Naval warfare in England, early, 144;
as a science, 182;
18th-century tactics, 267, 268.
_See also_ Tactics

Navigation, the beginning of, 5;
of the ancient Egyptians, 14;
of the Phœnicians, 19, 22;
Pytheas and, 27;
as described by Virgil, 83;
by instinct, 86;
of the Vikings, 86–90;
the ancients and, 114;
the Arabians and, 122;
Prince Henry the Navigator and, 128 _et seq._;
first book on, by an Englishman, 211;
early English books, 211–16;
instruments of the Elizabethans, 211, 212;
in the 17th century, 224;
in the 18th century, 253;
methods of 18th-century coasters, 257

Navy, Royal. _See_ British Navy

Neco, King of Egypt, and the circumnavigation of Africa, 21

Nelson, Lord, signal at Trafalgar, 271;
the battle of St. Vincent, 271;
the _Victory_, 275;
cost of a man-o’-war in his time, 276;
colours of his ships, 280

Nemi, Lake, Roman boats, 78, 81

Nesiar, battle of, 101

New Forest, 275

Newcastle colliers, 230, 251, 256

Newcastle-on-Tyne Seamen’s Guild, 133, 171

Nile, the, 12

Nile barge, huge, 43

Nocturnal, the, 248

Nore Lightship, 244

Nore, mutiny at the, 267

Norse discoveries, 117

Norsemen, the, and navigation, 2.
_See also_ Vikings

North Foreland, battle off the, 242

North-West Passage, 204

Norwood, Richard, “Seaman’s Practice,” 216

Nunez, Pedro, 178

Oak for men-o’-war, 275

Oarsmen on triremes, 39 _et seq._;
on Viking ships, 112

Octher, 116

Officers of Navy of 18th century, 266

Olaf Tryggvason, King, 94, 96, 100, 101, 103

Oleron, laws of, 151

Oppenheim, Mr. N., quoted, 182, 188

Orfordness, 243

Ostend, 241

Palinurus, the pilot, 83

Palos, 156

Pavia University, Columbus at, 156

Pay of Navy, mutinies, 267

Pedro, Prince, 127

Peloponnesian War, 38

Penn, Admiral Sir William, 241

_Pentekontoroi_ (Greek warships), 37, 50, 51

Pepys, Samuel, 229

Petrie, Prof. Flinders, on shipbuilding in Egypt, 15, 51

Pett, Sir Phineas, 231

Petts, the, as shipbuilders, 231

Philip II, neglect of, in saluting, 209

Philip III of Spain, 254

Phœnicians, the, as seamen, 12, 16;
build a fleet for Sennacherib, 17;
a race of seamen, 18;
their ships and crews, 18;
their navigation, 19, 22;
biremes, 19;
their losses, 20;
piracy, 20;
their voyages, 21;
circumnavigation of Africa, 21;
the first great seamen, 23;
engineers, 23;
Xenophon’s record of their ships, 23;
influence on the Greeks, 26

Pilgrim ship of Edward III, 147

Pilgrims as discoverers, 117

Pilot, grand, of England, 133, 226

Pilot major, 133, 170

Pilots, 170; “loadsmen,” 172;
Mersey, 260;
Tyne, 260

Piracy, Phœnician, 20;
in Roman times, 66;
in Tudor times, 184

Pirates, Mediterranean, 152;
in Elizabethan times, 222;
17th century, 223;
Moorish, 223;
Tunisian, 224;
Algerian, 224

Plymouth Dockyard, 274

Plymouth Sound, brig in, 257

Pole, North, Pytheas and the, 27

Polo, Marco, 130

Popham, Admiral Edward, 229

Popham’s, Sir Home, code, 271

Portland, battle off, 1653, 240

Portland beacon, 243

Portolani, 124

Portsmouth, first dry dock at, 180;
dockyard established, 181;
ships from, wintered on Medway, 184;
dockyard, 226, 274;
Naval Academy, 250

Portuguese, their maritime knowledge, 125, 128;
influence of, on seamanship, 133;
concession to the King of Portugal, 134;
their discoveries, 134, 135;
discoverers able to keep at sea, 154;
enterprise in shipbuilding, 219;
as navigators, 219

Post, Roman imperial, 57

Powder-monkeys, 282

Premiums on speed of tea clippers, 289

Pressgang, the, 251

Prester John, 135

Privateering in Tudor times, 184;
in 18th century, 261;
tactics, 262

Prize, division of, Elizabethan times, 197

Provisioning by live stock, 283

Ptolemy, 115, 116

Ptolemy Philopator builds huge ship, 43

Punic Wars, 62, 64

Punt, Land of, 12

Purser, 146

Pursser (pirate), 222

Pytheas of Massilia, the pioneer of navigation, 6, 27;
his voyages of discovery, 28

Quadrant, Davis’s, 212;
Flamstead’s, 212;
Halley’s, 212

Quadriremes and quinquiremes, 38, 42–3

Rameses II, galleys of, 12

Ramming, Greek warships and, 30, 41;
method of, by Rhodians, 52;
in the Middle Ages, 143

Raud the Unchristened, 104

Ravenna, 66

Ravens used by the Vikings, 87

Rawlinson, Professor George, on biremes, 19;
on Phœnician navigation, 22

Reckonings, 256

Rectores (masters), 141, 146

Red Sea, the, 12

Reef, 145

Renaissance, the, and cartography, 124;
and shipping, 170

Rhodes, ancient, ships of, 52;
celoces, 52;
naval tactics, 52;
ramming, 52;
naval organisation, 53;
shipbuilding, 53;
sea prowess, 54;
as a port, 54;
sea law, 55;
“Code Navale des Rhodiens,” 151

Rhumb-lines, 213

Richard I and his Crusader fleet, 139;
his naval tactics, 143

Richardson, Wm., “A Mariner of England,” 264

Rigging, wire, 289

Rochelle, action off, 273

Rodney, Admiral Lord, 230;
signals, 266;
Battle of the Saints, 268;
victories of, 270

Roman boat found at Westminster, 78–81

Roman galley, 5;
shipowners, 56–7;
merchants and barge-owners, 57;
corn-ships, 57;
warships, 61, 65;
docks, 62;
the fleets, 62, 66, 67;
naval warfare, 62;
squadrons, 64;
standing navy abolished, 64;
Romans not seamen, 64;
naval officers, 64;
piracy, 66;
the classiarii, 67;
influence of the navy on land, 68;
Cæsar’s fleet, 69;
its tactics, 70;
invasion of Britain, 72–7;
as shipwrights, 77–82;
Romano-British ships, 79;
boat found at Westminster, 78–81;
Lake Nemi boats, 78, 81–2;
Virgil’s descriptions, 82–4

Roman pharos at Dover, 243

Rome, victualling of, 56;
docks at, 62

Romney Marsh, 77

Ropes, ancient Greek, 31

“Rosa Solis,” 207

Royal Naval College, 250

Royal Navy. _See_ British Navy

Rudders of Viking ships, 107;
change of position of rudders, 146, 152

Rupert, Prince, 242

Ruyter’s, Admiral de, 242

Sagas, descriptions from the, 92 _et seq._

Sagres, 127–9

Sailing season, 151

Sailors. _See_ Seamen

Sails, ancient Greek, 30;
in the Middle Ages, 137, 145;
of the Elizabethan ships, 190;
18th century, 264;
spritsails, 265;
beginning of the 19th century, 283

St. Albans (Aldhelm’s) Head light, 145, 243

St. Andrew’s cross, 209

St. George’s ensign, 183, 209

St. Vincent, Admiral Lord, 230, 270

St. Vincent, battle of, 271

Saints, Battle of the (1782), 265, 268, 270

Salamis, battle of, triremes at, 38

Saluting by flag, 208

Sandgate, 76

Sandwich, Earl, 240, 242

Sandwich, 276

Scandinavians as sailors, 93

“Scarfing,” 282

Schey, Rear-Admiral, 243

Scribes on Mediterranean ships, 153

Scuppers, 278

Sea, humanity’s debt to the, 6;
fear of the, 11

Sea sayings, 263

Sea sense, the, 8

Sea terms in Homer, etc., 35 _et seq._;
in Elizabethan literature, 203;
in current use, 206

Seamanship becoming a lost art, 4;
slowness of advance in early times, 120;
of the Middle Ages, 137 _et seq._;
first book on, 151;
of time of Columbus, 160;
early treatises on, 171;
East India Company’s service and, 287;
in the 19th century, 274

Seamen, hardships of, 3, 7;
the want of consideration for, 7;
the seaman character, 8;
bond between, 8;
of the 18th century, 251, 266

Sennacherib and his fleet, 16

Senofern and shipbuilding in ancient Egypt, 15

Seppings, Sir Robert, 282

Sesostris, sacred barge of, 16;
huge Nile barge, 43

Seville, Contractation House, 170

Seville training in navigation, 178

Sextant, the, 174, 254

Seyffert, Dr. Oskar, and Greek ships, 38

Shakespeare and sea terms, 203

Sheathing with copper, 226, 275

Sheer hulk, 275

Sheerness Dockyard, 274

Ship of the 13th century described, 140;
fighting methods, 142

Shipbuilding in ancient Egypt, 15;
earliest English book on, 224;
of wooden ships under cover, 282

Shipowners, Roman, servants of the State, 52–3

Ships, ancient Egyptian, 13–16

Ships, measuring of, 224;
construction of, 17th century, 227;
painted red internally, 246, 280

Ship’s bottoms, scrubbing, 263

Ships named:
_Association_, 273
_Assurance_, 240
_Bison_, 103
_Blanche Nef_, 138
_Capitana_, 165
_Centaur_, 82
_Chimæra_, 82
_Crane_, 96, 101, 104
_Dorsetshire_, 273
_Dragon_, 104
_Eagle_, 273
_Edinburgh_, 273
_Elizabeth_, 204
_Fairfax_, 241
_Falcon_, 288
_Fiery Cross_, 288
_George_, 237
_Goddess Isis_, 59
_Great Harry_, 181
_Helene_, 204
_Long Worm_, 96, 101
_Marigalante_, 197
H.M.S. _Mars_, 279
_Mary_ (Charles II), 5, 241
_Mauretania_, 4
H.M.S. _Minerva_, 264
_Nina_, 155, 157 _et seq._
_Olympic_, 4
_Pinta_, 155, 157 _et seq._
_Prince Royal_, 231–5
_Pristis_, 82
_Radians_, 79
_Red Lion_, 204
_Royal James_, 242
_Ruby_, 241
_San Felipe_, 217, 218
_Santa Maria_, 155 _et seq._;
described, 163
_Scylla_, 82
_Seaforth_, 289
_Short Worm_, 97, 101, 103, 104
_Sovereign of the Seas_, 244
_Speaker_, 241
_Sunneshine_, 204
_Swiftsure_, 237
_Taeping_, 290
_Triumph_, 240, 241
_Vanguard_, 241
_Victory_ (Nelson’s), 275
_Worm_, 97, 101, 103, 104

Ships, types of, named:
Aphraktos, 65
Barque, 204
Bireme, 19, 40, 66
Brig, 252, 257
Carabela (caravel), 128, 137, 157, 168
Carack, 219
Celox, 52
Ceol, 110
Clipper, 274, 288, 289
Cock-boat, 199
Collier, 251, 256
Dieres, 52
Dragon, 96, 112
Dromon, 94
East Indiaman, 249, 274, 284
Frigate, 276
Galleon, 199
Galley, 12, 46
Kataphraktos, 65
Kaupskip, 95
Keel, 110
Knörr, 95
Lateener, 168
Lembus, 65, 66
Liburnian, 66
Man-o’-war, “high charged,” 186;
“wooden walls,” 274
Navis aperta, 66
Navis tecta, 65
Pentekontoros, 37, 38, 50, 51, 65
Penteres, 52
Pinnace, 190
Privateer, 261
Quadrireme, 42, 51, 65
Quinquireme, 38, 43, 51, 62, 64–6
Skeid, 95
Skuta, 95
Snekkja, 95
Tea clipper, 274, 288, 289
Three-decker, 276, 283
Tetreres, 52
Triemiolia, 52
Triremes, 24, 38–40, 50, 51, 54, 62, 65, 66, 79

Shoreham, battle of, 183

Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, wreck of, 254;
on Great Storm, 272

Sicily, King of, builds large warships, 43

Sidney, Sir Philip, 190

Sidon, sailors of, 17, 20, 22

Signal book, 270

Signalling, ancient Greek, 49;
in Tudor times, 183;
17th century, 227

Signals, Rodney’s, 266, 268

Sigurd, King, 93, 95, 100, 106

Sigurd, Bishop, 104

“Skipper,” 206

Skopti, 109

Slave trade, Phœnician, 20

Sluys, battle of, 144

Smith, Capt. John, “Accidence,” 195;
account of life aboard an Elizabethan ship, 199;
on pirates, 222

Sofala, 136

Solebay, battle of, 242

Sounding lead, Vikings use, 89

South Pole, 204

Southampton Water, 263

Spain and iron supplies, Tudor times, 180;
jealousy of, in Elizabethan days, 209

Spaniards and gunnery, Armada, 219

Spanish warships, sailors cook for themselves on board, 153;
signalling in the, 183

Spars, steel, 289

Speed recording without log, 158

Spithead, mutiny at, 267

Spritmast, 283

Squaresails, 260

Starboard, 108

Statham’s “Privateers and Privateering,” 261

Steel, Robert, and Son, Greenock, 288

Steering wheels, 256, 272–3

Sterns, decorated, 280, 282

Stokes Bay, 239

Storm, great, of 1703, 272

Strabo on the Sidonian navigation, 22

Stuart seamanship, 235

Stuart warships, 244;
rig and sails, 244;
decks and armament, 245–6;
workmanship and decoration, 245–8

Sturmanni (steersmen), 141, 146

Suez Canal, 288

Surgeons, 282

Svein, King, 93, 101, 108

Swearing, 265

Swin Channel, 214, 258

Syria, 152

Tacking, the art of, 10

Tactics, naval, 17th century, 238;
in Anglo-Dutch war, 239;
line-ahead, 239;
schools of, 240;
18th century, 268;
French, 268;
Clerk’s “Naval Tactics,” 269;
Lord Howe’s changes, 270;
Jervis’s tactics, 271

Tampion’s portable barometer, 259

Tartaglia, Nicholas, “Arte of Shooting,” 216

Tea clippers, 288, 289

Tetricus the Elder, 78

Texel, mutiny off the, 267

Thames estuary, 77, 214, 258

Thames, Roman boat found in the, 78–81

Thames waterman as seaman, 12

Thanet, 77

Themistocles and a navy, 38

Thole-pins, 35

Thorburg Shavehewer, 96, 97

Thorleif the Sage, 109

Thorowgood, Capt. Thomas, 236

Tides, the, Pytheas and, 28;
in the English channel, 74, 76

Tigris, shipbuilding on the, 17

Tillers, steering, in use, 1703, 272

Timber of ancient Greek vessels, 35

Time as recorded by Elizabethans, 215

Tin, Phœnicians and, 21, 26

Tonnage, reckoning by, 197

Torr, Mr. Cecil, quoted, 45, 49, 54

Torres, Capt. Antonio de, 197

Torrington, Lord, 243

Tower of London, 184

Trade routes, ancient, and the Phœnicians, 26

“Trade” wind, 207

Trafalgar, battle of, 279;
Nelson’s signal, 271

“Trani, Loi de,” 151

Travel, desire for, 121

Traverse board, 256

Trestle-trees, 207

Triremes, Greek, 38;
arrangement of, 39;
number of oars, 40;
rigging, 42

Tristan, 134

Tromp, Marten, 238, 239

Trumpeter on Elizabethan ships, 199

Tudor colours, the, 181

Tudor period, sailors in the, 17

Tudor ships, life on, 179;
victualling, 179;
health, 179;
shipbuilding, 180;
naval weapons, 180;
foreign shipbuilding for Henry VIII, 180;
artillery, 181;
decorated ships, 181, 182;
crew of the _Great Harry_, 181;
rate of pay, 182;
fleet orders, 182;
signalling, 183;
tactics, 183

Tunisian pirates, 224

Tyne, the, 257;
Tyne pilots, 260

Uniforms originate in France, 230;
adopted in English Navy, 271;
how blue and white originated, 272

Union Jack, 245

United States, emigration sailing ships to, 283;
length of voyage, 284

Veneti, the, 69

Venetian maps, 124;
shipping season restricted, 152;
shipping laws, 153;
and the Atlantic, 154;
position on the sea, 154;
decline, 154

Venetians, the, 118, 122

Venice, Arsenal at, 180

Ventilation of ships, 283

Vikings, the, ships, 4, 5;
as seamen, 16;
as warriors and explorers, 85;
their sea sense, 86;
sense of time, 87;
navigation methods, 87–90;
and discovery of North America, 90;
replica of Gogstad ship’s voyage, 90;
extent of voyages, 90;
provisioning, 91;
descriptions from the Sagas, 92–5;
moving of ships, 93;
winter sailing, 92, 93;
species of craft, 95;
building a ship, 96;
fitting-out season, 100;
naval tactics, 101;
sails, 105;
steering, 107;
cables, 108;
precedence for berthing, 109;
row-boats, 109;
mooring, 110;
fighting tops, 110;
awnings, 110;
messing, 111;
bailing, 112;
oarsmen, 112;
fighters and seamen, 113;
as discoverers, 117, 121

Virgil’s description of ships and sea, 82–4

Vivaldi, 118

Volusenus, 72

Voyages without navigational methods, 6

Wagenaer’s atlas, 214;
charts, 219

War and shipbuilding, 85

War vessels, ancient, 43, 44

Wars of the Roses, 85

“Watches” in Elizabethan ships, 196

Water-compass, 119

West Indies, 170. _See also_ Columbus

Westminster, Roman boat found at, 78–81

Whales, observations by, 88

Whipstaff, 189

William the Conqueror, 5, 138

Winds, waves, and tides, awe of, 10

Wissant, 75

Wolf the Red, 97

“Wooden walls,” 274;
oak for the, 275;
the life of, 275;
building, 275;
rig, description, and cost, 276;
cables, 277, 278;
colours of, 279, 280;
gunnery, 280

Woolwich Dockyard established, 181, 226, 274

Woolwich, launch at, in 1610, 232

Wright, Edward, “Haven-finding Art,” “Certaine Errors in
Navigation,” 212

Xenophon on Phœnician ships, 23

Xerxes and the Phœnicians, 23

Yarmouth Roads, 257

Young, Capt., and neglect of Dutch to salute, 208

Zamorano, Roderigo, 133, 171

Zeno, the brothers, 122

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD.
PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH

Upper illustration shows method of framing. Lower illustration gives plan of upper deck, indicating positions of windlass, masts, hatches, capstan, pump, etc. (See Chapter X.)]

Length between perpendiculars, 108 ft. 3¼ in. Extreme breadth, 27 ft. 6 in. Depth, 12 ft. Length on keel, 82 ft.]

Length between perpendiculars, 185 ft. Extreme breadth, 29 ft. 1000 tons displacement.]

Length between perpendiculars, 262 ft. 6 in. Extreme breadth, 45 ft. 2600 tons burthen.]

FOOTNOTES

[1] “Phœnicia,” by George Rawlinson. London, 1889.

[2] I have availed myself of Mr. H. G. Dakyns’ excellent translation of “The Works of Xenophon,” Vol. III, Part I. London, 1897.

[3] Given in “Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology,” by J. W. Mackail. London, 1911.

[4] _Ibid._

[5] _Ibid._

[6] “A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities.” London, 1902.

[7] See Fig. 24 of “Sailing Ships and their Story.”

[8] Given on page 212 of Mackail, _ut supra_.

[9] Taken from Plate LII in “Peintures Antiques de Vases Grecs de la Collection de Sir John Coghill, Bart.,” par James Millingen. Rome, 1817.

[10] “Journal of Hellenic Studies,” Vol. XII, p. 203.

[11] “Journal of Hellenic Studies,” Vol. XI, p. 193.

[12] “Rhodes in Ancient Times,” by Cecil Torr. Cambridge, 1885.

[13] “Six Dialogues of Lucian,” translated into English by S. T. Irwin. London, 1894.

[14] “The Remains of Ancient Rome,” by J. H. Middleton. London, 1892.

[15] “Cæsar’s Conquest of Gaul,” by T. Rice Holmes. Oxford, 1911.

[16] “Sailing Ships and their Story.”

[17] See article in “The Yachting Monthly,” Vol. XII, p. 81, “The Shipwrights of Rome.”

[18] “Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early Times,” by Fridtjof Nansen, 2 vols. London, 1911.

[19] That is to say they were still existing about A.D. 1180.

[20] That is to say 148 feet: grass-lying means straight.

[21] See “The Saga Library,” edited by William Morris and Eirikr Magnusson. London, 1905. I am indebted to this edition for the extracts which I here make from the Sagas, and also for some valuable matter given in the notes to that edition.

[22] “The Story of the British Navy.” London, 1911.

[23] Grieves.

[24] Haste.

[25] Arrange.

[26] “You’re standing too close beside your mate so that he cannot haul.”

[27] Shout.

[28] Go aloft.

[29] Taylia = “tally aft the sheet”--“haul aft,” etc.

[30] Stow.

[31] “No nearer”--“don’t come any nearer to the wind.”

[32] “Thou failest”--“you’re slacking.”

[33] “Wartake” may mean “war-tackle,” but what exactly that signifies no one to-day has been able to suggest.

[34] i.e. lay the cloth.

[35] “Pery” means “squall.”

[36] “Thow canst no whery” = “you mustn’t complain”--“you know nothing about these matters.”

[37] Malmsey.

[38] Boiled nor roast.

[39] “My head will be cleft in three”--“my head is splitting.”

[40] “Gere” means “tools.” Lightly constructed cabins were knocked together on these Viking-like ships by the ship’s carpenter to accommodate passengers.

[41] Lie.

[42] Evidently some of the passengers had to sleep in the hold, whence the stench of the bilge-water and the accumulation of filth made their life very trying.

[43] “Dawn of Navigation,” in “Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute,” Vol. XXXII. Annapolis, 1906.

[44] Far from having been expressly built for exploration, the _Santa Maria_ had been constructed for the well-known trading voyages to Flanders. The _Pinta_ and _Nina_ had been built for the Mediterranean trade.

[45] Sir Clements Markham states that the bonnet was usually cut one-third the size of the mizzen, or one-quarter of the mainsail, being secured to the leach by eyelet holes.

[46] The italics are mine.

[47] i.e. “lie at hull”--the Elizabethan word for “heave to.”

[48] i.e. lie to a drift-sail or sea-anchor.

[49] i.e. an azimuth compass.

[50] This is thought to have been some instrument showing how the line of the course cuts the several meridians, those meridians being drawn upon their proper inclination.

[51] The derivation of the word _Flame_-borough or Flamborough at once suggests a burning beacon.

[52] “Greenwich Royal Hospital,” by Edward Fraser.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.

Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to the corresponding illustrations.

In some of the original illustrations, details, particularly words, were unreadable, and the image quality of a few originals was significantly worse than the others.

The HTML version of this eBook can display larger versions of some of the “Plan” diagrams found at the end of the book, but, when this eBook was prepared, the .mobi and .epub versions did not support those larger sizes.

The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.

Text uses both “lodestone” and “loadstone”, “a side” and “aside”.