Samuel Smiles

“ To the astonishment of the Spanish Admiral, the English ships approached him or left him just as they chose. "The enemy pursue me," wrote the Spanish Admiral to the Prince of Parma; "they fire upon me most days from morning till nightfall, but they will not close and grapple, though I have given them every opportunity." The Capitana, a galleon of 1200 tons, dropped behind, struck her flag to Drake, and increased the store of the English fleet by some tons of gunpowder. Another Spanish ship surrendered, and another store of powder and shot was rescued for the destruction of the Armada. ”

“ After viewing the dry dock, which had been constructed by Pett, and was one of the first, if not the very first in England, — his Highness partook of a banquet which the shipbuilder had hastily prepared for him in his temporary lodgings.
One of the circumstances which troubled Pett so much at this time, was the strenuous opposition of the other shipbuilders to his plans of the great ship. There never had been such a frightful innovation. ”

“ When Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558, the commerce and navigation of England were still of very small amount. The population of the kingdom amounted to only about five millions--not much more than the population of London is now. The country had little commerce, and what it had was still mostly in the hands of foreigners. The Hanse towns had their large entrepôt for merchandise in Cannon Street, on the site of the present Cannon Street Station. The wool was still sent abroad to Flanders to be fashioned into cloth, and even garden produce was principally imported from Holland. ”

“ We do not say that man has become so much wiser during that period; for, though he has grown in Knowledge, the most fruitful of all things were said by "the heirs of all the ages" thousands of years ago. ”

“ Though a seafaring population lived round our coasts, we did not fish our own seas, but left it to the industrious Dutchmen to catch the fish, and supply our markets. It was not until the year 1787 that the Yarmouth people began the deep-sea herring fishery; and yet these were the most enterprising amongst the English fishermen.
English commerce also had very slender beginnings. At the commencement of the fifteenth century, England was of very little account in the affairs of Europe. Indeed, the history of modern England is nearly coincident with the accession of the Tudors to the throne. ”

“ Spain was then the most potent power in Europe, and the Netherlands, which formed part of the dominions of Spain, was the centre of commercial prosperity. Holland possessed above 800 good ships, of from 200 to 700 tons burthen, and above 600 busses for fishing, of from 100 to 200 tons. Amsterdam and Antwerp were in the heyday of their prosperity. Sometimes 500 great ships were to be seen lying together before Amsterdam; [9] whereas England at that time had not four merchant ships of 400 tons each! ”

“ The importance of steam navigation has been still more recently ascertained. When it was first proposed, Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, said: "It is a pretty plan, but there is just one point overlooked: that the steam-engine requires a firm basis on which to work" Symington, the practical mechanic, put this theory to the test by his successful experiments, first on Dalswinton Lake, and then on the Forth and Clyde Canal. Fulton and Bell afterwards showed the power of steamboats in navigating the rivers of America and Britain. ”

“ The English sailors followed up their advantage. They went on "singeing the Ring of Spain's beard." Private adventurers fitted up a fleet under the command of Drake, and invaded the mainland of Spain. They took the lower part of the town of Corunna; sailed to the Tagus, and captured a fleet of ships laden with wheat and warlike stores for a new Armada. They next sacked Vigo, and returned to England with 150 pieces of cannon and a rich booty. The Earl of Cumberland sailed to the West Indies on a private adventure, and captured more Spanish prizes. ”

“ In 1814 there was only one steam vessel in Scotland; while England possessed none at all. Now, the British mercantile steam-ships number about 5000, with about 4 millions of aggregate tonnage. [2]
In olden times this country possessed the materials for great things, as well as the men fitted to develope them into great results. But the nation was slow to awake and take advantage of its opportunities. There was no enterprise, no commerce — no "go" in the people. ”

“ A few years later, in 1845, the Great Britain, propelled by the screw, left Liverpool for New York, and made the voyage in fourteen days. The screw is now invariably adopted in all long ocean voyages.
It is curious to look back, and observe the small beginnings of maritime navigation. As regards this country, though its institutions are old, modern England is still young. As respects its mechanical and scientific achievements, it is the youngest of all countries. Watt's steam engine was the beginning of our manufacturing supremacy ”

“ The four vessels sailed homeward, taking possession of the island of St. Helena on their way back; having been absent exactly thirty-one months. The profits of the first voyage proved to be about one hundred per cent. Such was the origin of the great East India Company — now expanded into an empire, and containing about two hundred millions of people.
To return to the shipping and the mercantile marine of the time of Queen Elizabeth. The number of Royal ships was only thirteen, the rest of the navy consisting of merchant ships, which were hired and discharged when their purpose was served. ”

“ They simply took the lead in a country whose coasts were fringed with sailors. Their greatness was but the result of an excellence in seamanship which prevailed widely around them.
The age of English maritime adventure only began in the reign of Elizabeth. England had then no colonies--no foreign possessions whatever. The first of her extensive colonial possessions was established in this reign. "Ships, colonies, and commerce "began to be the national motto--not that colonies make ships and commerce, but that ships and commerce make colonies. ”

“ The Petts are said to have been connected with shipbuilding in the Thames for not less than 200 years. Fuller, in his 'Worthies of England,' says of them — "I am credibly informed that that mystery of shipwrights for some descents hath been preserved faithfully in families, of whom the Petts about Chatham are of singular regard. Good success have they with their skill, and carefully keep so precious a pearl, lest otherwise amongst many friends some foes attain unto it." ”

“ In 1593, two of the Queen's ships, accompanied by a number of merchant ships, sailed for the West Indies, under Burroughs, Frobisher, and Cross, and amongst their other captures they took the greatest of all the East India caracks, a vessel of 1600 tons, 700 men, and 36 brass cannon, laden with a magnificent cargo. She was taken to Dartmouth, and surprised all who saw her, being the largest ship that had ever been seen in England. In 1594, Captain James Lancaster set sail with three ships upon a voyage of adventure. He was joined by some Dutch and French privateers. ”

“ In 1620, Pett's friend Sir Robert Mansell was appointed General of the Fleet destined to chastise the Algerine pirates, who still continued their depredations on the shipping in the Channel, and the King thereupon commissioned Pett to build with all dispatch two pinnaces, of 120 and 80 tons respectively. "I was myself," he says, "to serve as Captain in the voyage" — being glad, no doubt, to escape from his tormentors. ”

“ Most of the inventions which are so greatly influencing, as well as advancing, the civilization of the world at the present time, have been discovered within the last hundred or hundred and fifty years. ”

“ Perhaps the most important invention, however, was that of the working steam engine, made by Watt only about a hundred years ago. The most recent application of this form of energy has been in the propulsion of ships, which has already produced so great an effect upon commerce, navigation, and the spread of population over the world. ”

“ At that time, the fleet was ordered to be got ready for the last expedition of Drake and Hawkins to the West Indies. The Defiance was sent into Woolwich dock to be sheathed; and as Joseph Pett was in charge of the job, he allowed his brother to be employed as a carpenter.
In the following year, Phineas succeeded in attracting the notice of Matthew Baker, who was commissioned to rebuild Her Majesty's Triumph. Baker employed Pett as an ordinary workman; but he had scarcely begun the job before Baker was ordered to proceed with the building of a great new ship at Deptford, called the Repulse. ”

“ Most of them were suited for defence, to prevent the attacks of pirates, which swarmed the seas round the coast at that time. Shipbuilding by the natives in private shipyards was in a miserable condition. Mr. Willet, in his memoir relative to the navy, observes: "It is said, and I believe with truth, that at this time (the middle of the sixteenth century) there was not a private builder between London Bridge and Gravesend, who could lay down a ship in the mould left from a Navy Board's draught, without applying to a tinker who lived in Knave's Acre." ”

“ Keutzner, the German, who wrote in Elizabeth's reign, said, "The English are good sailors and famous pirates (sunt boni nautae et insignis pyratae) ." Roberts, in his Social History of the Southern Counties (p. 93) , observes, "Elizabeth had employed many English as privateers against the Spaniard. After the war, many were loth to lead an inactive life. They had their commissions revoked, and were proclaimed pirates. The public looked upon them as gallant fellows; the merchants gave them underhand support ”

“ Henry invited from abroad, especially from Italy, where the art of shipbuilding had made the greatest progress, as many skilful artists and workmen as he could procure, either by the hope of gain, or the high honours and distinguished countenance which he paid them. "By incorporating," says Charnock, "these useful persons among his own subjects, he soon formed a corps sufficient to rival those states which had rendered themselves most distinguished by their knowledge in this art ”

“ They had long been known upon the Thames, and had held posts in the Royal Dockyards since the reign of Henry VII. They were gallant sailors, too; one of them, as already mentioned, having made an adventurous voyage to the Arctic Ocean in his little bark, the George, of only 40 tons burthen. Phineas Pett was the first of the great ship-builders. His father, Peter Pett, was one of the Queen's master shipwrights. Besides being a ship-builder, he was also a poet, being the author of a poetical piece entitled, "Time's Journey to seek his daughter Truth," [16] a very respectable performance. ”

“ He was not, however, discouraged by his first misfortune, but having assembled about him a number of seamen who believed in him, he made other adventures to the West Indies, and learnt the navigation of that part of the ocean. In 1570, he obtained a regular commission from Queen Elizabeth, though he sailed his own ships, and made his own ventures. Every Englishman, who had the means, was at liberty to fit out his own ships ”

“ The principal armed merchant ships were provided by London, Southampton, Bristol, and the other southern ports. Drake was followed by some privateers; Hawkins had four or five ships, and Howard of Effingham two. The fleet was, however, very badly found in provisions and ammunition. There was only a week's provisions on board, and scarcely enough ammunition for one day's hard fighting. But the ships, small though they were, were in good condition. They could sail, whether in pursuit or in flight, for the men who navigated them were thorough sailors. ”

“ On the one side was the most powerful naval armament that had ever put to sea. It consisted of six squadrons of sixty fine large ships, the smallest being of 700 tons. Besides these were four gigantic galleasses, each carrying fifty guns, four large armed galleys, fifty-six armed merchant ships, and twenty caravels--in all, 149 vessels. On board were 8000 sailors, 20,000 soldiers, and a large number of galley-slaves. The ships carried provisions enough for six months' consumption; and the supply of ammunition was enormous.
On the other side was the small English fleet under Hawkins and Drake. ”

“ After revisiting Corunna, "according to instructions," on the homeward voyage, Pett directed his course for England, and reached Rye on the 26th of June, "amidst much rain, thunder, and lightning." In the course of the same year, his brother Joseph died, and Phineas succeeded to his post as master shipbuilder at Chatham. He was permitted, in conjunction with one Henry Farvey and three others, to receive the usual reward of 5s. per ton for building five new merchant ships, [21] most probably for East Indian commerce, now assuming large dimensions. ”

“ He set out from Plymouth in three small vessels on the 21st July, 1586. One vessel was of 120 tons, the second of 60 tons, and the third of 40 tons--not much bigger than a Thames yacht. The united crews, of officers, men, and boys, did not exceed 123! Cavendish sailed along the South American continent, and made through the Straits of Magellan, reaching the Pacific Ocean. He burnt and plundered the Spanish settlements along the coast, captured some Spanish ships, and took by boarding the galleon St. Anna, with 122,000 Spanish dollars on board. ”