CHAP. I.] Crusaders on the Sea. 15 end; and, with the exception of preparations made by Henry I., soon after his accession in 1101, against Duke Robert, which came to nothing, there was not much other thought of sea-fighting for many years. Henry II. did a little for the extension of the English navy. Threatened, in 1167, with an invasion by the Counts of Boulogne and Flanders, supported by a fleet of six hundred vessels, he caused a sufficient force to be collected for defence of the coast, and took other measures for maintaining the honour of England: and in 1171 he went to complete the conquest of Ireland with four hundred large ships. These and some minor occupations make up the sum of our naval history till near the close of the twelfth century. A period of more important work was inaugurated by Richard I. Of this his crusading zeal was the immediate cause. In April, 1190, in obedience to his orders, a fleet of more than a hundred vessels quitted Dartmouth for the Holy Land, a longer and more perilous voyage than appears ever before to have been undertaken by Englishmen; and the story of its progress gives interesting evidence of the character and capabilities of English shipping in those days. Four months, including the time necessary to repair the damage caused by a violent storm in the Bay of Biscay, were spent in sailing to Marseilles, and another month was required for the voyage to Messina, where King Philip of France awaited the coming of his brother crusader, Richard of England. "As soon as the people heard of his arrival," says an eye-witness, "they rushed in crowds to the shore. In the distance they beheld the sea covered with countless galleys, and the noise of trumpets from afar, with the sharper and shriller clarion blasts, resounded in their ears. Then they saw the galleys rowing in order nearer to the land, adorned and furnished with all manner of arms, numberless pennons and ensigns floating in the wind, and the beaks of the vessels ornamented with various devices, while glittering shields were ranged along the prows. The sea boiled, as it were, with the multitude of the rowers, and the roar of their trumpets was deafening. Great indeed was the joy of the spectators when their own magnificent King, attended by a crowd of mariners, appeared on a prow more beautiful and higher than the others, and, landing, showed himself, elegantly adorned, to the multitude on the shore."* At Messina, Richard, in company with Philip, halted for the winter, the time being considered unseasonable for further voyaging, and also being needed for retrieving the losses incident to the five months' tedious passage from Dartmouth. In the interval, moreover, a smaller fleet arrived from England, and other vessels were chartered in the Mediterranean, so that the whole force which put to sea in April, 1191, numbered about two hundred sail. At the end of two months, after many delays, the fleet reached Acre, there to wait for a year, while its crews followed Richard in his famous crusading enterprises on land.† * GEOFFREY DE VINSAUF, lib. ii. Richard was a year too late to join in the most important naval work of this crusade; but as one of its engagements, occurring in the CHAP. I.] Crusaders on the Sea. 17 The only important crusading enterprise by sea occurred just before the arrival at Acre; and. then spring of 1190, affords the best illustration of the sea-fights of the period, Geoffrey de Vinsauf's graphic account of it is here repeated:"The people of Acre ill brooked their loss of liberty upon the sea, and resolved to try what they could do in a naval battle. Therefore they brought out their galleys, two by two, and in orderly array rowed into the open sea. Then our men, preparing to receive them, hastened to the encounter. When they had advanced on both sides, our ships were arranged in a curved line, so that if the enemy attempted to break through, they might be enclosed and defeated. The ends of the line being drawn out in a sort of crescent, the stronger were placed in front, so that a sharper onset might be made by us, and the enemy be promptly checked. In the upper tiers, the shields interlaced were placed circularly; and the rowers sat close together, that those placed above might have freer scope. The sea, as if fated to receive the battle, became calm; and thus neither the blow of the warrior nor the stroke of the rower was impeded by the waves. Advancing nearer to each other, the trumpets sounded on both sides, and mingled their dread clangour. First they contended with missiles; but our men, seeking the aid of God, very earnestly plied their oars, and soon pierced the enemy's ships with the beaks of their own. Then the battle became general. The oars were entangled. The men fought hand to hand. They grappled the ships with alternate casts, and burnt the decks with the burning oil commonly called Greek fire. This fire, with a deadly stench and livid flames, consumes flint and iron, and, being unquenchable by water, can only be extinguished by sand or vinegar. What is more direful than a naval conflict? Where else does so various a fate involve the combatants? Either they are burnt or writhe in the flames, or they are wrecked and swallowed by the waves, or they are wounded and perish by arms! One galley there was that, through the rashness of its men, turned its side close to the enemy; and thus, ignited by the fire thrown on board, admitted the Turks, who rushed in on all parts. The rowers, seized with terror, leapt into the sea. None but a few soldiers, who, from the weight of their arms and their ignorance of swimming, were forced to remain, attempted to fight. By the Lord's help, however, the few overcame the many, and the half-burnt ship was retaken from the beaten foe. But another was boarded by the enemy, who had gained the upper deck, having driven off its defenders, and those could do nothing but try to escape by the aid of the rowers. A wonderful, truly, and a piteous struggle! The oars being plied partly by the VOL. I. Richard's large fleet had the inglorious satisfaction of conquering a single Saracen vessel. This vessel, however, if the contemporary accounts are true, was of unparalleled size and strength: "a marvellous ship, than which, except Noah's ship, none greater was ever read of." She had three tall masts, and contained a vast number of soldiers and sailors-fifteen hundred, according to one historian; three thousand, according to another going to the relief of Acre, with a large supply of wealth and ammunition; among the rest, a hundred camel-loads of arms, slings, darts, and arrows, a great quantity of Greek fire in bottles, and two hundred machines, known as serpents, for discharging flame and fire. King Richard, as soon as he came near enough to this sea-monster to discover her character, gave orders for her capture. But that was not easy. The English galleys sailed round and round the enemy, but could find no suitable point of attack, every part being most stoutly built, and carefully defended by fierce soldiers, whose darts, hurled from the high bulwarks, came with terrible effect upon the assailants down below. In vain Turks and partly by the Christians, the galley was urged hither and thither. Yet here, also, our men prevailed; and the enemy, rowing above, were thrust off by the Christians, and made to yield. In this sea-fight the adverse side lost both a galley and a galliass, with their crews; while our men, unhurt and rejoicing, obtained a glorious success. Drawing the enemy's galley to shore, they left it to be destroyed by any who passed. Then our women seized and dragged the Turks by their hair, and beheaded them, treating them with every indignity, and savagely stabbing them; and the weaker their hands, so much the more protracted were the pains of death to the vanquished, for they cut off their heads, not with swords, but with knives." CHAP. I]. Sea-Fighting under Richard I. 19 certain skilful swimmers and divers made their way to the rudder and cables, and, by tying ropes to them, sought to make the great ship unmanageable. In vain certain brave warriors scaled the sides, and attempted to get possession of the decks by hand-to-hand combat. But at last King Richard hit upon the expedient of putting some scores of his galleys in orderly array, and causing them over and over again to row dead against the vessel, with their iron beaks pointed at her wooden sides. In that way a sufficient number of leaks were sprung to sink the clumsy enemy, and the English had just time to secure the treasures and capture as many Turks as they needed to employ in making and working the strange instruments, or were likely to turn to profit by retaining as prisoners to be ransomed, before they rowed away from the turmoil of waters that was caused by her sinking.* Neither in sea-going nor in sea-fighting does Richard I.'s famous fleet appear in a very favourable light. But the English navy was then still in its infancy, and frequent work brought great increase of skill in the ensuing centuries. King John, praiseworthy for little else in English history, did good service by turning to account the enterprise occasioned by his brother's crusading zeal, itself necessarily short-lived, in establishing an efficient maritime force for fighting battles nearer home. He placed on an improved footing the old ar * GEOFFREY DE VINSAUF, lib. ii., cap. 41; RICHARD OF DEVIZES, sect. 49; ROGER OF WENDOVER (ed. 1849), vol. ii., p. 93; PETER OF LANGTOFT'S Chronicle. |