together as thick as hailstones," according to the statement of Captain Edward Ichyngham. These volleys were answered by sharp firing from the boats, until Lord Ferrers, who had command of one of the two parties, had no more ammunition left. For shelter he crept under one of the great galleys, while Howard led his boat close up to the side of Prester John's vessel, and, with seventeen of his followers, succeeded in boarding it. Then ensued a desperate conflict. The English were in a fair way of capturing the galley, when the cable with which they had fastened their boat to it was severed. Those near enough jumped off and saved themselves. Sir Edward Howard, who, with the rest, was in another part of the ship, shouted, "Come aboard again! come aboard again!" But his comrades had no other cable or grappling-iron, and drifted away perforce. Then Howard took his admiral's whistle from his neck and flung it into the sea. The Frenchmen pressed round him, forced him with their morris pikes against the rails of the galley, and, when he was dead, he fell into the water to be seen no more. Presently, Sir Henry Shirborne and Sir William Sidney, with some others of Lord Ferrers' party, forced their way up the sides of the galley, hoping to rescue their master; but they could not find him. A mariner who had started in the first attack, and who stood faithfully by Howard to the last, managed to swim to one of the boats, in spite of eighteen wounds. It was from him and from a Spanish boy, who had watched the proceedings from a boat's side, that the English heard of their great mis

1513.]

Sir Edward Howard's Last Fight.

69

fortune. "Jesu, have mercy!" wrote one of them, not very friendly hitherto towards Howard, to Cardinal Wolsey; "for now we be bodies without a head." "There was never noble man so ill lost as he was,' said another of Wolsey's correspondents, uttering the sentiments of nearly all his comrades, "that was of so great courage and had so many virtues, and that ruled so great an army so well as he did, and kept so great order and true justice." Even James IV. of Scotland, though at war with Henry, wrote in condolence to him. "Surely, dearest brother," he said, "we think more loss is to you of the late Admiral, who deceased to his great honour, than the advantage might have been in winning all the French galleys."*

Henry was well aware of the extent of his loss; but he was not disposed to give up hope of capturing all the French galleys. Without delay he appointed Lord Thomas Howard to succeed his younger brother as Admiral of England, and bade him lose no time in avenging the brave man's death.† This, however, was more than Lord Thomas Howard could do. The sailors were so depressed by the misfortune, so badly off for food, and so troubled with sickness, that the fleet had returned to Plymouth before the new Admiral had received his patent; and before fresh supplies of men and victuals could be procured, the Frenchmen had moved out of Brest Harbour. Six weeks were wasted in

* Cottonian MSS., Caligula E. i., p. 11, and D. vi., p. 107; ELLIS, First Series, vol. i., p. 76; HALL, fol. 23; HOLLINSHED, vol. iii., p. 574. † BREWER, vol i., p. 557; GRAFTON, p. 962.

making good the deficiencies. Bishop Fox wrote to Wolsey, saying that the pursers of the ships deserved hanging for their negligence. Wolsey wrote to Howard, saying that the stores he had ordered for the fleet had been kept back "by some lewd persons that would not have the King's navy continue any longer on the sea. The "lewd persons" attained their object. The English fleet did little more that summer or for some years after. Henry crossed over to Calais to take command of the land forces with which alone the war with France was carried on, while Lord Thomas Howard followed his father to Scotland, there to take part in the victory at Flodden Field. The father, having been made Duke of Norfolk for his conduct of that business, the son succeeded him as Earl of Surrey, and, as Earl of Surrey, during the time of peace with France, he was Lord Deputy of Ireland.

In these years, however, ship-building and the improvement of the navy were not forgotten. The trivial events of 1513 had shown that if the English were stronger than the French at sea, they were still very weak indeed. Therefore Henry VIII. and Wolsey continued their efforts in the direction of naval reform. They devised better ways of enlisting sailors and training them for zealous service. They sought out the best ways of fitting out ships for war, and paid great attention to the manufacture of guns and other fighting implements. They improved the old ships, and fashioned

* BREWER, Vol. i., pp. 585, 590.

1513-1514.J

The Building of the Great Harry.'

6

71

new ones upon the best models that could at that time

be procured.

*

The building, between 1512 and 1514, of the Henry Grace à Dieu or Great Harry, namesake and successor of Henry VII.'s great ship, marks an epoch in the history of naval architecture. It was begun on the 3rd of October, 1512, and during the next twenty months, a hundred and forty-one of the cleverest shipwrights that could be procured were busy at its construction. Their wages amounted to 2,3787. 2s. 10d., besides the cost of their clothing, bedding, and food, and the expense of other occasional labour. They made use of 1,752 tons of timber, which cost 4377. 17s. 73d.; 4087. 19s. 7ad.'s worth of iron wrought and unwrought; 2437. 6s. 31d.'s worth of brass, and 1337. 12s. 6d.'s worth of coal. The expense of cordage amounted to 9697. 2s. 11d.; in oxhair, lime, and rosin, were expended 1007. 13s. 10d.; in blocks and pulleys, 637. 10s. 9d. The entire cost of building, including three small galleys to attend on the great ship, amounted to 7,7087. 5s. 3d. The burthen of the great ship herself was 1,500 tons, so that she was half as large again as the largest vessel hitherto known in the English navy. She was arranged in seven tiers, one above another, and, as the Emperor Maximilian's ambassador reported, had "an incredible array of guns,

* They consumed 7,498 dozen loaves of bread, worth 3701. 78. 8d.; 1,543 pipes of beer, 526l. 198. 11d.; 557 beeves, 7067. 178. 9d.; 205 score of sheep, 321. 58. 8d.; 4,522 codfish, 871. 28. 10d.; a goodly quantity of other flesh and fish, with a number of other articles, including only 7 barrels of butter, worth 41. 6s., and 30 weys of cheese, worth 197. 48.; the cost of the whole being 1,9697. 188. 2d.

with a scuttle on the top of the mainmast, eighty serpentines and hackbuts." Four hundred men were at work four days in dragging her from the building yard at Erith to Barking Creek.*

On the 13th of June, 1514, the King, with a stately company, including the Queen, the Princess Mary, the foreign ambassadors, several bishops, and a large number of noblemen, went down to christen this famous ship.

On the 25th of October, 1515, King Henry was again at Greenwich, christening another great vessel. "Those who were in the galley, dining with the King of England," wrote the French envoy to his sovereign, "have told me for certain that there are in the said galley two hundred and seven pieces of artillery, large as well as small, of which seventy are of copper and cast, and the rest of iron, with four or five thousand bullets and four or five hundred barrels of powder. The galley is propelled by six score oars, and is so large that it will hold eight hundred or a thousand fighting men. The King of England acted as master of the galley, wearing a sailor's coat and trousers of frieze cloth of gold. He had on a thick chain, in which were five links, and amongst the same there were three plates of gold, on which was written as a device, 'Dieu et mon droit;' and at the bottom of the said chain was a large whistle, with which he whistled almost as loud as a trumpet or clarionet. Mass was sung on board by the Bishop of Durham, and the galley was named by Queen Mary The Virgin Mary."

*

· BREWER, vol. i., pp. 828, 839; CHARNOCK, vol. ii., p. 28.