In those times no clear distinction existed between war-ships and merchant-ships. All were prepared to defend themselves when need arose; and any might be used, either to carry fighting-men, or to convey merchandise.
Not until the reign of Edward I. did a difference grow up, separating those vessels which as a rule kept to more peaceful occupations, merely fighting in self-defence when attacked,—and those vessels which devoted themselves to aggressive warfare. From that date, gradually, the Royal Navy grew into being.
Even in the time of Queen Elizabeth the separating line was not very marked.
There was a Royal Navy, which took its share in repelling the Spanish invasion; and the whole of that Navy in tonnage was far from equalling one huge ship of modern days, the Celtic, White Star Liner.
Of the hundred and ninety-seven vessels, however, which met the vast array of the Armada, only thirty-four were in any sense strictly Men-of-War; and of those thirty-four one alone was over a thousand tons in weight. The remaining hundred and sixty-three were Merchant-ships, fitted up as best they might be for warlike purposes; most of them being under four hundred tons.
But no mistake existed about the way in which these pigmies set to work, like bulldogs, to worry the great Spanish ships.
Century after century the Navy grew, adding in each generation to its size and strength. English sailors found their way hither and thither, in the interests of their country, for war, for exploration, for purposes of trade, discovering unknown lands, penetrating towards the North Pole, mapping out the Ocean.
Other Nations took their part in these explorations, and the honour of finding a New World did not rest with our ancestors. But in more recent days the Lion’s share of research has undoubtedly fallen to the British; and the coast-lines of the world have been surveyed and mapped out chiefly by ships of the British Royal Navy.
Up to the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, all vessels, small or large, moved by means of the wind or by oars.
Then began a change of immense importance, due to the use of steam for carrying ships across the sea, not only with but in the teeth of the wind.