[104] Smalhithe, the town for Reding creek, was then tidal and had long been a shipbuilding port. Men-of-war were built there as late as 1545.
[105] Sir Rich. Guldeford.
[106] Chapt. House Books, vol. vii, f. 35.
[107] 60,000 marvedis = 160 ducats of account, that is ducats of 375 maravedis each. The coined ducat was of 365 marvedis or ten reals twenty-five maravedis, estimated as equivalent to forty-five reals and forty-eight maravedis now (Shaw, Hist. of Currency). The real of 1492 contained 51.23 grains of silver (Del Mar, Money and Civilisation, p. 93). A century later the Spanish or Portuguese ducat passed for 5s 6d English (Arber, An English Garner, iii, 184).
[108] Fernandez Duro, Viajes Regios por Mar, pp. 36, 63. It is doubtful however whether any of these ships belonged to the crown or, in fact, whether there was any Spanish Royal Navy, exclusive of the galley service, before the commencement of the seventeenth century.
[109] Exch. War. for Issues, 29th Nov.
[110] Exch. War. for Issues.
[111] Ibid., 19th Jan. 1496.
[112] Ibid., 7th Apr.
[113] Exch. War. for Issues, 7th Mar.