They continue,
‘For strengthening the ship we subscribe to the new manner of building—1st, making three orlops, whereof the lowest being placed two feet under water, strengtheneth the ship though her sides be shot through; 2nd, to carry this orlop end to end; 3rd, the second or main deck to be sufficiently high to work guns in all weathers.’
From this it is evident that the orlop deck as built in the Merhonour, Garland, and Defiance of 1589 did not run the whole length of the ship, and that if the ‘new manner’ is to be accepted literally, even the Prince Royal was not a two-decker. Cooking galleys were to be placed in the forecastle, as the weights carried at each end with a comparatively empty midship section caused ‘hogging,’ besides wasting valuable stowage space and producing other inconveniences. Wynter had recommended this forty years before, but the new regulation remained inoperative for some time longer. The lower ports were now to be at least four and a half feet above the water line. Most of the Commissioners’ ships were built with three decks, but with smaller and lower superstructures on the upper deck than had been previously customary. Bad as they were they seem to have been steadier than their predecessors.
An undated State Paper, calendared under 1627, but which from its arguments in favour of a third deck—a question finally closed long before 1627—more probably belongs to this period, gives us some particulars of the internal arrangements of a man-of-war. The lowest deck was to carry the bread and other store-rooms, the cables and officers’ cabins, besides a certain number of the crew who were also to be berthed upon it. The second deck was to be laid five and a half or six feet above this, and in a ship like the Lion was to be pierced for nine ports a side, and four chase-ports fore and aft. The ports were to be at least two feet three inches square, ‘and that there be built between every two ports hanging cabins to fold up to the decks for the lodging of men.’ Otherwise this deck was to be kept clear instead of being hampered by the cables stowed upon it in two-decked ships. Readers desirous of technical details relating to the position and dimensions of floor, timbers, riders, butts, carlings, clamps, foot and chain waling, standing and running rigging, etc., will find much exact information in the State Papers of the next reign dealing with the surveys taken of most of the new and old ships in 1626 and 1627.
The Commissioners ordered that the Elizabeth and Triumph should be sold; £600 is entered in the accounts as received for their hulls in 1618, although as late as 1615, £537 had been spent in repairing them. The Mercury had been sold in Ireland in 1611, the Foresight condemned in 1604, the Quittance and Tremontana were to be broken up, and the hulls of the Garland and Mary Rose were to be used for a wharf in conjunction with a proposed new dock at Chatham. The Bonaventure, Charles, and Advantage had long ceased to exist, and the St Andrew and St Matthew had been given to Sir John Leigh in 1604 as being then no longer servicable. The Victory is said to have been rebuilt into the Prince Royal, but the connection is not altogether clear. In one paper[914] of 1610, there is a distinct, and apparently conclusive statement, occurring twice over, ‘The Victory now named the Prince Royal.’ On the other hand Cotton, in his report of 1608,[915] writes, in discussing the waste and embezzlement of material,
‘Thus did the Victory for the transportation, dockinge, and breaking uppe stand the King in fower or five hundred poundes and yet noe one parte of her serviceable to any use about the buildinge of a new as was pretended for a coulour. To conclude, though we set her at the rate of 200ˡⁱ yet it had been better absolutely for the King to have given her away to the poor than to have bin put to the charge of bringing her from Chattam to Wollich noe other use having bin made of her than to furnish Phinees Pette (that was the only author of her preservation) with fewell for the dyette of those carpenters which he victualled.’
This also appears conclusive. A possible explanation lies in the fact that, the Victory having ceased to exist, the Prince Royal may have been laid down in that name, and afterwards changed to the later appellation.
The four galleys were a source of constant expense, one or the other being in continual need of repair, rebuilding, or shed protection from the weather. They were never used, and in 1629, having ‘been long laid aside as useless vessels’ were ordered to be sold. The new Antelope and Rainbow of 1618 were not claimed by the Commissioners as among the vessels of which they should have the credit although they were both completed after their entry into office. The Happy Entrance and Constant Reformation were launched in the presence of the King at Deptford, and were named by him with intent to commemorate Buckingham’s accession to his post and the good effects to be expected from it. In 1624 no new vessels were built and the last Navy list of James I is as follows:—[916]
| First rank | Second rank | Third rank | Fourth rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prince | Repulse | Dreadnought | Phœnix |
| Bear | Warspite | Antelope | Seven Stars |
| Merhonour | Victory | Speedwell | Charles |
| Anne Royal | Assurance | Adventure | Desire |
| Nonsuch | Convertine | ||
| Defiance | Happy Entrance | ||
| Lion | Bonaventure | ||
| Vanguard | Garland | ||
| Rainbow | Mary Rose | ||
| Constant Reformation | |||
| Swiftsure | |||
| St George | |||
| St Andrew | |||
| Triumph |