Henry V:—The Royal Ships.
Under Henry’s rule the crown navy was increased till in magnitude it exceeded the naval power of any previous reign; the character of the vessels, bought or built, shows that they were provided for seagoing purposes rather than the mere escort or transport of troops which had been the object of preceding kings, and which object would have been equally well served by the hired merchantmen that had contented them. The king himself hired at various times many foreign vessels, but purely for transport purposes.
The following, compiled from the accounts of Catton and Soper, successively keepers of the ships, is a more complete list of Henry’s navy than has yet been printed:—[20]
| SHIPS | Built | Prize | Tons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jesus of the Tower | 1000 | ||
| Holigost of the Tower | 1414 | 760 | |
| Trinity Royal of the Tower | 1416 | 540 | |
| Grace Dieu of the Tower | 1418 | 400 | |
| Thomas of the Tower[21] | 1420 | 180 | |
| Grande Marie of the Tower | 1416 | 420 | |
| Little Marie of the Tower | 140 | ||
| Katrine of the Tower | |||
| Christopher Spayne of the Tower | 1417 | 600 | |
| Marie Spayne of the Tower | 1417 | ||
| Holigost Spayne of the Tower | 1417 | 290 | |
| Philip of the Tower | |||
| Little Trinity of the Tower | 120 | ||
| Great Gabriel of the Tower | |||
| Cog John of the Tower | |||
| Red Cog of the Tower | |||
| Margaret of the Tower | |||
| CARRACKS | Built | Prize | Tons |
| Marie Hampton | 1416 | 500 | |
| Marie Sandwich | 1416 | 550 | |
| George of the Tower | 1416 | 600 | |
| Agase of the Tower | 1416 | ||
| Peter of the Tower | 1417 | ||
| Paul of the Tower | 1417 | ||
| Andrew of the Tower | 1417 | ||
| BARGES | Built | Prize | Tons |
| Valentine of the Tower | 1418 | 100 | |
| Marie Bretton of the Tower | |||
| BALINGERS | Built | Prize | Tons |
| Katrine Breton of the Tower | 1416 | ||
| James of the Tower | 1417 | ||
| Ane of the Tower | 1417 | 120 | |
| Swan of the Tower | 1417 | 20 | |
| Nicholas of the Tower | 1418 | 120 | |
| George of the Tower | 120 | ||
| Gabriel of the Tower | |||
| Gabriel de Harfleur of the Tower | |||
| Little John of the Tower | |||
| Fawcon of the Tower | 80 | ||
| Roos | 30 | ||
| Cracchere of the Tower | 56 |
It will be noticed that there is no galley in this list; one is referred to in the accounts, but had apparently ceased to exist, her fittings being used for other ships. Oars occur among the equipments, but probably in most cases, for the ‘great boat’ which with a ‘cokk’ was attached to each vessel. Few cannon were carried—if the schedules represent the full armament—the Holigost six, the Thomas four, the George and Grace Dieu three each, the Katrine and Andrew two. The inventories of stores at this date show very little difference from the preceding century in the character of tackle and gear, nor is there any great alteration for some two centuries from 1350. English vessels were, on an average, smaller at this time than either Italian, Spanish, or German. The tomb of Simon of Utrecht, a Hansa admiral who died in 1437, has a sculpture of a three-masted vessel; if any of Henry’s were three-masted they were certainly the first of that class in our service. The statement of Stow, however, that the vessels captured in 1417 ‘were of marvellous greatnesse, yea, greater than ever were seen in those parts before that time,’ is, if patriotic, as absurdly incorrect as some other of his naval information. The payments for hired ships show that vessels of 400 and 450 tons, belonging to Dantzic and other ports, were taken up for the transport of troops and, putting aside the tonnage of some of the English ships, there is no reason to suppose that the North German traders were the largest of their kind. The prizes of 1416 were Spanish and Genoese carracks in French pay, captured by the Duke of Bedford in the action of 15th August off the mouth of the Seine;[22] those of 1417 by the Earl of Huntingdon in that of 25th July.
The tonnage of the English built ships shows that there was now a well marked tendency to increase in size, probably due to Henry’s initiative. The usual measurement, in the fifteenth century, of a barge was about sixty or eighty tons, and of a balinger[23] about forty. But a man-of-war balinger might be much larger as in the Nicholas of the Tower, the George, and the Ane. There is very little information as to the conditions under which Henry’s ships were built. The Trinity Royal, Grace Dieu, Holigost and Gabriel were certainly constructed at Southampton, the two last named under the supervision of William Soper, then merely a merchant of the town, who remained many years unpaid the money advanced by him for that purpose; in April 1417 he was given an annuity of twenty marks a year, doubtless by way of reward.[24] The Thomas of the Tower was rebuilt at Deptford in 1420; the Jesus, and the Gabriel Harfleur were rebuilt at Smalhithe, in Kent, but in years unknown. The hulls of several of the ships were sold or given away before the end of the reign.
At one time the king seems to have commenced building abroad. There is a letter of 25th April 1419 from John Alcetre, his agent at Bayonne, describing the slow progress of the work upon a ship there and the sharp practices of the mayor and his associates who appear to have undertaken the contract. Alcetre anticipated that four or five years would elapse before its completion, and it is quite certain that it was never included in the English navy. The most noteworthy points in the details given, are the lengths over all and of the keel—respectively 186 and 112 feet—so that the fore and aft rakes, together, were 74 feet, just about two-thirds of the keel length.
Henry V:—The Grace Dieu.
The only one of Henry’s ships of which the name is still remembered is the Grace Dieu, and she was, if not the largest, probably the best equipped ship yet built in England. She was not constructed under the superintendence of either Catton, the official head of the administration, or of Soper, and with two balingers, the Fawcon and the Valentine, and some other work cost £4917, 15s 3½d.[25] Besides other wood 2591 oaks and 1195 beeches were used among the three vessels and for the various details mentioned, and it is to be remarked that, although the Grace Dieu must have represented the latest improvements, she, like the others, appears to have had only one ‘great mast’ and one ‘mesan,’[26] but two bowsprits. These carried no sails and were probably more of the nature of ‘bumpkins’ than spars. She was supplied with six sails and eleven bonnets, but their position when in use is not described, and some of them were perhaps spare ones. The order to commence her was placed in Robert Berd’s hands in December 1416, when Catton was still keeper and Soper was engaged in naval administration. It would appear to be entirely subversive of discipline and responsibility to distribute the control among three men, each of whom possessed sufficient position and independence to ensure friction, and we can only guess that the motive was pecuniary.
The Administration.