Britain: its maritime position, and limited extent of over-sea trade—The vessels of the Ancient Britons, and the larger kind used by the Veneti—Encouragement by law to construct superior vessels—Britain and its inhabitants little known—Cæsar’s reasons for invading Britain—First invasion, B.C. 55—Size of his transports—Second invasion, B.C. 54—Cæsar’s preference for small vessels—Violent storm, and great loss of ships—Final action on the banks of the Thames—Cæsar makes terms with the Britons, and re-embarks his legions—Advantages derived by the Britons from their intercourse with the Romans—Conquest of Britain, A.D. 43: its state of civilization—Speech of Caractacus—The course of commerce with Rome—Inland water traffic—Transit duties—Articles of commerce, and knowledge of manufactures and of the arts—Colchester and its mint—London—Agricola, A.D. 78-85—His fleet sails round Britain—The influence of the rule of Agricola on the Britons—Hadrian, A.D. 120—State of commerce in and after his reign—The Caledonian incursions—Piratical invasions of the Germans—Carausius seizes the fleet of Maximian, and declares himself Emperor of Britain—Welsh and Scots, A.D. 360—Saxons, A.D. 364—Their ships—State of the Britons when abandoned by the Romans.
Britain:
The successful career which has distinguished the Royal Navy of Great Britain in her contests for many centuries on the ocean, and the vast proportions to which her merchant shipping has extended during the present generation, render the details of her incipient attempts at navigation one of the most interesting portions of her domestic history. Nor is the task to obtain these a difficult one. The early annals of the ancient Britons, though very limited with regard to their shipping and maritime commerce, have been so often thoroughly investigated that little remains to be done beyond collecting the leading facts which antiquarian industry has preserved, and endeavouring to re-produce them in a manner as pleasing and instructive as possible.
its maritime position, and limited extent of over-sea trade.
The vessels of the ancient Britons, and the larger kind used by the Veneti.
Separated from the rest of Europe by a sea, which in winter is very boisterous, and in summer often disturbed by currents and uncertain winds; surrounded by a coast full of danger, and with the channels to its principal havens interspersed with treacherous sand-banks, the ancient Britons must have been an adventurous race to launch their frail barks, for even a limited voyage, on waters so often disturbed by storm and tempest. Their trade, moreover, during the early periods of their history, was very inconsiderable, notwithstanding the convenient situation of their island for carrying on an extensive commerce; and the greater number of their vessels were of the rudest description. Cæsar speaks of them as being, even in his time, of the slightest construction, with the keels and ribs framed of some light wood and covered with leather; and Lucan[406] says “they were constructed of osiers, twisted and interwoven with each other, and then covered with strong hides.” In such vessels as these the Britons worked their way along their iron-bound and tempest-tossed shores, and frequently made the passage to Ireland and the coasts of Gaul. From the fact, however, that they carried on a trade, though limited, in their own vessels with the Veneti on the coasts of Brittany, sometimes extending their voyages to the river Garonne, it is a fair inference that they possessed other vessels of a larger and stronger description, and that they had learnt something of ship-building from the Veneti, and, possibly, from the Phœnicians. But if it were true, as has been asserted by more than one author, that when the Britons undertook a voyage they abstained from food till it was completed, these voyages must have been very short, indeed, not longer than to Gaul or Ireland.
Encouragement by law to construct superior vessels.
As has been already noticed, some almost circular boats, made of wicker-work, are still in use in Wales, and may fairly be supposed to represent a similar class of boats of much earlier times. On the other hand, we know pretty well, from Cæsar’s description, the character of the larger and stronger vessels of the Veneti.[407] Thus from him we learn that they were built flatter than the Roman merchant ships, for convenience in navigating shallow waters, and that having erect stems and full bows, they were well adapted to resist the violence of the waves in a storm; while he further admits that, as they were constructed entirely of oak, they were not easily damaged by the sharp iron beaks of the Roman galleys. Such vessels could hardly have failed to attract the attention of the Britons, with whom the Veneti long maintained friendly and commercial intercourse, while it is very probable that, from them, the Britons learnt the art of constructing ships of war. But though it is likely that their intercourse with the Veneti may have had some advantages, it is, at the same time, probable that there was no marked improvement in the form and construction of the greater number of British merchant vessels till the Emperor Claudius bestowed by law various privileges upon those persons who built vessels of a superior class for trading purposes.[408] As these privileges, however, only applied to ships capable of carrying ten thousand Roman modii, or about three hundred and twelve quarters of wheat, it is further evident that the framer of the law was desirous of encouraging the building of a larger and better class of vessels than then existed. But though a vessel capable of carrying only about sixty tons weight is much less than the average size of the coasters of the present century, little or no increase had apparently been made in their dimensions even three hundred years afterwards; for the trade in corn alone between Britain and the ports of Gaul required for its conduct, in the reign of Julian, eight hundred vessels.
Britain and its inhabitants little known.
Although Britain had been for so many centuries more or less known to the Phœnicians, the Carthaginians, and the neighbouring continental tribes, it continued up to the time of the invasion of Julius Cæsar, B.C., to be a terra incognita to the rest of the ancient world; the preservation of such ignorance having been no doubt a matter of state policy with those who had some acquaintance with it, in order that the monopoly of their trade might not be interfered with by any interlopers. Hence, too, the stories sedulously spread of the barbarous character of its inhabitants, of the naked bodies painted with colours in imitation of beasts of prey, though Cæsar himself only says that “they stained themselves blue with woad, and wore their hair long, with moustachios.”