With the exception of the very high forecastle, an extra range of cabins on her poop, and her extraordinary rig, she does not materially differ from the wooden line-of-battle ships of much later times. All accounts agree in describing the Harry Grace à Dieu as the largest English man-of-war up to the period of her construction; but Henry VIII. had also previously built a vessel called the Regent, of one thousand tons, to carry a crew of eight hundred men, a ship, however, surpassed by a French one, the Cordilier, which carried one thousand one hundred men. The Harry Grace à Dieu was destroyed by fire when lying at Woolwich on the 27th of August, 1563.
HARRY GRACE A DIEU.—FROM PEPYSIAN LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE.
Number and strength of the fleet at the death of Henry VIII., 28 Jan., 1547.
On the death of Henry VIII. an account was taken of everything appertaining to the navy of England, and in the ‘Archæologia’ will be found the names of all the royal “shippes, galleys, pynnasses, and row-barges, with their tonnage, number of soldiers, mariners, and gunners.”[102] In this official inventory, taken by a commission specially appointed for the purpose, the Great Harry appears at the head of the list, and is there recorded as being of one thousand tons; if, however, the calculation had been made on the mode of admeasurement usual in England up to the middle of the present century, and known as the old measurement (O.M.), her capacity must have been considerably greater. Besides this great ship, twelve others of the royal navy are mentioned of from one hundred and forty to seven hundred and fifty tons, fourteen galleys of from sixty to four hundred and fifty tons, five pynnasses of from fifteen to eighty-five tons, and eleven row-barges, each of twenty tons, stationed at Portsmouth. In the arsenal at Deptford Stronde there were six vessels, the largest being four hundred and fifty tons, while four other vessels of from twenty to four hundred tons were stationed in Scotland. The crews of these vessels when fully manned consisted of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five soldiers, seven hundred and fifty-seven gunners, and five thousand one hundred and thirty-six seamen. According to a return printed by the navy-office in 1791, the gross measurement of the fleets belonging to the Crown at the death of Henry VIII. amounted to twelve thousand four hundred and fifty-five tons, which shows that the average size of the vessels then belonging to the royal navy, including the Great Harry, was under two hundred and forty tons each. On the [following page] will be found an illustration of one of the galliases, called the Galley Subtille, selected from among the fourteen or fifteen curious contemporary water-colour drawings by Anthony Anthony of Henry VIII.’s vessels, preserved in the MSS. department of the British Museum.
THE GALLEY “SUBTILLE.”—FROM THE ROLL OF THE KING’S GALLIASES, 1546.
The Great Michael.
But the Scottish people previous to this time, jealous of the honour of their independent action in the matter of ship-building, constructed under James IV. a vessel of even larger dimensions than the Great Harry of England. Lindsay of Pitscottie gives a circumstantial description of her, received from Sir Andrew Wood of Largs, the quartermaster, and from Robert Bartyne her master-skipper.[103] “In 1512,” he says, “the King of Scotland, King James IV., rigged a great ship called the Great Michael, which was the greatest ship and of the most strength that ever sailed in England or France; for this ship was of so great stature, and took so much timber, that, except Falkland, she wasted all the woods of Fife, which was oak wood, besides all timber that was gotten out of Norway; for she was so strong, and of so great length and breadth, to wit, she was twelve score (240) feet of length and thirty-six feet by two within her sides. All the wrights of Scotland, and many other strangers, were at her device, by the king’s commandment, who wrought very busily upon her; but it was a year and a day ere she was complete. This great ship cumbered Scotland to get her to the sea. From the time that she was afloat, and her masts and sails complete, with ropes and ancores effiering thereto, she was counted to the king to be thirty thousand pounds of expences, besides her artillery, which was very costly to the king, and besides all the rest of her furniture.[104] She had three hundred mariners to sail her; she had six score gunners to use her artillery, and had a thousand men of war, besides her captains, skippers, and quartermasters.” The historian says further, “if any man believe that this description of the ship is not of verity as we have written, let him pass to the gate of Tillibarden, and there before the same ye will see the length and breadth of the Great Michael planted with hawthorn by the wright that helped to make her.” This circumstantial account shows that she was deemed a marvellous effort of naval architecture. “This schip lay still in the road, and the king tuik great plesour everie day to cum down and sie huir, and would dyne and sup in her sundrie tymes, and be showing his Lordes his ordour and munitioun.”[105]
Trade monopolies.