NAVY, BRITISH. Owing to the insular position of Great Britain her navy has long been considered a matter of vital importance, and is the service in which every inhab itant takes a peculiar pride. In considering the history of the British navy it is conven ient to divide the subject into materiel and personnel. The latter had no distinct organi nation till the time of Henry VIII. • but of the former, we recognize in the earliest times the germ of subsequent glories. Garausins, a Roman general, who had thrown off his dependence on the empire, maintained himself in England for several years by his fleet, with which he prevented the imperial forces from reaching the island. The Saxons brought maritime prowess with them to the British shores, but appear soon to have lost it amid the rich provinces in which they settled. Some organization for the defense of the coast was, however, maintained; and Alfred the great availed himself of it to repulse the Danes; he at the same time raised' the efficiency of his navy by increasing the size of his galleys, some being built which were capable of being rowed by thirty pair of oars. Under his successors the number of vessels increased, and both Edward and Atheist= fought many naval battles with the Danes. Edgar aspired to be lord of all the northern seas, and had from three to five thousand galleys, divided into three fleets on the western, southern, and eastern coasts respectively; but the size of most of these ships was very insignificant, and the greater part were probably mere row-boats. Ethel red II. formed a sort of naval militia, enacting that every owner of 310 hides of land should build and furnish one vessel for tue service of his country.
William the conqueror established the Cinque ports, with important privileges, in return for which they were bound to have at the service of the crown for 15 days in any emergency 52 ships carrying 24 men each. Richard I. took 100 large ships and 50 gal leys to Palestine. John claimed the sovereignty of the seas, and required all foreigners no strike to the English flag; a pretension which has been the cause of some bloody bat Iles, but which England proudly upheld in all dangers. (This honor was formally yielded by the Dutch in 1673, and the French in 1704; and, although not now exacted in its fullness, the remembrance of the right survives in requiring foreign vessels to salute first). In the same king's reign a great naval engagement with the French took place (1293) in mid-channel, when 250 French vessels were captured. The Edwards and the
Henries maintained the glory of the British flag; Edward III., in person, with the Black Prince, at the battle of Sluys, in 1340, defeated a greatly superior French fleet, with 40,000 men on board. Henry V. had " grete shippes, carrakes, barges, and ballyngers;" and at one time collected vessels enough to transport 25,000 men into Normandy. Henry VII. was the first monarch who maintained a fleet during peace; he built the Great Harry, which was the earliest war-vessel of any size, and which was burped at Woolwich in 1553.
To Henry VHF_ however. belonoS the honor of having laid the foundation of the British navy as a distinct service. Besides building several large vessels, of which the Henry Grace de Dieu, of 72 guns, 700 men, and probably about 1000 tons, was the most considerable, he constructed a permanent personnel, defining the pay of admirals, vice admirals, captains, and seamen. He also established royal dockyards at Deptford, Wool wich, and Portsmouth; and for the government of the whole service instituted an admi ralty and navy-board, the latter being the forerunner of the present Trinity hoard. When this king died he left 50 ships of various sizes manned by about 8.000 hands.
Under Edward VI. the navy fell off, but was sufficiently important in the succeeding reign for the English admiral to exact the salute to his flag from Philip II. with a larger Spanish fleet when the latter was on his way to espouse queen Mary. Elizabeth had the struggle with the Spanish armada to try her navy, and left 42 ships, of 17.000 tons in all, and 8,346 men-15 of her ships being upwaras of 600 tons. From this period the tonnage of the ships steadily increased. Under James I. and Charles I. Mr. Phineas Pett. 1.A., the first scientific naval architect, remodeled the navy, abolishing the lofty forecastles and poops, which had made earlier ships resemble Chinese junks. In 1610 he laid down the Prince.Royal, a two-decker, carrying 64 large guns; and in 1637 from Woolwich he launched the celebrated Sovereign of the Seas, the first three-deeker. and cer tainly the largest ship hitherto constructed on modern principles. She was 232 feet in length, of 1637 tons, and carried at first 130 pieces of cannon; but being found unwieldy, was cut down, and then proved an excellent ship. She was burned in 1696.