THE BRITISH MERCHANT SERVICE BEING A HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MERCANTILE MARINE From the Earliest Times to the Present Day BY R. J. CORNEWALL-JONES WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY LIMITED St. Dunstan's House FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E. C. Tranepert PREFACE In the preparation of this work I have to acknowledge the extreme courtesy that I have received from, and the much valuable information that has been supplied by, among others, the Secretary of the Trinity House, the Secretary of Lloyd's, the Secretary of Lloyd's Register, the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Liverpool, and the officials of the Board of Trade; as also the great steamship companies, particularly the P. and O., the Cunard Line, the Orient Company, the Union Company, the Castle Line, the White Star, the Royal Mail, and the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, to whom this work is indebted for the views of their several ships. LONDON, 1898. R. J. CORNEWALL-JONES. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Early history of British shipping-The boats of the Britons-The ships of the Veneti-Invasion of Cæsar, B.C. 55-Shipping during the Roman occupation-The Saxon vessels-The ships of the DanesAncient Danish ship recently discovered in Denmark-The ships of Alfred the Great-Naval action between the British and Danish ships in 897-Shipping under Ethelred-The Port of London in Ethelred's reign-Shipping under the Normans-The fleet of the Conqueror The Cinque Ports-Ships furnished by the Cinque Ports-The Crusades-The fleet of Richard I.-The fleet in the Mediterranean-The Shipping Code of Richard I.-Nautical punishments . PAGE . 1 CHAPTER II. British shipping under the Plantagenets-The action off Sandwich in 1217-Pirates in the Channel-Letters of Marque-The great fleet of Edward III., 1340-List of the ships-The coal trade of the north-Shipping under Richard II.-Navigation Act-Defence of the country by merchant ships, 1406-Maritime affairs under Henry V. The fleet for the invasion of France-Important change in the Mercantile Marine during the reign of Richard III. CHAPTER III. Shipping in the fifteenth century-Maritime discoveries-Bartholomew 17 |