tion>David Hannay
A Short History of the Royal Navy, 1217 to 1688
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066249281
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION THE MEDIÆVAL NAVY
CHAPTER I THE NAVY OF THE TUDORS TILL THE ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH
CHAPTER II REIGN OF ELIZABETH TO THE DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA
CHAPTER III FROM THE ARMADA TO THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN
CHAPTER IV JAMES I. AND CHARLES I.
CHAPTER V THE NAVY IN THE CIVIL WAR
CHAPTER VI THE FIRST YEARS OF THE COMMONWEALTH
CHAPTER VII THE FIRST DUTCH WAR
CHAPTER VIII THE LATTER HALF OF THE WAR
CHAPTER X THE NAVY UNDER CHARLES II
CHAPTER XI THE SECOND DUTCH WAR TO THE FOUR DAYS' BATTLE
CHAPTER XII FROM THE FOUR DAYS' BATTLE TILL THE END OF THE WAR
CHAPTER XIII THE ALGERINE PIRATES AND THE THIRD DUTCH WAR
CHAPTER XIV THE LAST YEARS OF THE STUART DYNASTY
INTRODUCTION
THE MEDIÆVAL NAVY
Authorities.—Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas has made an exhaustive collection of all the evidence as to the history of the Royal Navy in the Middle Ages, in the only two volumes published of his History of the Royal Navy from the Earliest Times to the Wars of the French Revolution. It is the basis of this Introduction. Captain Burrows' Cinque Ports, in the Historical Towns Series, supplements Sir H. Nicolas.
A glance at a globe turned so as to bring the British Isles directly under the eye will at once reveal the most effective of all the material causes which have made them the seat of the great naval power among nations. It is the unrivalled advantage of their position. They lie between the Old World and the New, with free access to the great ocean, surrounded by seas, which, though stormy, are not unmanageable. Their coasts are never blocked by ice. No long intervals of calm varied by mere puffs of wind reduce sailing ships to immobility, and limit their size by imposing on them the necessity of relying on the oar. Steam has freed maritime war and commerce from dependence on the wind, but the naval power of England was created during the ages of the sailing ship. Steam, too, has only made the benefit of free access to the ocean if possible more valuable. It is commonly said that an island is peculiarly fitted to be the seat of a naval power, and no doubt freedom
