^ h ap. XII. from the Conquest, to the Death oj A. Mary l. 47
* 340 .
® u rchett.
^Gighton.
^alsingh.
■' , w>iflard.
Sea-fight, in 1339. in which they pre-tend they took two of our largest Ships,with several small ones, and killed aThousand Men.
The French paid, however, severelyfor these Depredations soon afterwards.King Edward having got a Fleet of twoHundred Ships together, which wasafterwards joined by th eNorthern Fleet,he embarked with his Troops, on thetwo and twentieth of June , and,the nextDay, set Sail from the Downs, havingthen a Fleet of two Hundred and sixtySail of Ships fit forWar. The French inthe mean Time, having early Notice ofEdward's Design, got all their NavalForce, consisting of four Hundred Sail ofShips, (d) together, in the Port of Slays,resolving, to the utmost of their Power,to prevent his landing thereabouts. Ed-ward sent the Lord Cobham, and someothers, to view the Enemy’s Fleet, andupon their Report, resolved, notwith-standing their Superiority, to open aPassage thro’ them; his Ambition of ac-quiring Fame having made him receivethe News with more joy than Surprize.According to Froifard, when the Newswas brought the King, he madeAnswer.I have long waited for this Opportunity.With the Help of God and St. George,I will now engage them, and be revengedfor all the Affronts they have offered me.The same Author gives the followingAccount of the Order of Battle: TheKing (fays he) having ordered all hisShips to be in a Readiness, placed thestrongest in the Front, and filled thosewith Archers which were at each Endof the Line. Between every two Shipsof Archers he caused one to be placedfilled with Men at Arms. He likewiseordered another Line to be formed onthe Side,as a Body of Reserve, and filledthe Ships with Archers, to support orrelieve those which might most want it,as Occasion should require.
The English Fleet approaching theHaven of Slays, in this Order, foundthe French already lying in Order ofBattle, in three Divisions, waiting forthem : Upon which ensued one of themost bloody Engagements, that any Agehad produced, in those Seas, and the
first in which a King of England had 1340.commanded in Perlon. The Engliff,having gained the Advantage of theWind and Sun, by their Dexterity andManagement, the King ordered the ■ An Engage-Signal for Engaging to be given, as £**£ fffsoon as the Fleet was got within a pro- English andper Distance for giving or receiving the F tench
Onset. The Normans perceiving theEnglish to tack, as they did, to get theWind, thought they were taking totheir Heels, and began to triumph : Butthey soon found their Mistake, and be-ing able Seamen, and good Combatants,prepared for the Fight. They beganthe Battle, by advancing with the greatChristopher, a Ship they had taken theYear before from the English, and, witha great Noise of Trumpets, and otherInstruments,attempted to break the Line,to come at the Ship in which they sup-posed the King to be. They were receiv-ed with a general Shout; and, duringcontinued Huzzas, the EngUJh pouredsuch a Shower of Arrows from theirLong Bows into the Enemy’s Ships, assoon covered their Decks with dead andwounded Men, and put the whole Fleetinto a general Consternation. The greatChrijlopber was taken in the Beginning ofthe Battle, and all that were in her kil-led or madePrisoners.The English filledwith her Archers, and sent her to annoythe Genoese: And now Death and De-struction appeared on every Side in theirmost terrible Array. The Air wasdarkened with Arrows, and the Men atArms engaged in close Fight. TheEnglish, taking the Advantage of theConfusion, they had put the French in at The Englishthe Beginning, soon boarded, witd the obtain a com*Help of their Grappling Irons, and pur-^*' Eitlo-fuing their good Fortune, obtained a Jcompleat Victory.
The French attribute the SucCess ofthis Day to the Assistance the Englishhad from a great Number of FlemishShips, which coming out of several Portsof Flanders, joined them in the Begin-ning of the Battle. It was this Re-in- f. DanieLforcement (fays F. Daniel') which gave Holinsh.them the Superiority : And Hohnfheadlikewise allows, that many Ships of Flan-ders joined themselves with the EnglishFleet. This Author adds, that whenN Night
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(d) Froissard fays above six Score largeShips, and a great Number of smaller Vessels,which he calls Manque bos, having near fortyThousand Men on board, chiefly Normans, P l ~cards and Genoese, the latter of which were com-manded by their own Admiral, Barbanero, an
Italian. F. Daniel says, likewise, the Fleetconsisted of a Hundred and twenty large Vessels,and a great Number of small ones. The Frenchhad two Admirals, Hue de Keruel, and Peter Ba-huchet.