5 2 EdwJII. Naval Expeditions^ 6tc. of the English, Book I! C

1346. Historical Connexion requires, I shallcontent myself with saying in general,that, in this Battle, two Kings, ninePrinces, the very Flower of the FrenchNobility, eighty Bannerets, twelveHundred Knights, fifteen HundredGentlemen, four Thousand Men atArms and Esquires, and above thirtyThousand Commoners were Victims tothe glorious Army of our incomparableEnglish Hero.

The Prince of Wales, who was but six-teen Vears of Age, and had been knight-ed at La Hogue , performed Wonders inthis Battle, and to him the King afcrib-Gaiiant Be- od the whole Honour of the Day, whichhaviour of was the greater, as the French Troopswere * n Number more than three Times” 3 ~ T> ' as many as the English. Philip, on his

Side, gave likewise signal Proofs of anundaunted Valour. He was twice dis-mounted, and wounded in the Neck andThigh. The next Day a Party that wassent to pursue the Enemy met a Bodyof the Militia, of whom they flew sevenThousand, and our Historians fay, thatwith these, and the stragling Soldiers,which were killed or taken, the Frenchlost more in Number the second Day

1347. than the first. This Victory was follow-Calais sur- e( j by the Surrender of Calais, whichTfvnim. was reduced by Famine, (the King hav-ing sent for above seven hundred Shipsto block it up by Sea,) after a tediousSiege or Blockade of eleven Months.(/) The Inhabitants were all obligedto leave the Place, which was re-peo-pled with Englifi • A Truce ensued,which was prolonged at several Timestill 1350. The King, having placed aGarrison in the Town, and fettled all

Edward re- p; s other Affairs on that Side the Sea,glands//// returned into England, with great Glo-oms? Glory • ry and Renown ; and spent the Re-mainder of the Year in magnificentTriumphs and Turnaments.

A Fleet composed of so vast a Num-ber of Ships, as were made Use of forthis Blockade, may, in these Days,when a tenth Part of the Number is cal-led a great and powerful Fleet, seemstrange or incredible; But it will be nomore so, if we consider the vast Dis-proportion there is between the Mag-nitude of the Ships made Use of in themaritime Wars of those Times, andthose which at present compose ourRoyal Navy. To give the Reader ajust Idea of this Disproportion, it may

not be amiss to lay before him a State of 134this Fleet, as we find it in the Preface toMr. Secretary BurchetLs Naval History. Burcheft-. >The whole Number of Ships, {saps ibisAuthor') as it appears by a Record in the j

famous Cottonian Library, amounted to j

seven Hundred and thirty-eight, andthe Mariners on board them to fourteenThousand, nine Hundred and fifty-six,each of whom was allowed after theRate of 4 d. per. Diem-, but of thesethere were no more than twenty-fiveShips of the King’s own, carrying aboutfour Hundred and nineteen Seamen,which, at a Medium, was not aboveseventeen to each; and throughout thewhole, taking one with another, therewere not many that had above twenty-six Men; not but that those which werefurnished by the maritime Ports werelarger than the King’s own Ships, e-fpecially those of London, Sandwich,

Dover, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Bristol,Southampton , Newcastle, Lynn, Yar-mouth, Harwich, Ipswich and Colchester.

From this (adds Mr Bur chest) may begathered what the Maritime Power ofthis Nation was in thofeTimes; For eventhen, before, and afterwards, the great-est Part thereof was composed of Mer-chant-Ships furnished by the Sea-ports.

Hackluyt has given us a Roll of this Hackinggreat Fleet, as (then) extant, in theKing’s great Wardrobe in London, dis-tiguilhingthe Number of Ships and Menfurnished by each City, Town, or Sea-port : And the Copy of this Roll in theCottonian Library is yet in Being. Some j^ Sof the names of the Ports in this Roll Cotton-are now almost lost to us, and the Con-dition of them then and now is a livelyInstance of the various Changes the mostsolid of earthly Things are subject to.

Yarmouth was then the greatest Townfor Shipping in England: Foy in Corn-•wal furnished more Seamen than Lon-don, and Wincheljea in Sustex near asmany. The Navy, at thatTime, was fit-ted out in the Nature of a Militia, andno Town that had any Pretence to Tradewas excused from fending it’s Quota.

To give a better Idea how our Sea-portswere rated inProportion one to the other,and what Number of Ships and Meneach was obliged to furnish, a Transcriptof that List may not be unacceptable:

And, as the two Lists differ in some Par-ticulars, one from the other, I shall givethe Reader a Transcript of both.

The

(I) The Inhabitants were reduced to the Extremity of eating Horses, Dogs, and other DomestickAnimals.

^ <3 3 hG&r