^hap.XXII. from the Conquest, to the Death oj A. Mary

512. teen th of May, on Spanijh Ships, and,being convoyed by the English Fleet,arrived the eighth of "June, at Pasage,

??*ard in-M thes a Jls of

Bre tagne.

Offendslf 0 ”gRe-tssementhi * Fleet.

j^ er bert.

' Kur chett ~ -

' Se *ds aFieet ’ n the Province of Guipufioa. The

ht 0 Arny Marquis having landed his Troops, Sir0 Spain. Edward Howard put to Sea again with‘rf bdv/ard his Squadron to infest the Coasts of Bre-tagne. Having first cleared the Seas ofEnemies, he landed his Men aboutConquet and Brest, in several Places,burnt the Towns, and laid Waste thewhole Country, for several Miles with-in Land. Upon Information that Francewas assembling a powerful Fleet, to puta Stop to these Inroads, Henry {e) addeda Squadron of five and twenty largeMen of War to his Fleet, and went toview them himself at Portsmouth. TheCommand of this Re-inforcement wasintrusted to the chief Persons about theAdmiral. Sir Thomas Knevet, who wasMaster of Horse to the King, had theCommand of the Regent, a Ship of aThousand Tun, and Sir CharlesBrandon ,who had Sir Henry Guilford, with six-ty of the tallest Yeomen of the Guard,for his Assistant, commanded the Sove-reign, the largest Ship next to the Re-gent. The Design of the Admiral wasto station this Fleet, which now consist-ed of five and forty Ships, on the Coastsof Bretagne, in Order to observe theMotions of the French. They had theFortune to arrive at Brest, on the tenthof August, just as the French Fleet, con-sisting of nine and thirty Men of War,was failing out of that Harbour. TheAdmiral gave the immediate Signal forthe Attack, and the Beginning of abloody Engagement ensued, betweenthe two Fleets: But, at the first Onset,the English Regent, and the French Cor-delier, the two largest Ships of bothFleets, being grappled together, acci-dentally took Fire and blew up, withall that were on board. Sir WilliamMonson fays, that with Sir ThomasKnevet,who commanded the Regent, were lostseven Hundred Men; And in the Cor-delier Sir Pierce Morgan theCommander,ps French Fsth n] ' ne Hundred Men. This shock-

-

e ?ts.

■I,

^ons?i iam

&

het

b di sper . ing Sight struck such a Pannick into thewhole French Fleet, that they immedi-ately withdrew from the Battle, andply’d with all the Hurry possible into

Bres, and other neighbouring Ports, 1512.tho’, before the two Fleets parted, bothSides had sustained considerable Dam-ages. This is the Account our Histori-ans give us of this Action ; Let us nowhear what the French fay of it: The F. Daniel.French Fleet (fays Father Daniel) con- ^ e e drenchsifted but of half the Number of th Q give of thisEnglish ; But then they had the Ad- Engagement.vantage of the Wind, to supply thatWant. Primanget, an Officer of Bre-tagne, embarked in the Cordelier, a firstRate Man of War, which carriedtwelve Hundred Soldiers. TwelveSail of Englist, among which was theAdmiral, called the sueen of England(the Regent) surrounded him. Hefought with great Conduct and Valour,had sunk some of the Enemy’s Ships,and the rest beginning to stand off, heresolved to chace the Admiral. Hekept close up to him, when another.

English Commander, to whom he hadgiven a Broad-side, let fly a large Quan-tity of Fire-works at the Cordelier, whichset Fire to her, in such Manner, thatthere was no Hopes of extinguishing it.

The Breton Commander, resolving notto perish alone, made up to the EnglishAdmiral, and grappled her till shelikewise took Fire, and they blew upinto the Air together. Upon this thetwo Fleets separated, as it were byCon-sent. This Action redounded verymuch (fays F. Daniel) to the Honourof the French, and the Englisj came offwith the Loss of some Ships. (/ ) TheMarquis of Dorset returned with hisTroops in December.

" Bv an Observation in Hackluyt, Haciduyt.

<f P. II. p. 96. it appears, that our Our Mer-tc Trade to the Levant, on English chants drive

" Bottoms, began to be considerable, VleTradeto<e about this Time. In the Years i § 11 the Levant." 1512. &c. till the Year 1534. (fays" this Author) several tall Ships of" Ldndon, with certain other Ships of" Southampton and Bristol, had an ordi-" nary and usual Trade to Sicily, Can-" dia, Chio , and sometimes to Cyprus,

• c as also to Tripoli, and Barutti in" Syria. The Commodities which" they carried thither were fineKersies,

" of divers Colours, course Kersies,rf white Western Dozens, Cottons,

tc certain

(e) King Henry VIII, was the first of ourKings that began to build a Royal Navy, ap-pointed Commissioners, and constituted a NavyOffice: From the Conquest to this Time therewas not any fixed and constant Navy Royal inEngland-, For anciently the Ports and Maritime

Towns of the Kingdom fitted out upon properSummons their Quota of Ships of War for thePublicfc Service, and meeting at a certain Ren-dezvous put themselves under the Conduct of theKing, or his Admiral.

(f) D. Daniel places this Engagement in 1513.