94- Hen.VJII, Naval Expeditions Jkc os the English, Book l.
1512. " certain Cloths called Statutes, and
others called Cardinal Whites, and" Calves-Skins, which were well fold" in Sicily, &c. The Commodities(e which they returned back were Silks," Camlets, Rhubarb, Malmesies, Mus-" cadels and other Wines, sweet-Oyls," Cotton-wool, Turky-Carpets, Galls," Pepper, Cinamon and some other" Spices, &c. Besides the natural In-ft habitants of the aforesaid Places, theyhad, even in those Days, Traffick" with Jews, Turks , and other Fo-" reigners. Neither did our Merchants“ only employ their own English Ship-" ping, but sundry Strangers also; as" Candiots, Raguseans, Sicilians, Ge-" noefes, Venetian Galleasses, Spanish" and Portugal Ships: All which Par-fic ticulars (fays our Author) I have di-" ligently perused and copied, out of" Ledger-Books of the R. IV. Sir Wil-" liam Locke, Mercer of London, Sir" TVilUam Bowyer, Alderman of Lon-“ don, Mr. John Gresham, and others.
1513. The next Spring was remarkable forHolinih. an Action of the English, in the Sight ofberf Her " t1ne F renc h Fleet, and in the very Har-Burchett. hour of Bees, King Henry having takenRapin with rhe Resolution to be present in Person
Vhiiim at a “ Expedition this Campaign insend. a Fleet France, was willing hrst to clear there Brest j Seas, at least, of the French Fleet, if hecould not entirely destroy it. He there-fore ordered the Lord High Admiral tofit out, with all Expedition, a Fleet suf-ficient for his Purpose. This Fleet,consisting of two and forty Men of War,besides Frigates and Tenders, set Sailfor the Coasts of Bretagne, in theMonth of .April. Being arrived off ofBrest, the Admiral got Intelligence, thatthe French Fleet lay, ready to Sail, inthat Harbour, waiting only the Arrivalof Six Gal lies from the Mediterranean,
, under the Command of Monsieur Pre-gent. Upon this, the Lord High Admi-ral immediately entered the Harbour,with his whole Fleet, resolving to attackthe French Fleet, before the Gallies, un-der Monsieur Pregent, could join them.The Enemy, for their Security, hadthrown up several Batteries, and placedCannon upon them, on each Side of theHarbour, and, to screen themselves from
our Cannon, had linked four and twenty 15 f 3*Hulks together, and ranged them in aLine, at a proper Distance from theirShips, (g) The Fleet was no sooner en-tered the Mouth of the Harbour, thanthe Lord High Admiral sent out aNumber of Boats, filled with armedMen, and made a Feint, as if he design-ed to land there. This Decoy drew allthe French down to the Shoar, aboveten Thousand in Number. In the meanTime, theAdmiral, advancing farther upinto the Harbour, landed his Men op-osite to the City of Brest, ravaging andurning the Country in the very Sightof the Castle. The Admiral could notnot, however, then pursue his Success,his Fleet being in Want of Provisions; aSupply of which he daily expected.
mo^s. Pregent arrived, in the mean Ravage $Time, on the Coast, with his six Gal- Country’ '*lies, accompanied by four Foists, andbeing advised that the English lay with Cafile.their Fleet, in the Harbour of Brest,and apprehensive of being attacked bythem, he chose to make the Bay of Con-quet, (h) which was the nearest Place toBrest, and, as he thought, the safest.
For his better Security, he laid hisSqua-dron between two Rocks, both ofwhich had Bulwarks on them, wellprovided with Cannon. The Lord HighAdmiral was resolved, notwithstandingthe advantageous Situation of this littleSquadron, to try his Fortune on them jand, having two Gallies in his Fleet,went on Board one of them in Person.
The other Gaily he entrusted to theLord Ferrers, and thus, with no otherAssistance than two large Barges, andtwo Boats, (/) he boldly ventured into y or d 0*the Bay of Conquet, on the five and Admits ptwentieth of April, to attack the French Ho ?fGallies. The wifh’d for Success did prench ^not, however, answer his Courage. He lies ino sooner came a broad-side of the Gal- -ly, which Monsieur Pregent commanded,than he ordered his own Gaily to belashed close to her, and immediatelyboarded her, Sword in Hand, beingfollowed by one Carroz , a SpanishCavalier, and seventeen of his Menonly. He caused, at first, a great Disor-der, but his Gaily, by some Accidentor other, swinging loose, in the Instant,
they
Herbert.
Holinlhead.
fg ) Herbert and Holinshead assign anotherUse or Advantage which the French proposed tomake of these Hulks, and that was to set themon Fire, and let them go adrift with the sidewhen the Englijh should approach them.
(h) Herbert says, he put into Blanc-sablonBay near Conquet , a little below Brefi.
adds, in one of them Sir Thomas Cheyny , and SirJohn Wallop-, and in the other Sir Henry Sher-hirn and Sir William Sidney.
Herbert.