HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

335

degree as a warrior, below the character of an heroe. The English at lengthprevailed ; and some estimate may be formed of the strength of the armamentswhich met in dreadful array to terminate this almost private quarrel, from thereported loss of the vanquished, and the spoils obtained by the victors. Manythousands of the former were slain, an equal number were swallowed up bythe waves, together with the vessels on board which they had fought; and,exclusive of these signal proofs of discomfiture, the English are said to havecaptured, and carried off no less a number than two hundred and forty vessels.

The dispute having terminated so much to the disadvantage of France, andits dependancies; king Philip thought proper to come forward in his capacityof sovereign, and protector of his people, demanding reparation from Edwardfor the mighty wrong. The latter proposed an appointment of plenipoten-tiaries on both sides, who should enquire into, and adjust all matters apper-taining to the preceding contest. Philip refused to accede to this equitableproposal ; but, according to the true spirit of those times, summoned Edward,as a personage owing fealty to him, to appear at his court on a certain day,and answer to the complaint. The requisition not being complied with,though at the same time Edward manifested every possible disposition to treaton the most open and fair terms, judgment was regularly passed as in a court ofcivil jurisdiction, that king Edward should lose Aquitain, with all his trans-marine dominions, for his contempt in not appearing. The conduct of Philipon this, as well as subsequent occasions, induced Edward to dispatch a consi-derable army into Gascony, which was then over-ran by a numerous French army.Among the arrangements made by this sovereign, according to the report ofhistorians, on this occasion, was that of dividing the marine of England intothree distinct fleets : one from Yarmouth, called the navy of the north, thecommand of which was given to John de Bottetort, with the title of admiral ofthe north; another from Portsmouth, which was put under the orders of Wil-liam de Lisburne, styled admiral of the south ; and a third, to which the defenceof the western coast was confided, to an Irish knight, whose name is not men-tioned, but who is said in Trivet’s Annals to have belonged to the illustrioushouse of Ormond. This circumstance, though perfectly correct in point offact, is by no means equally regular in regard to its historical date, and althoughsince the several appointments undoubtedly took place in 1292, three yearselapsed before any dispute whatever with France existed; various expeditions,

though