HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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the navy in stronger colours than the event which took place in 1635. Theking, as already mentioned, no sooner received information of a certain combi-nation entered into between the King of France and the States General of theUnited Provinces, the former of which parties had contrived to persuade theimpolitic Charles to furnish him * with the principal means he possessed of com-mencing hostilities, than he caused a fleet to be suddenly equipped, which struckthe confederates with dismay, and defeated their whole scheme, without any ne-cessity of contest taking place. This armament consisted of the James, of 52 guns,of 900 tons burthen, according to the present mode of calculation, and 280 men;the Mer Iloneur, of 44 guns; the Swiftsure, of 42 guns ; the George, of 52 guns,800 tons, and 280 men ; the St. Andrew, of 42 guns ; the Henrietta Maria, ofthe same dimensions and force with the James; the Vanguard, newly built, in theroom of one so named left at Rochelle, was of the same force with the last; theRainbow also new built, and nearly of the same dimensions with the preceding ;the Lion, of 38 guns ; the Reformation, of 42 guns; the Leopard, of 40 guns, and500 tons burthen ; the Mary Rose, of 26 guns; the Adventure, of 26 guns ;the Swallow, of 26 guns, and 400 tons ; the Antelope, the force and burthen ofwhich are unknown, except it be supposed the same vessel with that mentionedpage 212, in the list of the royal navy, temp Jac. I. a circumstance muchdoubted; the Lion’s second, third, eighth and tenth Whelps, of 18 guns, and200 tons burthen each; exclusive of six stout vessels hired from the merchants,called the Pleiades, the Royal Exchange, the Sampson, the Freeman, the Wil-liam and Thomas, with the Minikin ketch.

Of this fleet, the James, the George, the Henrietta Maria, the Van-guard, the Rainbow, the Leopard, the Swallow, and the pinnaces, four in num-ber, called the Lion’s Whelps, had either been built in augmentation of thenavy, or in the room of others which had become unfit for service since theaccession of King Charles. These, added to the Mary, the Henrietta, theGreyhound and Roebuck pinnaces, the Charles, of 50 guns, and the Victory,

* One of the first absurd steps of Charles, soon after his accession, was his sending Pennington inthe Vanguard, with six other ships, over to France, to assist the French king in enslaving his protestantsubjects. Pennington, when he came to understand the infamous service he was to be employed in,with a true English spirit refused it: upon which the king sent him orders, under his sign Manuel, todeliver the ships into the hands of a French officer at Dieppe. These commands were obeyed by theadmiral; which as soon as he had done, he struck his flag, quitted his ships, and with every officei aswell as seaman belonging tp them (except one) are said to have returned home.

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