MEN OF INVENTION AND INDUSTRY
by
Samuel Smiles
"Men there have been, ignorant of letters; without art, without
eloquence; who yet had the wisdom to devise and the courage to perform
that which they lacked language to explain. Such men have worked the
deliverance of nations and their own greatness. Their hearts are their
books; events are their tutors; great actions are their
eloquence."--MACAULAY.
Contents.
Preface
CHAPTER I Phineas Pett:
Beginnings of English Shipbuilding
CHAPTER II Francis Pettit Smith:
Practical Introducer of the Screw Propeller
CHAPTER III John Harrison:
Inventor of the Marine Chronometer
CHAPTER IV John Lombe:
Introducer of the Silk Industry into England
CHAPTER V William Murdock:
His Life and Inventions
CHAPTER VI Frederick Koenig:
Inventor of the Steam-printing Machine
CHAPTER VII The Walters of 'The Times':
Inventor of the Walter Press
CHAPTER VIII William Clowes:
Book-printing by Steam
CHAPTER IX Charles Bianconi:
A Lesson of Self-Help in Ireland
CHAPTER X Industry in Ireland:
Through Connaught and Ulster to Belfast
CHAPTER XI Shipbuilding in Belfast:
By Sir E. J. Harland, Engineer and Shipbuilder
CHAPTER XII Astronomers and students in humble life:
A new Chapter in the 'Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties'
PREFACE
I offer this book as a continuation of the memoirs of men of invention
and industry published some years ago in the 'Lives of Engineers,'
'Industrial Biography,' and 'Self-Help.'
The early chapters relate to the history of a very important branch of
British industry--that of Shipbuilding. A later chapter, kindly
prepared by Sir Edward J. Harland, of Belfast, relates to the origin
and progress of shipbuilding in Ireland.
Many of the facts set forth in the Life and Inventions of William
Murdock have already been published in my 'Lives of Boulton and Watt;'
but these are now placed in a continuous narrative, and supplemented by
other information, more particularly the correspondence between Watt
and Murdock, communicated to me by the present representative of the
family, Mr. Murdock, C.E., of Gilwern, near Abergavenny.
I have also endeavoured to give as accurate an account as possible of
the Invention of the Steam-printing Press, and its application to the
production of Newspapers and Books,--an invention certainly of great
importance to the spread of knowledge, science, and literature,
throughout the world.
The chapter on the "Industry of Ireland" will speak for itself. It
occurred to me, on passing through Ireland last year, that much
remained to be said on that subject; and, looking to the increasing
means of the country, and the well-known industry of its people, it
seems reasonable to expect, that with peace, security, energy, and
diligent labour of head and hand, there is really a great future before
Ireland.
The last chapter, on "Astronomers in Humble Life," consists for the
most part of a series of Autobiographies. It may seem, at first sight,
to have little to do with the leading object of the book; but it serves
to show what a number of active, earnest, and able men are
comparatively hidden throughout society, ready to turn their hands and
heads to the improvement of their own characters, if not to the
advancement of the general community of which they form a part.
In conclusion, I say to the reader, as Quarles said in the preface to
his 'Emblems,' "I wish thee as much pleasure in the reading as I had in
the writing." In fact, the last three chapters were in some measure
the cause of the book being published in its present form.
London, November, 1884.
CHAPTER I.
PHINEAS PETT: BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH SHIP-BUILDING.
"A speck in the Northern Ocean, with a rocky coast, an ungenial
climate, and a soil scarcely fruitful,--this was the material patrimony
which descended to the English race--an inheritance that would have
been little worth but for the inestimable moral gift that accompanied
it. Yes; from Celts, Saxons, Danes, Normans--from some or all of
them--have come down with English nationality a talisman that could
command sunshine, and plenty, and empire, and fame. The 'go' which
they transmitted to us--the national vis--this it is which made the old
Angle-land a glorious heritage. Of this we have had a portion above
our brethren--good measure, running over. Through this our
island-mother has stretched out her arms till they enriched the globe
of the earth....Britain, without her energy and enterprise, what would
she be in Europe?"--Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1870).
In one of the few records of Sir Isaac Newton's life which he left for
the benefit of others, the following comprehensive thought occurs:
"It is certainly apparent that the inhabitants of this world are of a
short date, seeing that all arts, as letters, ships, printing, the
needle, &c., were discovered within the memory of history."
If this were true in Newton's time, how much truer is it now. Most of
the inventions which are so greatly influencing, as well as advancing,
the civilization of the world at the present time, have been discovered
within the last hundred or hundred and fifty years. We do not say that
man has become so much wiser during that period; for, though he has
grown in Knowledge, the most fruitful of all things were said by "the
heirs of all the ages" thousands of years ago.
But as regards Physical Science, the progress made during the last
hundred years has been very great. Its most recent triumphs have been
in connection with the discovery of electric power and electric light.
Perhaps the most important invention, however, was that of the working
steam engine, made by Watt only about a hundred years ago. The most
recent application of this form of energy has been in the propulsion of
ships, which has already produced so great an effect upon commerce,
navigation, and the spread of population over the world.
Equally important has been the influence of the Railway--now the
principal means of communication in all civilized countries. This
invention has started into full life within our own time. The
locomotive engine had for some years been employed in the haulage of
coals; but it was not until the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway in 1830, that the importance of the invention came to be
acknowledged. The locomotive railway has since been everywhere adopted
throughout Europe. In America, Canada, and the Colonies, it has opened
up the boundless resources of the soil, bringing the country nearer to
the towns, and the towns to the country. It has enhanced the celerity
of time, and imparted a new series of conditions to every rank of life.
The importance of steam navigation has been still more recently
ascertained. When it was first proposed, Sir Joseph Banks, President
of the Royal Society, said: "It is a pretty plan, but there is just
one point overlooked: that the steam-engine requires a firm basis on
which to work." Symington, the practical mechanic, put this theory to
the test by his successful experiments, first on Dalswinton Lake, and
then on the Forth and Clyde Canal. Fulton and Bell afterwards showed
the power of steamboats in navigating the rivers of America and Britain.
After various experiments, it was proposed to unite England and America
by steam. Dr. Lardner, however, delivered a lecture before the Royal
Institution in 1838, "proving" that steamers could never cross the
Atlantic, because they could not carry sufficient coal to raise steam
enough during the voyage. But this theory was also tested by
experience in the same year, when the Sirius, of London, left Cork for
New York, and made the passage in nineteen days. Four days after the
departure of the Sirius, the Great Western left Bristol for New York,
and made the passage in thirteen days five hours.[1] The problem was
solved; and great ocean steamers have ever since passed in continuous
streams between the shores of England and America.
In an age of progress, one invention merely paves the way for another.
The first steamers were impelled by means of paddle wheels; but these
are now almost entirely superseded by the screw. And this, too, is an
invention almost of yesterday. It was only in 1840 that the Archimedes
was fitted as a screw yacht.
A few years later, in 1845, the Great Britain, propelled by the screw,
left Liverpool for New York, and made the voyage in fourteen days. The
screw is now invariably adopted in all long ocean voyages.
It is curious to look back, and observe the small beginnings of
maritime navigation. As regards this country, though its institutions
are old, modern England is still young. As respects its mechanical and
scientific achievements, it is the youngest of all countries. Watt's
steam engine was the beginning of our manufacturing supremacy; and
since its adoption, inventions and discoveries in Art and Science,
within the last hundred years, have succeeded each other with
extraordinary rapidity. In 1814 there was only one steam vessel in
Scotland; while England possessed none at all. Now, the British
mercantile steam-ships number about 5000, with about 4 millions of
aggregate tonnage.[2]
In olden times this country possessed the materials for great things,
as well as the men fitted to develope them into great results. But the
nation was slow to awake and take advantage of its opportunities.
There was no enterprise, no commerce--no "go" in the people. The roads
were frightfully bad; and there was little communication between one
part of the country and another.
If anything important had to be done, we used to send for foreigners to
come and teach us how to do it. We sent for them to drain our fens, to
build our piers and harbours, and even to pump our water at London
Bridge. Though a seafaring population lived round our coasts, we did
not fish our own seas, but left it to the industrious Dutchmen to catch
the fish, and supply our markets. It was not until the year 1787 that
the Yarmouth people began the deep-sea herring fishery; and yet these
were the most enterprising amongst the English fishermen.
English commerce also had very slender beginnings. At the commencement
of the fifteenth century, England was of very little account in the
affairs of Europe. Indeed, the history of modern England is nearly
coincident with the accession of the Tudors to the throne. With the
exception of Calais and Dunkirk, her dominions on the Continent had
been wrested from her by the French. The country at home had been made
desolate by the Wars of the Roses. The population was very small, and
had been kept down by war, pestilence, and famine.[3] The chief staple
was wool, which was exported to Flanders in foreign ships, there to be
manufactured into cloth. Nearly every article of importance was
brought from abroad; and the little commerce which existed was in the
hands of foreigners. The seas were swept by privateers, little better
than pirates, who plundered without scruple every vessel, whether
friend or foe, which fell in their way.
The British navy has risen from very low beginnings. The English fleet
had fallen from its high estate since the reign of Edward III., who won
a battle from the French and Flemings in 1340, with 260 ships; but his
vessels were all of moderate size, being boats, yachts, and caravels,
of very small tonnage. According to the contemporary chronicles,
Weymouth, Fowey, Sandwich, and Bristol, were then of nearly almost as
much importance as London;[4] which latter city only furnished
twenty-five vessels, with 662 mariners.
The Royal Fleet began in the reign of Henry VII. Only six or seven
vessels then belonged to the King, the largest being the Grace de Dieu,
of comparatively small tonnage. The custom then was, to hire ships
from the Venetians, the Genoese, the Hanse towns, and other trading
people; and as soon as the service for which the vessels so hired was
performed, they were dismissed.
When Henry VIII. ascended the throne in 1509, he directed his attention
to the state of the navy. Although the insular position of England was
calculated to stimulate the art of shipbuilding more than in most
continental countries, our best ships long continued to be built by
foreigners. Henry invited from abroad, especially from Italy, where
the art of shipbuilding had made the greatest progress, as many skilful
artists and workmen as he could procure, either by the hope of gain, or
the high honours and distinguished countenance which he paid them. "By
incorporating," says Charnock, "these useful persons among his own
subjects, he soon formed a corps sufficient to rival those states which
had rendered themselves most distinguished by their knowledge in this
art; so that the fame of Genoa and Venice, which had long excited the
envy of the greater part of Europe, became suddenly transferred to the
shores of Britain."[5]
In fitting out his fleet, we find Henry disbursing large sums to
foreigners for shipbuilding, for "harness" or armour, and for munitions
of all sorts. The State Papers[6] particularize the amounts paid to
Lewez de la Fava for "harness;" to William Gurre, "bregandy-maker;" and
to Leonard Friscobald for "almayn ryvetts."
Francis de Errona, a Spaniard, supplied the gunpowder. Among the
foreign mechanics and artizans employed were Hans Popenruyter,
gunfounder of Mechlin; Robert Sakfeld, Robert Skorer, Fortuno de
Catalenago, and John Cavelcant. On one occasion 2,797L. 19s. 4 1/2d.
was disbursed for guns and grindstones. This sum must be multiplied by
about four, to give the proper present value. Popenruyter seems to have
been the great gunfounder of the age; he supplied the principal guns
and gun stores for the English navy, and his name occurs in every
Ordnance account of the series, generally for sums of the largest
amounts.
Henry VIII. was the first to establish Royal dockyards, first at
Woolwich, then at Portsmouth, and thirdly at Deptford, for the erection
and repair of ships. Before then, England had been principally
dependent upon Dutchmen and Venetians, both for ships of war and
merchantmen. The sovereign had neither naval arsenals nor dockyards,
nor any regular establishment of civil or naval affairs to provide
ships of war. Sir Edward Howard, Lord High Admiral of England, at the
accession of Henry VIII., actually entered into a "contract" with that
monarch to fight his enemies.
This singular document is still preserved in the State Paper office.
Even after the establishment of royal dockyards, the sovereign--as late
as the reign of Elizabeth--entered into formal contracts with
shipwrights for the repair and maintenance of ships, as well as for
additions to the fleet.
The King, having made his first effort at establishing a royal navy,
sent the fleet to sea against the ships of France. The Regent was the
ship royal, with Sir Thomas Knivet, Master of the Horse, and Sir John
Crew of Devonshire, as Captains. The fleet amounted to twenty-five
well furnished ships. The French fleet were thirty-nine in number.
They met in Brittany Bay, and had a fierce fight. The Regent grappled
with a great carack of Brest; the French, on the English boarding their
ship, set fire to the gunpowder, and both ships were blown up, with all
their men. The French fleet fled, and the English kept the seas. The
King, hearing of the loss of the Regent, caused a great ship to be
built, the like of which had never before been seen in England, and
called it Harry Grace de Dieu.
This ship was constructed by foreign artizans, principally by Italians,
and was launched in 1515. She was said to be of a thousand tons
portage--the largest ship in England. The vessel was four-masted, with
two round tops on each mast, except the shortest mizen. She had a high
forecastle and poop, from which the crew could shoot down upon the deck
or waist of another vessel. The object was to have a sort of castle at
each end of the ship. This style of shipbuilding was doubtless
borrowed from the Venetians, then the greatest naval power in Europe.
The length of the masts, the height of the ship above the water's edge,
and the ornaments and decorations, were better adapted for the
stillness of the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas, than for the
boisterous ocean of the northern parts of Europe.[7] The story long
prevailed that "the Great Harry swept a dozen flocks of sheep off the
Isle of Man with her bob-stay." An American gentleman (N.B. Anderson,
LL.D., Boston) informed the present author that this saying is still
proverbial amongst the United States sailors.
The same features were reproduced in merchant ships. Most of them were
suited for defence, to prevent the attacks of pirates, which swarmed
the seas round the coast at that time. Shipbuilding by the natives in
private shipyards was in a miserable condition. Mr. Willet, in his
memoir relative to the navy, observes: "It is said, and I believe with
truth, that at this time (the middle of the sixteenth century) there
was not a private builder between London Bridge and Gravesend, who
could lay down a ship in the mould left from a Navy Board's draught,
without applying to a tinker who lived in Knave's Acre."[8]
Another ship of some note built at the instance of Henry VIII. was the
Mary Rose, of the portage of 500 tons. We find her in the "pond at
Deptford" in 1515. Seven years later, in the thirtieth year of Henry
VIII.'s reign, she was sent to sea, with five other English ships of
war, to protect such commerce as then existed from the depredations of
the French and Scotch pirates. The Mary Rose was sent many years later
(in 1544) with the English fleet to the coast of France, but returned
with the rest of the fleet to Portsmouth without entering into any
engagement. While laid at anchor, not far from the place where the
Royal George afterwards went down, and the ship was under repair, her
gun-ports being very low when she was laid over, "the shipp turned, the
water entered, and sodainly she sanke."
What was to be done? There were no English engineers or workmen who
could raise the ship. Accordingly, Henry VIII. sent to Venice for
assistance, and when the men arrived, Pietro de Andreas was dispatched
with the Venetian marines and carpenters to raise the Mary Rose. Sixty
English mariners were appointed to attend upon them. The Venetians
were then the skilled "heads," the English were only the "hands."
Nevertheless they failed with all their efforts; and it was not until
the year 1836 that Mr. Dean, the engineer, succeeded in raising not
only the Royal George, but the Mary Rose, and cleared the roadstead at
Portsmouth of the remains of the sunken ships.
When Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1558, the commerce and navigation
of England were still of very small amount. The population of the
kingdom amounted to only about five millions--not much more than the
population of London is now. The country had little commerce, and what
it had was still mostly in the hands of foreigners. The Hanse towns
had their large entrepot for merchandise in Cannon Street, on the site
of the present Cannon Street Station. The wool was still sent abroad
to Flanders to be fashioned into cloth, and even garden produce was
principally imported from Holland. Dutch, Germans, Flemings, French,
and Venetians continued to be our principal workmen. Our iron was
mostly obtained from Spain and Germany. The best arms and armour came
from France and Italy. Linen was imported from Flanders and Holland,
though the best came from Rheims. Even the coarsest dowlas, or
sailcloth, was imported from the Low Countries.
The royal ships continued to be of very small burthen, and the
mercantile ships were still smaller. The Queen, however, did what she
could to improve the number and burthen of our ships. "Foreigners,"
says Camden, "stiled her the restorer of naval glory and Queen of the
Northern Seas." In imitation of the Queen, opulent subjects built
ships of force; and in course of time England no longer depended upon
Hamburg, Dantzic, Genoa, and Venice, for her fleet in time of war.
Spain was then the most potent power in Europe, and the Netherlands,
which formed part of the dominions of Spain, was the centre of
commercial prosperity. Holland possessed above 800 good ships, of from
200 to 700 tons burthen, and above 600 busses for fishing, of from 100
to 200 tons. Amsterdam and Antwerp were in the heyday of their
prosperity. Sometimes 500 great ships were to be seen lying together
before Amsterdam;[9] whereas England at that time had not four merchant
ships of 400 tons each! Antwerp, however, was the most important city
in the Low Countries. It was no uncommon thing to see as many as 2500
ships in the Scheldt, laden with merchandize. Sometimes 500 ships
would come and go from Antwerp in one day, bound to or returning from
the distant parts of the world. The place was immensely rich, and was
frequented by Spaniards, Germans, Danes, English, Italians, and
Portuguese the Spaniards being the most numerous. Camden, in his
history of Queen Elizabeth, relates that our general trade with the
Netherlands in 1564 amounted to twelve millions of ducats, five
millions of which was for English cloth alone.
The religious persecutions of Philip II. of Spain and of Charles IX. of
France shortly supplied England with the population of which she stood
in need--active, industrious, intelligent artizans. Philip set up the
Inquisition in Flanders, and in a few years more than 50,000 persons
were deliberately murdered. The Duchess of Parma, writing to Philip II.
in 1567, informed him that in a few days above 100,000 men had already
left the country with their money and goods, and that more were
following every day. They fled to Germany, to Holland, and above all
to England, which they hailed as Asylum Christi. The emigrants settled
in the decayed cities and towns of Canterbury, Norwich, Sandwich,
Colchester, Maidstone, Southampton, and many other places, where they
carried on their manufactures of woollen, linen, and silk, and
established many new branches of industry.[10]
Five years later, in 1572, the massacre of St. Bartholomew took place
in France, during which the Roman Catholic Bishop Perefixe alleges that
100,000 persons were put to death because of their religions opinions.
All this persecution, carried on so near the English shores, rapidly
increased the number of foreign fugitives into England, which was
followed by the rapid advancement of the industrial arts in this
country.
The asylum which Queen Elizabeth gave to the persecuted foreigners
brought down upon her the hatred of Philip II. and Charles IX. When
they found that they could not prevent her furnishing them with an
asylum, they proceeded to compass her death. She was excommunicated by
the Pope, and Vitelli was hired to assassinate her. Philip also
proceeded to prepare the Sacred Armada for the subjugation of the
English nation, and he was master of the most powerful army and navy in
the world.
Modern England was then in the throes of her birth. She had not yet
reached the vigour of her youth, though she was full of life and
energy. She was about to become the England of free thought, commerce,
and manufactures; to plough the ocean with her navies, and to plant her
colonies over the earth. Up to the accession of Elizabeth, she had
done little, but now she was about to do much.
It was a period of sudden emancipation of thought, and of immense
fertility and originality. The poets and prose writers of the time
united the freshness of youth with the vigour of manhood. Among these
were Spenser, Shakespeare, Sir Philip Sidney, the Fletchers, Marlowe,
and Ben Jonson. Among the statesmen of Elizabeth were Burleigh,
Leicester, Walsingham, Howard, and Sir Nicholas Bacon. But perhaps
greatest of all were the sailors, who, as Clarendon said, "were a
nation by themselves;" and their leaders--Drake, Frobisher, Cavendish,
Hawkins, Howard, Raleigh, Davis, and many more distinguished seamen.
They were the representative men of their time, the creation in a great
measure of the national spirit. They were the offspring of long
generations of seamen and lovers of the sea. They could not have been
great but for the nation which gave them birth, and imbued them with
their worth and spirit. The great sailors, for instance, could not
have originated in a nation of mere landsmen.
They simply took the lead in a country whose coasts were fringed with
sailors. Their greatness was but the result of an excellence in
seamanship which prevailed widely around them.
The age of English maritime adventure only began in the reign of
Elizabeth. England had then no colonies--no foreign possessions
whatever. The first of her extensive colonial possessions was
established in this reign. "Ships, colonies, and commerce" began to be
the national motto--not that colonies make ships and commerce, but that
ships and commerce make colonies. Yet what cockle-shells of ships our
pioneer navigators first sailed in!
Although John Cabot or Gabota, of Bristol, originally a citizen of
Venice, had discovered the continent of North America in 1496, in the
reign of Henry VII., he made no settlement there, but returned to
Bristol with his four small ships. Columbus did not see the continent
of America until two years later, in 1498, his first discoveries being
the islands of the West Indies.
It was not until the year 1553 that an attempt was made to discover a
North-west passage to Cathaya or China. Sir Hugh Willonghby was put in
command of the expedition, which consisted of three ships,--the Bona
Esperanza, the Bona Ventura (Captain Chancellor), and the Bona
Confidentia (Captain Durforth),--most probably ships built by
Venetians. Sir Hugh reached 72 degrees of north latitude, and was
compelled by the buffeting of the winds to take refuge with Captain
Durforth's vessel at Arcina Keca, in Russian Lapland, where the two
captains and the crews of these ships, seventy in number, were frozen
to death. In the following year some Russian fishermen found Sir John
Willonghby sitting dead in his cabin, with his diary and other papers
beside him.
Captain Chancellor was more fortunate. He reached Archangel in the
White Sea, where no ship had ever been seen before. He pointed out to
the English the way to the whale fishery at Spitzbergen, and opened up
a trade with the northern parts of Russia. Two years later, in 1556,
Stephen Burroughs sailed with one small ship, which entered the Kara
Sea; but he was compelled by frost and ice to return to England. The
strait which he entered is still called "Burrough's Strait."
It was not, however, until the reign of Elizabeth that great maritime
adventures began to be made. Navigators were not so venturous as they
afterwards became. Without proper methods of navigation, they were apt
to be carried away to the south, across an ocean without limit. In
1565 a young captain, Martin Frobisher, came into notice. At the age
of twenty-five he captured in the South Seas the Flying Spirit, a
Spanish ship laden with a rich cargo of cochineal. Four years later,
in 1569, he made his first attempt to discover the north-west passage
to the Indies, being assisted by Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick. The
ships of Frobisher were three in number, the Gabriel, of from 15 to 20
tons; the Michael, of from 20 to 25 tons, or half the size of a modern
fishing-boat; and a pinnace, of from 7 to 10 tons! The aggregate of
the crews of the three ships was only thirty-five, men and boys. Think
of the daring of these early navigators in attempting to pass by the
North Pole to Cathay through snow, and storm, and ice, in such
miserable little cockboats! The pinnace was lost; the Michael, under
Owen Griffith, a Welsh-man, deserted; and Martin Frobisher in the
Gabriel went alone into the north-western sea!
He entered the great bay, since called Hudson's Bay, by Frobisher's
Strait. He returned to England without making the discovery of the
Passage, which long remained the problem of arctic voyagers. Yet ten
years later, in 1577, he made another voyage, and though he made his
second attempt with one of Queen Elizabeth's own ships, and two barks,
with 140 persons in all, he was as unsuccessful as before. He brought
home some supposed gold ore; and on the strength of the stones
containing gold, a third expedition went out in the following year.
After losing one of the ships, consuming the provisions, and suffering
greatly from ice and storms, the fleet returned home one by one. The
supposed gold ore proved to be only glittering sand.
While Frobisher was seeking El-Dorado in the North, Francis Drake was
finding it in the South. He was a sailor, every inch of him.
"Pains, with patience in his youth," says Fuller, "knit the joints of
his soul, and made them more solid and compact." At an early age, when
carrying on a coasting trade, his imagination was inflamed by the
exploits of his protector Hawkins in the New World, and he joined him
in his last unfortunate adventure on the Spanish Main. He was not,
however, discouraged by his first misfortune, but having assembled
about him a number of seamen who believed in him, he made other
adventures to the West Indies, and learnt the navigation of that part
of the ocean. In 1570, he obtained a regular commission from Queen
Elizabeth, though he sailed his own ships, and made his own ventures.
Every Englishman, who had the means, was at liberty to fit out his own
ships; and with tolerable vouchers, he was able to procure a commission
from the Court, and proceed to sea at his own risk and cost. Thus, the
naval enterprise and pioneering of new countries under Elizabeth, was
almost altogether a matter of private enterprise and adventure.
In 1572, the butchery of the Hugnenots took place at Paris and
throughout France; while at the same time the murderous power of Philip
II. reigned supreme in the Netherlands. The sailors knew what they had
to expect from the Spanish king in the event of his obtaining his
threatened revenge upon England; and under their chosen chiefs they
proceeded to make war upon him. In the year of the massacre of St.
Bartholomew, Drake set sail for the Spanish Main in the Pasha, of
seventy tons, accompanied by the Swan, of twenty-five tons; the united
crews of the vessels amounting to seventy-three men and boys. With
this insignificant force, Drake made great havoc amongst the Spanish
shipping at Nombre de Dios. He partially crossed the Isthmus of
Darien, and obtained his first sight of the great Pacific Ocean. He
returned to England in August 1573, with his frail barks crammed with
treasure.
A few years later, in 1577, he made his ever-memorable expedition.
Charnock says it was "an attempt in its nature so bold and
unprecedented, that we should scarcely know whether to applaud it as a
brave, or condemn it as a rash one, but for its success." The squadron
with which he sailed for South America consisted of five vessels, the
largest of which, the Pelican, was only of 100 tons burthen; the next,
the Elizabeth, was of 80; the third, the Swan, a fly-boat, was of 50;
the Marygold bark, of 30; and the Christopher, a pinnace, of 15 tons.
The united crews of these vessels amounted to only 164, gentlemen and
sailors.
The gentlemen went with Drake "to learn the art of navigation." After
various adventures along the South American coast, the little fleet
passed through the Straits of Magellan, and entered the Pacific Ocean.
Drake took an immense amount of booty from the Spanish towns along the
coast, and captured the royal galleon, the Cacafuego, laden with
treasure. After trying in vain to discover a passage home by the
North-eastern ocean, though what is now known as Behring Straits, he
took shelter in Port San Francisco, which he took possession of in the
name of the Queen of England, and called New Albion. He eventually
crossed the Pacific for the Moluccas and Java, from which he sailed
right across the Indian Ocean, and by the Cape of Good Hope to England,
thus making the circumnavigation of the world. He was absent with his
little fleet for about two years and ten months.
Not less extraordinary was the voyage of Captain Cavendish, who made
the circumnavigation of the globe at his own expense. He set out from
Plymouth in three small vessels on the 21st July, 1586. One vessel was
of 120 tons, the second of 60 tons, and the third of 40 tons--not much
bigger than a Thames yacht. The united crews, of officers, men, and
boys, did not exceed 123! Cavendish sailed along the South American
continent, and made through the Straits of Magellan, reaching the
Pacific Ocean. He burnt and plundered the Spanish settlements along
the coast, captured some Spanish ships, and took by boarding the
galleon St. Anna, with 122,000 Spanish dollars on board. He then
sailed across the Pacific to the Ladrone Islands, and returned home
through the Straits of Java and the Indian Archipelago by the Cape of
Good Hope, and reached England after an absence of two years and a
month.
The sacred and invincible Armada was now ready, Philip II. was
determined to put down those English adventurers who had swept the
coasts of Spain and plundered his galleons on the high seas. The
English sailors knew that the sword of Philip was forged in the gold
mines of South America, and that the only way to defend their country
was to intercept the plunder on its voyage home to Spain. But the
sailors and their captains--Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Howard,
Grenville, Raleigh, and the rest--could not altogether interrupt the
enterprise of the King of Spain. The Armada sailed, and came in sight
of the English coast on the 20th of July, 1588.
The struggle was of an extraordinary character. On the one side was
the most powerful naval armament that had ever put to sea. It consisted
of six squadrons of sixty fine large ships, the smallest being of 700
tons. Besides these were four gigantic galleasses, each carrying fifty
guns, four large armed galleys, fifty-six armed merchant ships, and
twenty caravels--in all, 149 vessels. On board were 8000 sailors,
20,000 soldiers, and a large number of galley-slaves. The ships
carried provisions enough for six months' consumption; and the supply
of ammunition was enormous.
On the other side was the small English fleet under Hawkins and Drake.
The Royal ships were only thirteen in number. The rest were
contributed by private enterprize, there being only thirty-eight
vessels of all sorts and sizes, including cutters and pinnaces,
carrying the Queen's flag. The principal armed merchant ships were
provided by London, Southampton, Bristol, and the other southern ports.
Drake was followed by some privateers; Hawkins had four or five ships,
and Howard of Effingham two. The fleet was, however, very badly found
in provisions and ammunition. There was only a week's provisions on
board, and scarcely enough ammunition for one day's hard fighting. But
the ships, small though they were, were in good condition. They could
sail, whether in pursuit or in flight, for the men who navigated them
were thorough sailors.
The success of the defence was due to tact, courage, and seamanship.
At the first contact of the fleets, the Spanish towering galleons
wished to close, to grapple with their contemptuous enemies, and crush
them to death. "Come on!" said Medina Sidonia. Lord Howard came on
with the Ark and three other ships, and fired with immense rapidity
into the great floating castles. The Sam Mateo luffed, and wanted them
to board. "No! not yet!" The English tacked, returned, fired again,
riddled the Spaniards, and shot away in the eye of the wind. To the
astonishment of the Spanish Admiral, the English ships approached him
or left him just as they chose. "The enemy pursue me," wrote the
Spanish Admiral to the Prince of Parma; "they fire upon me most days
from morning till nightfall, but they will not close and grapple,
though I have given them every opportunity." The Capitana, a galleon
of 1200 tons, dropped behind, struck her flag to Drake, and increased
the store of the English fleet by some tons of gunpowder. Another
Spanish ship surrendered, and another store of powder and shot was
rescued for the destruction of the Armada. And so it happened
throughout, until the Spanish fleet was driven to wreck and ruin, and
the remaining ships were scattered by the tempests of the north. After
all, Philip proved to be, what the sailors called him, only "a Colossus
stuffed with clouts."
The English sailors followed up their advantage. They went on
"singeing the Ring of Spain's beard." Private adventurers fitted up a
fleet under the command of Drake, and invaded the mainland of Spain.
They took the lower part of the town of Corunna; sailed to the Tagus,
and captured a fleet of ships laden with wheat and warlike stores for a
new Armada. They next sacked Vigo, and returned to England with 150
pieces of cannon and a rich booty. The Earl of Cumberland sailed to
the West Indies on a private adventure, and captured more Spanish
prizes. In 1590, ten English merchantmen, returning from the Levant,
attacked twelve Spanish galleons, and after six hours' contest, put
them to flight with great loss. In the following year, three merchant
ships set sail for the East Indies, and in the course of their voyage
took several Portuguese vessels.
A powerful Spanish fleet still kept the seas, and in 1591 they
conquered the noble Sir Richard Grenville at the Azores--fifteen great
Spanish galleons against one Queen's ship, the Revenge. In 1593, two
of the Queen's ships, accompanied by a number of merchant ships, sailed
for the West Indies, under Burroughs, Frobisher, and Cross, and amongst
their other captures they took the greatest of all the East India
caracks, a vessel of 1600 tons, 700 men, and 36 brass cannon, laden
with a magnificent cargo. She was taken to Dartmouth, and surprised
all who saw her, being the largest ship that had ever been seen in
England. In 1594, Captain James Lancaster set sail with three ships
upon a voyage of adventure. He was joined by some Dutch and French
privateers. The result was, that they captured thirty-nine of the
Spanish ships. Sir Amias Preston, Sir John Hawkins, and Sir Francis
Drake, also continued their action upon the seas. Lord Admiral Howard
and the Earl of Essex made their famous attack upon Cadiz for the
purpose of destroying the new Armada; they demolished all the forts;
sank eleven of the King of Spain's best ships, forty-four merchant
ships, and brought home much booty.
Nor was maritime discovery neglected. The planting of new colonies
began, for the English people had already begun to swarm. In 1578, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert planted Newfoundland for the Queen. In 1584, Sir
Waiter Raleigh planted the first settlement in Virginia. Nor was the
North-west passage neglected; for in 1580, Captain Pett (a name famous
on the Thames) set sail from Harwich in the George, accompanied by
Captain Jackman in the William. They reached the ice in the North Sea,
but were compelled to return without effecting their purpose! Will it
be believed that the George was only of 40 tons, and that its crew
consisted of nine men and a boy; and that the William was of 20 tons,
with five men and a boy? The wonder is that these little vessels could
resist the terrible icefields, and return to England again with their
hardy crews.
Then in 1585, another of our adventurous sailors, John Davis, of
Sandridge on the Dart, set sail with two barks, the Sunshine and the
Moonshine, of 50 and 35 tons respectively, and discovered in the far
North-west the Strait which now bears his name. He was driven back by
the ice; but, undeterred by his failure, he set out on a second, and
then on a third voyage of discovery in the two following years. But he
never succeeded in discovering the North-west passage. It all reads
like a mystery--these repeated, determined, and energetic attempts to
discover a new way of reaching the fabled region of Cathay.
In these early times the Dutch were not unworthy rivals of the English.
After they had succeeded in throwing off the Spanish yoke and achieved
their independence, they became one of the most formidable of maritime
powers. In the course of another century Holland possessed more
colonies, and had a larger share of the carrying trade of the world
than Britain. It was natural therefore that the Dutch republic should
take an interest in the North-west passage; and the Dutch sailors, by
their enterprise and bravery, were among the first to point the way to
Arctic discovery. Barents and Behring, above all others, proved the
courage and determination of their heroic ancestors.
The romance of the East India Company begins with an advertisement in
the London Gazette of 1599, towards the end of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth. As with all other enterprises of the nation, it was
established by private means. The Company was started with a capital
of 72,000L. in 50L. shares. The adventurers bought four vessels of an
average burthen of 350 tons. These were stocked with provisions,
"Norwich stuffs," and other merchandise. The tiny fleet sailed from
Billingsgate on the 13th February, 1601. It went by the Cape of Good
Hope to the East Indies, under the command of Captain James Lancaster.
It took no less than sixteen months to reach the Indian Archipelago.
The little fleet reached Acheen in June, 1602. The king of the
territory received the visitors with courtesy, and exchanged spices
with them freely. The four vessels sailed homeward, taking possession
of the island of St. Helena on their way back; having been absent
exactly thirty-one months. The profits of the first voyage proved to
be about one hundred per cent. Such was the origin of the great East
India Company--now expanded into an empire, and containing about two
hundred millions of people.
To return to the shipping and the mercantile marine of the time of
Queen Elizabeth. The number of Royal ships was only thirteen, the rest
of the navy consisting of merchant ships, which were hired and
discharged when their purpose was served.[11] According to Wheeler, at
the accession of the Queen, there were not more than four ships
belonging to the river Thames, excepting those of the Royal Navy, which
were over 120 tons in burthen;[12] and after forty years, the whole of
the merchant ships of England, over 100 tons, amounted to 135; only a
few of these being of 500 tons. In 1588, the number had increased to
150, "of about 150 tons one with another, employed in trading voyages
to all parts and countries." The principal shipping which frequented
the English ports still continued to be foreign--Italian, Flemish, and
German.
Liverpool, now possessing the largest shipping tonnage in the world,
had not yet come into existence. It was little better than a fishing
village. The people of the place presented a petition to the Queen,
praying her to remit a subsidy which had been imposed upon them, and
speaking of their native place as "Her Majesty's poor decayed town of
Liverpool." In 1565, seven years after Queen Elizabeth began to reign,
the number of vessels belonging to Liverpool was only twelve. The
largest was of forty tons burthen, with twelve men; and the smallest
was a boat of six tons, with three men.[13]
James I., on his accession to the throne of England in 1603, called in
all the ships of war, as well as the numerous privateers which had been
employed during the previous reign in waging war against the commerce
of Spain, and declared himself to be at peace with all the world.
James was as peaceful as a Quaker. He was not a fighting King;--and,
partly on this account, he was not popular. He encouraged manufactures
in wool, silk, and tapestry. He gave every encouragement to the
mercantile and colonizing adventurers to plant and improve the rising
settlements of Virginia, New England, and Newfoundland. He also
promoted the trade to the East Indies. Attempts continued to be made,
by Hudson, Poole, Button, Hall, Baffin, and other courageous seamen, to
discover the North-West passage, but always without effect.
The shores of England being still much infested by Algerine and other
pirates,[14] King James found it necessary to maintain the ships of war
in order to protect navigation and commerce. He nearly doubled the
ships of the Royal Navy, and increased the number from thirteen to
twenty-four. Their size, however, continued small, both Royal and
merchant ships. Sir William Monson says, that at the accession of
James I. there were not above four merchant ships in England of 400
tons burthen.[15] The East Indian merchants were the first to increase
the size. In 1609, encouraged by their Charter, they built the Trade's
Increase, of 1100 tons burthen, the largest merchant ship that had ever
been built in England. As it was necessary that, the crew of the ship
should be able to beat off the pirates, she was fully armed. The
additional ships of war were also of heavier burthen. In the same
year, the Prince, of 1400 tons burthen, was launched; she carried
sixty-four cannon, and was superior to any ship of the kind hitherto
seen in England.
And now we arrive at the subject of this memoir. The Petts were the
principal ship-builders of the time. They had long been known upon the
Thames, and had held posts in the Royal Dockyards since the reign of
Henry VII. They were gallant sailors, too; one of them, as already
mentioned, having made an adventurous voyage to the Arctic Ocean in his
little bark, the George, of only 40 tons burthen. Phineas Pett was the
first of the great ship-builders. His father, Peter Pett, was one of
the Queen's master shipwrights. Besides being a ship-builder, he was
also a poet, being the author of a poetical piece entitled, "Time's
Journey to seek his daughter Truth,"[16] a very respectable
performance. Indeed, poetry is by no means incompatible with
ship-building--the late Chief Constructor of the Navy being, perhaps,
as proud of his poetry as of his ships. Pett's poem was dedicated to
the Lord High Admiral, Howard, Earl of Nottingham; and this may
possibly have been the reason of the singular interest which he
afterwards took in Phineas Pett, the poet shipwright's son.
Phineas Pett was the second son of his father. He was born at
Deptford, or "Deptford Strond," as the place used to be called, on the
1st of November, 1570. At nine years old, he was sent to the
free-school at Rochester, and remained there for four years. Not
profiting much by his education there, his father removed him to a
private school at Greenwich, kept by a Mr. Adams. Here he made so much
progress, that in three years time he was ready for Cambridge. He was
accordingly sent to that University at Shrovetide, 1586, and was
entered at Emmanuel College, under charge of Mr. Charles Chadwick, the
president. His father allowed him 20L. per annum, besides books,
apparel, and other necessaries.
Phineas remained at Cambridge for three years. He was obliged to quit
the University by the death of his "reverend, ever-loving father,"
whose loss, he says, "proved afterwards my utter undoing almost, had
not God been more merciful to me." His mother married again, "a most
wicked husband," says Pett in his autobiography,[17] "one, Mr. Thomas
Nunn, a minister," but of what denomination he does not state. His
mother's imprudence wholly deprived him of his maintenance, and having
no hopes of preferment from his friends, he necessarily abandoned his
University career, "presently after Christmas, 1590."
Early in the following year, he was persuaded by his mother to
apprentice himself to Mr. Richard Chapman, of Deptford Strond, one of
the Queen's Master shipwrights, whom his late father had "bred up from
a child to that profession." He was allowed 2L. 6s. 8d. per annum,
with which he had to provide himself with tools and apparel. Pett
spent two years in this man's service to very little purpose; Chapman
then died, and the apprentice was dismissed. Pett applied to his elder
brother Joseph, who would not help him, although he had succeeded to
his father's post in the Royal Dockyard. He was accordingly
"constrained to ship himself to sea upon a desperate voyage in a
man-of-war." He accepted the humble place of carpenter's mate on board
the galleon Constance, of London. Pett's younger brother, Peter, then
living at Wapping, gave him lodging, meat, and drink, until the ship
was ready to sail. But he had no money to buy clothes. Fortunately one
William King, a yoeman in Essex, taking pity upon the unfortunate young
man, lent him 3L. for that purpose; which Pett afterwards repaid.
The Constance was of only 200 tons burden. She set sail for the South
a few days before Christmas, 1592. There is no doubt that she was
bound upon a piratical adventure. Piracy was not thought dishonourable
in those days. Four years had elapsed since the Armada had approached
the English coast; and now the English and Dutch ships were scouring
the seas in search of Spanish galleons.
Whoever had the means of furnishing a ship, and could find a plucky
captain to command her, sent her out as a privateer. Even the
Companies of the City of London clubbed their means together for the
purpose of sending out Sir Waiter Raleigh to capture Spanish ships, and
afterwards to divide the plunder; as any one may see on referring to
the documents of the London Corporation.[18]
The adventure in which Pett was concerned did not prove very fortunate.
He was absent for about twenty months on the coasts of Spain and
Barbary, and in the Levant, enduring much misery for want of victuals
and apparel, and "without taking any purchase of any value." The
Constance returned to the Irish coast, "extreme poorly." The vessel
entered Cork harbour, and then Pett, thoroughly disgusted with
privateering life, took leave of both ship and voyage. With much
difficulty, he made his way across the country to Waterford, from
whence he took ship for London. He arrived there three days before
Christmas, 1594, in a beggarly condition, and made his way to his
brother Peter's house at Wapping, who again kindly entertained him.
The elder brother Joseph received him more coldly, though he lent him
forty shillings to find himself in clothes. At that time, the fleet
was ordered to be got ready for the last expedition of Drake and
Hawkins to the West Indies. The Defiance was sent into Woolwich dock
to be sheathed; and as Joseph Pett was in charge of the job, he allowed
his brother to be employed as a carpenter.
