Henry VII. founded the first English permanent dockyard at Portsmouth, and built in 1495 the first dry dock in England. During his reign 85 vessels at least were added to the Navy, some being purchased, some taken as prizes, and others (about 46) built.

The first great ship in mediÆval times was the Great Harry, built by Henry VII. in 1488, and costing £14,000; but up to this time vessels had no portholes from which the guns could be fired.

This was the invention of a ship-builder of Brest, named Descharges, in 1500, and by its adoption, guns could be fired from the lower decks. The early portholes, however, were so small that the guns could consequently only be worked in one direction. This did not matter very much, as it was usual, on account of the difficulties of loading, only to fire the guns once or twice, and then to run alongside the enemy and board him.

In 1515 the great English man-of-war, Harry Grace À Dieu, was built by Henry VIII. She had two decks, and carried 14 heavy guns on the lower deck, 12 on the upper deck, and 46 other guns arranged in different quarters of the vessel—a total of 72 guns. The heavy guns weighed from 2,000 to 3,000 lbs., and gave the English ships a distinct advantage over their less heavily armed enemies.

She had four masts and a bowsprit, all square rigged. There were two sails on each of the first and second masts (“foer” and “mayne”), and a lateen sail on each of the other two masts (“mayne mizzen” and “bonaventure”).

The Harry was estimated at 1,000 or 1,500 tons, the system of measuring a ship at the time being to estimate how many tons or tun casks of wine she could carry.

The other ships of war built in this reign were constructed on similar lines to the Harry, but on a smaller scale. At this time the larger ships of the Navy were divided into two classes, “ships” and “galliasses,” the latter being huge galleys propelled by sweeps or large oars.

As progress was made, the height of the fore-castles was lowered, and the keels of these ships were covered with a lead sheathing. In the reign of Elizabeth there was a considerable improvement in the general construction of the vessels. They were not made of large size, but under the direction of Sir John Hawkins they were built on longer keels, with finer lines and lower superstructures than before, and on account of these improvements they were capable of carrying more sail and sailing more swiftly. The sides of ships were painted black and white or green and white or timber colour. Figureheads (lions or dragons) at the bows and the Royal Arms in gold and colours at the stern were used to decorate them. It is interesting to note that the cooking galley was solidly built of bricks and mortar upon the gravel ballast down in the hold.

The large vessels continued to have four masts, and the armament was the same as in the reign of Henry VIII., the largest guns, “great ordnance,” being 12 feet long, with a bore of 8½ inches, and an extreme range of about one mile. The largest ships had from 40 to 60 of these “great ordnance,” and there were also provided for each ship 200 arquebuses or cross-bows, 40 longbows, and 180 sheaves of arrows.

It had been the custom for many years to carry a great many soldiers in each ship, in addition to the crew of sailors. The Great Harry carried “soldiers 349, marines 301, and gunners 50.” The soldiers consisted of musketeers and archers, allotted to each ship under their own officers. The captain was not selected for his skill as a sailor; in fact, he was also the King’s Master of the Horse and a soldier by profession.

The actual handling of the ship was left to the Master. At the end of the sixteenth century the war vessels no longer carried soldiers, the sailors being trained to fight and sail the ships themselves. In the reign of Elizabeth, too, the custom of putting landsmen in command was modified, and seamen-captains, such as Drake, Hawkins, and Frobisher, commanded some of the fighting ships of the Royal Navy.

After any special service on which the vessels had been engaged was completed, the ships were laid up, the captains retired to private life, and the seamen, who were paid by the week or the month, were discharged; only a small body of officers and men, ship-keepers, being retained to take charge of the vessel in harbour.

It is interesting to find that the following was the pay of some of the various ranks of the Navy about 1588:

Admiral, from £3 6s. 8d. to 15s. per day; Captain, 2s. 6d. per day. All the other ranks were paid by the month: Lieutenant (one only on each ship), £3; Master, £1 to £3 2s. 6d.; Preacher, £2 to £3; Boatswain, 13s. 9d. to £1 10s.; Master Carpenter, 17s. 6d. to £1 5s.; Surgeon, £1; Cook, 13s. 9d. to 17s. 6d.; Sailor, 10s. (In the time of Henry VIII. the sailor only received 5s. per month.) As an instance of the religious feeling that existed in those times, the Preachers said prayers twice a day, “and there was, besides, the singing of a psalm at watch setting, a very old custom in the English sea service.”

With regard to the clothing of the sailors, Edward IV. is said to have provided “jackets,” probably a kind of uniform, and the practice was continued by Henry VII. Henry VIII. also, as long as he had ample funds (from his late father’s treasury), clothed the sailors in the Tudor colours (white and green), cloth being worn by the sailors and damask and satin, by the officers.

Sailors were allowed a gallon of beer a day, as water was not carried on men-of-war until the middle of the seventeenth century.

Henry VIII. is said to have “refashioned the Navy in the direction of shipbuilding, armament, and administration. He may be said to have created it, since from his reign it has been recognised as the special national arm.” In Elizabeth’s time the standing strength of the Navy was about 2,000 to 3,000 men.