peaceable Submiffion to the Roman Name, was eftecmed fo confiderable an Atchievement, that it drew upon him the Hatred of the Emperor Domitian, (a Prince with whom great Virtues were more punishable than open Crimes) who, under pretence of doing him farther Honour, by conferring upon him the Proconfulfhip of Afia, Domitian poirecalled him to Rome, and there took him off by Poison. fons Agricola. Under feveral fucceeding Emperors we meet but with little mention of Britain, and of its Naval Affairs nothing, fave that in the Reign of Antoninus Pius, it appears, from the Digeft, that one Seius Saturninus was Commander in Chief of the Roman Fleet here. Under Dioclefian, Caraufius, a Native of Gallia Belgica, A. D. 285. was poffeffed of that Command, who became fo confiderable, that makes himself he fet himself up for Emperor, and being abfolute Master of Bri- Master of Britain, maintained his Authority there for feveral Years, as we have tain. already fhewn among the Roman Affairs, where his Naval Exploits are particularly related. Caraufius beats the Sax In the Time of the Emperor Gratian, Theodofius (whom he afterwards affumed into a Partnership of the Empire) performed feveral great Atchievements in Britain against the Picts and Theodofius Scots, who ravaged the Inland Provinces of the Ifland, while the Saxons, with frequent Defcents, harraffed the Southern Coafts. The former he forced to retire to their native Mountains in the North, and the Saxons he overthrew in feveral Engagements at Sea. ons at Sea. tain. A. D. 450. That People were now, and had been for fome time very confiderable on float, and remarkable for their Robberies and Cruelties exercised upon all their Neighbours, both by Sea and Land. Yet before another Century came about, near the time when Attila King of the Huns penetrated with his Barbarians into Italy, the Britains, harraffed by the frequent Inroads of the Picts, and deferted by the Romans, (who had now enough to do to defend them. The Saxons felves) invited thefe Saxons over to their Affistance: A fmall Num- invited to Briber of whom, under the Conduct of Hengift and Horfa, two Brothers, arriving in Britain, render'd confiderable Service against the Picts, and had the Ifle of Thanet, where they first landed, affigned them as a Reward, and Place of Habitation. The Richnefs and Fertility of the Country was fo agreeable to thefe Saxons, that they foon invited more of their Nation to fhare in their good Succefs, and were at length followed by fuch Droves of them, that, turning their Arms against their Entertainers, they defeated them in feveral Battels, and at length driving them out of the best part of the Island The Saxons into that mountainous Country now called Wales, poffefs'd them- mafter the greatest part felves of all that part of Britain, which from the Angles, one of of Britain. the most confiderable of the Saxon Tribes, has derived the Name of England which it now bears. Therein having by degrees established feven Kingdoms, they were at length all united into one Monarchy in the Perion of Egbert. 800. The Danes That Prince began his Reign over the Weft-Saxons, in the Year 800, at which time the Danes, brought down by the juft Difpenfations of Heaven, to retaliate, in great part, upon the Saxons what they had caused the Britains to fuffer, made their first Expedition tain. to come to Bri to this Island. Twice in this Year they landed in different Parts of the Kingdom, one Body of them in the Ifle of Portland, and another in the Mouth of the Humber, where plundering the adjacent Country, they got together fome Booty; but behaving themfelves more like Piratical Robbers than a declared Enemy, they were foon forced to their Ships, and carried off little with them at that time but a flight Knowledge of the Country. But the next Year landing in Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, they there gave the Saxons a great Overthrow, when imbarking aboard their Ships, they failed round to the Coast of Wales, where the Britains (or Welch, as the Saxons called them) entring into Confederacy with them, they jointly proEgbert beats ceeded against King Egbert, and gave him Battel, but received a total Defeat. Neverthelefs the following Year, with a confiderable. Reinforcement of Shipping, they enter'd the Thames Mouth, and feized the Ifle of Shepey, from whence they made Excurfions Thames, and throughout the whole County of Kent, and even to the very Gates harrafs Bri- of London, but were at length diflodged from thence by King Egbert, and forced to retire. However it was not long e'er they returned again, and their Attempts upon one Part or other of the Coaft were fo numerous, that there would be no End fhould we recount them all, there being hardly a Port in England, which more or lefs of them had not vifited. the Danes and the Welch. The Danes come up the tain. 838. great Mif chief, but are forced to re treat. 866. About the Year 838, (Ethelwolf the Son of Egbert then reigning) they failed up the Thames with a Flect of three hundred and fifty Veffels, and burning all the Towns they came by, landed their Men, and marching up into the Country laid it wafte with Fire and The Danes do Sword; but Ethelwolf at length giving them a great Overthrow, they retired to their Ships, and returned home, not without Defign of coming back with a more confiderable Force. This they accordingly did in 866, arriving on the Eastern Coafts with a numerous Fleet under the Conduct of Hinguar and Hubba, two Brothers; and were followed fhortly after by a Force no less confiderable, under Bafcai and Halfden, who landed in the Weft. These joining their Forces, and aiming at no less than the Reduction of the whole Kingdom, marched against King Ethelred, then reigning, with whom they fought feveral Battels with various Succefs, in one of which that Prince, with Halfden, one of the Danish Leaders, loft their Lives. The Danes come again to England. Ethelred flain. the Danes at Sea. Ethelred was fucceeded by his younger Brother Alfred, who wifely reflecting that his Predeceffors Neglect of their Naval Affairs for fome time paft had expofed the Country to the Attempts of the Alfred beats Danes, fitted out a Fleet, and obtained feveral fignal Advantages over the Enemy, which, with the Lofs of a hundred and twenty of their Ships, partly by Storm, and partly deftroyed by the English, on the Coafts of Devonshire, repreffed their Infolencies for fome time. But at length thofe of thein who were fettled in Northumberland, and among the Eaft Angles, equipping a Number of Gallies, fent them round into the Chanel, to cruile on the Coafts of the West Saxons. Whereupon King Alfred built a Number of Gallies, twice as long as thofe ufual in thefe times, fome whereof had 5 fixty fixty Oars, and fome more, and were of a peculiar Built, of the King's English. land, but forced back. 959. gar's Naval Edward and Athelstan, who next fucceeded in Order, had several fuccefsful Rencounters at Sea with the Danes; but Edgar who came to the Crown in 959, far furpaffed all his Predeceffors in Naval Glory, and provided himfelf a Navy of no lefs than three King Edthoufand and fix hundred Sail, and thofe for that Age all ftout Ships. Strength. This Force was divided into three Fleets, each of twelve hundred Sail, which he kept in conftant Readinefs for Service, one on the Eastern Coaft, another on the Western, and the third on the Northern Coasts of the Kingdom, to defend them against the Depredations of the Danish and Norman Pirates, and fecure the Navigation of the adjacent Seas: Which that he might the more effectually do, he every Year, after the Festival of Eafter, went on board the Fleet on the Eastern Coast, and failing Weftward with it, fcoured the Chanel of Pirates, and having looked into all the Ports, Bays, and Creeks between the Thames Mouth and the Land's End, quitted this Fleet and fent it back; and going on board the Western Fleet did the like in thofe Parts, as alfo on the Coafts of Ireland, and among the Hebrides, or Western Iflands; where being met by the Northern Fleet, he went on board the fame, and came round to the Thames Mouth, thus encompaffing all his Dominions, and providing for the Security of their Coafts. This he did for the whole fixteen Years of his Reign; and as a more fignal Declaration of his Power at Sea, going once to keep his Court at Chester, he fummoned thither all the Kings who held of him, to wit, Kenneth King of Scotland, Malcolm of Cumberland, Maccufe of the Ifles, and five Kings of Wales, and going on board his Barge caufed each of them to take an Oar, and to row him down the River Dee, while he himself fate in the Stern, and held the Rudder; thus, in a fort of folemn Triumph, afferting his Right to that Sea-Dominion, derived from his Ancestors, which has been from him fo happily tranfmitted down (with the Confent of all the Neighbouring Nations) to his latest Succeffors, and fhall, I trust, continue with them fo long as the Sea it felf shall endure. The Danes, who in the Reign of this valiant Prince had remained more quict, when he was deceased, and his Son Ethelred came to The Danes the Throne, renewed their Hoftilities, and coming over in Swarms renew their committed great Spoil on the Coafts: Against whom Ethelred, af- Hoftilities in the Reign of ter the Example of his Father, prepared a powerful Navy, caufing Ethelred. of every three hundred and ten Hides of Land in the Kingdom a 1 1 Ethelred's ftroyed by The Danes massacred. Swain redu ces greatest part of Eng land. Ship to be built; which however met with but ill Succefs, being for the most part either deftroyed by Tempefts, or, through Neglect, render'd unferviceable against the Enemy. So powerful were they now grown here, and fo odious to the People, that nothing less than a general Maffacre of them could fatisfy, and accordingly the Defign was put in Execution, without Regard to Age or Sex. To revenge this Treatment of his Countrymen, Swaine, King of Denmark, comes over with a numerous Fleet, and met with fuch good Succefs, that forcing Ethelred to retire into Normandy, he made himfelf Mafter of the greatest Part of the Kingdom; but dying foon after, Ethelred returned, and being prefently furnished with a confiderable Force, repaired to Lindfey, where he fet upon Knute the Son of Swaine, with his Father's Shipping and Hoftages, and forced him to betake himfelf to the Sea, and retire to his own Country; Ethelred forces Knute but Knute did not long continue there, for, within the Year, he from Lindsey. came back with a more powerful Fleet and Army to Sandwich, where Edric, who had the Command of Ethelred's Flect, revolted lith Fleet re- to him with forty Ships; and landing at that Place, he met with fo volts to him. good Succefs, that in a fhort time he made himself Master of the whole Kingdom, and after a long and happy Reign, left it to Harold his eldest Son; who was fucceeded by Hardiknute, Harold's half Brother, the laft of the Danish Kings in England. Knute returns and the Eng Knute leaves to Harold. 1042. Edward the of Kent re volts. Upon that Prince's Death in 1042, Edward, the Son of the late King Ethelred, was chofen King by joint Confent of the People, who were not a little influenced in their Choice by Godwin Earl of Kent, a Perfon of great Sway in thofe Times, who fome while af ter difagreeing with the King, retired from Court, and betaking himGodwin Earl felf to Sca, got together a confiderable Fleet, with which he committed great Spoil on the Coafts, took feveral Ships, and at length coming up to London, forced the King to grant him his Pardon on his own Terms. The Earl's Son Harold, upon the Deceafe of King of Earl God- Edward, fucceeded to the Crown, who was hardly feated on the win, fucceeds Throne, when his own Brother Tofti joining with Harfager, King of Norway, against him, invaded England with a great Navy, and the King of landing at Tinmouth, marched their Army into the Heart of the Norway in Kingdom; but Harold foon repairing against them, they came to a land, but are Battel, wherein their Forces were utterly defeated, and Tofti and defeated. Harfager both flain. Harold, Son to the Crown. vades Eng Duke William William, furnamed the Bastard, Duke of Normandy, having Pretenfions to the Crown of England, founded on the Laft Will of the late King Edward, had just before this Invafion fent to demand Jof Harold the Surrender of the Kingdom to him, and to fupport that Demand in Cafe of Refufal, which he was fure to meet with, got ready a confiderable Fleet and Army. To provide for his Security against this Force, Harold repaired to Sandwich, where he went on board his Flect, and failing thence to the Ifle of Wight, difpofed feveral Bodies of Men, as he went along the Coafts, in the Places where 'twas likely the Enemy would attempt to land. While he was employed in this manner, he received Advice of the Defcent of his Brother in the North, whereupon thinking no time fhould be loft loft in laying that Tempeft that first broke out upon him, he marched with a great Army Northwards, where he met with the Succefs I have before mention'd. Winter approaching, and Provifions beginning to grow fcarce in the Fleet he had left in the Chanel, the Ships being no longer able to keep the Sea, returned into Port, which they had no fooner done, but Duke William, lying ready at St. Va- Duke William lery, fet fail from thence with a Fleet of nine hundred Sail, with fets fail for which in few Hours arriving at Haftings, he there landed, and short- England, ly after giving Battel to Harold near that Place, gained an entire Vi- gains the ctory over the English, of whom fixty thousand with Harold him- Crown. felf were flain on the Spot; which was immediately followed by the Submission of the whole Kingdom to his Authority. and 1066. CHAP. XVI. Of the Naval Tranfactions of the English from the Norman Conqueft to the End of Queen Mary I. TH any Lords, but HE Reign of the Conqueror paffed without confiderable Disturbance till the eleventh Year, when a formidable Confpiracy was enter'd into against him by feveral English Lords, who being countenanced by divers of the neighbouring Princes, Swaine King of Denmark fent a Fleet of two hundred Sail to their Swain affifts Affiftance, under the Command of his Son Knute, and Drone King the rebellious of Ireland furnished the Sons of the late King Harold with fixty five they and the Ships; but King William having feized the Confpirators at home, Irish forced made fo good Preparations for the Reception of these foreign Ene- to return. mies, that the Irish Ships returned without attempting any thing, and the Danes after having committed fome Depredations on the Coafts of England and Flanders, returned home alfo. But the latter, a few Years after, intending to repair this Difhonour, and to affert their pretended Right to England, fitted out a Flect of a thousand Sail, to which were added fix hundred by the Earl of The Danes Flanders, their Ally; but the Winds hanging out of the Way for Fleet for Engtwo Years together (as our Hiftorians fay) or, what is more proba- land, but are ble, through Defpair of Succefs, the Expedition was laid afide, and prevented. England ever after freed from all Moleftation from that Quarter. intend a great of King Wil King William dying in 1087, was fucceed by his Son William II, 1087. and he by his Brother Henry I, who was followed by Stephen, the The Succeffors Grandfon of William I, during all which Time there happened no- liam. thing remarkable at Sea. Henry II, Son of Maud the Empress, next fucceeded in the Throne, who, in the Year 1172, refolving to 1172. the Reduction of Ireland, affembled a Fleet of four hundred fails to and attempt Henry II. Ships at Milford Haven, and there embarking with a great Body redues Ireof Troops, croffed over to Waterford, and landing his Army, in land. a fhort time brought the whole Kingdom to his Obedience, which having Ü u |