Jealous of the successes of Warwick, the French queen of Henry VI. sent Lord Rivers down to Sandwich to seek the assistance of the Cinque Ports in depriving the earl of the government of Calais; but when the ships were almost ready, Warwick sent a squadron under Sir John Dineham, which captured the whole fleet, carrying away Lord Rivers and Anthony Woodville, his son, who long remained prisoners in Calais. After this, one Sir Baldwin Talford undertook to burn the earl's fleet in the haven of Calais; this, however, proved but a vain vaunt. At last the Duke of Exeter, who had been made admiral, received information that the Earl of Warwick had set sail for Ireland, and stood out to sea to intercept him; the sailors in the king's ships, however, showed so much coldness in the cause, that it was not judged safe to risk an engagement, and Warwick, not wishing to destroy the king's fleet, passed by without molesting it. Later, Warwick, on an invitation from Kent, made a descent upon the country and encountered Sir Simon de Montfort, then warden of the Cinque Ports, with his squadron off Sandwich, which he attacked, defeated and destroyed, Sir Simon being killed in the engagement. Thenceforward the decline of the Cinque Ports fleet as a fighting force was sure. It was called out occasionally for the transport of royal personages and was employed by Henry VII. and Henry VIII. to transport troops to France; it furnished some of the ships which harassed the Armada in its passage up the Channel; but that was its final effort. The King's Navy with difficulty survived the chaos of the reign of Henry VI., but it never wholly disappeared. The revival of commerce in the reigns of Edward IV. and Henry VII., both of whom were engaged largely in mercantile speculations, created additional interest in maritime affairs; but it was left to Henry VIII. to make the vital change which firmly established the Royal Navy as an organisation independent of the merchant service. THE STORY OF SIR EDWARD HOWARD. BY JOHN CAMPBELL. Sir Edward Howard was the second son of Thomas, Earl of Surrey, afterwards Duke of Norfolk, and treasurer to Henry VIII. He seems to have begun early in life to testify his inclination for the sea service, and we find him employed in the Flanders expedition in 1492, when King Henry VII. thought fit to assist the Duke of Burgundy against his rebellious subjects.