THE ROWING AGE WHEN SOLDIERS FOUGHT ROWBOAT BATTLES BESIDE THE SHORES OF THE OLD WORLD From the Beginning of War on the Water to King Henry VIII's First Promise of a Sailing Fleet 1545 CHAPTER I THE VERY BEGINNING OF SEA-POWER (10,000 years and more B.C.) II THE FIRST FAR WEST (The last 5,000 years B.C.) III EAST AGAINST WEST (480 B. C.-146 B.C.) IV CELTIC BRITAIN UNDER ROME (55 B.C.-410 A.D.) V THE HARDY NORSEMAN (449-1066) VI THE IMPERIAL NORMAN (1066-1451) VII KING OF THE ENGLISH ERA (1545) BOOK II THE SAILING AGE WHEN SAILORS FOUGHT ON EVERY OCEAN AND THE ROYAL NAVY OF THE MOTHER COUNTRY WON THE BRITISH COMMAND OF THE SEA BOTH IN THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW DRAKE TO NELSON 1585-1805 PART I--THE SPANISH WAR VIII OLD SPAIN AND NEW (1492-1571) IX THE ENGLISH SEA-DOGS (1545-1580) X THE SPANISH ARMADA (1588) PART II--THE DUTCH WAR XI THE FIRST DUTCH WAR (1623-1653) XII THE SECOND AND THIRD DUTCH WARS (1665-1673) PART III--THE FRENCH WAR XIII THE FIRST WAR AGAINST LOUIS XIV (1689-1697) XIV THE SECOND WAR AGAINST LOUIS XIV (1702-1713) XV WAR AGAINST FRANCE AND SPAIN (1739-1748) XVI PITT'S IMPERIAL WAR (1756-1763) XVII THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1775-1783) XVIII NELSON (1798-1805) XIX "1812" BOOK III THE AGE OF STEAM AND STEEL WHEN THE BRITISH COMMAND OF THE SEA SAVED THE WORLD FROM GERMAN SLAVERY IN THE GREATEST OF ALL WARS 1914-1918 PART I--A CENTURY OF CHANGE (1814-1914) XX A CENTURY OF BRITISH-FRENCH-AMERICAN PEACE (1815-1914) XXI A CENTURY OF MINOR BRITISH WARS (1815-1914) PART II--THE GREAT WAR (1914-1918) XXII THE HANDY MAN XXIII FIFTY YEARS OF WARNING (1864-1914) XXIV WAR (1914-1915) XXV JUTLAND (1916) XXVI SUBMARINING (1917-1918) XXVII SURRENDER! (1918) XXVIII WELL DONE! POSTSCRIPT THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS [Transcriber's note: The following two errata items have been applied to this e-book.] ERRATA Page XIII. For "Henry VII's" read "Henry VIII's." Page 254. L. 20 for "facing the Germans" read "away from Scheer," ILLUSTRATIONS VIKING MAN-OF-WAR. . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ "DUG-OUT" CANOE ROMAN TRIREME--A vessel with three benches of oars WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR'S TRANSPORTS Eddystone Lighthouse, 1699. The first structure of stone and timber. Build for Trinity House by Winstanley and swept away in a storm. Eddystone Lighthouse, 1882. The fourth and present structure, erected by Sir J. N. Douglass for Trinity House. The _Santa Maria_, flagship of Christopher Columbus when he discovered America in 1492. Length of keel, 60 feet. Length of ship proper, 93 feet. Length over all, 128 feet. Breadth, 26 feet. Tonnage, full displacement, 233. DRAKE One of Drake's Men-of-War that Fought the Great Armada in 1588. ARMADA OFF FOWEY (Cornwall) as first seen in the English Channel.